Characterization of Ultrasonically Prepared Flaxseed oil Enriched Beverage/Carrot Juice Emulsions and Process-Induced Changes to the Functional Properties of Carrot Juice

Unlocking the Antioxidant Potential of White Tea and Osmanthus Flower: A Novel Polyphenol Liquid Preparation and Its Impact on KM Mice and Their Offspring

White tea, known for its high polyphenol content, boasts impressive antioxidant properties, but its practical applications remain promising. In this study, we successfully developed a liquid polyphenolic preparation (wtofLPP) using white tea and osmanthus flowers, characterized by its rich antioxidant content and favorable rheological properties. This formulation offers a strong foundation for the creation and utilization of innovative antioxidant-rich food products. Notably, wtofLPP significantly enhanced the activity of certain antioxidant enzymes in both KM mice and their offspring, leading to a reduction in malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, prolonged swimming endurance, and a marked increase in levels of active antioxidant compounds. Furthermore, our study highlights that fatigue stress can impact offspring mice, suggesting that oxidative damage in parents may influence their offspring, potentially affecting their genetic function.

Utilization and characterization of flaxseed oil in ultrasonically emulsified mango beverage

The present study described the formation of stable emulsion of flaxseed oil (0%, 0.25%, 0.50%, 0.75% v/v) in ready to serve Mango beverages using 20 kHz ultrasound of power input 21 W, 32 W, 43 W for varying times 3, 5, 7 min to create emulsion droplets size 100-800 nm. Oil was extracted by ultrasound-assisted extraction and solvent extraction method by varying solvents, time, ultrasonic intensity etc. and physio-chemical characterization was conducted. Fatty acid profiling revealed that linolenic acid and linoleic acid are major fatty acids present in extracted oil. Effect of flaxseed oil in fruit-based beverage was evaluated in terms of turbidity, pH, acidity, color, antioxidant activity and carotenoids content. Pectin stabilizes emulsion droplets by generating electrostatic repulsion (ζ potential - 25 mV) and the emulsions were stable upto 18 days at (4 ± 2) °C. The rheological behaviour in terms of viscosity of the emulsion stayed unaffected with sonication time upon storage. The carotenoids and antioxidant activity significantly increased from 151.37 to 292.24 µg/mL and 26.99% to 61.43% respectively at 0 to 0.75% added oil in the beverage and enhanced stability by preventing lipid oxidation. Organoleptic score of 0.25% and 0.50% of the flaxseed oil in the beverage was found to be acceptable.

Encapsulation of Nutraceuticals in Yoghurt and Beverage Products Using the Ultrasound and High-Pressure Processing Technologies

Dairy and beverage products are considered highly nutritious. The increase demand for added nutritional benefits within the food systems consumed by the consumers paves the pathway towards fortifying nutraceuticals into these products. However, nutraceuticals are highly unstable towards harsh processing conditions. In addition, the safety of dairy and beverage products plays a very important role. Therefore, various heat treatments are in practice. As the heat-treated dairy and beverage products tends to illustrate several alterations in their organoleptic characteristics and nutritional properties, the demand for alternative non-thermal processing technologies has increased extensively within the food industry. Ultrasound and high-pressure processing technologies are desirable for this purpose as well as a safe and non-destructive technology towards encapsulation of nutraceuticals into food systems. There are benefits in implementing these two technologies in the production of dairy and beverage products with encapsulants, such as manufacturing high-quality products with improved nutritional value while simultaneously enhancing the sensory characteristics such as flavour, taste, texture, and colour and attaining the microbial quality. The primary objective of this review is to provide detailed information on the encapsulation of nutraceuticals and mechanisms involved with using US and HPP technologies on producing encapsulated yoghurt and beverage products.

Preliminary Characterisation of Wastes Generated from the Rapeseed and Sunflower Protein Isolation Process and Their Valorisation in Delaying Oil Oxidation

Since rapeseed and sunflower meals are two of the most representative oilseed crops in the world, this study was focused on ethanol-wash solutes (EWS) obtained as wastes from the protein isolation process of rapeseed and sunflower meals. These meals have been previously valorised; however, the use of the EWS is unexplored. The present study is aimed at the characterisation of their phenolic profile, and antioxidant capacity for preventing lipid oxidation in rapeseed, sunflower, and soybean oil, which has been used as a reference oil. The sunflower EWS exhibited more total phenolic compounds (TPC) and antioxidant activity (119.39 ± 1.13 mg GA/g and 193.97 ± 9.77 mg TE/g, respectively) than the rapeseed one (103.44 ± 5.94 mg GA/g and 89.51 ± 3.17 mg TE/g). The phenolic identification showed hydroxybenzoic and protocatechuic acid in the rapeseed EWS, and pyrogallol and caffeic acid in the sunflower EWS, as the main representative phenols. Both EWS at 15% increased significantly (p < 0.05) the oxidative stability of the oils in the Rancimat equipment with values of antioxidant activity index (AAI) from 1.01 to 1.20, depending on the type of oil employed. In conclusion, the rapeseed and sunflower EWS showed great potential, and they could be used as a source of natural antioxidants within the food industry, replacing the synthetic ones, and promoting the circular economy since they are agro-food wastes.

Ultrasound-assisted production and optimization of mini-emulsions in a microfluidic chip in continuous-flow

The use of ultrasound to generate mini-emulsions (50 nm to 1 μm in diameter) and nanoemulsions (mean droplet diameter < 200 nm) is of great relevance in drug delivery, particle synthesis and cosmetic and food industries. Therefore, it is desirable to develop new strategies to obtain new formulations faster and with less reagent consumption. Here, we present a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based microfluidic device that generates oil-in-water or water-in-oil mini-emulsions in continuous flow employing ultrasound as the driving force. A Langevin piezoelectric attached to the same glass slide as the microdevice provides enough power to create mini-emulsions in a single cycle and without reagents pre-homogenization. By introducing independently four different fluids into the microfluidic platform, it is possible to gradually modify the composition of oil, water and two different surfactants, to determine the most favorable formulation for minimizing droplet diameter and polydispersity, employing less than 500 µL of reagents. It was found that cavitation bubbles are the most important mechanism underlying emulsions formation in the microchannels and that degassing of the aqueous phase before its introduction to the device can be an important factor for reduction of droplet polydispersity. This idea is demonstrated by synthetizing solid polymeric particles with a narrow size distribution starting from a mini-emulsion produced by the device.

Effects of ultrasound-assisted basic electrolyzed water (BEW) extraction on structural and functional properties of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) proteins

A novel protein extraction method of ultrasound-assisted basic electrolyzed water (BEW) was proposed, and its effects on the structural and functional properties of Antarctic krill proteins were investigated. Results showed that BEW reduced 30.9% (w/w) NaOH consumption for the extraction of krill proteins, and its negative redox potential (-800 ~ -900 mV) protected the active groups (carbonyl, free sulfhydryl, etc.) of the proteins from oxidation compared to deionized water (DW). Moreover, the ultrasound-assisted BEW increased the extraction yield (9.4%), improved the solubility (8.5%), reduced the particle size (57 nm), favored the transition of α-helix and β-turn to β-sheet, promoted the surface hydrophobicity and disulfide bonds formation of krill proteins when compared to BEW without ultrasound. These changes contributed to the enhanced foam capacity, foam stability and emulsifying capacity of the krill proteins. Notably, all the physicochemical, structural and functional properties of the krill proteins were comparable to those extracted by the traditional ultrasound-assisted DW. This study suggests that the ultrasound-assisted BEW can be a potential candidate to extract proteins, especially offering an alternative way to produce marine proteins with high nutritional quality.

Functionality of Food Components and Emerging Technologies

This review article introduces nutrition and functional food ingredients, explaining the widely cited terms of bioactivity, bioaccessibility, and bioavailability. The factors affecting these critical properties of food components are analyzed together with their interaction and preservation during processing. Ultimately, the effect of emerging (non-thermal) technologies on different food components (proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, minerals, vitamins, polyphenols, glucosinolates, polyphenols, aroma compounds, and enzymes) is discussed in spite of preserving their functional properties. Non-thermal technologies can maintain the bioavailability of food components, improve their functional and technological properties, and increase the recovery yields from agricultural products. However, the optimization of operational parameters is vital to avoid degradation of macromolecules and the oxidation of labile compounds.

Ultrasonic assisted formation and stability of mustard oil in water nanoemulsion: Effect of process parameters and their optimization

The present work reports the ultrasound assisted preparation of mustard oil in water nanoemulsion stabilized by Span 80 and Tween 80 at different operating conditions. Effects of various operating parameters such as HLB (Hydrophilic Lipophilic Balance) value, surfactant volume fraction (φ_S), oil volume fraction (φ_O) and power amplitude were investigated and optimized on the basis of droplet size and stability of nanoemulsions. It was observed that minimum droplet size of about 87.38nm was obtained within 30min of ultrasonication at an optimum HLB value of 10, φ_S of 0.08 (8%, v/v), φ_O of 0.1 (10%, v/v) and ultrasonic power amplitude of 40%. The stability of the nanoemulsion was measured through visual observation and it was found that the unstable emulsions got separated within 24h whereas, stable emulsions never showed any separation until 90days. In addition to that, the kinetic stability of the prepared nanoemulsions was also assessed under centrifuge and thermal stress conditions. The emulsion stability was found to be unaffected by these forces as the droplet size remained unchanged. The ultrasound prepared emulsion was found to be long term stable even after 3months of storage at ambient conditions without any visual evidence of creaming and phase separation and also remained kinetically stable. FTIR analysis of the emulsions at different sonication conditions was carried out to examine the possible impact of ultrasonically induced chemical effects on oil structure during emulsification and it was found that the oil molecular structure was unaffected by ultrasonication process. The present work illustrates the formation and stability of mustard oil in water nanoemulsion using ultrasound cavitation which may be useful in food and cosmetic based applications.

Characterization and functional properties of mango peel pectin extracted by ultrasound assisted citric acid

Pectin was extracted from 'Tainong No. 1' mango peels, using a chelating agent-citric acid as extraction medium by ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) and conventional extraction (CE) at temperatures of 20 and 80°C. Chemical structures, rheological and emulsifying properties of mango peel pectins (MPPs) were comparatively studied with laboratory grade citrus pectin (CP). All MPPs exhibited higher protein content (4.74%-5.94%), degree of methoxylation (85.43-88.38%), average molecular weight (Mw, 378.4-2858kDa) than the CP, but lower galacuronic acid content (GalA, 52.21-53.35%). CE or UAE at 80°C resulted in significantly higher pectin yield than those at 20°C, while the extraction time for UAE-80°C (15min) was significantly shorter compared to CE-80°C (2h) with comparable pectin yield. Moreover, MPPs extracted at 80°C were observed with higher GalA and protein content, higher Mw, resulting in higher viscosity, better emulsifying capacity and stability, as compared to those extracted at 20°C and the CP. Therefore, these results suggested that MPPs from 'Tainong No. 1' may become a highly promising pectin with good thickening and emulsifying properties, using ultrasound-assisted citric acid as an efficient and eco-friendly extraction method.

Impact of acoustic cavitation on food emulsions

The work explores the experimental and theoretical aspects of emulsification capability of ultrasound to deliver stable emulsions of sunflower oil in water and meat sausages. In order to determine optimal parameters for direct ultrasonic emulsification of food emulsions, a model was developed based on the stability of emulsion droplets in acoustic cavitation field. The study is further extended to investigate the ultrasound induced changes to the inherent properties of raw materials under the experimental conditions of sono-emulsification.