Synthesis of resistant starches in plants

The increased incidence in many countries in lifestyle diseases such as colorectal cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes has led to an enhanced interest in disease-prevention measures that can be delivered to target populations through diet. Resistant starch (RS) is emerging as an important dietary component that has the potential to reduce the incidence of bowel health disorders. However, the range of crop species that can serve as effective sources of RS is limited. In this paper the state of knowledge of the starch biosynthesis pathway is reviewed and opportunities to manipulate crop genetics in order to generate additional sources of RS are discussed. The need for a "whole of chain" approach to delivery of RS to the consumer is highlighted because of the impact that different food-processing technologies can have in maintaining, enhancing, or destroying the RS potential of a raw material or food.     

Evaluation of oxidative stability of vegetable oils enriched with herb extracts by EPR spectroscopy

Vegetable oils are important constituents of a healthy diet. Still, unsaturated fatty acids present in vegetable oils are susceptible to oxidation, which leads to undesirable changes in sensory, chemical and nutritional properties of oils. To prevent this problem, antioxidants are applied with herbs and spices being one of the most important sources of natural antioxidants. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) can be used to detect free radicals, which are the short-lived intermediates of lipid oxidation, and to monitor changes in oxidation susceptibility. In this study, the ESR spin trapping technique was used as a potential method for the evaluation of the resistance to free radical formation in rapeseed and sunflower oils enriched with herb extracts. The antioxidant effect of herb extracts on vegetable oils was also investigated by measuring their ability to scavenge DPPH free radical using EPR spectroscopy. The herb extracts generally improved the radical scavenging properties of sunflower and rapeseed oils but their influence on the onset of rapid lipid oxidation as measured by spin-trapping EPR depended on the type of oil and on the extract concentration.     

Recent Discoveries in the Field of Lipid Bio-Based Ingredients for Meat Processing

Current culture and pace of lifestyle, together with consumer demand for ready-to-eat foods, has influenced the food industry, particularly the meat sector. However, due to the important role that diet plays in human health, consumers demand safe and healthy food products. As a consequence, even foods that meet expectations for convenience and organoleptic properties must also meet expectations from a nutritional standpoint. One of the main nutritionally negative aspects of meat products is the content and composition of fat. In this sense, the meat industry has spent decades researching the best strategies for the reformulation of traditional products, without having a negative impact in technological processes or in the sensory acceptance of the final product. However, the enormous variety of meat products as well as industrial and culinary processes means that a single strategy cannot be established, despite the large volume of work carried out in this regard. Therefore, taking all the components of this complex situation into account and utilizing the large amount of scientific information that is available, this review aims to comprehensively analyze recent advances in the use of lipid bio-based materials to reformulate meat products, as well as their nutritional, technological, and sensorial implications.     

Oral processing,texture and mouthfeel: From rheology to tribology and beyond

Texture and mouthfeel arising from the consumption of food and beverages are critical to consumer choice and acceptability. While the food structure design rules for many existing products have been well established, although not necessarily understood, the current drive to produce healthy consumer acceptable food and beverages is pushing products into a formulation space whereby these design rules no longer apply. Both subtle and large scale alterations to formulations can result in significant changes in texture and mouthfeel, even when measurable texture-related quantities such as rheology are the same. However, we are only able to predict sensations at the initial stages of consumption from knowledge of material properties of intact food.Research is now on going to develop strategies to capture the dynamic aspects of oral processing, including: from a sensory perspective, the recent development of Temporal Dominance Sensation; from a material science perspective, development of new in vitro techniques in thin film rheology and tribology as well as consideration of the multifaceted effect of saliva. While in vivo, ex vivo, imitative and empirical approaches to studying oral processing are very insightful, they either do not lend themselves to routine use or are too complex to be able to ascertain the mechanism for an observed behaviour or correlation with sensory. For these reasons, we consider that fundamental in vitro techniques are vital for rational design of food, provided they are designed appropriately to capture the important physics taking place during oral processing. We map the oral breakdown trajectory through 6 stages and suggest a dynamic multi-scale approach to capture underlying physics. The ultimate goal is to use fundamental insights and techniques to design new food and beverages that are healthy yet acceptable to consumers.     

Determination of trans-Resveratrol in China Great Wall ‘‘Fazenda’’ Red Wine by Use of Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography

Resveratrol, which occurs in two isomeric forms, trans and cis, is a phytoalexin with pharmacological activity, for example anti-cancer, anti-cardiovascular disease, and life-span increasing properties. Red wine is the main source of the compound and an easy way of including resveratrol in the human diet. In the work discussed in this paper determination of resveratrol and separation of its isomers were investigated using micellar electrokinetic chromatography. The detection wavelength, micelle concentration, and applied voltage were studied and optimized. Baseline separation of the isomers of resveratrol was achieved. The stability of resveratrol under typical consumer conditions was also evaluated. When resveratrol was determined in the top-grade dry-red wine China Great Wall ‘‘Fazenda’’ by use of our analytical method the concentration was found to be ≥1.3 ± 0.1 mg L^?1.     

Characterization of odorous contaminants in post‐consumer plastic packaging waste using multidimensional gas chromatographic separation coupled with olfactometric resolution

The increasing world population with their growing consumption of goods escalates the issue of sustainability concepts with increasing demands in recycling technologies. Recovery of post‐consumer packaging waste is a major topic in this respect. However, contamination with odorous constituents currently curtails the production of recycling products that meet the high expectations of both consumers and industry. To guarantee odor‐free recyclates, the main prerequisite is to characterize the molecular composition of the causative odorants in post‐consumer plastic packaging waste. However, targeted characterization of odorous trace contaminants among an abundance of volatiles is a major challenge and requires specialized and high‐resolution analytical approaches. For this aim, post‐consumer packaging waste was characterized by sensory analysis and two‐dimensional high resolution gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry and olfactometry. The 33 identified odorants represent various structural classes as well as a great diversity of smell impressions with some of the compounds being identified in plastics for the first time. Substances unraveled within this study provide insights into sources of odorous contamination that will require specific attention in the future in terms of screening and prevention in recycling products.     

Assessing the Role of Digital Awareness in Promoting Polymer-Based Sustainability

The plastic waste crisis is a major environmental challenge facing the world today. The overuse and improper disposal of plastic materials have caused significant damage to the environment, affecting the health of both humans and animals. The adoption of sustainable alternatives to plastic, such as polymer-based materials, is crucial to addressing this issue. In the Indian context, polymer-based sustainability has created new growth potential for the packaging sector. This study has improved consumer behavior and raised income by gaining an understanding of and access to customers' digital awareness of polymer-based sustainability. In addition to its role in communication and attracting consumer attention, packaging must align with modern environmental standards for preservation methods to meet the growing consumer demand for eco-friendly products and environmentally conscious companies. In keeping with the objectives, this paper employs a method for analyzing current research on the influence of polymer-based sustainability esthetics on consumer behavior. The research design is quantitative. The model of the literature review is used to develop the structured questionnaire. The results show that digital awareness significantly influences consumer perceptions of polymer-based sustainability. The study recommends that manufacturers of polymer-based materials invest in digital awareness campaigns to increase consumer acceptance and promote sustainability.     

Detoxification of gluten by means of enzymatic treatment

Celiac disease (CD) is an inflammatory disease of the upper small intestine in genetically predisposed individuals caused by glutamine- and proline-rich peptides from cereal storage proteins (gluten) with a minimal length of nine amino acids. Such peptides are insufficiently degraded by gastrointestinal enzymes; they permeate the lymphatic tissue, are bound to celiac-specific, antigen-presenting cells, and stimulate intestinal T-cells. The typical clinical pattern is a flat small intestinal mucosa and malabsorption. Currently, the only therapy is a strict, lifelong gluten-free diet. Recent research has shown that gluten and gluten peptides can be degraded by prolyl endopeptidases from different sources. These peptidases can either be used to produce gluten-free foods from gluten-containing raw materials, or they have been suggested as an oral therapy for CD, in which dietary gluten is hydrolyzed by coingested peptidases already in the stomach, thus preventing CD-specific immune reactions in the small intestine. This would be an alternative for CD patients to the gluten-free diet. Furthermore, microbial transglutaminase could be used to detoxify gluten either by selectively modifying glutamine residues of intact gluten by transamidation with lysine methyl ester or by crosslinking gluten peptides in beverages via isopeptide bonds so that they can be removed by filtration.     

Best bang for your buck: GPU nodes for GROMACS biomolecular simulations

The molecular dynamics simulation package GROMACS runs efficiently on a wide variety of hardware from commodity workstations to high performance computing clusters. Hardware features are well‐exploited with a combination of single instruction multiple data, multithreading, and message passing interface (MPI)‐based single program multiple data/multiple program multiple data parallelism while graphics processing units (GPUs) can be used as accelerators to compute interactions off‐loaded from the CPU. Here, we evaluate which hardware produces trajectories with GROMACS 4.6 or 5.0 in the most economical way. We have assembled and benchmarked compute nodes with various CPU/GPU combinations to identify optimal compositions in terms of raw trajectory production rate, performance‐to‐price ratio, energy efficiency, and several other criteria. Although hardware prices are naturally subject to trends and fluctuations, general tendencies are clearly visible. Adding any type of GPU significantly boosts a node's simulation performance. For inexpensive consumer‐class GPUs this improvement equally reflects in the performance‐to‐price ratio. Although memory issues in consumer‐class GPUs could pass unnoticed as these cards do not support error checking and correction memory, unreliable GPUs can be sorted out with memory checking tools. Apart from the obvious determinants for cost‐efficiency like hardware expenses and raw performance, the energy consumption of a node is a major cost factor. Over the typical hardware lifetime until replacement of a few years, the costs for electrical power and cooling can become larger than the costs of the hardware itself. Taking that into account, nodes with a well‐balanced ratio of CPU and consumer‐class GPU resources produce the maximum amount of GROMACS trajectory over their lifetime. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Computational Chemistry Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

High-performance isotope-labeling liquid chromatography mass spectrometry for investigating the effect of drinking Goji tea on urine metabolome profiling

Urine is a human biofluid that is widely used for metabolomics research on disease biomarker discovery.Ideally,the metabolome profiles generated from comparative groups of individuals should mainly consist of the endogenous human metabolites that reflect the healthy states of the individuals.However,external factors,such as diet,may alter the urine metabolome profile by either introducing a significant amount or variety of exogenous metabolites to urine or inducing changes of the metabolome profile.Thus,strict control of the external factors during the sample collection process is critical for urine metabolomics aimed at discovery of disease biomarkers.In this work,we describe a study to determine the effect of drinking Goji tea,which is considered a nutritional supplement drink in some regions of the world,on urine metabolome profile.The purpose of this work is not to determine the nutritional values of Goji tea,but to investigate whether drinking a moderate amount of Goji tea 1-3 h(short-term effect)or 12 h(longer-term effect)before urine collection can cause significant variations of urine metabolome profiles.A highly sensitive dansylation isotope labeling liquid chromatography mass spectrometry(LC-MS)method was used to determine the urine metabolomes before and after drinking Goji tea.From the studies of the short term(<3 h)and longer term(12 h)effects of drinking Goji tea,it is clear that the consumption of a moderate amount of Goji tea does not affect the urine metabolome significantly.Fasting for 12 h should be sufficient to remove any potential interference of Goji metabolites from the human urine metabolome profile.     

The Impact of Different Pretreatment Processes (Freezing,Ultrasound and High Pressure) on the Sensory and Functional Properties of Black Garlic (Allium sativum L.)

Black garlic (BG) is an emerging derivative of fresh garlic with enhanced nutritional properties. This study aimed to develop functional BG products with good consumer acceptance. To this end, BG was treated with freezing (F-BG), ultrasound (U-BG), and HHP (H-BG) to assess its sensory and functional properties. The results showed that F-BG and H-BG had higher S-allyl-cysteine (SAC), polyphenol, and flavonoid contents than BG. H-BG and F-BG displayed the best sensory quality after 18 days of aging, while 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), SAC, and polyphenols were identified as the most influential sensory parameters. Moreover, the F-BG and H-BG groups achieved optimal taste after 18 days, as opposed to untreated BG, which needed more than 24 days. Therefore, the proposed approaches significantly reduced the processing time while enhancing the physical, sensory, and functional properties of BG. In conclusion, freezing and HHP techniques may be considered promising pretreatments to develop BG products with good functional and sensory properties.     

Semiquantitative determination of off-notes in mint oils by solid-phase microextraction

Mint essential oils are produced by the steam distillation of dried or partially dried harvested plant material. In the United States, harvesting is done mechanically so that any weeds found in the field are concomitantly harvested. Steam distillation of contaminated plant material leads to off-notes in the oil, which are currently determined by a sensory panel. Furthermore, nonoptimized distillation conditions can lead to the thermal degradation of carbohydrates and proteins resulting also in the formation of very volatile off top-notes. As a result, the use of a nonequilibrated solid-phase microextraction (SPME) procedure to determine the off-notes is evaluated. The results of this evaluation include a combination of semiquantitative data, odor threshold data, and mathematical data manipulation to ascertain the capabilities of a SPME approach. The results are correlated with sensory panel data to yield a relatively rapid analytical methodology that can be used either in place of or in support of sensory analyses. The main advantage of the technique described is to provide some semiquantitative data in support of the odor-panel screening of mint oils for off-notes. Based on the data presented in this report, it is believed that this has been successfully demonstrated.     

Sodium quantitation in soft drinks: A rapid methodology by qNMR

High sodium dietary intake has a positive association with an increase in blood pressure and can be correlated with risk factors of disease. Considering that the World Health Organization recommends a sodium intake lower than 2 g day^-1 for adults, the hidden sodium content in processed foods is an important factor that compromises the assessment of a healthy diet. Accordingly, the present paper aimed to quantitate the sodium content of conventional soft drinks and their diet versions using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy as a quantitative analytical technique (²³Na qNMR). The results show one free sodium signal (Na⁺) displayed as a singlet at 0 ppm in the ²³Na NMR spectrum, making its quantitation highly specific. This signal alone was used to directly determine the concentration of sodium in soft drinks. Flame photometry analysis was used to validate the method, and an excellent linearity was found in qNMR analysis (r = 0.9994) in comparison with flame photometry (r = 0.9958). In addition, a good correlation was found between sodium concentrations obtained by ²³Na NMR and flame photometry in the evaluated commercial soft drinks. Since the intensity of the resonance line is directly proportional to the number of nuclei (spins), the concentration of sodium in soft drinks can be determined via this straightforward method without the need for external calibration. The experimental acquisitions are fast (approximately 15 min), allowing the analysis of several samples in a short period of time. This is a novel alternative for sodium quantitation using an efficient NMR methodology.     

Separation of nonionic compounds by electrokinetic chromatography using an inorganic layered compound as a pseudostationary phase

The use of an inorganic layered compound as a pseudostationary phase (PSP) in EKC was investigated. A synthetic smectite, which is the most typical swellable clay mineral, with an average diameter of 130 nm was selected as the PSP. The retention characteristics of the smectite and on-line sample concentration by sweeping were examined for the analysis of polyoxyethylene mono phenyl ethers (PPEs) with different degrees of ethoxylation. The retention factor was increased with increase in the number of ethylene oxide groups and a good separation of the PPE homologs was achieved by smectite-EKC. The RSD of the migration time, plate number, and peak area were 0.60, 8.3, and 2.7% (n = 5), respectively. The developed method can be applied to the analysis of PPEs in commercially available consumer products without any sample pretreatments. In addition, ca. 100-fold sensitivity enhancements for the PPEs with high retention factors were obtained by sweeping.     

Estimating the Sensory Irritating Potency of Airborne Nonreactive Volatile Organic Chemicals and Their Mixtures

Abstract

This article describes the possibility of estimating whether or not a mixture of nonreactive volatile organic chemicals (NRVOC) is likely to elicit complaints of sensory irritation in humans. For this estimation we rely on: a) the sensory irritating potency of individual NRVOC can be estimated from a variety of physicochemical properties of these chemicals, b) at low exposure concentrations, the additivity rule can be applied using the potency of each chemical in a mixture and c) a threshold concentration exists below which no sensory irritation will occur. We used this estimating approach and we compared the results obtained with those obtained experimentally in humans exposed to a well defined mixture. The approach presented can be used to arrive at a decision as to whether or not exposure to a mixture of NRVOC is likely to result in sensory irritation complaints by humans, either in the general indoor air situation or for industrial workers.     

Evaluation of low-dose irradiation on microbiological quality of white carrots and string beans

The minimally processed food provided the consumer with a product quality, safety and practicality. However, minimal processing of food does not reduce pathogenic population of microorganisms to safe levels. Ionizing radiation used in low doses is effective to maintain the quality of food, reducing the microbiological load but rather compromising the nutritional values and sensory property. The association of minimal processing with irradiation could improve the quality and safety of product. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of low-doses of ionizing radiation on the reduction of microorganisms in minimally processed foods. The results show that the ionizing radiation of minimally processed vegetables could decontaminate them without several changes in its properties.     

Beneficial Effects of Capsaicin in Disorders of the Central Nervous System

Capsaicin is a natural compound found in chili peppers and is used in the diet of many countries. The important mechanism of action of capsaicin is its influence on TRPV1 channels in nociceptive sensory neurons. Furthermore, the beneficial effects of capsaicin in cardiovascular and oncological disorders have been described. Many recent publications show the positive effects of capsaicin in animal models of brain disorders. In Alzheimer’s disease, capsaicin reduces neurodegeneration and memory impairment. The beneficial effects of capsaicin in Parkinson’s disease and depression have also been described. It has been found that capsaicin reduces the area of infarction and improves neurological outcomes in animal models of stroke. However, both proepileptic and antiepileptic effects of capsaicin in animal models of epilepsy have been proposed. These contradictory results may be caused by the fact that capsaicin influences not only TRPV1 channels but also different molecular targets such as voltage-gated sodium channels. Human studies show that capsaicin may be helpful in treating stroke complications such as dysphagia. Additionally, this compound exerts pain-relieving effects in migraine and cluster headaches. The purpose of this review is to discuss the mechanisms of the beneficial effects of capsaicin in disorders of the central nervous system.     

Analysis of odour compounds from scented consumer products using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-olfactometry

Scented consumer products are being bought in increasing amounts and gaining more popularity. There is, however, relatively little information available about their ingredients, emissions and allergenic potential. Frequently, a mixture of different fragrance substances and not solely an individual substance contributes to the overall desired smell. The aim of this study was to investigate the odorous volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) in consumer products containing fragrances. Over 44 products were selected: various scented candles, printing products with different scent types and other products types particularly meant to be used indoors. Measurements were carried out in a desiccator. Air samples were collected on thermal desorption tubes to determine the released fragrance substances by means of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Moreover, gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O) was used to obtain sensory data and to ensure no important odorant was overlooked. Using both methods it was possible to distinguish between odour active and inactive compounds and subsequently to identify almost 300 different odorants across all scented products. Besides the advantage of differentiation, as the human nose is a very sensitive detector, GC-O was found to be a useful tool for detecting traces and chosen target compounds. One focus in this study lay on the 26 EU-regulated fragrance allergens to prove their relevance in scented consumer goods. In total, 18 of them were identified, with at least one substance being present in almost every product. Benzyl alcohol, cinnamaldehyde, citronellol, eugenol, linalool and limonene were the prevalently detected allergens. Particularly linalool and limonene were observed in over 50% of the products. In addition, eugenol appeared to be one of the most frequently detected compounds in trace-level concentrations in the candle emissions.     

A novel frequency distribution selection method for efficient plate layout of a diverse combinatorial library.

A deterministic method (frequency distribution method) for selecting compounds from a partitioned virtual combinatorial library for efficient synthesis is presented here. The method is based on reagent frequency analysis and can be applied to any library of molecules distributed in any given partitioned chemical space (cluster, cell-based, etc.). Compound selection by reagent frequency distribution can produce a unique, diverse set of molecules that adequately represents the library while requiring the least amount of compounds to be synthesized and minimizing the number of different reagents that must be used. This method also provides a practical solution to the configuration of plate layout. Because the method essentially identifies "expensive" regions in the chemical space to synthesize for a desired diversity or similarity coverage, decisions concerning the necessity to synthesize these compounds can be addressed. Minimum compound generation and efficient plate layout results in savings both in time of synthesis and cost of materials. This method always results in a discrete solution, which can be used for any given library size as well as any combination of reagents and is also readily adaptable to robotic automation.