Study Approach of Antioxidant Properties in Foods: Update and Considerations

Abstract

The assessment of interactions between natural antioxidants and other food matrix components represents the main step in the investigation of total antioxidant properties, in terms of potential health benefits. The diversity of chemical structures of natural compounds, besides their possible interactions, as well as the biological role and different modes of action makes it difficult to assess a single and reliable procedure for the evaluation of antioxidant activity. Today, much attention is given to the distinction between extractable and non-extractable antioxidants as a key tool in the description of the nutritional and healthy properties of food matrices. The starting point for the investigation of antioxidant effects of food extracts is the analysis of antioxidant properties of pure compounds and their interactions. Another complementary approach could be represented by the study of how different biologically active compound-rich extracts contribute to the total antioxidant capacity.

Application of Infrared Spectroscopy for Functional Compounds Evaluation in Olive Oil: A Current Snapshot

“…Nowadays, as pointed out previously, the evaluation of bioactive compounds should be integrated in a multidisciplinary study approach for food research. is calls for the combination of advanced and innovative analytical techniques and sophisticated statistical methods for the data analysis in food science [77][78][79]. NIR and MIR techniques are rapidly emerging in this field.…”

“…e comprehension of concerted and synergistic actions, of antagonist interactions, or of no effect of biologically active compounds should be considered in this context. e same is true for the factors influencing the overall effects such as the peculiar combination of antioxidants and the structure of the food matrix [77]. Lu and Rasco [116] reviewed and summarized the recent applications of infrared spectroscopy for the development of models for the prediction of antioxidant properties in food, in addition to qualitative and quantitative analysis of antioxidant compounds.…”

Fruit‐based juices: Focus on antioxidant properties—Study approach and update

“…Taking attention to the study approach seen here as the direction of research strategy, and to the scheme useful to underline the point of view or the feature that should to be investigated, recent works (Durazzo, ; Durazzo & Lucarini, ) make updates and considerations on general workflow for evaluating antioxidant properties in foods and are applied also to fruit‐based juice. The authors underlined how after the study and the categorization of the different class of compounds present in matrix, complementary approaches can be the following: (a) the evaluation of bioactivities of pure compounds and/or their mixtures; (b) the isolation of different biologically active compound‐rich extracts and how these fractions contribute to the activity of total food extract; (c) the study of extractable and non‐extractable compounds/fractions.…”

“…Taking attention to the study approach seen here as the direction of research strategy, and to the scheme useful to underline the point of view or the feature that should to be investigated, recent works (Durazzo, 2017; It is worth to mention the work of Pereira et al (2015) that have previously discussed the interaction of the components in tropical fruit juice (Pereira et al, 2015), highlighting the possible synergistic, additive, and antagonistic effects of fruit mixtures on total antioxidant capacities.…”

Antioxidants in Food: The Significance of Characterisation, Identification, Chemical and Biological Assays in Determining the Role of Antioxidants in Food

“…In the review by Durazzo, many factors affecting the antioxidant activities of foods were considered [ 5 ]. Thus, the efficiencies of the various methods of chemical extraction methods were discussed in terms of the type of extraction method, time of extraction and temperature.…”