Genotoxicity Assessment of Three Nutraceuticals Containing Natural Antioxidants Extracted from Agri-Food Waste Biomasses

Abstract

Grapes and apples are the most cultivated fruits in the Mediterranean basin and their agricultural processing is responsible for the production of a large amount of bio-waste. The reuse of this food biomass would increase the volume of recyclable/renewable biomaterial and lower the environmental impact due to the increasing demand for these biological products. To this purpose, agri-food waste from grape and apple processing have become an important source of phytochemicals, and many pharmaceutical industries are using it as starting material to produce dietary supplements, functional foods, and food additives for human consumption. In virtue of the chemical diversity and complexity of agri-food biowaste, developers and producers of nutraceuticals are advised to assess the safety of their final nutraceutical products, in compliance with European Food Safety Authority regulation. Here, we use the Ames test to assess the mutagenicity of three nutraceuticals obtained from agri-food waste biomasses: Taurisolo® from grape pomace of Vitis vinifera L. cv ‘Aglianico’, AnnurComplex® from Malus pumila M. cv ‘Annurca’ and Limoncella Apple Extract from Malus domestica B. cv ‘Limoncella’. The results showed that all three nutraceuticals were non-mutagenic.

Genotoxic Assessment of Nutraceuticals Obtained from Agricultural Biowaste: Where Do We “AMES”?

“…Apples contain dietary fibers (mainly pectin) and polyphenols (i.e., catechins, quercetin, procyanidins, phlorizin, rutin), mostly in peel [61,62] that, how-ever, is considered a by-product of this cultivation. The genotoxicity of apple peel was assessed by the Comet assay test [63] and by the Ames test (Salmonella Typhimurium TA100, TA98, TA1537, TA1535 and Escherichia Coli doses up to 5 mg/plate), in both cases giving negative results [64].…”

“…Winemaking industry generates a large amount of waste (mainly grape pomace and stalks), that still results rich in bioactive compounds, mainly polyphenols, including stilbenes, phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannins and oligomeric procyanidins [75]. The absence of genotoxicity of a grape pomace extract destined for human consumption was shown non genotoxic by Badolati and colleagues using the Ames test (S. Tiphymurium TA100, TA98, TA1537, TA1535 and Escherichia coli doses up to 5 mg/plate) [64]. Grape seeds were shown to be non-genotoxic by MNvit up to 200 µg/mL [76].…”

Natural Bioactive Compounds from Food Waste: Toxicity and Safety Concerns

“…The botanical preparations should not contain toxic substances making required studies on toxicity and toxicokinetic according to the test methods described by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) or in European Commission Directives 87/432/EEC and 67/548/EC—Annex 5 (Authority & Committee, 2009). The bio-waste producers should confirm the safety of new nutraceutical products [ 47 ]. Regulation advices to focus toxicity studies on each specific constituent of the nutraceutical [ 48 ].…”

“…The Ames test (OECD, guideline 471) was also used to prove the non-mutagenicity of three nutraceuticals, already commercialized, that were obtained from grape pomace, vitis vinifera, and apple extract representing natural extracts rich in polyphenols [ 47 ]. A stilbene rich extract obtained from gravepine shoots was considered safe as a natural additive after a combined analysis of micronucleous test and comet assay (OECD 474, 489) [ 105 ].…”

By-Products from Food Industry as a Promising Alternative for the Conventional Fillers for Wood–Polymer Composites

“…The first group is mostly related to the extraction of chemical compounds from food by-products or their transformation into intermediates further used in polymer technology [ 3 ]. Extraction can be associated with particular components of materials such as cellulose, lignin, or oils but also specified compounds showing, among others, antioxidant, antimicrobial, or antifungal activity [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. The second indirect approach includes pyrolysis, microbial treatment, or liquefaction of different types of widely understood biomass, aimed at polyols, for example, for the production of polyurethanes and epoxy resins or monomers for polymer production [ 7 , 8 , 9 ].…”