Soybean Bioactive Components and their Implications to Health—A Review

Foods containing bioactive components are receiving increasing attention due to their functionality in disease prevention and treatment. Soybean products contain a plethora of bioactive phytochemicals such as isoflavones, saponins, phytic acids, phytosterols, trypsin inhibitors, and peptides. Research has implicated soybean phytochemicals as functioning in cholesterol reduction, cardiovascular disease prevention, diabetic symptoms prevention, bone loss prevention, and cancer prevention. However, some bioactive compounds in soybean are reported to have some adverse effects to health also. Nevertheless, the benefits of soybean bioactive components exceed by far their potential adverse effects. The main objective of this article is to discuss the different soybean bioactive components and their implications to human health.     

Health-related Interactions of Phytochemicals

ABSTRACT: Interactions between phytochemical components often modify the pharmacological effects of botanical dietary supplements, functional foods, or drugs. These interactions can either potentiate the effect of bioactive phytochemicals or interfere with their activity. This review defines and explores 2 types of phytochemical interactions: endointeractions that occur between components within a plant species and exointeractions that occur between components from different plants or between plants and synthetic drugs. Exointeractions and endointeractions between and within the complex mixtures of phytochemicals may have a profound effect on human health. Few well-characterized interactions were shown to affect a wide range of biological processes such as metabolism, bioavailability, solubility, cellular uptake and efflux, and body clearance. Phytochemical interactions may explain the health effects of regional diets, undesirable side effects of drugs, and inconsistent performance of dietary supplements. Better understanding of health-related phytochemical interactions should lead to a more sophisticated, holistic approach to disease prevention and treatment.     

The Health Potential of Fruits and Vegetables Phytochemicals: Notable Examples

Fruit and vegetables are essential components of a healthy diet. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends an intake of five to eight portions (400–600 g) daily of fruits and vegetables to reduce risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, poor cognitive performance, and other diet-related diseases, as well as for the prevention of micronutrient deficiencies. Much of their potential for disease prevention is thought to be provided by phytochemicals, among which the preventive activity of antioxidants is most well documented. Since numerous meta-studies published indicate variable and often contradictory results about the impact of isolated phytochemicals on health, their consumption as supplements must be carried out with care, because doses may exceed the recommended nutritional intake. Nonetheless, there is a general consensus that whole fruit and vegetable intake is more important in providing health benefits than that of only one of their constituent, because of additive and synergistic effects. This review describes the most recent literature regarding the health benefits of some selected fruits and vegetables. Importantly, since some phytochemicals regulate the same genes and pathways targeted by drugs, diets rich in fruits and vegetables in combination with medical therapies are being considered as novel approaches to treatment. Therefore, phytochemicals in fruits and vegetable might be a promising tool for the prevention and/or amelioration of a wide range of diseases.     

Significance of sample preparation in developing analytical methodologies for accurate estimation of bioactive compounds in functional foods

Functional foods are defined as foods or food components that provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition (for the intended population). Increased interest in bioactive food components and phytochemicals has arisen from numerous epidemiological studies that suggest that certain phytochemicals can reduce risk of chronic diseases. Sales of functional foods containing high concentrations of bioactive components have increased dramatically during the past two decades. This paper illustrates with examples the significance of sample preparation in developing analytical methodologies for accurate estimation of potentially bioactive compounds present in functional foods using phenolic phytochemicals as model substrates. The primary three steps in any analysis are sampling, sample preservation, and sample preparation. These three initial steps are often overlooked and considered ‘as a means to an end’ and are often not well documented in the published literature. This paper outlines a systematic protocol for optimizing extraction of phytochemicals from different plant matrices. Accurate analysis of bioactive compounds is critical for their precise and reproducible quantification in different foods, establishing appropriate dietary intake and safety guidelines, and understanding their role in human health and nutrition. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

大豆活性组分和肠道菌群相互作用研究进展

目前食品组分与肠道菌群的相互作用及其对健康的影响已成为膳食与健康领域的研究热点。存在于动物体内的肠道菌群对大豆活性组分的分解代谢、转化吸收有着重要作用,大豆活性组分在体内肠道菌群作用下发生生物转化,导致其结构改变,从而形成新的活性成分,进而影响人体健康。同时,大豆活性组分的肠道菌群代谢产物又能够调节肠道菌群结构、保护肠黏膜屏障、维护肠道微生态平衡。本文对大豆活性组分如何在菌群作用下进行有效生物转化、肠道菌群在外源组分的扰动下如何进行菌群结构和丰度调整以及大豆组分的菌群代谢产物对人的健康影响等方面进行了综述,以期为深入研究大豆活性成分对人体健康作用的机理提供参考。     

Sorghum: An Underutilized Cereal Whole Grain with the Potential to Assist in the Prevention of Chronic Disease

Sorghum is an important cereal grain food, grown globally, that is rich in nutrients, dietary fiber, and bioactive components yet is considered of low value to humans and often used as an animal feed. This review provides an overview of key sorghum grain components, including starches, dietary fiber, protein, lipids, and phytochemicals, with functional properties that have potential to impact on health. Though acknowledging the impact of the whole food will reflect the synergy between the components, studies of these components implicate effects on energy balance, glycemic control, lipids, gut microbiota, and cell-mediated immune responses, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. For these to be confirmed as contributory effects from sorghum consumption, evidence from quality randomized controlled trials is required. If proven effective, there may be a role for sorghum grain–based diets to assist in the prevention of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. Future research addressing effects of sorghum consumption may help drive a paradigm shift from sorghum as a low value food to a potentially health-promoting, highly valued human grain food.     

Biologically Active Components and Nutraceuticals in Peanuts and Related Products: Review

Peanuts are among the world's major oilseed crops. They are very nutritious with relatively high protein content and can be utilized in diverse ways. Their oil is very easily digested, and for this reason they are useful consumptives. Peanuts not only contain the so-called “good” fat (monounsaturated fat), but they are also high in a variety of helpful antioxidants, or chemicals that shield the damaging effects of free radicals. Peanuts are also a source of helpful biologically active components found in plant foods, such as phytochemicals. Some of the phytochemicals in peanuts include flavonoids and phenolic compounds. This article discusses bioactive compounds and nutraceuticals in peanuts that could be used in prevention and management of illnesses such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and other degenerative diseases. The biological activity of anti-nutritional factors in peanuts is also briefly discussed.     

乳液基递送体系对植源活性物健康效应的影响研究进展

植源活性物是指存在于植物中的具有特定健康效应的活性物质。部分植源活性物受溶解度低、胃肠道稳定性差、肠上皮细胞吸收及淋巴转运效率低、体内代谢速率快等因素影响,造成其经口摄入后健康效应发挥受限。乳液基递送体系可通过以下途径影响植源活性物的健康效应：1）改善植源活性物胃肠道溶解度和稳定性,避免活性物直接接触胃肠道环境,减少活性物的失活;2）乳液油相在胃肠道消化过程中形成胶束对脂溶性活性物起增溶作用,改善活性物在小肠处经血液或淋巴的转运吸收效率;3）调节活性物在消化道中的时滞性释放及特异性黏附行为,通过改变肠道菌群结构及功能或调控活性物释放吸收靶点等方式影响活性物与肠道菌群的互作过程。本文综述了乳液基递送体系的特点及优势,着重论述乳液基递送体系对植源活性物增溶、消化道控释吸收及与肠道菌群互作过程的影响。     

Industry-Relevant Approaches for Minimising the Bitterness of Bioactive Compounds in Functional Foods: A Review

Functional foods, with their synergistic health benefits that go beyond just being a source of individual nutrients, present challenges to the traditional ‘nutrition’ view of foods. Consumers demand proven health benefits without compromising flavour, taste and colour. A successful functional food must offer nutrients, specific health-promoting functionality and desirable sensory attributes. Attempts to increase the intake of desirable bioactive compounds are driven by the need to deliver optimal bioactivity to consumers for disease prevention and health enhancement. Increasing the bioactive concentration in foods often leads to bitterness, particularly when incorporating bioactive phytochemicals. This article provides an overview of the strategies which can be used for food bitterness reduction, with an emphasis on those approaches which are industrially relevant and economically feasible, i.e. tailored food formulation, processing and delivery technology approaches. Solutions for reducing bitterness from phytochemicals in food are proposed, including blocking, inhibiting, suppressing, minimising and masking mechanisms. The potential of encapsulation and non-encapsulation approaches for functional food applications is highlighted, and their effect in improving stability, bioactivity, bioaccessibility and bioavailability is addressed.     

Interactions between phytochemicals from fruits and vegetables: Effects on bioactivities and bioavailability

The combinations of two or more phytochemicals bring about changes in the ultimate biological effects and/or the bioavailability of each component. A number of mixtures of pure bioactive compounds or phytochemical-containing plant extracts provide synergy with regard to antioxidant status, anti-inflammation, anti-cancer and chemoprevention of several oxidative stress and metabolic disorders in vitro. The biological activities of food phytochemicals depend upon their bioaccessibility and bioavailability which can be affected by the presence of other food components including other bioactive constituents. The interactions between phytochemicals during intestinal absorption could result in changes in the bioavailability of the compounds, which in turn affects the intensity of their bioactivities. This paper provides an overview of combined biological effects of phytochemical mixtures derived from fruits and vegetables with a focus on anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic activities. The bioavailability impairment or enhancement caused by the co-consumption of dietary phytochemicals is also discussed. Finally, research gaps for future studies on phytochemical interactions are identified.     

Factors influencing levels of phytochemicals in selected fruit and vegetables during pre- and post-harvest food processing operations

Phytochemicals are important natural bioactive compounds of fruit and vegetables and are widely recognised for their nutraceutical effects and health benefits. This review analyses different factors influencing the level of phytochemicals in selected fruit and vegetables at different processing stages in the production chain. The level of phytochemicals present in fruit and vegetables may vary within and across cultivars. Available literature correlates the level of phytochemicals with many factors including cultivar type, environmental and agronomic conditions, harvest and food processing operations, and storage factors. The optimisation of food processing and storage factors is an essential step to reduce the degradation of phytochemicals for potential health benefits. Cultivar selection and maturity at harvest may be critical for food processors to maintain high levels of phytochemicals in fruit and vegetables.     

Molecular targets of dietary phytochemicals for possible prevention and therapy of uterine fibroids: Focus on fibrosis

Uterine fibroids (myomas or leiomyomas) are common benign tumors of reproductive aged women. Fibroids are clinically apparent in 20–50% of women, and cause abnormal uterine bleeding, abdominal pain and discomfort, pregnancy complications and infertility. Unfortunately, limited numbers of medical treatment are available but no effective preventive strategies exist. Moreover, the benefits of medical treatments are tempered by lack of efficacy or serious adverse side effects. Fibrosis has recently been recognized as a key pathological event in leiomyoma development and growth. It is defined by the excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM). ECM plays important role in making bulk structure of leiomyoma, and ECM-rich rigid structure is believed to be a cause of abnormal bleeding and pelvic pain/pressure. Dietary phytochemicals are known to regulate fibrotic process in different biological systems, and being considered as potential tool to manage human health. At present, very few dietary phytochemicals have been studied in uterine leiomyoma, and they are mostly known for their antiproliferative effects. Therefore, in this review, our aim was to introduce some dietary phytochemicals that could target fibrotic processes in leiomyoma. Thus, this review could serve as useful resource to develop antifibrotic drugs for possible prevention and treatment of uterine fibroids.     

马铃薯中生物活性成分及其功能

马铃薯不仅是一种营养丰富的食品,还含有许多特殊生物活性成分,可以在预防和辅助治疗疾病方面发挥重要作用。本文重点介绍了目前已发现的马铃薯中所含的主要生物活性成分,并总结了已证实的马铃薯及其提取物的保健功能,介绍了品种、贮藏及烹调加工等因素对马铃薯生物活性成分的影响,最后介绍了马铃薯及其制品中存在的潜在健康危害因素,并对未来的研究进行了展望,为进一步开发、利用马铃薯的价值提供参考。     

Tea and Its Consumption: Benefits and Risks

The recent convention of introducing phytochemicals to support the immune system or combat diseases is a centuries’ old tradition. Nutritional support is an emerging advancement in the domain of diet-based therapies; tea and its constituents are one of the significant components of these strategies to maintain the health and reduce the risk of various malignancies. Tea is the most frequently consumed beverage worldwide, besides water. All the three most popular types of tea, green (unfermented), black (fully fermented), and oolong (semifermented), are manufactured from the leaves of the plant Camellia sinensis. Tea possesses significant antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anticarcinogenic, antihypertensive, neuroprotective, cholesterol-lowering, and thermogenic properties. Several research investigations, epidemiological studies, and meta-analyses suggest that tea and its bioactive polyphenolic constituents have numerous beneficial effects on health, including the prevention of many diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular disease (CVD), stroke, genital warts, and obesity. Controversies regarding beneficialts and risks of tea consumption still exist but the limitless health-promoting benefits of tea outclass its few reported toxic effects. However, with significant rise in the scientific investigation of role of tea in human life, this review is intended to highlight the beneficial effects and risks associated with tea consumption.     

小麦、水稻和玉米胚芽的营养功能及胚芽食品的研究进展

小麦、水稻和玉米作为我国三大主粮,其籽粒中的胚芽富含多种营养素以及黄酮类物质、植物凝集素、植物甾醇、谷维素等多种植物化合物,是制备功能性食品的良好原料。本文综述了三大主粮的主要营养成分与生物活性成分,同时介绍了三种谷物胚芽在食品加工中的应用,包括在植物蛋白饮料、功能性油脂、面粉及其制品等一些食品和制品。     

Advances in smart delivery of food bioactive compounds using stimuli-responsive carriers: Responsive mechanism,contemporary challenges,and prospects

Many important food bioactive compounds are plant secondary metabolites that have traditional applications for health promotion and disease prevention. However, the chemical instability and poor bioavailability of these compounds represent major challenges to researchers. In the last decade, therefore, major impetus has been given for the research and development of advanced carrier systems for the delivery of natural bioactive molecules. Among them, stimuli-responsive carriers hold great promise for simultaneously improving stability, bioavailability, and more importantly delivery and on-demand release of intact bioactive phytochemicals to target sites in response to certain stimuli or combination of them (e.g., pH, temperature, oxidant, enzyme, and irradiation) that would eventually enhance therapeutic outcomes and reduce side effects. Hybrid formulations (e.g., inorganic–organic complexes) and multi-stimuli-responsive formulations have demonstrated great potential for future studies. Therefore, this review systematically compiles and assesses the recent advances on the smart delivery of food bioactive compounds, particularly quercetin, curcumin, and resveratrol through stimuli-responsive carriers, and critically reviews their functionality, underlying triggered-release mechanism, and therapeutic potential. Finally, major limitations, contemporary challenges, and possible solutions/future research directions are highlighted. Much more research is needed to optimize the processing parameters of existing formulations and to develop novel ones for lead food bioactive compounds to facilitate their food and nutraceutical applications.     

Oxygen radical absorbance capacity of peptides from egg white protein ovotransferrin and their interaction with phytochemicals

Egg proteins are important components for the development of functional foods and nutraceuticals. This study investigated the oxygen radical-scavenging effects of egg white protein ovotransferrin (including the whole protein, thermolysin–pepsin hydrolysate, and its bioactive peptides) and their interactions with four phytochemicals (vitamin C, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), caffeic acid, and quercetin), based on the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay. The results showed that the hydrolysate possessed significantly higher oxygen radical absorbance capacity than the whole protein. The peptide IRW possessed very strong oxygen radical-scavenging effect, which might be attributed to its constitutive amino acid tryptophan (W) and the peptide bond between arginine (R) and W. Both the hydrolysate and the whole protein of ovotransferrin showed negative effects on four phytochemicals. However, the interactions between peptides/amino acids and the four phytochemicals are complex: some are positive, while others are negative. The results suggest that not only the phytochemicals, but also the hydrolysates or the peptides from the egg proteins could be a potential source of natural antioxidants.     

Biologically Active Components and Nutraceuticals in Peanuts and Related Products: Review

Peanuts are among the world's major oilseed crops. They are very nutritious with relatively high protein content and can be utilized in diverse ways. Their oil is very easily digested, and for this reason they are useful consumptives. Peanuts not only contain the so-called “good” fat (monounsaturated fat), but they are also high in a variety of helpful antioxidants, or chemicals that shield the damaging effects of free radicals. Peanuts are also a source of helpful biologically active components found in plant foods, such as phytochemicals. Some of the phytochemicals in peanuts include flavonoids and phenolic compounds. This article discusses bioactive compounds and nutraceuticals in peanuts that could be used in prevention and management of illnesses such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and other degenerative diseases. The biological activity of anti-nutritional factors in peanuts is also briefly discussed.     

Health benefits of soy isoflavonoids and strategies for enhancement: a review

Soybean consumption has been linked to a reduced risk for certain cancers and diseases of old age. The health benefits associated with soybean consumption have been linked to the action of isoflavonoids, the major phenolic phytochemicals found in soybean. Isoflavonoids possess numerous biological activities that may support chemoprevention through the promotion of apoptosis in diseased cells. In this study, we discuss the current state of knowledge concerning soybean isoflavonoids, their chemopreventive actions against postmenopausal health problems, cancer, and cardiovascular disease, and also biotechnology approaches toward the enrichment of soybean for isoflavonoid content.     

白藜芦醇对多柔比星引起的心脏毒性保护作用研究进展

近年来,天然来源的生物活性物质备受消费者青睐。天然产物,尤其是食源性活性成分,作为对人体某种或多种机能有益的功能成分,与维持生命所需的多种生理功能密切相关,已成为当代社会营养保健和健康管理的选择趋势。抗肿瘤药物多柔比星介导的心肌损伤是其临床中较为常见的毒副作用,且所涉及心肌损伤机制错综复杂,限制了其在临床上的应用。白藜芦醇存在于花生、葡萄、虎杖和桑葚等多种植物和水果之中,心肌保护作用较为显著。白藜芦醇与多柔比星联合使用可预防多柔比星诱导的心脏毒性。本文主要综述了白藜芦醇对多柔比星引起的心脏毒性保护作用的相关研究进展,旨在为防治多柔比星引起的心脏毒性提供参考。