Avocado (Persea americana) is a unique fruit with exceptional nutritional and technological characteristics, as well as proposed health benefits. Moreover, the commercial utilization of avocado to make guacamole and/or to extract its oil for several applications generates massive amounts of avocado bio-wastes, including peels and seeds by-products, which further impact the environment and waste management costs. Within this article, the proposed health benefits of moderate avocado consumption, as a functional component of a balanced diet against inflammation-related chronic disorders, and its potential applications are fully addressed. The numerous bioactive compounds present in avocado fruit and its by-products, such as its bioactive phenolics, dietary fiber, and lipid bioactives like unsaturated fatty acids and polar lipids, are also thoroughly outlined. The functional anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic, and antioxidant properties of each of these bioactives and avocado extracts, are then thoroughly reviewed. Emphasis is given to these avocado-derived bioactives and extracts that have the potential to be utilized in various industrial applications, such as in functional foods, supplements, nutraceuticals, and cosmetics related health-promoting applications. The limitations and future perspectives of these applications based on avocado bioactives are also discussed.

The antioxidant, antithrombotic and anti-inflammatory effects of the amphiphilic compounds extracted from both avocado juice and by-products, were evaluated. All extracts were assessed for their total phenolic content (TPC) and total carotenoid content (TCC), and for their antioxidant activities by DPPH, ABTS and FRAP assays as well as for their anti-inflammatory and antithrombotic potency in human platelets. The extracts rich in TAC (Total Amphiphilic Content) showed much higher content in phenolics and carotenoids from the extracts of total lipophilic content (TLC), which was reflected by the much stronger antioxidant capacities of TAC extracts. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy revealed the presence of not only phenolics and carotenoids, but also of bioactive polar lipids (PLs) in avocado TAC extracts, the LC-MS based structural analysis of which further revealed a fatty acid composition favourable for unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) versus saturated ones (SFAs), including monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) like the oleic acid (C18:1n9) and omega-3 (n3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) like the alpha linolenic acid (C18:3n3), with the subsequent anti-inflammatory low values of the n6/n3 PUFA ratio. The presence of such bioactive PLs that are rich in UFA within the TAC extracts of avocado juice and its by-products provide an explanation for the observed potent anti-inflammatory and antithrombotic activities of avocado TAC against thrombo-inflammatory mediators like platelet activating factor (PAF) and against standard platelet agonists like ADP, offering promise for such avocado TAC extracts, as ingredients in functional products for health/promoting applications either in cosmetics or in functional foods and nutraceuticals, or even drugs.

Background: The increasing demand for plant-based dairy alternatives has stimulated interest in their potential health-promoting properties, particularly when combined with fermentation processes that may enhance the bio-efficacy and bioavailability of bioactive compounds. Methods: The present study investigated the impact of fermentation on the antioxidant, antiplatelet, and anti-inflammatory activities of oat- and soy-based dairy alternatives. Total lipids were extracted and fractionated into lipophilic and amphiphilic lipid fractions, which were subsequently evaluated for antioxidant capacity using 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays, as well as for their inhibitory activity against platelet aggregation induced by platelet-activating factor (PAF) or by ADP. Results: Fermentation significantly enhanced the biological activity of the tested products, with fermented samples exhibiting lower IC₅₀ values and thus more potent anti-inflammatory and antiplatelet efficacy and improved antioxidant performance compared with the non-fermented plant-based dairy alternative products. The amphiphilic lipid fractions demonstrated the strongest bioactivity, suggesting that fermentation promotes structural modifications in polar lipids that contribute to enhanced functional properties. Overall, fermented soy products exhibited stronger antiplatelet (anti-ADP) and anti-inflammatory (anti-PAF) activities, with lower IC₅₀ values (indicating higher inhibitory potency), whereas fermented oat products demonstrated particularly enhanced antioxidant capacity, especially in TAC fractions, as evidenced by higher FRAP values and carotenoid content (e.g., oat yogurt TAC: 19.14 ± 9.97 mg CE/g extract). In DPPH assays, TAC fractions of both soy and oat showed comparable radical scavenging activity (TEAC ≈ 0.019 for soy yogurt TAC), while ABTS and FRAP assays highlighted matrix-dependent differences between lipid fractions. Fatty acid analysis further indicated favorable compositional changes associated with fermentation, including favorable alterations in the n-6/n-3 fatty acid ratio of the fatty acid content of the bioactive polar lipid species, while OMICs analysis indicated the specific molecular species of phospho-/glyco-based polar lipids present in these products. Conclusions: These findings suggest that fermentation can substantially improve the biofunctional profile of plant-based dairy alternatives and highlight fermented oat- and soy-based products as promising dietary sources of bioactive polar lipids with potential cardioprotective properties.