Nowadays, cancer is one of the deadliest diseases in the world, which has been estimated to cause 9.9 million deaths in 2020. Conventional treatments for cancer commonly involve mono-chemotherapy or a combination of radiotherapy and mono-chemotherapy. However, the negative side effects of these approaches have been extensively reported and have prompted the search of new therapeutic drugs. In this context, scientific community started to look for innovative sources of anticancer compounds in natural sources, including traditional plants. Currently, numerous studies have evaluated the anticancer properties of natural compounds derived from plants, both in vitro and in vivo. In pre-clinical stages, some promising compounds could be mentioned, such as the sulforaphane or different phenolic compounds. On the other hand, some phytochemicals obtained positive results in clinical stages and were further approved for cancer treatment, such as vinca alkaloids or the paclitaxel. Nevertheless, these compounds are not exempt of limitations, such as low solubility, restricted effect on their own, negative side-effects, etc. This review aims to compile the information about the current phytochemicals used for cancer treatment and also promising candidates, main action mechanisms and also reported limitations. In this sense, some strategies to face the limitations have been considered, such as nano-based formulations to improve solubility or chemical modification to reduce toxicity. In conclusion, although more research is still necessary to develop more efficient and safe phytochemical drugs, more of these compounds might be used in future cancer therapies.

Agro-food industrial waste is currently being accumulated, pushing scientists to find recovery strategies to obtain bioactive compounds within a circular bioeconomy. Target phenolic compounds have shown market potential by means of optimization extraction techniques.

Algae are considered pigment-producing organisms. The function of these compounds in algae is to carry out photosynthesis. They have a great variety of pigments, which can be classified into three large groups: chlorophylls, carotenoids, and phycobilins. Within the carotenoids are xanthophylls. Xanthophylls (fucoxanthin, astaxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, and β-cryptoxanthin) are a type of carotenoids with anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory activities, due to their chemical structure rich in double bonds that provides them with antioxidant properties. In this context, xanthophylls can protect other molecules from oxidative stress by turning off singlet oxygen damage through various mechanisms. Based on clinical studies, this review shows the available information concerning the bioactivity and biological effects of the main xanthophylls present in algae. In addition, the algae with the highest production rate of the different compounds of interest were studied. It was observed that fucoxanthin is obtained mainly from the brown seaweeds Laminaria japonica, Undaria pinnatifida, Hizikia fusiformis, Sargassum spp., and Fucus spp. The main sources of astaxanthin are the microalgae Haematococcus pluvialis, Chlorella zofingiensis, and Chlorococcum sp. Lutein and zeaxanthin are mainly found in algal species such as Scenedesmus spp., Chlorella spp., Rhodophyta spp., or Spirulina spp. However, the extraction and purification processes of xanthophylls from algae need to be standardized to facilitate their commercialization. Finally, we assessed factors that determine the bioavailability and bioaccesibility of these molecules. We also suggested techniques that increase xanthophyll’s bioavailability.

During recent decades, consumers have been continuously moving towards the substitution of synthetic ingredients of the food industry by natural products, obtained from vegetal, animal or microbial sources. Additionally, a circular economy has been proposed as the most efficient production system since it allows for reducing and reutilizing different wastes. Current agriculture is responsible for producing high quantities of organic agricultural waste (e.g., discarded fruits and vegetables, peels, leaves, seeds or forestall residues), that usually ends up underutilized and accumulated, causing environmental problems. Interestingly, these agri-food by-products are potential sources of valuable bioactive molecules such as tannins. Tannins are phenolic compounds, secondary metabolites of plants widespread in terrestrial and aquatic natural environments. As they can be found in plenty of plants and herbs, they have been traditionally used for medicinal and other purposes, such as the leather industry. This fact is explained by the fact that they exert plenty of different biological activities and, thus, they entail a great potential to be used in the food, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industry. Consequently, this review article is directed towards the description of the biological activities exerted by tannins as they could be further extracted from by-products of the agri-food industry to produce high-added-value products.

Wine is perhaps the most ancient and popular alcoholic beverage worldwide. Winemaking practices involve careful vineyard management alongside controlled alcoholic fermentation and potential aging of the wine in barrels. Afterwards, the wine is placed in bottles and stored or distributed in retail. Yet, it is considered that wine achieves its optimum properties after a certain storage time in the bottle. The main outcome of bottle storage is a decrease of astringency and bitterness, improvement of aroma and a lighter and more stable color. This is due to a series of complex chemical changes of its components revolving around the minimized and controlled passage of oxygen into the bottle. For this matter, antioxidants like sulfur oxide are added to avoid excessive oxidation and consequent degradation of the wine. In the same sense, bottles must be closed with appropriate stoppers and stored in adequate, stable conditions, as the wine may develop unappealing color, aromas and flavors otherwise. In this review, features of bottle aging, relevance of stoppers, involved chemical reactions and storage conditions affecting wine quality will be addressed.

Seaweeds are industrially exploited for obtaining pigments, polysaccharides, or phenolic compounds with application in diverse fields. Nevertheless, their rich composition in fiber, minerals, and proteins, has pointed them as a useful source of these components. Seaweed proteins are nutritionally valuable and include several specific enzymes, glycoproteins, cell wall-attached proteins, phycobiliproteins, lectins, or peptides. Extraction of seaweed proteins requires the application of disruptive methods due to the heterogeneous cell wall composition of each macroalgae group. Hence, non-protein molecules like phenolics or polysaccharides may also be co-extracted, affecting the extraction yield. Therefore, depending on the macroalgae and target protein characteristics, the sample pretreatment, extraction and purification techniques must be carefully chosen. Traditional methods like solid–liquid or enzyme-assisted extraction (SLE or EAE) have proven successful. However, alternative techniques as ultrasound- or microwave-assisted extraction (UAE or MAE) can be more efficient. To obtain protein hydrolysates, these proteins are subjected to hydrolyzation reactions, whether with proteases or physical or chemical treatments that disrupt the proteins native folding. These hydrolysates and derived peptides are accounted for bioactive properties, like antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, or antihypertensive activities, which can be applied to different sectors. In this work, current methods and challenges for protein extraction and purification from seaweeds are addressed, focusing on their potential industrial applications in the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries.

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