Flavonoids protecting food and beverages against light

Abstract

Flavonoids, which are ubiquitously present in the plant kingdom, preserve food and beverages at the parts per million level with minor perturbation of sensory impressions. Additionally, they are safe and possibly contribute positive health effects. Flavonoids should be further exploited for the protection of food and beverages against light-induced quality deterioration through: (1) direct absorption of photons as inner filters protecting sensitive food components; (2) deactivation of (triplet-)excited states of sensitisers like chlorophyll and riboflavin; (3) quenching of singlet oxygen from type II photosensitisation; and (iv) scavenging of radicals formed as reaction intermediates in type I photosensitisation. For absorption of light, combinations of flavonoids, as found in natural co-pigmentation, facilitate dissipation of photon energy to heat thus averting photodegradation. For protection against singlet oxygen and triplet sensitisers, chemical quenching gradually decreases efficiency hence the pathway to physical quenching should be optimised through product formulation. The feasibility of these protection strategies is further supported by kinetic data that are becoming available, allowing for calculation of threshold levels of flavonoids to prevent beer and dairy products from going off. On the other hand, increasing understanding of the interplay between light and matrix physicochemistry, for example the effect of aprotic microenvironments on phototautomerisation of compounds like quercetin, opens up for engineering better light-to-heat converting channels in processed food to eventually prevent quality loss.

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“…[130] Flavonoids should be further exploited for the protection of food and beverages against light-induced quality deterioration eventually prevent quality loss. [131] Lettucenin sesquiterpenes contribute significantly to the browning of lettuce. [132] For making chlorophylls and carotenoids rich these are processed at intermediate stages of ripening.…”

Flavonoids: Important Biocompounds in Food

“…In recent years, many polyphenols have been used as natural antioxidants in oils and fats to prevent lipid oxidation, protect food and beverages from light exposure, to prolong shelf-life of food, supplement for animal feeds to improve their health, to protect animal products, like antimicrobial agent in foodstuffs and health functional ingredient in foods and dietary supplements; these applications can be attributed mainly to antioxidant and antimicrobial activities [47,67,68]. The use of synthetic additives in the food industry has been declining in recent years; this is mainly because man seeks to reduce risk in suffering from diseases which have been associated with synthetic products consumption.…”

“…Flavonoids are suitable compounds that may be used as food preservative due to their beneficial effects that have been demonstrated before: prevention of fat and oils oxidation, supplement for animal feeds, protection of vitamins and enzymes, inhibition of microbial growth in foodstuffs and health functional ingredient in foods and dietary supplements [68]. The most studied applications of flavonoids in foods are in red meats and poultry to inhibit lipid oxidation, use of natural extracts in foods as functional ingredients and retard spoilage microorganism growth in meats.…”

Deep eutectic solvents used as extraction solvent for the determination of flavonoids from Camellia oleifera flowers by high‐performance liquid chromatography

“…Furthermore, they also have a wide range of biological activities, such as antidiabetic, antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, anticancer, cardioprotective, neuroprotective, anti‐osteoporotic, estrogenic/antiestrogenic, analgesic, anxiolytic, anti‐allergic, delaying skin ageing and so on . Based on these extensive health‐promoting functions, these compounds could be applied in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries . In fact, natural plant ingredients are always the main source of healthcare, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products.…”

“…[6][7][8][9][10][11] Based on these extensive health-promoting functions, these compounds could be applied in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. [12][13][14] In fact, natural plant ingredients are always the main source of healthcare, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. At present, there is little research focused on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of these four flavonoid ingredients in C. oleifera flowers, so it is of practical significance and necessary to develop a simple, quick and valid method.…”