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Mushrooms have been an acclaimed food for their unique flavor and medicinal properties since ancient times. Modern research shows that mushrooms are rich in various nutrients and biologically active substances. In recent years, researchers have become increasingly interested in mushrooms because they contain important secondary metabolites, such as phenolic compounds with significant bioactive properties. This review introduces the nutritional components and secondary metabolites in mushrooms, focusing on the bioactive functions and potential applications of mushroom polyphenols. Finally, the current challenges and future research trends of mushroom polyphenols are briefly discussed. In the aspect of nutritional value, mushrooms are high in protein and insoluble fiber, while low in fat and sodium, making them a low-energy, healthy food. Mushrooms contain a large amount of beneficial bioactive substances for health, including phenolic compounds, as well as tocopherols, terpenoids, and phytosterols. Mushroom polyphenols have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-tyrosine, antihyperglycemic, and other biological activities beneficial to human health and medical applications, especially in the various degenerative disease and cancer treatments. However, based on the properties of phenolic compounds, research and development in commercial applications still face many issues that need to be addressed by researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a kind of ubiquitous fruit extensively used as food and medicine from the dawn of human civilization, plums are universally available in the market and are well-known for their massive nutritious components and sensory value. Nonetheless, the nutritional value of Australian native plums is often either overlooked or underestimated. They contain substantial phytochemical components. Extracts from the peel, pulp, and seeds of native plums can participate in cell signaling pathways and scavenge free radicals while inhibiting pathogenic microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, and viruses. As indicated by an increasing amount of evidence, these compounds can lower the occurrence of chronic diseases. Native plums are found to have cardiovascular and liver-protective properties, which are high in dietary fiber and low in fat, making them a great addition to any diet. Apart from their high nutritional value, they also have striking economic potential. Their pulp can be applied to food and beverages, while their trunk can be used as wood to make furniture. This review discusses five native plums: Kakadu Plum (Terminalia ferdinandiana), Davidsons Plum (Davidsonia jerseyana), Illawarra Plum (Podocarpus elatus), Burdekin Plum (Pleiogynium timorense), and Nonda Plum (Parinari nonda) and introduces their suitable planting environment, phytochemical composition, sensory properties, and application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citrus australasica, also named finger lime, has been drawing lots of attention recently due to its potent antioxidant capacity and health-promoting benefits. They have been applied to the food industry as fruit or processed into soda, flavor liquor, jam, and dried powder. Especially, phenolic compounds are of prime interest as a large group of bioactive components in finger lime, including phenolic acids, flavan-3-ols, flavanones, anthocyanins, flavones, flavonols, and iso-flavonoids. Besides, other bioactive phytochemicals have also shown their roles, such as organic acids, minerals, carotenoids, vitamins, and chlorophylls. They synergically trigger finger lime to be a beneficial source, which can prevent people from chronic diseases, including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, by avoiding excessive intake of nutrients (anti-nutritional activity) and releasing oxidation pressure (antioxidant capacity). Therefore, the extracts of finger lime can be used as a functional ingredient in alimentology or pharmacology areas to lower the risk. Our review aimed to summarize the specific bioactive compounds and their corresponding bioactivities in finger lime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Papaya is one of the most consumed fruits around the world, which possesses low energy and is very suitable for those trying to reduce weight. Papaya is packed with a bunch of vitamins, minerals, as well as phenolic compounds. Phytochemicals have beneficial effects on the human body, including anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, and anti-dengue activities. Numerous studies have estimated nutritional and medicinal properties. The study of the bioaccessibility of papaya chemicals is important for both the food and medicine industries. This review summarizes the nutritional value and phytochemical content of different parts of papaya. Influencing factors like pre- and post-harvest on phytochemical content also have been reviewed. Further, the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of phytochemicals as well as the medicinal properties, based on the in vitro and in vivo studies are deeply reviewed. Finally, the research progress, gaps and interesting future aspects of papaya phytochemicals have been discussed. These phytochemical compounds are influenced by numerous factors, such as pre- and post-harvest, as well as extraction conditions. Many factors may affect the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of these phytochemicals, but there is limited information. Therefore, further studies like in vitro and in vivo experiments should be conducted to authenticate the efficiency of the papaya plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five Australian seaweed species, Phyllosphora comosa, Ecklonia radiata, Durvillaea potatorum, Sargassum fallax, and Cystophora siliquosa, thrive along the country's shorelines. Some of these seaweeds have recognized health benefits but have not been fully investigated in terms of their bioactive components and mechanisms of action. We employed ultrasonication with 70% methanol to extract phenolic compounds from these seaweeds and investigated a range of bioactivities for these extracts, including anti‐inflammatory activity exploring urease inhibition, nitric oxide scavenging activity, protein denaturation inhibition, and protease inhibition. Anti‐diabetic activities were investigated using α‐amylase and α‐glucosidase inhibition assays. Anti‐proliferative and anti‐mitotic activities were evaluated using yeast‐cell and green‐gram models, respectively. Our findings showed that C. siliquosa inhibited nitric oxide, urease, and protease activities, with S. fallax, P. comosa, and E. radiata exhibiting substantial inhibition of protein denaturation. E. radiata displayed inhibitory effects on both α‐amylase and α‐glucosidase, whereas P. comosa targeted only the α‐glucosidase enzyme, indicating different mechanisms of anti‐diabetic activity. In these anti‐mitotic assays, C. siliquosa exhibited low cell viability and a significant anti‐proliferative effect, particularly within 24 h, while E. radiata demonstrated notable inhibition at 48 h. LC‐ESI‐QTOF‐MS/MS investigation identified 48 phenolic compounds, including 19 phenolic acids, 20 flavonoids, and 9 other polyphenols. The presence of these compounds in extracts correlated with observed biological activities. These results support the potential health benefits of these seaweeds and link this activity to the presence of bioactive phenolics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey is one of the most important centers of diversity for the genus Achillea L. in the world. Keeping in mind the immense medicinal importance of phenols, in this study, three species growing in Turkey, A. coarctata Poir. (AC), A. kotschyi Boiss. subsp. kotschyi (AK) and A. lycaonica Boiss. & Heldr. (AL) were evaluated for their phenolic compositions, total phenolic contents (TPC), antioxidant properties, wound healing potencies on NIH-3T3 fibroblasts and cytotoxic effects on MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. Comprehensive LC-MS/MS analysis revealed that AK was distinctively rich in chlorogenic acid, hyperoside, apigenin, hesperidin, rutin, kaempferol and luteolin (2890.6, 987.3, 797.0, 422.5, 188.1, 159.4 and 121.2 µg analyte/g extract, respectively). The findings exhibited a strong correlation between TPC and both free radical scavenging activity and total antioxidant capacity (TAC). Among studied species, the highest TPC (148.00 mg GAE/g extract) and TAC (2.080 UAE), the strongest radical scavenging (EC50 = 32.63 μg/mL), the most prominent wound healing and most abundant cytotoxic activities were observed with AK. The results suggested that AK is a valuable source of flavonoids and chlorogenic acid with important antioxidant, wound healing and cytotoxic activities. These findings warrant further studies to assess the potential of AK as a bioactive source that could be exploited in pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries.

According to distribution of genus Achillea, two main centers of diversity occur in S.E. Europe and S.W. Asia. Diversified essential oil compositions from Balkan Peninsula have been numerously reported. However, report on essential oils of Achillea species growing in Turkey, which is one of the main centers of diversity, is very limited. This paper represents the chemical compositions of the essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation from the aerial parts of eleven Achillea species, identified simultaneously by gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The main components were found to be 1,8-cineole, p-cymene, viridiflorol, nonacosane, α-bisabolol, caryophyllene oxide, α-bisabolon oxide A, β-eudesmol, 15-hexadecanolide and camphor. The chemical principal component analysis based on thirty compounds identified three species groups and a subgroup, where each group constituted a chemotype. This is the first report on the chemical composition of A. hamzaoglui essential oil; as well as the antioxidant and antimicrobial evaluation of its essential oil and methanolic extract.