Everything Should Be as Simple as It Can Be. But Not Simpler. Does Food Lipid Oxidation Require an Omics Approach?

Navigating the complexity of lipid oxidation and antioxidation: A review of evaluation methods and emerging approaches

Lipid oxidative degradation contributes to the deterioration of food quality and poses potential health risks. A promising approach to counteract this is the use of plant-based antioxidants. However, accurately evaluating the antioxidant capacity and effectiveness of these compounds remains a challenge. While many rapid in vitro tests are available, they must be categorized according to their specific responses to avoid overinterpreting results. This review opens with an overview of current knowledge on lipid autoxidation and recent findings that highlight the challenges in measuring antioxidant capacity. We then examine various methods, addressing their limitations in accurately anticipating outcomes in complex compartmentalized lipid systems. The aim is to clarify the gap between predictions and real-world efficacy in final products. Additionally, the review compares the strengths and weaknesses of methods used to evaluate antioxidant capacity and assess oxidation degrees in complex environments, such as those found in food and cosmetics. Finally, new analytical techniques for multiproduct detection are introduced, paving the way for a more 'omic' and spatiotemporally defined approach.

Revealing oxidative degradation of lipids and screening potential markers of four vegetable oils during thermal processing by pseudotargeted oxidative lipidomics

The oxidative degradation of lipids in vegetable oils during thermal processing may present a risk to human health. However, not much is known about the evolution of lipids and their non-volatile derivatives in vegetable oils under different thermal processing conditions. In the present study, a pseudotargeted oxidative lipidomics approach was developed and the evolution of lipids and their non-volatile derivatives in palm oil, rapeseed oil, soybean oil, and flaxseed oil under different thermal processing conditions was investigated. The results showed that thermal processing resulted in the oxidative degradation of TGs in vegetable oils, which generated oxTGs, DGs, and FFAs, as well as TGs with smaller molecular weights. The lower the fatty acid saturation, the more severe the oxidative degradation of vegetable oils and thermal processing at high temperatures should be avoided if possible. From the accumulation of oxTGs concentrations, the hazards during thermal processing at high temperatures were, in descending order, soybean oil, rapeseed oil, flaxseed oil, and palm oil. The non-volatile potential markers were screened in palm oil, rapeseed oil, soybean oil, and flaxseed oil for 1, 7, 5, and 2 markers related to thermal processing time, respectively. The study provided suggestions for the consumption of vegetable oils from multiple perspectives and identified markers for monitored oxidative degradation of vegetable oils.

Radical Scavenging Activity of Olive Oil Phenolic Antioxidants in Oil or Water Phase during the Oxidation of O/W Emulsions: An Oxidomics Approach

Omics approaches are recently being applied also in food lipid oxidation, to increase knowledge of oxidation and antioxidation mechanisms. The so-called oxidomics throws a wider spot of light on the complex patterns of reactions taking place in food lipids, especially in dispersed systems. This research aimed to investigate the radical scavenging activity of olive oil phenolic antioxidants (OPAs) in O/W emulsions, as affected by the phase in which they were added. This allowed one to assess whether different behaviors could be expected from antioxidants originally present in phenolic-rich olive oils compared to natural antioxidants added in the water phase during emulsion production. Hydroperoxide decomposition kinetics and the analysis of volatile pattern provided an outline of antioxidation mechanisms. Though being effective in slowing down oxidation when added both in the oil and water phase, OPAs interfered in different ways with oxidation pathways, based on the phase in which they were added. OPAs added to the water phase were more effective in slowing down hydroperoxide decomposition due to the hydrophilic radical initiator. On the other hand, OPAs present in the oil were more effective in preventing radical propagation, with relevant consequences on the volatile pattern.

Simultaneous Analysis of Epoxidized and Hydroperoxidized Triacylglycerols in Canola Oil and Margarine by LC-MS

The progress of lipid oxidation in foods is evaluated by measuring the peroxides and their scission products. However, hydrogen abstraction-independent pathways are not considered by commonly applied methods despite the known reactivity of epoxides toward biomolecules. Herein, a novel liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry method was developed to detect hydroperoxidized and epoxidized triacylglycerols (TAGs) without derivatization or hydrolyzation of food samples. Epoxidized TAGs could be detected in refined canola oil at concentrations of 96.8 ± 2.08 μM, while only 5.77 ± 0.04 μM hydroperoxidized TAGs could be determined. In contrast to canola oil, margarine was more resistant to lipid oxidation since generation of epoxidized TAGs could only be marginally enhanced from 21.7 ± 0.48 to 28.8 ± 0.64 μM in margarine after treatment at 180 °C for 60 min, as also reflected by a peroxide value of 0.80 ± 0.00 mequiv O₂/kg, which remained unchanged. The new method allows the assessment of food safety by the simultaneous measurement of hydroperoxidized and epoxidized TAGs without hydrolysis and laborious sample preparation.