Current Research in Food Science最新文献

The combination of polyphenols and protein can improve the functional characteristics of protein. How to effectively promote the binding of polyphenols to protein is still a difficult topic. In this study, hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) was used to induce the fabrication of complexes between soy protein isolate (SPI) and different polyphenols (tannic acid (TA), chlorogenic acid (CGA), ferulic acid (FA), caffeic acid (CA), and gallic acid (GA)). The effect of HC on the interaction between polyphenols and SPI was investigated, and the structural and functional properties of the formed complexes were characterized. The results showed that HC treatment led to SPI structure stretching, which increased the binding level of polyphenols, especially that of TA (increased from 35.08 ± 0.73% to 66.42 ± 1.35%). The increase in ultraviolet-visible absorption intensity and quenching of fluorescence intensity confirmed that HC enhanced the interaction between polyphenols and protein. HC treatment reduced the contents of free sulfhydryl and amino groups in SPI-polyphenol complexes and altered their Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, indicating that HC treatment promoted the formation of C-N and C-S bonds between SPI and polyphenols. Circular dichroism spectroscopy indicated that HC treatment altered the secondary structure of SPI-polyphenol complexes, inducing an increase in α-helix and random coil contents and a decrease in β-sheet content. Regarding functional properties, HC treatment improved the emulsification and antioxidant activity of SPI-polyphenol complexes. Therefore, HC is an effective technique for promoting the binding of polyphenols to protein.

Associated to various illnesses, Western Diet (WD) is acknowledged to have deleterious effects on human gut microbiota, decreasing bacterial diversity, lowering gut bacteria associated to health (such as Akkermansia muciniphila), while increasing those linked to diseases (e.g., Proteobacteria). In this study, we evaluated the potential of two new prebiotics to counteract the negative effect of WD on gut microbiota, namely raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFO) from chickpeas and laminarin (LAM) from algae, when compared to the well-known inulin (INU). The effects of prebiotics on gut microbiota composition and metabolic activities were investigated in the Mucosal-Artificial Colon, set-up to reproduce WD condition, as compared to healthy control (n = 3). None of the prebiotics was able to efficiently offset the shift in microbiota induced by WD. Nevertheless, when compared to non-supplemented WD, all prebiotics showed significant impacts on microbiota composition, that were both prebiotic and donor-dependant. RFO was the only prebiotic to enhance α-diversity, while it led to an increase in Blautia and Butyricicoccaceae, associated with higher amounts of gas and butyrate. LAM and INU did not strongly impact microbial metabolic activities but were associated with a rise in Prevotella_9/Agathobacter and Faecalibacterium, respectively. To conclude, this study showed that all tested prebiotics had different impacts on human gut microbiota structure and activities, which was further donor-dependent. M-ARCOL appears as a suitable in vitro tool to better understand the mechanisms of action of prebiotic compounds in relation to gut microbes and define responders and non-responders to prebiotic supplementation, opening the possibility of customized nutritional strategies.

To improve the stability of D-limonene, a protective barrier is essential to prevent degradation and maintain its integrity. Therefore, the potential of using Lepidium perfoliatum seed gum (LPSG) as a novel source for creating electrospun nanofibers for D-limonene encapsulation was investigated by varying LPSG concentrations (0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75%, and 1% w/v) and LPSG/PVA (Polyvinyl alcohol) mixing ratios (ranging from 100:0 to 0:100 v/v). Surface tension, electrical conductivity, zeta potential, and viscosity of solutions increased as LPSG concentration and its ratio in the LPSG/PVA blend increased. Uniform, smooth, and small size nanofibers were created by electrospinning a LPSG to PVA ratio of 30:70 (v/v) using LPSG concentrations of 0.5% (w/v) and 0.75% (w/v). The FTIR analysis demonstrated that D-limonene was physically trapped within the nanofibers and confirmed the compatibility of LPSG and PVA. Following its encapsulation inside LPSG/PVA nanofibers, D-limonene's thermal stability increased. The highest D-limonene encapsulation efficiency was 96.23% for 0.75% LPSG/PVA nanofibers, which was chosen to measure the D-limonene release kinetics in simulated food models. D-limonene was most readily released in distilled water with an explosive release mechanism. The mechanism of D-limonene release from LPSG/PVA electrospun nanofibers was best described by the Peppas-Sahlin model, and the release followed Fickian diffusion mechanism. The results of this study confirmed the potential of LPSG/PVA electrospun nanofibers to effectively trap D-limonene and improve its thermal stability.

This study detected the macronutrients retained in glutinous rice (GR) under different drying conditions by innovatively applying visible-near infrared hyperspectral imaging coupled with different spectra preprocessing and effective wavelength selection techniques (EWs). Subsequently, predictive models were developed based on processed spectra for the detection of the macronutrients, which include protein content (PC), moisture content (MC), fat content (FC), and ash content (AC). The result shows the raw spectra-based model had a prediction accuracy ( $R_p^2$ ) of 0.6493, 0.9521, 0.4594, and 0.9773 for PC, MC, FC, and AC, respectively. Applying Savitzky Golay first derivatives (SG1D) method increases the $R_p^2$ value to 0.9972, 0.9970, 0.9857 and 0.9972 for PC, MC, FC, and AC, respectively. Using the variable iterative space shrinkage algorithm (VISSA) as EWs reduces the spectral bands by over 60%, and this increases the accuracy of the model (SG1D-VISSA-PLSR) to 100%. Therefore, the developed SGID-VISSA-PLSR can be used to build a smart and reliable spectral system for detecting the macronutrients in GR grains.

This study evaluated the effects of chemical modification, including ethanol, acetic acid, and natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES), on the secondary and tertiary structures, hydrophobicity, free amine content, protein-protein interactions, and functional properties of zein. The NADES used included choline chloride: oxalic acid, choline chloride: urea, choline chloride: glycerol, and glucose: citric acid. The results reveal that the NADES system significantly altered zein's structures, as evidenced by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, fluorescence, and Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy analysis. Circular dichroism spectroscopy analysis indicated significant conformational change in modified zein, with decreased α-helix and increased random coil content. Notably, the NADES system leads to greater disruption of hydrogen bonds and facilitates the exposure of hydrophobic regions compared to water, ethanol, and acetic acid systems. This resulted in enhanced solubility, surface hydrophobicity, and free amine content in zein, indicating a more significant change in protein structure. In contrast, water and acetic acid solvents maintained more stable disulfide bonds within zein, which correlates with lower solubility and less unfolding. The NADES system promoted interactions between zein and its solvent components, improving emulsifying properties. Water, ethanol, and acetic acid systems had higher solubility in urea, thiourea, and dithiothreitol than the NADES system, revealing disruption of both covalent and noncovalent bonds in zein modified by NADES. Overall, this study highlights the superior ability of the NADES system to modify zein's structure and functionality compared to conventional solvents, suggesting its potential for enhancing protein applications in the industrial production of foods.

In this work, three types of benzenedialdehydes (1,2-, 1,3-, and 1,4-BDAs) were used to prepare BDA-crosslinked gelatin nanoparticles and the 1,2-BDA-crosslinked gelatin nanoparticle was explored to stabilize fish oil-loaded Pickering emulsions. The nanoparticle preparation was dependent on both pH and crosslinker types. 1,2-BDA and preparation pH of 12.0 induced the most nanoparticle amounts among the three BDAs and a pH range of 3.0-12.0. The crosslinked gelatin nanoparticles (10-nm scale) could aggregate to form larger nanoparticles (hundred-nanometer scale) in the water. The BDA crosslinking induced lower emulsifying properties (EAI: 10.2 ± 0.3 m²/g; ESI: 69.7 ± 3.6 min) for gelatin nanoparticles than gelatin (EAI: 30.9 ± 0.6 m²/g; ESI: 267.8 ± 2.0 min). With the increase of the gelatin nanoparticle concentrations (5-40 g/L), the emulsion viscosity increased (163 ± 9-422 ± 3 mPa s at the rotary speed of 60 rpm), the interfacial tension decreased (10.3 ± 0.2-7.2 ± 0.2 mN/m), and the creaming indexes decreased (42.1% ± 0.7%-13.3% ± 0.8% at day 21). The higher sodium chloride concentration (0.0-0.8 mol/L) induced the lower emulsion stability, even obvious phase separation (0.8 mol/L of NaCl). Therefore, the sodium chloride addition should be carefully considered for the development of emulsion-based foods. This work provided useful information for the development and application of protein nanoparticles.

Selenium-enriched probiotics have attracted much attention due to the physiological activities of both probiotics and selenium (organic selenium). In this study, we investigated the mitigating effect of selenium-enriched Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG@Se) and its pathway on alcohol-induced liver injury (ALI) in mice. The results showed that LGG@Se was superior to LGG and sodium selenite in alleviating ALI. Oral LGG@Se effectively prevented lipid metabolism disorders and liver oxidative damage in mice caused by excessive alcohol intake. 16S amplicon sequencing showed that LGG@Se intervention increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria and suppressed the growth of harmful bacteria in the intestinal tract of over-drinking mice, and thus effectively modulated the homeostasis of intestinal flora, which were highly correlated with the improvement of liver function. Liver metabolomics analysis indicated that LGG@Se intervention altered liver metabolic profiling, and the characteristic biomarkers were mainly involved in amino acid metabolism, including alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, arginine biosynthesis, etc. In addition, LGG@Se intervention modulated the expression of genes and proteins related to lipid metabolism and oxidative stress in liver of over-drinking mice. Western blot analysis revealed that LGG@Se intervention up-regulated the expression of intestinal barrier function-related proteins, thereby ameliorating alcohol-induced intestinal barrier damage. Collectively, these findings provide scientific evidence that LGG@Se possesses the biological activity of improving alcohol-induced lipid metabolism and intestinal microbiota disorder.

Food structure modification by increasing viscosity or adding heterogeneity to the food product has shown to effectively change food oral processing. In this study, it was hypothesized that the addition of gas to purees could affect oral processing. This was achieved by creating different structures in purees using a gas syphon, vacuum and syphon + vacuum. The physical properties of the puree (density, flow and mechanical properties) as well as oral processing characteristics, sensory perception and hunger profiles were investigated. Physical measurements showed that the incorporation of gas affected the puree structure as evidenced by a decrease in viscosity, hardness and consistency of the purees. At the oral level, these foamed purees took longer to swallow, which was also reflected in a lower eating rate and slightly lower amount consumed. These changes did not affect hunger or satiety. Therefore, this technique could be beneficial for people who need to eat smaller amounts of food, or for people with swallowing problems, for whom more time in the mouth is recommended without an increase in sensory satiety.

Sourdough bread consumption has been associated with improved glucose and appetite regulation thanks to the presence of organic acids produced during fermentation of the flour-water mixture. We investigated the effects of whole meal sourdough bread (WSB) rich in lactic acid on energy intake, satiety, gastric emptying, glucose, and C-peptide response compared to whole meal yeast bread (WYB). Forty-four normal-weight participants (age: 30 ± 10 y; BMI: 23 ± 2 kg/m²) participated in this double-blind, randomized cross-over trial, consisting of two study visits separated by one week. During each study visit, gastric emptying, subjective appetite, glucose, and C-peptide concentrations were measured at regular time intervals over a 4-h period. After 4 h, ad-libitum energy intake was assessed. Despite no effect of bread type on ad-libitum energy intake at the subsequent meal (p = 0.068), WSB led to lower hunger (p < 0.001), higher fullness (p < 0.001), lower desire to eat (p < 0.001), and lower prospective food consumption (p < 0.001) compared to WYB. WSB had a higher gastric half-emptying time (p = 0.002), lower glucose response between 15 and 30 min (p < 0.05) after bread consumption, and lower C-peptide response between 15 and 90 min (p < 0.05) after bread consumption, compared to WYB. These findings suggest that the consumption of WSB, rich in lactic acid, acutely enhanced satiety and improved the postprandial metabolic response. However, these effects did not result in reduced ad-libitum energy intake.

This study aims to investigate the dietary patterns of Chinese individuals aged 35 years and older who are at high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and to explore the correlation between these dietary patterns and the risk of CVD. A total of 28,747 high-risk participants in China PEACE in Zhejiang Province from 2014 to 2019 were included in the analysis Dietary data were obtained using the Food Frequency Questionnaire, and dietary patterns were extracted through factor analysis. Cox regression was used to examine the relationship between the dietary patterns and CVD risk in the high-risk groups. Four dietary patterns were identified. The "Bean, egg, milk and pickle" dietary pattern was associated with an increased risk of CVD (HR = 1.29; 95% confidence interval (CI):1.09, 1.54; p＜0.05), after adjusting for confounders. In contrast, the "Seafood and animal meat", "Wheat and coarse cereals", and "Rice and vegetable" dietary patterns did not show a significant impact on CVD risk. These findings provide valuable insights for dietary guidance in high-risk groups and have significant implications for the prevention and management of CVD.