Flavonoids at the pharma-nutrition interface: Is a therapeutic index in demand?

The consumption of flavonoid-rich foods could have beneficial effects on health. However, different classes of flavonoids have different effect on disease risk and the relationship between flavonoid intake and risk of disease appeared to be non-linear. Furthermore, contrarily to vitamins, there are no symptoms of deficiency for flavonoids; therefore, our body treats them like other xenobiotics.

Effects of red wine on postprandial stress: potential implication in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease development.

Introduction: Red wine consumption is considered to be protective against oxidative stress. Diet strongly influences non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which is associated with oxidative stress and is considered the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome.

Methods: We reviewed the available evidence that investigated the effects of red wine on the postprandial-induced metabolic and oxidative stress in humans.

Risks of misinterpretation in the evaluation of the effect of fruit-based drinks in postprandial studies.

It has been suggested that some fruit-based drinks (FBD) may delay the onset of postprandial stress, which is involved in the pathogenesis of many diseases. The majority of the studies, which have investigated the effects of FBD on postprandial stress, involved a placebo that was a drink with the same content in sugars or carbohydrates of the FBD, but without the bioactive antioxidant compounds. These studies were aimed more at evaluating the effect of the antioxidants rather than the effect of the FBD as a whole.

Glucosinolates redox activities: can they act as antioxidants?

Glucosinolates are a class of secondary plant metabolites particularly occurring in Cruciferae with potential health-promoting properties, as their hydrolysis products, isothiocyanates, possess chemopreventive and antioxidant activities. In the present study, we systematically studied the in vitro redox behaviour of 15 glucosinolates, by using a range of analytical methods measuring different activities: (i) radical scavenging activity toward peroxyl and toward ABTS radical (chain-breaking activity); (ii) capacity in modulating the in vitro resistance of human low-density lipoprotein (LDL) catalysed by copper (chelating and chain-breaking activity). Data obtained from different assays were compared and analysed by principal component analysis (PCA).