p-Methoxycinnamic Acid Diesters Lower Dyslipidemia, Liver Oxidative Stress and Toxicity in High-Fat Diet Fed Mice and Human Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes.

The pursuit of cholesterol lowering natural products with less side effects is needed for controlling dyslipidemia and reducing the increasing toll of cardiovascular diseases that are associated with morbidity and mortality worldwide. The present study aimed at the examining effects of p-methoxycinnamic acid diesters (PCO-C) from carnauba (Copernicia prunifera)-derived wax on cytotoxic, genotoxic responses in vitro and on dyslipidemia and liver oxidative stress in vivo, utilizing high-fat diet (HFD) chronically fed Swiss mice. In addition, we evaluated the effect of PCO-C on the expression of key cholesterol metabolism-related genes, as well as the structural interactions between PCO-C and lecithin-cholesterol acyl transferase (LCAT) in silico. Oral treatment with PCO-C was able to reduce total serum cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels following HFD. In addition, PCO-C reduced excessive weight gain and lipid peroxidation, and increased the gene expression of LCAT following HFD. Furthermore, the high affinity of the studied compound (ΔG: -8.78 Kcal/mol) towards the active sites of mutant LCAT owing to hydrophobic and van der Waals interactions was confirmed using bioinformatics. PCO-C showed no evidence of renal and hepatic toxicity, unlike simvastatin, that elevated aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels, a marker of liver dysfunction. Finally, PCO-C showed no cytotoxicity or genotoxicity towards human peripheral blood lymphocytes in vitro. Our results suggest that PCO-C exerts hypocholesterolemic effects. The safety of PCO-C in the toxicological tests performed and the reports of its beneficial biological effects render this a promising compound for the development of new cholesterol-lowering therapeutics to control dyslipidemia. More work is needed for further elucidating PCO-C role on lipid metabolism to support future clinical studies.

Carnauba wax uses in food - A review.

Carnauba wax is widely used in food, due to its physico-chemical characteristics with a predominance of esters and inert and stable components. Even with so many possibilities for the use of carnauba wax in food, there are still a large number of researchers around the world searching for new applications and a demand for new products with new technologies to improve existing ones. Recently, many parts of research which focus on the use of this wax in conservation and food processing have been carried out, some of which highlight the role of this wax in the microencapsulation of flavours, in preparing edible films and super hydrophobic and biodegradable packaging. This paper discusses the use of carnauba wax in food, including the extraction process of the wax, its chemical and physical characteristics, safety aspects, national and international law and permitted uses, along with the presentation of the main scientific research conducted.

Carnauba wax p-methoxycinnamic diesters: Characterisation, antioxidant activity and simulated gastrointestinal digestion followed by in vitro bioaccessibility.

The beneficial biological effects of cinnamic acid derivatives and the lack of studies on the antioxidant activity and bioavailability of cinnamic esters from carnauba wax, diesters were extracted from carnauba wax powder. Their structural, physical and morphological characteristics, antioxidant activity and in vitro bioaccessibility were measured. p-Methoxycinnamic diester (PCO-C) was identified, which has a crystalline, apolar structure and exhibited significant antioxidant activity (107.27 ± 3.92 µM Trolox/g of dry weight) before and after simulated in vitro gastrointestinal digestion and 32.46% bioaccessibility. In human cells, PCO-C (250 µg/mL) inhibited the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species, with an effect similar to that of Trolox (80 µM). Thermogravimetric analysis showed that PCO-C had high thermal stability and high UV absorption between 250 and 350 nm. These results indicate that this compound is promising as an antioxidant for pharmaceutical and food industry applications, such as the development of active packaging and functional foods.

Alimentos transgênicos: segurança, riscos alimentares e regulamentaçöes / Transgenic foods: safety, dietary risks and regulations

A presente revisäo de literatura aborda o tema alimentos transgênicos, enfocando aspectos de segurança e riscos potenciais ao consumidor, bem como questöes de rotulagem e regulamentaçöes nacionais e internacionais. Os principais alimentos de origem vegetal e animal transgênicos no mundo foram apresentados, assim como as modificaçöes e vantagens decorrentes de suas tranformaçöes. Säo descritos os mecanismosde surgimento de riscos nesses organismos e os procedimentos de avaliaçäo mundialmente adotados. Os parâmetros de alergenicidade, toxicidade, surgimento de patógenos alimentares resistentes e alteraçäo na qualidade nutricional dos alimentos säo destacados pela sua importância em relaçäo à seggurança desses alimentos. A tecnologia do DNA recombinate, associada a outras técnicas convencionais de melhoramento e manejo, apresenta enorme potencial para aumentar a produtividade agrícola, beneficiar o meio ambiente e melhorar a qualidade dos alimentos. No entanto, a imocuidade sob o ponto de vista toxicológico e nutricional deve ser igualmente almejada durante o desenvolvimento de alimentos geneticamente modificados, levando-se em conta, acima de tudo, a segurança final do consumidor.