內(nèi)容: Dietary polyphenols are the most abundant antioxidants in daily diet and widely distributed in plants and plant-based foods, including vegetables, fruits, cereals, nuts, and beverages (e.g., tea, coffee, red wine). Over the past decades, there has been rising scientific interest in their diverse benefits to human health, since dietary polyphenols display various bioactivities, such as antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory activity, anti-cancer, anti-microbial activity, neuro-protective activity, among others. Various studies have demonstrated that diet with polyphenols is strongly related to decrease the risk of chronic diseases. In this review, firstly, we systematically summarize classification and sources of dietary polyphenols, and focus on the current evidences defining their function and mechanism on improving chronic diseases, including diabetes, obesity, hypertension, hyperuricemia. Then, future directions of dietary polyphenols are discussed. Noteworthy, despite the physiological effects of dietary polyphenols have been widely convinced in vitro and in vivo, human trials show inconsistent evidence with their beneficial effects in chronic diseases administration, so as to their unclear molecular mechanism. More clinical studies are needed to provide clear evidence on dietary polyphenols against chronic diseases. In general, this paper provides comprehensive review of the sources and compositions of dietary polyphenols from plant materials, and presents an overview of the evidence on dietary polyphenols against chronic diseases, which may offer some constructive inspirations for further research on dietary polyphenols and industrial application in the food and medicine industry.

內(nèi)容: Obesity and other nutrition-related non-communicable diseases were virtually non-existent before the advent of industrialized food production. In recent years, a 5-color front-of-package food label (“Nutri-Score”) seeking to demonstrate the overall nutritional value and healthiness of food products has been adopted for voluntary use in some European countries. The Nutri-Score is mainly based on the sugar, salt and calorie content of food items. The present viewpoint discusses whether the Nutri-Score correctly identifies healthy and unhealthy food items and how large an impact the Nutri-Score may have on consumers’ choices. Furthermore, other benefits as well as hidden costs and drawbacks in implementing the Nutri-Score will be presented. Despite its reducing of the complex information regarding the contents of foods, the Nutri-Score may provide easily intelligible information regarding healthy nutrition and may become a valuable tool in educating consumers and influencing their food choices. The Nutri-Score may not become a game-changer in combating poor nutrition, but it is helpful in the right circumstances. If an inexpensive public policy, such as front-of-package labeling, makes some positive contribution, there is no reason to argue against its adoption. Even small effects may be relevant when a measure is adopted at population level.

內(nèi)容: Hypercholesterolemia is a risk factor of cardiovascular diseases, which have been managed using statin drugs. Red yeast rice (RYR) as a traditional food in the Eastern Asia countries has anti-hyperlipidemia activity. Recently, a variety of food supplement products containing RYR have been developed to lower blood cholesterol, which is attributed to the presence of monacolins, especially monacolin K (lovastatin, a statin drug). This review was aimed to summarize the clinical trials using RYR products to investigate their effects on lipid profiles in humans. Relevant articles of human clinical trials were retrieved from PubMed and discussed here. Results showed that RYR and its extracts have been included in commercially available products alone and in combinations with various other materials, which include bioactive compounds such as coenzyme Q10 and berberine, vitamins, extracts from other plants such as phytosterols, polyunsaturated fatty acids or even probiotics. The durations of the trials ranged from 4 weeks to 60 months. The content of monacolin K ranged from 0.32 mg/pack to 10 mg/pack. The data of these human clinical trials demonstrated that these RYR supplement products were sufficient to reduce blood cholesterol in different populations. However, the inclusions of certain materials might not have additive effect. Additionally, studies including a lovastatin only positive control group with the equivalent dose as that of monacolin K in the RYR products remain to be done. Furthermore, variations of monacolin K contents and presence of toxic citrinin are still concerns. Last, bioactivities of other components in RYR should be investigated as well. More future studies will certainly help to fully explore the potentials of this traditional food in the combat against cardiovascular and other metabolic diseases.

內(nèi)容: The flower buds and fruits of Sophora japonica are known as Flos sophorae immaturus (Chinese Huaimi, FSI), Flos sophorae (Chinese Huaihua, FLS) and Fructus sophorae (Chinese Huaijiao, FRS) due to their different physiological forms. FSI and FLS are precious resources of homology of medicine and food, while FRS is a valuable Chinese herb, and all of which have been used for thousands of years. There are great differences in the active ingredients, functions and toxicological properties of FSI, FLS and FRS. However, they are often confused and assumed to have fairly similar validity, which is detrimental to their precision development of resources of homology of medicine and food. This review summarized the active constituents, analytical techniques and pharmacological properties of FSI, FLS and FRS, then systematically compared their differences. The article will help people better understand and distinguish the differences and characteristics of FSI, FLS and FRS in bioactive constituents, content of functional components and pharmacological properties, which can contribute to their highly efficient targeted applications in the future food and medical fields.

內(nèi)容: We are facing the challenge of climate change and food insecurity for a growing population. The current mode of animal protein production via animal agriculture is resource-intensive and unsustainable. Therefore, there is a need to find alternative sources of food protein that are environmentally sustainable. Plant-based proteins, specifically pulse-based proteins, provide a promising solution to the problem. This review aims to provide an overview and perspective on extraction, functionality, digestibility, sensory, and new food applications of pulse proteins. Two main methods, namely wet fractionation and dry fractionation are used to extract pulse-based proteins. As compared to dry fractionation, wet fractionation yields high purity protein, but the process alters the structure and function of the proteins. Various biochemical and physical techniques can be used to assist wet extraction process to increase protein yield and/or reduce extraction time. The main techno-functional properties of plant-based proteins determining their practical applicability are solubility, water/oil holding capacity (WHC/OHC), gelation, emulsification, foaming, and rheological properties. Nutritionally, pulse proteins are deficient in one or more essential amino acids. Strategies to overcome the deficiency are discussed. Volatile and non-volatile compounds inherent to pulses or developed during processing are mostly responsible for the off flavors in the extracted protein. Approaches to improve the pulse protein flavor and remove or modify off-flavors are discussed. Pulse-based protein ingredients have applications in bakery products, pasta, meat analogues, dairy alternatives, and beverages. Beyond these applications, there is a need to explore novel applications of pulse proteins in infant and children’s formula, beverages, breakfast cereals, flavor development, and extruded snack products, develop new applications such as personalized and precision nutrition and bioactive peptides, and employ innovative technologies such as 3D printing, extrusion, and artificial intelligence for pulse protein research. This review presents the current status, limitations, and future perspectives for developing pulse protein ingredients as future foods. This review aims to foster thinking and generate novel ideas for future research.

內(nèi)容: Rosa chinensis as edible flowers, is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine, which is rich in resources and is cultivated in most parts of China. Its phytochemicals mainly include flavonoids and their glycosides, phenolic acids, pentacyclic triterpenes and steroids. R. chinensis has many biological activities, including antioxidation, antibiosis, protection of pancreatic islet cells. The phytochemicals and biological activities of R. chinensis were summarized by databases such as Web of Science, SciFinder, Baidu Scholar, PubMed, ScienceDirect and SpringerLink.

內(nèi)容: The demand for plant protein is increasing significantly due to the shortage of protein resources. Walnut protein, the main by-product of preparing walnut oil, has limited application in the food industry due to its poor solubility. It was found that the soy protein isolate (SPI) concentration had significant effects on the gel properties of the walnut protein isolate (WNPI)-κ-Carrageenan (KC) composite system treated with 15 mmol/L NaCl. The results showed that the gel strength of the composite system increased first and then decreased with the increased concentration of SPI from 0 to 2.5%. The best rheological properties, texture properties, water holding capacity ((92.03 ± 1.05)%), swelling ratio ((2.04 ± 0.19)%), freeze-thaw stability and thermal stability (85.53 °C) of the composite gel were found at an SPI concentration of 1%. In the meantime, the secondary structure of protein had the least α-helix content of 10.17% and the highest β-sheet content of 39.64%, the fluorescence intensity and free sulfhydryl content reached the highest value. 1% SPI could also act as a filler for WNPI to enhance the intermolecular forces such as hydrophobic interaction between the two substances, thus forming a stable gel network structure. This study can provide technical support for improving the gel properties of walnut protein and producing new plant protein gel products.

內(nèi)容: Management of blood glucose levels associated with type 2 diabetes using nutrients derived from food without having a harmful effect on one’s health is gradually gaining research interest. Plantain dough meal blends were developed using optimal mixture design of response surface methodology (RSM). The optimum blends based on the protein and crude fibre contents were as follows: PSW1: mature plantain 70.0% + soya cake 25.0% + wheat bran 5.0%; PSW2: mature plantain 68.0% + soya cake 23.0% + wheat bran 9.00%; PSW3: mature plantain 69.0% + soya cake 24.0% + wheat bran 7.0%, while 100% mature plantain flour (PLNT) and cerolina were used as controls. The nutritional value, amino acid profile, pasting properties, α-amylase, α-glucosidase inhibition potential, in-vitro glycemic index and consumer acceptability were determined using standard methods. Results showed that the inclusion of soya cake and wheat bran significantly increased (P < 0.05) protein 14.08 g/100 g and fibre 3.02 g/100 g as observed. Significantly higher (P < 0.05) branched chain and aromatic amino acids were observed in the composite dough meal compared to PLNT. The peak viscosity (Pv), trough viscosity (Tv) and final viscosity (Fv) are lower in dough meal blends with increase in incorporation of soya cake and wheat bran. PSW3 showed the highest essential amino acid index, predicted biological value, α-glucosidase, α-amylase inhibition and lowest estimated glycaemic index at (P ≤ 0.05). Hence, the study established that PSW3 showed the best potentials to modulate blood sugar level.

內(nèi)容: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycemia, which poses a serious threat to human health. Moringa oleifera Lam. is a medicinal and edible plant with various physiological functions. However, its main hypoglycemic components and mechanisms are still unclear. In this study, network pharmacology and bioinformatics were used to analyze the potential bioactive substances of M. oleifera leaf extract (MOLE) and its hypoglycemic mechanism. Studies have shown that MOLE has the effect of increasing glucose consumption in insulin resistant-HepG2 cells. MOLE was found to contain 975 compounds by ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS). Network pharmacology analysis indicated that the main active component was robinetin and the identified core genes were AKT1 and GAPDH. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that the hypoglycemic effect of MOLE may be closely related to the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. This study revealed the possible active components and mechanisms of action of M. oleifera for hypoglycemia, laying the theoretical foundation for subsequent studies.

內(nèi)容: The leaves of Eucalyptus are abundant in natural resources as a novel potential antioxidant and have broad market prospect. Four of characteristic hydrolysable tannins from Eucalyptus leaves have been demonstrated great application potential as natural antioxidants in our previous research. In this study, the bioactive activities of another hydrolysable tannin isolated and identified as oenothein B (OEB) were evaluated. Content of bioactive compound (hydrolysable tannin) from different Eucalyptus species and regions in southern China were investigated. The results showed that OEB not only exerted anti-proliferative activity against HepG2 cell, but also showed higher cellular antioxidant activity than some common antioxidants. Generally, content of characteristic hydrolysable tannins decreased in the order of OEB > tellimagrandin I (T1) > pedunculagin > gemin D > pentagalloyl glucose (PGG). E. grandis × E. urophylla GL9 and E. urophylla × E. grandis could be recommended as new natural sources to exploit hydrolysable tannins because of high content, widely plantation and strong adaptability. This study supplied first insight on introduction of high cellular antioxidant activity of OEB and selecting the species and region to exploit natural antioxidants. It will promote the increasing of economic value of Eucalyptus.