Determination of Inflammatory Molecules in Fruits and Vegetables

Different vegetable foods could unpredictably cause similar inflammatory reactions when speaking of human diets. Several unrefined carbohydrates and fresh oils, and also several pulses can be the cause of mild surplus oxidation. These situations appear in contrast with common knowledge speaking of foods and beverages with antioxidant or anti-inflammatory properties. For these and other reasons, vegan/vegetarian dietary lifestyles appear to be successful at present. However, intensive farming practices concerning fruits and vegetables worldwide have progressively caused a decline in the amount of protein, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin, and vitamin C in modern food products belonging to this ambit. As a result, organophosphorus pesticides are now detectable in fruits, vegetables, and wheat. Because of their inflammatory effects on the human body, and also considering their persistency in the environment, these molecules are of extreme interest. This worry is also present when speaking of chemical agents used for artificial ripening, with concern to fruits. The category of powdered juices can also contain different food additives with possible inflammatory, cytotoxic, and /or genotoxic effects. Several inflammatory molecules of natural origin exist: fructose, purines, and alkaloids. This chapter concerns the analytical detection of these chemical classes.