EC Nutrition

In the last years many efforts have been made to recycle agricultural byproducts. Today, cereals are considered one of the main sources of byproducts and the possibility to recover from them healthy components increases day by day. In particular, the research focused on the recovery of the polyphenolic fraction, known to possess many biological activities.

The aim of the present work was to optimize the recovery of polyphenols from corn cob (CC) and wheat byproducts (WBP) using a green method. A Design of Experiment approach was used to optimize the solvent to solid ratio (SSR), the organic solvent percentage (EtOH%), temperature (T), and time of extraction (t). The extracts obtained by applying the best extraction conditions (88.06°C, 42.8 mL/g, 62.4% EtOH, 5 min for CC; 40°C, 24.5 mL/g SSR, 23.8% EtOH, and 5 min for WBP) were investigated for their potential antiglycative and antimicrobial activities. Different model systems were used to monitor the efficacy of the extracts in the three steps of the protein glycation reaction. CC generally had a higher activity then WBP; in fact, it was able to inhibit the fructosamine formation and the AGEs production with activity values higher than 75%. Conversely, WBP was able to better trap the reaction intermediates methylglyoxal and glyoxal than CC. As regards the antimicrobial activity, different clinical isolates, gram positive and gram negative bacteria and yeasts, have been tested. CC was active against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), differently from WBP which was active against Escherichia coli (at concentration equal or higher than 60 mg/mL). CC and WBP extracts were active against Candida albicans when tested at 40 mg/mL and 60 mg/mL, respectively.

Our results supported the possibility to recycle cereal byproducts to produce new ingredients possessing antiglycative and antimicrobial activities, potentially useful in the production of food supplements and/or fortified foods.

 Keywords: Agrifood Byproducts; Corn Cob; Wheat Byproducts; Polyphenols; Antiglycative Activity; Antimicrobial Activity

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