From detrimental to beneficial constituents in foods: tracking the publication trends in JAFC

Influence of dietary patterns on contaminants bioaccessibility and intestinal transport by in vitro assays

Food contaminants are usually studied as isolated molecules, not considering the overall meal components. Notwithstanding, contaminants are not ingested individually, therefore their risks should be assessed in the context of the overall diet. In the present study the influence of three well known dietary patterns, Western (W), Mediterranean (M) and vegetarian (V), on the bioaccessibility and intestinal transport of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) and benzo[b]fluoranthene (BbF)), heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) (2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) and 2-Amino-9H-pyrido[2,3-b]indole (AAC)) and mycotoxins (MY) (aflatoxin B2 (AB2) and ochratoxin A (OTA)) was evaluated. Whole meals representative of W, M and V patterns were spiked with 100 µg kg^-1 of each contaminant and subjected to the Infogest in vitro digestion method. Intestinal transport was performed using Caco-2 cells in apical/basolateral inserts. Contaminants were quantified by QuEChERS/HPLC/Fluorescence analysis. The dietary pattern itself influenced significantly the bioaccessibility of some contaminants, since higher bioaccessibility of HAAs (PhIP and AAC) was observed for V diet, while higher bioaccessibility of PAHs (BBF and BAP) and the MY (OTA) was observed for W diet. Concerning intestinal transport, the effect of the diet matrices was less noticed. Notwithstanding, AAC transport increased with W diet, while AB2s transport increased with the V diet. Regarding PAHs the three patterns either blocked (BbF) or reduced (BaP) the transport. Besides the well known nutritional, protective or deleterious effects of the different dietary patterns, the increased bioaccessibility or intestinal transport of some food contaminants, can have an additional influence on the global health impact.

Renal protein reactivity and stability of antibiotic amphenicols: structure and affinity

In the present work, the molecular recognition of the oldest active amphenicols by the most popular renal carrier, lysozyme, was deciphered by using fluorescence, circular dichroism (CD) and molecular modeling at the molecular scale. Steady state fluorescence data showed that the recognition of amphenicol by lysozyme yields a static type of fluorescence quenching. This corroborates time-resolved fluorescence results that lysozyme-amphenicol adduct formation has a moderate affinity of 10(4) M(-1), and the driving forces were found to be chiefly hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic interactions and π stacking. Far-UV CD spectra confirmed that the spatial structure of lysozyme was slightly changed with a distinct reduction of α-helices in the presence of amphenicol, suggesting partial destabilization of the protein. Furthermore, via the extrinsic 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonic acid fluorescence spectral properties and molecular modeling, one could see that the amphenicol binding site was situated at the deep crevice on the protein surface, and the ligand was also near to several crucial amino acid residues, such as Trp-62, Trp-63 and Arg-73. Simultaneously, contrastive studies of protein-amphenicols revealed clearly that some substituting groups, e.g. nitryl in the molecular structure of ligands, may be vitally important for the recognition activity of amphenicols with lysozyme. Due to the connection of amphenicols with fatal detrimental effects and because lysozyme has been applied as a drug carrier for proximal tubular targeting, the discussion herein is necessary for rational antibiotic use, development of safe antibiotics and particularly a better appraisal of the risks associated with human exposure to toxic agrochemicals.

Public Health Perspectives on Aquaculture

Nearly half of all seafood consumed globally comes from aquaculture, a method of food production that has expanded rapidly in recent years. Increasing seafood consumption has been proposed as part of a strategy to combat the current non-communicable disease (NCD) pandemic, but public health, environmental, social, and production challenges related to certain types of aquaculture production must be addressed. Resolving these complicated human health and ecologic trade-offs requires systems thinking and collaboration across many fields; the One Health concept is an integrative approach that brings veterinary and human health experts together to combat zoonotic disease. We propose applying and expanding the One Health approach to facilitate collaboration among stakeholders focused on increasing consumption of seafood and expanding aquaculture production, using methods that minimize risks to public health, animal health, and ecology. This expanded application of One Health may also have relevance to other complex systems with similar trade-offs.

The "Dark Side" of Food Stuff Proteomics: The CPLL-Marshals Investigate

The present review deals with analysis of the proteome of animal and plant-derived food stuff, as well as of non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages. The survey is limited to those systems investigated with the help of combinatorial peptide ligand libraries, a most powerful technique allowing access to low- to very-low-abundance proteins, i.e., to those proteins that might characterize univocally a given biological system and, in the case of commercial food preparations, attest their genuineness or adulteration. Among animal foods the analysis of cow's and donkey's milk is reported, together with the proteomic composition of egg white and yolk, as well as of honey, considered as a hybrid between floral and animal origin. In terms of plant and fruits, a survey is offered of spinach, artichoke, banana, avocado, mango and lemon proteomics, considered as recalcitrant tissues in that small amounts of proteins are dispersed into a large body of plant polymers and metabolites. As examples of non-alcoholic beverages, ginger ale, coconut milk, a cola drink, almond milk and orgeat syrup are analyzed. Finally, the trace proteome of white and red wines, beer and aperitifs is reported, with the aim of tracing the industrial manipulations and herbal usage prior to their commercialization.

Binding patterns and structure-affinity relationships of food azo dyes with lysozyme: a multitechnique approach

Food dyes serve to beguile consumers: they are often used to imitate the presence of healthful, colorful food produce such as fruits and vegetables. But considering the hurtful impact of these chemicals on the human body, it is time to thoroughly uncover the toxicity of these food dyes at the molecular level. In the present contribution, we have examined the molecular reactions of protein lysozyme with model food azo compound Color Index (C.I.) Acid Red 2 and its analogues C.I. Acid Orange 52, Solvent Yellow 2, and the core structure of azobenzene using a combination of biophysical methods at physiological conditions. Fluorescence, circular dichroism (CD), time-resolved fluorescence, UV-vis absorption as well as computer-aided molecular modeling were used to analyze food dye affinity, binding mode, energy transfer, and the effects of food dye complexation on lysozyme stability and conformation. Fluorescence emission spectra indicate complex formation at 10(-5) M dye concentration, and this corroborates time-resolved fluorescence results showing the diminution in the tryptophan (Trp) fluorescence mainly via a static type (KSV = 1.505 × 10(4) M(-1)) and Förster energy transfer. Structural analysis displayed the participation of several amino acid residues in food dye protein adducts, with hydrogen bonds, π-π and cation-π interactions, but the conformation of lysozyme was unchanged in the process, as derived from fluorescence emission, far-UV CD, and synchronous fluorescence spectra. The overall affinity of food dye is 10(4) M(-1) and there exists only one kind of binding domain in protein for food dye. These data are consistent with hydrophobic probe 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonic acid (ANS) displacement, and molecular modeling manifesting the food dye binding patch was near to Trp-62 and Trp-63 residues of lysozyme. On the basis of the computational analyses, we determine that the type of substituent on the azobenzene structure has a powerful influence on the toxicity of food dyes. Results from this work testify that model protein, though an indirect method, provides a more comprehensive profile of the essence of toxicity evaluation of food dyes.