Inadequate food security contributes to poor health outcome for all, including adolescent girls. The study aims at determining the level of food security and hygiene among adolescent girls. A school-based cross-sectional study was carried out among adolescent girls aged 10 to 19 years old from six schools in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council, Borno State. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire using KoBoCollect Toolbox between June and July 2019. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify the predictors of food security and hygiene among respondents. A majority of the respondents (73.5%) were in a very low food security level. Three factors were significantly associated with food security level, these included schools (p = 0.007), age of mother (p = 0.004), and occupation of mother (p < 0.001). School (p = 0.003), age (father p = 0.017; mother; p = 0.012), hygiene (p = 0.005), and occupation of mother (p = 0.002) were predictors of food security. About (46.6%) of respondents had poor hygiene practice, school (p = 0.016) was significantly associated with hygiene practice. School (p = 0.019; and p = 0.005) and food security (p = 0.009) were predictors of hygiene practice. This study reveals a high prevalence of low food security among adolescent girls.
Process-based contaminants in food-particularly in vegetable oils-have been a topic of interest due to their potential health risk on humans. Oral consumption above the tolerable daily intake might result in health risks. Therefore, it is critical to correctly address the food contaminant issues with a proper mitigation plan, in order to reduce and subsequently remove the occurrence of the contaminant. 3-monochloropropane-1,3-diol (3-MCPD), an organic chemical compound, is one of the heat- and process-induced food contaminants, belonging to a group called chloropropanols. This review paper discusses the occurrence of the 3-MCPD food contaminant in different types of vegetable oils, possible 3-MCPD formation routes, and also methods of reduction or removal of 3-MCPD in its free and bound esterified forms in vegetable oils, mostly in palm oil due to its highest 3-MCPD content.
The effects of different drying methods, including sun-, oven-, and freeze-drying on the changes in the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of ginger (Zingiber officinale var. Rubra) rhizome were studied. Sun-, oven-, and freeze-dried ginger showed a significant (p < 0.05) increase in phenolic content by 1.79, 1.53, and 1.91-fold; flavonoid content increased by 6.06, 5.27, and 4.90-fold; FRAP increased by 3.95, 3.51, and 3.15-fold; ABTS•+ scavenging activity increased by 2.07, 1.72, and 1.61-fold; and DPPH• inhibition increased by 78%, 58%, and 56%, respectively. Dried ginger also exhibited better inhibitory effects on the lipopolysaccharides-induced nitric oxide production in murine macrophage RAW 264.7. The drying process demonstrated a positive effect on the bioactivities of ginger. The sun-dried ginger exhibited the most potent antioxidant properties with the best enhanced anti-inflammatory activity followed by the oven-dried ginger and lastly, the freeze-dried ginger.
High amylose wheat (HAW) contains more resistant starch than standard amylose wheat (SAW) and may have beneficial effects on gastrointestinal health. However, it is currently unclear whether these effects differ according to the level of HAW included in the diet or between males and females. Male and female C57BL/6 mice (n = 8/group/sex) were fed SAW65 (65% SAW; control), HAW35 (35% HAW), HAW50 (50% HAW) or HAW65 (65% HAW) diet for eight weeks. Female but not male, mice consuming any amount of HAW exhibited accelerated gastric emptying compared to SAW65 group. In both sexes, relative colon weights were higher in the HAW65 group compared to SAW65 group and in females, relative weights of the small intestine and cecum were also higher in the HAW65 group. In females only, colonic expression of Pyy and Ocln mRNAs were higher in the HAW65 group compared to HAW35 and HAW50 groups. In both sexes, mice consuming higher amounts of HAW (HAW50 or HAW65) had increased fecal bacterial load and relative abundance of Bacteroidetes phylum and reduced relative abundance of Firmicutes compared to SAW65 group. These data are consistent with a beneficial impact of HAW on gastrointestinal health and indicate dose-dependent and sex-specific effects of HAW consumption.
Dabai pulp oil (DPO) is new oil extracted from the pulp of Canarium odontophyllum. The quality and efficacy of DPO are needed to promote its potential as a new alternative fat. Therefore, we investigate the quality of DPO, which includes moisture and volatile content (MVC), free fatty acid content (FFA), iodine value (IV), and peroxide value (PV). Furthermore, we evaluate the efficacy of DPO against hypercholesterolemia elicited by a high-cholesterol diet in rats. The MVC of DPO was <0.001 ± 0.00%. Next, the FFA in DPO was 2.57 ± 0.03%, and the IV of DPO was 53.74 ± 0.08 g iodine/100 g oil. Meanwhile, the PV of DPO was 4.97 ± 0.00 mEq/kg. Supplementation of DPO in hypercholesterolemic rats for 30 days revealed the hypocholesterolemic effect (significant reduction of total cholesterol, triglyceride, and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase) accompanied by a significant reduction of inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein, interleukin-6 and tumour necrosis factor-α), and lipid peroxidation (MDA). We also observed a significant improvement of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and antioxidant capacities (total antioxidant status, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and catalase) of the rats. The results on the quality and efficacy of locally made DPO suggest its potential use as a healthy alternative fat in the future.
This study's objective was to evaluate the effects of distance and stocking density on physicochemical properties and oxidative stability of meat and acute-phase proteins in Brahman crossbred cattle transported by road under hot and humid tropical conditions. Sixty Brahman crossbred heifers were subjected to road transport from a cattle feedlot farm located in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang, to a commercial ruminant abattoir in Shah Alam, Selangor. Animals were assigned to long and short distances and high, medium, and low stocking densities. The results revealed that the intensity of response significantly increased in meat samples from animals subjected to long-distance transportation and higher stocking density. Alpha-1-acid glycoprotein and serum amyloid-A values increased considerably and were different from the baseline values recorded at preload. In conclusion, the current results revealed that the color, pH, shear force values, water holding capacity (WHC), glycogen level, and malondilaldehyde assay (MDA) concentrations in meat and acute-phase proteins (APP) were affected by both distances and stocking densities, as evidenced by the significant changes recorded from the parameters above.
Obesity is a disease growing at an alarming rate and numerous preclinical studies have proven the role of polyphenols in managing this disease. This systematic review explores the prebiotic effect of polyphenols in the management of obesity among animals fed on a high-fat diet. A literature search was carried out in PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Embase databases following the PRISMA guidelines. Forty-four studies reported a significant reduction in obesity-related parameters. Most notably, 83% of the studies showed a decrease in either body weight/visceral adiposity/plasma triacylglyceride. Furthermore, 42 studies reported a significant improvement in gut microbiota (GM), significantly affecting the genera Akkermansia, Bacteroides, Blautia, Roseburia, Bifidobacteria, Lactobacillus, Alistipes, and Desulfovibrio. Polyphenols' anti-obesity, anti-hyperglycaemic, and anti-inflammatory properties were associated with their ability to modulate GM. This review supports the notion of polyphenols as effective prebiotics in ameliorating HFD-induced metabolic derangements in animal models.
This study aims to evaluate the bioactive components, in vitro bioactivities, and in vivo hypoglycemic effect of P. frutescens leaf, which is a traditional medicine-food homology plant. P. frutescens methanol crude extract and its fractions (petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol fractions, and aqueous phase residue) were prepared by ultrasound-enzyme assisted extraction and liquid-liquid extraction. Among the samples, the ethyl acetate fraction possessed the high total phenolic (440.48 μg GAE/mg DE) and flavonoid content (455.22 μg RE/mg DE), the best antioxidant activity (the DPPH radical, ABTS radical, and superoxide anion scavenging activity, and ferric reducing antioxidant power were 1.71, 1.14, 2.40, 1.29, and 2.4 times higher than that of control Vc, respectively), the most powerful α-glucosidase inhibitory ability with the IC50 value of 190.03 μg/mL which was 2.2-folds higher than control acarbose, the strongest proliferative inhibitory ability against MCF-7 and HepG2 cell with the IC50 values of 37.92 and 13.43 μg/mL, which were considerable with control cisplatin, as well as certain inhibition abilities on acetylcholinesterase and tyrosinase. HPLC analysis showed that the luteolin, rosmarinic acid, rutin, and catechin were the dominant components of the ethyl acetate fraction. Animal experiments further demonstrated that the ethyl acetate fraction could significantly decrease the serum glucose level, food, and water intake of streptozotocin-induced diabetic SD rats, increase the body weight, modulate their serum levels of TC, TG, HDL-C, and LDL-C, improve the histopathology and glycogen accumulation in liver and intestinal tissue. Taken together, P. frutescens leaf exhibits excellent hypoglycemic activity in vitro and in vivo, and could be exploited as a source of natural antidiabetic agent.
Nature-derived tyrosinase inhibitors are of great industrial interest. Three monophenolase inhibitor peptides (MIPs) and three diphenolase inhibitor peptides (DIPs) from a previous study were investigated for their in vitro tyrosinase inhibitory effects, mode of inhibition, copper-chelating activity, sun protection factor (SPF) and antioxidant activities. DIP1 was found to be the most potent tyrosinase inhibitor (IC50 = 3.04 ± 0.39 mM), which could be due to the binding interactions between its aromatic amino acid residues (Y2 and D7) with tyrosinase hotspots (H85, V248, H258, H263, F264, R268, V283 and E322) and its ability to chelate copper ion within the substrate-binding pocket. The conjugated planar rings of tyrosine and tryptophan may interact with histidine within the active site to provide stability upon enzyme-peptide binding. This postulation was later confirmed as the Lineweaver-Burk analysis had identified DIP1 as a competitive inhibitor and DIP1 also showed 36.27 ± 1.17% of copper chelating activity. In addition, DIP1 provided the highest SPF value (11.9 ± 0.04) as well as ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) (5.09 ± 0.13 mM FeSO4), 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) (11.34 ± 0.90%) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) (29.14 ± 1.36%) free radical scavenging activities compared to other peptides. These results demonstrated that DIP1 could be a multifunctional anti-tyrosinase agent with pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical applications.
Morus alba L. (M. alba) is a highly adaptable plant that is extensively incorporated in many traditional and Ayurveda medications. Various parts of the plant, such as leaves, fruits, and seeds, possess nutritional and medicinal value. M. alba has abundant phytochemicals, including phenolic acids, flavonoids, flavonols, anthocyanins, macronutrients, vitamins, minerals, and volatile aromatic compounds, indicating its excellent pharmacological abilities. M. alba also contains high nutraceutical values for protein, carbohydrates, fiber, organic acids, vitamins, and minerals, as well as a low lipid value. However, despite its excellent biological properties and nutritional value, M. alba has not been fully considered as a potential functional food ingredient. Therefore, this review reports on the nutrients and bioactive compounds available in M. alba leaves, fruit, and seeds; its nutraceutical properties, functional properties as an ingredient in foodstuffs, and a microencapsulation technique to enhance polyphenol stability. Finally, as scaling up to a bigger production plant is needed to accommodate industrial demand, the study and limitation on an M. alba upscaling process is reviewed.
The current study evaluated the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) producing ability from three novel strains of lactic acid bacteria (L. plantarum Taj-Apis362, assigned as UPMC90, UPMC91, and UPMC1065) co-cultured with starter culture in a yogurt. A combination of UPMC90 + UPMC91 with starter culture symbiotically revealed the most prominent GABA-producing effect. Response surface methodology revealed the optimized fermentation conditions at 39.0 °C, 7.25 h, and 11.5 mM glutamate substrate concentration to produce GABA-rich yogurt (29.96 mg/100 g) with desirable pH (3.93) and water-holding capacity (63.06%). At 2% glucose to replace pyridoxal-5-phosphate (PLP), a cofactor typically needed during GABA production, GABA content was further enhanced to 59.00 mg/100 g. In vivo study using this sample revealed a blood pressure-lowering efficacy at 0.1 mg/kg GABA dosage (equivalent to 30 mg/kg GABA-rich yogurt) in spontaneously hypertensive rats. An improved method to produce GABA-rich yogurt has been established, involving shorter fermentation time and lower glutamate concentration than previous work, along with glucose induction that omits the use of costly PLP, fostering the potential of developing a GABA-rich functional dairy product through natural fermentation with desirable product quality and antihypertensive property.
Developing a bioactive brew is a novel track for revalorization of palm date byproducts. The effect of roasting temperature (160, 180 and 200 °C ) and roasting time (10, 20 and 30 min) on the hardness of the roasted date seeds, moisture content of the defatted roasted date seed powder (DRDSP), bulk density of the DRDSP, color parameters of DRDSP, quality attributes (extraction yield, pH and browning index), the chemical properties (antioxidants and total phenolic content) and the sensory attributes (color, aroma, taste and overall preference) of the brew prepared from DRDSP was studied. The physicochemical, quality, and sensory attributes were found to be significantly influenced by the roasting temperature and time. Additionally, the models proposed could satisfactorily describe the changes in the different properties during the roasting process. The optimum conditions of the roasting process obtained using the superimposed contour plot were 199.9 °C and 21.5 min. In the longer term, the results of this study would be beneficial for the manufacturers of the date seeds powder and brew.
This study aimed to examine the effect of health consciousness, knowledge about healthy food, attitudes toward healthy food, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control on the intention to consume healthy food, which subsequently affects the consumption of healthy food among Malaysian young adults. The current study also examined the moderating effect of perceived barriers on the association between intention to consume healthy food and the consumption of healthy food. This study adopted a cross-sectional design and collected quantitative data from 1651 Malaysian young adults (between the age of 18 and 40 years) by sharing a Google form link through social media. The findings reveal that health consciousness, knowledge about healthy food, attitude toward healthy food, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control had a significant positive effect on the intention to consume healthy food. Findings also show that the intention to consume healthy food has a significant positive effect on the consumption of healthy food among Malaysian young adults. Furthermore, the findings reveal the positive and significant mediating effect of the intention to consume healthy food and the significant moderating effect of perceived barriers on the association between the intention to consume healthy food and the consumption of healthy food. The multi-group analysis revealed that the effect of perceived barriers on the consumption of healthy food and the moderating effect of perceived barriers were significantly higher among urban respondents. Health and agriculture policymakers should focus on the attributes of healthy eating practices and their health benefits to promote the mass adoption of healthy food among Malaysian young adults.
The key aroma constituents in the volatile fractions isolated FROM two differently processed fry breads by solvent-assisted flavor evaporation were characterized by an aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA). Twenty-two compounds were identified with flavor dilution (FD) factor ranges of 2-516. Among them, 13 compounds (FD ≥ 16) were quantified by stable isotope dilution assays and analyzed by odor activity values (OAVs). Of these, 11 compounds had OAVs ≥ 1, and the highest concentrations were determined for δ-decalactone and 2,3-butanedione. Two recombination models of the fry breads showed similarity to the corresponding fry breads. Omission tests confirmed that aroma-active constituents, such as δ-decalactone (oily/peach), 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (roasty/popcorn-like), 3-methylbutanal (malty), methional (baked potato-like), 2,3-butanedione (buttery), phenyl acetaldehyde (flowery), (E,E)-2,4-decadienal (deep-fried), butanoic acid, and 3-methylbutanoic acid, were the key aroma constituents of fry bread. In addition, 3-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (smoky) and 4-hydroxy-2,5-dimethyl-3(2H)-furanone were also identified as important aroma constituents of fry bread.
Selenium is an essential micronutrient with significant antioxidant activity promising in mitigating the formation of acrylamide during high-temperature roasting. In this study, green coffee beans pretreated with selenium (Se-coffee) were investigated on their selenium uptake, selenium retention in green and roasted beans, antioxidant activities, and formation of acrylamide during conventional and superheated steam roasting. Comparisons were made with positive (pretreated without selenium) and negative (untreated) controls. The acrylamide formation was significantly inhibited in Se-coffee (108.9-165.3 μg/kg) compared to the positive and negative controls by 73.9% and 52.8%, respectively. The reduction of acrylamide by superheated steam roasting only observed in the untreated coffee beans (negative control) by 32.4% parallel to the increase in its antioxidant activity. Selenium pretreatment significantly increased antioxidant activity of the roasted Se-coffee beans after roasting although soaking pretreatment significantly reduced antioxidant activity in the green beans. Acrylamide reduction in the roasted coffee beans strongly correlated with the change in antioxidant capacities after roasting (∆FRAP, 0.858; ∆DPPH, 0.836). The results indicate that the antioxidant properties of the organic selenium suppressed acrylamide formation during coffee roasting.
The present study focused on investigating the storage stability of oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions with high oil volume fractions prepared with palm olein-based diacylglycerol oil (POL-DAG)/soybean oil (SBO) blends at 25 °C. The incorporation of different ratios of oil blends significantly influenced (p < 0.05) the texture, color, droplet size distribution, and rheological parameters of the emulsions. Only emulsions incorporated with 10% to 20% POL-DAG in oil phase exhibited pseudoplastic behavior that fitted the Power Law model well. Furthermore, the O/W emulsions prepared with POL-DAG/SBO blends exhibited elastic properties, with G' higher than G". During storage, the emulsion was found to be less solid-like with the increase in tan δ values. All emulsions produced with POL-DAG/SBO blends also showed thixotropic behavior. Optical microscopy revealed that the POL-DAG incorporation above 40% caused aggregated droplets to coalesce and flocculate and, thus, larger droplet sizes were observed. The current results demonstrated that the 20% POL-DAG substituted emulsion was more stable than the control emulsion. The valuable insights gained from this study would be able to generate a lot more possible applications using POL-DAG, which could further sustain the competitiveness of the palm oil industry.
The moisture content of a powder is a parameter crucial to be controlled in order to produce stable products with a long shelf life. Inferential control is the best solution to control the moisture content due to difficulty in measuring this variable online. In this study, fundamental and empirical approaches were used in designing the nonlinear model-based inferential control of moisture content of coconut milk powder that was produced from co-current spray dryer. A one-dimensional model with integration of reaction engineering approach (REA) model was used to represent the dynamic of the spray drying process. The empirical approach, i.e., nonlinear autoregressive with exogenous input (NARX) and neural network, was used to allow fast and accurate prediction of output response in inferential control. Minimal offset (<0.0003 kg/kg) of the responses at various set points indicate high accuracy of the neural network estimator. The nonlinear model-based inferential control was able to provide stable control response at wider process operating conditions and acceptable disturbance rejection. Nevertheless, the performance of the controller depends on the tuning rules used.
Cold truck transportation is considered one of the most integral parts in a food processing chain. However, countless cases of product spoilage and food poisoning incidents have proven that temperature control during transport has been neglected. Literature on the impact of temperature during distribution is scarce. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of various transportation temperatures and travel duration on the meat quality and microbial population of broiler chicken breast muscle. Sixty broiler chickens (42 days old) were slaughtered and eviscerated; they then had their breast muscles removed (each bird provided two breast muscle samples: left breast and right breast), which were wrapped in plastic film. All 120 packed boneless breasts (PBBs) were then placed at -18 °C for 24 h. After 24 h, the 60 PBB samples were subjected to transportation for 1 h at 4 °C (20 PBBs), 10 °C (20 PBBs), and 15 °C (20 PBBs) while the remaining 60 samples were transported for 5 h at 4 °C (20 PBBs), 10 °C (20 PBBs), and 15 °C (20 PBBs) before analyses. The samples transported at higher temperatures exhibited higher populations of coliform and Salmonella than those transported at lower temperatures. A significant impact of the transportation duration on the Salmonella population was only observed in samples transported at 4 °C for 5 h. However, a significant impact of transportation temperature on color was only recorded for the redness (a*) values, where the samples transported at higher temperatures exhibited higher redness (a*) values. Significant increases in lightness (L*) and yellowness (b*) values as well as decreases in redness (a*) and pH values were recorded in samples subjected to longer durations of transportation across all the temperatures observed in this study.
The chicken egg is one of nature's flawlessly preserved biological products, recognized as an excellent source of nutrients for humans. Selenium (Se) is an essential micro-element that plays a key role in biological processes. Organic selenium can be produced biologically by the microbial reduction of inorganic Se (sodium selenite). Therefore, the possibility of integrating Se enriched bacteria as a supplement in poultry feed can provide an interesting source of organic Se, thereby offering health-related advantages to humans. In this study, bacterial selenoproteins from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia was used as a dietary supplement with other Se sources in Lohman brown Classic laying hens to study the egg yolk color, egg yolk and breast antioxidant profile, oxidative stability, and storage effect for fresh and stored egg yolk at 4 ± 2 °C for 14-days. The results showed that dietary Se supplementation significantly (p < 0.05) improved egg yolk color, the antioxidant profile of egg yolk, and breast meat (total carotenoid and phenol content). When the Se treated groups were compared to control groups, there was a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in total cholesterol in fresh and stored egg yolk and breast muscle. In hens that were fed ADS18-Se, the primary oxidation products (MDA) concentrations in the eggs, breast, and thigh muscle, and plasma were significantly (p < 0.05) lower. However, the MDA content increased (p < 0.05) with an extended storage time in egg yolk. In comparison to inorganic Se and basal diets, egg yolk from hens fed organic Se remained fresh for two weeks. The egg yolk color, antioxidant profile, and oxidative status of egg yolk and tissue improve with dietary Se organic supplementation (ADS18 > Se-Yeast). The source of supplemented organic Se is critical for egg enrichment and antioxidant properties. As a result, ''functional eggs'' enriched with organic Se becomes possible to produce.
Nowadays, the high demand for village chickens in Malaysia leads to the fraudulent substitution of indigenous chickens with other cheaper counterparts. Discriminating different chicken breeds based on their phenotypic characteristics is one strategy to avoid chicken adulteration. The main objective of this study was to authenticate and group dominant chicken breeds in Malaysia, including commercial chickens (Cobb, Hubbard, DeKalb) and cross-bred village chickens (Ayam Kampung, Akar Putra). The further discrimination of village chickens from underaged colored broilers (UCBs) (Hubbard, Sasso) was performed based on phenotype traits. The results showed that the breed had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on phenotypic characteristics, while the sex effect was not significant for some characteristics. In the first phase, the most remarkable discriminating factors were abdominal fat weight, breast muscle weight, chest circumference, shank length, and wingspan. However, in the second phase, notable variations in phenotypic characteristics between village chickens and UCBs were not detected. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed the successful separation of village chickens from high-performance breeds (broiler and colored broiler). Nevertheless, there was overlap among observations for Sasso and village chickens, which approved the possible similarities in their phenotypic characteristics. This study showed clear breed clustering, which leads to the chicken authentication based on their phenotypic characteristics.