Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Potential of Native Asteraceae from Northwestern Argentina for Functional Food Applications

The Argentinean Northwestern (NWA) region is renowned for its rich biodiversity, with a wide variety of wild plant species traditionally used for medicinal, culinary, and aromatic purposes. Plant species from the Asteraceae family are known for their bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties, making them both suitable as functional ingredients for novel food formulations. This study aimed to evaluate four native Asteraceae species from Northwestern Argentina as potential ingredients for developing functional foods: Tagetes minuta, Tagetes terniflora, Chromolaena hookeriana and Tessaria dodoneifolia. The experimental design included drying, maceration, filtration, and extraction by conventional and supercritical fluid methodology. The antioxidant capacity, antimicrobial activities, phenolic content, toxicity, and identification of bioactive compounds were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection. Results showed that species C. hookeriana and T. dodoneifolia displayed outstanding antioxidant properties, with over 90% radical-scavenging activity, and high phenolic compounds content, exceeding 220 mg GAE/100 g in conventional extraction and 160 mg GAE/100 g in supercritical extraction, along with antimicrobial activity in supercritical extracts. In the species C. hookeriana, phenolic compounds were found: rutin, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, quercetin, and nordihydroguaiaretic acid. In the species T. dodoneifolia, in addition to these, naringenin was found, a compound with antioxidant activity of nutritional interest for food design. None of the tested plant species showed toxicity, according to the Artemia salina L. bioassay. This research advances the field of functional foods and opens new perspectives for developing innovative health-promoting products.