Plant-based proteins offer sustainable and nutritious alternatives to animal proteins with their techno-functional attributes influencing product quality and designer food development. Due to the inherent complexities of plant proteins, proper extraction and modifications are vital for their effective utilization. This review highlights the emerging sources of plant-based proteins, and the recent statistics of the techniques employed for pretreatment, extraction, and modifications. The pretreatment, extraction and modification approach to modify plant proteins have been classified, addressed, and the recent applications of such methodologies are duly indicated. Furthermore, this study furnishes novel perspectives regarding the potential impacts of emerging technologies on the intricate dynamics of plant proteins. A thorough review of 100 articles (2018-2024) shows the researchers\' keen interest in investigating novel plant proteins and how they can be used; seeds being the main source for protein extraction, followed by legumes. Use of by-products as a protein source is increasing rapidly, which is noteworthy. Protein studies still lack knowledge on protein fraction, antinutrients, and pretreatments. The use of physical methods and their combination with other techniques are increasing for effective and environmentally friendly extraction and modification of plant proteins. Several studies explore the effect of protein changes on their function and nutrition, especially with a goal of replacing ingredients with plant proteins that have improved or enhanced qualities. However, the next step is to investigate the sophisticated modification methods for deeper insights into food safety and toxicity.

The projected global population is expected to reach around 9.7 billion by 2050, indicating a greater demand for proteins in the human diet. Cereal bran proteins (CBPs) have been identified as high-quality proteins, with potential applications in both the food and pharmaceutical industries. In 2020, global cereal grain production was 2.1 billion metric tonnes, including wheat, rice, corn, millet, barley, and oats. Cereal bran, obtained through milling, made up 10-20% of total cereal grain production, varying by grain type and milling degree. In this article, the molecular composition and nutritional value of CBPs are summarized, and recent advances in their extraction and purification are discussed. The functional properties of CBPs are then reviewed, including their solubility, binding, emulsifying, foaming, gelling, and thermal properties. Finally, current challenges to the application of CBPs in foods are highlighted, such as the presence of antinutritional factors, low digestibility, and allergenicity, as well as potential strategies to improve the nutritional and functional properties by overcoming these challenges. CBPs exhibit nutritional and functional attributes that are similar to those of other widely used plant-based protein sources. Thus, CBPs have considerable potential for use as ingredients in food, pharmaceutical, and other products.

BACKGROUND: Nanotechnology is receiving greater attention these days as a result of its applications in numerous industrial, medical, and environmental fields.
OBJECTIVE: To synthesize silver nanoparticles with a green alga, Cladophora glomerata, and determine their inhibitory activity against tumor cell (MCF-7) and transgenic mouse cell (L20B) lines.
METHODS: Methanol extract was prepared from Cladophora glomerata and used as a safe factory for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). UV-visible spectrophotometer, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and EDX analyses were used to characterize the biosynthesized AgNPs. The anti-tumor activity of the phycosynthesized AgNPs was tested against the MCF-7 and L20B cell lines. Furthermore, the bioactive compounds in the algal extract were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS).
RESULTS: The phycosynthesis produced clusters of spherical and polydispersed cuboidal pure AgNPs with an average size of 32 nm. The phycosynthesized AgNPs possess anti-cancer and anti-tumor activities on the MCF-7 and L20B cell lines, with significant anti-proliferation percentages of 52.8 and 65.8%, respectively, after 48 hours of treatment with 100 μg/ml AgNPs. Both treated cell lines showed a significant change in cellular shape and tissue detachment. The GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of a high proportion of octadecanoic acid (47.59%) and hexadecanoic acid (14.97%).
CONCLUSIONS: Cladophora glomerata contains chemicals that improve the stabilization and reduction properties of the nanoparticles. It can be used as a safe, local, and natural source for the synthesis of AgNPs and can also be used as a benign factory for many other metal nanoparticles. The phycosynthesized AgNPs have anti-cancer and anti-tumor activities on the test cell lines and provide an insight into the potential for using them as a trend in cancer nanotherapy.
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Ongoing research in the food industry is striving to replace wheat flour with new alternatives from sustainable sources to overcome the disease burden in the existing population. Celiac disease, wheat allergy, gluten sensitivity, or non-celiac gluten sensitivity are some common disorders associated with gluten present in wheat. These scientific findings are crucial to finding appropriate alternatives in introducing new ingredients supporting the consumer\'s requirements. Among the alternatives, amaranth, barley, coconut, chestnut, maize, millet, teff, oat, rye, sorghum, soy, rice flour, and legumes could be considered appropriate due to their chemical composition, bioactive profile, and alternatives utilization in the baking industry. Furthermore, the enrichment of these alternatives with proper ingredients is considered effective. Literature demonstrated that the flours from these alternative sources significantly enhanced the physicochemical, pasting, and rheological properties of the doughs. These flours boost a significant reduction in gluten proteins associated with food intolerance, in comparison with wheat highlighting a visible market opportunity with nutritional and organoleptic benefits for food producers. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: New alternatives from sustainable sources to wheat in bakery foods as an approach that affects human health. Alternatives from sustainable sources are important source of nutrients and bioactive compounds. Alternatives from sustainable sources are rising due to nutritional and consumer demand in bakery industry. New alternatives from sustainable sources improve physicochemical, pasting, and rheological properties of dough. Non-wheat-based foods from non-traditional grains have a potential to increase consumer market acceptance.

Fats and lipids have always had a primary role in the history of humankind, from ancient civilisations to the modern and contemporary time, going from domestic and cosmetic uses, to the first medical applications and later to the large-scale industrial uses for food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and biofuel production. Sources and uses of those have changed during time following the development of chemical sciences and industrial technological advances. Plants, fish, and animal fats have represented the primary source of lipids and fats for century. Nowadays, the use of fatty acid sources has taken a turn: industries are mainly interested in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which have beneficial properties in human health; and also, for high-value fatty acids product for innovative and green production of biofuel and feedstocks. Thus, the constant increase in demand of fatty acids, the fact that marine and vegetable sources are not adequate to meet the high level of fatty acids required worldwide and climate change, have determined the necessity of the search for renewable and sustainable sources for fatty acids. Biotechnological advances and bioengineering have started looking at the genetic modification of algae, bacteria, yeasts, seeds, and plants to develop cell factory able to produce high value fatty acid products in a renewable and sustainable manner. This innovative approach applied to FA industry is a peculiar example of how biotechnology can serve as a powerful mean to drive the production of high value fatty acid derivatives on the concept of circular bioeconomy, based on the reutilisation of organic resources for alternative and sustainable productive patterns that are environmentally friendly.

The urgent need for new green and sustainable models is ground for the current demand of innovative renewable resource based pharmaceutical products. We propose a Rojo Duro skin onion extract loaded poloxamer/chitosan spray mucoadhesive thermogel aimed at solving current limitations in oral mucosits treatment. Being among the main side effects of radio- and chemotherapy, effective treatment of buccal lesions still represents an unmet medical need. The obtained thermogel combined optimal gelling capacity, release behavior, sprayability, mucoadhesion properties, while maintaining the extract antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. The product preserved all properties when stored for 1 month as a freeze-dried powder at 4 °C. This potential new product is highly translational, as it combines a recognized safety to administration/application advantages, as well as simplicity and sustainability.

Due to its unique properties, collagen is used in the growing fields of pharmaceutical and biomedical devices, as well as in the fields of nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, food and beverages. Collagen also represents a valid resource for bioplastics and biomaterials, to be used in the emerging health sectors. Recently, marine organisms have been considered as promising sources of collagen, because they do not harbor transmissible disease. In particular, fish biomass as well as by-catch organisms, such as undersized fish, jellyfish, sharks, starfish, and sponges, possess a very high collagen content. The use of discarded and underused biomass could contribute to the development of a sustainable process for collagen extraction, with a significantly reduced environmental impact. This addresses the European zero-waste strategy, which supports all three generally accepted goals of sustainability: sustainable economic well-being, environmental protection, and social well-being. A zero-waste strategy would use far fewer new raw materials and send no waste materials to landfills. In this review, we present an overview of the studies carried out on collagen obtained from by-catch organisms and fish wastes. Additionally, we discuss novel technologies based on thermoplastic processes that could be applied, likewise, as marine collagen treatment.

Porous carbon materials produced by biomass have been widely studied for high performance supercapacitor due to their abundance, low price, and renewable. In this paper, the series of nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon nanospheres (HPCN)/polyaniline (HPCN/PANI) nanocomposites is reported, which is prepared via in-situ polymerization. A novel approach with one-step pyrolysis of wheat flour mixed with urea and ZnCl2 is proposed to prepare the HPCN with surface area of 930 m2/g. Ultrathin HPCN pyrolysised at 900°C (~3 nm in thickness) electrode displays a gravimetric capacitance of 168 F/g and remarkable cyclability with losing 5% of the maximum capacitance after 5,000 cycles. The interconnected porous texture permits depositing of well-ordered polyaniline nanorods and allows a fast absorption/desorption of electrolyte. HPCN/PANI with short diffusion pathway possesses high gravimetric capacitance of 783 F/g. It can qualify HPCN/PANI to be used as cathode in assembling asymmetric supercapacitor with HPCN as anode, and which displays an exceptional specific capacitance of 81.2 F/g. Moreover, HPCN/PANI//HPCN device presents excellent cyclability with 88.4% retention of initial capacity over 10,000 cycles. This work will provide a simple and economical protocol to prepare the sustainable biomass materials based electrodes for energy storage applications.

Moringa oleifera has gained increasing popularity as a food supplement but not in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic area. The aim of this study was the preparation, characterization, and evaluation of extracts from the leaves of Moringa oleifera as a herbal sun care phytocomplex. Three different extracts of Moringa oleifera leaves, from Senegal, have been prepared and chemically characterized in the phenolic fraction by HPLC-DAD and Folin-Ciocalteu test. To explore photoprotective properties, an extensive evaluation of UV filtering, antioxidant (DPPH, FRAP, ORAC, PCL), and anti-hyperproliferative (human melanoma Colo38 cells) capacities have been conducted. Furthermore, a formulation study regarding cosmetic prototypes has been carried out in order to determine the Sun Protection Factor (SPF), which was assessed in vitro. The extracts were demonstrated to confer significant values of protection, with an SPF 2, that corresponds to a 50% protection against UV-B rays, at concentrations as low as 2% to 4%. Finally, the evaluation on potential irritation of the finished formulations was conducted by Patch Test and no significant irritant potential was observed. These evidence enlarged the already significant number of activities and potential uses of this plant, which is well-known for its importance in the medicinal and nutritional fields.

Seafood is currently the best and generally a safe source of long-chain (LC, (≥C(20)) omega-3 oils amongst the common food groups. LC omega-3 oils are also obtained in lower amounts per serve from red meat, egg and selected other foods. As global population increases the opportunities to increase seafood harvest are limited, therefore new alternate sources are required. Emerging sources include microalgae and under-utilized resources such as Southern Ocean krill. Prospects for new land plant sources of these unique and health-benefiting oils are also particularly promising, offering hope for alternate and sustainable supplies of these key oils, with resulting health, social, economic and environmental benefits.