Irrigation deficit turns almond by-products into a valuable source of antimicrobial (poly)phenols

[EN] Almond (Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D. A. Webb) production keeps an increasing trend worldwide, leading to augment in generation of harmful by-products that should be valorized as a source of bioactive phytochemicals with application in the development of new added-value products. The assessment of almond hulls and skins on their (poly)phenolic composition was developed upon two seasons, under five irrigation regimes, regarding total phenolics, flavonoids, and ortho-diphenols, as well as individual phenolic compounds analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Diode-Array Detection (HPLC-DAD). As functional tests, extracts were assessed on their radical scavenging activity in vitro and reducing power, and screened on their antimicrobial activity against multidrug resistant bacterial pathogens. The phenolic profile and antioxidant activities were evaluated in blanching water as well. Naringenin-7-O-glucoside and isorhamnetin-3-O-rutinoside were the most abundant phenolics in almond hulls and skins. Influence of irrigation treatments and season on phenolic content differed among by-products; hulls being more influenced by irrigation and skins by the agro-climatic conditions. The synthesis of individual phenolics was more influenced by season than treatment. According to the chemical and biological correlations, the presence of (poly)phenols seems to be responsible for the antioxidant and antimicrobial properties revealed. The knowledge generated upon the present work contributes to understand the variability of almond by-products composition attributable to seasonal and irrigation conditions, and to envisage valorization alternatives for these under explored residues and blanching water.IP acknowledges the financial support provided by the FCT-Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (SFRH/BD/52539/2014), under the Doctoral Programme Agricultural Production Chains from fork to farm (PD/00122/2012). This work was also supported by National Funds by FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project UID/AGR/04033/2019. RDP was supported by a Postdoctoral Contract (Juan de la Cierva de Incorporación ICJI-2015-25373) from the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness of Spain.Prgomet, I.; Gonçalves, B.; Domínguez-Perles, R.; Santos, R.; Saavedra, MJ.; Aires, A.; Pascual-Seva, N.... (2019). Irrigation deficit turns almond by-products into a valuable source of antimicrobial (poly)phenols. Industrial Crops and Products. 132:186-196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2019.02.024S18619613

Biologically active and health promoting food components of nuts, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, cereals, and legumes

The primary role of diet is to provide, in quality and quantity, enough nutrients to meet basic metabolic requirements of consumers. Cereals, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts, vegetable oils, and related products are daily consumed by worldwide population as fundamental source of food energy, but also due to its richness in biologically active compounds with potential health promoting properties. There are thousands of bioactive compounds already identified and studied for their health promoting properties, however there still a lot of research to be done. This chapter describes the main food sources, as well as, health promoting properties, of some food components (phytosterols, fatty acids, polyphenols, carotenoids, glucosinolates, dietary fiber, isoflavones, and lignans). In fact, these compounds were selected due to its abundance in some of the major consumed food groups. Nuts, oilseeds, and derived products are well known for their richness in phytosterols and unsaturated fatty acids. In the last years, great attention has been given to this group of compounds because they are linked with several health benefits, namely antiinflammatory, antioxidative, anticarcinogenic activities, and cholesterol lowering capacity. On the other hand, fresh fruit and vegetables are the major sources of polyphenols, carotenoids, and glucosinolates. Nutritional guidelines promote the consumption of three to five daily servings of fruits and vegetables for protection against chronic diseases, such as cardio and neurovascular diseases. These foods, besides providing basic nutrition confers other significant health effects mainly due to its content in vitamins (especially vitamins C and A) minerals, polyphenols, and soluble and insoluble fiber. Lastly, cereals and/or legumes are the major sources of dietary fiber, lignans, and isoflavones. Besides their nutritional role, several scientific and epidemiological studies have shown that regular consumption of cereals and/or legumes and their related products are associated with reduced risk of various types of chronic diseases as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and obesity, and some types of cancers as colorectal, prostate, breast, and estrogen-related cancers. These evidences can mean that regular consumption of cereals and legumes promote human health and consequent prevention of diseases.This work has been funded by National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, I.P., under the project BioCOMP (reference number: 2012DAN730). This work was also supported by the project UID/QUI/50006/2019 (FCT/MCTES). M. Antónia Nunes acknowledges the PhD fellowship (SFRH/BD/130131/2017) funded by FCT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio