From Foods to Chemotherapeutics: The Antioxidant Potential of Dietary Phytochemicals

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

1. Subheadings are necessary for each heading since there are a lot of information but they are not very well organized.
2. Adding figures to this work might make it more fascinating to read for the audience.
3. The conclusion does not adequately conclude this study.
4. The study doesn't appear to be out of the mainstream.
5. This is a review article, there should be figures and tables with justification/explanation in the text.

 

 of phytochemicals - - either within our diet, or as an adjuvant to radiation or chemotherapy - - ap- 12- Remove the comma

 

human health due to their ability to interact with our cellular metabolism, there is ample 48 evidence that phytochemicals can also be metabolized by our gut microbiome with the 49 resulting microbial metabolites also being absorbed / physiologically active [8,9]. These 50 phytochemicals and their metabolites are often beneficial, at least in part, due to their 51 antioxidant function [10]- There is a need for a clearer statement.

 

When two or more chemicals are combined, they might act 73 in an antagonistic manner (their combined effect is less than their individual effects 74 added together), an additive manner (their combined effect is equal to their individual 75 effects added together), or synergistic (their combined effects are greater than the sum of 76 either of the components alone) [18].- There is a need for a clearer statement.

 

At low concentrations, ROS and RNS are beneficial mediators of cellular function and 97 assist immune function. Neutrophils, for example, produce a wide variety of ROS upon 98 engulfing invading microorganisms, including superoxide and hydrogen peroxide [21]. 99 As a beneficial entity, nitric oxide is a radical known for its ability to relax endothelial 100 tissue, thus lowering blood pressure; nitric oxide also acts as a messenger in a wide 101 range of cellular functions [22]. However, if ROS and / or RNS reach high concentra- 102 tions, the body experiences a state of Oxidative Stress [23] and ROS/RNS based defen- 103 sive mechanisms can actually be involved in the etiology of inflammatory diseases [24], 104 including cancer [25], heart disease [26, 27], and neurodegenerative diseases [28, 29]. 105 Major endogenous sources of ROS include the transmembrane NADPH oxidases and 106 the mitochondrial electron transport chain, systems that both produce superoxide [30]. 107 Cells with greater metabolic rates, such as cancer cells, typically produce higher ROS 108 levels. RNS can be produced by the same pathways as ROS, and these reactive mole- 109 cules can also interconvert [31]. Exogenous triggers that increase ROS and RNS produc- 110 tion include UV radiation, heterocyclic amines, chlorinated compounds and heavy met- 111 als [32, 33]- More concreteness is needed in this paragraph.

Author Response

please see the attachment, thank you!

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

This work is well presented, it provides well-supported information about the role of phytochemicals found in edible plants and the action mode in the organism as antioxidant agents. The information is supported by the references cited, the wording is clear, and the contribution to knowledge is based on the description and roles of the main phytochemical groups in the benefit of human health. There are some minor considerations that the author may take into account to improve the manuscript.

In the title, it is stated that the antioxidant role of phytochemicals will be covered from raw sources in foods to their final processing to become pharmaceutical products, nevertheless, most of the information is based on the evaluation of certain compounds or groups of compounds on the treatment of different diseases associated with the oxidative stress, and present some relationships between the antioxidant effects observed with the characteristics of human patients (health habits, gender, age, sex, etc.), then the idea about the transformation of phytochemicals from foods until pharmaceuticals may not be clearly reached, perhaps the author may consider to include a section about successful cases where plant-derived phytochemicals are already used in commercial presentations.

Line 60. Include the definition for DASH.

Line 159. Revise the use of superscripts in Fe²⁺.

Line 162. Include the definition for RCT

Line 168. Include the definition for BMI

Line 329. From section 5, it is suggested to use the title of this section like "Plant antioxidants beyond vitamins", and then add subsections for describing each type of phytochemicals instead of starting each new section with the same name.

Line 631. Revise if the spelling for "concertation-time" curve is correct.

Line 830. It is suggested that the Conclusions section describe precisely the conclusions and remarks from the author's perspective about the work, instead of providing additional information about findings reported by other research groups. Perhaps, the author may consider including a section about the importance of health status and synergism in the use of phytochemicals, and finally, the own conclusion section that describes the finding and final message about the relevance of these compounds on the human health maintenance.

 

 

Author Response

please see the attachment.  thank you!  

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

1. As previously said, adding visuals to this work may make it more interesting to read for the audience, but no adjustments have been done in this regard.

Consider the following document as an example.

Anti-cancer Effects of a Neutral Triterpene Fraction from Ganoderma lucidum and its Active Constituents on SW620 Human Colorectal Cancer Cells Author(s): Peng Li, Lingxue Liu, Sheng Huang, Yonghong Zhang, Jianhua Xu* and Zhiqiang Zhang* Volume 20 , Issue 2 , 2020 Page: [237 - 244]Pages: 8 DOI: 10.2174/1871520619666191015102442

 

2. Subheadings are required for each heading because there is a significant amount of detail, however they are not well ordered, and the essential adjustments have not been implemented.

For example: Heading 4. Our exogenous antioxidants: Vitamin E, tocopherols and Tocotrienols

These three should be divided into subheadings.

4.1 Vitamin E

4.2  Tocopherols

4.3  Tocotrienols

 

3. This is a review article; there should be figures and tables with justification/explanation in the text.

No changes are made.

I have received and checked the Author’s reply.

Adding figures to this work will make it more fascinating to read for the audience.

This is a review article, there should be figures and tables with justification/explanation in the text. 

I insist again that this is a manuscript for a review article, there should be figures and tables with justification/explanation in the text to help readers, researchers or students, to well understand the context of the article.

Author Response

Two tables containing pertinent information and results from the dietary studies have been added and the specific data removed from the review. 

 

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 3

Reviewer 1 Report

 

 

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.docx