Annual review of food science and technology最新文献

Plant proteins can meet dietary needs when properly combined, but individuals who avoid legumes, tofu, or tempeh may struggle to maintain adequate protein intake. Some may turn to ultraprocessed foods, reducing their intake of fiber-rich, micronutrient-dense protein sources and increasing exposure to additives and processing-derived contaminants. These factors can disrupt the nutritional exposome, referring to the totality of dietary exposure that an individual faces throughout life. To evaluate whether the food industry addresses these issues, we analyzed the nutrition labels of 240 protein-fortified bread and pasta products from 29 countries across diverse geographic regions. Although protein fortification can improve amino acid balance, increase dietary fiber, lower glycemic response, and increase satiety, its potential is limited by the excessive reliance on functional but lysine-poor gluten, the presence of antinutritional factors, and technological, economic, or cultural barriers to incorporating more diverse plant-protein sources. Strategic ingredient blending, precision processing, and AI-assisted formulation tools are new tools poised to help produce nutritionally balanced, safe, and sustainable cereal products aligned with plant-forward diets.

Probiotics exert many effects through probiotic effector molecules (PEMs), which are secreted or surface-associated bioactive compounds. Key classes of PEMs include bacterial glycan polymers (e.g., exopolysaccharides), surface proteins and pili, secreted peptides and enzymes, extracellular vesicles, and small-molecule metabolites. These bioactive compounds mediate host-microbe crosstalk, reinforcing epithelial barrier integrity, shaping gut microbial communities, and modulating immune responses. Their production is strain-specific and influenced by environmental conditions, whereas their activities depend on receptor interactions such as with Toll-like receptors, G protein-coupled receptors, and aryl hydrocarbon receptors. Major challenges include high-throughput identification of novel PEMs, in situ verification of their gut production, and determination of effective doses. Emerging approaches, including comparative genomics, synthetic biology, and next-generation probiotics, promise to unlock PEMs' therapeutic potential. A mechanistic understanding of PEM diversity and function will facilitate the design of targeted probiotic therapies and innovative functional foods.

The microbiota-gut-brain axis, defined as the bidirectional communication linking the gut microbiota with the brain, operates through neural, metabolic, immune, and endocrine signals. It plays an important role in mental health, regulating stress response, mood, and cognitive function, and is altered in psychiatric conditions. Although the gut microbiota remains stable during healthy adulthood, it is modifiable by lifestyle, medication, and diet, making it a tractable target for mental health interventions. Diet is emerging as a viable option to improve mental health through gut microbiota modulation. Energy-dense, high-fat, and high-sugar diets have been linked to poor mental health, whereas Mediterranean, fiber-rich, and fermented-food diets show benefits, possibly through provision of specific nutrients and beneficial microbial metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids. However, more human research addressing variability and confounding is needed to unlock these mechanisms and support personalized/precision nutrition. This review discusses current evidence and proposes multidisciplinary, rigorous diet-microbiota-mental health research.

Bifidobacterium plays a keystone role in the ecological assembly of the infant-gut microbiome and in shaping host immune and metabolic development. These anaerobic bacteria possess specialized transporters and glycosyl hydrolases that enable the degradation of human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), driving early microbial succession through coexistence, competition, and priority effects. Their fermentation products, mainly acetate and lactate, acidify the gut environment, inhibit pathogens, and sustain cross-feeding with butyrate-producing microbes, whereas aromatic lactic acids contribute to immune modulation. Ecological and clinical evidence indicates that loss of Bifidobacterium perturbs community structure and increases disease risk. Understanding these interactions has guided the design of HMO-based and synbiotic strategies that aim to restore healthy colonization patterns. Ongoing efforts now integrate ecological, metabolic, and computational approaches to better predict and replicate the health-promoting functions of Bifidobacterium throughout life.

Cultured meat, produced through in vitro cultivation of animal cells, represents a promising solution to the environmental, ethical, and resource-intensive challenges of conventional livestock production. Significant technological advances have been achieved in seed cell acquisition, serum-free culture media development, bioreactor scale-up, 3D tissue formation, and sensory enhancement. Nevertheless, substantial hurdles persist in achieving cost-effective large-scale production, ensuring product safety and quality, establishing robust regulatory frameworks, and securing widespread consumer acceptance. This review examines recent progress throughout the cultured meat production chain, critically analyzes unresolved challenges, and outlines essential research priorities for realizing its industrial potential.

Culinary herbs and spices have been valued globally for both flavor enhancement and health benefits. This review synthesizes the health-promoting benefits of these culinary materials, focusing on bioactive compounds such as phenolics, terpenoids, and alkaloids, which demonstrate validated potential in promoting metabolic health and preventing chronic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, and neurodegenerative conditions. We discuss their roles in food processing and functional food development, emphasizing innovative thermal and nonthermal approaches to integrate these natural ingredients into modern food systems. From delivery systems and preservation techniques to their incorporation into food matrices, herbs and spices offer versatile applications that extend shelf life, improve safety, and enhance nutritional value. By bridging traditional knowledge with contemporary food science, this review highlights the potential of culinary herbs and spices in functional foods, preventive nutrition, and sustainable food production, providing valuable insights to researchers, industry professionals, and consumers navigating the intersection of gastronomy, nutrition science, and food innovation.

Bioactive compounds are naturally occurring food constituents with potentially health-promoting properties, although no official daily intake recommendations have currently been established for them. Among these, phytochemicals-such as betalains, carotenoids, organosulfur compounds, phenolics, and phytosterols-stand out due to their biological relevance. Interdisciplinary collaboration is crucial for advancing phytochemical research, from identifying novel sources and optimizing production to evaluating their biological functions and potential applications. This review summarizes conventional and emerging sources of these key phytochemicals, including wild edible plants, microorganisms, algae, insects, and food industry by-products, emphasizing their potential under sustainability and climate change contexts. Advances in extraction technologies and the use of green solvents are also discussed. Furthermore, genetic and agronomic strategies to enhance bioactive content are considered. The article also addresses formulation approaches focused on delivery systems to improve dispersibility, stability, and bioavailability.

Accumulating evidence indicates that diet and nutrition are important modifiable risk factors for the prevention and treatment of mental health disorders. However, the neural mechanisms underlying nutrition's effects on mental health remain to be well established. The interdisciplinary field of nutritional cognitive neuroscience integrates methods across the nutritional, cognitive, and brain sciences to understand nutrition's impact on brain health across the lifespan, with recent applications to the study of mood and anxiety-related disorders. In this focused review, we begin by investigating the neural mechanisms underlying mood and anxiety-related disorders, surveying evidence of alterations within specific structural and functional networks. We then review emerging evidence to suggest that the structure and function of these networks are influenced by specific nutrients that may confer beneficial effects, including B-vitamins, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, polyphenols, and carotenoids. In this effort, we highlight plausible biological pathways through which diet may influence mood and anxiety-related disorders. We conclude by presenting directions for future research, emphasizing the need for dietary interventions that incorporate contemporary methods from cognitive neuroscience and nutritional epidemiology to promote brain health and reduce the risk of mental illness.

Adequate dietary fiber intake from plant foods is critical for the prevention of noncommunicable chronic diseases (NCDs). However, across industrialized nations, consumption remains insufficient to meet established intake recommendations. This gap provides a strong rationale to include functional fibers into processed foods or use them as supplements, although their effectiveness in reducing NCD risk is inconclusive . In this review, we examine current nutritional strategies to optimize fiber intake, spanning whole-plant foods, processed foods made or enriched with fiber-containing ingredients, and fiber supplements. We examine the structure and physicochemical properties of the fiber types represented in these strategies and explore the mechanisms by which they influence the gut microbiome and NCD risk markers. Drawing on evidence from human intervention studies, we critically assess the strengths and limitations of each strategy to improve health outcomes and propose a framework for the effective and systematic integration of fiber into nutrition and food science.

Understanding the extrinsic and intrinsic environmental factors that influence lag phase duration is critical for developing strategies to control the growth of foodborne pathogens. Although the exponential growth rate can be predicted as a straightforward response to the growth environment, lag phase duration is difficult to predict because it depends on not only the current growth conditions but also the previous growth environment and physiological status of the bacterial cells. Therefore, this article aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic, adaptable, and evolvable nature of the lag phase. It is based on relevant literature (experimental studies, literature summaries, observational data) on the effect of pre- and postgrowth environments. We discuss the modeling strategies employed to incorporate physiological heterogeneity and dynamic food environments into predictive modeling frameworks. Overall, we summarize the empirical and mechanistic modeling strategies for quantifying lag phase duration.