title: Antioxidant power as biochemical endpoint in bread for screening and early managing quality and toxicant-related safety anomalies in food production.
abstract: Flaxseeds are both a food ingredient and a natural source of antioxidants (e.g. lignans, PUFAs) and pro-oxidant contaminants (e.g. cadmium): the variable mixture of anti- and pro-oxidant substances may impact on the redox homeostasis of flaxseed-enriched foods. The antioxidant power is studied here as biochemical activity of flaxseeds in white wheat bread and as endpoint for possible screening of anomalous variations of bioactive mixtures (antioxidants vs. prooxidants) in food matrices. A bioprobe assay based on the superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme (6 channels of the multiprobe bioelectronic platform BEST) was performed on white wheat bread with and without flaxseeds. Nine BEST channels were simultaneously used for validation and monitoring of measuring conditions (temperature, pH, conductivity). Findings were compared with quantitative analysis of antioxidants and pro-oxidant contaminants. Organic and aqueous extracts of both bread types were examined in parallel. The SOD-probe detected the difference in antioxidant power given by 10% flaxseed, thus supporting the use of antioxidant power detected by bioenzymatic screening as sensitive biochemical endpoint. Mixtures of bioactive molecules in foods generate biochemical activities that can be monitored as time-effective indicators of invariability, which is pivotal in the daily control of anomalies in food production and therefore in the protection of consumers' health.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanostructured Materials, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dragone
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanostructured Materials, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ermilov
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanostructured Materials, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Grasso
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, IRCCS- Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", V. La Masa 19, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maggioni
authors.affiliation: Food and Veterinary Toxicology Unit, Department of Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, V.le Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mantovani
authors.affiliation: External Relations Office, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, V. Giano della Bella 34, 00162, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: chiara.frazzoli@iss.it.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Frazzoli
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001939:Bread / Q000032:analysis*; D019597:Flax / Q000737:chemistry; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D059022:Food Safety; D011786:Quality Control
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants
keywords: Flaxseed; Flour; Food quality; HACCP; Marker; Mixture