Food frontiers最新文献

Abundantly available plants, animals, and microbes are excellent source of active substance to be used as fruit preservatives to delay postharvest fruit from decay, maintain good quality, and increase the shelf life. Although they are effective and free from toxicological risks, the use of the natural active products in agriculture is still limited due to the high cost of producing, complexity interaction in food matrix, and unacceptance of odor. This review focuses on employing naturally occurring bioactive compounds as an alternative to the synthetic preservatives used in fruit. For this purpose, natural compounds from abundantly available source, such as plants, animals, and microbes, are systematically described for their properties, mechanism of action, and applicability. Different postharvest handling of bioactive compounds and mechanism of their triggered/controlled release properties are discussed, especially with regard to challenge and future directions of these new strategy to preserve fruit in industry. This review offers a fundamental theory and technologies to develop the efficient and safe alternative strategies to synthetic fruits preservatives. Overall, the utilization of natural preservative techniques offers promising opportunities to maintain quality and extend shelf life of fruit, with potential applications in various industries such as vegetables, meat, and processed food.

Sphingolipids (SLs) are a class of lipids that are essential components of cell membranes. The main SLs and the metabolites include sphingomyelin, ceramide, and glycosphingolipids. They serve as signaling molecules and can regulate various cellular processes including proliferation, migration, senescence, and apoptosis that are essential for human health. SLs from marine organisms exhibit special structures and diverse physiological functions due to the extreme environment, which have attracted ever-increasing attention recently. In this review, the contents and structures of SLs from marine sources, analytical methods, their metabolic pathways, as well as the physiological functions, especially the ability for the prevention and/or treatment of various diseases, including immunity, metabolic syndrome, neuroinflammatory, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer, were discussed.

Anti-amyloidogenic properties of plant pigments betalains as potential nutraceuticals against Alzheimer's disease have been screened using 24 pure molecules. Twenty-two betalains reduced amyloid aggregation in vitro, eight of them up to 100%, with IC₅₀ values in the micromolar range. Atomic force and transmission electron microscopy images showed the typical fibrils associated with Alzheimer's disease and how betalains avoid its formation. Neuroprotection after ingestion was supported by in vivo experiments with Caenorhabditis elegans. Indoline-betacyanin was the most effective molecule by significantly improving the chemotactic behavior of the CL2355 strain, a model of Alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, in-depth molecular docking analyses revealed that the pigments interact with the N-terminal region of the amyloid peptide. This work is the most comprehensive study in the field and provides in vitro, in vivo, and in silico evidence for the use of betalains as nutraceuticals of relevance in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease.

Food nutrition and safety are the cornerstones of food industry, and appropriate research models are crucial. Unlike traditional animal models, the novel organoid model with unique humanization and genome stability has attracted great attentions in food research. However, there lacks systematic review on the application of organoids in food research. This review compared the organoid model with traditional animal and two-dimensional cell models, followed by a systemic evaluation of the organoid model in food nutrition and safety regarding foodborne pathogenic bacteria, functional food factors, toxicology, flavor perception, and so on. Furthermore, emerging micromachining technologies such as microfluidic technology and three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting were analyzed to improve the microenvironment and maturity of organoids. Although organoids overcome some shortcomings associated with traditional models, there are still some challenges to simulate the in vivo microenvironment fully. The development direction of organoids is integrating advanced technologies such as microfluidic technology, novel biomaterial scaffold, and 3D bioprinting with multi-organ coculture technology and multi-scale real-time monitoring systems. The innovative development of organoid technology is expected to provide a theoretical basis for developing future foods represented by cell-cultured meat and synthetic biological foods and for the research of food nutrition and safety.

Disruption of the bone metabolic balance with advancing age leads to an escalating prevalence of bone-related diseases, significantly compromising individuals’ quality of life. The gut microbiota actively participates in the regulation of bone metabolism, and perturbations in the gut microbiota can exacerbate bone diseases by compromising gut barrier integrity. Determining the microbial taxa involved in bone loss could offer valuable insights into the development of alternative therapies and nutritional interventions for disease management. Therefore, based on metagenomic and 16S ribosomal RNA data, this study analyzed the gut microbiota structure of 488 individuals with different bone masses (NC, normal; ON, osteopenia; OP, osteoporosis) to identify significant associations between the gut microbiota and bone loss. The results showed that at the genus and species levels, the microbiota diversity of the ON population increased, whereas that of the OP population decreased. Bacteroides were significantly enriched in the OP population, whereas the beneficial bacteria Bifidobacterium, Akkermansia, and lactobacilli decreased. Subsequent analyses revealed no significant variation in different bone populations in terms of Bifidobacterium levels, whereas lactobacilli exhibited diverse responses across distinct bone populations. The administration of lactobacilli effectively enhanced lumbar spine bone mineral density and modulated the gut microbiota structure in a population with unhealthy bone mass. This study contributes to the validation of the association between the gut microbiota and bone mass, enhances our understanding of the potential impact of probiotics (lactobacilli) on bone mass, and establishes a robust scientific basis for the application of probiotics in the regulation of bone mass.

The intricate causes of Alzheimer's disease (AD) hinder effective, lasting treatment. Although the dietary modulation of the brain–gut axis was explored for AD therapy, the exact mechanism remains unclear. This study suggested that 140 days of the whey protein hydrolysate (WPH) intake could attenuate the AD pathologic symptoms in APP/PS1 transgenic mice via a bidirectional action of the gut microbe–SCFA (short-chain fatty acid)–brain axis. Behavioral tests demonstrated that high-dose WPH (WPH-H, 100 mg/kg body weight [bw]) improved passive and recognition memory in mice. Furthermore, WPH-H significantly reduced amyloid beta 1–42 (Aβ_1–42) levels in serum (p < .05) and brain (p < .001) while enhancing serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity (p < .01). Brain acetylcholinesterase (p < .01) activity and pro-inflammatory factors in serum were also reduced. Notably, WPH-H remodeled gut microbiota composition by increasing Dubosiella and decreasing Bacteroides and norank_f__Ruminococcaceae while stimulating SCFA production. Proteomics indicated that WPH enhanced neurotoxic Aβ autophagy, synaptogenesis, neurotransmitter delivery, and antioxidative stress response via regulated protein expression. Correlation analysis revealed strong links between modified gut microbiota, elevated SCFA levels, and hippocampal protein up-regulation (Atg4b, Nsfl1c, Tcf20, Nr2f1, and Trappc9) and down-regulation (Krt1). Overall, the amelioration of memory deficits in APP/PS1 mice through WPH-H consumption can be attributed to the interconnected interactions among gut microbes, SCFAs, and brain. Our study illuminated the intricate interplay between nutrition, gut health, and memory function, emphasizing WPH's potential in alleviating AD symptoms.

It is crucial to improve the gel properties of myofibrillar protein (MP) in the production of surimi products. This study investigated the effects of combining acetylated distarch phosphate (ADSP) with pea protein isolate (PPI) as exogenous additives on the physicochemical properties of Larimichthys crocea MP gel and elucidated the molecular mechanisms underlying the improvement of MP gel quality. The results showed that the mixture of 3% ADSP and 1% PPI increased the MP gel strength to 2.1 times and water holding capacity to 1.8 times. The rheological properties during thermal-induced gelation were improved, and the surface roughness of gel microstructure was reduced. The protein conformation was stabilized by enhancing surface hydrophobicity and sulfhydryl content, and the gels showed trends of decreasing α-helix and increasing random coils. Correlation and cluster analysis showed that physicochemical properties of MP gels were closely related to the changes of protein structure and the denaturation of active groups. The molecular interaction between ADSP, PPI, and MP and the mechanism of enhancing the properties and functions of MP gel were further clarified. These findings highlight the feasibility of ADSP–PPI as an effective strategy to improve the quality of fish MP gel.

Effective geographical origin discrimination of Chinese rice requires a large database of samples to ensure sufficient data for origin verification at a regional scale. In this study, environmental similarity was used to establish a spatial database of rice nutrient element, and then the validity of the database was verified using the back propagation artificial neural networks modeling (BPNN). The spatial distribution model of 14 rice nutrient element (Al, Ba, Ca, Cu, Cr, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, Rb, and Zn) on regional scale was built using an environmental similarity method for the first time. Elemental concentrations of 692 samples were used to build a simulated geographical origin prediction model for northeastern (N-E), middle to lower Yangtze River plain (Y-R), southwestern (S-W), and southeastern (S-E) in China. The results indicated that the performance of the environmental similarity model for these four growing regions was S-W > N-E > S-E > Y-R based on the lowest ranking root mean square error (RMSE) for each region. For example, the RMSEs of Zn in S-W, N-E, S-E, and Y-R regions were 2.0, 2.4, 2.7, and 3.7 mg/kg, respectively. A case study on the traceability of Japonica rice was shown that Japonica rice could be discriminated with higher origin accuracy using a simulated database (91.8%) than by the actual database (87.0%) using the BPNN model. This indicates that a simulated rice element database could improve the accuracy of geographical origin discrimination for Chinese rice and potentially be applied to other large national-scale crop datasets.

Areca (Areca catechu L.) nut is a tropical plantation fruit cultivated mainly in South and Southeast Asia. As a chewing hobby, it has become the most common psychoactive substance in the world, besides tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine. Areca catechu contains abundant nutrients and active components such as alkaloids, polyphenols, polysaccharides, proteins, and vitamins, which have been reported to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-depressant, anti-hypertensive, anti-fatigue, and other biological properties. However, at present, the resource utilization rate of the whole-plant areca nut is low, which not only causes resource waste but also damages the environment. Establishing effective, safe, and environmentally friendly techniques and methods is necessary for the comprehensive utilization of A. catechu resources. In this review, we summarized the traditional and advanced methods for the extraction and identification of main bioactive substances in A. catechu and compared the advantages and disadvantages of these methods. Furthermore, the possible trends and perspectives for future use of A. catechu are also discussed. Our objective is to extend the application of this bioactive ingredient to improve the added value, provide valuable information for developing new A. catechu products and derivatives, and improve the comprehensive utilization of areca nut resources.

Being a respiratory climacteric fruit, kiwifruit is susceptible to age and decay rapidly in the postharvest stage. Therefore, the development of efficient postharvest methods to maintain the kiwifruit quality has been a long-standing goal. This review summarizes the preservation and disease control methods of kiwifruit conducted over the past 5 years, and the characteristics, advantages, and action mechanisms of various methods are thoroughly discussed. Physical, chemical, and biotechnological methods, such as low-temperature, essential oil, and endophytic yeast treatment, can enhance postharvest kiwifruit quality to a certain extent by controlling disease, delaying chilling injury, alleviating oxidative damage, inhibiting oversoftening and off-flavor development. However, all these techniques have limitations per se, such as the inability to prevent secondary infections and potential side effects on human health. Novel approaches such as pulsed light and cold plasma or a synergistic application of several techniques may be the future direction for kiwifruit postharvest preservation.