Eco-Friendly Extraction: A green approach to maximizing bioactive extraction from pumpkin (Curcubita moschata L.)

The research focused on optimizing the accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) of carotenoids and polyphenols from pumpkin powder. The study optimized accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) of carotenoids and polyphenols from pumpkin powder. Using a mix of standard score (SS) and artificial neural network (ANN) methods, the extraction process was fine-tuned. The ANN model assessed extraction parameters' significance, achieving high predictability for total carotenoid content (TCC), total phenolic content (TPC), and free radical scavenging capacity (DPPH and ABTS methods). The analysis highlighted the most effective extraction at 50 % concentration, 120 °C temperature, 5 min duration, and 2 cycles, yielding high carotenoid and phenolic content (TCC 571.49 µg/g, TPC 7.85 mg GAE/g). HPLC-DAD profiles of the optimized ASE extract confirmed major carotenoids and phenolic compounds. Strong correlations were found between bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity, emphasizing potential health benefits.

PhInd-Database on Polyphenol Content in Agri-Food By-Products and Waste: Features of the Database

Timely access to topic-relevant datasets is of paramount importance for the development of any successful strategy (food waste reduction strategy), since datasets illuminate opportunities, challenges and development paths. PhInd is the first comprehensive database on polyphenol content in plant-based by-products from the agri-food sector or the wastewater sector and was developed using peer-reviewed papers published in the period of 2015-2021. In total, >450 scientific manuscripts and >6000 compound entries were included. Database inclusion criteria were polyphenol contents = determined using HPLC/UHPLC quantitative methods. PhInd can be explored through several criteria which are either 'open' or checkboxes. Criteria are given in subsections: (a) plant source; (b) by-product industrial processing; (c) pre-treatment of by-products before the isolation of polyphenols; and (d) the extraction step of polyphenols. Database search results could be explored on the website directly or by downloading Excel files and graphs. This unique database content is beneficial to stakeholders-the food industry, academia, government and citizens.

Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum) Preparations in the Design of Novel Functional Pasta

This study investigated the design of novel pasta enriched with different forms of wild garlic (WG): a powder, an extract and an encapsulated extract applied at three enrichment levels (low/middle/high). The effect of cooking on changes in the content of bioactive compounds, antioxidative activity, cooking behaviour, texture, colour and sensory properties of the cooked pasta was evaluated. WG preparations significantly increased the antioxidant potential (by 185-600%) as well as the content of phenolics (by 26-146%), flavonoids (by 40-360%) and potassium (up to three-fold) in the cooked pasta, depending on WG type and enrichment level. Flavonoids were dominantly present in the free form. Cooking resulted in a significant loss of flavonoids (39-75%) whereas phenolics were liberated from the matrix. The highest increase in total phenolics and antioxidant activity was exerted by the WG powder and extract. Pasta hardness and adhesiveness were increased, but encapsulated WG deteriorated cooking behaviour. The best-scored enriched pasta regarding sensory quality and texture was that enriched with WG powder at the low/moderate level.

Toward Better Food Security Using Concepts from Industry 5.0

The rapid growth of the world population has increased the food demand as well as the need for assurance of food quality, safety, and sustainability. However, food security can easily be compromised by not only natural hazards but also changes in food preferences, political conflicts, and food frauds. In order to contribute to building a more sustainable food system-digitally visible and processes measurable-within this review, we summarized currently available evidence for various information and communication technologies (ICTs) that can be utilized to support collaborative actions, prevent fraudulent activities, and remotely perform real-time monitoring, which has become essential, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Internet of Everything, 6G, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and digital twin are gaining significant attention in recent years in anticipation of leveraging the creativity of human experts in collaboration with efficient, intelligent, and accurate machines, but with limited consideration in the food supply chain. Therefore, this paper provided a thorough review of the food system by showing how various ICT tools can help sense and quantify the food system and highlighting the key enhancements that Industry 5.0 technologies can bring. The vulnerability of the food system can be effectively mitigated with the utilization of various ICTs depending on not only the nature and severity of crisis but also the specificity of the food supply chain. There are numerous ways of implementing these technologies, and they are continuously evolving.

Communicating Function and Co-Creating Healthy Food: Designing a Functional Food Product Together with Consumers

Functional food is lately an interesting topic from the new product development perspective; complex motivation and expectations of consumers regarding it present a challenge when new products are designed. Co-creation is an interesting alternative to the standard practices by the R & D departments since it directly involves consumers in the various stages of the creation process. This work aims to describe experiences of engaging consumers in different development stages of a functional food product within a project realized at a food research institute. Four consecutive studies were conducted: the first study explored current trends in Serbia regarding the way consumers use functional food and are informed about it; the second study described development of a raspberry seeds extract with antioxidant and anti-proliferative activity confirmed in vitro; the third study tested the same extract in a sample of consumers, validating its usability in food products; and the fourth study described a co-creation session with 18 participants, during which a number of activities were realized to stimulate idea generation. Rather than the final product idea itself, this work is valuable because of detailed insights into the various phases of the co-creation process. It is shown that consumers and food researchers can together engage in the new food product development process as long as the communication between them is rich and with mutual understanding.

Natural Deep Eutectic Solvent (NADES) Extraction Improves Polyphenol Yield and Antioxidant Activity of Wild Thyme (Thymus serpyllum L.) Extracts

Wild thyme (Thymus serpyllum L.) herbal dust has been recognized as a potential underutilized resource for the recovery of antioxidants. The aim of this paper was to optimize natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES) extraction of polyphenols to obtain improved antioxidant activity of extracts determined by selected in vitro assays (DPPH, FRAP, and ABTS). Twenty different NADES systems were investigated in the first step of the screening of the extraction solvent and l-proline (Pro)–glycerine (Gly) based solvents provided the best results. Preliminary experiments organized by 2⁵⁻¹ fractional factorial design narrowed down the number of extraction factors from five (temperature, extraction time, NADES type, water content and L/S ratio) to three and determined their experimental domain for the final step. A face-centered central composite design with temperature (40–55–70 °C), extraction time (60–120–180 min) and L/S ratio (10–20–30 g NADES/g sample) was applied for influence analysis and process optimization. Multi-response optimization suggested a temperature of 65 °C, time of extraction of 180 min and L/S ratio of 28 g NADES/g DW as optimal extraction parameters. Experimental validation confirmed good agreement between experimental and predicted results in the extract obtained at optimal conditions and the interactions in the most suitable NADES (N16; Pro–Gly–H₂O; 1:2:1) were confirmed by the ¹H-NMR.

Simultaneous Hydrolysis of Ellagitannins and Extraction of Ellagic Acid from Defatted Raspberry Seeds Using Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NADES)

Defatted raspberry seeds were used as an alternative source of antioxidants and ellagic acid (EA) extracted using Natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES). In the preliminary study, the best NADES combination (citric acid-betaine) and the most influential variables (temperature, time, and NADES/plant ratio) were selected for the further optimization process. All samples were analyzed in terms of total polyphenol, EA content, and antioxidant activity. Two sets of optimal conditions were generated by response surface methodology. The first set (Opt1) was designed for higher conversion of ellagitannins to EA while the latter set (Opt2) for higher EA content/100 g extract. Opt1 and Opt2 had higher values for all investigated responses compared to 80% ethanolic extract but had a lower conversion rate of ellagitannins to EA compared to acidified methanol extract. The third set of parameters (Opt3) selected beyond the initial experimental domain was used to obtain a sample with the highest EA content/100 g extract. Due to their nature, NADES extracts are ready to use and could have various technological roles in products since they are antioxidants, acidifiers, and colorants. NADES raspberry extracts exhibited higher anti-proliferative activity compared to ethanolic extracts in terms of EC50 values. However, the main contributor of anti-cancer activity in NADES raspberry extracts were individual NADES compounds and/or their newly formed NADES structure.

Kinetic modelling of ultrasound-assisted extraction of phenolics from cereal brans

Cereal brans are by-products of the milling of cereal grains, which are mainly used as low value ingredients in animal feed. Wheat and oat bran is a rich source of bioactives and phytochemicals, especially phenolic compounds. Within this study, the application of ultrasound (US) technology to assist the extraction of phenolics from oat and wheat bran was investigated (20-45 kHz). Peleg's mathematical model was used to study the kinetics of ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) and subsequent stirring of total phenolic compounds (TPC). The surface morphology of cereal brans after extraction was studied using SEM analysis. The excellent agreement was determined between the values of TPC calculated from Peleg's mathematical model and actual experimental results. The constant that represents a time required for the initial phenolic concentration to be extracted to one-half of its initial value has been introduced (K_1/2). It was shown that the TPC extraction kinetics was dependent only on K_1/2 enabling fast kinetics fitting and comparison between extraction rates. Moreover, different values of K_1/2 constant could indicate the differences in brans composition and consequently different influence of US pretreatment on these samples.

Meripilus giganteus ethanolic extract exhibits pro-apoptotic and anti-proliferative effects in leukemic cell lines

Background

The interest towards botanicals and plant extracts has strongly risen due to their numerous biological effects and ability to counteract chronic diseases development. Among these effects, chemoprevention which represents the possibility to counteract the cancerogenetic process is one of the most studied. The extracts of mushroom Meripilus giganteus (MG) (Phylum of Basidiomycota) showed to exert antimicrobic, antioxidant and antiproliferative effects. Therefore, since its effect in leukemic cell lines has not been previously evaluated, we studied its potential chemopreventive effect in Jurkat and HL-60 cell lines.

Methods

MG ethanolic extract was characterized for its antioxidant activity and scavenging effect against different radical species. Moreover, its phenolic profile was evaluated by HPLC-MS-MS analyses. Flow cytometry (FCM) analyses of Jurkat and HL-60 cells treated with MG extract (0–750 μg/mL) for 24–72 h- allowed to evaluate its cytotoxicity, pro-apoptotic and anti-proliferative effect. To better characterize MG pro-apoptotic mechanism ROS intracellular level and the gene expression level of FAS, BAX and BCL2 were also evaluated. Moreover, to assess MG extract selectivity towards cancer cells, its cytotoxicity was also evaluated in human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL).

Results

MG extract induced apoptosis in Jurkat and HL-60 cells in a dose- and time- dependent manner by increasing BAX/BCL2 ratio, reducing ROS intracellular level and inducing FAS gene expression level. In fact, reduced ROS level is known to be related to the activation of apoptosis in leukemic cells by the involvement of death receptors. MG extract also induced cell-cycle arrest in HL-60 cells. Moreover, IC₅₀ at 24 h treatment resulted 2 times higher in PBL than in leukemic cell lines.

Conclusions

Our data suggest that MG extract might be considered a promising and partially selective chemopreventive agent since it is able to modulate different mechanisms in transformed cells at concentrations lower than in non-transformed ones.

Optimization of additive content and their combination to improve the quality of pure barley bread

The objective of this study was to model the influence of pregelatinized OSA starch (OSA), wheat gluten (Gl) and xylanase (Xyl) on breadmaking potential of barley flour by using response surface methodology. Addition of these ingredients had significant effect on specific bread volume, crust and crumb lightness, crumb texture, average cell size and crumb density. OSA showed the most pronounced effect on specific bread volume, average cell size, crumb density and hardness. Interaction between OSA and Gl, as well as Gl and Xyl, respectively, increased and decreased the specific bread volume and crumb chewiness, while the interaction between OSA and Xyl decreased the specific volume decrease and increased crumb chewiness. An optimal barley bread formulation appeared to be the one containing 9.68% OSA, 2.0% Gl and 4.51 g/100 kg Xyl. This optimal barley bread formulation predicted an increment of 14-28% in volume and a decrease of 105-217% in crumb chewiness in comparison to formulations containing medium amounts of improvers (1% Gl, 5% OSA, 2.5 g/100 kg Xyl).

Valorisation of raspberry and blueberry pomace through the formulation of value-added gluten-free cookies

Successful valorisation of raspberry and blueberry pomace was achieved through their application, as dried and ground powders, in the formulation of value-added gluten-free cookies. Simplex-lattice mixture design approach was applied to obtain the product with the best sensory properties, nutritional profile and antioxidant activity. The highest desirability of 90.0 % was accomplished with the substitution of gluten-free flour mixture with 28.2 % of blueberry and 1.8 % of raspberry pomace. The model was verified. Optimized cookies had similar protein (3.72 %) and carbohydrate (66.7 %) contents as gluten-containing counterparts used for comparison, but significantly lower fat content (10.97 %). Daily portion of the optimized cookies meets: 5.00 % and 7.73 % of dietary reference intakes (DRIs) for linoleic acid, 23.6 % and 34.3 % of DRIs for α-linolenic acid and 10.3 % and 15.6 % of DRIs for dietary fibers, for male and female adults, respectively. The nutritional profile of the optimized formulation makes it comparable with added-value gluten-containing counterparts.

Changes in the rheological properties of wheat dough during short-term storage of wheat

BACKGROUND

The aim of the present study was to investigate the ability of the small- and large-deformation fundamental rheological tests to monitor the changes during short-term post-harvest storage of wheat.

RESULTS

At the end of wheat storage period, wet gluten quantity decreased, while gluten index increased in comparison to those of freshly harvested samples. The rheological properties of dough changed over the pre-defined period of storage in terms of becoming more elastic and less extensible in comparison to that of freshly harvested wheat. Visco-elastic properties of weaker flour samples changed more markedly during storage than those of stronger flours, indicating that the intensity of dough rheological changes during wheat storage might be dependent on gluten quality and were the characteristic of wheat variety.

CONCLUSION

It was shown that small deformation dynamic oscillation and large deformation creep-recovery tests can be successfully employed to monitor the changes in flour quality during wheat storage and that required storage period after wheat harvesting has to be defined according to wheat variety initial rheological properties and its gluten quality.

Characterization of byproducts originating from hemp oil processing

Valorization of hemp seed meal, a byproduct of hemp oil processing, was performed by measuring the distribution of nutritional and antinutritional compounds in different hemp seed meal fractions. According to chemical composition, two cotyledon-containing fractions (>180 and <180 μm) were significantly richer in protein (p < 0.05) (41.2% ± 0.04% and 44.4% ± 0.02%, respectively), lipid (15.1% ± 0.02% and 18.6% ± 0.04%, respectively), and sugar content (4.96% ± 0.11% and 3.46% ± 0.08%, respectively) in comparison to the hull-containing fractions (>350 and >250 μm), which were significantly richer in crude fiber content (29.5% ± 0.04% and 21.3% ± 0.03%, respectively). The free radical scavenging capacity (IC50) of fraction extracts increased (p < 0.05) with increasing mean particle size (from 17.18 ± 0.59 to 5.29 ± 0.30 mg/mL). Cannabisin B and N-trans-caffeoyltyramine were the most abundant phenolic compounds in the hull fractions (from 267 ± 15.9 to 287 ± 23.1 mg/kg), while cotyledon fractions had higher content of catechin (from 313 ± 12.4 to 744 ± 22.2 mg/kg) and p-hydroxybenzoic acid (from 124 ± 6.47 to 129 ± 8.56 mg/kg (P < 0.05). Well-balanced ω-6 to ω-3 fatty acid ratio (3:1) was determined in all fractions. Antinutrients (trypsin inhibitors, phytic acid, glucosinolates, and condensed tannins) were mostly located in the cotyledon fractions. These findings indicate that the separation of hemp seed meal into different fractions could be used to concentrate valuable target compounds and consequently facilitate their recovery.

Chemometric optimization of the robustness of the near infrared spectroscopic method in wheat quality control

A chemometric approach was applied for the optimization of the robustness of the NIRS method for wheat quality control. Due to the high number of experimental (n=6) and response variables to be studied (n=7) the optimization experiment was divided into two stages: screening stage in order to evaluate which of the considered variables were significant, and optimization stage to optimize the identified factors in the previously selected experimental domain. The significant variables were identified by using fractional factorial experimental design, whilst Box-Wilson rotatable central composite design (CCRD) was run to obtain the optimal values for the significant variables. The measured responses included: moisture, protein and wet gluten content, Zeleny sedimentation value and deformation energy. In order to achieve the minimal variation in responses, the optimal factor settings were found by minimizing the propagation of error (POE). The simultaneous optimization of factors was conducted by desirability function. The highest desirability of 87.63% was accomplished by setting up experimental conditions as follows: 19.9°C for sample temperature, 19.3°C for ambient temperature and 240V for instrument voltage.