Curcumin, a traditional Chinese medicine extracted from natural plant rhizomes, has become a candidate drug for the treatment of different diseases due to its anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antioxidant, and antibacterial activities. Curcumin is generally beneficial to improve human health with anti-inflammatory and antioxidative properties as well as antitumor and immunoregulatory properties. Inflammasomes are NLR family, pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) proteins that are activated in response to a variety of stress signals and that promote the proteolytic conversion of pro-interleukin-1β and pro-interleukin-18 into active forms, which are central mediators of the inflammatory response; inflammasomes can also induce pyroptosis, a type of cell death. The NLRP3 protein is involved in a variety of inflammatory pathologies, including neurological and autoimmune disorders, lung diseases, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, and many others. Different functional foods may have preventive and therapeutic effects in a wide range of pathologies in which inflammasome proteins are activated. In this review, we have focused on curcumin and evidenced its therapeutic potential in inflammatory diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases, respiratory diseases, and arthritis by acting on the inflammasome.

This study aimed at brewing wheat beer with cashew peduncle (CP) and orange peel (OP). Six formulations (F) were assessed for their physicochemical characteristics and total amount of polyphenols and antioxidant activity. The flavors of F1 and F6 were evaluated via sensory analysis. The results showed that the evaluated beers were in accordance with the parameters required by the Brazilian legislation. Moreover, the addition of CP and OP improved total amounts of polyphenols, antioxidant activity, and flavor. We conclude that the use of by-products from the food industry brings new possibilities of innovation into the beverage sector.