Isabel C.F.R. Ferreira

Instituto Politécnico de Bragança | IPB · Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO)

Ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) was used to recover hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol from olive pomace, a residue generated by the olive oil industry. The extraction process was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM), with processing time, ethanol concentration and ultrasonic power as the combined independent variables. The highest amoun...

The harvesting, processing, and sale of wild edible mushrooms (WEM) is a relevant economic activity in Angola and a good example of the use of non-wood forest products for food. Although there is deep traditional knowledge about the general properties of WEMs, a huge gap remains in detailed scientific knowledge. Thus, this study aimed to investigat...

The sonoextraction (SE) of aescin saponins and phenolic compounds from the inedible seed kernels of Aesculus hippocastanum was optimized using a central composite rotatable design coupled with response surface methodology, where the joint effects of ultrasonic power, sonication time, and ethanol proportion were investigated. Flavonol glycosides (≥9...

Quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) is an astringent fruit widely processed into marmalade and other sweets through processes that discard the peel as a by-product. Therefore, this study was performed to characterize the quince peel composition in nutrients and phytochemicals and evaluate its in vitro biological activity, following a “zero waste” approa...

Leaves and barks of Luehea divaricata (Malvaceae) are used in folk medicine for the treatment of infectious diseases, tumours, rheumatism and diabetes. This work presents in vivo experiments (rats and mice) supported by in vitro and chemical analyses in order to address the above mentioned folk medicinal uses. The phenolic constituents of both aque...

Pinhão residues have a wide range of bioactive compounds and encapsulation can be one of the alternatives to increase their bioavailability. Thus, this work aimed to apply pinhão extract, pure and encapsulated by solid dispersion, in the formulation of cookies as a bioactive ingredient. For that, pinhão extract was encapsulated in different biopoly...

In the present work, the effect of the cultivation process, in the field and under a controlled environment, on biochemical parameters by using commercial strains of A. subrufescens were evaluated. The results obtained revealed that the strains cultivated in the field presented higher levels for most of the parameters evaluated (organic acids (20.5...

The Solanaceae family is considered one of the most important families among plant species because, on one hand encompasses many staple food crops of the human diet while, on the other hand, it includes species rich in powerful secondary metabolites that could be valorized in medicine or drug formulation as well as nutraceuticals and food supplemen...

Lentinus crinitus basidiocarps are an alternative to antimicrobials, but the stipe (24% basidiocarp) is discarded even with potential antimicrobial activity. This study evaluated the antimicrobial activity of L. crinitus basidiocarp pileus and stipe extracts against foodborne pathogens and food spoilage microorganisms. Basidiocarps of L. crinitus w...

In the present study petioles were collected from cultivated cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L. var altilis) plants in central Greece at sixteen harvest dates (samples P1-P16) and nine growth stages (principal growth stages (PGS) 1 – 9). The main objective of this study was to study the influence of petioles’ growth cycle on their chemical composition....

The members of Cystus genus are perenial shrubs with a well-established use in traditional medicine. Among these, C. creticus is the most popular, herbal preparations obtained from its aerial parts being recognized as antimicrobial, antitumor and anti-inflammatory agents. The present study aimed to evaluate phytochemical profile and bioactive poten...

Bioactive compounds derived from plants are secondary metabolites that can act through various bioactivities, namely as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-hypertensive, and hypoglycemic agents. Combined with the pressure generated by consumers for more natural products with beneficial effects on health, these compounds may be suita...

The plant kingdom is an endless source of molecules that can be applied in almost all realms of society. The food industry has profited from the use of plants and their derived materials for many decades. Recently, the food industry has been looking into plants to find different ways of either preserving, coloring or sweetening foods. In this work,...

The interest in expanding the production of hops outside the traditional cultivation regions, mainly motivated by the growth of the craft brewery business, justifies the intensification of studies into its adaptation to local growing conditions. In this study, four field trials were undertaken on a twenty-year-old hop garden, over periods of up to...

Food waste is one of the fundamental issues when it comes to environmental impacts, and this type of waste results in the food’s loss itself, but also that of water, energy, fertilizers, and other resources used for its production. Many vegetable parts are removed from the final product before reaching retail (peels, roots, and seeds), and these ra...

The cosmetic industry is constantly searching for bioactive ingredients, namely, those obtained from natural sources with environmentally friendly connotations and less toxic effects. A previous study of our research group optimized the extraction of phenolic compounds from Juglans regia by heat-assisted extraction. Due to its richness in different...

Pressurized liquid extraction with water and ethanol was employed to obtain high antioxidant extracts from olive leaves ( Olea europaea L.). The influence of solvent ratio (100–50% v/v water/ethanol), temperature (100–200°C), and solvent flow rate (1–5 mL min − 1 ) on the extraction process was investigated using a Box-Behnken experimental design....

The world population has been growing and, consequently, so have the nutritional and food needs. The balance between adequate supply and the planet's resources is a subject with increasing attention in the world. The development of new strategies to combat this problem and ensure the population's nutritional needs are urgent and extremely necessary...

The authors found a mistake in the original paper [...]

Cardoon seeds collected in Greece at four different maturity stages (samples S1 to S4) were analysed in terms of chemical composition and in vitro bioactivities. The content of phenolic compounds (six compounds in total) increased with increasing maturity, and 3,5-O-dicaffeyolquinic (14.8–33.8 mg/g extract) acid was the compound detected in higher...

The efficiency of the microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) technique on recovering nutritional and bioactive oils from salmon (Salmo salar) side streams was evaluated and compared to Soxhlet extraction. The response surface methodology (RSM) coupled with a central composite rotatable design was used to optimize time, microwave power, and solid/liqui...

Natural extracts have been used in several traditional medicine applications and culinary purposes. Their biological properties (antioxidant and antimicrobial) are due to the presence of several active aromatic compounds. Herein, different natural extracts were evaluated, namely structural and thermal characterization and biological activity, in it...

An optimized ultrasound-assisted extractive method was developed to obtain a polyphenol-enriched extract from the aerial parts of Thymus comosus Heuff. ex Griseb. et Schenk. Optimization process was conducted based on Design of Experiment (DoE) principles, determining the influence of three independent variables (time, ultrasound amplitude, ethanol...

Cytinus hypocistis (L.) L. is a comestible holoparasite with great potential for cosmeceutical application. Although its high tannin content has been associated with its bioactive and inhibitory enzyme properties, this is the first report establishing a relationship between parasite and host (Halimium lasianthum (Lam.) Greuter) phenolic profile and...

Dehydration of the edible seaweed Chondrus crispus was performed by freeze-drying, conventional oven-drying and emerging microwave hydrodiffusion and gravity (MHG). In this work, the drying kinetics and modelling, estimating specific energy consumption and environmental impact of distinct processes were tested. Color and microstructural features of...

Background Secondary metabolism of plants produces molecules that are widely used in the food industry for many years. The demand for these molecules has been increasing, and special focus has been given to volatile molecules. Scope The study of secondary metabolites with special focus on the volatile molecules is overviewed, explaining their bioa...

The application of bioactive extracts from Cichorium intybus L. and Plantago coronopus L. species were incorporated as a functional ingredient in fresh egg pasta (Fettuccine). In that sense, a pasta making procedure was accessed using different concentrations of the plant extracts (0.25-0.63 mg/g), drying times (20-420 min) and drying temperatures...

Rose and nasturtium are common ornamental edible flowers rich in phytochemicals whose application as food is not widely explored. The gastrointestinal environment can modify these compounds, resulting in new combinations with different bioactivity. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of simulated gastrointestinal digestion (SGD) on rose and na...

Humans often respond to sensory impulses provided by aromas, and current trends have generated interest in natural sources of fragrances rather than the commonly used synthetic additives. For the first time, the resulting aroma of a selected culture of Thymus mastichina L. was studied as a potential food ingredient. In this context, dried (DR) and...

The use of natural colorants is needed to overcome consumer concerns regarding synthetic food colorants′ safety. However, natural pigments have, in general, poor stability against environmental stresses such as temperature, ionic strength, moisture, light, and pH, among others. In this work, water-in-oil-in-water (W1/O/W2) emulsions were used as pr...

Betalains are a class of natural pigments widely occurring in plants and, more rarely, in higher fungi. They exert specific physiological functions, mainly related to plant pollination and protection against external agents. The variety of colors and bioactivities presented by betalains have justified their growing importance among academia and sci...

Recently, there has been an increasing interest in health-promoting products which are also natural and safe for consumption because the consumer market has been searching for a healthy lifestyle. This global market trend has driven the food industry to invest in developing innovative products containing bioactive components. Flavonoids are a group...

Cupressus sempervirens L., Juniperus communis L. and Cistus ladanifer L. are Mediterranean arboreal and shrub species that possess essential oils (EO) in their leaves and branches. This study aimed at characterizing the EOs obtained by steam distillation from the three species collected in different locations from Spain (Almazán, Andévalo, Barrioma...

The venom from Apis mellifera intermissa, the main honey bee prevailing in Morocco, has been scarcely studied, despite its known potential for pharmacological applications. In the present work, we investigated the composition, the anti-inflammatory activity, and the venom’s cytotoxic properties from fifteen honey bee venom (HBV) samples collected i...

Tannins are a class of phenolic compounds commonly found in plants and studied for their bioactive and inhibitory enzyme properties. Cytinus hypocistis (L.) L. is a wild edible parasitic plant whose biological properties have been correlated with its high tannin content. Thus, studying the extraction of tannins from C. hypocistis will give comprehe...

This study aimed to determine a complete chemical composition of eight different varieties of whole hemp seeds and eight samples of commercial dehulled hemp seeds. We also evaluated the phenolic profiles and antioxidant, cytotoxic, and antimicrobial properties of hydromethanolic seed extracts. Whole hemp seeds contain much more fibre than dehulled...

Hydroethanolic extracts of cardoon petioles collected at sixteen growth stages (P1-P16) were characterized in terms of their phenolic composition and bioactive potential (antioxidant, cy-totoxic, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities). Fifteen phenolic compounds were tentatively identified (i.e., ten phenolic acids and five flavonoid glyc...

Spray-drying is an old technology that is used in the cutting edge of science. From a drying technique used in the front lines of the Second World War to the most promising encapsulation techniques in drug delivery systems.

With the increasing demand for convenient and ready-to-eat foods, the use of antioxidants and preservative additives in foodstuff formulation is essential. In addition to their technological functions in food, bio-based additives confer beneficial properties for human health for having antioxidant capacity and acting as antimicrobial, antitumor, an...

Edible flowers are becoming very popular, as consumers are seeking healthier and more attractive food products that can improve their diet aesthetics and diversify their dietary sources of micronutrients. The great variety of flowers that can be eaten is also associated with high variability in chemical composition, especially in bioactive compound...

The wastes generated during the olive oil extraction process, even if presenting a negative impact for the environment, contain several bioactive compounds that have considerable health benefits. After suitable extraction and purification, these compounds can be used as food antioxidants or as active ingredients in nutraceutical and cosmetic produc...

Liposome-like nanoarchitectures containing manganese ferrite nanoparticles covered or decorated with gold were developed for application in dual cancer therapy, combining chemotherapy and photothermia. The magnetic/plasmonic nanoparticles were characterized using XRD, UV/Visible absorption, HR-TEM, and SQUID, exhibiting superparamagnetic behavior a...

Black elder (Sambucus nigra L.) is a common plant native from the northern hemisphere that spread all over the world. It is rich in many phenolic metabolites, especially anthocyanins, which are known for their high colorant capacity and health benefits. This study aimed to analyse the effects of elderberry extract (EE) supplementation in mice’s hem...

Finding natural food coloring options from plant-based sources to substitute artificial dyes is a challenging task because natural dyes often present low water-solubility, not very vibrant hues, and instability due to interactions with food ingredients. Chemometric approaches can be used to evaluate color differences and patterns resulting from nat...

Citation: Añibarro-Ortega, M.; Pinela, J.; Petrović, J.; Prieto, M.A.; Soković, M.; Ferreira, I.C.F.R.; Simal-Gandara, J.; Barros, L. Nutritional Composition and Biological Activity of Goldenberry (Physalis peruviana L.): An Emerging Fruit Crop in Portugal. Biol. Life Sci. Forum 2021, 6, 3. https://doi. Abstract: European consumers have a growing i...

The objective of this work was to determine the potential bioactive properties of extracts from bio-residues of pinhão (Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze) seeds, namely the α-amylase and cholinesterase inhibition, cytotoxicity, and anti-inflammatory properties. The pinhão extracts evaluated were obtained from cooking water (CW) and as an etha...

The equilibrium between reactive species formation and antioxidant defenses (endogenous and exogenous) is essential for normal organism functioning. The oxidation–reduction reactions responsible for this equilibrium are critical to maintaining many cellular processes and cell survival mechanisms. However, under specific biotic and abiotic stresses,...

In order to contribute to improve knowledge about the actions of Camellia sinensis extracts on starch digestion, several varieties were compared. The latter were green, oolong, white, black, and purple teas. The results are hoped to contribute to our understanding of the mode of action and potency of the various tea preparations as possible adjuvan...

Aloesin is an aromatic chromone with increasing applications in the cosmetic and health food industries. To optimize its extraction from the Aloe vera leaf rind, the independent variables time (10–210 min), temperature (25–95 °C) and organic solvent composition (0–100%, w/w) were combined in a central composite design coupled with response surface...

The use of natural products to promote health is as old as human civilization. In recent years, the perception of natural products derived from plants as abundant sources of biologically active compounds has driven their exploitation towards the search for new chemical products that can lead to further pharmaceutical formulations. Candida fungi, be...

Secondary metabolites are molecules with unlimited applications that have been gaining importance in various industries and studied from many angles. They are mainly used for their bioactive capabilities, but due to the improvement of sensibility in analytical chemistry, they are also used for authentication and as a quality control parameter for f...

Consumers have given preferences to food products that, in addition to the nutritional properties, also present bioactive characteristics with beneficial health effects. The use of Nonconventional Food Plants (NCFP) has been an asset for the food industry, not only due to its abundance but, also, because it does not compete with other vegetable mat...

During human history, people have searched plant species to heal their diseases, elaborating different traditional remedies. Nowadays, numerous scientific studies have demonstrated the beneficial biological properties of several plants including species of Rosaceae familywhich appears in various ethnobotanical studies as one of the most used plants...

The genus Alternaria includes several of fungi that are darkly pigmented by DHN-melanin. These are pathogenic to plants but are also associated with human respiratory allergic diseases and with serious infections in immunocompromised individuals. The present work focuses on the alterations of the composition and structure of the hyphal cell wall of...

Flowers of the genus Impatiens are classified as edible; however, their inclusion in the human diet is not yet a common practice. Its attractive colours have stirred great interest by the food industry. In this sense, rose (BP) and orange (BO) I. balsamina flowers were nutritionally studied, followed by an in-depth chemical study profile. The non-a...

The family Asteraceae constitutes a plant family that contains a wide range of medicinal plants, especially in Galicia (NW Spain), where some species have been used in traditional medicine. In this work, five Asteraceae species were selected to develop their phenolic profiling and determine their associated bioactivities, namely Achillea millefoliu...

Natural products play a crucial role in new drug and food ingredient development. Amaranthaceae family plants have been used in traditional Asian and middle eastern medicine. This practice and empirical knowledge is a clue to the presence of bioactive constituents in these plants, which can be a promising source of valuable compounds with possible...

The increasing interest in natural foods with functional effects demands progressively higher production levels. Nonetheless, there is an orientation towards practicing more sustainable agriculture, free from environmentally harmful pesticides and fertilizers. Plant biostimulants, a class of bio-based agriculture products designed to improve crop d...