Detection of Bioactive Compounds in Plants and Food Products

In addition to many essential nutritional components, plants contain various groups of biologically active non-nutrients. “Bioactive compounds” are defined as compounds that cause a specific biological response in humans and animals. Foods produced with bioactive compounds can be marketed as functional foods. Functional foods are defined as foods or food components that provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition (for the intended population). Increasing the content of bioactive compounds in foods is specifically addressed to produce new food products with improved nutraceutical values, able to prevent chronic diseases. For proper understanding of the benefits they provide, there is a need for optimized and effective protocols and methods for isolation, accurate detection and valorization of bioactive compounds, and determination of their biological effects. Accurate and reproducible identification and quantitation of bioactive compounds is essential to establish relationships between different food components and their influence on health to proclaim health benefits. Also, this is essential for establishing appropriate dietary intake levels and safety guidelines necessary (for justifying health claims) achieving desired health-beneficial properties. The aim of this work is to provide an overview on the protocols and methods presented in literature for detection of bioactive compounds, focusing on polyphenols, carotenoids, vitamin C, and tocopherols.