Seeds from Cucurbitaceae plants (squashes, pumpkins, melons, etc.) have been used both as protein-rich food ingredients and nutraceutical agents by many indigenous cultures for millennia. However, relatively little is known about the bioactive components (e.g., peptides) of the Cucurbitaceae seed proteins (CSP) and their specific effects on human health. Therefore, this paper aims to provide a ...

Developing rapid analytical methods for bioactive components and predicting both the concentration and biological availability of nutraceutical components in foods is a topic of growing interest. Here, analysis of bioactive components and total antioxidant activity in food matrices using infrared spectroscopy coupled with chemometric predictive models is described. Infrared spectroscopy offers ...

Foods are complex matrices containing many different compounds, all of which contribute to the overall effect of the food itself, although they have different mechanisms of action. While evaluating the effect of bioactive compounds, it is important to consider that the use of a single compound can hide the effects of the other molecules that can act synergistically or antagonistically in the sa...

The general population is constantly exposed to a mixture of endocrine disrupters (ED), mainly through the food chain.The dietary exposure pathways are diverse, since ED can: i) affect diet components most liable to environmental pollution (e.g., polychlorinated and polybrominated chemicals in lipid-rich foods); ii) be employed in food production (e.g., certain groups of agrochemicals); iii) be...

The oral bioavailability of many hydrophobic bioactive compounds found in natural food products (such as vitamins and nutraceuticals in fruits and vegetables) is relatively low due to their low bioaccessibility, chemical instability, or poor absorption. Most previous research has therefore focused on the design of delivery systems to incorporate isolated bioactive compounds into food products. ...

Abstract: There is a long history of using fermentation in food production. Edible seeds, such as certain beans and cereal grains, are important in the human diet and provide many health benefits. Various microbes, such as lactic acid bacteria, molds, and yeasts, considered as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) microbes, are commonly used to ferment edible seeds and their products. Fermentatio...

The human gut is populated by an array of bacterial species, which develop important metabolic and immune functions, with a marked effect on the nutritional and health status of the host. Dietary component also play beneficial roles beyond basic nutrition, leading to the development of the functional food concept and nutraceuticals. Prebiotics, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and phytochemi...

The use of bioactive compounds in different commercial sectors such as pharmaceutical, food and chemical industries signifies the need of the most appropriate and standard method to extract these active components from plant materials. Along with conventional methods, numerous new methods have been established but till now no single method is regarded as standard for extracting bioactive compou...