內容: Betalains are natural coloring pigments with betalamic acid as the core structure of all subclasses. Besides their coloring properties, betalains exhibit various biological activities, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which are highly imperative. Further in-vivo studies reported that betalains protect various body organs, leading to health enhancement. Body organs, including the heart, liver, kidney, lung, etc., are important for a healthy life. However, these organs can be affected or damaged by various stress factors, toxicants, and harmful substances. Recent studies have claimed that betalains could protect all vital organs of the body through antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms. This review article described the in-vivo antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of betalains in various cell-line or animal models. A comprehensive discussion has been provided on the mechanism of action of betalains in protecting various body organs, including cardio-protective effect, hepato-protective ability, renal protection capacity, repro-protective ability, neuro-protective effect, lung protection, and gut protection ability. Finally, future research directions and conclusions have been outlined.

內容: Maillard reaction (MR) is a non-enzymatic browning reaction commonly seen in food processing, which occurs between reducing sugars and compounds with amino groups. Despite certain advantages based on Maillard reaction products (MRPs) found in some food for health and storage application have appeared, however, the MR occurring in human physiological environment can produce advanced glycation end products (AGEs) by non-enzymatic modification of macromolecules such as proteins, lipids and nucleic acid, which could change the structure and functional activity of the molecules themselves. In this review, we take AGEs as our main object, on the one hand, discuss physiologic aging, that is, age-dependent covalent cross-linking and modification of proteins such as collagen that occur in eyes and skin containing connective tissue. On the other hand, pathological aging associated with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes and diabetic nephropathy, cardiovascular diseases and bone degenerative diseases have been mainly proposed. Based on the series of adverse effects of accelerated aging and disease pathologies caused by MRPs, the possible harm caused by some MR can be slowed down or inhibited by artificial drug intervention, dietary pattern and lifestyle control. It also stimulates people’s curiosity to continue to explore the potential link between the MR and human aging and health, which should be paid more attention to for the development of life sciences.

內容: Food allergens are mainly naturally-occurring proteins with immunoglobulin E (IgE)-binding epitopes. Understanding the structural and immunogenic characteristics of allergenic proteins is essential in assessing whether and how food processing techniques reduce allergenicity. We here discuss the impacts of food processing technologies on the modification of physicochemical, structural, and immunogenic properties of allergenic proteins. Detection techniques for characterizing changes in these properties of food allergens are summarized. Food processing helps to reduce allergenicity by aggregating or denaturing proteins, which masks, modifies, or destroys antigenic epitopes, whereas, it cannot eliminate allergenicity completely, and sometimes even improves allergenicity by exposing new epitopes. Moreover, most food processing techniques have been tested on purified food allergens rather than food products due to potential interference of other food components. We provide guidance for further development of processing operations that can decrease the allergenicity of allergenic food proteins without negatively impacting the nutritional profile.

內容: The black chokeberry is rich in polyphenols, including flavonoids with anthocyanins, flavanols and flavonols as the main components and a variety of phenolic acids represented by chlorogenic acid. Because of these polyphenols, black chokeberry has the effect of preventing and adjuvant therapy diseases. This study summarized the current research results on the types and contents of functional components in black chokeberry, and analyzed their digestion, absorption and metabolism in human body. On this basis, the disease control functions that have been proved effective in clinical research were reviewed and analyzed. These studies showed that black chokeberry have good prevention and adjuvant therapy effects on hyperlipidemia, hypertension, diabetes and inflammation. Because there are different functional components in black chokeberry, its prevention and treatment of the same disease can come from multiple pathways, which provides a more reliable effectiveness for the disease control of different populations.

內容: Globally, the prevalence of anxiety and depression has reached epidemic proportions. Food-derived protein hydrolysates and peptides delivered through dietary supplementation can avoid the negative risks associated with traditional pharmaceuticals while delivering superior anxiolytic and antidepressant effects. This review summarizes current research on food-derived anxiolytic and antidepressant protein hydrolysates and peptides, and subsequently analyses their physicochemical characteristics and elaborates on their mechanisms. The aim of this work is to contribute to the in-depth study and provide a theoretical foundation for the development of related products to better serve patients with anxiety and depression.

內容: Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is a tropical fruit that is widely consumed as both fresh fruits and processed products around the world. The high incidence of mango allergy, on the other hand, has sparked widespread concern. Therefore, a summary and analysis of the current status and issues in mango allergen research can guide in-depth study on the mechanism of mango allergy and reveal effective desensitization methods. We described the incidence of fruit allergy, as well as the mechanism and clinical symptoms of mango allergy, in this review. We also looked into the structural properties of mango allergens, the effect of processing methods on mango allergens, prediction methods for mango allergen epitopes, and the current state of research on mango cross-reactive allergens and preventive measures. Finally, the research directions and ideas for the future are proposed and discussed.

內容: The Nutri-Score is a 5-color front-of-pack nutrition label designed to provide consumers with an easily understandable guideline to the healthiness of food products. The impact that the Nutri-Score may have on consumers’ choices is unclear since different experimental paradigms have found vastly different effect sizes. In the present study, we have investigated how student participants change a hypothetical personal 1-day-dietary plan after a learning phase during which they learn about the Nutri-Scores of the available food items. Participants were instructed to compose a healthy diet plan in order that the question of whether the Nutri-Score would improve their ability to compose a healthy dietary plan could be investigated, independent of the question of whether they would apply this knowledge in their ordinary lives. We found a substantial (Cohen’s d = 0.86) positive impact on nutritional quality (as measured by the Nutrient Profiling System score of the Food Standards Agency) and a medium-sized (Cohen’s d = 0.43) reduction of energy content. Energy content reduction was larger for participants who had initially composed plans with higher energy content. The results suggest that the Nutri-Score has the potential to guide consumers to healthier food choices. It remains unclear, however, whether this potential will be reflected in real-life dietary choices.

內容: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a complex relapsing inflammatory disease in the gut and is driven by complicated host-gut microbiome interactions. Gut commensals have shown different functions in IBD prevention and treatment. To gain a mechanistic understanding of how different commensals affect intestinal inflammation, we compared the protective effects of 6 probiotics (belonging to the genera Akkermansia, Bifidobacterium, Clostridium, and Enterococcus) on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice with or without gut microbiota. Anti-inflammatory properties (ratio of interleukin (IL)-10 and IL-12) of these strains were also evaluated in an in vitro mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) co-culture system. Results showed that 4 probiotics (belonging to the species Bifidobacterium breve, Bifidobacterium bifidum, and Enterococcus faecalis) can alleviate colitis in normal mice. The probiotic strains differed in regulating the intestinal microbiota, cytokines (IL-10, IL-1β and interferon (IFN)-γ), and tight junction function (Zonulin-1 and Occludin). By constrast, Akkermansia muciniphila AH39 and Clostridium butyricum FHuNHHMY49T1 were not protective. Interestingly, B. breve JSNJJNM2 with high anti-inflammatory potential in the MLN model could relieve colitis symptoms in antibiotic cocktail (Abx)-treated mice. Meanwhile, E. faecalis FJSWX25M1 induced low levels of cytokines in vitro and showed no beneficial effects. Therefore, we provided insight into the clinical application of probiotics in IBD treatment.

內容: α-Glucosidase inhibitors are effective in controlling postprandial hyperglycemia, which play crucial roles in the management of type 2 diabetes. Protocatechuic acid (PCA) is one of phenolic acids existing not only in various plant foods but also as a major microbial metabolite of dietary anthocyanins in the large colon. The present study investigated the inhibitory mechanism of PCA on α-glucosidase in vitro and examined its effect on postprandial blood glucose levels in vivo. Results from in vitro experiments demonstrated that PCA was a mix-type inhibitor of α-glucosidase. Driven by hydrogen bonds and van der Waals interactions, PCA reversibly bound with α-glucosidase to form a stable α-glucosidase-PCA complex in a spontaneous manner. The computational simulation found that PCA could insert into the active cavity of α-glucosidase and establish hydrogen bonds with catalytic amino acid residues. PCA binding aroused the steric hindrance for substrates to enter active sites and caused the structural changes of interacted catalytic amino acid residues. PCA also exhibited postprandial hypoglycemic capacity in diabetic mice. This study may provide the theoretical basis for the application of PCA as an active ingredient of functional foods in dietary management of diabetes.

內容: In this study, umami taste intensity (UTI) and umami taste components in chicken breast (CB) and chicken-spices blends were characterized using sensory and instrumental analysis. Our main objective was to assess the aroma-umami taste interactions in different food matrices and reconcile the aroma-taste perception to assist future product development. The impact of key aroma, including vegetable-note “2-pentylfuran”, meaty “methional”, green “hexanal”, and spicy-note “estragole and caryophyllene” on UTI was evaluated in monosodium glutamate and chicken extract. We found that spices significantly decreased UTI and umami taste components in CB. Interestingly, the perceptually similar odorants and tastants exhibited the potential to enhance UTI in food matrices. Methional was able to increase the UTI, whereas spicy and green-note components could reduce the UTI significantly. This information would be valuable to food engineers and formulators in aroma selection to control the UTI perceived by consumers, thus, improving the quality and acceptability of the chicken products.