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In this study, the possible uses of glassworts as potential food ingredients and their antiproliferative activity against colorectal adenocarcinoma cells together with their antioxidant and phytochemical profiles were investigated for the first time. MeOH extracts of five different taxa collected from different localities were screened for their antioxidant capacities by DPPH (IC 2.91 - 5.49 mg/ml) and ABTS (24.4 - 38.5 μmol TE/g extract) assays. Salicornia freitagii exhibited the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity. LC/MS/MS analysis displayed that vanillic acid and p-coumaric acid were two main phenolic compounds in the extract. Salicornia freitagii extracts also exhibited high antiproliferative activity against HT-29 (IC 1.67 mg/ml) and Caco-2 (IC 3.03 mg/ml) cells for 72 h. Mineral analysis indicated that all the species with different proportions of elemental components contained high amount of cations. These results indicate that investigated glassworts, with their high phenolic and mineral contents and also notable antioxidant and cytotoxic properties, may be utilized as a promising source of therapeutics.

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Functional foods are an emerging research field corresponding with genomical, epidemiological and clinical studies integrated with the food industry in accordance with the consumer demands.Consequently, the features of the functional foods are being discussed by various researchers and related institutions, and a common view has been pointed out about the availability and the nature of the components of functional foods. Recently, the outcomes of functional foods are being assessed by the help of all the available scientific tools. Genomic medicine is one of the most promising areas of research to reveal the benefits of functional foods and the bioactive ingredients. Nutrigenomics aims at studying the genetic and epigenetic interactions with a nutrient or the functional component in order to lead to a phenotype change and therefore to the cell metabolism, differentiation or even apoptosis. Papaya and its fermentation product are specific products derived from the technologically advanced and controlled environmentalfriendly bio-fermentation process. Functional Foods in Health and Disease 2012, 2(5):120-136 Page 121 of 136It has been well known for a long time that the natural anti-oxidant properties of papaya, mainly depending on vitamins A and C in addition to certain amino acids, were consistent both in the fruit and derived from the papain enzyme which is no longer present in the fermented product. In this article, functional foods in genomic medicine are discussed in review of the fermented papaya preparation research progress. Clinical evidences about fermented papaya as a functional food are reported as supported by various research protocols and experimental models. The benefits of fermented papaya preparation are also discussed in nutrigenomic basis and it is reported to have an important antioxidant and transcriptomic potential which deserves further investigation. As a conclusion, fermented papaya preparation represents a Functional Food highly compliant with the novel features of the new nutrigenomic-driven action plan strategy aimed to reduce the incidences of diseases and successful integration within specific pharmacological treatments. Keywords: functional foods, fermented papaya preparation, nutrigenomicsFunctional Food: a recent history dating back in time: "Functional Foods" represent an emerging opportunity and will certainly play a consistent and important role in future. Contrary to the past, when mainly retrospective epidemiological studies or empirical experiences were carried out on single nutrients, such a new and growing interest by the scientific community follows research deeply oriented to clinics supplemented by an accurate study on nutrients, genomics and single nutritional requirement diagnostics. Already in 1993, the leading journal, Nature, published a report entitled "Japan is exploring limits between food and medicine" [1].Clearly the success of "Functional Foods" depends on the food industry capacity developing new, effective products which on one side meet any consum...