# _Mringa oleifera_ Leaf Powder as Functional Additive in Cookies to Protect SH-SY5Y Cells
## 1 Introduction  
Recent evidence indicates that consumers are becoming increasingly demanding in their requests for healthy food [1]. This implies that food industries are forced to revolutionize their products to meet the consumers' requests, introducing foods and beverages richer in bioactive molecules with proven benefits to human health. This trend originates by the discovery that many lethal pathologies, such as cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases, share, at least in the first stage of the disease, the insurgence of astrong oxidative stress condition that is also intensely affected by diet [2; 3]. Free radicals, be they reactive oxygen species (ROS) or reactive nitrogen species (RNS), are formed during metabolic reactions in living organisms [4]. In some physiological cases, they exert a functional action but when are either in excess or not detoxified by the endogenous antioxidant cell system, they can initiate noxious oxidative reactions [5; 6]. Among the various organs, the brain is the most susceptible to redox reactions due to its high content of unsaturated fatty acids, high oxygen consumption and lack of an antioxidant defense system [7].  
Antioxidant molecules present in vegetables and fruits are able to fight the poisoning effect of ROS or RNS due to their abilities in neutralizing and extinguishing the formation and propagation of free radicals [8; 9; 10]. Bioactive compounds are generally present in low amounts in the food items. The intake of functional foods enriched with bioactive molecules able to reduce inflammatory processes and ameliorate blood lipidic profiles, as part of a balanced diet, could be useful in the direction of improving physical condition and/or decreasing the risk of chronic disease appearance [8].  
The plant of _Moringa oleifera_, belonging to the genus Moringaceae, unexplored until a few years ago, comes from the Asian and Africa tropical and subtropical regions and is gaining increasing popularity for its nutritional and pharmacological properties [11]. The tree's height ranges from 5 to 12 m with an umbrella-like crown and a short trunk. The foliage can be evergreen or deciduous depending on the climate conditions. The leaves are 20-50 cm long with 4-6 pairs of pinnae distributed on the two sides of a long petiole [12]. Moringa Leaf Powder (MLP) is rich in \(\beta\)-carotene, proteins, vitamin C, calcium, potassium and a wide range of antioxidant molecules. It is used in the treatment of inflammatory conditions and cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and hepatoreal disorders [13]. Furthermore, some recent studies have indicated that moringa extracts are effective against neuronal damage [14].  
The addition of 2.5% of MLP to white flour used for the traditional production of pasta caused an increase of the protein content from 10.7% to 15.6% [15]. Furthermore, the presence of MLP induced a reduction of the moisture content, guaranteeing an increased shelf-life of pasta [15]. Food supplementation with MLF was also proposed as a viable method to combat infant malnutrition in developing countries [16].  
The aim of the present work is to evaluate if the health benefits of MLP can be retained when the powder is added in cookies. In particular, the protective effect of the bioactive compounds contained in MLP against oxidative stress as well as their ROS scavenging ability were evaluated, using SH-SYSY cells as the neuronal system model. The impact of MLP addition in various amounts on dough processability was investigated by rheological and morphological analyses. Moreover, the sensorial properties of MLP-containing cookies were assessed by a blind test with a well-trained testing panel. The potential of two main components identified in MLP, glucomoringin and kaempfer in counteracting the insurgence of treatable neurodegenerative pathologies was also discussed.