Pattern Recognition Approach for the Screening of Potential Adulteration of Traditional and Bourbon Barrel-Aged Maple Syrups by Spectral Fingerprinting and Classical Methods

Protein components of maple syrup as a potential resource for the development of novel anti‑colorectal cancer drugs

Maple syrup is a natural sweetener consumed worldwide. Active ingredients of maple syrup possess antitumor effects; however, these ingredients are phenolic compounds. The present study aimed to investigate components other than phenolic compounds that may have antitumor effects against colorectal cancer (CRC). Cell proliferation assays demonstrated that treatment with the more than 10,000 molecular weight fraction significantly inhibited viability in DLD‑1 cells. Therefore, we hypothesized that the protein components of maple syrup may be the active ingredients in maple syrup. We obtained protein components from maple syrup by ammonium sulfate precipitation, and treatment with the protein fraction of maple syrup (MSpf) was found to exhibit a potential antitumor effect. MSpf‑treated DLD‑1 colon adenocarcinoma cells exhibited significantly decreased proliferation, migration and invasion. In addition, upregulation of LC3A and E‑cadherin and downregulation of MMP‑9 expression levels were observed following MSpf treatment. Investigation of the components of MSpf suggested that it was primarily formed of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Therefore, whether AGEs in MSpf affected the STAT3 pathway through the binding to its receptor, receptor of AGE (RAGE), was assessed. MSpf treatment was associated with decreased RAGE expression and STAT3 phosphorylation. Finally, to determine whether autophagy contributed to the inhibitory effect of cell proliferation following MSpf treatment, the effect of MSpf treatment on autophagy induction following bafilomycin A1 treatment, a specific autophagy inhibitor, was assessed. The inhibitory effect of MSpf treatment on cell proliferation was enhanced through the inhibition of autophagy by bafilomycin A1 treatment. These results suggested that AGEs in MSpf suppressed cell proliferation and epithelial‑mesenchymal transition through inhibition of the STAT3 signaling pathway through decreased RAGE expression. Therefore, AGEs in MSpf may be potential compounds for the development of antitumor drugs for the treatment of CRC with fewer adverse effects compared with existing antitumor drugs.

Determination of Possible Adulteration and Quality Assessment in Commercial Honey

This study aims to predict several quality traits in commercial honey samples simultaneously and to reveal possible honey adulteration using a field-deployable portable infrared spectrometer without any sample preparation. A total of one hundred and forty-seven commercial honey samples were purchased from local and online markets in Turkey and the United States of America (USA), and their soluble solids (°Brix), pH, free acidity, moisture, water activity (aw), glucose, fructose, sucrose, and hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) contents were determined using reference methods. The HMF (n = 11 samples) and sucrose (n = 21) concentrations were higher than the regulatory limits in some tested samples. The exceeding HMF content may imply temperature abuse during storage and prolonged storing. On the other hand, high sucrose content may indicate possible adulteration with commercial sweeteners. Therefore, soft independent modeling of class analogies (SIMCA) analysis was conducted to reveal this potential sweetener adulteration in the samples, and the SIMCA model was able to identify all the flagged samples. The suggested FT-IR technique may be helpful in regulatory bodies in determining honey authenticity issues as well as assessing the quality characteristics of honey samples in a shorter period and at a lower cost.

Advances in Spectrometric Techniques in Food Analysis and Authentication

The demand from the food industry and consumers for analytical tools that can assure the quality (e [...].