Natural Antioxidants: Determination in Food and Nutraceuticals and Implications on Human Health

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, the use of natural products around the world has increased. Vegetable-based diets are spreading as a consequence of people’s higher conscience concerning matters of animal wellbeing, climate change, and the nutritional/health properties of food. Nutraceuticals are also gaining wide attention, due to their supposed beneficial effects on health. Several botanicals that are currently used as ingredients in food supplements are known for their antioxidant properties and can exert preventive activity against aging-related diseases such as neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer. However, the mechanism of action of antioxidants is a long-term matter of debate among scientists. It has been demonstrated that these compounds can neutralize reactive molecular species and prevent direct oxidative damage to biological macromolecules. Alternatively, antioxidants can induce the endogenous redox defense, for example, by up-regulating the expression of detoxifying enzymes and modulating their activity. Several antioxidants can elicit other biological roles in the human organism after ingestion, and in this context, their interaction with the gut microbiota is of high relevance. Intestinal microbes can degrade these compounds, producing lower-molecular-weight metabolites that can exert their activity on the intestinal wall or in other districts of the body, upon absorption.

Antioxidants are also important for food quality because they can prevent oxidative degradation, thus delaying the deterioration of foods and preserving their nutritional and functional properties. For instance, the characteristic polyphenols of olive oil such as oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol are important for both product quality and consumer health. Several food processing techniques and storage methods can cause the modification (typically oxidation) of antioxidants contained in food, leading to significant losses of these compounds. For this reason, optimization of all the procedures involved in the preparation, transformation, and conservation of foods is needed.

This Special Issue will be dedicated to chemical, biological, and technological aspects related to antioxidants in foods, natural products, and nutraceuticals. Scientific works dedicated to the chemical characterization of antioxidants in products destined for human use are welcome, as well as works dealing with their extraction, isolation, and formulation in nutritional supplements. Articles focused on the optimization of laboratory and larger-scale procedures intended to prevent the degradation and loss of antioxidants in food and other products will also be of high interest, as well as others dealing with the assessment of their bioactivity and toxicity in cellular, animal, and human models. 

Dr. Gregorio Peron
Guest Editor

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