The broad spectrum of the mechanism of action of immune-boosting natural compounds as well as the complex nature of the food matrices make researching the health benefits of various food products a complicated task. Moreover, many routes are involved in the action of most natural compounds that lead to the inhibition of chronic inflammation, which results in a decrease in the ability to remove a pathogen asymptomatically and is connected to various pathological events, such as cancer. A number of cancers have been associated with inflammatory processes. The current review strives to answer the question of whether plant-derived sulfur compounds could be beneficial in cancer prevention and therapy. This review focuses on the two main sources of natural sulfur compounds: alliaceous and cruciferous vegetables. Through the presentation of scientific data which deal with the study of the chosen compounds in cancer (cell lines, animal models, and human studies), the discussion of food processing’s influence on immune-boosting food content is presented. Additionally, it is demonstrated that there is still a need to precisely demonstrate the bioavailability of sulfur-containing compounds from various types of functional food, since the inappropriate preparation of vegetables can significantly reduce the content of beneficial sulfur compounds. Additionally, there is an urgent need to carry out more epidemiological studies to reveal the benefits of several natural compounds in cancer prevention and therapy.

Multiple reviews have been published on various aspects of carotenoid extraction. Nevertheless, none of them focused on the discussion of recent green chemistry extraction protocols, especially for the carotenoids extraction from Daucus carota L. This group of bioactive compounds has been chosen for this review since most of the scientific papers proved their antioxidant properties relevant for inflammation, stress-related disorders, cancer, or neurological and neurodegenerative diseases, such as stroke and Alzheimer’s Disease. Besides, carrots constitute one of the most popular sources of carotenoids. In the presented review emphasis has been placed on the supercritical carbon dioxide and enzyme-assisted extraction techniques for the relevant tetraterpenoids. The detailed descriptions of these methods, as well as practical examples, are provided. In addition, the pros and cons of each method and comparison with the standard solvent extraction have been discussed.

In this study, the changes in enzyme activities, total polyphenols, phenolic profile, and physicochemical properties from thermally (25–75 °C) and high-pressure carbon dioxide (HP-CO₂) (25–65 °C/20 MPa)-treated apple juice were investigated. The HP-CO₂ exhibited complete inactivation of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) at 65 °C, whereas PPO was still active at 75 °C under thermal processing (TP). Similarly, the relative activity of peroxidase (POD) significantly decreased by 71% at 65 °C under HP-CO₂ processing, whereas TP was less effective. HP-CO₂ and TP treatments at 65 °C reduced the browning degree (BD) value to 0.47 and 0.89, respectively. Thus, HP-CO₂ inhibits the browning reactions caused by PPO and POD enzymes at each operating temperature. The concentration of epicatechin and catechin increased significantly with increasing temperature above 45 °C in TP-treated juices. HP-CO₂ treatment increased the same phenolic compounds at 35 °C and 9 MPa, whereas high-temperature and -pressure conditions caused insignificant changes in concentration of epicatechin and catechin. Changes in others phenolic compounds were insignificant under TP and HP-CO₂ treatment. Overall, HP-CO₂ is a promising technology to get high-quality juices with lower enzyme activity.