Bioactive compounds of food and their health benefits

New and innovative aspects

The role of both oxidative stress and natural antioxidants against the damaging effect of foods and against the pathogenesis of various diseases has led to the development of methods for assessing total antioxidant capacity and biomarkers of oxidative stress "in vitro" and "in vivo".
Many epidemiological evidences associate the consumption of vegetables and fruits with a lower incidence of chronic diseases related to oxidative stress, such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancer, etc. This fact, together with an increasing consumers’ concern for keeping healthy has lead us to search for bioactive compounds obtained from foods. However, it is known that the health benefits of these compounds depend on the intake and bioavailability, which can vary greatly depending on factors such as the matrix, processing, interaction with other compounds, chemical structure, etc. Thus, is important studies conducing to the evaluation of bioactive compounds and of their health preventive effects.

Main advantages of its use

• Evaluate the potential healtly effect of food and of extracts with antioxidant capacity.
• Revaluation of agro-industrial wastes for the production of natural antioxidants with applications in food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical products.

Specifications

1. Determination of antioxidant and antiradical capacity of foods, beverages or vegetal extracts.
2. Evaluation "in vitro" of biomarkes of oxidative stress as indicators of the protective effect for bioactive compounds.
3. Determination of cell viability, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and ROS production.
4. Evaluation of molecular biomarkers related to oxidative stress in cellular and animal models: malondialdehyde, carbonyl groups, 8-OHdG, NO, NOs, enzymatic (superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase) and no enzymatic antioxidant (GSH/GSSG, thioredoxin).

Applications

This technology can be applied to design functional foods or for the revaluation a product with health claims. Applications for food and pharmaceutical industry.

Current development status

Research or Experimental

Desired business relationship

Technical Cooperation: adaptation to specific needs.