(1) Background: Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is responsible for a large part of many health benefits associated to Mediterranean diet as it is a fundamental ingredient of this diet. The peculiarities of this golden, highly valued product are in part due to the requirements that must be met to achieve this title, namely, it has to be obtained using exclusively mechanical procedures, its free acidity cannot be greater than 0.8%, it must not show sensory defects, and it has to possess a fruity taste. (2) Methods: All these characteristics are key factors to EVOO quality, thus the chemical composition of these many health-promoting compounds, such as unsaturated fatty acids (which are also the major compounds, especially oleic acid), as well as minor components such as tocopherols or phenolic compounds (which behave as natural antioxidants) must be preserved. (3) Results: Due to the presence of all these compounds, the daily consumption of EVOO entails health benefits such as cardioprotective, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor properties or acting as regulator of the intestinal microbiota, among others. (4) Conclusions: Taking all together, conserving EVOO chemical composition is essential to preserve its properties, so it is worth to control certain factors during storage like exposure to light, temperature, oxygen presence or the chosen packaging material, to maintain its quality and extend its shelf-life until its consumption.

The increase in life expectancy has led to the appearance of chronic diseases and interest in healthy aging, in turn promoting a growing interest in bioactive compounds (BCs) and functional ingredients. There are certain foods or products rich in functional ingredients, and algae are one of them. Algae consumption has been nominal in Europe until now. However, in recent years, it has grown significantly, partly due to globalization and the adoption of new food trends. With the aim of obtaining BCs from foods, multiple methods have been proposed, ranging from conventional ones, such as maceration or Soxhlet extraction, to more innovative methods, e.g., ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE). UAE constitutes a novel method, belonging to so-called green chemistry, that enables the extraction of BCs requiring lower amounts of solvent and energy costs, preserving the integrity of such molecules. In recent years, this method has been often used for the extraction of different BCs from a wide range of algae, especially polysaccharides, such as carrageenans and alginate; pigments, including fucoxanthin, chlorophylls, or β-carotene; and phenolic compounds, among others. In this way, the application of UAE to marine algae is an efficient and sustainable strategy to pursue their deep characterization as a new source of BCs, especially suitable for vegetarian and vegan diets.

Muscle foods and their products are a fundamental part of the human diet. The high protein content found in muscle foods, as well as the high content of essential amino acids, provides an appropriate composition to complete the nutritional requirements of humans. However, due to their special composition, they are susceptible to oxidative degradation. In this sense, proteins are highly susceptible to oxidative reactions. However, in contrast to lipid oxidation, which has been studied in depth for decades, protein oxidation of muscle foods has been investigated much less. Moreover, these reactions have an important influence on the quality of muscle foods, from physico-chemical, techno-functional, and nutritional perspectives. In this regard, the loss of essential nutrients, the impairment of texture, water-holding capacity, color and flavor, and the formation of toxic substances are some of the direct consequences of protein oxidation. The loss of quality for muscle foods results in consumer rejection and substantial levels of economic losses, and thus the control of oxidative processes is of vital importance for the food industry. Nonetheless, the complexity of the reactions involved in protein oxidation and the many different factors that influence these reactions make the mechanisms of protein oxidation difficult to fully understand. Therefore, the present manuscript reviews the fundamental mechanisms of protein oxidation, the most important oxidative reactions, the main factors that influence protein oxidation, and the currently available analytical methods to quantify compounds derived from protein oxidation reactions. Finally, the main effects of protein oxidation on the quality of muscle foods, both from physico-chemical and nutritional points of view, are also discussed.

Sizeable scientific evidence indicates the health benefits related to phenolic compounds and dietary fiber. Various phenolic compounds‐rich foods or ingredients are also rich in dietary fiber, and these two health components may interrelate via noncovalent (reversible) and covalent (mostly irreversible) interactions. Notwithstanding, these interactions are responsible for the carrier effect ascribed to fiber toward the digestive system and can modulate the bioaccessibility of phenolics, thus shaping health‐promoting effects in vivo. On this basis, the present review focuses on the nature, occurrence, and implications of the interactions between phenolics and food components. Covalent and noncovalent interactions are presented, their occurrence discussed, and the effect of food processing introduced. Once reaching the large intestine, fiber‐bound phenolics undergo an intense transformation by the microbial community therein, encompassing reactions such as deglycosylation, dehydroxylation, α‐ and β‐oxidation, dehydrogenation, demethylation, decarboxylation, C‐ring fission, and cleavage to lower molecular weight phenolics. Comparatively less information is still available on the consequences on gut microbiota. So far, the very most of the information on the ability of bound phenolics to modulate gut microbiota relates to in vitro models and single strains in culture medium. Despite offering promising information, such models provide limited information about the effect on gut microbes, and future research is deemed in this field.

Nowadays, cancer is one of the deadliest diseases in the world, which has been estimated to cause 9.9 million deaths in 2020. Conventional treatments for cancer commonly involve mono-chemotherapy or a combination of radiotherapy and mono-chemotherapy. However, the negative side effects of these approaches have been extensively reported and have prompted the search of new therapeutic drugs. In this context, scientific community started to look for innovative sources of anticancer compounds in natural sources, including traditional plants. Currently, numerous studies have evaluated the anticancer properties of natural compounds derived from plants, both in vitro and in vivo. In pre-clinical stages, some promising compounds could be mentioned, such as the sulforaphane or different phenolic compounds. On the other hand, some phytochemicals obtained positive results in clinical stages and were further approved for cancer treatment, such as vinca alkaloids or the paclitaxel. Nevertheless, these compounds are not exempt of limitations, such as low solubility, restricted effect on their own, negative side-effects, etc. This review aims to compile the information about the current phytochemicals used for cancer treatment and also promising candidates, main action mechanisms and also reported limitations. In this sense, some strategies to face the limitations have been considered, such as nano-based formulations to improve solubility or chemical modification to reduce toxicity. In conclusion, although more research is still necessary to develop more efficient and safe phytochemical drugs, more of these compounds might be used in future cancer therapies.

The food industry is continuously evolving through the application of innovative tools and ingredients towards more effective, safe, natural and ecofriendly solutions to satisfy the demands of the costumers. In this context, natural sources (i.e., leaves, seeds, peels or unused pulp) can entail a valuable source of compounds, such as essential oils (EOs), with recognized antioxidant and antimicrobial properties that can be used as natural additives in packaging applications. The current trend is the incorporation of EOs into diverse kinds of biodegradable materials, such as edible films, thus developing active packaging systems with improved preservation properties that can offer benefits to both the food and packaging industry by reducing food waste and improving the management of packaging waste. EOs may be added into the packaging material as free or encapsulated molecules, where, especially this last option, has been revealed as very promising. The addition of these lipophilic compounds provides to the end-product various bioactivities of interest, which can eventually extend the shelf-life of the product by preventing food spoilage. Pairing biodegradable packaging with EOs extracted from natural agro-industrial by-products can lead to a more sustainable food industry. Recent knowledge and advances on this issue will be reviewed in the present work.