Lipids And Essential Oils As Antimicrobial Agents

Lipids and essential oils have strong antimicrobial properties — they kill or inhibit the growth of microbes such as bacteria, fungi, or viruses. They are being studied for use in the prevention and treatment of infections, as potential disinfectants, and for their preservative and antimicrobial properties when formulated as pharmaceuticals, in food products, and in cosmetics. Lipids and Essential Oils as Antimicrobial Agents is a comprehensive review of the scientific knowledge in this field. International experts provide summaries on: the chemical and biological properties of lipids and essential oils use of lipids and essential oils in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and health foods antimicrobial effects of lipids in vivo and in vitro antimicrobial lipids in milk antimicrobial lipids of the skin antibacterial lipids as sanitizers and disinfectants antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral activities of essential oils antimicrobial lipids in milk antimicrobial lipids of the skin antibacterial lipids as sanitizers and disinfectants antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral activities of essential oils Lipids and Essential Oils as Antimicrobial Agents is an essential guide to this important topic for researchers and advanced students in academia and research working in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food sciences, biochemistry and natural products chemistry, microbiology; and for health care scientists and professionals working in the fields of public health and infectious diseases. It will also be of interest to anyone concerned about health issues and particularly to those who are conscious of the benefits of health food and natural products.

A guide to the use of essential oils in food, including information on their composition, extraction methods, and their antioxidant and antimicrobial applications Consumers’ food preferences are moving away from synthetic additives and preservatives and there is an increase demand for convenient packaged foods with long shelf lives. The use of essential oils fills the need for more natural preservativesto extend the shelf-life and maintaining the safety of foods. Essential Oils in Food Processing offers researchers in food science a guide to the chemistry, safety and applications of these easily accessible and eco-friendly substances. The text offers a review of essential oils components, history, source and their application in foods and explores common and new extraction methods of essential oils from herbs and spices. The authors show how to determine the chemical composition of essential oils as well as an explanation of the antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of these oils in foods. This resource also delves into the effect of essential oils on food flavor and explores the interaction of essential oils and food components. Essential Oils in Food Processing offers a: Handbook of the use of essential oils in food, including their composition, extraction methods and their antioxidant and antimicrobial applications Guide that shows how essential oils can be used to extend the shelf life of food products whilst meeting consumer demand for “natural” products Review of the use of essential oils as natural flavour ingredients Summary of relevant food regulations as pertaining to essential oils Academic researchers in food science, R&D scientists, and educators and advanced students in food science and nutrition can tap into the most recent findings and basic understanding of the chemistry, application, and safe us of essential oils in food processing.

Perishable products such as fruits and vegetables account for the largest proportion of food loss due to their short shelf life, especially in the absence of proper storage facilities, which requires sustainable, universal and convenient preservation technology. The existing methods to prolong the shelf life of food mainly include adding preservatives, irradiation, cold storage, heat treatment and controlled atmosphere storage. But with disadvantages in irradiation, cold storage, heat treatment and controlled atmosphere storage, chemical synthetic preservatives are still the main means to control food corruption. As the food industry responds to the increasing consumer demand for green, safe and sustainable products, it is reformulating new products to replace chemical synthetic food additives. Essential Oils as Antimicrobial Agents in Food Preservation provides a comprehensive introduction to the antimicrobial activity of plant essential oils and their application strategies in food preservation. It is aimed at food microbiology experts, food preservation experts, food safety experts, food technicians and students. Features: Summarizes the application strategy and safety of essential oil in the field of food preservation Describes the synergistic antibacterial effect of essential oil and antimicrobial agents Explains the action mechanism of essential oil as antimicrobial agent against foodborne fungi, foodborne bacteria, viruses and insects Analyzes the antimicrobial activity of essential oil in gas phase The book discusses how as a natural antimicrobial and antioxidant, essential oil has great potential to be used in the food industry to combat the growth of foodborne pathogens and spoilage microorganisms. But because the essential oil itself has obvious smell and is sensitive to light and heat, it cannot be directly added to the food matrix and thus the application strategies presented in this book explain how to alleviate those issues.

High prevalence of multidrug-resistant microorganisms in the etiologic structure of different infectious processes significantly decreases the effectiveness of the treatment and enhances the probability of an unfavorable outcome from the infection. Combinations between antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents represent one of the most promising approaches for combating multidrug-resistant bacteria. A high therapeutic potential exists for combinations of antibiotics and natural antimicrobial substances with complex mechanisms of action and multiple healing properties, such as plant essential oils. The purpose of the present chapter is to review published studies on antibiotic-essential oil combinations and discuss the prospects for future studies. In general, many studies have shown the potential for essential oils to act synergistically with antibiotics in vitro. The main proposed mechanism of this beneficial effect is through inhibition of efflux pumps by some essential oils, which restores the activity of the antibiotic. Future efforts should be directed into further studies of antibiotic-essential oil combinations against multidrug-resistant bacteria, with an emphasis on understanding the mechanisms of the produced effect. Combinations of essential oils with different types of antimicrobial agents, such as bacteriophages, nanoparticles, and quorum-sensing inhibitors, require greater attention and are worthy of future investigations.

The world is full of plants and animals that have their own defenses, producing various substances in their daily fight against bacteria, fungi, or other agents. These products are alternatives to conventional antimicrobials that have a poor reputation with consumers. Many of these compounds are well known; however, the multiple types of structures together with the variable responses depending of the type of biocontrol needed in a wide range of applications, such as clinical, agricultural, general hygiene, and food, necessitates the continuous search for specific applications and the continuous study of how to use these substances. The present book provides a summary of reviews and original research works that explore the multiple alternatives for the use of these compounds.

Since penicillin and salvarsan were discovered, a number of new drugs to combat infectious diseases have been developed, but at the same time, the number of multi-resistant microorganism strains is increasing. Thus, the design of new and effective antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal agents will be a major challenge in the next years. This book reviews the current state-of-the-art in antimicrobial research and discusses new strategies for the design and discovery of novel therapies. Topics covered include the use of genetic engineering, genome mining, manipulation of gene clusters, X-ray and neutron scattering as well as the antimicrobial effects of essential oils, antimicrobial agents of plant origin, beta-lactam antibiotics, antimicrobial peptides, and cell-wall-affecting antifungal antibiotics.

There has been emergence of multidrug resistance problem all over the world due to overuse or underuse of antibiotics. Most microbes including bacteria, fungi, protozoans and others have developed resistance to antibiotics, and therefore, this problem is now recognized to be of global concern. Ubiquitous occurrence of multidrug-resistant bacteria decreases effectiveness of current treatment, which results in thousands of deaths all over the world. Hence, investigations for new alternatives and novel strategies are urgently needed to address the problem of multidrug resistance. The antimicrobial potential of essential oils and metallic nanoparticles represent an effective solution for microbial resistance. Moreover, the use of essential oils in combination with metallic nanoparticles may exert synergistic antimicrobial effects and would be a novel approach. Essential oils (EOs) are volatile, natural, aromatic oily liquids that can be obtained from several parts of plants especially the aerial ones such as leaves and flowers. They are derived from complex metabolic pathways in order to protect plants from diverse pathogenic microorganisms. In fact, the bioactivity of EOs have been confirmed by several studies which have demonstrated their antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antimutagenic, anticarcinogenic, and antioxidant properties. Nanotechnology is one of the most important and emerging technologies, which has brought about a technological revolution in the world. It has enormous applications in the field of medicine. Nanoparticles are very important tools in curing different diseases in general and microbial diseases in particular due to their significantly novel and improved chemical, physical and biological properties and high surface area-to-volume ratio. Among these, metal nanoparticles are known to play pivotal role in various biomedical applications. In this context, nanoparticles such as silver have shown their potential and could emerge as the new generation of antimicrobials. Silver nanoparticles have broad-spectrum biological activities and hence are used in many biomedical applications. The various biomedical applications of silver nanoparticles include treatment of wounds, burns, in water-disinfecting systems, in nanobased bone implantations, in dentistry for the development of dental materials and as antibacterial, antivirals, anti-protozoals, anti-arthropods and anticancerous agents. Apart from silver, noble metal nanoparticles like gold and platinum and other nanoparticles copper, oxides of different metals, etc. have been also the materials of choice for many scientists for their biological applications. The book will be of interest to chemists, microbiologists, biotechnologist, food technologists, nanotechnologists, pharmacologists, clinicians and those interested in nature cure. Students will find this book useful and reader friendly.

The aim of this Special Issue is to publish high quality papers concerning poultry nutrition and the interrelations between nutrition, metabolism, microbiota and the health of poultry. Therefore, I invite submissions of recent findings, as original research or reviews, on poultry nutrition, including, but not limited to, the following areas: the effect of feeding on poultry meat end egg quality; nutrient requirements of poultry; the use of functional feed additives to improve gut health and immune status; microbiota; nutraceuticals; soybean meal replacers as alternative sources of protein for poultry; the effects of feeding poultry on environmental impacts; the use of feed/food by-products in poultry diet; and feed technology.

It is estimated that foodborne microorganisms in the United States cause 48 million sicknesses, 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths each year. Food spoilage due to decay-causing microorganisms is also an issue in both developing and developed countries with 30-40% annual loss of fruits and vegetables. Synthesized antimicrobials (preservatives) are commonly used by the food industry to enhance microbial safety and increase shelf-life. However, food and agricultural industries are experiencing a lack of potent antimicrobial agents to secure the safety and maintain the quality of food products. Some synthetic preservatives may produce harmful by-products and damage the environment. There is also increasing incidence of antibiotics-resistant pathogens which has drawn great concern from the scientific communities and public health professionals. Therefore, there is increasing interest in the use of natural antimicrobials to enhance microbial safety, reduce spoilage and extend the shelf life of food. Natural antimicrobials are from plants, microorganisms and animals. They cover a wide variety of compounds including phenolics, terpenes, bacteriocins, peptides, proteins, natural polymers, fatty acids (lipids), and organic acids. Overall reviews of well-known natural or bio-based antimicrobials are first presented. The book then discusses antimicrobials of plant sources and their applications in foods and animal health. A number of chapters address the combinations of natural antimicrobials with non-thermal processing technologies to achieve additive and synergistic effects. The use of natural antimicrobials in packaging and coating, as well as both well-studied and novel biobased antimicrobials are discussed. Furthermore, the needs for toxicological evaluations of natural and bio-based antimicrobials are presented and protocols are recommended. Moreover, there is discussion in many of the chapters on the modes of action, mechanisms, and industrial aspects of applying natural or bio-based antimicrobials.