Affiliation:
1. University of Molise, Italy
2. International Clean Water Institute, USA
Abstract
The presence of many different antioxidant molecules in foodstuffs and their by-products has attracted the scientific community's attention to their applications in finished foods due to their high bioactive power. Classes of molecules, such as phenolic compounds (phenolic acids, flavonoids, stilbenoids, and lignans), carotenoids, and tocols, provide numerous benefits to human health, reducing the incidence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. These molecules are innumerable and have similar but different molecular structures. Each can have a greater or lesser antioxidant power depending on its structure and its amounts in the finished food. Among these, tocols are a class of different homologues having antioxidant properties and are well represented in food.