Tea is widely consumed all over the world. Generally, tea is divided into six categories: White, green, yellow, oolong, black, and dark teas, based on the fermentation degree. Tea contains abundant phytochemicals, such as polyphenols, pigments, polysaccharides, alkaloids, free amino acids, and saponins. However, the bioavailability of tea phytochemicals is relatively low. Thus, some novel technologies like nanotechnology have been developed to improve the bioavailability of tea bioactive components and consequently enhance the bioactivity. So far, many studies have demonstrated that tea shows various health functions, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immuno-regulatory, anticancer, cardiovascular-protective, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, and hepato-protective effects. Moreover, it is also considered that drinking tea is safe to humans, since reports about the severe adverse effects of tea consumption are rare. In order to provide a better understanding of tea and its health potential, this review summarizes and discusses recent literature on the bioactive components, bioavailability, health functions, and safety issues of tea, with special attention paid to the related molecular mechanisms of tea health functions.

Infectious diseases caused by pathogens and food poisoning caused by spoilage microorganisms are threatening human health all over the world. The efficacies of some antimicrobial agents, which are currently used to extend shelf-life and increase the safety of food products in food industry and to inhibit disease-causing microorganisms in medicine, have been weakened by microbial resistance. Therefore, new antimicrobial agents that could overcome this resistance need to be discovered. Many spices—such as clove, oregano, thyme, cinnamon, and cumin—possessed significant antibacterial and antifungal activities against food spoilage bacteria like Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas fluorescens, pathogens like Staphylococcus aureus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus, harmful fungi like Aspergillus flavus, even antibiotic resistant microorganisms such as methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Therefore, spices have a great potential to be developed as new and safe antimicrobial agents. This review summarizes scientific studies on the antibacterial and antifungal activities of several spices and their derivatives.

Tea is among the most consumed drink worldwide, and its strong antioxidant activity is considered as the main contributor to several health benefits, such as cardiovascular protection and anticancer effect. In this study, the antioxidant activities of 30 tea infusions, which were obtained by the mimic of drinking tea of the public, from green, black, oolong, white, yellow and dark teas, were evaluated using ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) assays, ranging from 504.80 ± 17.44 to 4647.47 ± 57.87 µmol Fe²⁺/g dry weight (DW) and 166.29 ± 24.48 to 2532.41 ± 50.18 µmol Trolox/g DW, respectively. Moreover, their total phenolic contents (TPC) were detected by Folin-Ciocalteu assay and were in the range of 24.77 ± 2.02 to 252.65 ± 4.74 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g DW. Generally, Dianqing Tea, Lushan Yunwu Tea, and Xihu Longjing Tea showed the strongest antioxidant activities among 30 teas. Furthermore, the phenolic compounds in tea infusions were identified and quantified, with catechins most commonly detected, especially in green tea infusions, which were main contributors to their antioxidant activities. Besides tea polyphenols, considerable content of caffeine also presented in 30 tea infusions.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are leading global health problems. Accumulating epidemiological studies have indicated that consuming fruits was inversely related to the risk of CVDs. Moreover, substantial experimental studies have supported the protective role of fruits against CVDs, and several fruits (grape, blueberry, pomegranate, apple, hawthorn, and avocado) have been widely studied and have shown potent cardiovascular protective action. Fruits can prevent CVDs or facilitate the restoration of morphology and functions of heart and vessels after injury. The involved mechanisms included protecting vascular endothelial function, regulating lipids metabolism, modulating blood pressure, inhibiting platelets function, alleviating ischemia/reperfusion injury, suppressing thrombosis, reducing oxidative stress, and attenuating inflammation. The present review summarizes recent discoveries about the effects of fruits on CVDs and discusses potential mechanisms of actions based on evidence from epidemiological, experimental, and clinical studies.

Fruit vinegars are popular condiments worldwide. Antioxidants and organic acids are two important components of the flavors and health benefits of fruit vinegars. This study aimed to test the antioxidant activities, phenolic profiles, and organic acid contents of 23 fruit vinegars. The results found that the 23 fruit vinegars varied in ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP, 0.15–23.52 μmol Fe(II)/mL), Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC, 0.03–7.30 μmol Trolox/mL), total phenolic content (TPC, 29.64–3216.60 mg gallic acid equivalent/L), and total flavonoid content (TFC, 2.22–753.19 mg quercetin equivalent/L) values. Among the 23 fruit vinegars, the highest antioxidant activities were found in balsamic vinegar from Modena (Galletti), Aceto Balsamico di Modena (Monari Federzoni), red wine vinegar (Kühne), and red wine vinegar (Galletti). In addition, polyphenols and organic acids might be responsible for the antioxidant activities of fruit vinegars. The most widely detected phenolic compounds in fruit vinegars were gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, and p-coumaric acid, with tartaric acid, malic acid, lactic acid, citric acid, and succinic acid the most widely distributed organic acids. Overall, fruit vinegars are rich in polyphenols and organic acids and can be a good dietary source of antioxidants.

Epidemiological studies have shown that vegetable consumption is inversely related to the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, research has indicated that many vegetables like potatoes, soybeans, sesame, tomatoes, dioscorea, onions, celery, broccoli, lettuce and asparagus showed great potential in preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases, and vitamins, essential elements, dietary fibers, botanic proteins and phytochemicals were bioactive components. The cardioprotective effects of vegetables might involve antioxidation; anti-inflammation; anti-platelet; regulating blood pressure, blood glucose, and lipid profile; attenuating myocardial damage; and modulating relevant enzyme activities, gene expression, and signaling pathways as well as some other biomarkers associated to cardiovascular diseases. In addition, several vegetables and their bioactive components have been proven to protect against cardiovascular diseases in clinical trials. In this review, we analyze and summarize the effects of vegetables on cardiovascular diseases based on epidemiological studies, experimental research, and clinical trials, which are significant to the application of vegetables in prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.