Different effectiveness of two pastas supplemented with either lipophilic or hydrophilic/phenolic antioxidants in affecting serum as evaluated by the novel Antioxidant/Oxidant Balance approach

•The new Antioxidant/Oxidant Balance (AOB) is presented for the first time.•AOB simultaneously considers serum Antioxidant Capacity (AC) and oxidant level.•AOB assesses very well serum antioxidant status while AC cannot do it.•A lipophilic antioxidant-enriched pasta strongly improves serum AOB.•Contrarily, a hydrophilic/phenolic antioxidant-enriched pasta is ineffective.

Effectiveness in improving serum antioxidant status of two functional pastas was evaluated by the novel Antioxidant/Oxidant Balance (AOB) parameter, calculated as Antioxidant Capacity (AC)/Peroxide Level ratio, assessed here for the first time. In particular, Bran Oleoresin (BO) and Bran Water (BW) pastas, enriched respectively with either lipophilic (tocochromanols, carotenoids) or hydrophilic/phenolic antioxidants extracted from durum wheat bran, were studied. Notably, BO pasta was able to improve significantly (+65%) serum AOB during four hours after intake similarly to Lisosan G, a wheat antioxidant-rich dietary supplement. Contrarily, BW pasta had oxidative effect on serum so as conventional pasta and glucose, thus suggesting greater effectiveness of lipophilic than hydrophilic/phenolic antioxidants under our experimental conditions. Interestingly, no clear differences between the two pastas were observed, when AC measurements of either serum after pasta intake or pasta extracts by in vitro assays were considered, thus strengthening effectiveness and reliability of AOB approach.