Free radicals and antioxidants
Foods contain nutrients that help keep our body alive. The consumption of a nutritious diet promotes long-term health and reduces the risk of chronic disease. Certain constituents found in foods, herbs, and spices known as phytochemicals or bioactives are responsible for changes in health status. Although oxygen is essential for our survival, its relatively high reactivity enables it to form free radicals readily. These free radicals are common and are important components in biological systems where they are essential for the maintenance of life. The overproduction of free radicals can lead to damage of cell components and other biomolecules. Endogenous antioxidant defenses superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and metal binding proteins are inadequate to prevent damage completely, and so diet-derived antioxidants are important in maintaining health. Many dietary compounds have been suggested to be important antioxidants. The evidence for a key role of vitamins E and C is strong, but that for carotenoids and other phytonutrients is weak.
Research interests
- Proteins and peptides from food biomass. Extraction, enzymatic hydrolysis, LC-MS/MS, Structure-function using molecular modeling.
- Protective role of peptides against oxidative damage in different cell culture models
- Role of peptides in the modulation of immune system, fat cell differentially, and enzymes such lipase, amylase and glucosidase
- Analysis of phytochemicals and vitamins in foods
- Bioactive compounds in Human milk: role in reduction of lung and intestinal diseases in newborns