Food Science & Nutrition最新文献

The associations between dietary patterns and major eye diseases remain incompletely understood. This study conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 4241 participants from the 2005-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Eye diseases were assessed using fundus photography and self-reported information, while dietary patterns were evaluated based on two 24-h dietary recalls. Survey-weighted logistic regression and restricted cubic spline models were applied with adjustment for complex sampling design and relevant covariates, alongside subgroup and dietary component-specific analyses. In fully adjusted models, higher HEI-2020 scores were associated with lower odds of retinopathy and composite eye disease outcomes with or without cataract surgery. Similarly, greater adherence to the DASH was inversely associated with retinopathy and composite eye disease outcomes. Mediterranean diet adherence was also associated with reduced odds of retinopathy, and a non-linear association was observed between Mediterranean diet adherence and cataract risk. Subgroup analyses indicated effect modification by age, body mass index, alcohol consumption, and hyperlipidemia status. Whole grains, total vegetables, and nuts emerged as protective dietary components, whereas refined grains were identified as a potential risk factor. In conclusion, higher adherence to HEI-2020, DASH, and Mediterranean dietary patterns was associated with a lower prevalence of selected major eye diseases. These findings reflect associations rather than causation, and prospective studies and randomized trials are needed to clarify temporal and causal relationships.

This study investigated the effects of microencapsulated stabilizers guar gum, locust bean gum, xanthan gum, and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) on the physicochemical, rheological, melting, textural and sensory properties of ice cream. All stabilizers were coated onto an iodine carrageenan matrix, which served as a reinforced encapsulation wall material to enhance microcapsule integrity. SEM analysis revealed smoother and more compact microcapsules, improving stabilizer dispersion and interaction within the ice cream matrix. Microencapsulation produced statistically significant improvements (p < 0.05) in rheological behavior. Guar and xanthan gum treatments exhibited markedly higher G', G″, and G* values-up to 35%-40% greater than the control-indicating stronger viscoelastic networks and enhanced water immobilization. Melting resistance also increased significantly (p < 0.05); locust bean gum extended first drip time by over 25%, while xanthan gum provided the greatest structural endurance during thawing. Overrun and textural parameters were similarly influenced: CMC and xanthan improved aeration efficiency, whereas guar gum generated a firmer and more cohesive structure due to its higher viscosity. Sensory evaluation confirmed these technological enhancements. Panelists rated the microencapsulated formulations significantly higher (p < 0.05) in texture, melting resistance, and mouthfeel, with guar gum achieving the highest overall acceptability. Importantly, no off-flavors were detected, demonstrating the sensory compatibility of the encapsulation system. Overall, coating stabilizers onto an iodine carrageenan matrix significantly enhanced their functional performance, improved freeze-thaw behavior, reduced ice recrystallization, and elevated sensory quality. These findings highlight microencapsulation as a powerful strategy for developing next-generation ice cream formulations with superior structural stability and consumer appeal.

Addressing issues of protein and vitamin A deficiency remains vital for mitigating hunger and moderating malnutrition in many developing countries. In this study, maize porridge, which is widely consumed in several communities of low- to middle-income countries, was experimented with as a vehicle for improving nutrient intake by adding soybean and ripe plantain to form composite flours. The physicochemical, functional, and proximate composition of the composite flours were determined, and the sensory properties and consumer acceptability of porridge prepared from the flours analyzed. Additionally, the willingness of respondents to consume the porridge was evaluated via questionnaire administration. The results show that adding soybean and ripe plantain led to increases in protein, iron, and β-carotene, which affected water binding capacity, bulk density, solubility, and swelling power. The browning index reduced, leading to observable color changes while an increase in total soluble solids was observed. The sensory panelists were able to distinguish between the different types of porridge, but this did not affect the overall acceptability. Respondents revealed health and nutritional benefits as the major drivers for acceptability, and were willing to pay higher tokens for the newly developed composite porridge. This study provides a practical approach for creating nutritious and acceptable composite flours from locally available raw ingredients: maize, soybean, and ripe plantain, which can address moderate malnutrition relating to protein and vitamin A deficiency while enhancing food security.

Dietary polyphenols, a diverse group of plant-derived bioactives, are widely investigated for their potential to prevent non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs), but the structure and evolution of this research field remain unclear. This bibliometric study analyzed 3280 publications on dietary polyphenols and NCDs retrieved from Web of Science Core Collection, PubMed/MEDLINE, and DOAJ (1998-2024) to characterize temporal growth, global contributions, thematic hotspots, and the underlying journal knowledge base. Annual output rose from 13 papers in 1998 to more than 160 per year since 2016, indicating a transition from early expansion to a mature yet active stage. Research is led by teams in the United States, China, Japan, and Western Europe, with increasing participation from Brazil, India, Iran, and other emerging economies, but limited representation from sub-Saharan Africa. Network and keyword analyses show that the literature is dominated by mechanistic in vitro and animal studies on oxidative stress, inflammation, and signaling pathways, alongside disease-focused themes in cancer and cardiometabolic prevention. Recent hotspots include metabolic syndrome, obesity, high-fat diet models, gut microbiota, and polyphenol-rich dietary patterns, whereas large, long-term human intervention trials remain relatively scarce. This study underscores the need for integrative, human-focused, and globally inclusive research programs that test realistic polyphenol-rich diets on clinically relevant NCD outcomes, and provides a quantitative map to guide priority-setting for future nutrition and chronic disease research.

The trend toward plant-based foods is increasing. One of the most important threats to the safety of plant-based products is aflatoxin B₁ (AFB1). There is ample evidence that the incidence of food pollution is increasing with climate change. This systematic review analyzed the available evidence of increased exposure to this dangerous toxin through food and its association with climate change. For this purpose, databases were searched with designed keywords. The full text of 63 manuscripts was fully evaluated. The relationship between climate change and increased pollution with this toxic metabolite has been observed. Stressors associated with climate change lower plant defenses against fungi. Controlling climate change will likely be one of the most important strategies in controlling pollution by this mycotoxin. Therefore, all countries are advised to implement the Paris Agreement commitments.

β-1,3/1,6-glucan is an immune-modulating functional ingredient. To enhance solubility, β-1,3/1,6-glucan oligosaccharides were developed from polysaccharides through gamma-irradiation. Nevertheless, whether their safety and efficacy profiles are different remains unclear. Our previous study identified 2000 mg/day as the maximum short-term tolerable dose of Ophiocordyceps dipterigena BCC2073-derived β-1,3/1,6-glucan oligosaccharides and polysaccharides. However, the long-term safety of this dosage was unknown. This randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled trial was conducted to evaluate their safety over 12 weeks. Ninety-six healthy participants were randomly assigned to receive 2000 mg daily of either β-glucans oligosaccharides, β-glucans polysaccharides, or placebo capsules (n = 32 each group). Adverse symptoms, changes in body weight, defecation, hematological, and biochemical parameters, vital signs, and heart function were assessed using subject diaries, interviews, blood and urine tests, and electrocardiograms. No serious adverse events or changes in body weight, liver or renal function, complete blood counts, blood glucose levels, urinalysis, or electrocardiogram were observed in any of the groups. Notably, supplementation with β-glucan oligosaccharides, but not polysaccharides, resulted in significant reductions in total cholesterol and LDL levels compared to the control group. Only the polysaccharides group had significant positive (easier defecation) and negative (constipation, loose stools) defecation-related symptoms. The negative symptoms (found in 3%-19% of participants) were mild. These findings indicate that daily supplementation with 2000 mg of β-1,3/1,6-glucan oligosaccharides or polysaccharides for 12 weeks is safe in healthy individuals. The oligosaccharides demonstrated superior lipid-lowering efficacy with fewer adverse events compared to the polysaccharides. Possible defecation-related side effects of β-1,3/1,6-glucan polysaccharides should be considered. Trial Registration: Thai Clinical Trial Registry: TCTR20240622005.

This study characterized the peel extracts of Cucumis melo L. varieties and evaluated their in vitro prebiotic-like activity supporting the growth of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Bifidobacterium bifidum. Melon peel extracts were prepared and freeze-dried for analyzing sugar composition, enzymatic digestibility, and probiotic stimulation in various sample extracts. Among the tested varieties, cantaloupe peel exhibited the highest concentration of non-digestible polysaccharides (29.20 ± 1.0 mg/g) and significantly enhanced L. delbrueckii and B. bifidum growth to 9.81 ± 0.04 and 9.79 ± 0.01 log CFU/g. Total polyphenol content was greatest in cantaloupe (175 mg/100 g), followed by galia (173 mg/100 g) and honeydew (121 mg/100 g). FTIR and ¹H-NMR analyses showed the presence of polysaccharides, sugars, polyphenols, and other bioactive functional groups. Hydrolysis resistance to acid and α-amylase was 9.52% and 34.67% for cantaloupe, and 6.12% and 30.65% for honeydew, respectively. Overall, melon peel extracts demonstrated substantial prebiotic-like activity, attributed to their high levels of non-digestible polysaccharides, reducing sugars, phenolic compounds. These findings identify melon peel as a promising, sustainable source of bioactive ingredients for gut health promoting functional foods.

This study examined the structure of, relationship between, and changes in the burden of undernutrition (stunting) and overnutrition (overweight) among children under the age of 5 years living in the cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzuzu, and Zomba in Malawi. We analyzed the prevalence of undernutrition and overnutrition from the 2015/16 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS), which we compared with anthropometric results of the 2024 MDHS that were published in the Key Indicators Report released in February 2025. We calculated the prevalence of moderate stunting and the contribution of severe stunting and moderate stunting to overall stunting in each city. Anthropometric results were available for a weighted sample of 256 children in 2015/16 and 351 children in 2024. Compared to 2015/16, prevalence of stunting and overweight increased in all cities, with Lilongwe, the capital, recording the largest increase in both stunting (86.7%) and overweight (118.6%). Except for Mzuzu city, which experienced a high prevalence of stunting (24.7%), the prevalence of stunting and overweight were very high (range 31.1%-41.5%) in the other three cities in 2024. Regarding overweight, prevalence ranged from medium (5 to < 10%) in Blantyre and Lilongwe to high (10 to < 15%) in Mzuzu and Zomba. The contribution of severe stunting to overall stunting more than quadrupled from 7% in 2015/16 to 30.6% in 2024 in Lilongwe. We conclude that children who live in Malawi's four cities have a dual burden of malnutrition, with very high prevalence of stunting and medium to high prevalence of overweight. Most of the children are moderately stunted. Nutrition policies and strategies for city dwellers should be formulated and implemented to improve nutrition. A larger study that aims to understand the structure and determinants of malnutrition in the cities is required.

Mushrooms get nutrients from the soil fibrous substrates by producing enzymes (mainly laccases and manganese peroxidases) via the radical apparatus to attack lignin and cellulose. In fungi cultivation, the spent mushroom substrate (SMS) is a mix of plant disintegrated lignocellulosic biomasses, residual fungal mycelium and other materials (e.g., straw, cereal grains, hays, livestock litter and manure, wood chip, sawdust, etc.) on which the mushrooms grow, whereas mushroom basal bodies (MBB) are parts discharged to remove the portion in contact with the SMS. The current lab-scale project aims to evaluate the ligninolytic enzyme content of mushroom extracts from SMS and MBB of Pleurotus ostreatus (PO) and Agaricus bisporus (AB), using two extraction solvents (acetate buffer solution or only water) for 3 h. The extracts were used to treat wheat straw and to measure the rumen fiber degradation and gas production by in vitro fermentation assays. All extracts have been acidic (pH 5.2-6.0), the acidity being more pronounced for the acetate solvents (p < 0.01). AB extracts had higher laccase activity than PO extracts (155 vs. 29 U L^-1, p < 0.01). On the contrary, manganese peroxidases showed a significant interaction (p < 0.01) between mushroom species and type of solvent, being higher (p < 0.01) in PO-MBB extracts (35.2 U L^-1) than in PO-SMS, AB-MBB and SMS (28.0, 20.1 and 26.1 U L^-1, respectively). Wheat straw incubated in acetic solvent extracts showed significantly higher NDFD (p < 0.05) than untreated straw (CTRL) in both mushroom species and their byproducts. Wheat straw treated in acidic extracts from PO by products produced more gas (p < 0.05) than CTRL straw. On the contrary, extracts from AB reduced (p < 0.05) gas production compared to CTRL straw, except for the acidic AB-MBB extract. In conclusion, extracts from mushroom by-products, primarily those from SMS of Pleurotus, increase rumen in vitro fermentability of wheat straw.

The present study aimed to systematically assess the effects of Chamomile consumption on some biochemical parameters and clinical symptoms in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The search was performed across the databases PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar using relevant keywords, with no language or date restrictions, up to the 4th of December 2024. Given the limited number of studies, results from both human and animal research were considered. The risk of bias for included studies was evaluated. For clinical studies, meta-analyses were conducted using Stata, and a random-effects model was used to estimate effect sizes. Four animal and four human studies were qualified for this review. Almost all animal studies indicated that Chamomile improved clinical, hormonal, and oxidative stress parameters in PCOS. Furthermore, almost all human studies have shown that Chamomile supplementation improves the clinical features of PCOS. However, the pooled analysis of two eligible human studies showed that there was no statistically significant effect of Chamomile supplementation on serum lipid profile including LDL-C (ES = 1.73, 95% CI (-6.49, 9.94), p = 0.680), TG (ES = -7.23, 95% CI (-29.34, 14.89), p = 0.522), and HDL-C (ES = -0.07, 95% CI (-5.85, 5.70), p = 0.980). Moreover, the pooled analysis of three eligible human studies demonstrated no statistically significant effect of Chamomile on serum testosterone levels (ES = 5.05, 95% CI = (-1.38, 11.49), p = 0.124). Overall, animal studies have demonstrated the potential benefits of Chamomile consumption in the treatment of PCOS, possibly through anti-androgenic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antioxidant effects. In contrast, human studies yielded heterogeneous findings, with improvements in clinical features but no significant impact on serum testosterone or lipid profile parameters. Therefore, further well-designed clinical trials are needed to make more definitive decisions.