Current Nutrition & Food Science - Volume 6, Issue 1, 2010

Nutrition is an important factor determining quality of life and health. In recent years, nutritional strategies have received much attention with respect to the prevention of a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, and many more. Next to the macro-constituents of the diet such as proteins and dietary fiber, micronutrients and phytochemicals such as polyphenols, carote Read More

Plants have evolved antioxidant molecules to help them withstand environmental stresses. Humans may also benefit from these defense molecules through their consumption in fruits and vegetables. Dietary antioxidants are indeed believed to play a very important role in the human body defense system, protecting, as in plants, against oxidative damage induced by Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), which are known to be in Read More

Following recent evidence that disturbances in oxidative metabolism are involved in anxiety disorders, high anxiety levels and depression, the use of antioxidants has been proposed as a novel approach for the prevention or treatment of these conditions. Polyphenols are naturally-occurring antioxidant substances which can have pharmacological actions on the central nervous system. This mini-review aims to examine the cu Read More

Apples (Malus spp., Rosaceae) and their products contain significant concentrations of polyphenols, which have diverse biological activities and may have important beneficial effects on human health. The main polyphenols in apples are hydroxycinnamic acids, dihydrochalcones, flavonols, catechins and oligomeric procyanidins, although triterpenoids are also present in apple peel and anthocyanins in red apples. Human inte Read More

Carotenoids are secondary plant constituents and more than 700 different compounds have been identified. They are synthesized by plants, where they serve as colorants for fruits and leaves, bacteria, fungi and algae. In nature carotenoids are important biological compounds due to their provitamin A activity, antioxidant properties and accessory functions in the light harvesting system of plants. Considerable amounts of c Read More

Carotenoids are a group of C-40 isoprenoid-based molecules with >600 representatives in nature, of which approximately 30 are of importance within our daily diet. This class of phytochemicals has recently attracted much attention due to potential health beneficial effects associated with carotenoid consumption, including reduction of cardiovascular diseases, protection from age-related macular degeneration, various typ Read More

Food may be either contaminated with a range of industrial chemicals or contain naturally produced toxic compounds. Even the most sophisticated chemical analyses are not able to perform or contribute to an effect assessment of food constituents. While in environmental research the application of “effect directed analysis” (EDA) and “toxicity identification and evaluation” (TIE) has been widely accepted and applied, th Read More

Acetylation and deacetylation of lysine residues on histones, which are catalyzed by histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs), are epigenetic modifications that play a very important role in the regulation of gene transcription. Perturbation of the balance between histone acetylation and deacetylation leads to a myriad of diseases, including cancer, AIDS, malaria, neurodegenerative diseases, and di Read More