Nettle is a widely known plant whose high biological activity and beneficial medicinal effects are attributed to various bioactive compounds, among which polyphenols play an important role. In order ...to isolate polyphenols and preserve their properties, advanced extraction techniques have been applied to overcome the drawbacks of conventional ones. Therefore, microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) has been optimized for the isolation of nettle leaves polyphenols and it was compared to pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) and conventional heat-reflux extraction (CE). The obtained extracts were analyzed for their individual phenolic profile by UPLC MS
and for their antioxidant capacity by ORAC assay. MAE proved to be the more specific technique for the isolation of individual phenolic compounds, while PLE produced extracts with higher amount of total phenols and higher antioxidant capacity. Both techniques were more effective compared to CE. PLE nettle extract showed antimicrobial activity against bacteria, especially against Gram-negative
ATCC 4973 and
NCTC 11168 strains. This suggests that PLE is suitable for obtaining a nettle extract with antioxidant and antimicrobial potential, which as such has great potential for use as a value-added ingredient in the food and pharmaceutical industry.
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•The functional beveragesare excellent delivering means for nutrients and bioactive molecules.•Use of medicinal and aromatic plants in the production of functional beverages has ...become increasingly popular due to specific content ofstructurally diverse bioactive molecules withnumerous confirmed healthbenefitsand specific sensory properties.•The quality of plant extracts and essential oils depends on quality of raw materials and applied extraction techniques.•Rising consumer demand for natural ingredients provides numerous opportunities for the fortification and development of new categories of functional beverages based on medicinal and aromatic plants.
The functional beverages (FBs) are an important segment of functional food products due to health benefits they provide and their appealing sensory characteristics, suitability and affordability. FBs market offers many opportunities for new product development (nutraceuticals, colorants, plant-based medicines and products) with desirable and effective composition ofnutrients and bioactive molecules (BAMs) aimed to deliver health benefits and improve human well-being. Recently, the use of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) in the production of FBs has become increasingly popular due to specific content of nutrients (amino and fatty acids) and BAMs (volatile and non-volatile) attributed to the biological effects and health benefits. BAMs are stored in leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, barks and roots, and they mostly include phenolics (phenolic acids, flavonoids, tanins, anthocyanins, lignans and stilbenes), essential oils (EOs), terpenoids, alkaloids, phytosterols and saponins. The aromatic features of MAPs are mainly related to volatile compounds of EOs, but the presence of non-volatile compounds, such as phenolics, also contributes to the specific sensory properties. Phytochemical profiling of plant species containing specific and complex mixtures of BAMs, provides numerous opportunities for the development of new categories of FBs, but also opens new challenges in their isolation using conventional and advanced extraction techniques, as well as determination of potential biological effects. This review summarizes the categories of the most common FBs, BAMs from selected MAPs and their biological effects, extraction techniques suitable for production of plant extracts and EOs, product quality and prediction trends, and several directions towards future research on FBs development strategies.
Since certain constituents are not naturally present in pure fruit juices, incorporating herbal extracts can provide specific sensory properties to the beverages and improve their biopotential. In ...our previous research, it was found that sage (
L.), wild thyme (
L.), and combinations of their extracts had the highest total phenolic content and a unique composition of volatile compounds, which can contribute to the aromatic and antioxidant qualities of functional products. Therefore, this research aimed to investigate the potential of sage and wild thyme extracts, as well as their mixture (wild thyme:sage at 3:1,
/
), to enrich fruit juices (apple, pineapple, and orange). Obtained beverages were evaluated for sensory properties as well as phenolic and headspace composition (UPLC-MS/MS and HS-SPME/GC-MS analysis) and antioxidant capacity (ORAC assay). The incorporation of wild thyme extract in pineapple juice provided the most harmonious flavor and the highest content of volatile compounds (on PDMS/DVB fiber). The orange juice formulations were the most enriched with phenolic and volatile compounds (on DVB/CAR/PDMS fibers). The highest antioxidant capacity was observed in the formulation with orange juice and sage extract (22,925.39 ± 358.43 µM TE). This study demonstrated that enriching fruit juices with sage and wild thyme extracts could create functional beverages with improved sensory and health-promoting properties, providing valuable insights for the food and beverage industry to meet the growing demand of health-conscious consumers for natural and functional products.
The aim of the present study was to evaluate microwave-assisted (MAE) and pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) for the recovery of polyphenols from blackcurrant and bilberry leaves and the ...preservation of their antioxidant activity. The extractions were carried out varying the solvent/solid (SS) ratio, temperature and time. During MAE, increasing the SS ratio increased the polyphenol concentration in the extracts from blackcurrant and bilberry leaves, while increasing the temperature had a positive effect only on bilberry polyphenols. During PLE, only a temperature increase was a determining factor for the isolation of blackcurrant leave polyphenols. Based on polyphenol recovery, optimal extraction parameters were established resulting in a yield of 62.10 and 56.06 mg/g dw in the blackcurrant and bilberry MAE extracts and 78.90 and 70.55 mg/g dw in the PLE extracts. The optimized extracts were profiled by UPLC ESI MS
, and their antioxidant capacity was evaluated through FRAP, DPPH, ABTS and ORAC assays. The characterization of the extracts by UPLC ESI MS
confirmed flavonols as the predominant compounds in both blackcurrant and bilberry leaves, while flavan-3-ols and procyanidins were the main compounds responsible for high antioxidant capacity as confirmed by the ABTS and ORAC assays. Due to the extract composition and antioxidant capacity, PLE proved to be a technique of choice for the production of blackcurrant and bilberry leave extracts with high potential for use as value-added ingredients in the food and nutraceutical industry.
L. is a Mediterranean shrub known for its health promoting effects attributed to a large extent to polyphenols accumulated in all parts of the plant. Microwave-assisted extraction is a green ...extraction technique enabling fast and effective isolation of plant polyphenols. Therefore, the aim of this research was to optimize the microwave-assisted extraction of polyphenols from
L. leaves and fruit in terms of temperature, extraction time and microwave power and to evaluate their polyphenolic profile by UPLC/ESI-MS
and antioxidant capacity by ORAC assay. Optimal extraction conditions for leaf polyphenols were 69 °C, 512 W and 12 min, while for fruit were slightly more intensive-75 °C, 602 W and 15 min. Obtained total phenolic content in leaves and fruit was similar to that obtained after 30 min of the heat-reflux method. The polyphenolic profile of extracts included 34 compounds, with myricetin glycosides being the most abundant compounds among flavonoids in
L. leaves and fruit and gallic acid and its derivates among the phenolic acids. ORAC assay showed higher antioxidant capacity for
L. leaves extract than for fruit, which is in correlation with their respective phenolic content.
Over the years, brown algae bioactive polysaccharides laminarin, alginate and fucoidan have been isolated and used in functional foods, cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical industries. The extraction ...process of these polysaccharides includes several complex and time-consuming steps and the correct adjustment of extraction parameters (e.g., time, temperature, power, pressure, solvent and sample to solvent ratio) greatly influences the yield, physical, chemical and biochemical properties as well as their biological activities. This review includes the most recent conventional procedures for brown algae polysaccharides extraction along with advanced extraction techniques (microwave-assisted extraction, ultrasound assisted extraction, pressurized liquid extraction and enzymes assisted extraction) which can effectively improve extraction process. The influence of these extraction techniques and their individual parameters on yield, chemical structure and biological activities from the most current literature is discussed, along with their potential for commercial applications as bioactive compounds and drug delivery systems.
Natural phenolic compounds are recognized as bioactive ingredients in food but can also have a role as effective alternatives to synthetic antioxidants in stability improvement of foods prone to ...oxidation, such as edible oils. This study aimed at the preparation and HPLC-DAD characterization of phenolic extracts from Vaccinium corymbosum L. (raw, pasteurized, freeze-dried and treated with high-intensity ultrasound), and at testing their antioxidant potential in the prevention of olive oil oxidation in the native state and encapsulated into microemulsions and liposomes systems. Water-in-oil structured microemulsions used in this study were prepared using mechanical, ultrasonic, and high pressure homogenization. Liposomes with the average size of 589.1±2.9 nm were produced with the proliposome method using commercially available phosphatidylcholine – Phospolipon 90G. The obtained results showed significant prolongation of the oxidative stability of extra virgin olive oil enriched with encapsulated blueberry phenolic extracts than with native phenolic extracts, regardless of the method used for blueberry processing. Phenolic extracts encapsulated in microemulsions had a stronger effect on the prolongation of olive oil oxidative stability in comparison with the extracts encapsulated in liposomes. The average prolongation rate of oxidative stability was 45.65% by phenolic extracts encapsulated in microemulsions prepared by mechanical homogenization (p=0.012), and 58.72% by microemulsions prepared by ultrasound homogenization (p=0.011). Phenolic extracts encapsulated in microemulsions prepared by high pressure homogenization had no effect on oil oxidative stability prolongation.
Marine microalgae and cyanobacteria are sources of diverse bioactive compounds with potential biotechnological applications in food, feed, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and biofuel ...industries. In this study, five microalgae,
sp. S5,
D1,
sp. D3,
sp. Z3 and
sp. C6, and the cyanobacterium
sp. C1 were isolated from the Adriatic Sea and characterized regarding their growth kinetics, biomass composition and specific products content (fatty acids, pigments, antioxidants, neutral and polar lipids). The strain
sp. D3, showing the highest specific growth rate (0.009 h
), had biomass productivity of 33.98 ± 0.02 mg L
day
. Proteins were the most abundant macromolecule in the biomass (32.83-57.94%, g g
).
D1 contained significant amounts of neutral lipids (68.36%), while the biomass of
sp. D3,
sp. Z3,
sp. C6 and
sp. C1 was rich in glycolipids and phospholipids (75%). The lipids of all studied microalgae predominantly contained unsaturated fatty acids. Carotenoids were the most abundant pigments with the highest content of lutein and neoxanthin in representatives of Chlorophyta and fucoxanthin in strains belonging to the Bacillariophyta. All microalgal extracts showed antioxidant activity and antimicrobial activity against Gram-negative
and
and Gram-positive
.
Laurus nobilis L., known as laurel or bay leaf, is a Mediterranean plant which has been long known for exhibiting various health-beneficial effects that can largely be attributed to the polyphenolic ...content of the leaves. Pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) is a green extraction technique that enables the efficient isolation of polyphenols from different plant materials. Hence, the aim of this research was to determine optimal conditions for PLE (solvent, temperature, number of extraction cycles and static extraction time) of laurel leaf polyphenols and to assess the polyphenolic profile of the optimal extract by ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) as well as to evaluate the antioxidant activity determined by FRAP, DPPH and ORAC assays. The optimal PLE conditions were 50% ethanol, 150 °C, one extraction cycle and 5 min static time. The polyphenolic extract obtained at optimal PLE conditions comprised 29 identified compounds, among which flavonols (rutin and quercetin-3-glucoside) were the most abundant. The results of antioxidant activity assays demonstrated that PLE is an efficient green technique for obtaining polyphenol-rich laurel leaf extracts with relatively high antioxidant activity.
•Pasteurization increased phenolics in pomegranate juice by 29.55%.•Plasma treatment increased phenolics in pomegranate juice by 33.03%.•Plasma treatment (5min; 4cm3; 0.75dm3min−1) could match the ...pasteurization.•NIR was successfully applied on samples treated with plasma.•NIR/PLS models were used to monitor content of phenolics in pomegranate juice.
The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of gas phase plasma on phenolic compounds in pomegranate juice. The potential of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy combined with partial least squares for monitoring the stability of phenolic compounds during plasma treatment was explored, too. Experiments are designed to investigate the effect of plasma operating conditions (treatment time 3, 5, 7min; sample volume 3, 4, 5cm3; gas flow 0.75, 1, 1.25dm3min−1) on phenolic compounds and compared to pasteurized and untreated pomegranate juice. Pasteurization and plasma treatment resulted in total phenolic content increasing by 29.55% and 33.03%, respectively. Principal component analysis and sensitivity analysis outputted the optimal treatment design with plasma that could match the pasteurized sample concerning the phenolic stability (5min/4cm3/0.75dm3min−1). Obtained results demonstrate the potential of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy that can be successfully used to evaluate the quality of pomegranate juice upon plasma treatment considering the phenolic compounds.