A comparison of cell death mechanisms of antioxidants, butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene

The Biochemistry and Effectiveness of Antioxidants in Food, Fruits, and Marine Algae

It is more effective to maintain good health than to regain it after losing it. This work focuses on the biochemical defense mechanisms against free radicals and their role in building and maintaining antioxidant shields, aiming to show how to balance, as much as possible, the situations in which we are exposed to free radicals. To achieve this aim, foods, fruits, and marine algae with a high antioxidant content should constitute the basis of nutritional elements, since natural products are known to have significantly greater assimilation efficiency. This review also gives the perspective in which the use of antioxidants can extend the life of food products, by protecting them from damage caused by oxidation as well as their use as food additives.

Potential Carcinogens in Makeup Cosmetics

Facial makeup cosmetics are commonly used products that are applied to the skin, and their ingredients come into contact with it for many years. Consequently, they should only contain substances that are considered safe or used within an allowable range of established concentrations. According to current European laws, all cosmetics approved for use should be entirely safe for their users, and the responsibility for this lies with manufacturers, distributors, and importers. However, the use of cosmetics can be associated with undesirable effects due to the presence of certain chemical substances. An analysis of 50 random facial makeup cosmetics commercially available on the European Union market and manufactured in six European countries was carried out, concerning the presence of substances with potential carcinogenic properties, as described in recent years in the literature. Nine types of facial makeup cosmetics were selected, and their compositions, as declared on the labels, were analyzed. The carcinogens were identified with information present in the European CosIng database and according to the Insecticide Resistance Action Committee's (IRAC) classification. As a result, the following potential carcinogens were identified: parabens (methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, and ethylparaben), ethoxylated compounds (laureth-4, lautreth-7, or ethylene glycol polymers known as PEG), formaldehyde donors (imidazolidinyl urea, quaternium 15, and DMDM hydantoin), and ethanolamine and their derivatives (triethanolamine and diazolidinyl urea), as well as carbon and silica. In conclusion, all of the analyzed face makeup cosmetics contain potential carcinogenic substances. The literature review confirmed the suppositions regarding the potential carcinogenic effects of selected cosmetic ingredients. Therefore, it seems necessary to carry out studies on the long-term exposure of compounds present in cosmetics and perhaps introduce stricter standards and laws regulating the potential presence of carcinogens and their activity in cosmetics.

The Impact of Food Additives on the Abundance and Composition of Gut Microbiota

The gut microbiota has been confirmed as an important part in human health, and is even take as an 'organ'. The interaction between the gut microbiota and host intestinal environment plays a key role in digestion, metabolism, immunity, inflammation, and diseases. The dietary component is a major factor that affects the composition and function of gut microbiota. Food additives have been widely used to improve the color, taste, aroma, texture, and nutritional quality of processed food. The increasing variety and quantity of processed food in diets lead to increased frequency and dose of food additives exposure, especially artificial food additives, which has become a concern of consumers. There are studies focusing on the impact of food additives on the gut microbiota, as long-term exposure to food additives could induce changes in the microbes, and the gut microbiota is related to human health and disease. Therefore, the aim of this review is to summarize the interaction between the gut microbiota and food additives.

Ethanolic extract of rice bran: a thermally stable preservative for edible oils and cake

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the thermal stability of the rice bran extract (RBE) and analyze the effect of RBE on the shelf-life of sunflower oil and the quality characteristics and shelf-life of baked cake. The thermal stability of RBE was evaluated by a Rancimat test using sunflower oil. Properties such as moisture content, porosity, crumb density and pore area of cakes baked with RBE and the synthetic antioxidant butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) were compared. Sensory properties such as taste, aroma, texture, color and overall acceptability of the cake samples were compared using a sensory panel test. The shelf-life of the cakes was evaluated by microbial counts and chemical methods. Thermally treated RBE and BHT for 2 h at 180 °C retained 75% of their initial capacity in protecting sunflower oil while RBE had a significantly higher protection factor (p < 0.05). Cakes baked with RBE received higher scores for taste, color and overall acceptability compared to control or BHT-added cake. BHT-added cake and RBE-added cake exceeded the aerobic plate count (APC) and yeast and mold count (YMC) on days 11 and 13 respectively, while the control cakes without added antioxidants exceeded the APC and YMC on day 7. Both BHT- and RBE-added cakes maintained hexanal levels below 5 mg/kg over 28 days while the control cake exceeded this level on day 21. The results suggest that RBE can be used as a natural food additive to improve the quality and shelf-life of baked foods and edible oils.

Graphical Abstract

Antioxidant Properties of Hemp Proteins: From Functional Food to Phytotherapy and Beyond

As one of the oldest plants cultivated by humans, hemp used to be banned in the United States but returned as a legal crop in 2018. Since then, the United States has become the leading hemp producer in the world. Currently, hemp attracts increasing attention from consumers and scientists as hemp products provide a wide spectrum of potential functions. Particularly, bioactive peptides derived from hemp proteins have been proven to be strong antioxidants, which is an extremely hot research topic in recent years. However, some controversial disputes and unknown issues are still underway to be explored and verified in the aspects of technique, methodology, characteristic, mechanism, application, caution, etc. Therefore, this review focusing on the antioxidant properties of hemp proteins is necessary to discuss the multiple critical issues, including in vitro structure-modifying techniques and antioxidant assays, structure-activity relationships of antioxidant peptides, pre-clinical studies on hemp proteins and pathogenesis-related molecular mechanisms, usage and potential hazard, and novel advanced techniques involving bioinformatics methodology (QSAR, PPI, GO, KEGG), proteomic analysis, and genomics analysis, etc. Taken together, the antioxidant potential of hemp proteins may provide both functional food benefits and phytotherapy efficacy to human health.

The Influence of Syringic Acid and Erucic Acid on the Antioxidant Properties of Natural Rubber: Experimental and Molecular Simulation Investigations

In this work, the influence of syringic acid (SA) and erucic acid (EA) on the oxidation resistance of natural rubber (NR) was investigated by combining experimental and computational methods. The antioxidant activities of SA and EA were predicted by calculating the enthalpy of bond dissociation (BDE), the anti-migration ability of antioxidants (AOs) in the rubber matrix by calculating the mean square displacement (MSD), and the effect of antioxidants on oxygen barrier properties of rubber materials by calculating the permeability coefficient (P). The predicted result is that EA has a better comprehensive performance than SA. The DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) test and mechanical properties test demonstrated the results predicted by the simulations. Both SA and EA can protect natural rubber, while EA has a better comprehensive effect.

Terpenoids and Polyphenols as Natural Antioxidant Agents in Food Preservation

Synthetic antioxidant food additives, such as BHA, BHT and TBHQ, are going through a difficult time, since these products generate a negative perception in consumers. This has generated an increased pressure on food manufacturers to search for safer natural alternatives like phytochemicals (such as polyphenols, including flavonoids, and essential oils rich in terpenoids, including carotenoids). These plant bioactive compounds have antioxidant activities widely proven in in vitro tests and in diverse food matrices (meat, fish, oil and vegetables). As tons of food are wasted every year due to aesthetic reasons (lipid oxidation) and premature damage caused by inappropriate packaging, there is an urgent need for natural antioxidants capable of replacing the synthetic ones to meet consumer demands. This review summarizes industrially interesting antioxidant bioactivities associated with terpenoids and polyphenols with respect to the prevention of lipid oxidation in high fat containing foods, such as meat (rich in saturated fat), fish (rich in polyunsaturated fat), oil and vegetable products, while avoiding the generation of rancid flavors and negative visual deterioration (such as color changes due to oxidized lipids). Terpenoids (like monoterpenes and carotenoids) and polyphenols (like quercetin and other flavonoids) are important phytochemicals with a broad range of antioxidant effects. These phytochemicals are widely distributed in fruits and vegetables, including agricultural waste, and are remarkably useful in food preservation, as they show bioactivity as plant antioxidants, able to scavenge reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, such as superoxide, hydroxyl or peroxyl radicals in meat and other products, contributing to the prevention of lipid oxidation processes in food matrices.