The industrial and small-scale processing of plant-based food materials is associated with by-products that may have a negative impact on the environment but could add value to bread-based products. The bioactivity of plant-based food by-products, their impact on the properties of functional bread, and their bioavailability/bioaccessibility leading to potential health effects when consumed was reviewed. Plant-based food by-products which may be added to bread include rice bran, wheat bran, corn bran, grape pomace/seed extract, tomato seed/skin, and artichoke stems/leaves. These by-products contain high concentrations of bioactive compounds, including phenolics, bioactive peptides, and arabinoxylan. Pre-treatment procedures, including fermentation and thermal processing, impact the properties of plant-based by-products. In most cases, bread formulated with flour from plant-based by-products demonstrated increased fibre and bioactive compound contents. In terms of the sensory and nutritional acceptability of bread, formulations with an average of 5% flour from plant-based by-products produced bread with acceptable sensory properties. Bread enriched with plant-based by-products demonstrated enhanced bioavailability and bioaccessibility and favourable bioactive properties in human blood, although long-term studies are warranted. There is a need to investigate the bioactive properties of other underutilised plant-based by-products and their potential application in bread as a sustainable approach towards improving food and nutrition security.

For many decades, natural resources have traditionally been employed in skin care. Here, we explored the phytochemical profile of the aqueous and ethanolic leaf extracts of Cupressus arizonica Greene and assessed their antioxidant, antiaging and antibacterial activities in vitro. Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis led to the tentative identification of 67 compounds consisting mainly of phenolic and fatty acids, diterpene acids, proanthocyanidins and flavonoid and biflavonoid glycosides. The aqueous extract demonstrated substantial in vitro antioxidant potential at FRAP and DPPH assays and inhibited the four target enzymes (collagenase, elastase, tyrosinase, and hyaluronidase) engaged in skin remodeling and aging with IC₅₀ values close to those of the standard drugs. Moreover, the aqueous extract at 25 mg/mL suppressed biofilm formation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterial pathogen causing common skin manifestations, and decreased its swarming and swimming motilities. In conclusion, C. arizonica leaves can be considered a promising candidate for potential application in skin aging.

The surface-active and emulsifying properties of crude aqueous ethanolic extracts from untreated olive oil cake (OOC) were investigated. OOC extracts contained important concentrations of surface-active components including proteins, saponins and polyphenols (1.2–2.8%, 7.8–9.5% and 0.7–4.5% (w/w), respectively) and reduced the interfacial tension by up to 46% (14.0 ± 0.2 mN m⁻¹) at the oil–water interface. The emulsifying ability of OOC extracts was not correlated, however, with their interfacial activity or surface-active composition. Eighty percent aqueous ethanol extract produced the most stable oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions by high-pressure homogenization. The emulsions had average volume mean droplet diameters of approximately 0.4 µm and negative ζ-potentials of about −45 mV, and were stable for up to 1 month of storage at 5, 25 and 50 °C. They were sensitive, however, to acidic pH conditions (<5) and NaCl addition (≥25 mM), indicating that the main stabilization mechanism is electrostatic due to the presence of surface-active compounds with ionizable groups, such as saponins.