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Functional Foods: Herbs, Seeds, Nuts, Dried Fruits, Virgin Olive Oils and Other Vegetable Oils

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A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutraceuticals, Functional Foods, and Novel Foods".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2022) | Viewed by 15936

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Eliana Alves

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemistry & LAQV-REQUIMTE, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitario de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Interests: lipidomics; mass spectrometry; bioactive lipids; polar lipids; plant lipids; fruit seeds; olives; olive oil; nutrition; food lipidomics; Mediterranean diet
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Maria do Rosário Domingues

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Co-Guest Editor

CESAM—Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies & Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
Interests: mass spectrometry lipidomics; marine lipidomics; lipidomics in health and disease; food lipidomics; microbial lipidomics glycomics; biomolecules modification associated with oxidative stress monitored by mass spectrometry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Herbs, seeds, nuts, dried fruits, virgin olive oils, and other vegetable oils are traditionally part of many people's daily diet due to their high nutritional and energetic values. Intake of these foods is even more relevant nowadays due to the increased incidence of chronic non-communicable diseases, the increase in global awareness for a healthy diet and lifestyle, and the consolidated knowledge about the health benefits of eating plant-based foods.

Herbs are a healthy alternative to the excessive use of salt in food preparation. Seeds, nuts, and dried fruits are used as a snack or complement to meals, provide energy pre-or post-workout, and in various food products. Vegetable oils, consumed in moderation, in addition to their large supply of healthy lipids, are sources of numerous bioactive phytochemicals. Virgin olive oils are renowned as the most beneficial plant oils, mainly in the Mediterranean diet, with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective effects. Other virgin vegetable oils, such as avocado, grape seed, or flaxseed oils, among others, are good alternatives as healthy oils for more attentive and demanding consumers. In addition, new generations of vegans seek to diversify their diet, introducing in their daily eating unusual foods from different geographical regions. In this context, access to less sought after or less utilized but nutritionally relevant foods is increasingly important for protecting, promoting, and revitalizing crops.

We kindly invite you to contribute either with cutting-edge original research papers or state-of-the-art reviews on the health benefits and nutritional impact of the topic in which the issue is named “Functional Foods: Herbs, Seeds, Nuts, Dried Fruits, Virgin Olive Oils and Other Vegetable Oils” on the human diet within different dietary patterns. Manuscripts dealing with these foodstuff's chemical composition, biological activity and functionality are very welcome.

This Special Issue aims to achieve new insight into the whole food functionality, deepen the scientific knowledge of functional food's health claims and ultimately boost new ways of using them in healthier and happier eating habits.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Eliana Alves
Prof. Dr. Maria do Rosário Domingues
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

bioactive compounds
chemical profiling and fingerprinting
lipidomics
biological activity
bioaccessibility
bioavailability
in vitro and in vivo experiments
clinical trials
nutrition
Mediterranean diet

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 744 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Emulsion and Microemulsion Systems to Improve Functional Edible Oils Enriched with Walnut and Pistachio Phenolic Extracts

by Giuseppe Fregapane, Cristina Cabezas Fernández and María Desamparados Salvador

Foods 2022, 11(9), 1210; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11091210 - 21 Apr 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1716

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to improve the properties of functional edible oils with potential health promoting effects, enriched with phenolic-rich extracts obtained from pistachio and walnut (5.1 and 27.4% phenolic contents respectively), by means of emulsion and micro emulsion systems. Stable water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions were obtained employing polyglycerol polyrhizinoleate (PGPR) as emulsifier (0.5, 2% H₂O in oil), despite having a whitish and opaque appearance; transparent and stable microemulsions were prepared using proper proportion (e.g., 97:3) between the oily phase and the mixture of aqueous phase and emulsifiers (3:2 lecithin-distilled monoglycerides (DMG). Total polar phenolics contents ranging between 257 and 835 mg/kg were obtained in the novel functional edible oils’ formulations, reaching higher content using walnut as compared to pistachio extracts. Antioxidant capacity determined by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-(2,4,6-trinitrophenyl)hydrazyl (DPPH) method increased approx. 7.5 and 1.5 times using walnut and pistachio extracts respectively. An emulsion using gallic acid and a microemulsion employing hydroxytyrosol, two well-known antioxidants, were also studied to compare antioxidant capacity of the proposed enriched oils. Furthermore, the oxidative stability of these products—very relevant to establish their commercial value—was measured under accelerated testing conditions employing the Rancimat equipment (100 °C) and performing an oven test (at 40 °C for walnut oils and 60 °C for pistachio and refined olive oils). Rancimat oxidative stability greatly increased and better results were obtained with walnut (2–3 times higher) as compared to pistachio extract enriched oils (1.5–2 times higher). On the contrary, under the oven test conditions, both the initial oxidation rate constant and the time required to reach a value of peroxide value equal to 15 (upper commercial category limit), indicated that under these assay conditions the protection against oxidation is higher using pistachio extract (2–4 times higher) than walnut’s (1.5–2 times higher). Stable emulsions and transparent microemulsions phenolic-rich nut oils (250–800 mg/kg) were therefore developed, possessing a higher oxidative stability (1.5–4 times) and DPPH antioxidant capacity (1.5–7.5 times). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Foods: Herbs, Seeds, Nuts, Dried Fruits, Virgin Olive Oils and Other Vegetable Oils)

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20 pages, 1822 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bioprospecting Bioactive Polar Lipids from Olive (Olea europaea cv. Galega vulgar) Fruit Seeds: LC-HR-MS/MS Fingerprinting and Sub-Geographic Comparison

by Eliana Alves, Felisa Rey, Tânia Melo, Madalena P. Barros, Pedro Domingues and Rosário Domingues

Foods 2022, 11(7), 951; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11070951 - 25 Mar 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1933

Abstract

Olive seeds have been considered as a new nutritionally healthy food supplement. They are rich in monounsaturated n-9 and essential polyunsaturated n-6 lipids. However, little is known about their polar lipids, potentially bioactive and chemical identity markers for olive pulp and oil. This work aimed to identify the polar lipidome of olive seeds to find possible bioactive compounds and markers of geographic origin, by studying samples from six Portuguese sub-regions. Polar lipids were obtained by solid/liquid extraction, NH₂-solid-phase extraction, and identified by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC)-HR-ESI-MS and MS/MS. Ninety-four compounds were identified, including phospholipids, glycolipids, sphingolipids, and acyl sterol glycosides, several of which bear polyunsaturated fatty acids. Multivariate statistical analysis found unique profiles within each sub-region and markers of geographic identity, primarily phosphatidylcholines, phosphatidylethanolamines, and lysophosphatidylethanolamines. Therefore, polar lipid signatures should be further investigated, to assess their bioactivity, nutritional value, and chemical identity for valuing olive seeds and their oil. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Foods: Herbs, Seeds, Nuts, Dried Fruits, Virgin Olive Oils and Other Vegetable Oils)

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12 pages, 274 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Chemical and Biological Evaluation of the Oil and Seedcake from Seeds of a Greek Cardoon Cultivar as Potential Functional Vegetable Oil. Comparison with Sesame, Flaxseed and Extra Virgin Olive Oils

by Elisavet-Foteini Varvouni, Konstantia Graikou, Olga Gortzi, Antigoni Cheilari, Nektarios Aligiannis and Ioanna Chinou

Foods 2021, 10(11), 2665; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10112665 - 2 Nov 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1962

Abstract

Cynara cardunculus L. is a plant of the Mediterranean basin, known since antiquity as a food and for its therapeutic properties. The needs of the 21st century for the utilization of agricultural waste has led to the study of the seed oil of a Greek cultivar of Cynaracardunculus (GCCC) as potential nutritional oil, as large amounts of cardoon seeds are discarded. The sterol and fatty acid profile of cold-pressed seed oil was examined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry GC-MS and compared with that of solvent extraction. Total phenolic content was determined and compared with well-known and widely appreciated edible vegetable oils; while, additionally, the total lignan content and nutritional value of cold-pressed oil revealed it as a potential dietary candidate. Furthermore, the seedcake (residue of cold-pressed oil extraction) has been studied exerting it as a good source of phenolics. Both GCCC oil and seedcake were tested for their antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory activities exhibiting higher activity compared to the sesame, flaxseed and extra virgin olive oils. According to the results, Cynara seed oil was shown to be a rich source of ω-6/-9 fatty acids and phenolics, highlighting, indicating that it could be a promising health-promoting vegetable oil, while the seedcake was revealed as a rich source of bioactive compounds. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Foods: Herbs, Seeds, Nuts, Dried Fruits, Virgin Olive Oils and Other Vegetable Oils)

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15 pages, 784 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Whole or Defatted Sesame Seeds (Sesamum indicum L.)? The Effect of Cold Pressing on Oil and Cake Quality

by Diana Melo, Manuel Álvarez-Ortí, Maria Antónia Nunes, Anabela S. G. Costa, Susana Machado, Rita C. Alves, José E. Pardo and Maria Beatriz P. P. Oliveira

Foods 2021, 10(9), 2108; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10092108 - 6 Sep 2021

Cited by 33 | Viewed by 7176

Abstract

Whole sesame seeds and sesame oil, which is obtained after cold pressing the seeds, are foodstuffs globally consumed due to their nutritional characteristics. The press cake that remains from the oil extraction process can be ground to form a defatted flour that can be incorporated into the human diet, contributing to the valorisation of this product. The nutritional comparison between the whole seeds and the press cake reveals the potential of this by-product to be incorporated in the formulation of diverse foodstuff, since it is richer than the seeds in proteins (30%) and fibre (25%) and still contains a proportion of oil (32%) with a fatty acid pattern characterized by the abundance of unsaturated fatty acids. The protein fraction of both the seeds and the cake shows a balanced composition regarding amino acid composition, with all the essential amino acids included. On the other hand, the oil obtained by cold pressing is shown as a high-quality oil, where the predominant fatty acids are oleic (42.66%) and linoleic (41.25%), which are essential fatty acids because they are not synthetised in the organism and must be obtained through the diet. In addition, it is rich in vitamin E, especially in γ-tocopherol, that was the main isomer found. Regarding these results, all products (sesame seeds, oil and press cake) are components suitable to be included in a healthy diet. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Foods: Herbs, Seeds, Nuts, Dried Fruits, Virgin Olive Oils and Other Vegetable Oils)

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20 pages, 3139 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Migration of Avocado Virgin Oil Functional Compounds during Domestic Cooking of Eggplant

by Cristina Samaniego-Sánchez, Sandra Teresita Martín-del-Campo, Ma. Claudia Castañeda-Saucedo, Rosa María Blanca-Herrera, José Javier Quesada-Granados and Jessica del Pilar Ramírez-Anaya

Foods 2021, 10(8), 1790; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10081790 - 2 Aug 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1940

Abstract

Avocado virgin oil (AVO) was used during eggplant deep-frying, boil, and boil in a water-oil mixture (W/O). There were measured the contents of moisture, dry matter, fat, total (TPC) and ten individual phenols, antioxidant activity (ABTS and DPPH), and total sterols; as well as the profiles of eight fatty acids and fourteen sterols/stanols. The values of raw and processed foods were compared and studied with multivariate analysis. The antioxidant capacity of AVO lowered after deep frying but augmented in eggplant and water after all treatments. The TPC was steady in AVO and raised in fried eggplant. Thermal treatments added to the initial profiles of the AVO, eggplant and water, nine, eight, and four phenols, respectively. Percentages of the main fatty acids (oleic, palmitic and linoleic), and sterols (β-sitosterol, campesterol, and Δ5-avenasterol), remained unchanged between the raw and treated AVO; and the lipidic fractions from processed eggplant. Cooking leads to the movement of hydrophilic and lipophilic functional compounds between AVO, eggplant and water. Migration of sterols and unsaturated fatty acids from AVO to eggplant during deep frying and W/O boiling improved the functional properties of eggplant by adding the high biological value lipophilic fraction to the naturally occurring polyphenols. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Foods: Herbs, Seeds, Nuts, Dried Fruits, Virgin Olive Oils and Other Vegetable Oils)

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