Search Results (17)

The quality of materials extracted from plant sources, such as oilseeds, is significantly affected by the extraction techniques employed. Thermo-photosensitive bioactive compounds are especially susceptible, often resulting in a loss of functional properties during conventional processing. In this context, studies involving unconventional or “innovative” extraction methods have emerged as a strategic approach to preserve the quality of the extracted material (whether by-product or biomass) by aligning with the core principles of green chemistry and the expansion of sustainable production chains. This approach promotes both raw material integrity and the protection of human and environmental health. These efforts contribute to a virtuous cycle of technological innovation and environmentally sound practices. This review focuses on how ultrasound-assisted extraction affects the quality of plant-derived materials, particularly Brazil nut oil. The article compiles data published over the last five years (2020–2025), following the PRISMA methodology. Recent studies highlight the synergistic potential of ultrasound as a green technology for isolating Brazil nut oil, offering enhanced nutritional and functional properties. This aligns with the growing demand for healthier food products obtained through sustainable industrial processes and presents opportunities for diverse applications across several industry sectors. Full article

The EAT-Lancet diet outlines target consumption for specific food components but overlooks accessibility and cost issues, which may hinder adherence among vulnerable populations. This study examines the acquisition profile of EAT-Lancet diet components by food security and poverty status, using data from 57,920 households in the 2017–2018 Brazilian Household Budget Survey. Poverty and food insecurity were defined according to the World Bank per capita income cutoffs and the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale, respectively. Food acquisition was classified into 15 EAT-Lancet diet components and expressed as per capita daily averages (g, % of total available energy, and % of food expenditure), by food security and poverty strata. Brazilian households were 37.9% food-insecure and 12% poor. Compared to more privileged counterparts, these households prioritized the acquisition of staples like refined cereals and legumes over most EAT-Lancet diet adequacy components, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and peanuts. While lower energy shares from moderation components were only slightly evident for red meat and dairy among food-insecure households, pronounced reductions in added sugars and vegetable oils were seen among the poor. These findings suggest that public policies should synergically address particularities of different deprivation contexts to promote sustainable diets in Brazil. Full article

Supplements improve consumers’ health and well-being. Oleogels are fat substitutes that offer nutritional and structural improvements to foods. This study aimed to formulate and observe chocolate’s structural differences and properties supplemented with different premixes for immune support and oleogel based on Brazil nut oil. Six 60% dark chocolates were produced using oleogel as a partial substitute for cocoa butter (with and without premixes), and premix 1 (vitamin D3, vitamin C, and zinc) or premix 2 (vitamins D3, C, A, E, zinc, and selenium). Texture, rheology, thermal analysis DSC, color, water activity, moisture, pH, and fat profile were determined. The results revealed that the whiteness index was higher for the oleogel and supplemented products. The use of oleogel reduced the lipid content of the products by 5% and saturated fatty acids by 13%. DSC showed changes in the melting and crystallization profiles for the supplemented products. All samples showed thixotropy, and the yield value was significantly different (p ≤ 0.05) in only one sample. Hardness presented a lower value (±50%) for products with oleogel. In sum, replacing part of the cocoa butter with an oleogel made the products softer, improved their structural quality, and changed their melting and crystallization profiles, and the chocolates showed nutritional improvement. Full article

Brazilian nuts are native to the Amazon rainforest and are considered a non-timber forest-product of extreme economic importance to local populations. This study evaluated the lipid profile, bioactive compounds, and oxidative stability of semi-defatted Brazilian nut flour oil (BNSDFO) obtained using pressurized fluids (n-propane at 40 °C and 2, 4, and 8 MPa or a CO₂/n-propane mixture at 40 °C and 12 MPa). A Brazilian nut kernel oil (BNKO) processed by conventional cold pressing was also obtained. The BNKO showed a higher concentration of total phenolic compounds and saturated fatty acids, higher antioxidant activity, and the presence of gallic acid derivatives. The oils extracted using pressurized fluids showed a higher concentration of linoleic acid, β-sitosterol, and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The utilization of pressurized n-propane resulted in higher yields (13.7 wt%), and at intermediate pressures (4 MPa), the product showed myricetin 3-O-rhamnoside and higher oxidative stability (OSI, 12 h) than at lower pressures (2 MPa). The CO₂/n-propane mixture of pressurized solvents resulted in higher concentrations of squalene (4.5 times), the presence of different phenolic compounds, and a high OSI (12 h) but lower yield (2.2 wt%). In conclusion, oils with better fatty acid profiles (oleic e linoleic acids), phytosterol composition, and suitable radical scavenging activity may be obtained using pressurized fluids and Brazilian nut flour, a byproduct of oil extraction. The mixture of solvents may improve the concentration of squalene, whereas using only n-propane may increase oil yield. Full article

Capsaicin, carotenoids, and phenolic compounds from cumari-do-Pará peppers (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) harvested from two different locations in Pará, Brazil, and at different ripening stages were extracted by employing green methodologies as an alternative to organic solvents. Edible vegetable oils from soybeans (Glycine max), Brazilian nuts (Bertholettia excelsa H.B.), and palm olein were used in combination with ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE). The proximate composition of the pepper extracts and vitamin C were determined through AOAC methods, total phenolics and carotenoids were assessed by UV/Vis spectrophotometry, and capsaicin by high-performance liquid chromatography. Antioxidant cumari-do-Pará extract activities were evaluated by the ABTS radical scavenging and β-carotene/linoleic acid assays. The vegetable oils were suitable for extracting and preserving bioactive pepper compounds, especially mature ones harvested from Igarapé-Açu. Bioactive compound content and antioxidant activity varied with harvesting location and ripening stage. Soybean oil was the most effective in extracting bioactive pepper compounds, particularly carotenoids, with 69% recovery. Soybean oil extracts enriched in capsaicin, carotenoids, and phenolics obtained from cumari-do-Pará can be used as spices in foodstuffs and/or as additives in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical formulations. Edible vegetable oils combined with UAE are promising for bioactive compound extraction, representing an environmentally friendly, safe, low-cost, versatile, and fast alternative. Full article

The aim was to apply a cassava starch/carboxymethyl cellulose blend-based edible coating added to a tocopherol mix to Brazil nuts and evaluate oxidative levels during storage. The edible coatings were prepared from a cassava starch/carboxymethyl cellulose blend and identified as control B (no soy lecithin and no tocopherol mix), L (with soy lecithin and no tocopherol mix), and LT and LT2 (with soy lecithin and tocopherol mix). In the forming solutions of the coatings, stability, viscosity, pH, and color were analyzed. The Brazil nuts were immersed in the solutions for 30 s, dried at 45 °C, and placed in an incubator at 25 °C. At 1, 7, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 days of storage, mass loss, the browning index, conjugated dienes and trienes, the oxidative state by official methods, and the accelerated oxidation index were evaluated. The blend-forming solutions B, L, LT, and LT2 showed non-Newtonian and pseudoplastic behavior, excellent resistance to flow, and stability. The diene, triene, iodine value, peroxide value, p-anisidine value, and total oxidation indices showed that the application of the cassava starch/carboxymethyl cellulose blend-based edible coating added tocopherol mix, LT, and LT2 preserved the Brazil nuts up to 90 days of storage at 25 °C. PCA shows that all coatings applied to Brazil nuts promoted oil preservation in some evaluation periods, especially those added with a tocopherol mix. It is concluded that cassava starch/CMC added tocopherol mix edible coatings have a potential application as active packaging for foods, especially nuts. Full article

Global fruit and nut yields are affected by shortfalls in pollinator populations, and pollen limitation is most prevalent among tropical, bee-pollinated and self-incompatible plants. Macadamia is a subtropical, bee-pollinated crop in which some cultivars have been found to be highly outcrossing. We aimed to determine the extent of outcrossing and its effects on nut quality across a wide range of international macadamia cultivars in three countries. We sampled fruit from 19 macadamia cultivars across 23 sites in Australia, Brazil and South Africa. We used genotype-by-sequencing and MassARRAY methods to assign paternity to individual fruit and we assessed pollen-parent effects on nut quality. Macadamia was highly outcrossing, producing 80–100% of fruit by cross-pollination, at 17 of the 23 sites. Mixed mating (41–72% outcrossing) was identified at five sites, and low outcrossing (10%) was identified in one cultivar at one site where it was isolated from other flowering macadamia trees. Outcrossed fruit often had significantly better quality than selfed fruit, with 1.61–3.39 g higher nut-in-shell mass, 0.53–1.55 g higher kernel mass, 3.3–6.4% higher kernel recovery, and 3.0–3.5% higher oil concentration. The differences in kernel recovery equated to differences in value of USD 433–841 per ton of nut-in-shell at prices of USD 3000 per ton. In summary, macadamia cultivars were mostly highly outcrossing, and outcrossed nuts often had higher quality than selfed nuts. Growers should consider interplanting different cultivars more closely and distributing bee hives more widely to maximise cross-pollination, produce high yields, and optimise nut quality. Full article

The fatty acid (FA) compositions of thirty-nine vegetable oils and fats, including nangai nut, pili nut, shea butter, tamanu oil, baobab, sea buckthorn berry, Brazil nut, grape seed, black seed, evening primrose, passion fruit, milk thistle, sunflower, pumpkin seed, sesame, soybean, flax seed, kukui, red raspberry seed, walnut, chia seed, hemp seed, rosehip, almond, avocado, carrot seed, moringa, apricot kernel, camellia seed, macadamia, olive, marula, argan, castor, jojoba, pomegranate seed, medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) coconut, roasted coconut, canola, and mustard oil, were analyzed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Vegetable oils and fats have different profiles in terms of their fatty acid composition, and their major constituents vary significantly. However, we categorized them into different classes based on the percentages of different fatty acids they contain. The saturated fatty acids, such as palmitic acid and stearic acid, and the unsaturated fatty acids, including oleic acid, linoleic acid, and linolenic acid, are the main categories. Among them, roasted coconut oil contained the greatest amount of saturated fatty acids followed by nangai nut (45.61%). Passion fruit oil contained the largest amount of linoleic acid (66.23%), while chia seed oil had the highest content of linolenic acid (58.25%). Oleic acid was exclusively present in camellia seed oil, constituting 78.57% of its composition. Notably, mustard oil had a significant presence of erucic acid (54.32%), while pomegranate seed oil exclusively contained punicic acid (74.77%). Jojoba oil primarily consisted of (Z)-11-eicosenoic acid (29.55%) and (Z)-docos-13-en-1-ol (27.96%). The major constituent in castor oil was ricinoleic acid (89.89%). Compared with other vegetable oils and fats, pili nut oil contained a significant amount of (E)-FA (20.62%), followed by sea buckthorn berry oil with a content of 9.60%. FA compositions from sources may be problematic in the human diet due to no labeling or the absence of essential components. Therefore, consumers must cast an eye over some essential components consumed in their dietary intake. Full article

Brazil nut oil is highly valued in the food, cosmetic, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries, as well as other sectors of the economy. This work aims to use the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) technique associated with partial least squares regression (PLSR) and principal component analysis (PCA) to demonstrate that these methods can be used in a prior and rapid analysis in quality control. Natural oils were extracted and stored for chemical analysis. PCA presented two groups regarding the state of degradation, subdivided into super-degraded and partially degraded groups in 99.88% of the explained variance. The applied PLS reported an acidity index (AI) prediction model with root mean square error of calibration (RMSEC) = 1.8564, root mean square error of cross-validation (REMSECV) = 4.2641, root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) = 2.1491, R²_cal (calibration correlation coefficient) equal to 0.9679, R²_val (validation correlation coefficient) equal to 0.8474, and R²_pred (prediction correlation coefficient) equal to 0, 8468. The peroxide index (PI) prediction model showed RMSEC = 0.0005, REMSECV = 0.0016, RMSEP = 0.00079, calibration R² equal to 0.9670, cross-validation R² equal to 0.7149, and R² of prediction equal to 0.9099. The physical–chemical analyses identified that five samples fit in the food sector and the others fit in other sectors of the economy. In this way, the preliminary monitoring of the state of degradation was reported, and the prediction models of the peroxide and acidity indexes in Brazil nut oil for quality control were determined. Full article

This work evaluates for the first time the potential of an environmentally friendly plasticizer derived from epoxidized Brazil nut oil (EBNO) for biopolymers, such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA). EBNO was used due to its high epoxy content, reaching an oxirane oxygen content of 4.22% after 8 h of epoxidation for a peroxide/oil ratio of 2:1. Melt extrusion was used to plasticize PLA formulations with different EBNO contents in the range of 0–10 phr. The effects of different amounts of EBNO in the PLA matrix were studied by performing mechanical, thermal, thermomechanical, and morphological characterizations. The tensile test demonstrated the feasibility of EBNO as a plasticizer for PLA by increasing the elongation at break by 70.9% for the plasticized PLA with 7.5 phr of EBNO content in comparison to the unplasticized PLA. The field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) of the fractured surfaces from the impact tests showed an increase in porosity and roughness in the areas with EBNO addition, which was characteristic of ductile failure. In addition, a disintegration test was performed, and no influence on the PLA biodegradation process was observed. The overall results demonstrate the ability of EBNO to compete with other commercial plasticizers in improving the ductile properties of PLA. Full article

A fast and straightforward reversed-phase dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (RP-DLLME) using a deep eutectic solvent (DES) procedure to determine free tryptophan in vegetable oils was developed. The influence of eight variables affecting the RP-DLLME efficiency has been studied by a multivariate approach. A Plackett–Burman design for screening the most influential variables followed by a central composite response surface methodology led to an optimum RP-DLLME setup for a 1 g oil sample: 9 mL hexane as the diluting solvent, vortex extraction with 0.45 mL of DES (choline chloride–urea) at 40 °C, without addition of salt, and centrifugation at 6000 rpm for 4.0 min. The reconstituted extract was directly injected into a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system working in the diode array mode. At the studied concentration levels, the obtained method detection limits (MDL) was 11 mg/kg, linearity in matrix-matched standards was R² ≥ 0.997, relative standard deviations (RSD) was 7.8%, and average recovery was 93%. The combined use of the recently developed DES -based RP-DLLME and HPLC provides an innovative, efficient, cost-effective, and more sustainable method for the extraction and quantification of free tryptophan in oily food matrices. The method was employed to analyze cold-pressed oils from nine vegetables (Brazil nut, almond, cashew, hazelnut, peanut, pumpkin, sesame, sunflower, and walnut) for the first time. The results showed that free tryptophan was present in the range of 11–38 mg/100 g. This article is important for its contributions to the field of food analysis, and for its development of a new and efficient method for the determination of free tryptophan in complex matrices, which has the potential to be applied to other analytes and sample types. Full article

This work developd nanomaterials formulated from annatto seed oily extract (ASE), myristic acid (tetradecanoic acid), and their fatty acid esters. The annatto seed oily extract was obtained using only soybean oil (ASE + SO) and Brazil nut oil (ASE + BNO). The UV/VIS analysis of the oily extracts showed three characteristic peaks of the bixin molecule at 430, 456 and 486 nm. The lipid nanoparticles obtained using myristic acid and ASE + BNO or only BNO showed better results than the oil soybean extract, i.e., the particle size was <200 nm, PDI value was in the range of 0.2–0.3, and had no visual physical instability as they kept stable for 28 days at 4 °C. Lipid nanoemulsions were also produced with esters of myristic acid and ASE + BNO. These fatty acid esters significantly influenced the particle size of nanoemulsions. For instance, methyl tetradecanoate led to the smallest particle size nanoemulsions (124 nm), homogeneous size distribution, and high physical stability under 4 and 32 °C for 28 days. This work demonstrates that the chemical composition of vegetable oils and myristic acid esters, the storage temperature, the chain length of fatty acid esters (FAE), and their use as co-lipids improve the physical stability of lipid nanoemulsions and nanoparticles from annatto seed oily extract. Full article

Palmarosa essential oil (PEO) is an alternative to synthetic fungicides to control the contamination by food-deteriorating fungi, such as Aspergillus nomius. Nonetheless, the low long-term stability and volatility hamper its utilization. Thus, this study aimed to develop nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) containing PEO to improve its stability and consequently prolong the activity against A. nomius. A mixture design was applied to find the best preparation conditions for antifungal activity. The characterization analyses included size measurements, zeta potential (ζ-potential), entrapment efficiency (EE), and antifungal activity (by inhibition of mycelial growth (IMG) and/or in situ test (pre-contaminated Brazil nuts) tests). The nanocarriers presented particle sizes smaller than 300 nm, homogeneous size distribution, ζ-potential of −25.19 to −41.81 mV, and EE between 73.6 and 100%. The formulations F5 and F10 showed the highest IMG value (98.75%). Based on the regression model, three optimized formulations (OFs) were tested for antifungal activity (IMG and in situ test), which showed 100% of inhibition and prevented the deterioration of Brazil nuts by A. nomius. The preliminary stability test showed the maintenance of antifungal activity and physicochemical characteristics for 90 days. These results suggest a promising system as a biofungicide against A. nomius. Full article

In this study, for the first time, Brazil nut seed oil was chemically modified with maleic anhydride to obtain maleinized Brazil nut seed oil (MBNO). The same process was developed to obtain maleinized hemp seed oil (MHO). The use of MBNO and MHO was studied as bio-based plasticizers by incorporating them with different contents ranging from 0 to 10 phr in a polylactic acid (PLA) matrix. By means of mechanical, thermal and thermomechanical characterization techniques, the properties of the different formulations were studied to evaluate the plasticizing effect of the MBNO and MHO. With the addition of both plasticizers, a significant increase in ductile properties was observed, reaching an increase in elongation at break of 643% with 7.5 phr MBNO and 771% with 10 phr MHO compared to neat PLA. In addition, it has been observed that the mechanical resistant properties do not decrease, since the oils enhance the crystallization of PLA by increasing the free volume between its chains and counteracting the effect. Finally, a disintegration test was carried out under thermophilic conditions at 58 °C for 27 days, demonstrating that the incorporation of MHO and MBNO does not significantly affect the biodegradability of neat PLA. Full article

Nutrition plays a fundamental role in the prevention and treatment of dyslipidemias and its oxidative-related complications. Currently, there is evidence about the beneficial effects of isolated antioxidants or foods enriched or added with antioxidant compounds. However, the application of the natural foods is more integrated than the analysis of a single nutrient. Our aim is compiling scientific literature regarding the nutritional strategies by foods with antioxidant effect in blood lipids, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, and oxidative and inflammatory markers of subjects with dyslipidemia. We searched in MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. From a total of 263 studies screened, 16 were included. Dietary strategies included walnuts, olive oil, raw almonds, G. paraguayase, white sesame, mate tea, Brazil nut flour, red wine, granulated Brazil nuts, grapes, wolfberry fruit, fermented beverage, coffee, orange, and blackberry juices showed significant differences in blood lipids, antioxidant activity, antioxidant enzymes, and oxidative and inflammatory markers. This systematic review compiling scientific studies about dietary strategies using foods with antioxidant effect to improve the antioxidant status in dyslipidemias. Full article