Honey flavonoids, natural antifungal agents against Candida albicans

none6openM. CANDIRACCI; B. CITTERIO; G. DIAMANTINI; M. BLASA; A. ACCORSI; E. PIATTICandiracci, Manila; Citterio, Barbara; Diamantini, Giuseppe; Blasa, Manuela; Accorsi, Augusto; Piatti, Elen

Fruit and Vegetable Antioxidants in Health

In the history of human nutrition, one of the most widespread alimentary regimens linked to health protection is represented by the Mediterranean diet (MD). MD eating patterns consist of the wide use of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, fish, and olive oil. People obtain a wide range of antioxidants from the intake of a large variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. Investigations have shown that the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases is inversely related to the consumption of vegetables and fruits. Results are maximally oriented to attribute the highest protective role to the antioxidant compounds contained in fruits and vegetables. Processed fruits and vegetables show a wide range of phytochemical loss. The technology in the food industry should be used to reduce the loss of antioxidants and micronutrients to the minimum level by means of mild processes and the monitoring of each step of the transformation with due control assays. Functional foods, containing fruit and vegetable juices or extracts, are an important part of the healthy lifestyle, which includes a balanced diet and physical activity. To deliver their potential public health benefits, functional foods need to be quality controlled through the collaborative efforts of food-control organizations and the food industry, in order to market only those functional foods that are clearly supported with scientific evidence of nutritional value. The emerging field of nutrigenomics, or "personalized nutrition," provides individual dietary recommendations and may one day have a greater ability to reduce the risk of disease. © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

The cellular antioxidant activity in red blood cells (CAA-RBC): A new approach to bioavailability and synergy of phytochemicals and botanical extracts

In the present work, human red blood cells (RBC) were used to determine cellular antioxidant activity (CAA-RBC) of pure phytochemicals and botanical extracts, with the aim to predict their bioavailability.Amongst the pure flavonoids, isorhamnetin, tamarixetin, myricetin, and kaempferol showed the highest activity in the CAA-RBC assay; whereas, with the " chemical" oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay, the compounds that showed the highest activity were isorhamnetin, resveratrol, apigenin and catechin. When the CAA-RBC assay was applied to herbal extracts, the Vitis vinifera showed the highest value, a position that this extract maintained also when the ORAC assay was used. Other extracts showed a different order of effectiveness with the two methods.We also employed the CAA-RBC to assess synergistic or antagonistic effects of combinations of herbal extracts and we again compared the results with the ORAC assay. Punica granatum+. Malus domestica synergized in the CAA-RBC assay, but not in the ORAC assay; Aspalathus linearis extract interacted positively with Vaccinium myrtillus, both in the ORAC assay and in the CAA-RBC assay. We concluded that the CAA-RBC assay, coupled with the ORAC assay, was useful for evaluating intracellular bioactivity and synergy amongst phytochemicals or extracts. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd

Chemical and cellular antioxidant activity of phytochemicals purified from olive mill waste waters

The isolation and identification of a phytocomplex from olive mill waste waters (OMWW) was achieved. The isolated phytocomplex is made up of the following three phenolic compounds: hydroxytyrosol (3,4-DHPEA), tyrosol (p-HPEA) and the dialdehydic form of decarboxymethyl elenolic acid, linked with (3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)ethanol (3,4-DHPEA-EDA). The purification of this phytocomplex was reached by partial dehydration of the OMWW, followed by liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate and middle pressure liquid chromatography (MPLC) on a Sephadex LH-20 column. The phytocomplex accounted for 6% of the total phenolic content of the OMWW. The phytocomplex and individual compounds were tested for antioxidant capacity by the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) method. The ORAC phytocomplex produced 10,000 ORAC units/g dry weight, whereas the cellular antioxidant activity, measured by the cellular antioxidant activity in red blood cell (CAA-RBC) method, demonstrated that the phytocomplex and all of the components are able to permeate the cell membrane thus exhibiting antioxidant activity inside the red blood cells. Our phytocomplex could be employed in the formulation of fortified foods and nutraceuticals, with the goal to obtain substantial health protective effects due to the suitable combination of the component molecules