Gliadin, a protein present in wheat, rye and barley is not fully degraded by humans, leading to allergies, gluten sensitivity and celiac disease.(1,2,3).It has been hypothesized that increased intestinal permeability is an early event in celiac disease pathogenesis (4) but it is completely unknown what endows gliadin the unusual proteolytic resistance. From the physicochemical point of view, this protein is known to be soluble in alcohol solutions in a low percentage and it could be isolated from flour by dilute acetic acid extraction. By this procedure is have been demonstrated the formation of fibrils depending on ionic strength (5). Under different aqueous solutions conditions much less is known. Herein, it is present the evaluation of gliadin protein under different pHs and ionic strength in water. We obtained the solubility of a mix of commercial gliadin proteins under basic and acid conditions varying the temperature. It has been observed the importance of the pH and the temperature in order to form different self-assembly structures. At physiological pH spherical particules of 1-2μm of diameter were detected by electron microscopy. We hypothesize that the observed self-assembly process and the formation of supramolecular structures depending on pH could a be a special feature in order to understand the unusual proteolytic resistances. Taking into account that gastrointestinal environment is highly dynamic(6) in health and disease , recent insights on the potential of intestinal bacteria to influence human health, our results may help to understand Gliadin intolerance. A supramolecular evaluation by different Spectroscopies (UV-Vis and Fluorescence) and Electron Microscopy (SEM, TEM) is presented. References: 1).Hadjivassiliou, M., Williamson, C. A., Woodroofe, N. ,Trends Immunol.,25, 578-582 (2004). 2).Rubio-Tapia, A. , Murray, J. A. ,Curr. Opin. Gastroenterol., 26, 116-122 (2010). 3).Shan, L. et. al. ,Science, 297, 2275-2279 (2002). 4).Fassano, A. , Shea-Donohue, T., Nat. Clin. Pract. Gastroenterol. & Hepatol., 2, 416-422 (2005) 5).Kasarda, D., Bernardin, J.E., Thomas, R., Nature, 203-205 (1967). 6).Possemiers, S., Grootaert, C., Curr Pharm Des.,15(18):2051-65 (2009).

Although many consumers know that pulses are nutritious, long preparation time is frequently a barrier to consumption of lentils, dried peas and chickpeas. Therefore a novel product has been developed which can be used as an ingredient in a wide variety of dishes without presoaking or precooking. Dried green peas, chickpeas or lentils were soaked, cooked, homogenized and spray dried. Proximate analyses were conducted on the pulse powders and compared to an instant mashed potato product. Because the health benefits of pulses may be due in part to their carbohydrate content, a detailed carbohydrate analysis was carried out on the pulse powders. Pulse powders were higher in protein and total dietary fibre and lower in starch than potato flakes. After processing, the pulse powders maintained appreciable amounts of resistant starch (4.4 – 5.2%). Total dietary fibre was higher in chickpeas and lentils (26.2 and 27.1% respectively) than lentils (21.9%), whereas lentils had the highest protein content (22.7%). Pulse carbohydrates were rich in glucose, arabinose, galactose and uronic acids. Stachyose, a fermentable fibre, was the most abundant oligosaccharide, making up 1.5 – 2.4% of the dried pulse powders. Spay drying of cooked, homogenized pulses produces an easy to use ingredient with good nutritional properties.

Ripe jackfruit pulps were infused with calcium solution at two different calcium concentrations, i.e. at 0.5% and 1.0% (w/v), using two methods: immersion and vacuum-assisted infusion. The calcium-treated ripe pulps lost their texture slower than the control (untreated pulps). The cell walls and middle lamella of pulps treated with calcium by vacuum-infusion were still intact after 14 days of storage, while control and immersed samples showed sign of middle lamella dissolution. The texture analysis supported these findings when pulps infused with calcium by vacuum-treatment were firmer than the other samples evaluated. Based on sensory evaluation, the ripe jackfruit pulps, vacuum-infused with 1.0% calcium has a shelf life of 14 days when stored at 8^oC.

Honey is a natural product containing, inter alia compounds as antioxidants. During storage of honey the crystallization occurs which makes the filling into individual packages difficult. Microwave irradiation can be the solution for liquefying of honey without the lost of bioactivity. Due to the volumetric heating, the process time is greatly reduced. The main aim of the study was to determine the effect of microwave radiation on antioxidant activity of honeydew honey. Total phenolic content were measured using Folin-Ciocalteau reagent and the results were expressed as mg of gallic acid per 100 g of honey sample. The antioxidant activity with stable ABTS^•+ radical cation and the antioxidant activity against DPPH^• were also done. It has been shown that the antioxidant potential of honey-dew has decreased under the influence of both conventional heating and microwave radiation (expressed as% reduction of ABTS and total phenolic content). There was an increase of antioxidant properties of conventional heating under the influence (expressed as% reduction of DPPH).

The chewing of food is a complex process, combining the physical breakdown of food and mixing it with saliva to form a swallowable bolus, along with a release of flavour to produce a pleasant sensory experience. The details of the process vary greatly among people, and interacts with different food types. But is there a relationship between how people chew their food, their individual chewing strategies, and their sensory perception of that food? Or is even their choice of food determined by their chewing style? Can chewing patterns be grouped into categories? By using a compact digital camera to video people with markers on their chin and nose chewing we have been able to track their chin movement with sufficient accuracy to measure several chewing parameters and relate these to their sensory responses. This simple technique allows the recoding of a large number of individual chewing profiles, which lends itself to the application of data mining techniques to look for the relationships between chewing style and sensory perception. I will describe this work along with the further developments in the automated recording and tracking of chin movement and subsequent analysis.

Introduction: Diet and lifestyle are believed to be major causes of gastric reflux. The occurrence of reflux is associated with a number of respiratory, oesophageal and airways conditions. Previous studies have used oesophageal monitoring to assess the occurrence of reflux events. Such measurements may only measure "bulk" rather than "microreflux" events. Such technology is also likely to impact on both habitual dietary intake and physical activity due to the nature of the assessment. Aim: To assess the impact of meal intake and physical activity on pepsin concentrations in saliva collected from free-living individuals throughout the day. Methods: Fifty-one participants (aged 18+, non-smokers with no current chronic or acute respiratory conditions, bloodborne diseases, or diagnosis of reflux disease) provided saliva samples before (< 30 min) and after (< 1 h) meals and physical activity bouts or before and after sleep. Dietary intake and physical activity were monitored by diary over this time. Dietary intake was analyzed using Windiets® software, while physical activity output was calculated from pre-existing tables of energy expenditure. Saliva samples were analyzed for pepsin content using a previously described ELISA methodology. Wilcoxon matched pairs rank sign tests were performed on before- and after-meal/physical activity/sleep samples. Results: Fifty-seven paired pre-and post-meal,48 paired pre- and post-physical activity samples and 168 pre- and post-sleep samples were analyzed. Mean(standard deviation) pepsin concentrations in saliva were significantly higher (P=0.037) in the pre-meal samples (44.2(42.2)) than the post-meal samples (32.8(29.6)). Post-sleep pepsin concentrations (196.4(323.4)) were significantly higher (P< 0.001) than pre-sleep (102.3(152.8)). There was no significant difference (P=0.491) between pre-(45.2(56.8)) and post-(40.8(38.6)) physical activity saliva samples. Conclusions: Analysis of pepsin in saliva is a useful method to assess the impact of lifestyle on reflux event occurrence. Increased preprandial salivary pepsin concentrations may be due to microreflux events driven by the cephalic phase of digestion.

In recent years, scientific evidence has demonstrated that diet and/or its bioactive components play an essential role in human health and wellness, leading to a change in the population consumption habits. The interest of the population for consuming healthier food products has motivated the food and pharmaceutical industries for the development of novel functional food products. The use of bioactive compounds for the formulation of novel functional foods has generated great expectations in the scientific community, as a new hope to improve the life quality and health disease status of the population. In this way, new technologies, which are revolutionizing the control, security and role of consuming products, have been developed as a new way to break into the field of bio-guided medicine, in order to provide to the consumers an option for the prevention and/or treatment of chronic degenerative diseases. In the last years, many studies have showed that different encapsulation systems, such as nanoemulsions, liposomes, micelles, polymeric micro or nanoparticles, have the potential to be used in many different biological and medical applications, mainly as targeted drug delivery systems to minimize and delay the negative effects of different chronic degenerative diseases. This review investigates the potential health benefits of several drug delivery systems to encapsulate bioactive compounds and its impact on the prevention and/or development of chronic degenerative diseases.

Extraction is one of the crucial steps for research and development of plant secondary metabolites, above all in emergent and promissory plants. Now, many technics has been proved but natural products demands more eco commitment from the value productive chain. Microwave assisted extraction is one of the important techniques for extracting valuable compounds from vegetal materials, due to the versatility of microwave. Microwave assisted extraction (MAE), has many applications in organic synthesis, polymerization and depolymerization and secondary metabolites extraction. Plant secondary metabolites are invaluable resources, useful in food additives, fragrances, pigment or directly in medicine. Milpesillos (Oenocarpus mapora), Asai (Eutherpe precatoria) or seje (Oenocarpus bataua), American palms from the Colombian Amazonia region exhibit a high polyunsaturated, fatty acid content and attractive profile as a natural ingredients. Preliminary assays have demonstrated that MAE conditions used need optimization be improved in order to increase yield rate extraction compared with other extraction methods as solid liquid extraction (SLE) (-59%) or mechanical extraction with expeller press (EPE) (-50%). MAE were used to obtain oil ingredients from this palms fruits with more unsaturated fatty acids combined with less use of solvents in less time, compared with SLE extraction . MAE has been also used in pigments extraction as Carayuru (Arrabidaea chica (Bonpl.) B. Verl.) or Achiote (Bixa orellana) plants and pigment have shown higher stability than those obtained by chemical methods. Efficiency was also higher in MAE, compared with other methods due to the short period required to obtain final products (+85%).

Bioactive compound are extracted directly from plants, animals or microorganisms through physical, chemical or enzymatic processes, acceptable for cleaning process. Amazonic bioresources are abundant and contain a great amount of bioactive compounds, such as antioxidants, polyphenols and many others. Amazonic extracts from Acai (Eutherpe precatoria), Copoazu (Theobroma grandiflorum) and Cocona (Solanum sessiliflorum) were characterized in total polyphenols and antioxidant capacity as well as ascorbic, oxalic, citric, succinic and malic acid contents and theobromine, caffeine, epicatequin and gala epicatequin, glucose, fructose and sucrose in order to preserve the nutrient and bioactive compounds. Some processing techniques were evaluated: spray drying and convective dehydration. Spry drying allow encapsulation of active ingredients and therefore effective protection of extracted metabolites compared with convective dehydration. Powders were used to evaluate some functional beverages and gums candies. Both beverages and candies showed higher antioxidant capacity when they were made from spray drying extract, confirming the success in preservation of bioactive compounds.

The quality of life depends on multiple factors; diet and nutrition are cornerstones in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. The adequate intake of fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of these diseases, due to a high intake of biologically active substances (vitamins, minerals and antioxidants). The Asai is an Amazon palm with two specie oleraceae and precatoria which fruit are found in the tidal flats of the rivers of the Amazon region. Due to its high content of anthocyanins, this fruit reduces the levels of free radicals, lipid peroxidation and proinflammatory state. The aim of this study is to explore the phytochemical and therapeutic potential of Asai. Regarding the fatty acid profile within the group of the saturated palmitic acid is highlighted with a maximum of 25.56% and a minimum of 23.0 ± 0.1 g / 100g of fat. Also relevant is the stearic acid content with a maximum of 1.84% and a minimum of 0.0 ± 1.3 g / 100 g of fat. By the other hand, Oleic acid (omega 9) content is noticeable in the fat profile of Asai which allows some researchers compare Asai fat quality with avocado, olive oil and canola oil, since this fatty acid is more than 50% of the total fat of the fruit. Due to this composition Evidence reported Asai like a possible cardioprotective and anticancer action both in vivo and in vitro.