Food Protein Sterylation: Chemical Reactions between Reactive Amino Acids and Sterol Oxidation Products under Food Processing Conditions

The CaCo-2 cell junction derangement exerted by the single addition of oxysterols commonly detected in foods is markedly quenched when they are in mixture

The selective permeability of the gut epithelial barrier is heavily reliant on the stability of cell junctions, often challenged by a variety of dietary stressors, including non-enzymatic cholesterol oxidation products (COPs). A marked decrease of the tight junctions claudin-1 and occludin, and of the adherens junction E-cadherin was previously detected in differentiated CaCo-2 monolayers challenged by a single addition of 7β-hydroxycholesterol (7βOHC) or 7-ketocholesterol (7KC) in the lowest micromolar range. However, in the diet, oxysterols are occurring in a mixture. Hence, the aim of the present study was to evaluate whether cell incubation with all the main dietary COPs together quench the intercellular junction derangement previously observed as exerted by 7βOHC and 7KC singularly added. Two chocolate prototypes, respectively made with fresh (oxy-Mix1) or six-months stored whole milk powder (oxy-Mix2), were compared. The second prototype showed an almost double content of total COPs (3.34 µM, approximately 1337 ng /g of chocolate) than the first one (1.69 µM, approximately 675 ng /g of chocolate). Importantly, even in the CaCo-2 cell monolayers treated with six-months stored mixture of COPs oxy-Mix2, no alterations were observed of those cell junctions markedly affected by identical concentration of 7βOHC or 7KC used alone. The junctions' derangement started to be significantly evident when oxy-Mix2 was used at higher concentration (5 µM, approximately 2 µg oxysterols/g of product) or when treatments were carried out with repeated doses of oxy-Mix2 every 24 hours. Although achieved in a still widely adopted in vitro model system, these findings could orientate the definition of a safe shelf-life for dairy products, certainly for milk chocolate.

Possible interactions between selected food processing and medications

The impact of food processing on drug absorption, metabolism, and subsequent pharmacological activity is a pressing yet insufficiently explored area of research. Overlooking food-processing-drug interactions can significantly disrupt optimal clinical patient management. The challenges extend beyond merely considering the type and timing of food ingestion as to drug uptake; the specific food processing methods applied play a pivotal role. This study delves into both selected thermal and non-thermal food processing techniques, investigating their potential interference with the established pharmacokinetics of medications. Within the realm of thermal processing, conventional methods like deep fat frying, grilling, or barbecuing not only reduce the enteric absorption of drugs but also may give rise to side-products such as acrylamide, aldehydes, oxysterols, and oxyphytosterols. When produced in elevated quantities, these compounds exhibit enterotoxic and pro-inflammatory effects, potentially impacting the metabolism of various medications. Of note, a variety of thermal processing is frequently adopted during the preparation of diverse traditional herbal medicines. Conversely, circumventing high heat through innovative approaches (e.g., high-pressure processing, pulsed electric fields, plasma technology), opens new avenues to improve food quality, efficiency, bioavailability, and sustainability. However, it is crucial to exercise caution to prevent the excessive uptake of active compounds in specific patient categories. The potential interactions between food processing methods and their consequences, whether beneficial or adverse, on drug interactions can pose health hazards in certain cases. Recognizing this knowledge gap underscores the urgency for intensified and targeted scientific inquiry into the multitude of conceivable interactions among food composition, processing methods, and pharmaceutical agents. A thorough investigation into the underlying mechanisms is imperative. The complexity of this field requires substantial scrutiny and collaborative efforts across diverse domains, including medicine, pharmacology, nutrition, food science, food technology, and food engineering.

Advances and Challenges in Plant Sterol Research: Fundamentals, Analysis, Applications and Production

Plant sterols (PS) are cholesterol-like terpenoids widely spread in the kingdom Plantae. Being the target of extensive research for more than a century, PS have topped with evidence of having beneficial effects in healthy subjects and applications in food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. However, many gaps in several fields of PS's research still hinder their widespread practical applications. In fact, many of the mechanisms associated with PS supplementation and their health benefits are still not fully elucidated. Furthermore, compared to cholesterol data, many complex PS chemical structures still need to be fully characterized, especially in oxidized PS. On the other hand, PS molecules have also been the focus of structural modifications for applications in diverse areas, including not only the above-mentioned but also in e.g., drug delivery systems or alternative matrixes for functional foods and fats. All the identified drawbacks are also superimposed by the need of new PS sources and technologies for their isolation and purification, taking into account increased environmental and sustainability concerns. Accordingly, current and future trends in PS research warrant discussion.

Presence of cholesterol oxides in milk chocolates and their correlation with milk powder freshness

Cholesterol oxidation products (COPs) of non-enzymatic origin are mainly found in meat, fish, eggs and milk, mostly originating from the type of feeding, processing and storage. To verify the significance of COPs as biomarkers of cholesterol autoxidation and milk freshness, we quantified them in chocolates containing whole milk powders (WMPs) of increasing shelf-lives (i.e. 20, 120, and 180 days). Non-enzymatic total COPs (both free and esterified) ranged from 256.57 ± 11.97 to 445.82 ± 11.88 ng/g, increasing proportionally to the shelf-life of the WMPs, thus reflecting the ingredients’ freshness. Based on the expected theoretical COPs, the effect of processing was quantitatively less significant in the generation of oxysterols (41–44%) than the contribution of the autoxidation of the WMPs over time (56–59%), pointing to the shelf-life as the primary determinant of COPs. Lastly, we quantified COPs of major commercial milk chocolates on the Italian market, which followed a similar distribution (from 240.79 ± 11.74 to 475.12 ± 12.58 ng/g). Although further replications of this work are needed, this study reports preliminary results and a practical example of a first application of non-enzymatic COPs as markers to further quantify and characterize the nutritional quality and freshness, not only of ingredients but also of composite products.

Oxysterols as Reliable Markers of Quality and Safety in Cholesterol Containing Food Ingredients and Products

Cholesterol is a lipid of high nutritional value that easily undergoes oxidation through enzymatic and non-enzymatic pathways, leading to a wide variety of cholesterol oxidation products (COPs), more commonly named oxysterols. The major oxysterols found in animal products are 7α-hydroxycholesterol, 7β-hydroxycholesterol, 7-ketocholesterol, 5α,6α-epoxycholesterol, 5β,6β-epoxycholesterol, cholestan-3β,5α,6β-triol, and 25-hydroxycholesterol. They are all produced by cholesterol autoxidation, thus belonging to the non-enzymatic oxysterol subfamily, even if 7α-hydroxycholesterol and 25-hydroxycholesterol are, in part, generated enzymatically as well. A further oxysterol of the full enzymatic origin has recently been detected for the first time in milk of both human and bovine origin, namely 27-hydroxycholesterol. Nowadays, gas or liquid chromatography combined to mass spectrometry allows to measure all these oxysterols accurately in raw and in industrially processed food. While non-enzymatic oxysterols often exhibited in vitro relevant cytotoxicity, above all 7β-hydroxycholesterol and 7-ketocholesterol, 27-hydroxycholesterol, as well as 25-hydroxycholesterol, shows a broad spectrum in vitro antiviral activity, inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 included, and might contribute to innate immunity. Quantification of oxysterols was afforded over the years, almost always focused on a few family's compounds. More comprehensive COPs measurements, also including oxysterols of enzymatic origin, are, nowadays, available, which better display the many advantages of systematically adopting this family of compounds as markers of quality, safety, and nutritional value in the selection of ingredients in processing and storage. Regarding foodstuff shelf life, COPs monitoring already provided useful hints for more suitable packaging. The identification of a subset of non-enzymatic and enzymatic oxysterols to be routinely assessed in food production and storage is proposed.

Dietary cholesterol oxidation products: Perspectives linking food processing and storage with health implications

Dietary cholesterol oxidation products (COPs) are heterogeneous compounds formed during the processing and storage of cholesterol-rich foods, such as seafood, meat, eggs, and dairy products. With the increased intake of COPs-rich foods, the concern about health implications of dietary COPs is rising. Dietary COPs may exert deleterious effects on human health to induce several inflammatory diseases including atherosclerosis, neurodegenerative diseases, and inflammatory bowel diseases. Thus, knowledge regarding the effects of processing and storage conditions leading to formation of COPs is needed to reduce the levels of COPs in foods. Efficient methodologies to determine COPs in foods are also essential. More importantly, the biological roles of dietary COPs in human health and effects of phytochemicals on dietary COPs-induced diseases need to be established. This review summarizes the recent information on dietary COPs including their formation in foods during their processing and storage, analytical methods of determination of COPs, metabolic fate, implications for human health, and beneficial interventions by phytochemicals. The formation of COPs is largely dependent on the heating temperature, storage time, and food matrices. Alteration of food processing and storage conditions is one of the potent strategies to restrict hazardous dietary COPs from forming, including maintaining relatively low temperatures, shorter processing or storage time, and the appropriate addition of antioxidants. Once absorbed into the circulation, dietary COPs can contribute to the progression of several inflammatory diseases, where the absorbed dietary COPs may induce inflammation, apoptosis, and autophagy in cells in the target organs or tissues. Improved intake of phytochemicals may be an effective strategy to reduce the hazardous effects of dietary COPs.

Design of Polymeric Films for Antioxidant Active Food Packaging

Antioxidant active food packaging can extend the shelf life of foods by retarding the rate of oxidation reactions of food components. Although significant advances in the design and development of polymeric packaging films loaded with antioxidants have been achieved over the last several decades, few of these films have successfully been translated from the laboratory to commercial applications. This article presents a snapshot of the latest advances in the design and applications of polymeric films for antioxidant active food packaging. It is hoped that this article will offer insights into the optimisation of the performance of polymeric films for food packaging purposes and will facilitate the translation of those polymeric films from the laboratory to commercial applications in the food industry.