José M. Alvarez-Suarez

José M. Alvarez-Suarez
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José verified their affiliation via an institutional email.
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José verified their affiliation via an institutional email.
Universidad San Francisco de Quito · Department of Food Engineering

Ph.D in Food and Health. Highly Cited Researcher 2019 2020 and 2021

About

125
Publications
123,548
Reads
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Introduction
José M. Alvarez-Suarez is a professor in Food Science and Technology at the College of Sciences and Engineering, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador and Distinguished Scientists at the King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Prof. Alvarez-Suarez research interests are in natural antioxidants and their sources, mechanisms of action and their potential applications in human health.
Additional affiliations
March 2021 - present
Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Position
  • Professor (Full)
March 2021 - present
Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Position
  • Professor (Full)
October 2019 - October 2021
King Abdulaziz University
Position
  • Researcher

Publications

Publications (125)
Article
Full-text available
Obesity, a complex metabolic chronic illness, is commonly accompanied by an excessive production of free radicals, which influences the development of its comorbidities. Uric acid is commonly linked to pro-oxidant effects on human health. Though recent evidence suggests its potential antioxidant properties, it is possible that the increase in circu...
Article
Full-text available
Background The Andean blackberry (Rubus glaucus Benth), locally known as “Mora de Castilla,” is a high-altitude fruit rich in phytochemicals, mainly anthocyanins, with potent antioxidant properties. Although its chemical composition has been studied, the influence of altitude on its phytochemical profile and antioxidant capacity is still unclear. T...
Article
Edible insects represent a viable option to address the current need for nutritious, safe, and eco-friendly foods. People native to the Amazon region have a long-standing tradition of consuming edible insects that are relatively unknown elsewhere. This research aimed to characterize the chemical, nutritional, and microbiological composition of the...
Article
Full-text available
Honey produced by stingless bees (Tribe: Meliponini) is well‐known for their medicinal and antimicrobial properties from their diverse content of bioactive compounds. However, it has not been possible to fully characterize its active principles. The present systematic review is based on 117 full‐text articles. Our review highlights (1) the need to...
Article
Full-text available
Since ancient times, indigenous communities have depended on traditional and sustainable use of available food sources. Throughout the tropics, the larvae of the palm weevil Rhynchophorus palmarum L. (Curculionidae, Coleoptera) have served this purpose. Several studies have described the ancestral use of R. palmarum as an edible and medicinal insec...
Article
Red raspberries are gaining attention more and more for their nutritional and bioactive components, with potential health effects such as antitumor properties. This review aims to describe the antioxidant activities of red raspberries, emphasizing the role of anthocyanins and ellagitannins as primary contributors among red raspberry polyphenols; it...
Article
BACKGROUND: The Andean blackberry (Rubus glaucus Benth) is one of Ecuador's iconic berries that grows in its Andean region, of which a high anthocyanin content has been described. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to determine the chemical composition and anti-inflammatory potential of the Andean blackberry from Ecuador, with emphasis on...
Article
Background: The house cricket (A. domesticus) is one of the edible insects that are gaining attention as a new source of protein and nutrients with potential use in the food industry as a safe and environmentally sustainable option with high biological value. Scope and approach: Here, we review the published literature on studies of chemical compos...
Poster
Full-text available
Los insectos comestibles se han propuesto como alternativa sostenible para el medio ambiente y la ganadería (1). En respuesta a la promoción de los insectos como alimento por parte de la FAO, el consumo de insectos es ahora una tendencia a nivel mundial. Sin embargo, a diferencia de la ganadería tradicional, la información disponible sobre su compo...
Article
Full-text available
The ‘post-antibiotic’ era is near according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It is well known, due to the work of the scientific community, that drugs (antibiotics, antifungals, and other antimicrobial agents) are continuously becoming less effective, and multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens are on the rise. This scenario raises concerns of a...
Article
Full-text available
Biofilms are associated with infections that are resistant to conventional therapies, contributing to the antimicrobial resistance crisis. The need for alternative approaches against biofilms is well-known. Although natural products like stingless bee honeys (tribe: Meliponini) constitute an alternative treatment, much is still unknown. Our main go...
Article
Manuka honey, which is rich in pinocembrin, quercetin, naringenin, salicylic, p-coumaric, ferulic, syringic and 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acids, has been shown to have pleiotropic effects against colon cancer cells. In this study, potential chemosensitizing effects of Manuka honey against 5-Fluorouracil were investigated in colonspheres enriched with ca...
Article
Full-text available
Ocimum is considered the largest genus in the Lamiacea family. The genus includes basil, a group of aromatic plants with a wide range of culinary uses that nowadays draws attention for its medicinal and pharmaceutical potential. This systematic review intends to explore the chemical composition of non-essential oils and their variation across diffe...
Article
Diets enriched in plant-based foods are associated with the maintenance of a good well-being and with the prevention of many non-communicable diseases. The health effects of fruits and vegetables consumption are mainly due to the presence of micronutrients, including vitamins and minerals, and polyphenols, plant secondary metabolites. One of the mo...
Article
Full-text available
Horchata, a herbal infusion drink from Ecuador containing a mixture of medicinal plants, has been reported to exhibit anti-inflammatory, analgesic, diuretic, and antioxidant activity. The antibacterial activity of each of the plants contained in the horchata mixture has not been fully evaluated. Thus, in this study, we analysed the antibacterial ac...
Article
Full-text available
Background The development of digital technologies and the evolution of open innovation approaches have enabled the creation of diverse virtual organizations and enterprises coordinating their activities primarily online. The open innovation platform titled “International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce” (INPST) was established in 2018, to bring...
Article
Full-text available
Ever since coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, by the WHO, a concerted effort has been made to find compounds capable of acting on the virus and preventing its replication. In this context, researchers have refocused part of their attention on certain natural compounds that have show...
Preprint
Background: The development of digital technologies and the evolution of open innovation approaches have enabled the creation of diverse virtual organizations and enterprises coordinating their activities primarily online. The open innovation platform titled "International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce" (INPST) was established in 2018, to brin...
Article
Full-text available
The chemical composition and biological capacities of berries depend on environmental param-eters, maturity, and location. The Andean blueberry (Vaccinium floribundum Kunth), also known as mortiño, presents a unique combination of several phytochemicals, which play a synergistic role in its characterization as a functional food. We aimed to expose...
Article
Full-text available
Background: The development of digital technologies and the evolution of open innovation approaches have enabled the creation of diverse virtual organizations and enterprises coordinating their activities primarily online. The open innovation platform titled “International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce” (INPST) was established in 2018, to brin...
Article
Full-text available
The development of digital technologies and the evolution of open innovation approaches have enabled the creation of diverse virtual organizations and enterprises coordinating their activities primarily online. The open innovation platform titled “International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce” (INPST) was established in 2018, to bring together i...
Article
Full-text available
Several climatic trends are generally associated with altitude, that may influence the nutritional and phytochemical composition of plants. Strawberry is considered a functional food due to biological activities and health benefits. This systematic review and meta-analysis intend to expose possible variations on physicochemical composition and anti...
Article
Full-text available
In a world where 1 billion people suffer from hunger, lands and seas are overexploited and production systems are unsustainable, and there is an urgent need to find alternative foods. In this context, insects represent a good source of macro‐ and micronutrients and even bioactive compounds that could contribute to reducing nutritional deficiency an...
Article
Polyphenols are plant secondary metabolites, whose biological activity has been widely demonstrated. However, the research in this field is a bit reductive, as very frequently the effect of individual compound is investigated in different experimental models, neglecting more complex, but common, relationships that are established in the diet. This...
Article
The aim of the present work was to evaluate the in vitro effect of Manuka honey and its combination with 5-Fu, the most common drug used in the treatment of colon cancer, on the morphological and physical parameters of colonspheres enriched with cancer stem-like cells deriving from HCT-116 colon adenocarcinoma cell line and on the apoptosis rate. M...
Article
Ocimum basilicum and Ocimum tenuiflorum are two basil species widely used medicinally as an anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and cardioprotective agent. This study focuses on the chemical characterization of the majoritarian compounds of both species and their anti-inflammatory potential. Up to 22 compounds such as various types of salvianolic acid...
Article
Mauritia flexuosa, Bactris gasipaes, and Oenocarpus bataua are among the main palms in the Amazon used for food and medicinal purposes. The food most commonly derived from these are fruits, oil, and the larvae of the insect Rhynchophorus palmarum reared in their trunks. Palm fruits are used for oil extraction as they are rich in saturated fatty aci...
Article
Organic farming is characterized by the prohibition of the use of chemical synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, feed additives and genetically modified organisms and by the application of sustainable agricultural technologies based on ecological principles and natural rules. Organic products are believed to be more nutritious and safer foods compared...
Article
Full-text available
Beside honey, honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) are able to produce many byproducts, including bee pollen, propolis, bee bread, royal jelly, and beeswax. Even if the medicinal properties of these byproducts have been recognized for thousands of years by the ancient civilizations, in the modern era, they have a limited use, essentially as nutritional su...
Article
Bioactive plant-derived molecules have emerged as therapeutic alternatives in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. In this investigation, principal bioactive compounds of the herbal infusion "horchata" from Ecuador were studied as potential novel inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The chemical composition of horchata was determined through a H...
Chapter
The area of research on the health benefits of berries, their bioactive compounds and their related metabolites has exploded in the last 20 years resulting in new knowledge in the understanding of their metabolism, molecular mode of action as well as their clinical significance in promoting health and preventing chronic disease. Berries and Berry B...
Article
The aim of this study was to evaluate for the first time the anti-inflammatory effects of chestnut (Castanea sativa) and Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus occidentalis) honeys collected in Italy on murine RAW 264.7 macrophages stressed with the bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Pre-treatment with the two honeys markedly decreased apoptosis and sti...
Article
Full-text available
Colorectal cancer remains a challenging health burden worldwide. This study aimed to assess the potentiality of Strawberry tree honey (STH), a polyphenol-enriched food, to increase the effectiveness of 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) in adenocarcinoma (HCT-116) and metastatic (LoVo) colon cancer cell lines. The combined treatment reduced cell viability and c...
Article
Thermal liquefaction is a conventional method used by beekeepers to liquefy crystallized honey. However, an abusive use of heat may affect its quality, chemical composition and bioactivity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of thermal liquefaction on the quality, chemical composition and antibiofilm properties of eucalyptus ho...
Article
Full-text available
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a rare tumor subpopulation with high differentiation, proliferative and tumorigenic potential compared to the remaining tumor population. CSCs were first discovered by Bonnet and Dick in 1997 in acute myeloid leukemia. The identification and isolation of these cells in this pioneering study were carried out through the...
Article
Full-text available
In recent times, scientific attention has been paid to different foods and their bioactive components for the ability to inhibit the onset and progress of different types of cancer. Nigella sativa extract, powder and seed oil and its main components, thymoquinone and α-hederin, have showed potent anticancer and chemosensitizing effects against vari...
Article
Full-text available
Ecuadorian honey samples of eight genera and 12 stingless bee species from three geographic regions (Andes, Amazon and Pacific) were studied for their physicochemical parameters, chemical composition, mineral elements and antimicrobial activity. Meliponine honey is acidic and high in water content, but our study revealed substantial chemical variat...
Article
Full-text available
Modern high-throughput ‘omics’ science tools (including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and microbiomics) are currently being applied to nutritional sciences to unravel the fundamental processes of health effects ascribed to particular nutrients in humans and to contribute to more precise nutritional advice. Diet and food compon...
Article
Background: Anthocyanins are a major class of plant phenolic pigments, responsible for the red, purple or blue color of leaves, flowers, tubers, fruits and certain vegetables. They are considered the largest and most important group of water-soluble pigments in nature and have been described to have multiple health-promoting properties. However, th...
Article
Honey is known for its important antimicrobial activity, which is considered one of its main biological properties. This property has been associated with different factors, among which floral origin stands out and can directly affect this biological activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibiofilm activity of eucalyptus honey (EH) a...
Article
Full-text available
Today, the green synthesis of metal nanoparticles is a promising strategy in material science and nanotechnology. In this research, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized through the high-efficient, cost-effective green and facile process, using the Astragalus tribuloides Delile. root extract as a bioreduction and capping agent at room tempe...
Article
Full-text available
The bioactive compounds, total antioxidant capacity and protective effect against lipid oxidative damage of red blood cell (RBC) membranes of Mauritia flexuosa L. extracts from three altitude levels (low, middle and high zones) were analyzed. The identification of the main polyphenols in the fruit was performed using High Performance Liquid Chromat...
Article
Full-text available
The macromolecular complex known as “inflammasome” is defined as an intracellular multi-protein complex composed of a sensor receptor (PRR), an adaptor protein and an effector enzyme (caspase-1) which oligomerize when they sense danger, such as how the NLR family, AIM-2 and RIG-1 receptors protect the body against danger via cytokines secretion. Wi...
Article
Cigarette smoking has been associated with an increase in oxidative stress (OE) and is considered a predisposing factor to chronic noncommunicable diseases, whilst antioxidants have been proposed as an alternative to protect biological structures from OE. In this study, 20 smokers and 20 non-smokers were studied with the aim of determine their anti...
Article
Full-text available
This study was carried out to screen the amount and the classes of secondary metabolites and to evaluate the antioxidant, cytotoxic, antifungal, and antibacterial activities of the methanolic, ethanolic, and water extracts of the roots, leaves, and flowers of Nepeta juncea Benth. The results show that the highest total phenol (69.54 ± 0.31 mg galli...
Article
Eucalyptus honey is an important unifloral honey commercialized worldwide and much desired by consumers due to the medicinal properties attributed to it because of the plant from which it is produced. In general, eucalyptus honey has been classified as being rich in pollen grains from the eucalyptus tree as well as having physicochemical characteri...
Article
Full-text available
Pechiche fruits (Vitex cymosa Berteo ex Speng) from Ecuador were studied to determine their phenolic acid profile, nutrient minerals and capacity to protect primary human dermal fibroblasts (HDFa) against oxidative-induced damage. Up to five phenolic acids were identified, with homovanillic acid as the main one. Vitamin C, β-carotene and lutein wer...
Article
Xyloglucan oligosaccharides (XGOs), derived from the hydrolysis of plant cell wall xyloglucan, are a novel class of biostimulants that exert positive effects on plant growth and morphology and can enhance plant stress tolerance. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of the application of exogenous Tamarindus indica L. cell wall-deriv...
Article
The aim of this study was the evaluation of the effects of strawberry anthocyanin extracts treatment on two in vitro models of murine breast cancer cell line, trying to detect a specific pathway (AMP-activated protein kinase, or AMPK) through which strawberries exert their anticancer activity. The anticancer activity of anthocyanin purified extract...
Article
Full-text available
Nineteen different tropical fruits traditionally consumed in the coastal lowlands of Ecuador were studied to determine their chemical composition and antioxidant activity. Fruta china fruits (Averrhoa carambola L.) showed the highest values of total phenolic, flavonoid and total antioxidant capacity, while guayaba fruits (Psidium guajava L.) showed...
Article
Full-text available
Thirteen fruits, eight legumes and three tubers consumed in the Andean regions of Ecuador were studied to determine their bioactive compounds, organic acids, sugars content, total antioxidant capacity, as well as to determine which among them showed the greatest contribution in terms of antioxidant activity and which compounds contributed to it. Am...
Article
The phytochemical composition and the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of a mixture of 23 plants, named Horchata, traditionally consumed in Ecuador, have been evaluated. The study was carried out using the hydroalcoholic extract (HHext) and infusion (IHext) of the horchata plant mixture. It was verified that thermal treatment affected t...
Article
Full-text available
To our knowledge, this study is the first to report on the nutritional characterization, bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity of Amazonian G. macarenensis fruit. The fatty acid profile was determined using a high performance liquid chromatography analysis. The total phenolic content and antioxidant activity were determined using Folin Ciocal...
Article
Chuquiraga jussieui J.F.Gmel is grown between 3000-5000 meters above sea level throughout the Andean region of Ecuador and used by the indigenous populations of the Andes for medicinal purposes. Here, we determined the total phenolic, flavonoids, vitamin C and carotenoids content of the leaves and flowers of Ch. jussieui J.F.Gmel from different hig...
Article
Full-text available
The Aphandra natalia palm is a species of monotypic genus Aphandra belonging to the Arecaceae family and is native to South America, mainly in the western part of the Amazon basin in Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil. In this study, we determined the physicochemical characteristics of A. natalia fruit mesocarp, as well as its fatty acid composition, the to...
Article
Full-text available
Berry fruits are rich in nutrients and polyphenols, providing potential health benefits. Understanding the factors that affect their bioavailability is becoming of utmost importance for evaluating their biological significance and efficacy as functional food. In this study, the phytochemical composition and the total antioxidant capacity of differe...
Article
Full-text available
BACKGROUND: Andean blackberries (Rubus glaucus Benth) and Andean blueberries (Vaccinium floribundum Kunth) are wild berries consumed and commercialised by the indigenous people of the Andean regions of Ecuador. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine the chemical composition and the ability of A. blackberries and A. blueberries to protect human der...
Article
Full-text available
Skin and chronic wound infections are an increasing and urgent health problem worldwide. Their management is difficult and the development of antibiotic resistance by both planktonic and biofilm-associated bacteria necessitates the use of alternative treatments. The purpose of this study was to compare the antimicrobial activity of four honeys from...
Data
One strain for each species was assessed for its biofilm-forming ability after 24 h. OD690 values above the red line indicate strong biofilm producer strains. The cut-off was deduced as suggested by Stepanovic et al. (2000).
Article
Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that nutritional habits, like those based on high consumption of fruits and vegetables, have been associated with a longer life expectancy and a significant decrease in the incidence and prevalence of several chronic diseases with inflammatory basis, such as cardiovascular diseases (CVD). This beneficial ac...
Article
Full-text available
We analyzed guava fruits (Psidium guajava L. cv. Red Suprema) from Cuba to determine their chemical composition, total antioxidant capacity, as well as their protective effect against oxidative damage using an in vitro model of human dermal fibroblasts. The guava fruit is a natural source of bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, vitamin C, fola...
Article
Full-text available
This study aims to evaluate the pollen profile, physicochemical parameters, chemical composition, antioxidant capacity, microbial contamination and antimicrobial activity of Eucalyptus honey from the Andean region of Ecuador. Aerobic mesophiles, molds and yeasts, fecal coliforms and sulfite-reducing clostridia contamination were also assessed. All...