Use of food byproducts for the extraction of polyphenolic compounds with antioxidant activity

The problem of underutilized byproducts is based on their generating of secondary products that could be severe environmental pollutants; these compounds counteract the greenhouse effect and so it could be necessary to contribute for the re-utilize of vegetal byproducts. It is well known that byproducts are a potential source of biological active compounds expecially with antioxidant activity. The present study report a simple way to extract antioxidant phenolics from orange and artichoke byproducts and an economical and feasible oxidation by potassium permanganate, to convert the compounds, present in Orange Ethanolic Extract (OEE) and in Artichoke Ethanolic Extracts (AEE), in more value added products. The process is aimed to valorize vegetal underutilized byproducts optimizing the extraction methods and so to obtain more active value added products. The composition of OEE and AEE was studied by HPLC and both of extracts were rich in polyphenolic compounds (OEE: flavanones, flavonols and phenolic acids; AEE: flavones, phenolic acids). Although the permanganate oxidation didn’t always generate a significant (p<0.05 and p<0.001) increment in phenolic compounds, the biological activity of the intermediate compounds formed in Oxidized Orange Ethanolic Extract (OOEE) and in Oxidized Artichoke Ethanolic Extracts (OAEE) was improved as demonstred with several in vitro tests performed for antioxidant activity and protective effect on DNA damage. Besides, our investigations on antioxidant activity and protective effects from DNA damage, were conducted on free and β-cycldextrin (β-CyD) complexed flavanones to verify if the inclusion of the compounds in β-cyclodextrins improved the biological activity. Infact, it is well known that the inclusion in β-CyD improves the solubily of the compounds and so their bioavaibility for the tests.