Functional foods and health: a US perspective

Comparative study of micronutrient content in soft rice beverages based on green and black tea

Soft beverages based on rice (“rice milk”) are hypoallergenic, increase immunity, supply the body with energy, and normalize the nervous system. Earlier, we developed soft rice beverage recipes based on boiled rice filtrate, green (black) tea water concentrate, stevia extract as a natural sweetener. Physico-chemical analysis of the content of micronutrients in soft rice-tea beverages was carried out. Comparative analysis of content of vitamins E (alpha-tocopherol) and C (ascorbic acid) showed that vitamins are presented in both types of beverages during production, but in different amounts. The rice beverage combined with green tea concentrate contains 1.33 times more potassium ions and 1.13 times less magnesium ions than the beverage based on black tea. The rice beverage combined with black tea contains 3.81 times more sodium ions compared to the beverage based on green tea. There were no significant differences in the number of magnesium ions. Both samples contained traces of manganese and iron ions. The produced soft rice-tea beverages with stevia extract could be recommended as a functional food.

Physicochemical analysis of mango flavored yogurt supplemented with moringa oleifera leaf powder

The fermented foods are same as traditional food, in appearance and consumed as normal foods but have modified by the addition of certain pro & pre-biotics or fortification with the plant extract, which have specific physiological roles beyond just satisfying nutrition requirement. Fresh leaves of Moringa oleifera were collected from the field of Institutes of Agriculture Sciences, then dried and grounded. The proximate analysis of dried moringa leaf powder and milk was performed. In four different concentrations (0.5%, 1%, 1.5% and 2%) Moringa Oleifera leaf powder, was used for the production of fortified flavoured yogurt, while mango flavor and color was added to enhance its sensory characteristics. Physicochemical analysis (pH, acidity, ash, fat, protein, fiber, synersis, total solid content and moisture content) was done to check the yogurt nutritional profile and effect of moringa dried leaf powder on it. Sensory evaluation (body texture, appearance, color, taste, aroma, flavor and overall acceptability) is also done by expert panel of food scientist (n = 20) by using hedonic scale to check the acceptability and quality of product.To check the product shelf life stability, product is stored at 5 ± 1 ºC for 15 days and observed for its physicochemical changes and sensory attributes. The sample were analyzed for their stablity as fresh and during storage interval of 10th day and 15th day. Results shows that mango flavored yogurt supplemented with 1% Moringa Oleifera leaf powder has got the highest score in majority of the sensory attributes such as body and texture, flavor, taste and overall acceptability over the storage period of 15 days at 5 ± 1 °C. All treatment showed significantly different (p ≤ 0.05) result from each other. However, higher acidity%, total solids%, protein% and synersis value were observed, than control samples on 0 days (fresh), 10 days and 15 days storage, respectively. While all treatments have less pH and moisture content than control during fresh condition and over storage time of 15 days while fat content was nearly same in all treatments and control sample.

Natural Bioactive Compounds from Food Waste: Toxicity and Safety Concerns

Although synthetic bioactive compounds are approved in many countries for food applications, they are becoming less and less welcome by consumers. Therefore, there has been an increasing interest in replacing these synthetic compounds by natural bioactive compounds. These natural compounds can be used as food additives to maintain the food quality, food safety and appeal, and as food supplements or nutraceuticals to correct nutritional deficiencies, maintain a suitable intake of nutrients, or to support physiological functions, respectively. Recent studies reveal that numerous food wastes, particularly fruit and vegetables byproducts, are a good source of bioactive compounds that can be extracted and reintroduced into the food chain as natural food additives or in food matrices for obtaining nutraceuticals and functional foods. This review addresses general questions concerning the use of fruit and vegetables byproducts as new sources of natural bioactive compounds that are being addressed to foods as natural additives and supplements. Those bioactive compounds must follow the legal requirements and evaluations to assess the risks for human health and their toxicity must be considered before being launched into the market. To overcome the potential health risk while increasing the biological activity, stability and biodistribution of the supplements' technological alternatives have been studied such as encapsulation of bioactive compounds into micro or nanoparticles or nanoemulsions. This will allow enhancing the stability and release along the gastrointestinal tract in a controlled manner into the specific tissues. This review summarizes the valorization path that a bioactive compound recovered from an agro-food waste can face from the moment their potentialities are exhibited until it reaches the final consumer and the safety and toxicity challenges, they may overcome.

FUNCTIONAL FOODS: PROSPECTS IN UKRAINE

Today, food is intended not only to satisfy hunger and provide necessary nutrients for human organism, but also to prevent nutrition-associated diseases and improve the mental and physical condition. The formula of food in the XXI century includes constant use of both traditional natural foods and foods with desired properties in the diet. The foods with desired properties are the functional food products, i. e. those enriched with essential food substances and micronutrients. These functional products cover a wide range of foods and ingredients with various biologically active substances responsible for their health-supporting and preventive effectiveness. This allows to lower the healthcare expenditures and support the economical development. The health and general well-being of today’s Ukrainians is influenced by many factors: rush life tempo, age-related changes in organs and tissues, heredity, unhealthy habits, stress situations etc. But the great importance of the diet and numbers and quality of products from which meals are prepared also should be kept in mind. And while we cannot change some factors, we can absolutely control others, particularly the characteristics of foods. The article presents some features of modern diet of Ukrainian population as an integral factor of health risk. Also, we show food substance consumption profiles of Ukrainian population in years 2015-2018, and the rate of functional foods on Ukrainian market in the last two years. The article is a review and highlights the necessity to develop production of functional foods based on fundamental and applied researches in food technology, nutritiology and the latest molecular biological technologies. General approaches to modern principles of functional food production technology are proposed. The role of the latest molecular biological technologies in functional food production is disclosed, especially of the proteomics, nutrigenomics and metabolomics. Important directions of functional food research are shown, they are associated with identification of new functional ingredients and increasing confidence of the consumers in such products. Motivations are proposed to stimulate the food manufactures to continue to develop the functional foods and to increase their assortment, thus providing a remarkable profit from successful products.

Study of functional and technological properties of plant powders for use in confectionery industry

The article is devoted to research of functional and technological properties of powders from banana, carrots, strawberry, apple, spinach and orange received by cold spray drying. Expediency of vegetable and fruit powders use in the confectionery industry, including their addition during production of confectionery semi-finished products has been proved. Organoleptic properties of powders have been defined, namely: appearance and consistence, taste, smell and color, results are presented in the table. By the microscopic method dispersion of powders from banana, carrots, strawberry, apple, spinach, orange has been studied, results of researches are presented by charts. Also technological indicators of plant powders have been investigated, namely: the ability to bind moisture, water absorption coefficient, the emulsifying ability and ability to hold fat.

Influence of day length and temperature on the content of health-related compounds in broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. italica)

Vegetables grown at different latitudes are exposed to various temperatures and day lengths, which can affect the content of health- and sensory-related compounds in broccoli florets. A 2 × 2 factorial experiment was conducted under controlled growth conditions, with contrasting temperatures (15/9 and 21/15 °C) and day lengths (12 and 24 h), to investigate the effect on glucosinolates, vitamin C, flavonols, and soluble sugars. Aliphatic glucosinolates, quercetin, and kaempferol were at their highest levels at high temperatures combined with a 12 h day. Levels of total glucosinolates, d-glucose, and d-fructose were elevated by high temperatures. Conversely, the content of vitamin C was highest with a 12 h day length combined with 15/9 °C. Our results indicate that temperature and day length influence the contents of health-related compounds in broccoli florets in a complex way, suggesting no general superiority of any of the contrasting growth conditions.

Determination of free and bound phenolic compounds in buckwheat spaghetti by RP-HPLC-ESI-TOF-MS: effect of thermal processing from farm to fork

Nowadays there is considerable interest in the consumption of alternative crops as potential recipes for gluten-free products production. Therefore, the use of buckwheat for the production of gluten-free pasta has been investigated in the present study. RP-HPLC-ESI-TOF-MS has been applied for the separation and characterization of free and bound phenolic compounds in buckwheat flour and buckwheat spaghetti. Thus, 32 free and 24 bound phenolic compounds in buckwheat flour and spaghetti have been characterized and quantified. To the authors' knowledge, protochatechuic-4-O-glucoside acid and procyanidin A have been detected in buckwheat for the first time. The results have demonstrated a decrease of total free phenolic compounds from farm to fork (from flour to cooked spaghetti) of about 74.5%, with a range between 55.3 and 100%, for individual compounds. The decrease in bound phenols was 80.9%, with a range between 46.2 and 100%. The spaghetti-making process and the cooking caused losses of 46.1 and 49.4% of total phenolic compounds, respectively. Of the total phenolic compounds present in dried spaghetti, 11.6% were dissolved in water after cooking.

The inclusion of functional foods enriched in fibre, calcium, iodine, fat-soluble vitamins and n-3 fatty acids in a conventional diet improves the nutrient profile according to the Spanish reference intake

OBJECTIVE

The growing interest in maintaining good health status through optimal nutrition has boosted the launch of a number of functional foods on the market. The objective of the present study was to theoretically evaluate the nutritional relevance of incorporating selected enriched foods in the diet.

DESIGN

A 28 d dietary plan, designed to be balanced under the recommended macronutrients criteria, was used as a basal diet. Some conventional foods were exchanged with foods enriched in fibre, calcium, iodine, vitamins A, D, E or n-3 fatty acids.

SETTING

Nutritional composition of basal and modified diets was derived and compared to the Spanish recommended intakes (RI).

RESULTS

The basal diet covered the recommendations for fibre and calcium with mean intake of 28 g and 1241 mg, respectively. The current intake of salt, if iodized, or bread elaborated with this salt, allowed reaching the daily intake of iodine every day, with a mean supply of 216 μg/d and 278 μg/d, respectively. The deficient supply of vitamin E in the basal diet (mean = 8 mg/d) was covered by including enriched margarine and dairy products (mean = 15 mg/d). The low n-3 fatty acids intake in the basal diet (1·1 g/d) increased up to 1·9 g/d after the use of enriched margarine, butter and biscuits and soya drink instead of milk.

CONCLUSIONS

In order to improve the accomplishment of the RI iodine, vitamin E and n-3 fatty acids, interesting strategies dealing with the incorporation of enriched foods in the diet were successfully initiated.

Evaluation of quality of life related to nutritional status

The way in which the quality of life related to health (HRQoL) is affected by the nutritional status of the patient is a subject of constant interest and permanent debate. The purpose of the present paper is to review those studies that relate HRQoL to nutritional status and examine the tools (questionnaires) that they use to investigate this relationship. A critical review of published studies was carried out via an investigation of the following databases: MEDLINE (via PubMed); EMBASE; The Cochrane Library; Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL); Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science; Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (LILACS); Spanish Health Sciences Bibliographic Index (IBECS). The search was carried out from the earliest date possible until July 2007.The medical subject heading terms used were ‘quality of life’, ‘nutritional status’ and ‘questionnaires’. The articles had to contain at least one questionnaire that evaluated quality of life. Twenty-eight documents fulfilling the inclusion criteria were accepted, although none of them used a specific questionnaire to evaluate HRQoL related to nutritional status. However, some of them used a combination of generic questionnaires with the intention of evaluating the same. Only three studies selectively addressed the relationship between nutritional status and quality of life, this evaluation being performed not by means of specific questionnaires but by statistical analysis of data obtained via validated questionnaires.

Characterization of proteomic and metabolomic responses to dietary factors and supplements

Over the past decade there has been a renewed interest in research and development of both dietary and nutritional supplements. Significant advancements have been made in the scientific assessment of the quality, safety, and efficacy of these products because of the strong interest in and financial support of these projects. As research in both fields continues to advance, opportunities to use new and innovative research technologies and methodologies, such as proteomics and metabolomics, are critical for the future progress of the science. The purpose of the symposium was to begin the process of communicating new innovative proteomic and metabolomic methodologies that may be applied by researchers in both the nutrition and the natural product communities. This symposium highlighted 2 proteomic approaches, protein fingerprinting in complex mixtures with peptoid microarrays and top-down mass spectrometry for annotation of gene products. Likewise, an overview of the methodologies used in metabolomic profiling of natural products was presented, and an illustration of an integrated metabolomics approach in nutrition research was highlighted.

Simultaneous identification of soyasaponins and isoflavones and quantification of soyasaponin Bb in soy products, using liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry

A method has been developed for simultaneous identification of soyasaponins and soy isoflavones in soy products, based on liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS). Soy-based nutraceutical products were analyzed by LC/ESI-MS with detection of protonated and sodiated molecular ions, as well as characteristic fragment ions for these compounds. Soy isoflavones were characterized by a strong protonated molecular ion in addition to corresponding [aglycone + H](+) ions. Monitoring the soyasaponin-specific protonated aglycone and dehydrated aglycone ions throughout the chromatogram provided a unique fingerprint for soyasaponin content in the samples. This mass spectrometric fingerprint also allowed immediate classification of the soyasaponin analytes as group A or B soyasaponins, based on the unique masses of aglycone ions observed for each class. Quantification of soyasaponin B(b) in soy-derived materials, based on the use of a purified soyasaponin B(b) standard and a glycyrrhizin internal standard, has been accomplished.