Trypsin inhibitors are proteins found in plant-based foods, mainly legumes and cereals. They have traditionally been described as anti-nutrients since their consumption leads to lower protein digestibility along with pancreatic hypertrophy. Given the problems which can arise, there are various technologies used in food processing which help reduce trypsin inhibitors to safe levels. It has also been described that trypsin inhibitors can be related with beneficial effects for human health. The present review seeks to evaluate the evidence about trypsin inhibitors’ health benefits in both in vitro and in vivo studies.

The approval of new ingredients and compounds for use in food supplements is subjected to governmental regulations in many countries. In this context, there is a gap between what the scientific literature reports and how these translate into food regulation when it comes to bioactives. In this perspective piece, we analyze the case of Anvisa's Normative Instruction (NI) N° 76, which regulates food supplements in Brazil. This updated version of a previous Normative Instruction adds hyaluronic acid, boron, silicon, undenatured type Ⅱ collagen, hydroxymethylbutyrate, methylsulfonylmethane, and palmitoylethanolamide to its list of approved compounds. According to the NI, only supplements containing undenatured type Ⅱ collagen are allowed to make health claims on their labels. In addition, the list does not include any substance from major bioactive groups, such as phenolic compounds. However, this might be due to the fact that the metabolic fate of phenolics has not yet been completely clarified, which could contribute to the slowing down of their approval by Anvisa. In this case, safety issues would need to be sorted out, and a direct relationship between consumption and health effect would need to be established for allowing health claims to be made. Therefore, the need for studies on the bioefficacy of bioactive compounds is imperative.

The present study evaluated the influence of training systems and rootstocks on the quality of Syrah tropical wines, produced at São Francisco Valley, Brazil. For this purpose, physicochemical characteristics, phenolic composition, and antioxidant activity were assessed in wines produced with grapes grown under divided trellis system (lyre) and esparlier or vertical shoot position (VSP) training systems, grafted on IAC 572, IAC 766 and Paulsen 1103 rootsotcks and harvested at two different periods. Harvest season had the strongest influence on wine quality, followed by the rootstock. Regardless of the training system and climatic variability between the harvests, the use of the IAC 766 rootstock led to wines with higher alcohol, anthocyanins contents and color intensity. The interaction between the espalier training system and the rootstock IAC 766 resulted in higher flavonol content, phenolic acids, and malvidin-3-O-glucoside, which was detected as the major phenolic as quantified by HPLC. This wine also presented significant levels of procyanidins A2 and B2, which showed a positive correlation with the antioxidant activity.

Phenolic compounds possess a myriad of health benefits, thus making them potential ingredients for the procurement of food supplements. Anvisa, Brazil's national regulatory body, has recently revised the regulation on food supplements and only a few phenolic compounds (chlorogenic acid, rutin, proanthocyanidins, and tocopherols) have been mentioned. Despite several scientific evidences on the bioactivity of phenolics, especially concerning their antioxidant activity, Anvisa does not authorize any claims for supplements containing these compounds, except for tocopherols, which was mentioned as "vitamin E". The upper limit doses allowed for the phenolics appear to be lower than what the literature suggests as necessary to achieve potential health benefits and might be prohibitive for supplements available in the international market. Moreover, Brazilian sources of phenolic compounds are not listed in the Normative Instruction (NI) as authorized ingredients for supplements. The Brazilian NI on food supplements has moved forward, but it is still limited.

Response surface methodology was applied to improve the polyphenol extraction process of rosemary, oregano, sage, and thyme. Aqueous ethanol (EtOH 50%) rendered the highest polyphenol extraction yield for all tested samples. Based on their total phenolic contents, rosemary, oregano, and thyme were selected for evaluation of their scavenging activities towards DPPH radical and ABTS radical cation and application in an oil model system. All extracts decreased the production of primary oxidation compounds during Schaal oven test storage. The induction period, as evaluated by the Rancimat test, was also reduced. There was an agreement between both oil model system assays, and rosemary extract showed the highest antioxidant capacity, followed by thyme and oregano. A centroid simplex design was used to evaluate the synergistic effect among the samples. Rosemary was able to play a synergistic effect when combined with thyme and oregano, or when used in binary mixtures.

A high daily intake of fruits and vegetables is an important strategy to promote health. The mechanism explaining the health benefits of plant food materials is attributed, at least in part, to their high content of bioactive phenolics. Guarana (Paullinia cupana) is a typical product from Amazon biota and, mainly as a source of caffeine; its seeds are commonly used as stimulants. However, guarana seeds are also rich in catechin, epicatechin, procyanidin B1, and procyanidin B2. Guarana exhibits potential health benefits in cognitive function and prevention of cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, it is a promising source of antihyperglycemic and antibacterial compounds for prevention and/or management of type 2 diabetes and oral diseases. However, to confirm these benefits in humans, clinical trials are needed to provide evidence to support these anecdotal observations.

Soymilk is consumed as such or used in the preparation of tofu, fermented soymilk, and soy yogurt, among others. In this study, hemicellulase-assisted extraction (HAE) and ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) were used during soymilk manufacturing. The activity of endogenous β-glicosidases was increased 1.3 and 1.5-fold in soymilk produced upon HAE and UAE, respectively. Likewise, the concentration of isoflavones in the aglycone form increased 1.7 and 2.4 times in samples subjected to HAE and UAE, respectively. UAE, but not HAE, rendered an equimolar conversion from conjugated isoflavones to their respective aglycones. In addition, HAE and UAE showed higher antiradical activity towards ABTS radical cation and peroxyl radical, compared to those of the control. The aglycone isoflavones/conjugated isoflavones (aISO/cISO) ratio correlated with the antiradical activity, thus suggesting that the soybean industry may use this new quality index to indicate the antioxidant potential of products. Food formulations containing soymilk with high aISO/cISO ratio may translate to higher oxidative stability of the final product. Likewise, the higher absorption of aglycone isoflavones compared to that of their conjugated counterparts is well recognized. Therefore, high aISO/cISO ratio of soymilk and/or its products may provide a better antioxidant protection under physiological conditions.

The functional food, bioactive ingredients and nutraceutical industries are focused primarily on developing and validating the bioactivity of their products. Furthermore, the scientific community is pretty much moving in the same direction. A quick search in the literature demonstrates that phenolic compounds are perhaps the most studied bioactive phytochemicals due to their myriad of health benefits, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. In fact, due to their role in preventing cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, and enzyme inhibition in connection with type 2 diabetes and obesity, phenolic compounds are gaining attention of the industry. However, many phenolic compounds can influence the sensory characteristics of the final product and hence consumer acceptance must be considered. Therefore, in this contribution we summarize the potential sensory effects of phenolic compounds by focusing on their structuctural features.

Oxidative stress plays an important role in Alzheimer's disease. To arrest oxidative stress, this contribution first identified and quantified phenolic bioactives present in the pulp and peel of pomegranate using high-performance liquid chromatography. Punicalagin β rendered the greatest antiradical activity as evaluated by on-line HPLC-ABTS method, which was followed by punicalagin α, gallic acid, and epicatechin. Furthermore, the scavenging activity against peroxyl and DPPH radicals, as well as the reducing power were investigated. Extracts obtained from the peel showed much higher phenolic contents and antioxidant properties than that of the pulp, hence being selected as potential inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase, a key enzyme involved in the progress of Alzheimer's disease. Phenolics from pomegranate peel showed inhibition of acetylcholinesterase, which was dependent on the phenolic concentration. Therefore, pomegranate peel may be considered by the industry as a functional food ingredient and possibly for manufacturing of nutraceuticals.