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Cleome gynandra (Syn. Gynandropsis gynandra) is fast emerging as one of the most widely consumed leafy vegetables due to its nutrition and health-promoting properties. In addition to its high nutritional content, the plant has a rich pool of diverse antioxidant phytochemicals. The current review provides a critical appraisal on the increasing nutritional significance of Cleome gynandra due to its rich pool of natural bioactive compounds and beneficial health-promoting qualities. The rich nutritional content especially the high levels of macro- and micronutrients is an indication of its potential to mitigate malnutrition and the increasing incidence of diet-related obesity and non-communicable diseases. The presence of health-promoting natural compounds, notably polyphenols, glucosinates and terpernoids has been confirmed in Cleome gynandra using different analytical methods. Cleome gynandra possesses high levels of α-tocopherol, β-tocopherol and γ-tocopherol, ascorbic acid, α-carotene, β-carotene, lutein, violaxanthin, and β-cryptoxanthin. These nutritional compounds could be useful in food applications as supplements, colorants and extending shelf-life of food products. Cleome gynandra extracts have demonstrated promising effects in several biological assays using in vitro and in vivo systems. Clearly, diversified diets that include a regular intake of dark green leafy vegetables including Cleome gynandra, holds great promise in ensuring food and nutrition security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irvingia gabonensis, also known as 'bush mango', is a multipurpose fruit tree, native to tropical Africa. It is a priority indigenous fruit tree in western and central Africa since its wood is used for making utensils and fruits are mostly used as food and medicine. The objective of this work is to provide an updated review of the available knowledge about physicochemical characteristics of I. gabonensis fruit in order to evaluate its potential use in the food industry. The fruit mesocarp contains various phytochemicals and ascorbic acid concentration higher than some vitamin C rich fruits, then it is consumed fresh or dried, used to produce juice and wine, or as a flavourant. I. gabonensis fruit kernel is rich in oil (63%–69% crude fat), mainly composed of myristic and lauric acids. Its triacylglycerol composition and, resultantly, melting curve and polymorphism indicate an aptitude for diverse applications, as it is solid at room temperature. Forty-one phenolic compounds were identified in the seeds and derived extracts and supplements, being ellagic acid and its derivates the most present. This review enhances our knowledge about nutritional content and health benefits of I. gabonensis whole fruit, especially its pulp and seed, evidencing the need for safer and more efficient production of value-added products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the essential parts in human diet, vegetables are important in health keeping and their consumption increases continuously. Due to their highly perishable nature, the shelf life of fresh vegetables is considerably short, due to cellular respiration, microorganism, enzyme reaction, oxidation and so on. Therefore, short- and long-term storages of vegetables are required and various methods and technologies are applied for different commercial goals. For long-term storage, deep frozen storage is one of the most widespread used preservation methods for vegetables, as under temperatures low enough, the rate of most deteriorative reactions and microbial activities are significantly reduced. This review provides a critical comprehensive summary of long-term storage (≥6 months) vegetables under low temperatures (≤ -18 °C), and effects of the storage methods on various quality attributes of vegetables, such as texture, colour, contents of ascorbic acid, chlorophyll and carotenoids. Besides, the impacts of common pretreatments prior to freezing on the subsequent frozen storage are also briefly discussed. The current review shows that although some important biochemical attributes are more or less deteriorated and the quality loss of them is inevitable, a substantial portion of quality attributes appear to be stable during long-term deep frozen storage especially the physical parameters. Meanwhile, pretreatments prior to freezing, such as blanching process, also show significant influence on quality preservation in subsequent storage. Therefore long-term deep frozen storage can be applied as an effective storage method under proper conditions of pretreatments and storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional thermal techniques may cause losses in nutritional quality and phytochemical contents, and also in physicochemical, rheological, and organoleptic properties of processed fruit juices. This paper provides an overview of the effect on these qualities by the use of alternatives to traditional thermal treatments in fruit-juice processing, for three key operations in fruit-juice production such as microbial inactivation, enzyme inactivation, and juice-yield improvement. These alternatives areUV light, high-intensity light pulses, γ-irradiation, pulsed electric fields, radiofrequency electric fields, Ohmic heating, microwave heating, ultrasound, high hydrostatic pressure, supercritical carbon dioxide, ozonation, and flash-vacuum expansion. Although alternatives to heat treatments seem to be less detrimental than the thermal treatment, there are many parameters and conditions that influence the output, as well as the nature of the juice itself, hampering comparisons between different studies. Additionally, future research should focus on understanding the mechanisms underlying the changes in the overall quality of fruit juices, and also on scaled-up processes, process design, and optimization that need to be deal with in detail to maximize their potential as alternative nonthermal technologies in fruit-juice processing while maintaining fruit-juice attributes to the maximum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural antioxidants such as vitamin C, tocopherols and tocotrienols, carotenoids, and phenolic compounds are largely distributed in plant products. Most of them are not synthesized by human and need to be introduced with diet according to the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI). This work was aimed to give a comprehensive overview on the occurrence of these antioxidants in plants, in particular in plant foods, on the mechanisms of biosynthesis, and on conventional (liquid–liquid or solid–liquid extraction, Soxhlet) and innovative (enzymatic-assisted, pressurized fluid, supercritical fluid, ultrasound-assisted, microwave-assisted, pulsed electric field) extraction systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Observational evidence consistently shows that consumption of a diet rich in fruit and vegetables may offer protection against diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. Assessment of dietary intake is complex and prone to many sources of error. More objective biomarkers of fruit and vegetable intake are therefore of interest. The aim of this review is to examine the usefulness of the main biomarkers of fruit and vegetable intake to act as objective indicators of compliance in dietary intervention studies. A comprehensive search of the literature was conducted using six databases. Suitable papers were selected and relevant data extracted. The papers were categorized into 3 sub-groups: whole diet interventions; mixed fruit and vegetable interventions; and studies involving individual varieties of fruits or vegetables. Ninety-six studies were included in the review. Overall, the most commonly measured, and most consistently responsive, biomarkers were the carotenoids and vitamin C. Based on the results of this systematic review, it remains prudent to measure a panel of biomarkers in fruit and vegetable intervention studies. The only possible exception to this is 'fruit only' intervention studies where assessment of vitamin C alone may suffice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cherries, and in particular sweet cherries, are a nutritionally dense food rich in anthocyanins, quercetin, hydroxycinnamates, potassium, fiber, vitamin C, carotenoids, and melatonin. UV concentration, degree of ripeness, postharvest storage conditions, and processing, each can significantly alter the amounts of nutrients and bioactive components. These constituent nutrients and bioactive food components support the potential preventive health benefits of cherry intake in relation to cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, inflammatory diseases, and Alzheimer's disease. Mechanistically, cherries exhibit relatively high antioxidant activity, low glycemic response, COX 1 and 2 enzyme inhibition, and other anti-carcinogenic effects in vitro and in animal experiments. Well-designed cherry feeding studies are needed to further substantiate any health benefits in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing desires from both consumers and producers to understand better which nutritive components are present in our food and how these are influenced by industrial processing strategies is resulting in extra research involving the use of state-of-the-art technologies to generate novel biochemical information. In this review, attention has been focused on tomato as this is a product eaten right across the world both as fresh produce and after having been processed in a wide variety of ways. There is a particular interest in tomato as it is a major component in the so-called 'Mediterranean diet' which has recently been associated with a healthier lifestyle. Tomatoes are rich sources of a variety of nutritional compounds and especially some key antioxidant components such as the carotenoid lycopene, vitamin C, and a range of polyphenols. The potentially protective properties of these antioxidants are of great interest and the consumer has already become aware of their potential importance. Surveying the literature has revealed that much research has been done on the biochemical composition of tomato and its products. However, it remains difficult to make clear conclusions on optimizing the processing strategy. Many, apparently conflicting, findings have been reported and consequently, in this review, we have drawn attention to these and have attempted to clarify their cause. Finally, a range of recommendations has been made as to how future research might be performed in order to generate more concrete conclusions enabling recommendations towards more optimized processing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antioxidant capacity for a wide range of natural or synthetic polyphenolics was comprehensively evaluated by vitamin C equivalent antioxidant capacity (VCEAC) assay using free blue/green ABTS radicals. The polyphenolics tested are grouped into the following categories: vitamins (β-carotene, α-tocopherol, vitamin A, and vitamin C), phenolic acids (benzoic acid, phenylacetic acid, cinnamic acid, and their derivatives), flavonoids (anthocyanidin, flavanol chalcone, flavanone, flavone, flavonol, isoflavone, and their derivatives), synthetic food additives (BHA, BHT TBHQ, and PG), and other miscellaneous polyphenolics (ellagic acid, sesamol, eugenol, thymol, etc.). A positive linear relationship between VCEAC and the number of free OH groups around the flavonoid framework was found, whereas, for phenolic acids, the linear relationship was not as good as with the flavonoid aglycones. Groups of chemicals having comparable structures generally showed similar trends. Polyphenolics commonly showed a higher VCEAC compared to monophenolics. Compounds like gallic acid with 3 vicinal hydroxy substitutions on the aromatic ring in phenolic acids or like epigallocatechin with 3 vicinal hydroxy substitutions on the B ring in flavonoids showed the highest antioxidant capcity among the groups. In the flavonoids, 2 characteristic chemical structures were very important, the catechol moiety in the B ring and the 3-OH functional group in a chroman ring. Glycosylated flavonoids showed less potent antioxidant capacity than their aglycone alone. Synthetic antioxidant food additives (BHA, TBHQ, and BHT,) conventionally used in the food industry were less effective antioxidants than ascorbic acid. Other naturally occurring polyphenolics tested followed the expected general trends of phenolic acids and flavonoids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of antioxidants in human nutrition has gained increased interest, especially due to their associated health beneficial effects for a number of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases and certain types of cancer. Fruits and vegetables are perishable and difficult to preserve as fresh products. Dried fruits and vegetables can be easily stored, transported at relatively low cost, have reduced packing costs, and their low water content delays microbial spoilage. Air-, freeze-, microwave- and sun-drying are among the most thoroughly studied drying methods. This review provides an overview of recent findings on the effects of different drying techniques on major antioxidants of fruits and vegetables. In particular, changes in ascorbic acid, carotenoids, flavonoids, phenolic acids, total phenolics, and antioxidant activity are discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]