The recent growing interest in lactose intolerance has resulted in the proliferation of lactose-free products by food manufacturing companies. Since updated papers about lactose and its uses are missing, the main purpose of this review is to investigate this sugar comprehensively. Firstly, its chemical and physical characteristics were studied, following its employment in the food and drug industries. The positive and negative health-related effects of lactose are reported, focusing on the condition of lactose intolerance, for which an adequate lactose-free diet has to be followed to avoid symptoms that impairs quality of life. Considering that EU legislation on lactose-free product labelling is still controversial, suitable options for producing and identifying lactose-free products are suggested, in order to meet lactose-intolerant people’s needs.

The aim of the present research was to study the effects of olive leaf addition (0 and 3%) on the major antioxidants and the antioxidant activity of Neb Jmel and Oueslati olive oils. Olives and leaves of the two Tunisian varieties were harvested during the 2016/2017 crop season. Both leaves and oils were characterised for their concentrations in phenolics, tocopherols and antioxidant power. Other parameters such as free acidity, peroxide value, chlorophyll and carotenoid concentrations were also taken into consideration. Compared to Oueslati, the Neb Jmel oil showed a lower free acidity (50%) and peroxide value (5.6-fold), and higher chlorophyll (1.6-fold), total phenolics (1.3-fold), flavonoid (3-fold) and oleuropein derivative (1.5-fold) concentrations, in addition to an increased antioxidant activity (1.6-fold). Leaf addition promoted a significant increment in total chlorophyll, α-tocopherol and phenolics in both varieties, above all in Oueslati oil, due to a higher abundance of bioactive constituents in the corresponding leaves. In particular, chlorophyll and carotenoid concentrations reached values twice higher than in Neb Jmel leaves, and flavonoids and oleouperin derivatives were three-fold higher. This prevented the oxidation and the formation of peroxides, reducing the peroxide value of the fortified oil to the half. The results provide evidence on the performance of the Tunisian Neb Jmel and Oueslati varieties, showing that their oils present a chemical profile corresponding to the extra virgin olive oil category and that, after leaf addition, their nutritional value was improved.

Flaxseed has been recently studied for the formulation of healthy functional foods that are also useful for the prevention of chronic diseases. In this context, the production of sourdough bread fortified with different percentages of flaxseed cake was performed and the interactions among the bioactive compounds derived from both sourdough and flaxseed cake were investigated. The organoleptic properties as well as nutraceutical and chemical characteristics regarding pH, ethanol, lactic and acetic acid content, fatty acids profile, the concentration of total polyphenols, antioxidant capacity, and aroma volatile organic compounds were determined to evaluate the efficacy of leavening in the different matrices in comparison with the traditional bread. The results obtained demonstrated that flaxseed cake-enriched sourdough bread can represent a potential vehicle for bioactive compounds with the possibility of obtaining high-quality products with improved nutritional profiles and desired health attributes. Furthermore, the bread obtained with the addition of 7.5% of flaxseed cake was individuated as the best formulation to produce sourdough bread fortified with flaxseed cake by the overlap between three series of information coming from physical-chemical, nutritional, and sensorial analyses. In conclusion, in the operating conditions adopted, the use of flaxseed cake could represent a viable alternative for the production of fortified bread based on sourdough technology.

For the extraction of oil from microalgae, which was recognised as an important renewable source of bioactive lipids, supercritical CO2 is regarded with interest being safer than hexane and offering a negligible environmental impact, short extraction time and petroleum-free final product. A mathematical model, able to describe the kinetics of a supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) process, was applied to recovery of oil from cyanobacterium Spirulina (Arthrospira) Platensis, characterised by a particularly high content in -linolenic acid (C18:3-6). In this paper, we examine the kinetics of the SFE and the effect of operating conditions on extraction yield and fatty acid composition of liquid extracts