Biologically Active Components and Nutraceuticals in Peanuts and Related Products: Review

Peanuts are among the world's major oilseed crops. They are very nutritious with relatively high protein content and can be utilized in diverse ways. Their oil is very easily digested, and for this reason they are useful consumptives. Peanuts not only contain the so-called “good” fat (monounsaturated fat), but they are also high in a variety of helpful antioxidants, or chemicals that shield the damaging effects of free radicals. Peanuts are also a source of helpful biologically active components found in plant foods, such as phytochemicals. Some of the phytochemicals in peanuts include flavonoids and phenolic compounds. This article discusses bioactive compounds and nutraceuticals in peanuts that could be used in prevention and management of illnesses such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and other degenerative diseases. The biological activity of anti-nutritional factors in peanuts is also briefly discussed.     

Biologically Active Components and Nutraceuticals in Peanuts and Related Products: Review

Peanuts are among the world's major oilseed crops. They are very nutritious with relatively high protein content and can be utilized in diverse ways. Their oil is very easily digested, and for this reason they are useful consumptives. Peanuts not only contain the so-called “good” fat (monounsaturated fat), but they are also high in a variety of helpful antioxidants, or chemicals that shield the damaging effects of free radicals. Peanuts are also a source of helpful biologically active components found in plant foods, such as phytochemicals. Some of the phytochemicals in peanuts include flavonoids and phenolic compounds. This article discusses bioactive compounds and nutraceuticals in peanuts that could be used in prevention and management of illnesses such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and other degenerative diseases. The biological activity of anti-nutritional factors in peanuts is also briefly discussed.     

Enhancing Nutraceutical Performance Using Excipient Foods: Designing Food Structures and Compositions to Increase Bioavailability

The oral bioavailability of many bioactives (pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements, nutrients, and nutraceuticals) is limited because of physicochemical and physiological events that occur within the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) after their ingestion. These events include: (i) restricted liberation from drugs, supplements, or foods; (ii) extensive metabolism or chemical transformation during passage through the GIT; (iii) low solubility in intestinal fluids; (iv) low permeation through the intestinal cell monolayer; and (v) efflux from epithelium cells. Bioactive bioavailability can often be improved by designing the composition and structure of food matrices to control their liberation, transformation, solubilization, transport, absorption, and efflux in the GIT. This article reviews the potential impact of food composition and structure on the oral bioavailability of bioactives, and then shows how this knowledge can be used to design excipient foods that can improve the bioavailability profile of bioactives. The bioactive may be incorporated within an excipient food or co‐ingested with an excipient food. The suitability of oil‐in‐water emulsions as excipient foods is highlighted. The utilization of excipient foods may provide a new strategy for improving the efficacy of nutraceuticals, supplements, and pharmaceuticals.     

Phytochemicals: nutraceuticals and human health

Phytochemicals, as plant components with discrete bio‐activities towards animal biochemistry and metabolism are being widely examined for their ability to provide health benefits. It is important to establish the scientific rationale to defend their use in foods, as potential nutritionally active ingredients. Phytochemicals could provide health benefits as: (1) substrates for biochemical reactions; (2) cofactors of enzymatic reactions; (3) inhibitors of enzymatic reactions; (4) absorbents/sequestrants that bind to and eliminate undesirable constituents in the intestine; (5) ligands that agonize or antagonize cell surface or intracellular receptors; (6) scavengers of reactive or toxic chemicals; (7) compounds that enhance the absorption and or stability of essential nutrients; (8) selective growth factors for beneficial gastrointestinal bacteria; (9) fermentation substrates for beneficial oral, gastric or intestinal bacteria; and (10) selective inhibitors of deleterious intestinal bacteria. Such phytochemicals include terpenoids, phenolics, alkaloids and fiber. Research supporting beneficial roles for phytochemicals against cancers, coronary heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, inflammation, microbial, viral and parasitic infections, psychotic diseases, spasmodic conditions, ulcers, etc is based on chemical mechanisms using in vitro and cell culture systems, various disease states in animals and epidemiology of humans. However, it must be emphasized that a distinction needs to be drawn between the types of information that can be obtained from studies in vitro, in animals and in humans. Mechanisms of action must certainly be established in vitro; however, the efficacy of these same ingredients with their mechanisms of action, must also be demonstrated in vivo. The rapid growth in the use of phytochemicals in nutraceutical and functional foods requires that the food and pharmaceutical industries face new challenges: in addressing worldwide public concern over the efficacy and safety of supplements and foods claimed to be health‐promoting; in government regulations related to safety, labeling and health claims for products that contain phytochemicals; in the manufacturing of foods with different qualities and stabilities; and in marketing issues, particularly as they relate to consumers' recognizing added value. © 2000 Society of Chemical Industry     

Bioavailability of nutraceuticals: Role of the food matrix,processing conditions,the gastrointestinal tract,and nanodelivery systems

Nowadays, many consumers prefer foods with a high content of nutraceuticals that contribute to the prevention or healing of chronic diseases. Therefore, in recent years, more and more researchers have studied the bioefficiency, safety, and toxicity of nutraceutical‐enriched foods. The key stage of nutraceutical bioefficiency is oral bioavailability, which involves the following processes: the release of nutraceuticals from food matrices or nanocarriers in gastrointestinal fluids, the solubilization of nutraceuticals and their interaction with other components of gastrointestinal fluids, the absorption of nutraceuticals by the epithelial layer, and the chemical and biochemical transformations into epithelial cells. These processes are endogenous factors that greatly influence the bioavailability of nutraceuticals. In addition to endogenous factors, the bioavailability of nutraceuticals is also affected by exogenous factors, such as: physicochemical properties of nutraceuticals, food matrix, food processing and storage, and so forth. Both the endogenous and exogenous factors are comprehensively analyzed in this review. Thus, the physicochemical and enzymatic processes involved in food digestion are described, highlighting the role of each stage of gastrointestinal tract (mouth, stomach, and intestine) in nutraceuticals bioaccessibility. The structure and functions of the mucus and epithelial layers, the mechanisms involved in the active and passive transport of nutraceuticals through the cell membrane, and phase I and phase II metabolism reactions are also discussed. Finally, this review focuses on several types of bioactive‐loaded nanocarriers such as lipid‐based, surfactant‐based, and biopolymeric nanocarriers that improve the bioavailability of nutraceuticals.     

Enhancement of Nutraceutical Bioavailability using Excipient Nanoemulsions: Role of Lipid Digestion Products on Bioaccessibility of Carotenoids and Phenolics from Mangoes

The ability of excipient nanoemulsions to increase the bioaccessibility of different kinds of nutraceuticals (phenolics and carotenoids) in mangoes was studied. Oil‐in‐water excipient nanoemulsions containing small digestible lipid nanoparticles (d < 200 nm) were prepared using different oil phases: medium chain triglycerides (MCT) and long‐chain triglycerides (LCT). These nanoemulsions were then mixed with pureed mango and passed through a simulated gastrointestinal tract (GIT): mouth, stomach, and small intestine. Carotenoid bioaccessibility decreased in the following order: LCT nanoemulsions > MCT nanoemulsions > buffer solution, which was attributed to differences in the solubilization capacity of the mixed micelles generated in the intestinal fluids. The digestion products of LCT formed mixed micelles with hydrophobic domains large enough to accommodate the carotenoids, whereas those of MCT did not. Excipient emulsions had much less effect on phenolic bioaccessibility, which may be because phenolics are smaller more polar molecules and are therefore more easily solubilized in aqueous intestinal fluids. These results highlight the potential of excipient nanoemulsions in boosting the bioavailability of lipophilic bioactive agents in fruits and vegetables.     

赋型剂食品改善活性成分生物利用率研究进展

赋型剂食品是指一类本身不具有生物活性,但能提高与其共同摄入活性成分功效的食物。近年来,越来越 多的活性成分被应用于食品、药品及保健品中,较低的生物利用率是制约其开发利用的主要因素。随着赋型剂食品 概念的提出,通过赋型剂食品组分与结构改善活性成分生物利用率的研究日趋成为科研工作者研究的热点。本文综 述了国内外近年来关于赋型剂食品组分与结构改善不同活性成分生物利用率的研究进展,旨在为赋型剂食品开发研 究提供理论参考。     

Nanoscale Nutrient Delivery Systems for Food Applications: Improving Bioactive Dispersibility,Stability, and Bioavailability

There has been a surge of interest in the development of nanoscale systems for the encapsulation, protection, and delivery of lipophilic nutrients, vitamins, and nutraceuticals. This review article highlights the challenges associated with incorporating these lipophilic bioactive components into foods, and then discusses potential nanoscale delivery systems that can be used to overcome these challenges. In particular, the desirable characteristics required for any nanoscale delivery system are presented, as well as methods of fabricating them and of characterizing them. An overview of different delivery systems is given, such as microemulsions, nanoemulsions, emulsions, microgels, and biopolymer nanoparticles, and their potential applications are discussed. Nanoscale delivery systems have considerable potential within the food industry, but they must be carefully formulated to ensure that they are safe, economically viable, and effective.     

Marine Bioactive Compounds and Their Health Benefits: A Review

The significance of marine creatures as a source of unique bioactive compounds is expanding. Marine organisms constitue nearly half of the wordwide biodiversity; thus, oceans and sea present a vast resource for new substances and it is considered the largest remaining reservoir of beneficial natural molecules that maight be used as functional constituents in the food sector. This review is an update to the information about recent functional seafood compounds (proteins, peptides, amino acids, fatty acids, sterols, polysaccharides, oligosaccharides, phenolic compounds, photosynthetic pigments, vitamins, and minerals) focusing on their potential use and health benefits.     

A Review on the Relationships between Processing,Food Structure,and Rheological Properties of Plant‐Tissue‐Based Food Suspensions

Nowadays, there is much interest in controlling the functional properties of processed fruit‐ and vegetable‐derived products, which has stimulated renewed research interest in process–structure–function relations. In this review, we focus on rheology as a functional property because of its importance during the entire production chain up to the moment of consumption and digestion. This review covers the literature of the past decade with respect to process–structure–rheology relations in plant‐tissue‐based food suspensions. It became clear that the structure of plant‐tissue‐based food suspensions, consisting of plant‐tissue‐based particles in an aqueous serum phase, is affected by many unit operations (for example, heat treatment) and that also the sequence of unit operations can have an effect on the final structural properties. Furthermore, particle concentration, particle size, and particle morphology were found to be key structural elements determining the rheological properties of these suspensions comprising low amounts of starch and serum pectin. Since the structure of plant‐tissue‐based products was shown to be changed during processing, rheological parameters of these products were simultaneously altered. Therefore, this review also comprises a discussion of the effect on rheological properties of the most relevant processing steps in the production of plant‐tissue‐based products. Linking changes in rheology due to processing with process‐induced alterations in structural characteristics turned out to be quite intricate. The current knowledge on process–structure–function relations can form the basis for future improved and novel food process and product design.     

Functional foods: a survey of health claims, pros and cons, and current legislation

Functional foods stand for a new category of remarkably promising foods bearing properties (i.e., low cholesterol, antioxidant, anti-aging, anticancer, etc.) that have already rendered them quite appealing. There are many classes offunctionalfoods (pro- and pre-biotics, dietary fiber, low fat, etc.), and their definition is occasionally confused with that of nutraceuticals and novel foods. Consumers' main skepticism regarding functional foods resides in the veracity of health claims and in the low and often inadequate control of their claimed properties. Legislation concerning this matter is progressing at an extremely low pace and currently only Japan, the U.K., U.S.A., and Scandinavian countries have managed to make notable progress. Moreover, the labeling of functional foods is far from informative, providing scanty information about nutritional value, storage, and cooking recipes. It is anticipated that technological advances in the food industry, in conjunction with extensive clinical trials and governmental control, will eventually guarantee the credibility of health claims and ensure consumers' confidence in functional foods.     

Stability and Shelf Life of Bioactive Compounds during Food Processing and Storage: Soy Isoflavones

ABSTRACT: During the past several years, the nutrition community has recognized the importance of the nonnutritive components of plant foods. These nonnutritive components are commonly called phytochemicals. One of the most exciting developments in the phytochemicals field is the beneficial biological activity of isoflavones from soy. Benefits include the potential reduced cancer risk, cholesterol homeostasis, and other hormone replacement therapy treatments. Yet, very little attention has been given to the interactions of bioactive phytochemicals with other food ingredients. Various studies demonstrated the loss of soy isoflavones during storage and the effect of processing conditions on specific modifications of soy isoflavones. Beyond apparent 1st-order degradation kinetics, there is a change in the isoflavones profile according to processing and storage conditions. This change in chemical structure is very likely to affect the bioavailability and bioactivity of soy isoflavones. Understanding the reactions that affect soy isoflavones bioactivity will provide a basis for developing food with the beneficial quality of isoflavones. This article presents current information on the stability of soy isoflavones and highlights how these changes may affect their bioavailability and biological activity. Most importantly, the aim of this article is to point out the fact that much more data are required to fully understand the chemistry and the kinetics of isoflavones reaction in model systems and food.     

气相色谱法及气相色谱-质谱法检测食品中反式脂肪酸的研究进展

反式脂肪酸是一种具有反式构型的不饱和脂肪酸,研究表明,反式脂肪酸摄入量过多会对人体会产生一系列不利影响,本文介绍了反式脂肪酸的结构、性质、食物来源及其分析方法研究进展,重点介绍了气相色谱法和气相色谱-质谱法对反式脂肪酸的检测。     

食品色素的过去、现在和未来

食品色素是食品添加剂的重要组成部分 ,从古代的埃及开始在食物中添加色素到人工合成色素的出现。食品色素的发展已经有数个世纪。本文综述了食品色素的发展历史、发展现状以及未来的发展趋势     

Therapeutic potential of abalone and status of bioactive molecules: A comprehensive review

Marine organisms are increasingly being investigated as sources of bioactive molecules with therapeutic applications as nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals. In particular, nutraceuticals are gaining popularity worldwide owing to their therapeutic potential and incorporation in functional foods and dietary supplements. Abalone, a marine gastropod, contains a variety of bioactive compounds with anti-oxidant, anti-thrombotic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anti-cancer activities. For thousands of years different cultures have used abalone as a traditional functional food believing consumption provides health benefits. Abalone meat is one of the most precious commodities in Asian markets where it is considered a culinary delicacy. Recent research has revealed that abalone is composed of many vital moieties like polysaccharides, proteins, and fatty acids that provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition. A review of past and present research is presented with relevance to the therapeutic potential of bioactive molecules from abalone.     

Functional properties and health benefits of bioactive peptides derived from Spirulina: A review

Bioactive peptides represent specific sequences of amino acids that have biological activity with several health effects and potential applications, which can be obtained from diverse protein sources. Spirulina, the cyanobacterium known for its high protein content and therapeutic properties, has been investigated as a potential source of bioactive peptides. Some bioactive peptides derived from Spirulina are under study for their ability to offer specific health benefits, such as antimicrobial, antiallergic, antihypertensive, antitumor, and immunomodulatory properties. Bioactive peptide fractions from Spirulina biomass can be obtained through a series of operations, including cell lysis and protein extraction, enzymatic hydrolysis, potential bioactivity screening, fractionation, and purification. Potentially, Spirulina-derived peptide fractions can be applied as nutraceutical ingredients in foods and pharmaceuticals. This article reviews the functional properties and health benefits of bioactive peptides from Spirulina, and presents potential mechanisms by which bioactive components can be exploited in the development of novel foods with special health claims. In addition, this article describes recent developments in proteomics, bioactivity screening methods, and opportunities for designing future peptide-based foods.     

Status of Bioactive Compounds in Foods,with Focus on Fruits and Vegetables

Components of cereals, legumes, pulses, proteins, sea food, milk, carbohydrates and lipids are being evaluated for their influence on human health, as biofunctional compounds. However, references dealing with fruits and vegetables exceed any other food group and accordingly their focus. Fruits and vegetables abound in a spectacular range of such health influencing compounds and thus, study of their bioactivity, in lieu of their consumption in fresh or processed form. Anti-cancerous phenolics from Phyllanthus, radioprotective Litchi phenolics/flavonoids, hypoglycemic Sygium, quercitin and hydroxyl cinnamates of Sweet cherries, xanthones of Mangosteen, ellagitannins of Pomegranate, ursolic acid of Sea buckthorn, muscle relaxative watermelon, anti-cholesterolemic soluble fibre and sterols, cardioprotective saponins, ACE-inhibitory potato hydrolysates, anti-pancreatic cancerous ascorbic acid, carotenoids including pro-vitamin A are few examples unraveled. Thus, the imminent scope to obviate their structural chemistry, influence on storage and processing conditions, factors favoring their bio-accessibility/bio-availability in the food formulations, influencing human health. It is the meticulous combination of these compounds in daily consumption that determines their usefulness to human body. What is of paramount importance is the actual health benefits accrued from consumption of such functional- compound based fresh/processed fruits,vegetables or other foods.     

Evaluating Bioactive Food Components in Obesity and Cancer Prevention

Research into bioactive food compounds (BFC) continues to evolve albeit with shared challenges among scientists in the fields of obesity and cancer treatment and prevention. Given the diversity of scientific disciplines involved in evaluating BFC, multidisciplinary conferences provide opportunities to update the state of the science and critically discuss conceptual and methodological challenges encountered in studying BFC in both preclinical and clinical trials. This overview is an introduction to presentations given at a conference sponsored by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which convened a multidisciplinary group of researchers evaluating BFC in obesity and cancer prevention. Full presentations can be viewed in video format at http://www.norc.uab.edu/courses/conferences/conference2013.     

辐照食品检测标准及检测方法研究进展

介绍国内外辐照食品的检测标准和检测技术的原理、优缺点及研究进展,并对今后我国辐照食品检测技术的研究和发展进行了展望.