In a physiology textbook treatment of reproduction, they describe the Corpus Luteum as yellow as a result of the color of cholesterol. Yet, pure cholesterol is white, and has no structures that would lend themselves to color in the visible spectrum. Also, cholesterol deposits in the body, not to mention egg yolks, are clearly yellow. So what is the basis of the yellow color?
The yellow colour of egg yolk is due to carotenoids. However if you feed some red or blue fat soluble dyes, your yolks will show that colour. If you feed hens a diet without carotenoids the yolk will be almost white.
Dear Raymond Ochs
The textbook is wrong. As already indicated by C.A. (Kees) Kan and mentioned in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_luteum "The corpus luteum is colored as a result of concentrating carotenoids (including lutein) from the diet "
Best regards.
Thanks so much for that. I now do recall reading about the carotenoids in egg yolks, and it is interesting that the same is true of the corpus luteum. That is the common yellow color.
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