Research on antioxidants in food science, nutrition and medicine is currently focused on low molecular weight antioxidants (mainly vitamins C and E, polyphenols, and  carotenoids). However, the presence of  polymeric  antioxidants as  a major  constituent in plant food, especially in fruits, and in common diets  has been recently reported. Macromolecular antioxidants   are either polymeric polyphenols or single polyphenols and carotenoids linked to polysaccharides and protein, which   exhibit  significant antioxidant activity  and promising  health related properties. They are bioavailable in the large intestine  where they exhibit  appreciable antioxidant activity  and produce absorbable metabolites after  the action of the microbiota.<br/>The global market of antioxidants  also is   focussed either on  single    compounds  or  in plant extracts containing mixtures of compounds  with  small  molecular  size. Macromolecular antioxidants  are also a novel type of food ingredients with a wide range of applications in  functional foods and in dietary supplements. Two    patents  addressing macromolecular antioxidant ingredients have been recently registered (“Antioxidant ingredient with low caloric content, method for obteining and use thereof” and  “ Polymeric proanthocyanidins concentrate obtained by an enzymatic process”). The development of derived products is a main task of our research team.  The main characteristics of these patents and of  the first  commercial   products  containing macromolecular antioxidants  are the main scope of this talk.<br/>

Properties and applications of macromolecular antioxidants, the hidden face of dietary antioxidants

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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