Cancer is the leading cause of mortality worldwide, accounting for almost 13% of deaths in the world. Among the conventional cancer treatments, chemotherapy is most frequently carried out to treat malignant cancer rather than localised lesions which is amenable to surgery and radiotherapy. However, anticancer drugs are associated with a plethora of side effects. Each drug, within every class, has its own set of adverse reactions which may cause patient incompliance and deterioration of the quality of life. One of the major causes of adverse reactions, especially for drugs targeting DNA, is the excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and subsequent build up of oxidative stress. To curb these undesired side effects, several dietary supplements have been tested, amongst which antioxidants have gained increasing popularity as adjuvant in chemotherapy. However, many oncologists discourage the use of antioxidant rich food supplements because these may interfere with the modalities which kill cancer by generating free radicals. In the present review, all studies reporting concomitant use of several antioxidants with chemotherapy are indiscriminately included and discussed impartially. The effect of supplementation of thirteen different antioxidants and their analogues as a single agent or in combination with chemotherapy has been compiled in this article. The present review encompasses a total of 174 peer-reviewed original articles from 1967 till date comprising 93 clinical trials with a cumulative number of 18,208 patients, 56 animal studies and 35 studies. Our comprehensive data suggests that antioxidant has superior potential of ameliorating chemotherapeutic induced toxicity. Antioxidant supplementation during chemotherapy also promises higher therapeutic efficiency and increased survival times in patients.

In this era of green technology, plasma technology is one of the novel techniques intended towards many industries including food industry as a principal application due to less utilization of energy, solvents, and water with minimum impact on food quality. The foremost purpose behind the utilization of nonthermal plasma processing (cold plasma) lies in the retention of freshness of food products along with furtherance of sensory properties as well as functional and nutritional composition. In addition, this technique assists in shelf life extension and carries out desirable modifications in the structure of food and packaging material. This technology has been proven to be advantageous over other technologies since all these processes are carried out at low temperature, hence is highly suitable for heat-sensitive materials. The present review summarizes the mechanism of this plasma technology along with its benefits to the industry, for example improvements in cooking quality, enhancements in enzyme activity, modification of starches, and microbial inactivation. Also, the effects of plasma treatment on characteristics of various food products have been elaborated in this review.

Free radicals induce numerous diseases by lipid peroxidation, and DNA damage. It has been reported that numerous plant extracts have antioxidant activities to scavenge free radicals. In the present study, the antioxidant properties of crude (aqueous and methanolic) extract of Hibiscus rosa sinensis (Malvaceae) were studied in six in vitro models viz. radical scavenging activity by DPPH reduction Assay, Scavenging of SO, H 2 O 2 and NO, reducing power, FRAP assay. The extract was found to contain large amounts of phenolic compounds and flavonoids. Methanolic extract of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis possessed significant antioxidant activity as compare to aqueous extract. These results suggest that hibiscus has potential to develop a new functional dietary agent to treat chronic metabolic diseases, such as diabetes and hyperlipidemia.

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