Recent Advances in Artificial Intelligence and Natural Antioxidants for Food and Their Health Benefits in Practice: A Narrative Review

Natural antioxidants align with consumer demand for clean-label, sustainable, and health-promoting food solutions. Artificial intelligence (AI) is enabling deeper understanding, more rapid screening, and new application modalities in food systems. Novel deep learning frameworks have been developed to predict interactions between polyphenols and proteins—crucial for understanding how antioxidants affect nutrient bioavailability, therapeutic functions, and food processing behavior. The convergence of AI and natural antioxidants is forging a transformative frontier in food science. This review aims to focus on AI-enabled methods and advances in natural antioxidants, focusing on practical impact and future directions. PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library databases were searched for relevant articles published up to September 2025. AI accelerates the analysis, design, and personalization of food systems, while natural antioxidants deliver health-promoting, sustainable, and clean-label functionality. Together, they offer promising avenues for safer, fresher, and more nutritious food systems. Continued innovation, multidisciplinary synergy, and thoughtful regulation are essential to unlocking their full potential. Encapsulating essential oils, polyphenols, and curcumin within nanocarriers significantly improves their stability, antimicrobial efficacy, controlled release, and bioavailability, extending their shelf life and application in diverse food formats. Advancing the use of natural antioxidants in food systems must navigate additive classifications, health claim validations, labeling transparency, and regulatory compliance across regions.