The Influence of Scalded Flour, Fermentation, and Plants Belonging to Lamiaceae Family on the Wheat Bread Quality and Acrylamide Content

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of additives such as plants belonging to Lamiaceae family (Thymus vulgaris, Carum carvi, Origanum vulgare, Ocimum basilicum, and Coriandrum sativum), scalded flour (SF) or scalded flour fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum LUHS135 (SFFLp) on the quality and acrylamide formation in wheat bread. The formation of acrylamide and bread quality significantly depended on the king of plants used and the amount of SF and SFFLp used. The additives of T. vulgaris and SF increased the content of acrylamide by 3.4-fold in comparison with bread prepared without SF, whereas the addition of SFFLp significantly reduced the content of acrylamide in bread, especially using 5% of SFFLp supplemented with O. vulgare and 15% of SFFLp supplemented with C. sativum (respectively by 40% and 29.4%) therefore could be recommended for safer bread production.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

The addition of 5% (from total wheat flour content) of scalded wheat flour fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum LUHS135 strain (SFFLp) with Origanum vulgare addition, and 5% or 10% of SFFLp prepared with Ocimum basilicum, and 15% of SFFLp prepared with Coriandrum sativum significantly reduce the content of acrylamide in wheat bread, therefore could be recommended for safer bread production.

The Perspectives Associated With the Computer-Based Diagnostic Method of Depressive Disorder

Depressive disorder (DD) shortens a healthy and productive human life, has significant public health costs is and associated with high suicide rates. In depression sadness and emotional misery manifest in facial expressions, as psychomotor slowing, lack of energy, high tension, and attenuated sensory perception. Loss of appetite, changes to the taste of food, and the loss of pleasure in eating are important criteria in the diagnosis of DD. We hypothesized that a patient's facial expressions and emotional responses to different tastes can be used as the diagnostic moderators for the development of a new contactless, computer-based method for diagnosis of DD. The confirmation of this hypothesis can shed a new perspective on early contactless, computer-based psychiatric diagnostic strategies and early identification of DD symptoms, as DD is an important issue in public mental health. The benefits of this method are evidence from several perspectives (I) patients can use a self-rating instrument to assess DD symptoms; this may act as an incentive to seek professional help; (II) family and community can use an instrument for early recognition of DD symptoms and suicidal tendencies, making it possible to encourage the individual to seek professional health care; (III) general practitioners have a reliable instrument for preliminary diagnosis of DD in primary care, thus saving the time and resources; (IV) public health benefits include early diagnosis and treatment of DD and better outcomes, reductions in disability-adjusted life years and the global burden of the disease. It is nevertheless important to recognize the limitations and risks of contactless diagnosis of DD. As it is a self-assessment method it is not possible to rule out false positives and false negatives. However, this method might be used for early diagnosis of DD symptoms. Also, it should be mentioned that further evaluation and an experts opinion about this method is needed. The clinical diagnosis of DD should continue to be made by healthcare professionals. Finally, this method may perspectively predict DD at an early stage and may ensure a higher quality of the patients' primary care in the public health system.

Application of hydrolases and probiotic Pediococcus acidilactici BaltBio01 strain for cereal by-products conversion to bioproduct for food/feed

The aim of this study was to apply the enzymatic treatment and fermentation by Pediococcus acidilactici BaltBio01 strain for industrial cereal by-products conversion to food/feed bioproducts with high amount of probiotic lactic acid bacteria (LAB). LAB propagated in potato media and spray-dried remained viable during 12 months (7.0 log₁₀ cfu/g) of storage and was used as a starter for cereal by-products fermentation. The changes of microbial profile, biogenic amines (BAs), mycotoxins, lactic acid (L⁺/D^-), lignans and alkylresorcinols (ARs) contents in fermented cereal by-product were analysed. Cereal by-products enzymatic hydrolysis before fermentation allows to obtain a higher count of LAB during fermentation. Fermentation with P. acidilactici reduce mycotoxins content in fermented cereal by-products. According to our results, P. acidilactici multiplied in potato juice could be used for cereal by-products fermentation, as a potential source to produce safer food/feed bioproduct with high amount of probiotic LAB for industrial production.

Amino acids profile and antioxidant activity of different Lupinus angustifolius seeds after solid state and submerged fermentations

The objective of this study was to investigate the amino acids profile, total phenolic compounds (TPC) content, antioxidant activity after submerged (SmF) and solid state (SSF) fermentations of different Lupinus angustifolius seeds by the Lactobacillus sakei KTU05-6. Additionally, the impact of different lupin seeds as fermentation media for LAB biomass and d/l-lactic acid production was analysed. The d/l ratio for SmF and SSF treated lupin samples varied from 0.15 to 0.45 and from 0.12 to 0.46, 16 respectively. Nutritional analysis highlighted a substantial increase in the TPC content and antioxidant activity up to 31.5-48.8% for SSF treated L. angustifolius samples compared to unfermented. The interaction between analysed factors (lupin variety and fermentation conditions) had a significant influence on essential and nonessential amino acids profile.

Evaluation of ozonation as a method for mycotoxins degradation in malting wheat grains

The influence of ozone (O3) gas on reducing the contamination with Fusarium mycotoxins in malting wheat grains was investigated. Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QqQ-MS/MS) and Orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Orbitrap-HRMS) were used to determine mycotoxins in wheat grains before and 40 to 130 min after the exposure to 20 mg/l O3. Pearson’s analysis (R2=0.96-0.98) showed a good correlation between the performance efficiency of both mass spectrometry quantification techniques. The concentrations of determined mycotoxins (zearalenone (ZEA): 19.5-459 µg/kg, deoxynivalenol (DON): 3,370-4,620 µg/kg, T-2 toxin: 19.5-35.4 µg/kg, and HT-2 toxin: 258-819 µg/kg) decreased notably, depending on the duration of contact with ozone. A notable elimination of ZEA, HT-2, and T-2 in wheat grain was observed: the content of these compounds was reduced on average by 58.6, 64.6, and 62%, respectively, already after 40 min of ozonation. The effect was less pronounced in the case of DON, for which the average degradation rate reached the maximum of only 25% after 130 min exposure. We conclude that ozonation for up to 130 min was effective for reducing the content of most mycotoxins determined in this study, except for DON, in contaminated grains to concentrations below the acceptable maximum levels in wheat in accordance to the EU regulations.