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Recent Advances in Food Science – RAdvFoodSci 2022; Vol 5; Issue 2 (30 June)

Guinea corn (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) and Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L) R. Br. are cereals widely planted and consumed as staples in Nigeria. Mycotoxigenic fungal contamination of these grains during storage can present food safety risks to consumers due to the presence of mycotoxins. The objective of this research was to evaluate through toxicological studies in wistar rats, the effect of consumption of mycotoxigenic fungal-contaminated guinea corn and pearl millet, and the possible public health risks. A total of 32 pooled samples (17 sorghum and 15 pearl millet) of these grains were taken from two major markets in each of the states in South West Nigeria. The samples were analyzed for fungi using malt extract agar. Two – three (2-3) weeks old Wistar rats were employed for the toxicological studies. Histological and haematological analysis were performed on kidney, liver, heart and blood respectively. Mycotoxigenic molds isolated from the grain samples were Fusarium verticillioides, F. coffeatum, F. fujikuroi, Aspergillus niger,  and A. aculeatus. These molds have been implicated in the production of both regulated and unregulated mycotoxins. The toxicological studies in Wistar rats showed histological abnormalities of the kidney, liver and heart compared to the control. Statistical analysis of the total white blood cells (neutrophils and lymphocytes) of the treatment groups compared to the control showed a significant difference (p<0.01), indicating inflammation and pathogenesis. The presence of mycotoxigenic fungi in both grains in this study suggest that the consumption of S. bicolor and P. glaucum in South West Nigeria is a source of public health concern.

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Recent Advances in Food Science – RAdvFoodSci 2021; Vol 4; Issue 3 (30 September)

Guinea corn (Sorghum bicolor) and Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) marketed in South West Nigeria were investigated the for occurrence of mycotoxigenic fungi. A total of 32 pooled samples (17 sorghum and 15 millet) were taken from two major markets in each of the states in South-West Nigeria. Fungi were isolated from the grains on malt extract agar and identified by molecular method. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) with Internally Transcribed Spacer (ITS) primers (ITS 1 and ITS 4) using DNA ladder (100bp – 3000bp) showed that the isolates were fungi while the DNA extraction with β-tubulin confirmed the presence of Aspergillus species and TEF1 gene confirmed Fusarium species. Gene sequencing of the amplicons identified predominantly Fusarium verticillioides, Fusarium coffeatum, Fusarium fujikuroi, Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus aculeatus. The nucleotide sequence data were submitted to the GenBank and were provided GenBank accession numbers. Some strains of these fungi have been known to be mycotoxigenic, with food safety implications.

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Recent Advances in Food Science – RAdvFoodSci 2020; Vol 3; Issue 3 (30 September)

In this review, recent developments in Fusarium toxicosis were discussed. Health implication on human and animals as well as adverse effects on international trade were extensively discussed. Major role of climate change inconsistencies and instability in the mapping of Fusarium toxins and the recent attention gained on emerging mycotoxins were presented. The cancer producing potentials of some of the toxins to man and livestock makes the attention on the species an attraction world wide.Several determination and detection techniques  such as  ELISA and LC/MS/MS were highlighted. In addition, various intervention methods such as chemical, biological and cultural methods to control the infestation of Fusarium and the toxins were discussed.

Recent Advances in Food Science – RAdvFoodSci 2020; Vol 3; Issue 2 (30 June)

Cucumber peel has high amounts of chlorophylls (Chl), a natural pigment. However, the valorization of this agri-food waste has been little explored. The present work aims to develop and characterize biohybrids (BH) based on Chl from cucumber peel and laponite® (Lap). Chl from acidified juice (pH = 1) were completely recovered using Lap at 20 °C. After Chl adsorption, the BH had a yellow color and amorphous structure. X-ray diffractograms suggest that Chl were adsorbed between the Lap layers. Yellow color in the BH suggests the pheophytinization of Clh in acid pH. The BH color changed according to temperature/time and it could be used as a food colorant or to manufacture intelligent materials. The current research reports new information about the valorization and application of Chl from cucumber peel for the food sector.

Balangu oil is the main component of the Balangu seeds and has functional properties for human health. The main aim of this study was to optimize the ultrasonic-shaking incubation process for improving the quality of extracted oil and the recovery of oil extraction. To obtain this goal, the effects of sonication time (0-60 min), incubation time (20-180 min), and extraction temperature (25–55˚C) were investigated on the extraction yield (EY), peroxide value (PV), total phenolic content (TPC), and color parameters of L, a, and b of the extracted oil. The results of this study showed that the optimal treatment of the USI extraction process in order to achieve the highest values of parameters of EY, TPC, L, a and b color parameters and the lowest value of PV index, has a specification of 48h sonication time, 120min incubation time and the temperature of 42˚C.

This study aimed to evaluate some wheat varieties of local Egyptian wheat (Gemmiza7, Misr1 and local mixture) and imported wheat (Russian and Romanian varieties) to use for local consumption such as: bread, bakery products, macaroni industry, etc.. All wheat varieties were milled to get the whole meal flours (100% extraction rate). Physical and chemical properties were determined. The physical estimations were performed to measure the quality of wheat varieties, the items include the determined percentage of undamaged kernels, shrunk kernels, broken kernels and calculate the impurity percentage between all wheat varieties samples. Physicochemical properties included parameters such as gluten quantity and quality, α-amylase activity, Pleshenke value and Sedimentation volume were evaluated. Chemical analysis including chemical composition of wheat samples were also considered. The results showed convergence in quality attributes relative to physical properties of Egyptian and imported wheat varieties samples. Gluten quantity and quality of wheat varieties showed that Misr1 wheat variety has a higher value compared with other the local and imported varieties. The falling numbers of all samples less than 400sec for the Pleshenke values demonstrated that the strength of gluten imported varieties, while his weakness in the local varieties. The results and statistical analysis revealed that, there were a significant differences between Egyptian and imported wheat varieties in relation to moisture and protein contents, but there are no significant differences between all samples with regard to ash, fat and total carbohydrate contents.

The aim of this study was to determine technology mode through modeling and optimizing the low-temperature vacuum drying process of potato. Based on that, the optimal technology had been set up for low temperature vacuum drying. Potatoes were blanched at 950C for 3 minutes and dried in optimal technology mode: drying temperature was 38.770C, drying environment pressure was 0.02mmHg, drying time was 9.36h. Potatoes after drying in this optimal mode were consumed energy cost of 3.82kWh / kg, moisture content was 4.03%, brittleness was 7.675N and the increase in fiber content was 38.15%. It could be seen that the product after drying was good quality, the humidity reached requirement and the energy cost was at the lowest level.

 

Recent Advances in Food Science – RAdvFoodSci 2020; Vol 3; Issue 1 (30 March)

The aim of this research was to develop and solve the experimental mathematical model which described the cold-drying process to produce pennywort powder product. Results obtained were to build the multi-objective optimization for cold-drying process of pennywort and the product after drying was good quality, the moisture content was met requirement and the energy cost reached lowest level. The technological mode of cold-drying process for pennywort was found out by solving multi-objective optimization as follow: the optimal drying temperature was 44.24⁰C, the optimal drying time was 14.12hours and the optimal drying velocity was 12.83m/s. Corresponding to these optimal factors, the solute concentration reached the minimum value of 11.31%; moisture content reached the minimum value of 3.65%; ΔE of 2.056 while the energy consumption for 1kg final product reached the minimum value of 1.1 kWh / kg.

In this article, the immunomodulatory, antioxidantive, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, anti-hypertensive, anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, mineral-binding and cholesterol-lowering effects and opioid activities of physiologically active or bioactive peptides are discussed. Specific and small protein particles that have a positive impact on human metabolism or body conditions are called bioactive peptides. Bioactive peptides primarily affect gastrointestinal system, nervous system, cardiovascular system and immune system. These peptides are very important for pharmaceuticals and functional food formulations because of their beneficial properties for human health. Empiric and bioinformatics studies have provided important informations and nowadays, thousands of bioactive peptides identified.

In recent years, nanotechnological improvements are promising for the future. Nanoscience and nanotechnology have various applications and improvements notably for computer, electronic, textile and drug industry. Moreover, of high importance are the applications of these technologies for the agricultural and food engineering areas. Actually, the most important point, in the improvement of nanotechnology is the multidisciplinary study of all these sciences. The improvement of nanotechnology in the food industry is slower owing to the fact that foods are complex materials. Despite this fact, this technology has important area of uses in the food industry. Using of nanomaterials and nanodevices important improvements were recorded. Among the food chain, nanotechnology has a bright role in four major areas. These areas, where nanotechnology can be present and important are: food processing at nano- and microscale; developing of novel functional food materials; transport of bioactive materials and their smart release system and improving shelf life by developing new food packaging products. So, at this point, engineering applications and developing these applications are very important for nanotechnology. However, it should be remembered that nanoparticles created with nanotechnology applications, which have opened a whole new universe in the food industry, can form toxic compounds so human health can be adversely affected.

Multiple Traffic Light (MTL) could alert excess of saturated fat, sugar or sodium in food products. The aim of this research was to study the saturated fat, sugar and sodium contents informed in the principal biscuit labels commercialized in Brazil, as well to understand some biscuit consumer habits of Brazilian people, and finally, to propose new labels according to the MTL model for biscuits with excess of saturated fat, sugar or sodium. The saturated fat, sugar and sodium contents of the principal biscuits commercialized in Brazil was studied. Also, a cross-sectional study with 100 interviewees aged between 18 and 60 years old was conducted. One hundred percent of biscuit labels studied have high or medium contents of saturated fat, sugar or sodium. A high frequency of biscuit consumption by interviewees without and with non-communicable diseases was observed. Also, it was observed that Brazilian interviewees are not understanding the information contained in biscuit labels. It is possible to suggest the necessity of more studies, as well as the implementation of MTL model in biscuit labels commercialized in Brazil.

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Recent Advances in Food Science – RAdvFoodSci 2019; Vol 2; Issue 4 (30 December)

Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) mainly contains protein, oil, fiber, and ash. DDGS could have more economic value and wider use if it could be separated into higher protein fraction and higher fiber fraction. Various ways have been explored in recent years, and two of the most effective processes are sieving and winnowing. In the present work, the optimization of three parameters of a gravity separator (side slope, eccentric shaft vibration, and the air flow rate), was conducted to separate DDGS. DDGS was firstly sieved into five size categories, then three categories and raw DDGS were further separated into light, mid-light, mid-heavy and heavy fractions using the gravity separator. By adjusting the three parameters, four combinations were tested. After nutrient analysis, the best parameters were determined: the eccentric shaft vibration was 420 rpm, the side slope was 5o, the airflow rate was 0.8890 m/s, and the DDGS category was 0.425-2.000 mm. This process was found to be effective in getting substantial fractions enriched in protein and oil.

Recent trends in the contamination of cereal grains by mycotoxins were reported with respect to public health concerns. Mycotoxins are toxic fungal secondary metabolites, poisonous to humans and animals, and having maize, guinea corn, millet and rice as candidate crops. Reports on some regulated mycotoxins such as aflatoxins, fumonisins, ochratoxin, zearalenone, and some emerging ones like moniliformin and citrinin are highlighted, with Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium and Alternaria as major producers. Although high-level occurrence in cereals in Nigeria have been documented, risk assessment estimates for consumers have only been done on the major mycotoxins with more focus on individual toxins.  This review represents a synthesis from a recent data collected on mycotoxin contamination of some of the grains consumed as major staples in Nigeria, and the possible health effect on consumers through the analysis of the risk assessment estimates. It also touches on the possibility of guiding government policy on international trade.

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Recent Advances in Food Science – RAdvFoodSci 2019; Vol 2; Issue 3 (30 September)

Energy drink (ED) is popular and widely consumed among athletes and young adults. This study was design to assess the effects of caffeinated energy drink on neuro-histo-architecture of frontal cortex (FC), lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzymes and astrocyte proliferation. Twenty (25) adult male Wistar rats were divided as follows (n=5); Group A= Control, Group B= 2ml of energy drinks for 21days, Group C=2ml of energy drinks for 21days + 7days withdrawal, Group D= 4ml for 21days and Group E= 4ml of energy drinks for 21days + 7days withdrawal. ED was given orally. Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and Malondialdehyde (MDA) activities were assayed in the brain and serum, brain tissue was processed for histology and astrocytes immunohistochemistry. Results obtained show that ED treatment group had dose-dependent effects on neuronal morphology disruptions, vacuolation in the neuropil, loss of Nissl granules and necrotic neurons compared with the control and recovery groups characterized by normal neurons and gradually regenerating neurons. Astrocytic proliferation seen in the ED treated groups as compared to the Groups A, C and E. MDA activity increased in both brain and serum of ED treated group as compared with the control @ P<0.05. SOD in brain and serum increase significantly in Groups B and D as to compared to A, C and D at P<0.05. The ratio of MDA to SOD activity shows that MDA increased significantly compared with the SOD in all the ED treatment groups. Caffeinated energy drink has the ability to potentiate oxidative stress in neurons while activating anti-inflammatory response of glia cells, withdrawal aids neuron regeneration.

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Recent Advances in Food Science – RAdvFoodSci 2019; Vol 2; Issue 1 (30 March)

Freeze drying process is the drying method which preserves the original biological characteristics of products with high quality compared to other drying methods, providing high efficiency during usage. According to Ba TD [7], natto is known as a product extracted from soybeans fermented by Bacillus subtilis (natto) bacteria. It is used as a functional food to support stroke people, and used to prevent the disease. Therefore, the freezing drying process was used to study the impacts of factors such as: drying temperature, freezing water temperature, pressure, material thickness for preservation of the nutritional composition and biological characteristics of natto composition. Besides it determines the technological parameters (thickness of product: 11mm, the temperature of the product before freeze drying: -26°C; the pressure in the chamber sublimation: 0.008mmHg, sublimation chamber temperature: 38°C) during freeze drying process to increase the velocity of the drying process and shorten the drying time, thereby reducing the energy costs of drying.

 

In this review, Pickering stabilization using different type of edible particles, mainly focusing on the proteins, preparation and surface-active properties of these particles were explained. The surface activity properties of colloidal particles can be explained with Pickering stabilization mechanism. Pickering stabilization tells that particles are often more efficient in stabilizing emulsions or foams than low molecular weight surfactants due to the adsorption of particles irreversibly at the interface and creating a mechanical barrier. As emulsions and foams are widely used in food industry, use of food-grade particles has increasing interest. Colloidal food-grade particles, particularly protein particles, can be prepared by a variety of methods including heat-set, cold-set, enzymatic or chemical cross-linking gelation. All these methods allow changing the functional properties of particles, one of which is the surface activity. As the use of food-grade particles is recent in Pickering systems, stabilization mechanism of Pickering emulsions (at oil/water interface) or foams (at air/water interface) was addressed.

The purpose of this research is to find out the optimal freezing mode of royal jelly in Viet Nam to apply to the freeze-drying process. The experiments of freezing process were carried out freezing royal jelly by different plans. The data of those experimental plans obtained was used to build the multi-goal optimization problem to describe the freezing process of royal jelly in the first stage of the sublimated drying process. The multi-goal optimization problem was solved by Lagrange method, and results of these problem were found out the optimal freezing mode as follow: The temperature of freezing environment was -40.46oC, the freezing time was 1.63h and the thickness of royal jelly 12.93mm. Corresponding to these factors, the water inside royal jelly was completely crystallized (the rate of freezing water was w(TFopt) of 1 or w(TFopt) of 100%), the optimal freezing temperature of royal jelly was TFopt of -18.33oC and the energy consumption of 1 kg final product reached the minimum value of 0.28 kWh/kg.

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Recent Advances in Food Science – RAdvFoodSci 2018; Vol 1; Issue 4 (30 December)

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a man-made chemical used in manufacturing a wide range of commonly consumer products. This study reports on the dietary exposure of adults people in Yaoundé, Cameroon to BPA. One hundred and thirty water, soft drink and table-ready food samples were collected from households and street restaurants and analyzed for BPA contents using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. BPA (range, 0.007-52 ng.g-1) was detected in 99.23% of samples. BPA concentrations in 66.66% canned foods and 12.5% foods in plastic containers were above the specific migration limit established by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).The mean concentrations of BPA in water, soft drink and food group samples were 10.39; 1.017 and 13.45 ng.g-1 respectively. The highest average daily intakes (ADIs) of BPA in respective categories were through tap water (72 µg.day-1), bottle soft drink (0.231 µg.day-1) and rice food-base mixed dishes (2638.8 µg day-1) consumption. The estimated average daily exposure doses (ADED) with respect to gender (women, 0.498 µg.kg-1 body weight day-1; men, 0.658 µg.kg-1 bw.day-1), professional status (range, 0.56-0.84 µg.kg-1 bw.day-1) and in the sample of population studied (0.622 µg.kg-1 bw.day-1) were below the provisional tolerable daily intake (PTDI). The highest ADED (3.591 µg.kg-1 bw.day-1) in the population, represented 89.77% of the PTDI. Nevertheless, as an endocrine disruptor, the margin of exposure ˂ 100, indicates health risk concern associated with continuous ingestion of such contaminated beverages and foods. The data of this first report in Central Africa, speculate need for awareness towards reducing exposure levels of BPA in Cameroon.

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Recent Advances in Food Science – RAdvFoodSci 2018; Vol 1; Issue 3 (30 September)

Protein from legumes are excellent sources of bioactive peptides. Enzymatically derived bioactive peptides from legume proteins display a spectrum of biological activities ranging from nutraceutical to therapeutic potential. Consequently, these peptides possess excellent health promoting properties and potentially prevent many diseases making them extremely suitable for nutraceutical applications. Literature also revealed that the legume proteins: such as soy, lupin, chickpea, yellow pea, common bean and lentil proteins display direct health promoting properties and/or their consumption leads to the production of bioactive peptides by digestive enzymes. Therefore, the direct consumption of legume protein and the food containing such protein provides functional benefits. Literature reviewed in this article showed significant bioactivities of soy protein hydrolysates including the prevention of liver, lung and colon cancer. Soybean peptides are widely used as functional foods to improve the health benefits of many food products. Lupin, yellow pea and chickpea protein hydrolysates have also displayed potent cholesterol lowering, anti-inflammatory, ACE inhibitory, immunomodulatory and antitumor properties. This review highlights the functional applications of legume protein and the nutraceutical applications of legume protein derived bioactive peptides. In this arena of developing extremely beneficial bioactive peptides from food protein, it is necessary to understand the structure-activity relationship of these important biomolecules. A thorough knowledge of such a relationship will provide cues for the selection of suitable enzymes to produce extremely active peptide structures from the known food protein sequences. This review has therefore devoted significant attention to structure-activity relationship of bioactive peptides. This review also highlights the importance of structure determination tools such as NMR spectroscopy as many of the food derived peptide structures are yet to be determined.

In order to achieve a product with considerable nutritional advantages and appropriate preservability, the industrial peach syrup production has been taken into consideration. The essential point is that being aware of the exact and complete rheological properties of this product, especially its time-dependent rheological (TDR) behaviour, will play a key role in quality control and designing apparatus for industrial factories manufacturing this product. In this study, the TDR behaviour of peach syrup was investigated using a Brookfield viscometer at two concentration levels of 40 and 50 °Brix, three temperature levels of 15, 25, and 45 °C, and three shear rate (SR) levels of 20, 35, and 50 l/s. To examine the influences of the mentioned independent parameters, the graphs of shear stress (SS) versus SR and apparent viscosity (AV) versus time of applying the SR were plotted. The analysis of these graphs specified that as temperature and SR rose or the time of applying a constant SR passed, the AV of peach syrup lessened. In order to designate the TDR behaviour of peach syrup, first order stress decay model with a zero-equilibrium stress value, first order stress decay model with a non-zero equilibrium stress value, Weltman and second-order structural kinetic models were used. The results revealed that the Weltman model with an R2 equal to 0.9610 was the best model to describe the TDR behaviour of peach syrup from among the four models used. In this model, with the SR increasing, the values of parameter A (initial SS) and parameter B (describing a time-dependent behaviour and extent of structure breakdown) improved. Generally, the results displayed that peach syrup had a non-Newtonian time-dependent behaviour of the thixotropic type.

Literature data show that about 60% of the world’s population suffers from food intolerance to at least one food antigen. This intolerance can cause various symptoms – mainly digestive disturbances, but also skin irritations, neurological disturbances, musculoskeletal symptoms, etc., which need to be diagnostically clarified. In most cases, allergen consumption causes an exacerbation of clinical signs. For food intolerance, the presence of specific IgE and IgG antibodies can be observed. Some subclasses of IgG (mainly IgG4) inhibits the degranulation of basophils and mast cells and the activation of the complement cascade. However, various studies have shown that people with inflammatory and alimentary intolerance have had IgG directed against food antigens alone, but not IgE. On the other hand, skin tests are rarely positively influenced by food allergies that are mainly bound to IgE antibodies. Moreover, IgE-related food allergy develops within the next hour after food intake, while intolerability to food allergens and specific IgG/IgG4 antibodies show a delayed response of 24 to 120 hours, and persistent symptoms may occur. This is also beneficial in testing patients in a more distant period of consumption of certain food allergens. Provocative and elimination diets may be used as additional diagnostic tools for food intolerance. Unfortunately, they depend heavily on motivation and performance of patients. The aim/purpose of this review is to describe the available methods for food intolerance diagnostics, particularly the determination of specific IgG antibodies to food antigens, and compare their usefulness in clinical practice as reliable diagnostic tools.

 

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Recent Advances in Food Science – RAdvFoodSci 2018; Vol 1; Issue 2 (30 June)

The aim of this study was to determine the minimum value of the loss of 10-HDA (10-Hydroxy-2-Decenoic Acid) inside royal jelly product of the freeze drying in Vietnam. By the experimental plan method, the relationship between the loss of 10-HDA of royal jelly and technological factors in the freeze-drying process such as temperature and pressure of environmental freeze drying; time of freeze drying process was built and solved. The results were found out optimal factors as follow: the optimal temperature of environmental freeze drying of 19.82 0C, the optimal pressure of environmental freeze drying of 0.569 mmHg and the optimal time of the freeze-drying process of 18.403 h. Corresponding to these parameters, the minimum value of the loss of 10-HDA was 0.72% and the residual water content of final product was 4.282% under 4.5%. These optimal parameters are really essential to set up the technological mode of the freeze-drying process royal jelly for preservation in Vietnam.

 

The aim of this research work was to isolate and characterise lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from ugba, a traditional fermented food in Nigeria; and to evaluate their biopreservative potential in the preservation of the product. Twenty LAB isolates were isolated and biochemically characterized from the fermented food product and they were phenotypically identified. The use of molecular method, pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was used in obtaining genomic discriminations and similarities among them, using Sma1 restriction enzyme for genomic DNA digestion. The PFGE analysis yielded three main clusters based on their finger print patterns when electrophoresed in agarose gel. Two of the LAB isolates Lactobacillus plantarum and L. salivarius that produced considerable concentrations of lactic and acetic acids, 25.18 and 2.82g per 107 CFU respectively, were chosen as starter cultures to evaluate their biopreservative potential on ugba during production and storage. The samples inoculated and uninoculated with the starter cultures were stored for 120 h, during which bacteria and fungi counts were monitored. Samples inoculated with LAB cultures recorded at least I log reduction in the total bacteria and fungi counts when compared with the uninoculated control samples; this indicates that suitable LAB cultures could be used in the biopreservation of the fermented food product. It was concluded that a good number of LAB were associated with ugba, and suitable strains may possess biopreservative potential for use as biological agents of preservation in the traditional fermented food product, ugba.

 

It has been widely accepted that the first years of life are key determinants of future adult height. Japan suffered very severe food shortages during WW II and the first few years of the post-war period, followed by a quick recovery and steady and rapid economic progress toward the early 1990s. Children in Japan grew in height from the mid-1950s onward. Young adults in their early 20s in the 1960s were born in the mid-1940s, during a period of extreme shortage of food supply, but grew up in the late 1950s, with increasing food supply. Those cohorts born during the war years are found to show exceptionally large growth velocity during late adolescence, indicating the actual chances for “catch-up growth” even after the puberty spurt.

 

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Recent Advances in Food Science – RAdvFoodSci 2018; Vol 1; Issue 1 (30 March)


There is increasing evidence that changes in the environment and in the human health have a strong relationship with the use of pesticides. Wild populations of birds, freshwater fish, amphibians, reptiles, insects and several other species are declining at an alarming speed. Society has tried to protect man and his environment with maximum tolerated levels of pesticides in soil and water and in food. However, these limits are rather a result of wishful thinking than of scientific scrutiny. The authorization procedures for pesticides have fully ignored the impact of cumulative toxicity. The toxicity of many pesticides is determined not only by dose but also by exposure time, and in some cases, such as the neonicotinoid pesticides, toxicity is even reinforced by exposure time. The alarming truth is that the dose-time-response relationship of the most pesticides is fully unknown, since this information is not required in official authorization procedures. The consequence of time-dependent toxicity is that for many pesticides the current maximum tolerated levels may seriously underestimate actual risk. These chemicals need to be identified and removed from the market as soon as possible. Testing should be performed by independent organizations and authorization data should become accessible for the public. At the same time, organic farming should be stimulated in which synthetic pesticides are not used altogether. Almost 185.000 organic farms in Europe prove that this is a good alternative.


Background: Uganda is a country where public health concerns include malnutrition at the forefront. We sought to assess the association between food insecurity and under-nutrition, as well as the more novel association with over-nutrition in Ugandan children. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 1,612 households was conducted in a rural sub-county of East Central Uganda from July to August 2016. Eligible participants were adults aged 18-54. 559 households received mid-upper arm circumference measurement and 353 received height and weight measurements. The Household Hunger Score was used as the indicator for food insecurity. Results: A total of 167 children were included in the final analysis. The majority of households, 92% (n=126/137), had HHS scores with: “Little to no hunger in the household”. According to weight-for-height, a higher proportion of children met cutoffs for overweight (27.4%, n=31/113), or obesity (12.4%, n=14/113) than moderate (10.6%, 12/113) or severe (4.4%, 5/113) under-nourished status. Conclusion: Our study did not reveal strong evidence of association between food insecurity and over-nutrition, although our analyses were limited by the number of respondents with anthropometric measurements. The under-nutrition front has seen minimal improvement in Uganda, and over-nutrition has gone unaddressed. The relatively high prevalence of over-nutrition supports further research on the topic.


This study was focused on substituting a part of wheat flour (WF) with whole meal barley (WMB) in making of balady bread and biscuits, to preparation of some functional bakery products, because of the health benefits of barley. Chemical, rheological, and sensory properties were determined. Freshness of balady bread was evaluated. Farinograph data showed that increasing barley replacement level resulted in increasing water absorption and mixing time, while dough stability decreased. The organoleptic properties of balady bread and biscuit made from barley / wheat blends with a replacement level of 45% received consumer acceptance. Barley balady bread showed a better retaining of freshness during storage at room temperature.


The freezing process of turmeric starch was modeled to determine the rate of freezing water inside freezing turmeric starch for use in the freeze-drying process. The results obtained were used to determine the optimal freezing temperature of turmeric starch of -21.6oC (The water inside turmeric starch was completely crystallized or the rate of freezing water inside turmeric starch was 100%). This basic parameter is essential to set up the technological mode of the freezing process of turmeric starch for freeze drying.


Child growth and development in the first 1000 days is crucial to the future of every nation. This paper provides data on the mycotoxins safety of breast milk vis-a-vis some infant formula and complementary foods commonly used in weaning young children in Bangangté and Mbankomo in Cameroon. Overall, 49% (46/93) of breast milk, infant formula (commercial milk) and complementary foods (pap, Cereal-based flour mixture, and yoghurts) were contaminated with at least one mycotoxin. Studied commercial milk (mean: 9.8µg kg-1, max: 33.7 µg kg-1) was more tainted with AFM1 relative to breast milk (mean: 7.4µg kg-1, max: 36.7 µg kg-1) samples. Total AFs and FBs were mainly concentrated in pap (mean: 177µg kg-1, max: 700 µg kg-1 and mean: 17673µg kg-1, max: 56000 µg kg-1, respectively). Yogurt revealed highest levels of DON (mean: 566µg kg-1, max: 870µg kg-1). Similar to previous reports from Cameroon, mean levels of all studied mycotoxins exceeded their corresponding regulatory levels. This speculates that the aggregate exposures of infants and young children to these mycotoxins may be linked to more severe health implications than currently imagined. For the first time in Cameroon, this report has provided data on mycotoxin safety of breast milk vis-a-vis infant formula and complementary foods commonly used to wean young children in Cameroon. More attention is needed on the quality of infant formula and local complementary foods from a mycotoxin perspective as a step towards reducing dietary mycotoxin exposures amongst young children.


Correlation formulas are developed to estimate the dietary and total greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) from the twenty members of the Group of Twenty (G20) and the world in 2014 and 2017 using personal meat consumption as the required input. Among the 43 states in G20, the 28 states of the European Union (EU28) are considered as a whole. Based on 47,381 dietary survey samples, a formula is developed to establish the relationship between the meat consumption and GHGEs from human dietary and total activities. The present study finds that, in 2014, the daily dietary GHGE per capita of the G20 members varies widely from India’s 4.122 kgCO2e to Australia’s 8.876 kgCO2e while the contribution of the dietary GHGE to the total GHGE differs from Canada’s 11.8% to India’s 60.8%, where the world average is 33.1%. From 2014 to 2017, the annual growth rate of the total GHGE varies from 0.016% in Japan to 3.279% in Saudi Arabia. All results attest that there is a substantial room for the huge dietary and total emitters to improve their efforts in reducing GHGEs. Correlation formulas are developed to estimate dietary and total greenhouse-gas emissions. The dietary and total greenhouse-gas emissions of the G20 and the world in 2014 and 2017 are evaluated. The formulas predicate that the global total GHGEs increase monotonically from 50,686 GtCO2e in 2017 to 55.159 GtCO2e in 2025, respectively. It has been shown that these formulas could provide benchmark information for developing strategies for reducing GHGEs in order to mitigate global warming problems.


The current study evaluates the influence of combination of ultrasound pretreatment and cellulase enzymatic extraction using n-hexane solvent on iodine and saponification values of extracted peanut oil. To obtain this goal, the effects of ultrasonic time in the range of 0 to 70 min, cellulase enzyme concentration in the range of 0 to 2 % and pH in the range of 4 to 5.5 were investigated on iodine and saponification values of peanut oil using response surface methodology (RSM). It was found that the iodine and saponification values of the extracted oil were very sensitive to the changes in the ultrasonic time; and the most iodine and saponification values were obtained at ultrasonic pretreatment time of 70 min. In summary, the ultrasound-assisted enzymatic process provides an efficient technique for extraction of peanut oil with high iodine and saponification values for application in various industries such as cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food.