Elderflower contains flavonoles, the most important of them being quercetin. These molecules have an important antioxidant effect. The goal of our study was to evaluate which conservation technique of elderflower results the highest concentration of rutin and and phenolic compounds. Further we evaluated the protective effects of these extracts against nephrotoxicity induced by gentamicin in rats. Sambucus nigra extract demonstrates nephroprotective effects in gentamicin-induced renal toxicity, significantly improving outcome and evolution in rats.

Recently, mushrooms consumption has risen notably thanks to the proof of their capacity to improve the organism efficiency in the combat and prevention of several diseases. The particular nutritional properties of fruiting bodies of mushrooms are one of the reasons for their consumption, besides their texture and flavour for which they are considered a delicacy. In this paper data were collected from several scientific studies with the aim to characterize the chemical composition and content of bioactive compounds (moisture, ash, total carbohydrates, total sugars, crude fat, crude protein and energy) of five edible mushrooms species: Agaricus bisporus, Boletus edulis, Cantharellus cibarius, Pleurotus ostreatus, Lactarius piperatus.

All plant parts of black elder (leaves, berries, inflorescences, roots, shoots, bark) have a long history of use in herbal remedy or lots of culinary uses, widespread in almost every continent of the world. Pro-health properties indicated a role of black elderberry products intake in the prevention of cancer and diabetes. This paper presents an overview of the evaluation of biochemical compounds (sugars, organic acids, total phenolics, antioxidative activity, flavonoids, flavor and volatile compounds), found in flowers, berries and leaves of Sambucus nigra L. The variability of concentration compounds are found by uniform maturity of each phenophase of black elder, hence the need varieties improve the quantity and quality of its yield. Black elder has food industry properties associated with the presence of increased nutritive and decreased caloric value at fruits best correlated with the content of sugars and organic acids of flower, organic acids as a important metabolic pathway of proteins, lipids, carbohydrates. Several studies have confirmed that Sambucus nigra L. is a valuable raw material with many nutrients and bioactive substances, being extraordinarily rich in antioxidants, and the leaves are remarked as easily available source of antioxidant preparations in different domains (food products, pharmaceutics, or cosmetics). A bush of Sambucus nigra L. in the garden is our true handy pharmacy, a food market like as functional ingredient, a spot of color with unmistakable smell.

Individual sugars were analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) in plum juice samples obtained from “Stanley”, “Vânăt de Italia”, and “Tuleu Gras”. The samples were harvested from the inside and periphery of the crown during six development phases. The aim of the present study was to determine the individual sugars in plum juice by the HPLC and Fourier transform mid-infrared spectroscopy (FT-MIR) methods and to validate them. Our findings were as follows: levels between 0.26–3.73% for fructose, 1.43–1.10% for glucose, and 0.01–10.19% for sucrose. The FT-MIR analyses confirmed the differences between the juice samples, mainly in the spectral region characteristic to sugars which ranged from 900 to 1500 cm−1. FT-MIR coupled with Partial least squares (PLS) was used to develop calibration models for estimating individual plum juice sugars, the predictive characteristics being assessed. The optimal regions and spectral pretreatments were 800–1600 cm−1 and Savitzky Golay first derivative (d1) for fructose, 800–1600 cm−1 for glucose, and 915–1145 cm−1 and second derivative (d2) for sucrose. The selection of optimal spectral zones and pre-treatments led to PLS calibration models with acceptable predictive abilities for glucose, very good for sucrose, and less satisfactory for fructose. Moreover, the FT-MIR results were compared to the HPLC results in external validation tests and reference values included.

The  purpose of this study was to extract the volatile oil from St. John's wort and use it to obtain a new product with improved qualities and real health benefits. In order to characterize the innovative product, several physicochemical analyses were conducted (dry matter, ash content, total sugar, total acidity, vitamin C, flavonoid content and antioxidant capacity). Also the consumer perception was followed by conducting a sensory analysis. The study revealed that the adition of H. perforatum essential oil in the rose petal jam imporved the vitamin C and flavoinoid content and also the antioxidant capacity of the product, meanwhile the  dry matter, ash content and total sugar determinations were normal for the free pectin jam category.