Natural Antioxidants and Tissue Inflammation

Abstract

The phenolic compounds present in food cover a wide range of structures that have different biological properties. Highlighting its antioxidant properties and the presence mainly of spices, herbs and other foods. Some compounds present in spices can be listed for their antioxidant activity, such as: cloves have eugenol, pinene in their composition, cinnamon also has eugenol, limonene, pinene, catechins and other phenolic compounds in their composition, anise has pinene, rutin, apigenin, oregano has apigenin, quercecin, rosmarinic, caffeic, p-coumaric acids, and others. Rosemary presents the carnosic, rosmarinic, caffeic and hydroxycinnamic. The tissue inflammatory process normally starts with the presence of free radicals that are associated with the oxidative process activated by reactive oxygen species represented by peroxides, superoxide ion, presence of hydroxyl radical, singlet oxygen, among others. The highlighted phenolic compounds have in their structure one or more hydroxyls that have the property of donating a hydrogen atom to free radical structures, which can block the triggering of the oxidative process and thus inflammation.