Phenolics and polyphenolics in foods, beverages and spices: Antioxidant activity and health effects – A review

Phenolic compounds as well as flavonoids are well-known as antioxidant and many other important bioactive agents that have long been interested due to their benefits for human health, curing and preventing many diseases. This review attempts to demonstrate an overview of flavonoids and other phenolic compounds as the interesting alternative sources for pharmaceutical and medicinal applications. The examples of these phytochemicals from several medicinal plants are also illustrated, and their potential applications in pharmaceutical and medical aspects, especially for health promoting e.g., antioxidant effects, antibacterial effect, anti-cancer effect, cardioprotective effects, immune system promoting and anti-inflammatory effects, skin protective effect from UV radiation and so forth are highlighted.

https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6320/5/3/93/pdf

Flavonoids and Other Phenolic Compounds from Medicinal Plants for Pharmaceutical and Medical Aspects: An Overview.

Being secondary plant metabolites, polyphenols represent a large and diverse group of substances abundantly present in a majority of fruits, herbs and vegetables. The current contribution is focused on their bioavailability, antioxidative and anticarcinogenic properties. An overview of extraction methods is also given, with supercritical fluid extraction highlighted as a promising eco-friendly alternative providing exceptional separation and protection from degradation of unstable polyphenols. The protective role of polyphenols against reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, UV light, plant pathogens, parasites and predators results in several beneficial biological activities giving rise to prophylaxis or possibly even to a cure for several prevailing human diseases, especially various cancer types. Omnipresence, specificity of the response and the absence of or low toxicity are crucial advantages of polyphenols as anticancer agents. The main problem represents their low bioavailability and rapid metabolism. One of the promising solutions lies in nanoformulation of polyphenols that prevents their degradation and thus enables significantly higher concentrations to reach the target cells. Another, more practiced, solution is the use of mixtures of various polyphenols that bring synergistic effects, resulting in lowering of the required therapeutic dose and in multitargeted action. The combination of polyphenols with existing drugs and therapies also shows promising results and significantly reduces their toxicity.

https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/21/7/901/pdf

Polyphenols: Extraction Methods, Antioxidative Action, Bioavailability and Anticarcinogenic Effects

Antioxidant activities, phenolic and β-carotene contents of sweet potato genotypes with varying flesh colours

Antioxidant activities of enzymatic extracts from brown seaweeds.

The 80% ethanol extracts of 5 purple-fleshed sweet potato cultivars were separated into 2 fractions, anthocyanins- and phenolic compounds-rich fractions, to clarify the contribution of these constituents to the radical-scavenging activity. The separation was accomplished with an ethyl acetate liquid/liquid extraction. 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging activity in each fraction and the contributors varied according to the cultivars. The dominant DPPH radical-scavengers in “Ayamurasaki” and “Kyushu-132” were anthocyanins rather than phenolic compounds, while those in “Miyanou-36” and “Bise” were phenolic compounds, such as chlorogenic acid. Furthermore, the high-performance liquid chromatography analysis of anthocyanins showed that “Ayamurasaki” and “Kyushu-132” were rich in anthocyanins with peonidin aglycon, whereas “Miyanou-36,”“Bise,” and “Tanegashimamurasaki” contained cyanidin aglycon.

Involvement of Anthocyanins and other Phenolic Compounds in Radical-Scavenging Activity of Purple-Fleshed Sweet Potato Cultivars

The extracts from white-, black-, and red-hulled rice were prepared by sequential extraction with six different polar solvents, and their radical-scavenging activities were measured by methods usin...

Polymeric procyanidins as radical-scavenging components in red-hulled rice.

Studies on the physiological functionality of purple-fleshed sweet potatoes and their dominant anthocyanin pigments are described. The purple-fleshed sweet potato cultivar 'Ayamurasaki' contained anthocyanins, which consisted of mono- or di-acylated forms of cyanidin (YGM-1a, -1b, -2 and -3) and peonidin (YGM-4b, -5a, -5b and -6). It was also rich in anthocyanins with peonidin aglycon. The 'Ayamurasaki' extract and the purified YGM exhibited multiple physiological functions such as radical-scavenging, antirnutagenic, angiotensin I-converting enzyme-inhibitory, and α-glucosidase-inhibitory activities in vitro. Moreover, they also showed an ameliorative effect on carbon tetrachloride-induced liver injury and decreased postprandial blood glucose levels in rats. In addition, their role in restoring the liver function and blood pressure levels to normal in volunteers with impaired hepatic function and/or hypertension was also confirmed. The acylated anthocyanins, which were the major radical scavengers in 'Ayamurasaki', were directly absorbed into the blood stream of rats and were present as intact acylated forms in the plasma, and could also enhance the plasma antioxidative capacity. Based on these evidences, the purple-fleshed sweet potato can be recommended as a superior source for the production of foods with health benefits. Some foods and beverages in Japan that utilize these characteristics of anthocyanin pigments are also introduced in this paper.

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Physiological Functionality of Purple-Fleshed Sweet Potatoes Containing Anthocyanins and Their Utilization in Foods

The starch properties of five low-amylose rice cultivars, Yawarakomachi, Soft 158, Hanabusa, Aya, and Snow Pearl, were compared with those of two normal amylose rice cultivars, Nipponbare and Hinohikari. There were no large differences in the distributions of the amylopectin chain length determined by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography, and the starch gelatinization properties determined by differential scanning calorimetry, between normal and low-amylose rice cultivars. Results obtained using rapid viscosity analysis indicated that low-amylose rice starches had lower peak viscosity, breakdown, and setback values than normal amylose rice starches. Starch granules from low-amylose rice cultivars had a higher susceptibility to glucoamylase than those from normal amylose rice cultivars. The results of this study showed some differences between normal and low-amylose rice starches in pasting properties and enzymatic digestibility.

Properties of Starches from Several Low-Amylose Rice Cultivars

+ Department of Crop and Food Science, National Agricultural Research Center for Kyushu Okinawa Region, National Agriculture and Bio-oriented Research Organization, ,.,+ Suya, Nishigoshi, Kikuchi, Kumamoto 20+ ++3,, Japan , Department of Upland Farming Research, National Agricultural Research Center for Kyushu Okinawa Region, National Agriculture and Bio-oriented Research Organization, 00/+ , Yokoichi, Miyakonojo, Miyazaki 22/ **3+, Japan

Y. Nishiba

Papers

Involvement of Anthocyanins and other Phenolic Compounds in Radical-Scavenging Activity of Purple-Fleshed Sweet Potato Cultivars

Polymeric procyanidins as radical-scavenging components in red-hulled rice.

Physiological Functionality of Purple-Fleshed Sweet Potatoes Containing Anthocyanins and Their Utilization in Foods

Properties of Starches from Several Low-Amylose Rice Cultivars

Contribution of β-Carotene to Radical Scavenging Capacity Varies among Orange-fleshed Sweet Potato Cultivars