Over the last decades, we have witnessed an increasing interest in food-related products containing vegetable oils. These oils can be obtained either by extraction or by mechanical pressing of different parts of plants (e.g., seeds, fruit, and drupels). Producers of nutraceuticals have ceaselessly searched for unique and effective natural ingredients. The enormous success of argan oil has been followed by discoveries of other interesting vegetable oils (e.g., pomegranate oil) containing several bioactives. This work describes the pomegranate fruit extract and seed oil as a rich source of conjugated linolenic acid as a metabolite of punicic acid (PA), deriving from the omega-5 family (ω-5). Through the chemical characterization of PA, its nutritional and therapeutic properties are highlighted together with the physiological properties that encourage its use in human nutrition. We analyzed the composition of all fatty acids with beneficial properties occurring in pomegranate seed oil using gas chromatography (GC) with flame-ionization detection (FID) analysis combined with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Pomegranate seed oil mainly consists of 9,11,13-octadic-trienoic acid (18:3), corresponding to 73 wt % of the total fatty acids. Nine components were identified by GC in PSO, varying between 0.58 and 73.19 wt %. Using midinfrared (MIR) spectroscopy, we compared the composition of pomegranate seed oil with that of meadowfoam seed oil (MSO), which is also becoming increasingly popular in the food industry due to its high content of long chain fatty acids (C20-22), providing increased oil stability. From the results of FTIR and MIR spectroscopy, we found that punicic acid is unique in PSO (73.19 wt %) but not in MSO.

The growing perspective of running out of crude oil followed by increasing prices for all crude oil-based materials, e.g., crude oil-based polymers, which have a huge number of practical applications but are usually neither biodegradable nor environmentally friendly, has resulted in searching for their substitutes—namely, bio-based polymers. Currently, both these types of polymers are used in practice worldwide. Owing to the advantages and disadvantages occurring among plastics with different origin, in this current review data on selected popular crude oil-based and bio-based polymers has been collected in order to compare their practical applications resulting from their composition, chemical structure, and related physical and chemical properties. The main goal is to compare polymers in pairs, which have the same or similar practical applications, regardless of different origin and composition. It has been proven that many crude oil-based polymers can be effectively replaced by bio-based polymers without significant loss of properties that ensure practical applications. Additionally, biopolymers have higher potential than crude oil-based polymers in many modern applications. It is concluded that the future of polymers will belong to bio-based rather than crude oil-based polymers.

As an immune-privileged target organ, the eyes have important superficial and internal barriers, protecting them from physical and chemical damage from exogenous and/or endogenous origins that would cause injury to visual acuity or even vision loss. These anatomic, physiological and histologic barriers are thus a challenge for drug access and entry into the eye. Novel therapeutic concepts are highly desirable for eye treatment. The design of an efficient ocular drug delivery system still remains a challenge. Although nanotechnology may offer the ability to detect and treat eye diseases, successful treatment approaches are still in demand. The growing interest in nanopharmaceuticals offers the opportunity to improve ophthalmic treatments. Besides their size, which needs to be critically monitored, nanopharmaceuticals for ophthalmic applications have to be produced under sterilized conditions. In this work, we have revised the different sterilization and depyrogenation methods for ophthalmic nanopharmaceuticals with their merits and drawbacks. The paper also describes clinical sterilization of drugs and the outcomes of inappropriate practices, while recent applications of nanopharmaceuticals for ocular drug delivery are also addressed.

Consumers are becoming more aware of the benefits of reducing alcohol consumption, which has increased the popularity of non-alcoholic beer (NAB). However, the brewing industry still faces many difficulties in producing NAB with similar physicochemical and sensory characteristics to regular beers. To mitigate these challenges, a multidisciplinary study was conducted to: (1) determine selected quality characteristics of various NABs, (2) compare them with literature data for regular beers, and (3) find out how Polish consumers, especially young people, perceive NAB and what motivates them in their purchasing decisions. Physicochemical quality characteristics of NABs, namely pH (4.3–4.7), bitterness (IBU = 12–77), colour (EBC = 6.4–19.6), total soluble solids (2.8–8.3 °Bx), and vitamin B₂ content (0.11–0.30 mg/L) were similar to alcoholic beers. Total phenolics (150–321 mg/L), Ca (13–45 mg/L), Mg (40–94 mg/L), K (192–490 mg/L), Na (0.5–57 mg/L), and P (158–467 mg/L) contents in NABs were slightly lower than in alcoholic beers, but this assortment is a healthier source of these nutrients due to the lack of alcohol-related harm. According to the consumer study, taste and availability in shops were found to be crucial factors influencing NAB purchasing decisions.

The growth of the plant-based dairy alternatives market and consumers’ diverse preferences and expectations prompted an evaluation of plant-based yogurt alternatives based on coconut, oat, soy, and cashew nut compared with dairy yogurt. Consumers’ responses were assessed under blind, expected, and informed conditions using hedonic evaluation, the Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) questionnaire, and purchase intention measurement. The type of raw material significantly influenced the physicochemical properties, sensory profile, and consumer perception of fermented products. Dairy yogurt achieved the highest overall liking, while the coconut-based yogurt alternative was the most preferred plant-based product and showed sensory characteristics closest to dairy yogurt. Taste was identified as the main driver of overall liking, followed by creaminess, thickness, and light color. Conversely, artificial flavor notes, blandness, gray appearance, and thin texture were the main negative drivers of overall liking. The integration of physicochemical, sensory, and hedonic data confirmed that consumer responses are shaped through sensory perception rather than direct evaluation of instrumental quality parameters. Product information positively influenced consumer expectations, but its effect on final acceptance depended on whether sensory quality met those expectations. Higher overall liking consistently predicted higher purchase intention, indicating that sensory acceptance remained the primary determinant of consumers’ willingness to buy plant-based yogurt alternatives.