Application of Antioxidants in Food Processing Industry: Options to Improve the Extraction Yields and Market Value of Natural Products. In order to increase the affirmative effect and usefulness of antioxidants to human health, it is recommended to follow a balanced and varieties of diets instead of taking antioxidant supplements on a regular basis. Therefore, we should consume a diet high in antioxidant rich fruits and vegetables day by day.
Furthermore, nutritional importance, promotion of health and prevention against damages caused by free radicals can lead to the potential applications of antioxidants in food industries in more intensified approaches. In a nutshell, antioxidant foods and ingredients are an important component of the food industry and thus reconsidering the health implications of adding antioxidants to foods require unfathomable investigations.
In the 20th century, antioxidants entered in the widely emerging food industry as an important means to limit the degradation of stored foods as a result of oxidation process. Antioxidants are substances that may protect cells from the damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals. Free radicals are any chemical species capable of independent existence with one or
more unpaired electrons in their outermost shell, which seek out and capture electrons from other substances to achieve neutrality. An antioxidant is a molecule capable of slowing or preventing
the oxidation of other molecules or neutralize free radicals.
Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can be damaging to cells since they can produce free radicals which initiate
chain reactions, leading to membrane and other lipid per oxidation, DNA damage, etc.
Adv Food Technol Nutr Sci Open J. 2019; 5(2): 38-49. doi: 10.17140/AFTNSOJ-5-155
