Exploring the Use of Bryophyllum as Natural Source of Bioactive Compounds with Antioxidant Activity to Prevent Lipid Oxidation of Fish Oil-In-Water Emulsions

The current industrial requirements for food naturalness are forcing the development of new strategies to achieve the production of healthier foods by replacing the use of synthetic additives with bioactive compounds from natural sources. Here, we investigate the use of plant tissue culture as a biotechnological solution to produce plant-derived bioactive compounds with antioxidant activity and their application to protect fish oil-in-water emulsions against lipid peroxidation. The total phenolic content ofBryophyllumplant extracts ranges from 3.4 to 5.9 mM, expressed as gallic acid equivalents (GAE). The addition ofBryophyllumextracts to 4:6 fish oil-in-water emulsions results in a sharp (eight-fold) increase in the antioxidant efficiency due to the incorporation of polyphenols to the interfacial region. In the emulsions, the antioxidant efficiency of extracts increased linearly with concentration and levelled off at 500 mu M GAE, reaching a plateau region. The antioxidant efficiency increases modestly (12%) upon increasing the pH from 3.0 to 5.0, while an increase in temperature from 10 to 30 degrees C causes a six-fold decrease in the antioxidant efficiency. Overall, results show thatBryophyllumplant-derived extracts are promising sources of bioactive compounds with antioxidant activity that can be eventually be used to control lipid oxidation in food emulsions containing (poly)unsaturated fatty acids.