Sustainable and efficient surfactant-based microwave-assisted extraction of target polyphenols and furanocoumarins from fig (Ficus carica L.) leaves

Dynamic response of allelopathic potency of Taxus cuspidata Sieb. et Zucc. mediated by allelochemicals in Ficus carica Linn. root exudates

In a mixed forest, certain plants can release allelochemicals that exert allelopathic effects on neighboring plants, thereby facilitating interspecific coexistence of two species. Previous studies have demonstrated that allelochemicals released from Ficus carica Linn. roots in mixed forest of F. carica and Taxus cuspidata Sieb. et Zucc. has phase characteristics over time, which can improve the soil physicochemical properties, enzyme activity and microbial diversity, thus promoting the growth of T. cuspidata. Based on the irrigation of exogenous allelochemicals, changes in soil fertility (soil physical and chemical properties, soil enzyme activity and soil microelement content) were observed in response to variations in allelochemicals during five phases of irrigation: initial disturbance phase (0-2 d), physiological compensation phase (2-8 d), screening phase (8-16 d), restore phase (16-32 d) and maturity phase (32-64 d), which was consistent with the response of soil microorganisms. The allelopathic response of growth physiological indexes of T. cuspidata, however, exhibited a slight lag behind the soil fertility, with distinct phase characteristics becoming evident on the 4th day following irrigation of allelochemicals. The findings demonstrated that the allelochemicals released by the root of F. carica induced a synergistic effect on soil fertility and microorganisms, thereby facilitating the growth of T. cuspidata. This study provides a comprehensive elucidation of the phased dynamic response-based allelopathic mechanism employed by F. carica to enhance the growth of T. cuspidata, thus establishing a theoretical basis for optimizing forest cultivation through allelopathic pathways.

Revelation of the discrepancy of volatile compounds in fig (Ficus carica) via gas chromatography ion-mobility spectrometry

The volatile compounds of fig (Ficus carica) are influenced by various factors. To explore the composition and difference of volatile compounds among figs, gas chromatography ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) was used to study the volatiles of figs from various regions, diverse cultivars, and after treatment with different drying methods. Aldehydes were the main volatile compounds in Bojihong from Shandong, while esters, ketones, and alcohols were the main volatile compounds in Bojihong from Sichuan and Guangdong. The volatiles of Branswick and Banane were similar, but differed significantly from those of Bojihong. Drying had the most significant effect on fig volatiles, which greatly reduced the content of benzaldehyde, (E)-2-hexenal, 2-methylbutanal aldehydes, lost the content of esters such as isoamyl acetate, butyl acetate, ethyl butyrate, and generated some ketones and ethers. The results showed that Bojihong from Shandong was more suitable for the processing of subsequent fig drying products.

Green process for the preparation of resveratrol-containing high oleic acid peanut oil

Resveratrol (Res), a polyphenol compound with strong biological activity, is widely used in medicinal and health products. In this study, an innovative resveratrol high oleic peanut oil (Res-HOPO) was prepared utilizing self-developed cold pressing equipment and high oleic peanuts. The peanut roots were pretreated with four different methods, including ultra-fine crushing, ultrasound-treating, microwave-treating, and a combination of microwave-ultrasound-treating peanut roots. Under optimized conditions (microwave power of 15 W, ultrasound time of 28 min, and ultrasound power of 400 W), the Res-HOPO prepared by pretreating with a combination of microwave-ultrasound had the most Res (91.12 mg/kg). Except for the pretreated whole peanut roots, pretreating with microwave (40.49 mg/kg), ultrasound (39.03 mg/kg), and ultra-fine crushing of peanut root powder (22.57 mg/kg) resulted in the high Res content. The Res-HOPO had a satisfactory yield (40%), oleic acid content (74.05% ∼ 75.85%), no trans fatty acids, great physicochemical properties, higher nutritional value (4-fold increase in squalene and almost 10-fold increase in campesterol), an extended oxidation induction time (1.39 ∼ 22 times), and no heavy metals, pesticides, or aflatoxins. The four green pretreatment methods used for the preparation of Res-HOPO in this study were effective, which provided an innovative approach for developing nutritious and healthy edible oil.

An overview of tea saponin as a surfactant in food applications

The residue of Camellia seeds after oil extraction contains many bioactive ingredients, including tea saponin. Tea saponin has many pharmacological effects and is an excellent nonionic surfactant. The development of natural surfactants has become a hot topic in food research. This review gathers the applications of tea saponin as a surfactant in food. It focuses on the application of tea saponin in emulsions, delivery systems, extraction and fermentation, as well as the challenges and development prospects in food applications. Tea saponin shows great potential as a surfactant in food applications, which can replace some synthetic surfactants. The full utilization of tea saponin improves the comprehensive utilization value of Camellia seed residue, contributes to the sustainable development of Camellia industry and avoids resource waste.

Rutin: Family Farming Products' Extraction Sources, Industrial Applications and Current Trends in Biological Activity Protection

In vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated the bioactivity of rutin, a dietary flavonol naturally found in several plant species. Despite widespread knowledge of its numerous health benefits, such as anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, hepatoprotective and cardiovascular effects, industrial use of rutin is still limited due to its low solubility in aqueous media, the characteristic bitter and astringent taste of phenolic compounds and its susceptibility to degradation during processing. To expand its applications and preserve its biological activity, novel encapsulation systems have been developed. This review presents updated research on the extraction sources and methodologies of rutin from fruit and vegetable products commonly found in a regular diet and grown using family farming approaches. Additionally, this review covers quantitative analysis techniques, encapsulation methods utilizing nanoparticles, colloidal and heterodisperse systems, as well as industrial applications of rutin.

Ingenious application of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium to improve the extraction yield of psoralen in fig (Ficus carica L.) leaves

In this study, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) disodium was first chosen as catalyst to convert psoralenoside (PO) to psoralen (PSO) for increasing the extraction yield of PSO. An efficient continuous system for synchronous transformation and extraction of PSO from fig leaves applying microwave-assisted EDTA disodium (MAE-EDTA) was developed. The optimal MAE-EDTA condition was obtained: EDTA disodium concentration of 0.07 mol·L^-1, ethanol volume fraction of 56%, extraction time of 16 min, and extraction temperature of 70 °C by single factor experiments and response surface method (RSM). Under the optimal condition, the yield of PSO reached 27.24 mg·g^-1. Compared with microwave-assisted ethanol extraction (MAE) and reflux extraction (RE), the yield of PSO by MAE-EDTA is 2.03-fold higher than RE and 1.70-fold higher than MAE. Therefore, MAE-EDTA is an efficient method for extracting PSO from fig leaves, and it might provide references for the extraction of PSO from other medicinal plants.

Industrial Application and Health Prospective of Fig (Ficus carica) By-Products

The current review was carried out on the industrial application of fig by-products and their role against chronic disorders. Fig is basically belonging to fruit and is botanically called Ficus carica. There are different parts of fig, including the leaves, fruits, seeds and latex. The fig parts are a rich source of bioactive compounds and phytochemicals including antioxidants, phenolic compounds, polyunsaturated fatty acids, phytosterols and vitamins. These different parts of fig are used in different food industries such as the bakery, dairy and beverage industries. Fig by-products are used in extract or powder form to value the addition of different food products for the purpose of improving the nutritional value and enhancing the stability. Fig by-products are additive-based products which contain high phytochemicals fatty acids, polyphenols and antioxidants. Due to the high bioactive compounds, these products performed a vital role against various diseases including cancer, diabetes, constipation, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Concussively, fig-based food products may be important for human beings and produce healthy food.

Green extraction and characterization of leaves phenolic compounds: a comprehensive review

Although containing significant levels of phenolic compounds (PCs), leaves biomass coming from either forest, agriculture, or the processing industry are considered as waste, which upon disposal, brings in environmental issues. As the demand for PCs in functional food, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic sector is escalating day by day, recovering PCs from leaves biomass would solve both the waste disposal problem while ensuring a valuable "societal health" ingredient thus highly contributing to a sustainable food chain from both economic and environmental perspectives. In our search for environmentally benign, efficient, and cost-cutting techniques for the extraction of PCs, green extraction (GE) is presenting itself as the best option in modern industrial processing. This current review aims to highlight the recent progress, constraints, legislative framework, and future directions in GE and characterization of PCs from leaves, concentrating particularly on five plant species (tea, moringa, stevia, sea buckthorn, and pistacia) based on the screened journals that precisely showed improvements in extraction efficiency along with maintaining extract quality. This overview will serve researchers and relevant industries engaged in the development of suitable techniques for the extraction of PCs with increasing yield.

Use of Polyphenols as Modulators of Food Allergies. From Chemistry to Biological Implications

The multifactorial process of aging predisposes humans to infections and inflammatory disorders, thus affecting their quality of life and longevity. Given this reality, the need to increase the consumption of bioactive compounds, like dietary polyphenols emerges in our daily basis mostly due to their health related effects in slowing-down the incidence of chronic and degenerative diseases and even food allergy, which has been growing rapidly in prevalence currently affecting 5% of adults and 8% of children. Polyphenols embrace a large family of secondary metabolites from plant-derived foods and food wastes and are considerable of interest since they have attracted special attention over the years because of their reported anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties along with their high antioxidant capacity. These compounds are claimed as nutraceuticals with protective effect in offsetting oxidant species over-genesis in normal cells, and with the potential ability to stop or reverse oxidative stress-related diseases. Plant-derived foods represent a substantive portion of human diet containing a significant amount of structurally diverse polyphenols. There is a need to understand the polyphenolic composition of plant-derived foods mainly because of its chemistry, which discloses the bioactivity of a plant extract. However, the lack of standardized methods for analysis and other difficulties associated to the nature and distribution of plant polyphenols leads to a high variability of available data. Furthermore, there is still a gap in the understanding of polyphenols bioavailability and pharmacokinetics, which clearly difficult the settlement of the intake needed to observe health outcomes. Many efforts have been made to provide highly sensitive and selective analytical methods for the extraction (liquid-liquid; solid-liquid; supercritical-fluid), separation (spectrophotometric methods) and structural identification (chromatographic techniques, NMR spectroscopy, MS spectrometry) of phenolic and polyphenolic compounds present in these extracts. Liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS) has been a fundamental technique in this area of research, not only for the determination of this family of compounds in food matrices, but also for the characterization and identification of new polyphenols classified with nutraceutical interest. This review summarizes the nature, distribution and main sources of polyphenols, analytical methods from extraction to characterization to further evaluate the health effects toward immune reactions to food.