Plants of the Genus Spinacia: from bioactive molecules to food and phytopharmacological applications

Publication date: Available online 2 April 2019Source: Trends in Food Science & TechnologyAuthor(s): Bahare Salehi, Tugba Boyunegmez Tumer, Adem Ozleyen, Gregorio Peron, Stefano Dall’Acqua, Jovana Rajkovic, Rabia Naz, Asia Nosheen, Fhatuwani Nixwell Mudau, Fabiana Labanca, Luigi Milella, Nunziatina de Tommasi, Henrique Douglas Coutinho, Javad Sharifi-Rad, Deepa R. Verma, Miquel Martorell, Natália MartinsAbstractBackgroundSpinacia plants, including the most recognized species of the genus Spinacia oleacea L. (spinach), have high nutritional value and high content in phytochemicals, such as flavonoids, polyphenols, carotenoids, and ascorbic acid. However, the amount of these phytochemicals depends on several factors, such as genotype, climatic conditions and agronomic practices, harvesting, storage temperature and time.Scope and approachThis review focus the therapeutic role of Spinacia genus as well as its contribution as a food in industry. A special emphasis is also given to its biological activities including antioxidant and antimicrobial effects. Finally, the clinical efficacy of Spinacia plants, the respective roles and mechanisms of bioactive compounds on human health are covered.Key findings and conclusionsSpinacia plants are rich in nitrate, thylakoids, glycoglycerolipids and their natural antioxidant mixture (NAO) shows renowned antioxidant, antiproliferative, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anticancer and cardioprotective effects. Thus, the nutritional value and...
Source: Trends in Food Science and Technology - Category: Food Science Source Type: research