Natural antioxidants as food and beverage ingredients - Natural Food Additives, Ingredients and Flavourings - page 98

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Natural antioxidants as food and
beverage ingredients
R. I. Nahas, Kalsec Inc., USA

Abstract: Spices and herbs have been used in the human diet since ancient times, but
recently there has been an increasing demand for natural food additives, especially
preservatives, among which antioxidants constitute a major category. This chapter reviews
the use of natural antioxidants in the stabilization of food products. It categorizes natural
antioxidants based on their chemical structural classes and how they interfere with the
oxidation process. It also discusses their modes of action, availability, corresponding food
and beverage applications, in addition to current challenges and future research directions.

Key words: natural antioxidants, food additives, natural preservatives, natural
ingredients, plant and spice extracts, managing food oxidation, lipid oxidation.

5.1 Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is to guide researchers and product developers on the
development of more effective food antioxidants. A current trend in food
manufacture is the replacement of stable hydrogenated fats with the unstable (but
more healthy) polyunsaturated fats. As this substitution is made, the food industry
will face enormous food preservation challenges, which will require more
powerful strategies for controlling oxidation in foods. In addition to improvements
in the technologies of packaging and food processing, the development of novel,
targeted, naturally derived antioxidant systems will be required to achieve the
goal of stable, wholesome foods for consumers. The best strategy to manage
oxidation through antioxidants involves blends and combinations that operate on
different components of the oxidation mechanism and act synergistically to
provide extraordinary increases in stability. The food industry needs to reach a
more advanced state to meet the challenge of providing extraordinary stability in
today's complex foods, which requires better understanding of the available

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