Metabolites from Macroalgae and Its Applications in the Cosmetic Industry: A Circular Economy Approach

 Resources 2020, 9(9), 101

DOI:10.3390/resources9090101

Marine macroalgae are a suitable source of ingredients due to their huge diversity, availability and nutritional and chemical composition. Their high content in proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins, but also in secondary metabolites such as phenolic compounds, terpenoids or pigments, make them great candidates for industrial applications. The cosmetic industry is one of the biggest in the world and the search for new ingredients is constantly growing as the consumer trend now is going back to those traditional cosmetics with a more natural composition. Moreover, the concept of a circular economy is also gaining importance due to the unsustainable situation of the natural resources. Although macroalgae are already used in cosmetics, especially as thickening and gelling agents, they possess an unexplored potential, not only as excipients and additives but also as a source of new active ingredients. In this context, macroalgae are considered in many cases as resources still underexploited and they could even be obtained from the waste of other industrial sectors and be used for recovering active molecules. Therefore, the aim of this review is to compile information about the different macroalgae metabolites and their possible applications in the cosmetic industry, which could employ circular economy models. 

Dietary polyphenols for managing cancers: What have we ignored?

 Trends in Food Science & Technology, 2020, 101, 150-164

DOI: 10.1016/j.tifs.2020.05.017

Although the chemoprevention and anti-cancer activities of dietary polyphenols have been evidenced through both in vitro and in vivo studies, most of the human clinical trials were unsuccessful or even harmful. Debates on the beneficial roles of dietary polyphenols in cancer therapy are increasing. Many dietary polyphenols studies are conducted by in vitro experiments, but the nature of these studies does not consider the complexity of metabolic processes that are present in vivo. These can often cause instability in the dietary polyphenols, thereby leading to unsuccessful extrapolation into animal or human studies. Dietary polyphenols often have low bioavailability, which is mainly due to poor bioaccessibility and significant metabolism mediated by both host enzymes and colon microbiota. Some metabolites or catabolites are more potent and absorb better than the parent component. It is recognised that the oral bioavailability of dietary polyphenols is underestimated when the bioactive metabolites or catabolites are not considered. Notably, dietary polyphenols and their metabolites undergo further cellular metabolism within the cancer cells, which confers “cellular bioavailability” as an additional step to influence the actions of dietary polyphenols. Moreover, there are growing controversies in using dietary polyphenols for both chemopreventive and anti-cancer applications. A clear therapeutic window for dietary polyphenols as specific chemopreventive or chemotherapeutic agents is required. This review, thus, aims to identify key issues that were ignored by most of the studies, or are critical for future investigation.