Changes in the antioxidant activities of vegetables as a consequence of interactions between active compounds

The biological activities of in vitro bioaccessible and bioavailable compounds of tomato, onion, garlic, and lettuce and their interactions in commonly consumed combinations were studied. The bioaccessibility of phenolic compounds (ACP), the potential bioavailability (AVP), the antioxidant bioaccessibility (BAC), the bioavailability (BAV), the bioefficiency (BEF), and the interaction (IF) factors were determined. It was found that antiradical compounds were bioaccessible. Furthermore, antiradical compounds from tomato/garlic acted synergistically (IF = 0.42), whereas in other cases additive interactions were observed. BAC values of catalase activators averaged at about 1.50; however, owing to their potential bioavailability (BAV above 5.56) they possessed high bioefficiency (BEF about 9). On the other hand, all vegetables that contained bioavailable and bioefficient lipoxygenase inhibitors acted antagonistically. Xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitors were found to be bioavailable (BAV from 2.61 to 3.98) and bioefficient (BEF from 2.87 to 5.50) and strong synergistic interactions between them were also determined.

► Activity of bioaccessible and bioavailable phytochemicals and their interactions.
► Bioaccessibility, bioavailability, bioefficiency and interaction factors.
► Antiradical compounds were highly bioaccessible.
► Vegetables contained lipoxygenase inhibitors which acted antagonistically.
► XO inhibitors were bioavailable, bioefficient and acted synergistically.