Bioactives in food

Objective: Explore the role of bioactive compounds in nutrition and health, understand their sources, and consider their impact on disease prevention.

Key questions: How do bioactive compounds in food affect our health? Can diet influence our wellness and prevent disease?

Eating for health is not a new concept. In the West, knowledge of using herbs as food or medicine can be found in historical medical texts. The saying ‘Let medicine be thy food and let food be thy medicine’ is a saying attributed to Hippocrates, a physician of Ancient Greece often called the ‘Father of Medicine’.

Our food fuels our bodies. Our food provides us with protein, carbohydrate and fat which we digest, breaking it down into simpler components which we convert to energy or sometimes use as building blocks of our own metabolism. Naturally derived foods contain additional constituents in small quantities that have physiological effects in our bodies that help us maintain good health. They are bioactive.

Vitamins and minerals are essential nutrients your body needs in small amounts to work properly and stay healthy. Other bioactives can help fight inflammation, aid the immune system and protect the body’s cells preventing or slowing down disease processes.

An Apple a Day?

There is a widely known proverb that ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away’. But does it?

A study published in 2015 found that apple eaters were more likely to keep the doctor away but when adjusted for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics this association was no longer significant.

However, we can safely say that eating healthy foods such as apples helps us stay in good health and not have to see a doctor often. Apples are a good source of nutrients, providing energy, vitamins, minerals and fibre as well as other useful chemicals produced by plants. But if apples are good for us, we must wonder if one type of apple is better than another. Are the beneficial effects of apples retained when we cook them or juice them? What part of the apple is best?

Apples and apple products are thought to promote heart health in several ways. They are high in fibre which helps lower cholesterol and contain compounds which are thought to lower blood pressure and stroke risk. Apple bioactives can also regulate the immune system and reduce inflammation. Apple intake also helps weight management and lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes. Apples are also rich in components that promote the presence of beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Supplements

Most people should get all the nutrients they need by having a varied and balanced diet. In some instances, supplementation may be needed. For example, if you are pregnant or may become pregnant, it is recommended to take a folic acid supplement to reduce the risk of neural tube defects in unborn babies.

Daily vitamin D supplementation is recommended for infants who are breastfed or have less than 300 mL of infant formula a day. Infant formula is a food that is often fortified. Food fortification is defined as the practice of adding vitamins and minerals to foods to increase their nutritional value. It can benefit the consumer while adding value to a product.

Vitamins and minerals can also be taken as food supplements. It is important to remember that vitamin supplementation is not always appropriate and over-supplementation can lead to vitamin toxicities particularly in the case of fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin A and vitamin D that. As an example, vitamin A helps the immune system fight against infection, aids vision and is important for skin health. Eggs, oily fish and dairy products are good dietary sources of vitamin A and the body can also convert pigments from fruits and vegetables into vitamin A.

Consumption of food rich in bioactive compounds has been linked to reduced incidence and progression of several degenerative disease. It is good advice to eat a varied diet high in colourful fruits and vegetables. It is often the small bioactive components that are giving foods colour and taste. Foods contain hundreds of these small bioactive components that work together, contributing to the health benefits of our food.

Blue Zones and the Mediterranean Diet

Blue Zones are areas in the world where people are claimed to live longer than average. There are 5 Blue Zones in the world: the island of Ikaria in Greece; the Adventist community of Loma Linda in California; the island of Sardinia in Italy, the island of Okinawa, Japan and the Nicoya peninsula in Costa Rica. Studies have probed the lifestyle and environmental factors that contribute to the longevity of Blue Zone inhabitants.

In the Blue Zones, people tend to have strong connections with family, friends and other members of their community. They value having purpose in life and have tools to deal with stress. Movement and exercise is naturally incorporated into daily life and people eat wisely and mindfully, choosing healthy foods and avoiding overeating.

The Mediterranean diet has received much attention for its perceived health benefits. It refers to the dietary pattern of people living on the Mediterranean Sea Coast, in particular Greece and Southern Italy, where the Blue Zones Ikaria and Sardinia are located.

While differences occur between countries, the diet is characterized by daily consumption of non-refined cereals, fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts, olive oil as the principal source of fat, moderate consumption of fish poultry, eggs and sweets and occasional consumption of red meats.

The healthy diet is complemented by healthy behaviours such as an active lifestyle. There is a focus on seasonality, local sustainable produce and diet has cultural importance. There is a large body of evidence of the health benefits of a Mediterranean diet.

Observational and interventional clinical studies have provided robust proof of its positive health benefits in cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity and cancer prevention. We can be in no doubt that the beneficial effects are due to a combination of factors but it is also of value for us to study the effects of individual dietary components of the Mediterranean diet.

Reference: https://www.bda.uk.com/resource/long-covid-and-diet.html

Omega-3 fatty acids are important bioactive components in fish and have recognised cardioprotective effects and beneficial effects on cholesterol. Olive oil, used extensively in the Mediterranean diet, is high in monounsaturated fat, which is considered a healthy fat. Additionally, components such as oleuropein have been shown to inhibit the body’s inflammatory processes.

Legumes, grains and nuts are a valuable source of nutrients and fibre, and nuts are an excellent source of healthy fatty acids. Fruits and vegetables also provide beneficial compounds as well as key essential nutrients.

Tomatoes are a Mediterranean diet staple and a source of lycopene, a bioactive compound with antioxidant properties. Oxidation is a process where a chemical substance changes because of the addition of oxygen. Body cells can become damaged during this process so antioxidants help prevent this damage. Lycopene supplementation has been shown to improve blood vessel functioning in cardiovascular disease patients. Lycopene, however, is only one of many bioactive components in tomato and is not solely responsible for benefits observed in tomato eaters.

This discovery has led to the development of the functional ingredient Fruitflow®, a water-soluble tomato extract, which is cardioprotective (i.e. protecting the heart from damage and disease). Fruitflow® is scientifically proven in clinical studies to inhibit clumping of platelets in the blood or platelet aggregation, a known cause of heart attack, stroke and venous thrombosis. Fruitflow® became the first product in Europe to obtain an approved, proprietary health claim under Article 13(5) of the European Health Claims Regulation 1924/2006. Assessed by the European Food Safety Authority, the European Commission authorised the health claim that Fruitflow® ‘contributes to healthy blood flow.’

One published clinical study in healthy subjects shows that Fruitflow® works in a similar way to low-dose aspirin. In fact, a dose of Fruitflow® showed approximately equal efficacy to a single 75 mg dose of aspirin.

Red wine in moderation is thought of as healthy for the heart. Red wine contains compounds, such as the polyphenol resveratrol, that come from the skin of the grapes used to make wine which may are thought to help protect the lining of heart blood vessels and protect against cholesterol build up.

Healthy Eating Around the World

In the East, there is greater appreciation of the potential of food for health. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), medicine and food are considered to share the same origin and food can have functions in the prevention and treatment of various health conditions. Certain foods are considered to have specific therapeutic effects in the body. Likewise in Ayurveda, the more than 5,000-year-old traditional medicinal system of India, it is clear that food is seen as medicine. In the West, awareness of ‘food for health’ is growing together with the market for functional foods and precision nutrition.

Herbs and spices also have a long history of use in folk medicine and are used extensively today in health systems such as TCM and Ayurveda and in food supplements. On the most basic level, herbs and spices add taste and make our food more interesting. Including them in food and cooking adds flavour and may help us limit the amount of sugar and salt in our food. They also are full of bioactive components.

Ginger, from the root of the flowering plant Zingiber officinale, is widely used as a spice, as a dietary supplement and as a traditional medicine, particularly in the East. There is some evidence that it can be helpful for mild nausea and vomiting and it has traditional use in this way. Ginger contains hundreds of compounds and its characteristic flavour and fragrance are due to the volatile oils it contains.

Another member of the ginger family is Curcuma longa, root of which is used to prepare turmeric, a key ingredient in Asian cooking. Turmeric contains the bright yellow compound curcumin which can be used as a food additive for its colour and flavour. Turmeric and indeed curcumin have been the focus of much research and have showed much promise in drug screening assays.

However, this promise has not translated into success in human clinical trials unfortunately possibly in part due to the instability or poor bioavailability of compounds like curcumin in the body when ingested. Despite this, the European Medicines Agency concluded in 2019 that turmeric herbal teas, or other forms taken by mouth, could be used to relieve mild digestive problems, such as feelings of fullness or flatulence, exclusively based on long-standing use.

Garlic (Allium sativum) is an essential ingredient in Mediterranean cooking and also Eastern cooking and is prevalent in traditional medicine in both the East and the West. Garlic is full of beneficial bioactives conferring on it anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, anticancer, antidiabetic, anti-obesity, antihypertensive, antibiotic and antioxidant properties. Potential benefits have been demonstrated in human trials. The main bioactive from garlic is the sulphur containing compound allicin.