Recent patents on food, nutrition & agriculture最新文献

Background: Malnutrition and accessible high-quality protein food sources are two of the world's alimentary challenges. Edible insects are nowadays recognized as a possible functional food solution with lower environmental impacts and beneficial health effects.

Objective: In this context, the aim of the present study is to evaluate Madagascar cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa) flour supplementation effects on a malnourished mice model, considering its effects on metabolism, adiposity, and inflammatory liver profiles.

Method: Male Swiss mice are divided into five groups and fed with experimental diets for eight weeks, including a standard diet (ST) ad libitum, AIN93 ad libitum (AIN), insect flour-enriched AIN93 (AIN+IM), AIN-40% feed restriction (AIN-FR), and insect flour-enriched AIN-40% of feed restriction (AIN-FR+IM). The metabolic profiles, adipose tissue, biochemical parameters, and liver IL-6 and IL-10 expression are evaluated.

Results: The main findings show a body weight and metabolism improvement followed by an increased recovery of the adipocyte area in the AIN-FR+IM group when compared to the AIN-FR malnourished group. Reduced hepatic IL-6 and increased IL-10 expression are also detected in the AIN-FR+IM group.

Conclusion: The results show that insect flour supplementation enhances both body weight and adiposity gain/recovery. The results also show hepatic improvement of inflammatory markers.

Background: Sleep disorders are among the most common psychiatric and medical conditions. Herbal medicine appears to be effective in the treatment of sleep disorders which have been valued by many of publications and patents.

Objective: The present study aimed at investigating the hypnotic activity of the hydro-alcoholic extract of Capparis spinosa (HAE) in mice.

Methods: Three doses of HAE (30, 60 and 120 mg/kg) and three fractions of it, namely n-hexane fraction (NHF), water fraction (WF), and ethyl acetate fraction (EAF), were given in comparison with diazepam (3 mg/kg body weight i.p.) as a positive control and saline as a negative control. After 30 min, pentobarbital (30 mg/kg body weight i.p.) was administered. In addition, LD50 of HAE was examined and the cytotoxicity of HAE was assessed in l929 cells using the MTT assay. Moreover, for motorcoordination ability, 30 mins after administration of HAE, the rotarod test was performed.

Results: The results exhibited that the HAE and all the fractions significantly augmented pentobarbital induced sleeping time, which was comparable to that of induced by diazepam. The LD50 value was 2.4 g/kg. The extract did not induce any cytotoxic effects in L929 fibroblast cells. HAE did not affect the animals' performance on the rotarod test.

Conclusion: Our finding suggests that the hydro-alcoholic extract of C. spinosa possesses a hypnotic potential that may require further scientific investigations.

Background: Green, white, and black tea water extracts are rich in phenolic compounds.

Objective: The changes in phenolic compound profiles of green, white, and black tea (GT, WT, & BT respectively) water extracts and their respective yogurt were investigated.

Methods: Three types of yogurt with tea water extracts were prepared, and the phenolic compound profiles were analyzed using the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) method.

Results: The present data found that flavonol glycosides such as kaempferol-3-rutinoside and quercetin-rhamnosylgalactoside or rutinoside were present in WT extract, whereas catechin derivatives such as gallocatechin (GC) and epigallocatechin (EGC) were present in GT extract. Moreover, theaflavin-3-O-gallate was observed in BT extract. Many of the catechin and its derivatives detected in the tea extracts were not identified in the tea yogurt samples. However, new phenolic compounds were present in GT-yogurt (i.e., kaempferol-3-rutinoside and quinic acid conjugate) but absent in GT extract.

Conclusion: GT, WT, & BT extracts could be used to enriched-yogurt with phenolic compounds, which may have antioxidant properties.

Background: This article aims to present the results of a literature review on food milling, to identify the most recent uses, types of mills, and new grinding trends.

Methods: For this, a search was made with the keywords "grinding", "milling" and "food" in the Scopus, which yielded 192 articles, 52 of which directly related to food, were analyzed.

Results: Contributions were found related to various types of grinding such as cryogenic grinding, nano-scaled grinding, ultrafine and superfine grinding. The authors highlighted the uses of these types of milling in agro-industrial products such as nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), wheat bran (Triticum spp.), ginger (Zingiber officinale), and green tea powder (Camellia sinensis), among others.

Conclusion: It is observed that engineering texts dealing with theoretical and analytical food milling operations do not emphasize the new trends found. As a complementary part of this study, eight patents related to cryogenic grinding in food were analyzed, identifying uses of this type of grinding in coffee, lipids, lycopene, proteins, grains, and seeds. Besides, a search was carried out to find out commercial suppliers of cryogenic grinding equipment, in which six companies from China with their equipment were identified.

Background: DNA-based technologies are reliable authentication methods for food products, enabling the detection of fraud, non-intentional substitution and control of mislabeling. The Chilean blue mussel (Mytilus chilensis) is a seafood commercialized in Chile under different formats, including packages of frozen specimens. In this format, the valves of mussels are removed during processing, thus impeding identification of the product by the consumer due to the lack of external characters.

Objective: To assess the authenticity of frozen Chilean blue mussels commercialized in southern Chile, particularly in the town of Osorno.

Methods: Six commercial brands of frozen Chilean blue mussel were authenticated by the Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method, based on the analysis of an 18S rDNA fragment.

Results: Restriction patterns obtained indicate that three brands (50%) proved to be 100% authentic, given that all specimens contained in the package were Chilean blue mussels. The other three brands (50%) contained specimens of other commercial mytilids, particularly the cholga mussel (Aulacomya ater), in a variable percentage (12.5-50%).

Conclusion: This study based on the PCR-RFLP method provides evidence that Chilean blue mussels commercialized in a town located in southern Chile lack authenticity. This finding highlights the necessity for national producers to improve the production and/or packaging processes of this seafood. The authentication of commercial mussels is a matter of consumer interest and has been described in a recent patent on this issue that proposes an alternative methodology.

Background: Sugarcane silage has been increasing as a feed in the tropics by dairy farmers. However, sugarcane normally had high yeast population that leads to intense alcoholic fermentation and excessive Dry-Matter (DM) loss during ensilage and after air exposure, as well. There are several patents that have recently shown the benefits of applying Lactobacillus buchneri in forage preservation.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the changes in pH, DM, Water-Soluble Carbohydrates (WSC) and fermentation end product concentrations that occur in sugarcane silage with or without inoculation with L. buchneri after 45 days of ensiling.

Methods: Sugarcane plants were harvested with approximately 16 months of growth and chopped at 2 cm. Four strains of wild L. buchneri (56.1, 56.4, 56.9 and 56.26) and the commercial inoculant "Lalsil Cana" were evaluated. For all treatments, the theoretical application rate was 1.0 × 106 colony- forming units (cfu) per g of fresh weight. Data from the silo openings were analysed as a completely randomized design, with four replicates per treatment (inoculants).

Results: The treatment with L. buchneri affected the DM content, pH, Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) population, DM recovery, and concentrations of WSC, lactic acid, acetic acid and ethanol of sugarcane silage after 45 days of ensiling. Yeasts and molds populations and the concentrations of propionic and butyric acids were not affected by the treatments.

Conclusion: Lactobacillus buchneri 56.1 and 56.4 are considered the most suitable strains for improving the fermentation of sugarcane silage and thus are potential inoculants for silage production. At present, we are preparing the patent application.

Background: Apples often experience postharvest damage due to being attacked by mold organisms. Several groups of molds such as Aspergillus sp., Penicilium expansum, Botrytis cinerea, and Venturia sp. can cause a serious postharvest disease exhibited as watery regions where areas of blue-green tufts of spores develop. Current methods using fungicides to control pathogenic fungi can cause resistance if applied in the long term. An alternative procedure using yeast as a biological agent has been found.

Objective: The aim of this study is to screen potential yeast, which has the ability to inhibit the growth of Aspergillus brasielensis (isolate A1) and Aspergillus flavus section flavi (isolate A17) isolated from apple fruits.

Methods: Antagonism test using YMA dual culture medium using in vitro assays and ITS rDNA identification were performed.

Results: The result showed that 3 out of 19 yeast isolated from Cerbera manghas L, T1, T3 and T4, demonstrated the potential ability as a biocontrol agent. ITS rDNA identification demonstrated that T1 has a similarity to Rhodotorula mucilaginosa while T3 and T4 were identified as Aureobasidium sp. nov. The 3 isolates exhibited the ability to reduce the growth of A. brasiliensis sensu lato better than dithane 0.3% with a Disease Incidence (DI) of 100% and a Disease Severity (DS) value of 45%. Only isolate T1 and T3 were able to reduce decay symptoms in apples inoculated with A. flavus sensu lato (with DO and DS were 100% and 25%, respectively) compared to dithane pesticides 0.3%.

Conclusion: This study indicated that competition between nutrients occurs between pathogenic molds and under-yeast in vitro and in vivo conditions. However, further studies in the future might be able to elucidate the 'killer' activity and interaction with the pathogen cells and the bio-product production using Rhodotorula mucilaginosa and Aureoubasidium namibiae strains to control postharvest diseases.