Current and New Insights in the Sustainable and Green Recovery of Nutritionally Valuable Compounds from Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni

Abstract

The South American plant Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is a great source of noncaloric sweeteners (steviol glycosides), mainly concentrated in its leaves, but also has important antioxidant compounds (vitamin C, polyphenols, chlorophylls, and carotenoids) and other important macro- and micronutrients such as folic acid and all of the essential amino acids except tryptophan. Traditionally, conventional methods have been used to recover nutritionally valuable compounds from plant food matrices. However, nowadays, the need for obtaining greener, sustainable, and viable processes has led both food industries and food scientists to develop new processes in full correspondence with the green extraction concept. This review focuses on some of the most promising nonconventional and emerging technologies, which may constitute a potential alternative to conventional methods or even could be combined to obtain a synergistic effect, thus reducing extraction time as well as solvent consumption and avoiding the use of toxic solvents.

Ultrasound-assisted extraction of bioactive compounds from lemon balm and peppermint leaves

“…High intensity ultrasound treatment does not show any degradation rates on the content of bioactive compounds in the treated food products (Koubaa et al, 2015;Šic Žabur et al, 2015;Zinoviadou et al, 2015). In addition, high intensity ultrasound is applicable for extraction of compounds with various chemical structures and is characterized by non-invasive temperatures (Cvjetko Bubalo et al, 2013;Koubaa et al, 2015;Šic Žlabur et al, 2015). The ultrasound technique is extremely simple in application, and usually two types of equipment are used, including: -a system with a directly immersed ultrasonic probe (transducer) -an ultrasonic bath.…”

“…Lately modern, non-invasive extraction techniques of plant metabolites with the main objective of increased extracted compound yield and a shortened period of extraction have been increasingly popularized. One of the mentioned techniques is high-intensity ultrasound, which shows a wide range of application in the technological processes eg inactivation of microorganisms, crystallization, filtration, drying, extraction, homogenization, stimulation of oxidation, emulsifying Deng et al, 2015;Herceg et al, 2009;Koubaa et al, 2015). High intensity ultrasound treatment does not show any degradation rates on the content of bioactive compounds in the treated food products (Koubaa et al, 2015;Šic Žabur et al, 2015;Zinoviadou et al, 2015).…”

“…One of the mentioned techniques is high-intensity ultrasound, which shows a wide range of application in the technological processes eg inactivation of microorganisms, crystallization, filtration, drying, extraction, homogenization, stimulation of oxidation, emulsifying Deng et al, 2015;Herceg et al, 2009;Koubaa et al, 2015). High intensity ultrasound treatment does not show any degradation rates on the content of bioactive compounds in the treated food products (Koubaa et al, 2015;Šic Žabur et al, 2015;Zinoviadou et al, 2015). In addition, high intensity ultrasound is applicable for extraction of compounds with various chemical structures and is characterized by non-invasive temperatures (Cvjetko Bubalo et al, 2013;Koubaa et al, 2015;Šic Žlabur et al, 2015).…”

Stevioside and rebaudioside A - predominant ent-kaurene diterpene glycosides of therapeutic potential: a review

“…Studies suggest that crude crystals of the compounds stevioside and rebaudioside A are not mutagenic. The anti-inflammatory and cancer protecting property of S. rebaudiana is due to the presence of water soluble and bioactive compounds like chlorophylls, xanthophylls, stevioside, and rebaudioside A (Koubaa et al 2015) which help in the phagocytic function of cells by completely engulfing and processing the particles, and protecting the body from potential threats by means of boosting the immune system (Salvador 2014).…”

New image analysis method for the estimation of global and spatial changes in fruit microstructure

“…US may be used alone or in combination with other preservation techniques, such as mild heating, high pressures and antimicrobials (Zinoviadou et al, 2015). US treatment is also considered to be one of the most important non-conventional technologies that are being used by different food scientists and industry to improve the recovery rate of high-added value compounds from the different wastes and by-products Koubaa et al, 2015;Rosello-Soto et al, 2015b;Šic Žlabur et al, 2015). Ultrasonic pre-treatment offers new possibilities for biological material modification, something which has been thoroughly investigated, with reference to its use as a tool for enhancing biomaterial drying efficiency (García-Pérez et al, 2007;Mothibe et al, 2011).…”