Potential Pharmaceutical and Food Applications of Postbiotics: A Review

In recent decades, functional foods with ingredients comprising probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics have been gaining a lot of attention from scientists. Probiotics and postbiotics are usually applied in pharmaceutical formulations and/or commercial food-based products. These bioactive agents can be associated with host eukaryotic cells and have a key role in maintaining and restoring host health. The review describes the concept of postbiotics, their quality control and potential applications in pharmaceutical formulations and commercial food-based products for health promotion, prevention of disease and complementary treatment. Despite the effectiveness of probiotic products, researchers have introduced the concept of postbiotic to optimize their beneficial effects as well as to meet the needs of consumers to provide a safe product. The finding of recent studies suggests that postbiotics might be appropriate alternative agents for live probiotic cells and can be applied in medical, veterinary and food practice to prevent and to treat some diseases, promote animal health status and develop functional foods. Presently scientific literature confirms that postbiotics, as potential alternative agents, may have superiority in terms of safety relative to their parent live cells, and due to their unique characteristics in terms of clinical, technological and economical aspects, can be applied as promising tools in the drug and food industry for developing health benefits, and therapeutic aims.

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Development and Certification of Formononetin Reference Material for Quality Control of Functional Foods and Botanical Supplements

Current Analytical Chemistry ◽

10.2174/1573411014666180411152309 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 (5) ◽

pp. 553-559

Author(s):

Ningbo Gong ◽

Baoxi Zhang ◽

Kun Hu ◽

Zhaolin Gao ◽

Guanhua Du ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Control ◽

Reference Material ◽

Functional Foods ◽

Certified Reference Materials ◽

Coulometric Titration ◽

Pharmaceutical Formulations ◽

Uncertainty Estimation ◽

Expanded Uncertainty ◽

Scanning Calorimetry ◽

Botanical Supplements

Background: Formononetin is a common soy isoflavonoid that can be found abundantly in many natural plants. Previous studies have shown that formononetin possesses a variety of activities which can be applied for various medicinal purposes. Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) play a fundamental role in the food, traditional medicine and dietary supplement fields, and can be used for method validation, uncertainty estimation, as well as quality control. Methods: The purity of formononetin was determined by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Coulometric Titration (CT) and Mass Balance (MB) methods. Results: This paper reports the sample preparation methodology, homogeneity and stability studies, value assignment, and uncertainty estimation of a new certified reference material of formononetin. DSC, CT and MB methods proved to be sufficiently reliable and accurate for the certification purpose. The purity of the formononetin CRM was therefore found to be 99.40% ± 0.24 % (k = 2) based on the combined value assignments and the expanded uncertainty. Conclusion: This CRM will be a reliable standard for the validation of the analytical methods and for quality assurance/quality control of formononetin and formononetin-related traditional herbs, food products, dietary supplements and pharmaceutical formulations.

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Momordica balsamina L.: An Appraisal on Morphology, Ecological Diversity, Phytochemistry, Pharmacological and Biotechnological Applications

Current Traditional Medicine ◽

10.2174/2215083806999200909115721 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 06 ◽

Author(s):

Saheed Sabiu ◽

Christiana Eleojo Aruwa ◽

Viresh Mohanlall ◽

Himansu Baijnath

Keyword(s):

Relevant Information ◽

Perennial Herb ◽

Biotechnological Applications ◽

Tropical Regions ◽

Toxicological Data ◽

Human Disorders ◽

Potential Applications ◽

Baseline Information ◽

The Caribbean ◽

Bioactive Agents

Background: Momordica balsamina L. is a monoecious climbing vine and perennial herb native to the tropical regions of Asia, Arabia and the Caribbean, and with prominent presence in Nigeria, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Southern African provinces. While evidence of its anecdotal usage as medicine exist, scientific reports complementing the claims are still emerging or at their infancy. Objective: This review appraised the morphology, therapeutic and biotechnological significance of M. balsamina. Method: Online resources such as Google Scholar, PubMed, ScienceDirect and MeSH were utilized for literature search and included relevant information from inception till May 2020 to streamline sought outcomes for in-depth discussion. Results: The data gathered and considered worthy of inclusion in this study revealed that M. balsamina is rich in phytonutrients of medicinal significance with cucurbitane-type triterpenoids, balsamin and momordins well characterized and fully elucidated. These compounds and other novel bioactive agents in M. balsamina have found remarkable pharmacological relevance and could further be harnessed for use against several debilitating human disorders. Conclusion: The potential applications of M. balsamina as nutraceutical and pharmaceutical agent should not be undermined. Also, with the inadequate toxicological data on this wild species, its consumption should be with caution and translational studies that could advance scientific knowledge and aid better understanding of both its pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics without sidelining its potent biotechnological applications are highly encouraged. It is hoped that this paper will provide baseline information that could serve as a guide and inspiration for further studies on the prospects of M. balsamina.

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Research Advances on Health Effects of Edible Artemisia Species and Some Sesquiterpene Lactones Constituents

Foods ◽

10.3390/foods10010065 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 65

Author(s):

Antoaneta Trendafilova ◽

Laila M. Moujir ◽

Pedro M. C. Sousa ◽

Ana M. L. Seca

Keyword(s):

Adverse Effects ◽

Health Effects ◽

Functional Foods ◽

Sesquiterpene Lactones ◽

Therapeutic Effects ◽

Nutritional Properties ◽

Food Industries ◽

Food Applications ◽

Artemisia Species

The genus Artemisia, often known collectively as “wormwood”, has aroused great interest in the scientific community, pharmaceutical and food industries, generating many studies on the most varied aspects of these plants. In this review, the most recent evidence on health effects of edible Artemisia species and some of its constituents are presented and discussed, based on studies published until 2020, available in the Scopus, Web of Sciences and PubMed databases, related to food applications, nutritional and sesquiterpene lactones composition, and their therapeutic effects supported by in vivo and clinical studies. The analysis of more than 300 selected articles highlights the beneficial effect on health and the high clinical relevance of several Artemisia species besides some sesquiterpene lactones constituents and their derivatives. From an integrated perspective, as it includes therapeutic and nutritional properties, without ignoring some adverse effects described in the literature, this review shows the great potential of Artemisia plants and some of their constituents as dietary supplements, functional foods and as the source of new, more efficient, and safe medicines. Despite all the benefits demonstrated, some gaps need to be filled, mainly related to the use of raw Artemisia extracts, such as its standardization and clinical trials on adverse effects and its health care efficacy.

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Functionality and genomics of selenium and vitamin E supplementation in ruminants

Animal Production Science ◽

10.1071/an15263 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 56 (8) ◽

pp. 1285 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

S. S. Chauhan ◽

F. Liu ◽

B. J. Leury ◽

J. J. Cottrell ◽

P. Celi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Vitamin E ◽

Functional Foods ◽

Transition Period ◽

Animal Health ◽

Antioxidant Properties ◽

Meat Products ◽

Lipid Hydroperoxides ◽

Great Opportunity ◽

Multiple Functions ◽

Function Discovery

Selenium (Se) and vitamin E are essential micronutrients for animal health and production. The major function of both Se and vitamin E is to prevent the oxidative damage of biological membranes and they can influence growth, reproduction, immune function, health, and product quality in ruminants. Both Se and vitamin E are important for maintaining low cellular and systemic concentrations of reactive oxygen species and lipid hydroperoxides, to ensure optimum cellular function. Discovery of various selenoproteins and vitamin E-responsive genes has contributed significantly to improving our understanding about multiple functions of Se and vitamin E. There is evidence that these functions extend beyond the classical antioxidant properties to immunomodulation and intracellular cell signalling and gene regulation. Research in recent years has also shown that supranutritional supplementation of Se and vitamin E is required to improve the performance of ruminants under certain stressful conditions such as heat stress and during transition period. Considering the growing awareness among consumers of the benefits of antioxidant-rich food, there is a great opportunity for the livestock industries to focus on producing antioxidant-enriched milk and meat products or functional foods. The present review focuses on the recent developments in understanding multiple functions of Se and vitamin E at the cellular and molecular level and the effects of supranutritional supplementation on ruminant performance. In addition, the paper also articulates the potential opportunities to produce functional foods enriched with antioxidants, and underlines the need for optimum supplementation of these micronutrients for efficient ruminant production.

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Beneficial Effects of Liposomal Formulations of Lichen Substances: A Review

Current Drug Delivery ◽

10.2174/1567201818666210713110719 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 ◽

Author(s):

Vinay Bharadwaj Tatipamula ◽

Ha Thi Nguyen ◽

Biljana Kukavica

Keyword(s):

Substantial Improvement ◽

Traditional Medicines ◽

Beneficial Effects ◽

Liposomal Formulations ◽

Lichen Substances ◽

Potential Applications ◽

Lichen Metabolites ◽

North And South America ◽

North And South ◽

Low Solubility

: Lichens are commonly used as essential traditional medicines to treat various conditions, including skin disorders, wounds, digestive, respiratory, obstetric, and gynecological problems in many cultures in Africa, Asia, Europe, Haitian, Oceania, and North and South America. Lichens have been deeply investigated for their phytochemical properties, and to date, numerous compounds (also known as substances) have been successfully isolated from the extracts. However, the low solubility and bioavailability of pure lichen substances have been widely recognized as the significant issues hindering their biological applications. Recently, several groups have investigated the properties and the potential applications of lichen metabolites-based liposomal formulations and revealed a substantial improvement in their solubility, bioactivity, and toxicity in the animal. Thus, in this topical review, we aimed to provide an overview of liposomal structures, the efficacy of liposomal formulations, as well as their beneficial effects as compared to the free compounds themselves.

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