Alheira is a traditional Portuguese fermented sausage, produced without the aid of any starter culture. The objective of this study was to isolate lactic acid bacteria (LAB) naturally present in alheiras, and screen their potential for use as functional starter. Forty alheiras from 8 regional producers were analysed. A total of 335 LAB were isolated from MRS and M17 media and confirmed. Antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella spp. at 37°C and 10°C was evaluated by spot-on-lawn assay. Sixty-three strains were pre-selected, and their lactic acid production, acidification capacity and proteolytic activity determined. The suitability of the strains was assessed by adjusting two separate Principal Component Analyses (PCA) on MRS and M17 data.

Results showed acidification potential as the most determinant feature for strain differentiation across both media, followed by antimicrobial activity; while lactic acid production (LAC) and proteolytic activity (PAct) were the least contributing variables. For MRS strains, PC1 (38.9%) was positively correlated with the acidification capability of strains. PC2 (20.1%) positively correlated with LAC and negatively correlated with inhibition of both pathogens at 10°C and PAct, implying higher antimicrobial potential. Likewise, for M17 strains, PC1 (43.1%) and PC2 (16.7%) characterised higher acidification and greater antimicrobial potential, respectively.

The results differentiated 3 clusters of MRS strains, one with higher acidification capacity, related to greater S. aureus inhibition at 37°C; a second cluster with better overall antimicrobial activity and linked to higher proteolytic activity; and a third cluster of strains with more rapid production of lactic acid. One standalone MRS strain presented both greater acidification and antimicrobial potential. From M17 isolates, only two strains presented the highest acidification ability and pathogenic inhibition.

These results highlighted several strains with great potential for use as starter cultures in “Alheira”, which could confer protection against foodborne pathogens. In-situ essays are ongoing.

Since ancient times, the chucula has been prepared in Colombia, consumed as a traditional dairy beverage made with cacao powder, cacao, panela, milk and mixed flours of legumes and cereals. Insects are a nutritionally interesting material, and inclusion in the human diet can be a good proposal. Edible insects were found as good sources of proteins, energy, vitamins, and minerals. The aim of this study was to add cricket (Acheta domesticus) flour to dried mixtures of chucula to obtain a mixture with higher protein content without altering the typical properties of the traditional product. An experimental design with 3 factors (cricket flour, cacao and other flours) was performed. From this, 27 experiments were carried out. The water and protein content, particle size, water solubility and water absorption index, and colour of samples were determined. All samples presented water content values less than or equal to 3%, typical of this type of product. Crude protein content increased significantly with increasing cricket flour content. The particle size of the samples with lower cocoa contents were higher, however those with lower cricket flour contents were lower. The water absorption and solubility indices were not affected by the 3 factors in the ranges studied. The sample with lower content of the generic flours presented lower luminosity values, that is, they were darker. The sample with the highest cocoa content in its formulation showed more orange-reddish tones compared to the rest. The addition of cricket flour can be an alternative to increase the protein content in powdered chucula without altering its traditional characteristics. According to results, 7% of cricket flour, 25% of cacao and 68% of general flour was recommended to improve the final product.

Yavagu or rice gruels are used as daily food items in Kerala and southern part of India, as they are light to digest. “Panchakola siddha yavagu” is a medicated rice gruel mentioned in classical Ayurveda book Charaka Samhita, Sutrasthana “Apamarga tanduliya”chapter. And it is used in inflammatory conditions like Gout arthritis. It contains drugs such as Pippali [ Piper longum], Pippalimoola [Root of Piper nigrum], Nagara [Zingiber officinale], Chavya [Piper chaba] and Chitraka [ Plumbago zeylanica] which are all processed in six times of water along with rice. In case of Gouty arthritis, in Ayurvedic point of view, it is due to improper digestion of food in body associated with doshas like vata and rakta. It causes reddish discolouration, debility, looseness and cutting or pulsating type of pain in knees, ankles, hips, shoulders, fingers and toes. The drugs mentioned in Panchakola Siddha Yavagu ie Shogaol present in dry ginger [Nagara], Plumbagin present in fire plant [Chitraka], Piperine present in Long pepper [Pippali], Long pepper root [ Pippali moola], and Wild pepper [Chavya] is proved to be having anti-inflammatory action. So that by consuming rice gruel containing these drugs will help to reduce symptoms like inflammation, looseness and pain present in joints in conditions like Gouty arthritis.

Plant extracts have potential as food additives. In this sense, this work aimed to study the bioactivities of plant extracts and their ability as health-promoting additives.

Lavender, lemon balm, basil, tarragon, sage, and spearmint dry aerial parts were mechanically ground. Three extraction methods were tested: infusion and decoction, using distilled water as solvent and a sample/solvent ratio of 1:100; and hydroethanolic extraction, using ethanol 80% (v/v) as solvent and a sample/solvent ratio of 1:60.

The extracts obtained were evaluated for their antimicrobial and antifungal activities, by a microdilution method. The antioxidant activity was evaluated through the lipid peroxidation inhibition assay (TBARS) and the oxidative haemolysis inhibition assay (OxHLIA). Cytotoxic activity was evaluated in tumour and non-tumour cell lines using the sulforhodamine B method, and anti-inflammatory activity in lipopolysaccharide-activated RAW 264.7 macrophages by the ability to inhibit NO production.

The results showed that all extracts exhibited antimicrobial activity against six pathogens tested (MIC ≤ 2 mg/mL) and antifungal capacity against, at least, five fungi (MFC ≤ 1 mg/mL).

In the TBARS evaluation, lemon balm infusion (125±2 μg/mL) and hydroethanolic extracts of spearmint (132±5 μg/mL) and lavender (177±4 μg/mL) presented the highest activities. In the OxHLIA assay, sage decoction (8.9±0.4 μg/mL) and hydroethanolic extracts of spearmint (12.5±0.2 μg/mL) and lemon balm (13.5±0.4 μg/mL) showed the best capacities to inhibit oxidative haemolysis.

Regarding the anti-inflammatory activity, only the extracts of spearmint and basil, and the decoction and hydroethanolic extracts of tarragon, showed promising results (GI₅₀<89 μg/mL). As for the cytotoxicity assay, most extracts (except those of tarragon and the infusion and decoction of basil) revealed anti-proliferative capacity in the AGS, CaCo, and HeLa tumour lines (GI₅₀<400 μg/mL).

These outcomes provide insight on the bioactivity of numerous herbal extracts, emphasising their value as food additives to prevent spoilage and deliver beneficial health effects.

Coffee silverskin (CS) is the major by-product of coffee roasting and a source of caffeine and chlorogenic acids (CGA), recognized modulators of sugar metabolism [1,2].

In this work, the effect of a CS extract on glucose and fructose uptake by human intestinal epithelial (Caco-2) cells was ascertained. Freeze-dried aqueous extracts were prepared using an ultrasound probe. The obtained powder was characterized regarding its caffeine content and CGA profile by RP-HPLC-DAD [2]. Caco-2 cells were incubated (37°C, 24h) with 1 mg/mL of extract and then glucose and fructose uptake were measured by incubating the cells (37 °C, 6 min) with 10 nM ³H-deoxy-D-glucose (³H-DG) or 100 nM ¹⁴C-fructose (¹⁴C-FRU), respectively [3]. The effects of the major compounds identified were similarly assessed using standards, individually and combined. Furthermore, the mRNA levels of intestinal transporters of these sugars (SGLT1, GLUT2, and GLUT5) were quantified by RT-qPCR after cell treatment (24h) with CS extract [4].

Caffeine was the main component of the extract and 5-caffeoylquinic acid (5-CQA) was the major CGA, followed by 5-feruloylquinic acid (5-FQA). Other isomers were found in minor amounts (3-CQA, 4-CQA, and 4-FQA). CS was able to reduce significantly ³H-DG and ¹⁴C-FRU uptake (~17% and ~19%, respectively). These effects were not related to cytotoxicity, as confirmed by the lactate dehydrogenase assay. When testing individual compounds at the concentrations present in the extract, neither caffeine nor 5-CQA influenced ³H-DG and ¹⁴C-FRU uptake, but significant inhibitions were found when combined (~16% and ~18%, respectively). This synergistic activity suggests their major role in CS effects. The extract also decreased the expression levels of GLUT2 transporter by ~71%, without influence on SGLT1 and GLUT5 transporters, thus evidencing the importance of GLUT2 on sugars uptake results. Overall, these findings highlight the beneficial effects that CS might have on type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders.

References

1. Alves, R.C.; Casal, S.; Oliveira, B. Benefícios do café na saúde: mito ou realidade? Química Nova 2009, 32, 2169-2180, doi:10.1590/s0100-40422009000800031.
2. Puga, H.; Alves, R.C.; Costa, A.S.; Vinha, A.F.; Oliveira, M.B.P.P. Multi-frequency multimode modulated technology as a clean, fast, and sustainable process to recover antioxidants from a coffee by-product. Journal of Cleaner Production 2017, 168, 14-21, doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.08.231.
3. Andrade, N.; Silva, C.; Martel, F. The effect of oxidative stress upon intestinal sugar transport: an in vitro study using human intestinal epithelial (Caco-2) cells. Toxicology Research 2018, 7, 1236-1246, doi:10.1039/c8tx00183a.
4. Andrade, N.; Araújo, J.R.; Correia-Branco, A.; Carletti, J.V.; Martel, F. Effect of dietary polyphenols on fructose uptake by human intestinal epithelial (Caco-2) cells. J Funct Foods 2017, 36, 429-439, doi:10.1016/j.jff.2017.07.032.

Acknowledgments: To BICAFÉ that provided silverskin. This research was supported by: UIDB/50006/2020, funded by FCT/MCTES (Portugal); AgriFood XXI I&D&I (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000041) cofinanced by ERDF, through the NORTE 2020; U2SCOFFEE project (POCI/01/0247/FEDER/033351), financed by ERDF. J.A.B.P. (2021/07329/BD) and R.C.A. (CEECIND/01120/2017) are grateful to FCT. N.A. thanks for the post-doc grant under the UIDB/50006/2020 project.

Ayurveda, the Science of life teaches how to lead a life healthily. It opines that being lean is ideal for a healthy person. The proper usage of black Sesame can make one stout person lean and a lean person to stout. Dried paddy rice is a perfect companion to sesame for making it a light and healthy diet for obese health seekers. The data was reviewed from Ayurvedic classics and published articles from electronic databases like PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar with bullion operators like AND, OR, and filters like relevant, FULL TEXT and selected eight papers for the study. Inherent ligands in sesame and the production of new ligands during its processing are attractive and health promotive. Molecules of chi choric acid, Eupatorine were identified through MS/MS spectra studies of Sesamum indicum. The roasting process of cereal enhances the carbohydrate and protein digestibility, β-glucan extractability, levels of dietary fiber, minerals, and antioxidants and reduces the inherent antinutrients levels in Oryza sativa. The destruction of seed microflora enhances the shelf life. The gruel prepared of the popped rice grain is one of the light smoothening diets for good digestion. The study intends to an accessible, acceptable, economically healthy, and nutritional diet.

Physical properties of food grains play an important role in optimizing the design parameters for machines and equipment, process automation, and determining the efficiency of the machine during various stages like harvesting, drying, storage, de-hulling, and other unit operations. Thus, the aim of the present study was to characterize the promising chickpea varieties for their physical properties comprising dimensional, gravimetric, and frictional parameters. The image processing technique was employed to study the geometrical variations among different chickpea varieties. The digital image processing approach offers rapid computation of shape and size parameters and validation of data obtained from manual methods by using digital vernier calipers. The dimensional parameters, namely length, breadth, and thickness were examined that were further used to calculate the derived parameters as mean diameters, sphericity, surface area, volume, and aspect ratio. The length of chickpea grains of different varieties lies in the range of 7.42±0.63 to 8.78±0.46mm, width varied from 5.33±0.38 to 6.50±0.42mm and thickness ranged from 5.17±0.46 to 6.23±0.45mm. The sphericity of the grains was found to vary from 75.84±3.03% to 82.89±3.92%. The 3-D imaging approach was adopted for the determination of various physical properties of grains, the results obtained are precise and thus this approach may help in the characterization of grains and in process automation. It was observed that the hilum portion of the chickpea contributes less than 5% to the total chickpea volume. Thus, if this portion is removed, it results in a significant improvement in the sphericity of the grains to behave as spheres. Therefore, calculations for physical properties may be carried out considering chickpea grains as spherical objects. During milling, the hilum portion is the first to be broken due to abrasion as it is brittle in nature, and this also results in a decrease in the coefficient of friction. Thousand kernel weight, bulk density, and true density were also examined as they are the important parameters that help in designing the storage bins. Chickpea cultivars were evaluated for the frictional properties, i.e., angle of repose and coefficient of static friction. The coefficient of static friction was determined over different common contact material surfaces and it was found that all the varieties have a maximum coefficient of friction over plyboard followed by the galvanized iron sheet and minimum on the glass surface.

Objectives: Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women in Serbia. The aim of this study was to examine possible association of breast cancer occurrence in relation to method of cooking in Serbian women.

Materials and methods: A hospital-based, individually matched case-control study analyzing risk factors for breast cancer was conducted in University Clinical Centre in Kragujevac (Serbia). A total of 382 women (191 cases with histologically confirmed incident breast cancer and 191 controls) were interviewed. In this paper, only data on the method of food preparation were presented (i.e., type of fat used; fresh or frozen meat, milk, vegetables, fruits; smoked food, fried food, cooked food, grilled food; spices such as salt, pepper, ground red pepper (aleva), vegeta, chili pepper, celery, primrose, horseradish, vinegar). Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) as estimates of the risk of breast cancer.

Results: Compared with controls, breast cancer cases significantly much more reported preparing food with lard (OR=4.57, 95%CI=1.51-13.84; p=0.007). The increase of risk for breast cancer was associated with use of smoked food (OR=1.67; 95%CI=1.17-2.38; p=0.005), especially in those who regularly used smoked food every week (OR=3.12; 95%CI=1.08-9.01; p=0.036). The reduced of risk for breast cancer was associated with chili pepper use (OR=0.56; 95%CI=0.37-0.86; p=0.008).

Conclusion: Our study provides findings for the importance of cooking method for breast cancer risk, and indicates some ways of the possible role of cooking method in prevention of this disease.

Bioactive compounds derived from plants are secondary metabolites that can act as antioxidants and antimicrobial agents. Combined with the pressure generated by consumers for more natural products with beneficial effects on health, these compounds may be suitable candidates to act as preservatives in food products. For this purpose, the extraction process becomes essential for the acquisition of a quality extract with efficiency and with the desired final properties. Therefore, the main objective of this work was to perform the optimization of the extraction yield of olive leaves (Olea europaea L.), by applying Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and employing dynamic maceration as extraction technique. Three factors were analyzed: time (F1), temperature (F2) and solvent (F3), ranging from 5 to 120 minutes, 25 to 100 ºC and from 0 to 100% ethanol, respectively. The study used the Box Behnken design, relying on 17 individual randomized runs. The response was the dry weight of the extract (Y1), which ranged from 21.1 to 90.5 mg. The optimization studies pointed to the increase of yield with the increase of time and temperature, but inversely by applying higher time and lower temperature values, and higher temperature and lower time values. The highest yield of the dry extract was achieved at 120 min (F1), 25 ºC (F2) and 87% (F3) of ethanol:water. For industrial applications, the optimum point temperature of 25 ºC is the most advantageous factor of the maceration, because it avoids complementary expenses for heating the extractive solvent, reducing costs. Future studies will be carried out to analyze the preservative effects of incorporating olive extract in foods, as well as analysis of other response for optimizing the best food preserving extract.

Mature coconut water is considered a waste product in the process of obtaining copra. However, it is a material that still contains substances that can be beneficial to the human body. For the processing of this material, the application of emerging technologies such as microwaves could help to reduce quality losses. For this reason, the effect of conventional and microwave processing was assessed on the inactivation kinetics of peroxidase (POD) in mature coconut water. Samples in glass tubes were treated at three temperatures (60, 75, and 90 ° C) and 5–130 s of holding time. First-order and Weibull kinetic models were adjusted considering the complete time-temperature profiles. Weibull model was the one that best described the inactivation of the POD enzyme, having the highest fit and lowest RMSE in both heating processes. Microwave heating generated an inactivation of the POD enzyme significantly faster than conventional processing in mature coconut water.