Journal of Food Bioactives

Advancing food processing in Africa: Challenges, innovations and opportunities report on the IUFoST scientific roundtable

Olusola Oyewole — 2025-06-30

This contribution summarizes the outcome of a Scientific Roundtable Discussion webinar, jointly organized by the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) and the Association of African Universities (AAU) on the topic of Advancing Food Processing in Africa. The event focused on addressing challenges such as post-harvest losses, especially of traditional and indigenous crops, limited infrastructure to scale up traditional processing technologies, difficulties in securing a consistent supply of quality ingredients for the food sector, and the confusion created by some food classification systems. Discussions emphasized the importance of multi-stakeholder collaborations to explore opportunities for value addition to agro-produce in Africa through sustainable and nutrition-focused food processing with retention of bioactive compounds, thereby enhancing food security and economic growth on the continent.

Pharmacokinetic profiles and improvement of resveratrol and derived stilbenes

Jie Peng — 2025-06-30

Numerous studies have demonstrated the health-promoting benefits of resveratrol and its close derivatives in various aspects of disease prevention and management, yet due to their highly conjugated 1,2-diphenylethylene structural skeleton, the in vivo application of stilbenoids could be limited. Therefore, the metabolic profiles of these stilbene compounds warrant further attention and investigation. The bioavailability of a nutrient or a drug is significantly influenced by ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion). In this review, we summarize the study results of drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK) profiles of resveratrol and its close oligomeric derivatives, including oxyresveratrol, piceatannol, pterostilbene, rhaponticin, rhapontigenin and 2,3,5,4′-tetrahydroxystilbene-2-O-β-glucopyranoside (THSG). This review also addressees explored delivery strategies, such as stilbenoids-loaded nanoparticles or Pickering emulsions, to enhance their aqueous solubility, stability, and thus bioavailability.

Research progress on bioactive components and their activities in Sea buckthorn

Chenye Gao — 2025-06-30

Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) is a naturally occurring dual-use plant for both medicine and food. It contains numerous bioactive compounds demonstrating significant health-promoting effects, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and blood lipid-regulating activities. China currently possesses the world's largest sea buckthorn resources. The full and rational utilization of these resources holds substantial importance for enhancing public health and stimulating local economic development. While research on the bioactive compounds and efficacy of sea buckthorn has garnered increasing attention in recent years, a systematic review of this knowledge remains lacking. This article comprehensively summarizes the rich profile of bioactive compounds in sea buckthorn and their documented health benefits. It aims to provide a foundation for the further application and development of sea buckthorn within the pharmaceutical, functional food, and related industries.

Components and Bioactivities of Sea Cucumber: An Update

Xinru Yang — 2025-06-30

Sea cucumbers (holothurians), a classic marine invertebrate echinoderms, were found worldwide mainly as benthic organisms attached to sediments on the ocean floor. In particular, Sea cucumbers have long been esteemed as a valuable food due to their unique high nutritional value. Bioactives from Sea cucumbers play a crucial role in favor of human wellness. In this review, we collected recent research advances regarding this topic. First, we summarized the bioactive components from sea cucumbers including saponins, polysaccharides, polypeptides, proteins, fatty acids, cerebrosides, and gangliosides. Furthermore, we also outlined the role of sea cucumbers in anti-tumor, metabolic disease prevention , immune regulation and anti-aging. In a word, this review intends to cause further attention on the researches and development of sea cucumbers on the basis of the health protective mechanisms associated with the bioactives.

Elicitor-induced enhancement of bioactive content and α-amylase inhibition in cluster bean sprouts

Komal Solanki — 2025-06-30

This study investigates the effects of elicitor treatments on bioactive compounds and α-amylase inhibitory activity in Cyamopsis tetragonoloba sprouts. Elicitors like glutamic acid, ascorbic acid, chitosan, and their combination were used on seeds to check their effects on germination, radicle length, phytochemical content, and antioxidant activity. Glutamic acid and a combination of 50 mg/kg low-molecular-weight chitosan with 5 mM glutamic acid significantly increased protein, phenol, and ascorbic acid contents. The highest DPPH radical scavenging activity (15.57%) was observed in sprouts treated with 50 mg/kg chitosan and 5 mM glutamic acid, while no notable ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) activity was recorded. Elicited sprouts showed significantly higher α-amylase inhibitory activity than non-germinated seeds, with the chitosan-glutamic acid combination achieving the highest inhibition (53.92%). These findings underscore the potential of elicitors to enhance the nutritional and functional properties of cluster bean sprouts, warranting further research into specific phenolic compounds and other bioactive.

Quantification of 3,3-dimethyl-1-butanol (DMB) in olive oil: a rapid and novel method

Apostolos Kiritsakis — 2025-06-30

A novel Headspace Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (HS-GC/MS) method for identifying and quantifying 3,3-dimethyl-1-butanol (DMB), a bioactive compound, in extra virgin olive oil was developed. In this study, solvents with similar properties to DΜB but potentially different molecular masses, namely isopropanol, n-butanol, n-pentanol, and 2-penthanol, were tested and 2-pentanol was selected as the internal standard due to both chromatographic separation and distinctive mass spectrum pattern. The method for DMB determination and quantification was validated according to Eurochem CITAC Guide. Sensitivity, specificity, linearity, accuracy, and precision parameters were evaluated. The validation process also included assessment of the method’s robustness and repeatability, ensuring that it produces reliable results for future analyses of olive oil. A linear regression equation was developed for 100–5,000 µg/L levels as y = x.11.462.10−6, where y is the peak area ratio, and x is the DMB concentration in µg/L with 0.9989 correlation coefficient (R2), and uncertainty budget was estimated as 8.22% at k = 2 confidence level. At the same time, the lower range of 0–100 µg/L was described with equation y = x.17.860.10−6 and 0.9983 correlation coefficient (R2). The uncertainty of the DMB measurements in extra virgin olive oil was estimated as 7.0% at a k = 2 confidence level. This new method was applied to determine the presence of DMB in various olive oil samples from Greece and Türkiye. The DMB values for olive oil samples were: N1(Plus health blue multi varietal ) 9.7 μg/L, Ν2 (Plus health DMB multi varietal)11.4 μg/L, N3 (Fyllikon first harvest organic) 8.3 μg/L, N4 (Plus health green multi varietal) 7.8 μg/L, N5 (Agourelaio early harvest organic) 6.8 μg/L, N6 (unknown) 4.8 μg/L, N7 (Armonia monovarietal organic) 4.8 μg/L and N8 (Edremit type olive oil from Kırkağaç, Manisa) 8.8 μg/L and N9 (Market product in Türkiye) 1.5 μg/L.

The effect of L-carnitine and catechin together with calories restriction on the reduction of body fat and blood lipids

Chi-Hua Yen — 2025-06-30

Obesity has become a critical health problem worldwide, and it’s associated with other health issues. Weight loss supplement and caloriese restriction from the daily diet can be implemented to help reduce body weight. L-carnitine and catechin can help reduce body weight by upregulating fatty acid metabolism and altering lipid formation. This study was to assess the effect of L-carnitine and catechin together with calories restriction on body weight and lipid profile. 3T3-L1 cell line was used to assess the effect of L-carnitine and catechin on lipid accumulation. For the human study, a total 30 subjects with obesity were recruited and divided into 2 intervention groups, one is calories restriction group and the other one is L-carnitine and catechin together with calories restriction. Result shows that L-carnitine and catechin significantly reduced fat accumulation in the 3T3-L1 cell model. In the human study, L-carnitine and catechin together with calories restriction significantly reduced body weight, and body fat and improved the lipid profile of the subject, and showed better effect than calories restriction only.

Botanicals impact the bifidogenic effect and metabolic outputs of in vitro fiber fermentation by gut-derived microbiota in individual-specific ways

Dane G Deemer — 2025-06-30

Fortification of products frequently consumed by a large proportion of society provides an attractive strategy to close the “fiber gap” and may have the potential to concomitantly reverse the detrimental health effects exacerbated by our modern diets. Besides prebiotic fibers, products can contain other functional components, e.g. botanicals. However, most studies have investigated functional components in isolation. The impact of other components present in functional product blends on the bifidogenic effect typically exerted by prebiotic fibers are largely unexplored. Here, we investigated the fiber and botanical blends included in OLIPOP, a functional soda, in an in vitro gut fermentation model. Our data revealed that the blend of inulins and resistant dextrins promoted growth of bifidobacteria across gut microbiota from four donors, even those with small initial populations. In addition, botanicals interacted with fiber fermentation in donor-specific ways, in some cases strongly enhancing fermentation rate and production of short-chain fatty acids.

Allyl isothiocyanate confers resistance against low-pH stress conditions to RGM1 gastric normal epithelial cells

Shiho Kawaguchi — 2025-06-30

In this study, we attempted to elucidate the effects of ally isothiocyanates (AITC) on stress resistance. RGM1 cells, derived from the normal gastric mucosa of rats, were pretreated with AITC (0-30 μM) 24 hr or 48 hr prior to posttreatment with AITC (0 or 20 μM), or both. While approximately 90% of the vehicle-pretreated cells died by a posttreatment with AITC, pretreatments with AITC (10-30 μM), especially 24 hr prior and double pretreatments, exhibited striking cytoprotective effects. AITC, as a xenobiotic, increased the amounts of reactive oxygen species and insoluble proteins. On the other hand, double pretreatments with AITC markedly upregulated the mRNA expression levels of anti-oxidative, detoxification, and molecular chaperone genes for homeostasis. Interestingly, pretreatments with AITC (10 and 15 μM) significantly mitigated low-pH, but not high-pH, stress conditions, which may involve the activation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase and Na+/H+ exchanger. Taken together, we show here that multiple exposures to AITC can confer a stress resistance phenotype, including adaptation to acidic pH, by upregulating the expressions of self-defensive enzymes. Therefore, this study implies the importance of continuous ingestion of phytochemicals for efficiently increasing the stress resistance capacity against harmful chemicals.