Abstract

Sumac (Rhus coriaria) is a flowering plant that is widely consumed for its promoting health benefits and used in food preparations as a spice in the Mediterranean region. It is a high shrub or small tree with imparipinnate leaves, villus and red fruits with one-seeded drupe, and small greenish-white flowers. The nutraceutical and pharmaceutical potential of sumac makes it a remarkable functional food. In this review, the phytochemical and nutritional properties of sumac as an under valorized functional food have been discussed. Flavonoids, anthocyanins, phenolic acids, and organic acids have been reported as dominant phytochemicals in sumac, which are well known for their pharmacological properties that attract many consumers to commonly choose sumac in their diet as well as food preparations. The remarkable volatile compounds present in sumac give it a unique aroma that increases its acceptance by consumers and potential use in the food industry. Sumac has been evaluated for a broad range of nutritional and pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, anticancer, anti-infertility, and neuroprotective potential. This review has also briefly outlined the safety concerns concerning the use of sumac in terms of toxicology and interactions.

Introduction

Today, humanity and especially most communities in developing countries depend on medicinal plants as a valuable heritage for their primary health care and substances. Functional foods (FFs) are those foods that may promote health benefits beyond their supply of essential nutrients. Owing to its basic nutritional and nutraceutical properties, a functional food can decrease the risk of the onset of many chronic diseases, and can contribute to health[[1], [2]]. FFs can be considered as whole, fortified, enriched or enhanced foods that provide health benefits beyond the provision of essential nutrients (e.g., vitamins and minerals) when they are consumed at efficacious levels as part of a varied diet regularly[3]. Rhus coriaria, also called sumac, is a high shrub or small tree (1–3 m high) with imparipinnate leaves, villus, and red fruits with one-seeded drupe, and small greenish-white flowers organized in panicles[[4], [5]]. Given its nutritional value and its phytochemical components (flavonoids, flavones, anthocyanins, tannins, organic acids, fibre, proteins, volatile oils, nitrites, and nitrates), it has been used both as a spice and gives a sour lemon taste to various foods such as vegetables, meat dishes and rice then as a medicinal herb. It contains natural pigments such as anthocyanins and is used as coloring agents in food industry[[6], [7]]. Research efforts on sumac extracts to date indicate a promising potential of the species of this genus to provide bioproducts that have desirable biological activities: antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, antimicrobial, antitumorigenic, antioxidant, antiviral, hypoglycaemic, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, antimicrobial, antitumorigenic, antioxidant, and antiviral. In traditional medicine, this plant has been used in the treatment of many diseases such as cancer, stroke, diarrhoea, hypertension, dysentery, haematemesis, ophthalmia, stomach ache, diuresis, diabetes, atherosclerosis, measles, smallpox, aconuresis, teeth and gum ailments, headaches, animals bites, dermatitis and liver diseases[8]. Sumac may also have the potential for the prevention or treatment of atherosclerosis and its clinical manifestations. The target of this study was designed to evaluate sumac (R. coriaria) as an undervalorized functional food.

Conclusion

Due to the large variation in the bioactive and phytochemical content of sumac, sumac has a broad range of nutraceutical and pharmacological benefits. This makes sumac a rich functional food that can contribute to healthy living. In addition, the health promoting benefits associated with sumac can potentially increase its applications in different commercial products. More evidence and research are needed to explore the current nutritional benefits in humans through clinical trials. In fact, the more efforts could be applied to ensure that the phytochemical content of sumac is highly bioaccessible and bioavailable for more significant bioactivity. These efforts may be through encapsulating sumac and preparing different sumac formulations through complexation with other health promoting herbs or spices.

Introduction

Functional foods

Importance of food texture

Impact of prebiotics

Impact of probiotics

Final considerations

References

ABSTRACT

Functional food is the trend of the future, since our current science allows the manufacturing of processed products with health benefits beyond that of the original food, which meets the demand of the modern consumers. However, many functional ingredients may affect the products characteristics, including the texture, which is very important to the consumer’s acceptance. Probiotics (Lactobacillus spp., Bifidobacterium spp., etc) and prebiotics (inulin, fructooligosaccharides, Galactooligosaccharides, etc) are widely studied functional ingredients and may change the texture of the food, improving it or not. Studies are then focusing on developing functional products with improved textural characteristics associating the healthy feature with the sensory one, thus, adding great value for these products.

INTRODUCTION

The feeding habits play a fundamental role in human’s health. That is why so many people are concerned about their health and wellness, being the life quality a reflex of a healthy and balanced eating plus the practice of physical exercises. An alternative to a better eating is to aggregate ingredients with functional value to the daily menu. Recently, the advances in food technology allows the manufacturing of several different products, both in relation to the nutritional point of view and the sensory pleasantness. The modern consumers had been very conscious about what they are consuming, then, there is an actual demand for the manufacturing of functional products, which provide additional health benefits beyond that of the original product. However, there is another trend nowadays by consumers, which associate a product with several ingredients with unhealthy characteristics, mainly artificial additives or unknown ingredients [1]; therefore, they look for “clean label” products, with reduced number of ingredients. In this way, the food industry needs to reduce the addition of stabilizers and thickeners without compromising the food texture and taste.

1- Introduction

2- Methods

3- Results

4- Discussion

5- Conclusions and implications

References

Abstract

Food recovery is a key strategy to address food waste concerns. School nutrition programs have significant amounts of food waste; yet, little is known about the prevalence and feasibility of school food recovery. In this mixed methods study, we identify potential school food recovery options and relevant systems factors, such as policies, resources, barriers, and competing priorities. To achieve these objectives, we conducted pre-consumer food waste audits and measured all wasted food recovered or landfilled at 14 school kitchens across three Northern Colorado school districts. Additionally, we interviewed professionals engaged in food recovery (n = 8) and school nutrition and sustainability staff (n = 20). The results indicate that the majority of food waste is landfilled, but food donation through share tables and appropriation of milk to food banks prior to long school breaks were viewed as the most feasible food recovery options. Liability concerns, increased expenses over landfilling, inconsistent wasted food volumes, and policy confusion hindered food recovery. Interviewees also viewed priorities to promote food safety and quality of recovered food as barriers. Key facilitators of food recovery were the desire to facilitate a cultural change to normalize food recovery among students and volunteers or advocates to address the food recovery labor needs. Interview participants across the system agreed that the training process required to sort uneaten foods had secondary benefits of equipping the next generation with environmental stewardship habits. Study findings underscore the interconnected nature of food safety, economics, and food recovery, and also suggest that systems-level solutions are warranted.

Introduction

Food waste is a significant problem affecting the environment and the global population. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans produced 39 million tons of food waste in 2015, sending the majority of it to landfills (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2016a). Landfilled food is a key driver of climate change due to the greenhouse gas emissions during the production, distribution and refrigeration of wasted food (Springmann et al., 2018), as well as the methane and carbon dioxide emitted by landfilled food (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2016b). These gases change climate patterns which affect food production, water access, and exposure to health hazards (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2018) and warrants diverting food waste from landfills. In Colorado, seven million tons of solid waste are generated annually (Burns et al., 2016). In Colorado, 16.8 percent of residential and commercial waste is comprised of food, the second most common material landfilled following paper (Burns et al., 2016). The Larimer County landfill in Northern Colorado is predicted to reach capacity in 10 years if current and projected trends for disposal of solid waste continues (Sloan Vazquez McAfee Municipal Solid Waste Advisors, 2016). In order to better manage natural resources, the EPA developed the Food Recovery Hierarchy (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2016c). Food recovery refers to strategies to prevent and divert wasted food from landfill disposal (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2016c). Following the reduction of surplus food, the hierarchy recommends, in order of importance, feeding hungry people, feeding animals, industrial uses, and composting as landfill alternatives (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2016c). Important considerations for food donations are proper food handling and food safety (McFadden et al., 2015). There are also increasing food safety concerns with feeding food scraps to animals, and this practice has dwindled considerably since the 1980s when a number of animal-feed related disease outbreaks occurred (Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, 2016a).

1- Introduction

2- Experiment 1

3- Experiment 2

4- General discussion

References

Abstract

We conducted two event-related potentials (ERP) experiments to investigate consumers’ responses to different types of food bundles. In Experiment 1, the participants were instructed to indicate their wanting of a three-yogurt bundle when their neural activity was recorded. The results of self-report wanting scores revealed that the participants wanted bundles consisting of their favorite yogurt products more than those of disliked products. Such a difference in self-report scores was also indexed by the N2 in frontal brain and the P1 in the left hemisphere. By contrast, bundles consisting of three different yogurt products elicited a smaller amplitude of the N2 than bundles consisting of two favorite products and one disliked product, but these two types of bundles received comparable wanting scores. Moreover, we asked the participants in Experiment 2 to perform a visual discrimination task on these bundles, and did not found these effects on the N2 or the P1. Collectively, these results revealed neural activities underlying consumers’ responses to food rewards, and demonstrated the role of individuals’ variety-seeking tendency in wanting process.

GENERAL DISCUSSION

In summary, two major findings emerged from the present study. First, our results associated the N2 with wanting for food bundles, though this wanting effect was intertwined with liking (also see Goto et al., 2017; Telpaz et al., 2015). This result not only extended the scope from wanting for a single product to wanting for a bundle of multiple products, but also specifically linked people’s wanting for food bundles to smaller amplitude of the N2 in frontal region of the brain. Our results also associated wanting for food bundles with the posterior P1. To the best of our knowledge, the present study provides the first empirical evidence to link ERPs earlier than the N2 to wanting. This result associated the P1 to food-related cognitive processes (Becker et al., 2016), and is in line with the literature about that the P1 is sensitive to the influence of motivation (Cunningham et al., 2012; Hammerschmidt et al., 2017). Second, the results of this study revealed that the N2 may also index the differences in consumers’ responses to food rewards that cannot be easily captured by self-report ratings. That is, our results of self-report ratings did not reveal any significant difference between the 3M and 2F1D bundles, but our ERP results did reveal significant differences in the N2 elicited by these two types of food rewards. The dissociations between self-report ratings and ERPs we observed in this study are in line with the literature that people can generate motivation without conscious awareness (Winkielman, Berridge, & Wilbarger, 2005), and demonstrate that EEG signals are sensitive enough to capture the implicit processes of motivation processes (Jones, Childers, & Jiang, 2012; Pozharliev, Verbeke, van Strien, & Bagozzi, 2015).

Gluten-free (GF) pasta has gained worldwide consumption, especially by people with various forms of gluten intolerance or suffering from celiac disease. The latter represent around 1% of the population in Europe and in the USA (Catassi et al. 2015). The demand for GF food has recently increased also in Africa, although the prevalence of celiac disease in Africa remains unknown (Catassi et al. 2015). Rice flour has been widely used as a raw material in the preparation of GF products, because of its bland taste, white color, high digestibility, and hypoallergenic properties (Fabian and Ju 2011). Compared to wheat, rice flour has low protein content and a relatively poor ability to develop a cohesive network, which impairs its technological performance (Marti and Pagani 2013). Several studies have recently emphasized the need for improving the nutritional quality of cereal-based GF products, highlighting the low content in essential micronutrients of these products when compared with their wheat-based counterparts (Pellegrini and Agostoni 2015). This has prompted a search for additional and/or alternative raw materials—including minor cereals, psudocereals, and pulses—with high nutritional profile, that have been formulated into GF staple foods such as bread (Caldero´n de la Barca et al. 2010; Marti et al. 2017) and pasta (CabreraCha´vez et al. 2012; Marengo et al. 2015). In this frame, the addition of egg albumen represents an effective strategy to improve GF pasta products (Marti et al. 2014; Phongthai et al. 2017). Addition of egg albumen provides a simple and effective way for forming within GF products a protein network capable of minimizing solid losses upon cooking and to improve some rheological traits (such as firmness) in the cooked pasta (Marti and Pagani 2013; Marti et al. 2014). Soybean is an excellent source of proteins that may provide a number of desirable functional and technological beneficial effects, along with a balanced amino acid intake (Meinlschmidt et al. 2016). Orange-fleshed sweet potato is also an interesting ingredient for GF foods. Sweet potato is widely used to prevent vitamin A deficiency in Africa, due to its high content in b-carotene (Gurmu et al. 2014; Christides et al. 2015), and provides satisfactory sensory attributes and appropriate physical properties (Mahmoud and El Anany 2014). Additionally, sweet potato shows a relatively low amount of phytates and a high content of ascorbic acid, that positively affect micronutrient bioavailability (La Frano et al. 2014). However, preparation of rice-based GF pasta incorporating materials other than cereals may present difficulties, and much attention should be paid to the use of proper ingredients and of proper procedures in the pasta-making process (CabreraCha´vez et al. 2012; Barbiroli et al. 2013; Phongthai et al. 2017).

Food is an impressionable commodity bound to decompose timely (Gram et al. 2002). Usually, apart from the concerned factors (e.g., physicochemical alterations, variety of food, environment, etc.), microbial growth is critical for food spoilage. At the onset of spoilage, the product contains some bacteria that are involved in spoilage, the socalled specific spoilage organism, which produce a variety of extracellular enzymes (proteases, lipases, etc.) and other metabolites role in the food matrix. The SSOs are not only involved in the food spoilage, but also are the organisms responsible for the food spoilage to occur (Loureiro 2000; Ragaert et al. 2007). Pseudomonas is a sort of Gram negative bacterium, a psychrotroph bacterium which causes the spoilage of high-protein food, and it plays a key role in aquatic products spoilage (Lund et al. 2000). Various Gram negative bacteria have been reported to result in the decay of foodstuffs, and N-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs) have been found in decomposed food (Bruhn et al. 2004; Pinto et al. 2007). Quorum sensing (QS), intercellular communication system in bacteria, was used as a tool to monitor microbial population density and to control their physiological process (Ferkinghoff-Borg and Sams 2014). The supervision of specific behaviors depends on the production of the signaling molecule (Autoinducer, AI). In the present research, some kinds of AI have been reported. Gram negative bacteria usually utilize AHLs as AI-1 whereas the oligopeptide is the most common AI-2 in Gram positive bacteria (Chen et al. 2012; Kalia 2013; Papenfort and Bassler 2016), and the AI-3/epinephrine/norepinephrine and diketopiperazines (DKPs) signaling system. Various biological habits and physiological processes are controlled by QS system, including biofilm formation, bioluminescence, production of antibiotics and expression of virulence factors (Kim et al. 2008; Reading and Sperandio 2006; Wang et al. 2013). The autoinducers-1(AHLs) system was the first time to be discovered in the bioluminescence in Vibrio fischeri (Nealson et al. 1970). AHL signal molecule has a conserved homoserine lactone ring whereas the acyl side chain length varies from four to eighteen carbons and the substituent pattern (carbonyl group, hydroxyl or fully reduced) at the third position in the acyl side chain. AHL system is regulated by two proteins, LuxI, which is an AHL synthase, LuxR, which is the AHL receptor protein (Li Ying Tan and Chan 2012). AHL is a small molecular mass which can penetrate the cytomembrane and accumulate in the environment. When the density of signal molecules reaches a critical threshold, it combines with the LuxR-Type proteins and regulates the transcription genes in a variety of phenotypes (Reading and Sperandio 2006). These actions include anti-resistance, virulence factors in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and swarming migration in Rhizobium, Bacillus subtilis and Serratia liquefaciens (Daniels et al. 2004; Schuster and Greenberg 2006; Høiby et al. 2010).

The importance of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in human nutrition and disease prevention was scientifically recognized many years ago. Research have proved their prominent potential functions in preventing cardiovascular diseases, inflammation, cancer, and neurological disorders (Li et al., 2016; Liu et al., 2013; Simopoulos, 2002; Sun, Pigott, & Herwig, 2010). These health-promoting effects have been linked to the family of x-3 PUFA, mainly to eicosapentenoic acid (EPA, 20:5 x-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6 x-3).The traditional source of x-3 PUFA is fish oil. However, it has been reported that fish oil has negative aspects such as typically fishy smell, high content of cholesterol, and poor oxidative ability. Hence, it is of great significance to find new sources of x-3 PUFA (Deng et al., 2011; Renyao et al., 2017; Shen et al., 2012). The seal is one kind of marine mammals, which is widely distributed in countries near the polar region such as Canada, Norway, and Russia. Due to the cold living conditions, the fat layer of the seal is usually thicker than other mammals. Moreover, PUFA account for a reasonable part in the seal oil to keep the liquidity of the cell under the extremely cold environment. Therefore, seal is one of the new materials for the x-3 PUFA products. Besides, the seal oil is also rich in docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), which is seldom found in fish oil. DPA is the intermediate of metabolism and biosynthesis of PUFA and researches have indicated that DPA has different pharmaceutical functions from DHA and EPA. Studies had showed that seal oil was more effective than fish oil in reducing the risk of heart disease and diabetes due to the function of DPA (Conquer, Cheryk, & Chan, 1999; Lin, Wu, & Yue, 2014; Mu, Jin, & Xie, 2016). Some common procedures used to obtain PUFA concentrates are enzymatic purification, argentation silica gel chromatography, low temperature crystallization, supercritical fluid extraction, and urea complexation (Mu et al., 2016). However, only few are suitable for large-scale production (Ratnayake, Olsson, & Matthews, 2010; Senanayake & Shahidi, 2000; Shimada, Sugihara, & Tominaga, 2001). Urea complexation method has many advantages such as low cost, simple equipment, and mild conditions, which is an effective way to concentrate fatty acids with different degrees of unsaturation. The tetragonal conformation of urea in the natural state is converted to the hexagonal crystalline structure by forming a spiral-shaped channel with an average diameter of approximately 5.5–5.8 Å, thus making it possible to entrap smaller-sized linear chain-length molecules (Eaton, Vasanthan, & Shin, 1996; Vasanthan, Shin, & Huang, 1997). With this method, saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids can be easily removed as urea complexation compounds while leaving PUFA in the nonurea complexation fraction (NUCF). The main variables controlling urea complexation are —(i) oil composition, (ii) oil : urea ratio, (iii) temperature of crystallization, and (iv) time of crystallization. The oil composition refers not only to degree of unsaturation but also the class of lipids, that is, triacylglycerols, free fatty acids, or esters.

در مقاله پیش رو که از دیدگاه غذایی و بیماری شناسی بحث می کند، ممکن است چنین به نظر برسد که افزایش وقوع بیماری های مزمن غیر واگیر و همچنین التهابی با عادت های غذایی بد، کمبود فیبر در مواد غذایی، پر چرب و سرشار از کربوهیدرات های ساده و فراوری شده، در ارتباط است. این موضوع تاکیدی بر افزایش گسترش بیماری، اهمیت فلور میکروبی روده و مکانیزم کنترل فعال فرایندهای میکروبی و مدلسازی پاسخ های ایمنی است. بنابراین، این نگرانی از دوره بازسازی و حفظ فلور روده و ذخیره مواد پروبیوتیک همواره وجود داشته که موجب بقا و استفاده از مزایای روده سالم می شود. به این ترتیب، محققان و فعالان صنایع غذایی از گسترش تولید محصولات پریبیوتیک حمایت می کنند و سوای از قدرت رقابت بازار همواره به دنبال ارتقای مزایای سلامت، درمان و جلوگیری از بیماری آن ها هستند. این مقاله در برگیرنده مباحثی در رابطه با اثرات فیزیولوژیکی پروبیوتیک های شناخته شده، و قابلیت آن ها در تخمیر باکتریایی، محصولات جدید و ارائه روش هایی برای شناسایی عملکردهای پری و پروبیوتیک است.

مقدمه
تولید غذاهای کاربردی حاوی مواد پریبیوتیک، در زمانی که صنایع غذایی در سال های اخیر پیشرفت زیادی داشته و یک بازار بسیار امیدوار کننده است، نه تنها به دلایل اقتصادی بلکه از نظر علمی نیز مزایای زیادی دارد. مصرف کنندگان از رابطه بین تغذیه مناسب آگاه هستند و بطور فزاینده ای در جستجوی افزودنی های غذایی طبیعی و بهره مندی از مزایای سلامتی آن ها هستند. با هدف رضایتمندی بازار، برخی مواد پریبیوتیک، بخصوص اینولین و فروکتولیگوساکارید ، با دامنه وسیعی از مواد غذایی و نوشیدنی ها که بخش بزرگی از یک وعده غذایی روزانه هستند مشارکت می کنند از جمله آن ها می توان نان ها، غلات، رژیم های مکمل و غیره را نام برد. این مصرف کنندگان رو به رشد، می توانند در درک طعم این مواد غذایی و افزایش مزایای این مواد در سلامتی آن ها شریک باشند.

تقاضای مصرف کنندگان برای محصولات طبیعی و نیاز به فرآیندهای سازگار با محیط زیست، توسعه فرایندهای نوآورانه را برای سنتز طعم از طریق بیوتکنولوژی توسعه می دهد. در این راستا، کشت مخلوط مخمر صنعتی برای تخمیر حالت جامد پوست پرتقال (OP) انتخاب و مورد بررسی قرار گرفت. برای این منظور، از اتوکلاو استریل OP برای حذف D -limonene استفاده شد و میکروفلور طبیعی با توجه به قابلیت انقباض مخمر، مصرف مواد مغذی و توانایی سلول برای تولید ترکیبات طعم دهنده مورد بررسی قرار گرفت. OP غیر استریل نیز برای پیگیری جوانب مثبت و منفی به فرآیند استریلیزاسیون استفاده شد. سلول های مخمر عملکرد رشد بهتری را در شرایط فرآیند استریلیزه ، نسبت به موارد غیر استریلیزه نشان دادند. در اولین مورد، سنتز پیشرفته استرهای “میوه ای” بعد از 72 ساعت به ترتیب (48.7، 25.2، 9.3، 6.3 و 4.5) میلی گرم بر کیلوگرم از OP برای تهیه ایزوآمیل استات، اتیل دودکانوات، دکانوات، اکتانوات و فنیل اتیل استات تخمیر نمودند. سلولهای مخمر، سنتز اتیل هگزانوات (mg / kg 154.24 کیلوگرم در 48 ساعت) را سرعت بخشیدند. در این فرآیند، ممکن است تبدیل زیستی ترکیبات طعم دهنده به وسیله مخمر در نظر گرفته شود. فرایند پیشنهادی منجر به بازدهی صنعتی بالای استرهای مهم فرار طعم (کل 250 ~ میلی گرم بر کیلوگرم OP) می شود که می تواند به یک پالاینده زیستی پایدار برای ارزش گذاری مواد زائد OP به کار گرفته شود.