Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR)- and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS)-based analytical tools are frequently used in metabolomics studies. These complementary metabolomics platforms were applied to identify and quantify the metabolites in Phyllanthus acidus extracted with different ethanol concentrations. In total, 38 metabolites were tentatively identified by 1H NMR and 39 via UHPLC-MS, including 30 compounds are reported for the first time from this plant. The partial least square analysis (PLS) revealed the metabolites that contributed to α-glucosidase and nitric oxide (NO) inhibitory activities, including kaempferol, quercetin, myricetin, phyllanthusol A, phyllanthusol B, chlorogenic, catechin, cinnamic coumaric, caffeic, quinic, citric, ellagic and malic acids. This study shows the significance of combining 1H NMR- and UHPLC-MS-based metabolomics as the best strategies in identifying metabolites in P. acidus extracts and establishing an extract with potent antioxidant, anti-diabetic, and anti-inflammatory properties.
Inflammation has been revealed to play a central role in the onset and progression of many illnesses. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) based metabolomics method was adopted to evaluate the effects of Phoenix dactylifera seeds, in particular the Algerian date variety of Deglet on the metabolome of the LPS-IFN-γ-induced RAW 264.7 cells. Variations in the extracellular and intracellular profiles emphasized the differences in the presence of tyrosine, phenylalanine, alanine, proline, asparagine, isocitrate, inosine and lysine. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed noticeable clustering patterns between the treated and induced RAW cells based on the metabolic profile of the extracellular metabolites. However, the effects of treatment on the intracellular metabolites appears to be less distinct as suggested by the PCA and heatmap analyses. A clear group segregation was observed for the intracellular metabolites from the treated and induced cells based on the orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) score plot. Likewise, 11 of the metabolites in the treated cells were significantly different from those in the induced groups, including amino acids and succinate. The enrichment analysis demonstrated that treatment with Deglet seed extracts interfered with the energy and of amino acids metabolism. Overall, the obtained data reinforced the possible application of Deglet seeds as a functional food with anti-inflammatory properties.
Artemisia vulgaris is one of the important medicinal plant species of the genus Artemisia, which is usually known for its volatile oils. The genus Artemisia has become the subject of great interest due to its chemical and biological diversity as well as the discovery and isolation of promising anti-malarial drug artemisinin. A. vulgaris has a long history in treatment of human ailments by medicinal plants in various parts of the world. This medicinal plant possesses a broad spectrum of therapeutic properties including: anti-malarial, anti-inflammatory, anti-hypertensive, anti-oxidant, anti-tumoral, immunomodulatory, hepatoprotective, anti-spasmodic and anti-septic. These activities are mainly attributed to the presence of various classes of secondary metabolites, including flavonoids, sesquiterpene lactones, coumarins, acetylenes, phenolic acids, organic acids, mono- and sesquiterpenes. Studies related to A. vulgaris morphology, anatomy and phytochemistry has gained a significant interest for better understanding of production and accumulation of therapeutic compounds in this species. Recently, phytochemical and pharmacological investigations have corroborated the therapeutic potential of bioactive compounds of A. vulgaris. These findings provided further evidence for gaining deeper insight into the identification and isolation of novel compounds, which act as alternative sources of anti-malarial drugs in a cost-effective manner. Considering the rising demand and various medical applications of A. vulgaris, this review highlights the recent reports on the chemistry, biological activities and biotechnological interventions for controlled and continuous production of bioactive compounds from this plant species.
Liquid egg yolk (LEY) is often treated with phospholipase A2 (PLA2) to improve its emulsifying capacity and thermal stability. However, this process may allow certain pathogens to grow. The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth kinetics of mesophilic Bacillus cereus in LEY during PLA2 treatment. Samples, inoculated with B. cereus vegetative cells, were incubated isothermally at different temperatures between 9 and 50 °C to observe the bacterial growth and survival. Under the observation conditions, bacterial growth occurred between 15 and 48 °C, but not at 9 and 50 °C. The growth curves were analyzed using the USDA IPMP-Global Fit, with the no-lag phase model as the primary model in combination with either the cardinal temperatures model (CTM) or the Huang square-root model (HSRM) as the secondary model. While similar maximum growth temperatures (Tmax) were determined (48.4 °C for HSRM and 48.1 °C for CTM), the minimum growth temperature (Tmin) of the HSRM more accurately described the lower limit (9.26 °C), in contrast to 6.51 °C for CTM, suggesting that the combination of the no-lag phase model and HSRM was more suitable to describe the growth of mesophilic B. cereus in LEY. The root mean square error (RMSE) of model validation and development was <0.5 log CFU/g, indicating the combination of the no-lag phase model and HSRM could predict the growth of mesophilic B. cereus in LEY during PLA2 treatment. The results of this study may allow the food industry to choose a suitable temperature for PLA2 treatment of LEY to prevent the growth of mesophilic B. cereus.
Adulteration of lard with other fats and oils in food production affects many areas including economics, religion, and health. Previous studies discriminated lard based on major components of fats, i.e. triglycerides and fatty acids. This study aimed to differentiate lard and other animal fats (beef, chicken and mutton fat) based on n-alkane profiles established by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Clustering Analysis (HCA) were able to initiate clustering of lard and other animal fats. Good result was obtained using Random Forest (RF) and Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA). Statistical models propose tetracosane (C24) as a potential n-alkane marker and it was found that C24 was the major alkane with composition of 15.72% (GC-MS) of total alkanes identified. Based on this finding, more interesting study may potentially be explored for the interest of various fats and oils consumers in vast applications especially using chemometrics analysis.
Atherosclerosis is a complex pathology that involves several factors in its development, like oxidative stress, inflammation, hyperlipidemia, platelet aggregation and thrombus formation. Several drugs and therapeutic approaches have been developed to handle these aspects of atherosclerosis. However, some of these treatments can be costly and have undesirable side effects. Many constituents of mushrooms have been shown to have potential anti-atherosclerotic effects in several in vitro and in vivo studies. Recently, the possible mechanisms in which they exert these effects have also been elucidated. In this review, some of the research focusing on mushrooms and their potential anti-atherosclerotic effects are examined. Many mushroom species exhibited anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory and hypolipidemic effects that can potentially attenuate the progression of atherosclerosis, either through their isolated compounds or use of crude extracts. More studies are focused on the effect that mushrooms have on gene expressions that are involved in oxidative stress, inflammation, and hyperlipidemia. These studies could provide us with a better understanding on the mechanisms in which the consumption of mushrooms could exert their possible anti-atherosclerotic effects. Further research needs to be done to uncover other possible mechanisms that are affected by mushroom use.
Chemical transformations of Amadori compounds are responsible for the formation of aroma volatiles at the end of the Maillard reaction cascade, which in turn contributes to unique organoleptic characteristics of chocolate. A large amount of short peptides reported in fermented cocoa suggests the existence of a much larger variety of these flavor precursors than previously suspected. An HPLC-MS-MS study was performed on dried Malaysian cocoa beans to identify novel Amadori and Heyns compounds. In total, 34 species were found, including 26 previously unknown derived from di- and tripeptides. We illustrate how the structures were elucidated via tandem MS experiments, as well as present a comparative study on their relative quantities in samples coming from 11 countries of origin. There were significant differences between them, and discrimination was possible by principal component analysis based on Amadori content alone. However, the PCA separation could be a result of various post-harvest practices exerted among said countries.
The increase in rice consumption and demand for high-quality rice is impacted by the growth of socioeconomic status in developing countries and consumer awareness of the health benefits of rice consumption. The latter aspects drive the need for rapid, low-cost, and reliable quality assessment methods to produce high-quality rice according to consumer preference. This is important to ensure the sustainability of the rice value chain and, therefore, accelerate the rice industry toward digital agriculture. This review article focuses on the measurements of the physicochemical and sensory quality of rice, including new and emerging technology advances, particularly in the development of low-cost, non-destructive, and rapid digital sensing techniques to assess rice quality traits and consumer perceptions. In addition, the prospects for potential applications of emerging technologies (i.e., sensors, computer vision, machine learning, and artificial intelligence) to assess rice quality and consumer preferences are discussed. The integration of these technologies shows promising potential in the forthcoming to be adopted by the rice industry to assess rice quality traits and consumer preferences at a lower cost, shorter time, and more objectively compared to the traditional approaches.
Monoglycerides (MGs) and phytosterols (PS) are known to form firm oleogels with liquid oil. However, the oleogels are prone to undergo polymorphic transition over time that lead to crystals' aggregation thus, compromises physical properties. Thus, we combined MGs with PS to control the crystallization and modify the morphology of the combination oleogels, as both components are reported to interact together. The oleogels were prepared at different ratio combinations and characterized in their rheological, thermal, morphology, and diffraction properties. The results showed that the 8:2 MGP:PS exhibited higher storage modulus (G') than the MGP mono-component. The combination oleogels exhibited effects on the crystallization and polymorphic transition. Consequently, the effects led to change in the morphology of the combination oleogels which was visualized using optical and electron microscope. The resultant effect on the morphology is associated with crystal defect. Due to observable crystals of MGP and PS, it is speculated that the combination oleogels formed a mixed crystal system. This was confirmed with diffraction analysis in which the corresponding peaks from MGP and PS were observed in the combination oleogels. However, the 8:2 oleogel exhibited additional peak at 35.41Å. Ultimately, the 8:2 was the optimum combination observed in our study. Interestingly, this combination is inspired by nature as sterols (phytosterols) are natural component of lipid membrane whilst MGP has properties similar to phospholipids. Hence, the results of our study not only beneficial for oil structuring, but also for the fields of biophysical and pharmaceutical.
Mung bean is an inexpensive yet sustainable protein source. Current work compared the effects of freeze (FD), spray (SD) and oven drying (OD), on mung bean protein isolate (MBPI) produced on pilot scale. All samples showed no dissociation of protein subunits and were thermally stable (Td = 157.90-158.07 °C). According to morphological studies, FD formed a porous protein while SD and OD formed wrinkled and compact crystals, respectively. FD and SD formed elastic gels with better gelling capacity than OD (aggregated gel). FD showed exceptional protein solubility, water and oil absorption capacity (4.23 g/g and 8.38 g/g, respectively). SD demonstrated the smallest particle size, excellent emulsion activity index (29.21 m2/g) and stability (351.90 min) and the highest β-sheet amount (37.61%). FTIR spectra for all samples showed characteristic peaks which corresponded well to the secondary structure of legume proteins. Rheological analysis revealed that gelation temperature for all MBPI lied around 90 °C. Current work described the different final properties achieved for MBPI produced under different drying techniques that allowed tailoring for different food systems, whereby FD is ideal for meat extender, SD is suitable for meat emulsion while OD is suitable in general protein-based application.
Fish oil-in-water emulsions containing fish oil, thiol-modified β-lactoglobulin (β-LG) fibrils, chitosan and maltodextrin were fabricated using a high-energy method. The results showed that chitosan coating induced charge reversal; denoting successful biopolymers complexation. A significantly (p<0.05) larger droplet size and lower polydispersity index value, attributed to the thicker chitosan coating at the oil-water interface, were observed. At high chitosan concentrations, the cationic nature of chitosan strengthened the electrostatic repulsion between the droplets, thus conferring high oxidative stability and low turbidity loss rate to the emulsions. The apparent viscosity of emulsions stabilized using thiol-modified β-LG fibrils-chitosan complex was higher than those stabilized using β-LG fibrils alone, resulting in the former's higher creaming stability. Under thermal treatments (63°C and 100°C), emulsions stabilized using thiol-modified β-LG fibrils-chitosan complex possessed higher heat stability as indicated by the consistent droplet sizes observed. Chitosan provided a thicker protective layer that protected the oil droplets against high temperature. Bridging flocculation occurred at low chitosan concentration (0.1%, w/w), as revealed through microscopic observations which indicated the presence of large flocs. All in all, this work provided us with a better understanding of the application of protein fibrils-polysaccharide complex to produce stable emulsion.
Rapeseed oil is the second most abundant produced edible oil in the world with low erucic acid and low glucosinolate. Thus, the quality of rapeseed oil had attracted global attention. Cold-pressed rapeseed oil appeared to be a preferred choice than refined oil as no solvent and less processing involved in the cold-pressing. The methods of cold-pressing and microwave pre-treatment on the extraction yield and bioactive compounds of rapeseed oil have been reviewed in this paper. Cold-pressed rapeseed oil offers health benefits due to its preserved fatty acid profile and bioactive compounds. High phenolic compounds, tocopherols, phytosterols, and carotenoids contents in the cold-pressed rapeseed oil offer health benefits like regulating blood lipid profile, insulin sensitivity, and glycemic control, as well as offer antioxidant and cytotoxic activity. Besides using as edible oil, cold-pressed rapeseed oil find applications in animal feed, chemical, and fuel.
We investigated the genetic relatedness, antibiotic resistance and biofilm-producing ability of 114 strains of Salmonella, belonged to three serotypes (Corvallis, Brancaster and Albany), isolated from naturally contaminated poultry and their environment in wet markets and smale-scale processing plant from northern Malaysia. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis revealed that Salmonella strains isolated from various wet markets were clonally related, suggesting the widespread dissemination of these three serotypes in northern Malaysia. All except one strain of Salmonella were resistant to more than two classes of antibiotics, hence regarded as multidrug resistant (MDR). Resistance to sulphonamide (96.5%), ampicillin (89.5%), tetracycline (85.1%), chloramphenicol (75.4%), trimethoprim (68.4%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (67.5%), streptomycin (58.8%) and nalidixic acid (44.4%) were observed. Resistance determinants, floR, cmlA, tetA, tetB, tetG, temB, blaPSE-1, sul1, sul2, qnrA, qnrS, strA and aadA were detected by PCR among MDR Salmonella strains. Seventy-six strains (66.7%) harboured class-I integrons. The gene cassettes identified were dfrA1, dfrA12, aadA2 and an open reading frame orfC with unknown function. All Salmonella strains produced biofilm and 69.3% of them were strong biofilm-producers. Our findings suggested that most likely, persistent Salmonella colonises various sites in the processing environment by producing biofilm, which leads to their widespread dissemination in wet markets located in northern Malaysia.
Searching for green and ecofriendly solvents to replace classical solvents for industrial scale extraction of coconut oil is of great interest. To explore these possibilities, this study performed comprehensive comparative analyses of lipid profiles and phytosterol compositions in coconut oils obtained by extraction with n-hexane, absolute ethyl alcohol, deep eutectic solvent/n-hexane, dimethyl carbonate (DME) and cyclopentyl methyl ether (CPME) using a foodomics approach. Results indicated that CPME (64.23 g/100 g dry matter) and DME (65.64 g/100 g dry matter) showed comparable capacity for total lipid extraction of total lipids to classical solvents (63.5-65.66 g/100 g dry matter). Considering the phytosterol yield, CPME (644.26 mg/kg) exhibited higher selectivity than other solvents (535.64-622.13 mg/kg). No significant difference was observed in the fatty acid composition of coconut oil by the different solvents assayed. Additionally, total 468 lipid molecules were identified in the samples. For glycerolipid and sphingolipid, the five solvents showed comparable extraction capabilities. However, CPME exhibited higher extraction efficiency of polar lipids (glycerophospholipid and saccharolipid) than other solvents. Overall, these results may be a useful guide for the application of green solvents in industrial production of coconut oil.
Chinese bayberry fruit were treated with hot air (HA) at 48 ℃ for 3 h and then stored at 4 ℃ for 15 d. Changes in fungal communities were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing (HTS), and decay and fruit quality were monitored during storage. The results showed that HA treatment effectively maintains fruit quality and the richness and diversity of fungal communities. Heat treatment inhibited decay development and reduced the growth of fungi in the genera Botryotinia spp., Davidiella spp., Hanseniaspora spp., and Candida spp. Canonical correspondence analysis further revealed that Botryotinia spp. and Davidiella spp. were positively correlated with fruit decay and weight loss. FUNGuild analysis demonstrated that HA-treated bayberries had a lower relative abundance within the plant pathogen guild, but higher relative abundance within the endophyte guild. The results suggest that HA treatment reduces pathogens by favoring the increase of endophytes, providing new insight into the decay development and quality changes during the storage of postharvest Chinese bayberries.
Vegetable sauerkraut is a traditional fermented food. Due to oxidation reactions that occur during storage, the quality and flavor in different periods will change. In this study, the quality evaluation and flavor characteristics of 13 groups of vegetable sauerkraut samples with different storage time were analyzed by using physical and chemical parameters combined with electronic nose. Photographs of samples of various periods were collected, and a convolutional neural network (CNN) framework was established. The relationship between total phenol oxidative decomposition and flavor compounds was linearly negatively correlated. The vegetable sauerkraut during storage can be divided into three categories (full acceptance period, acceptance period and unacceptance period) by principal component analysis and Fisher discriminant analysis. The CNN parameters were fine-tuned based on the classification results, and its output results can reflect the quality changes and flavor characteristics of the samples, and have better fitting, prediction capabilities. After 50 epochs of the model, the accuracy of three sets of data namely training set, validation set and test set recorded 94%, 85% and 93%, respectively. In addition, the accuracy of CNN in identifying different quality sauerkraut was 95.30%. It is proved that the convolutional neural network has excellent performance in predicting the quality of Szechuan Sauerkraut with high reliability.
Vitamin E is one of the most important essential vitamins to support the regulation of oxidative stress in human body. Tocotrienols are part of the vitamin E family. The potentials of tocotrienols as nutraceutical ingredient are largely understated due to low oral bioavailability, which is a common problem associated with fat-soluble bioactive compounds. Nanoencapsulation technology offers innovative solutions to enhance the delivery mechanisms of these compounds. In this study, the effect of nanoencapsulation on the oral bioavailability and tissue distribution of tocotrienols were investigated using two types of formulations, i.e. nanovesicles (NV-T3) and solid lipid nanoparticles (NP-T3). At least 5-fold increment in maximum plasma concentrations, evident with dual-peak pharmacokinetic profiles, were observed after oral administration of nano-encapsulated tocotrienols. Plasma tocotrienol composition showed a shift from α-tocotrienol dominant in control group (Control-T3) to γ-tocotrienol dominant after nanoencapsulation. Tissue distribution of tocotrienols was found to be strongly influenced by the type of nanoformulation. Both nanovesicles (NV-T3) and nanoparticles (NP-T3) showed elevated accumulation in the kidneys and liver (5-fold) compared to control group while selectivity for α-tocotrienol was evident for NP-T3. In brain and liver of rats given NP-T3, α-tocotrienol emerged as the dominant congener (>80%). Acute oral administration of nanoencapsulated tocotrienols did not show signs of toxicity. The study concluded enhanced bioavailability and selective tissue accumulation of tocotrienol congeners when delivered via nanoencapsulation.
The detection of 3- and 2-MCPD ester and glycidyl ester was transformed from selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode to multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode by gas chromatography triple quadrupole spectrometry. The derivatization process was adapted from AOCS method Cd 29a-13. The results showed that the coefficient of determination (R2) of all detected compounds obtained from both detection mode was comparable, which falls between 0.997 and 0.999. The limit of detection and quantification (LOD and LOQ) were improved in MRM mode as compared to SIM mode. In MRM mode, the LOD of 3- and 2-MCPD ester was achieved 0.01 mg/kg while the LOQ was 0.05 mg/kg. Besides, LOD and LOQ of glycidyl ester were 0.024 and 0.06 mg/kg respectively. A blank spiked with MCPD esters (0.03, 0.10 and 0.50 mg/kg) and GE (0.06, 0.24 and 1.20 mg/kg) were chosen for repeatability and recovery tests. MRM mode showed better repeatability in area ratio and recovery with relative standard deviation (RSD %)
Fructooligosaccharides can be produced by direct enzymatic conversion from sucrose-rich sugarcane syrup (SS) consisting of 58.93% sucrose yielding 21.28 g FOS/100 g sucrose. This study evaluated the prebiotic effect of unpurified/purified SS containing FOS for the modulation of the human intestinal microbial composition and short-chain fatty acid production. The unpurified and purified FOS substrates, which were a mixture of 1-kestose, nystose and 1F-fructosylnystose, were supplemented into human faecal culture using a pH-controlled batch fermentation system and significantly increased the Bifidobacterium counts after 5 h fermentation, while Bacteroides/Prevotella counts were highest throughout 24 h fermentation. Meanwhile, Lactobacillus/Enterococcus exhibited a slight increase after 5 h fermentation before reaching a plateau afterwards. The steady Bacteroides/Prevotella growth and increased Bifidobacterium population promoted an increase in the production of short-chain fatty acids acetate (58 ± 2.70 mM), propionate (9.19 ± 5.94 mM) and butyrate (7.15 ± 2.28 mM). These results provide evidence that representative gut microbiota could utilise the enzymatically synthesised FOS to generate short-chain fatty acids as metabolites in pH-controlled conditions, thus FOS from SS are a potential prebiotic ingredient for foods and health drinks.
As a protein-rich, underutilized crop, green soybean could be exploited to produce hydrolysates containing angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides. Defatted green soybean was hydrolyzed using four different food-grade proteases (Alcalase, Papain, Flavourzyme and Bromelain) and their ACE inhibitory activities were evaluated. The Alcalase-generated green soybean hydrolysate showed the highest ACE inhibitory activity (IC50: 0.14 mg/mL at 6 h hydrolysis time) followed by Papain (IC50: 0.20 mg/mL at 5 h hydrolysis time), Bromelain (IC50: 0.36 mg/mL at 6 h hydrolysis time) and Flavourzyme (IC50: 1.14 mg/mL at 6 h hydrolysis time) hydrolysates. The Alcalase-generated hydrolysate was profiled based on its hydrophobicity and isoelectric point using reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and isoelectric point focusing (IEF) fractionators. The Alcalase-generated green soybean hydrolysate comprising of peptides EAQRLLF, PSLRSYLAE, PDRSIHGRQLAE, FITAFR and RGQVLS, revealed the highest ACE inhibitory activity of 94.19%, 99.31%, 92.92%, 101.51% and 90.40%, respectively, while their IC50 values were 878 μM, 532 μM, 1552 μM, 1342 μM and 993 μM, respectively. It can be concluded that Alcalase-digested green soybean hydrolysates could be exploited as a source of peptides to be incorporated into functional foods with antihypertensive activity.