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Phytochemicals in the Diet: Health Implications, Safety Issues, and Molecular Mechanisms

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2024) | Viewed by 9315

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Miguel Rebollo-Hernanz

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Guest Editor

1. Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Autonomous University of Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
2. Institute of Food Science Research-CIAL, Ciudad Universitaria de Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
Interests: food science; nutrition; obesity; inflammation; insulin resistance; sustainability; phytochemicals; bioactive compounds; dietary fiber; melatonin; caffeine; phenolic compounds; cocoa; coffee; legumes; by-products
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Yolanda Aguilera Gutiérrez

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Guest Editor

Department of Novel Food Production and Characterization, Autonomous University of Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
Interests: industry food byproducts; food ingredients; food byproduct valorization; food processing; digestibility of food matrices; bioactivity of food ingredients; bioavailability; antioxidants; insects as novel foods; coffee; cocoa
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce a Special Issue on the impact of phytochemicals from the diet on health, their physiological effects, and metabolic outcomes in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Plant foods contain a plethora of active components such as dietary fiber, folate, vitamins, (poly)phenols, carotenoids, coumarins, organosulfurs, isothiocyanates, methylxanthines, saponins, phenylpropanoids, anthraquinones, ginsenosides, and so on. Epidemiological and clinical studies have shown that phytochemicals improve human health by lowering the risk of and preventing chronic diseases when consumed as part of a healthy diet. How dietary phytochemicals are metabolized and interact with other bioactive compounds, their biochemical and molecular effects on different metabolic pathways, and their role in the human organism has not been fully elucidated and requires more research.

This Special Issue seeks to collect state-of-the-art original research focusing on the implications of phytochemicals in the diet, including clinical, epidemiological, in vivo, and in vitro studies underlining the impact of phytochemicals on health and disease. As our knowledge about phytochemicals is continuously progressing, this Special Issue will collect the most updated insights into the effects of dietary phytochemicals on health. We welcome your contributions in the form of original research articles, reviews, short communications, systematic reviews, or meta-analyses covering topics such as:

Beneficial and adverse effects of dietary phytochemicals;
Phytochemicals as a nutraceutical for the prevention of disease;
Toxicology and safety aspects of the consumption of specific phytochemicals;
Absorption, biotransformation, and metabolism of phytochemicals;
Molecular mechanisms of the action of different phytochemicals;
Trends in the consumption of phytochemicals as nutraceuticals and functional foods;
Extraction and analysis of phytochemicals in food and biological samples.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Antioxidants.

Dr. Miguel Rebollo-Hernanz
Prof. Dr. Yolanda Aguilera Gutiérrez
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

phytochemicals
diet
functional foods
nutraceuticals
antioxidant
bioavailability
biotransformation
inflammation
metabolism
noncommunicable diseases
toxicology

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 3578 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Protective Effect of Thyme and Chestnut Honeys Enriched with Bee Products against Benzo(a)pyrene-Induced DNA Damage

by Vanesa Sánchez-Martín, Ana I. Haza, Amaia Iriondo-DeHond, María Dolores del Castillo, Xavier F. Hospital, Manuela Fernández, Eva Hierro and Paloma Morales

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(24), 16969; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416969 - 17 Dec 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1621

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to validate the cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and preventive potential against benzo(a)pyrene (BaP)-induced DNA damage of nine samples of thyme and chestnut honeys enriched with bee products (royal jelly and propolis, 2–10%). Cell viability was determined by the MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] assay (0–250 mg/mL) to select nontoxic concentrations, and DNA damage (0.1–10 μg/mL) was evaluated by the alkaline single-cell gel electrophoresis or comet assay. Treatment with honey samples or royal jelly and propolis did not affect the viability of HepG2 cells up to 100 and 50 mg/mL, respectively. Treatment with 100 μM BaP significantly increased (p ≤ 0.001) the levels of the DNA strand breaks. None of the tested concentrations (0.1–10 μg/mL) of the honey samples (thyme and chestnut), royal jelly, and propolis caused DNA damage per se. All tested samples at all the concentrations used decreased the genotoxic effect of BaP. In addition, all mixtures of thyme or chestnut honeys with royal jelly or propolis showed a greater protective effect against BaP than the samples alone, being the thyme and chestnut honey samples enriched with 10% royal jelly and 10% propolis the most effective (70.4% and 69.4%, respectively). The observed protective effect may be associated with the phenolic content and antioxidant capacity of the studied samples. In conclusion, the thyme and chestnut honey samples enriched with bee products present potential as natural chemoprotective agents against the chemical carcinogen BaP. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phytochemicals in the Diet: Health Implications, Safety Issues, and Molecular Mechanisms)

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Graphical abstract

14 pages, 2304 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Germinated Millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) Flour Improved the Gut Function and Its Microbiota Composition in Rats Fed with High-Fat High-Fructose Diet

by Jaqueline Maciel Vieira Theodoro, Mariana Grancieri, Mariana Juste Contin Gomes, Renata Celi Lopes Toledo, Vinícius Parzanini Brilhante de São José, Hilário Cuquetto Mantovani, Carlos Wanderlei Piler Carvalho, Bárbara Pereira da Silva and Hércia Stampini Duarte Martino

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(22), 15217; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192215217 - 18 Nov 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1790

Abstract

Germinated millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) is a source of phenolic compounds that has potential prebiotic action. This study aims at evaluating the action of germinated pearl millet on gut function and its microbiota composition in Wistar rats fed with a high-fat high-fructose (HFHF) diet. In the first stage, lasting eight weeks, the experiment consisted of two groups: AIN-93M (n = 10) and HFHF group (n = 20). In the second stage, which lasted ten weeks, the animals of the AIN-93M group (n = 10) were kept, while the HFHF group was dismembered into HFHF (HFHF diet, n = 10) and HFHF + millet (HFHF added 28.6% of germinated millet flour, n = 10) groups. After the 18th week, the urine of the animals was collected for the analysis of lactulose and mannitol intestinal permeability by urinary excretion. The histomorphometry was analyzed on the proximal colon and the fecal pH, concentration of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), and sequencing of microbiota were performed in cecum content. The Mothur v.1.44.3 software was used for data analysis of sequencing. Alpha diversity was estimated by Chao1, Shannon, and Simpson indexes. Beta diversity was assessed by PCoA (Principal Coordinate Analysis). The functional predictive analysis was performed with PICRUSt2 software (version 2.1.2−b). Functional traits attributed to normalized OTU abundance were determined by the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). In the results, germinated millet flour reduced Oscillibacter genus and Desulfobacterota phylum, while increasing the Eggerthellaceae family. Furthermore, germinated millet flour: increased beta diversity, cecum weight, and cecum/body weight ratio; improved gut histological parameters by increasing the depth and thickness of the crypt and the goblet cell count (p < 0.05); reduced (p < 0.05) the fecal pH and mannitol urinary excretion; increased (p < 0.05) the propionate short-chain fatty acid concentration. Thus, germinated millet has the potential to improve the composition of gut microbiota and the intestinal function of rats fed with an HFHF diet. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phytochemicals in the Diet: Health Implications, Safety Issues, and Molecular Mechanisms)

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Graphical abstract

19 pages, 4000 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Isothiocyanate-Rich Extracts from Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea Var. Botrytis) and Radish (Raphanus sativus) Inhibited Metabolic Activity and Induced ROS in Selected Human HCT116 and HT-29 Colorectal Cancer Cells

by Mardey Liceth Cuellar-Nuñez, Ivan Luzardo-Ocampo, Sarah Lee-Martínez, Michelle Larrauri-Rodríguez, Guadalupe Zaldívar-Lelo de Larrea, Rosa Martha Pérez-Serrano and Nicolás Camacho-Calderón

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(22), 14919; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192214919 - 13 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2020

Abstract

Cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower and radish contain isothiocyanates exhibiting chemoprotective effects in vitro and in vivo. This research aimed to assess the impact of cauliflower (CIE) and radish (RIE) isothiocyanate extracts on the metabolic activity, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), and LDH production of selected human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells (HCT116 and HT-29 for early and late colon cancer development, respectively). Non-cancerous colon cells (CCD-33Co) were used as a cytotoxicity control. The CIE samples displayed the highest allyl isothiocyanate (AITC: 12.55 µg/g) contents, whereas RIE was the most abundant in benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC: 15.35 µg/g). Both extracts effectively inhibited HCT116 and HT-29 metabolic activity, but the CIE impact was higher than that of RIE on HCT116 (IC₅₀: 0.56 mg/mL). Assays using the half-inhibitory concentrations (IC₅₀) of all treatments, including AITC and BITC, displayed increased (p < 0.05) LDH (absorbance: 0.25–0.40 nm) and ROS release (1190–1697 relative fluorescence units) in both cell lines. BITC showed the highest in silico binding affinity with all the tested colorectal cancer molecular markers (NF-kB, β-catenin, and NRF2-NFE2). The theoretical evaluation of AITC and BITC bioavailability showed high values for both compounds. The results indicate that CIE and RIE extracts display chemopreventive effects in vitro, but additional experiments are needed to validate their effects. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phytochemicals in the Diet: Health Implications, Safety Issues, and Molecular Mechanisms)

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14 pages, 2310 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Green Coffee Extract Microencapsulated: Physicochemical Characteristics, Stability, Bioaccessibility, and Sensory Acceptability through Dairy Beverage Consumption

by Laísa Bernabé do Carmo, Daiane Bonizioli Benincá, Mariana Grancieri, Lucélia Vieira Pereira, Tarcísio Lima Filho, Sérgio Henriques Saraiva, Pollyanna Ibrahim Silva, Daniela da Silva Oliveira and André Gustavo Vasconcelos Costa

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(20), 13221; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013221 - 14 Oct 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1611

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effect of spray drying (SD) and freeze-drying (FD) on the microencapsulation of green coffee extracts by using polydextrose (PD) and inulin (IN) as encapsulating agents and their physicochemical, bioactive compounds’ stability, phenolic compounds’ bioaccessibility after digestion, and sensory effects in unfermented dairy beverages. The extract encapsulated with IN by FD had lower moisture content, water activity, and hygroscopicity, while particles encapsulated by SD exhibited a spherical shape and the structure of the FD products was irregular. No difference was observed in phenolic compounds’ bioaccessibility. Dairy beverages with added encapsulated extracts had higher total phenolic content and antioxidant activity. Microencapsulation allowed a controlled release of the bioactive compounds with an increase in the content of caffeine, chlorogenic acid, and trigonelline during storage. The dairy beverage with added extract encapsulated with IN by FD had the highest scores of acceptability regarding the overall impression and purchase intent. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phytochemicals in the Diet: Health Implications, Safety Issues, and Molecular Mechanisms)

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11 pages, 1963 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Liposomes Containing Amaranth Unsaponifiable Matter and Soybean Lunasin Suppress ROS Production in Fibroblasts and Reduced Interleukin Production in Macrophages

by Gloria Dávila-Ortiz, Erick Damian Castañeda-Reyes, Carlos Ignacio Juárez-Palomo, María de Jesús Perea-Flores, Ricardo Pérez-Pastén-Borja, Yazmín Karina Márquez-Flores and Elvira González de Mejía

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(18), 11678; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191811678 - 16 Sep 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1605

Abstract

Inflammation is a normal response in defense to agents that may cause damage to the human body. When inflammation becomes chronic, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced; which could lead to diseases such as cancer. The aim was to assess liposomes’ antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capacity loaded with amaranth unsaponifiable matter and soybean lunasin (UM + LunLip) in an in vitro model using fibroblasts and macrophages. To evaluate ROS production, fibroblasts CHON-002 ABAP were added to promote ROS production; and the cells were treated with UM + LunLip. For inflammation markers production, lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 and peritoneal macrophages were treated with empty liposomes (EmLip), liposomes loaded with unsaponifiable matter (UMLip), liposomes loaded with lunasin (LunLip), and UM + LunLip. ROS production was significantly decreased by 77% (p < 0.05) when fibroblasts were treated with UM + LunLip at 2 mg lunasin/mL compared with the control treated with ABAP. Treatment with UMLip was the most effective in reducing tumor necrosis factor-α (71–90%) and interleukin-6 (43–55%, p < 0.001). Both liposomes containing unsaponifiable matter (UMLip and UM + LunLip) were more effective than EmLip or LunLip. In conclusion, amaranth unsaponifiable matter-loaded liposomes are effective in decreasing pro-inflammatory cytokine production. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phytochemicals in the Diet: Health Implications, Safety Issues, and Molecular Mechanisms)

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