Background: Obesity and its related metabolic syndrome continue to be major public health problems. Mono- sodium L-glutamate (MSG) may cause metabolic diseases such as obesity. Meanwhile, the Chinese population has undergone rapid transition to a high-fat diet. There is little information available on the effect of MSG and fat alone, or in combination, on free fatty acids (FFAs), lipid metabolism and FFA receptors. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of MSG and fat...
antioxidants, flour, starch, protein, nutrition
Background: Glycyrrhizinic acid (GA), a major active ingredient enriched in the roots of licorice, possesses well-confirmed anti-inflammatory effects. Objective: To evaluate the underlying mechanisms of GA against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced chronic neuroinflammation and memory impairment. Design: We explored to investigate the effects of GA on neuroinflammation and memory impairment in an LPS-induced Alzheimer’s mouse model. Results: Data of micro-PET/CT imaging and morris water maze...
protein, nutrition, safety, analysis, chemistry
Background: Consumers are frequently exposed to arsenic in foods and considerable public and scientific concern exists regarding the potential health risks from dietary arsenic. Arsenic exists in both organic and inorganic forms and health effects are primarily attributed to inorganic forms. The most common analytical methods used to detect arsenic measure total arsenic, which includes both organic and inorganic forms. It is therefore necessary to make assumptions concerning the amounts of...
food science, nutrition, safety, analysis, pasta
Background: Although raw meat and its products are commonly consumed in traditional Ethiopian diets, E. coli O157: H7 is rarely studied compared to other countries. Thus the present study has been designed to determine the prevalence and assess the antimicrobial susceptibility of E. coli O157: H7 isolated from beef, sheep meat and goat meat at one abattoir and in 48 selected raw meat retail shops in Addis Ababa. Results: Out of 384 meat samples examined, 10.2% (39/384) were positive to E. coli...
processing, color, storage, safety, analysis
Background: Since large-scale commercial planting of genetically modified (GM) crops began in 1996, a concern has been that non-GM crops may become contaminated by GM crops and that wild or weedy relatives of GM crops growing outside of cultivated areas could become contaminated. The GM Contamination Register contains records of GM contamination incidents since 1997 and forms a unique database. By the end of 2013, 396 incidents across 63 countries had been recorded. Results: Analysis of the...
wheat, protein, quality, safety, analysis
In this research, Uranium (238 U), Thorium (232 Th) and Potassium (40 K) specific activity in (Bq/kg) were measured in (12) different types of wheat flours that are available in Iraqi markets. The gamma spectrometry method with a NaI(Tl) detector has been used for radiometric measurements. Also in this study we have calculated the radiation hazard indices (radium equivalent activity and internal hazard index) and Ingestion effective dose in all samples. It is found that the specific activity...
wheat, flour, safety, analysis, health
Background: Arsenic and heavy metals are implicated in causation of CKDu among farmers in dry zone of Sri Lanka. Rice has been identified as a major source of arsenic in research carried out in other countries. We analyzed 120 samples of new improved varieties (NIVs) and 50 samples of traditional varieties (TV) of rice for total arsenic content. Findings: Rice cultivated in Sri Lanka is contaminated with arsenic. Agrochemical dependent NIVs contain considerable amount (20.6 -540.4 μg/Kg) of...
antioxidants, protein, nutrition, quality, safety
Background: Pesticide residue levels were determined in ready-to-eat vegetables collected from 16 sites along the food chain; which is, farms, markets, cafeterias and street food vending sites in Kumasi, Ghana. The aim of the study was to determine the concentrations of pesticides residues in two ready-to-eat vegetables and assess the health risks due to consumption of these contaminated vegetables. Methods: Pesticide residues in ready-to-eat vegetables or salads were extracted by means of the...
food science, processing, quality, safety, analysis
Background: It is believed that higher methanol content may be present in some alcoholic drinks produced by traditional distilleries or some alcohol brewing companies. As a result of this, there could be a higher risk of methanol concentration in products. Therefore, this research focused on quantifying the amount of methanol in some fermented foods and alcoholic drinks by Gas Chromatography. The method was validated for limit of detection, limit of quantification, and recovery. Results: The...
quality, fermentation, safety, analysis, chemistry
Background: Bacillus cereus is a spore-forming bacterium that is widely distributed in the environment and can be detected in a variety of raw milk and milk products especially in vegetative form, which exposed directly in contact with the soil and produces toxins which caused food borne illness and considered as a significant public health hazard. A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence and load of Bacillus cereus vegetative cells in raw bulk milk sold in market...
quality, color, shelf life, storage, microorganisms
Background: Cyanide is among the most harmful substances on Earth and it is harmful to humans and most aquatic life even at low concentrations. Free, total cyanide levels and other physicochemical parameters were determined in fish, cassava, cocoyam, dam and borehole water samples collected from Kenyasi, Ghana. A total of sixteen (16) water samples, five (5) fish samples, twenty (20) cassava and cocoyam tubers were collected from the study area. Free and total cyanide levels were determined...
wheat, flour, nutrition, processing, quality
Background: The contamination of food by chemical hazards is a worldwide public health concern and is a leading cause of trade problems internationally. Based on former work describing the prevalent use and misuse of antibiotics in cattle in the Far North Region of Cameroon, we designed a study to detect antibiotic (penicillin G and oxytetracycline) in beef sold for human consumption in Maroua (Cameroon). To determine the mean concentration of antibiotic residues in beef, sample of liver and...
quality, safety, analysis, health, composition
Background: Spices are widely consumed in Cameroon, but there is no data available concerning their mycotoxin contamination. A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to June 2017 to assess the occurrence of Ochratoxin A (OTA) in black pepper, white pepper and clove sold in three main markets of Yaoundé (the capital of Cameroon), and the health risk that can be associated taking into account consumers’ practices during and after purchase. Results: Data obtained revealed that 10% of...
food science, wheat, nutrition, processing, quality
Background: Food safety problems still persist across the globe and remain a challenge to the general public and government. The study determined the microbiological quality of pre-cut vegetable salads sold in the Central Business District (CBD) of Tamale. Results: A total of thirty (30) salad samples were purchased from four zones of the District and transported to the Spanish Laboratory of the University for Development Studies, Ghana for analysis. Standard microbiological methods that are...
food science, protein, nutrition, processing, quality
Background: In recent years, concerns have been raised in Ghana regarding the use of pesticides in yamproduction to the extent that it is feared that pesticides residues may be found in the yam tuber which isconsumed by many Ghanaians. This present study, therefore, was designed to assess the level of pesticides residues in yam bought from across Ghanaian markets i.e. production for local consumption and from Belgium grocery shops (export production from Ghana) using the Quick, Easy, Cheap,...
food science, quality, storage, safety, analysis
Background: One major route of heavy metal exposure/ accumulation to humans is via vegetable consumption. The study assessed the levels of heavy metals and their associated health risk in frequently consumed vegetables in the Tamale Metropolis. Results: Cadmium concentration in cabbage, carrot, green pepper, onion and tomato ranged from 0.04 to 0.07 mg kg− 1 , 0.01 to 0.06 mg kg− 1 , 0.04 to 0.06 mg kg− 1 , 0.03 to 0.06 mg kg− 1 and 0.03 to 0.07 mg kg− 1 , respectively. Lead concentration in...
protein, fiber, nutrition, quality, safety
Background: Contamination of vegetables by multidrug resistant pathogens is of global concern. This is the first report on the antibiotic resistance of Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica from lettuce and cabbage sources in the Tamale metropolis of Ghana. Method: A total of 26 Escherichia coli and 36 Salmonella enterica isolates were screened against nine antibiotics using the disc diffusion method. Results: The overall resistance (R), intermediate (I) and susceptibility (S) of...
food science, processing, quality, safety, chemistry
Background: Aflatoxin contamination of grain is a major constraint to sustained quality cereal production. The causative fungi, Aspergillus species infect crops in the field and continue to do so post-harvest where they produce toxins in store. The current study aimed at establishing seasonal variation in levels and types of aflatoxins in maize from the Eastern region of Kenya- the hot-spot for aflatoxicosis. Maize kernels were collected from farmers’ households in May and December 2013 -2...
quality, storage, analysis, chemistry, functional
Background: This paper describes the activities and the results obtained from a monitoring of contamination levels of some metals: lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), total arsenic (As tot), vanadium (V), chromium (Cr), antimony (Sb), manganese (Mn) and aluminium (Al) in vegetable food cultivated or sold in local market, near Resit landfill in Giugliano (Campania region, Italy). This area, once well known like Campania felix for abundance and quality of food farming, supplies local,...
nutrition, processing, quality, safety, analysis
Background: Foodborne diseases associated with the consumption of meat and its products are of public health significance worldwide. The study is, therefore, aimed to estimate the prevalence and the antimicrobial resistance profile of some bacterial pathogens isolated from meats and its products in Ethiopia. Methods: Literature search was conducted from major electronic databases and indexing services including PubMed/ MEDLINE, Google Scholar, Science Direct and WorldCat. Both published and...
food science, protein, processing, quality, packaging
Overuse of pesticides in vegetables and related fresh products raises serious public health concerns. However, the recognition and assessment of the magnitude of public health risk remains a low priority in low income African communities. Brassicas are a cosmopolitan crop in African horticulture, and equally so, is the major economic pest, the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.). In consequence, insecticide use on P. xylostella in brassica production systems presents persistent...
nutrition, quality, storage, safety, analysis
Background: A total of 181 samples of cereals and legumes, including mustard, maize, finger millet, sesame, cowpea/black-eyed pea, Urad dal /split bean, foxtail millet, long bean and green gram from the North Central Province of Sri Lanka were analysed for arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd) levels using atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). Findings: The As and Cd level in each sample was not significantly different. The mean level was found to be 48.90 ± 34.63 μg/kg for As and 19.39 ± 9.508...
wheat, flour, nutrition, quality, safety
Background: Aflatoxin contamination in traditionally fermented cereal-based beverages is a serious food safety challenge considering that commercialization of these products is rising. The challenge is aggravated by the fact that aflatoxin elimination from the food chain is almost impossible. This paper focuses on Obushera, a popular traditional spontaneously fermented sorghum – millet beverage from Uganda. Method: Mold and total aflatoxin levels in cereal flours and Obushera from different...
wheat, flour, nutrition, processing, quality
Background: When present in animal feedstuff, mycotoxins contaminants and antibiotic residues can have negative implications for animal production and Public Health, including the transmission of carcinogenic compounds and the selection of antibiotic resistant bacteria, respectively. So far there are no available methods in which both mycotoxins and antibiotic residues are analyzed using a parallel extraction approach. To address this issue, we developed a LC/MS methodology with high...
food science, wheat, flour, nutrition, processing
A novel approach is developed to establish safety levels for organophosphate pesticides residues present in 80 fruit, vegetable, and nut commodities. These levels, known as Pesticide Safety Levels (PSL), represent the concentration of the organophosphate pesticide residue that would be required to cause daily exposure of the highest-consuming population subgroup at the 95th percentile of consumption (based upon US food consumption estimates) to reach the adjusted acute reference dose of the...
food science, nutrition, quality, safety, chemistry
Low moisture foods like spices are known to be contaminated with pathogens, sun-dried chili pepper powder not left out. A study was conducted to determine the effect of gamma irradiation on the decontamination of sun-dried Legon-18 pepper powder and its impact on some quality parameters. Samples were obtained from a local farmer. Sterility tests was performed. Samples were inoculated with known cfu/g of L. monocytogenes, E. coli and S. Typhimurium. The inoculated samples were irradiated at 1,...
food science, nutrition, processing, quality, sensory
Poultry meat can be contaminated by different types of microorganisms during processing in processing plant. The microbiological quality of chicken carcasses and along with processing steps and environmental condition was analyzed in this study in an ISO 22000:2005 certified poultry processing plant of Kathmandu. Standard plate count method was applied for the enumeration and detection of total mesophilic bacteria, total coliform, total faecal coliform, Staphylococcus load along with selected...
food science, nutrition, processing, quality, shelf life
Background: Aflatoxins are a category of mycotoxins produced by certain molds naturally occurring as food and feed contaminants with toxic effects to both animals and humans. In Uganda, previous studies on aflatoxins mainly considered human foods, but scarce information exists for animal feeds. The study aimed at establishing the current status of aflatoxins contamination of poultry feeds, level of awareness and the existing technological challenges and innovations to mycotoxin control in...
food science, wheat, protein, fiber, nutrition
Objective: To explore the risk factors of duodenogastric reflux (DGR) in relation to different dietary habits. Methods: A total of 106 patients with symptoms of DGR who underwent electronic gastroscopy from June 2019 to June 2020 were selected and divided into the DGR group (n = 33) and the non-DGR group (n = 73) according to the diagnosis of bile reflux. Questionnaires were used to collect the basic information and dietary habits of the patients, including age, gender, body mass index, place...
fiber, nutrition, quality, storage, enzymes
Background: An increased intake of vegetable and fruit (VF) through school meals can contribute to the pre- vention of non-communicable diseases. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate what types of VF 4th grade pupils (10–11 years old) choose, how much they eat when they are given the opportunity to serve themselves from the daily vegetable buffet available at lunch, and whether this varies with socioeconomic background and gender. Design: A cross-sectional study design was...
fiber, nutrition, quality, sensory, texture
Kaempferia parviflora (KP) rhizome, also called black ginger, has been used as a herbal medicine for many centuries. This current study was aimed at exploring whether KP rhizome extract (KPE) had anti-obesity effects and the mechanism involved. Five-week-old C57BL/6N male mice were allocated into five groups for 8-week feeding with control diet (CD), high-fat diet (HFD), HFD + 150 mg/kg body weight (BW)/ day KPE (HFD+K150), HFD + 300 mg/kg BW/day KPE (HFD+K300), and HFD + 600 mg/kg BW/ day KPE...
food science, protein, nutrition, enzymes, safety
Background: Euonymus alatus (Thunb.) Siebold (EA) is a medicinal plant used in some Asian countries to treat various diseases, including cancer, hyperglycemia, diabetes, urticaria, dysmenorrhea, and arthritis. Owing to the wide range of pharmacological applications of EA, various roles of EA are being studied. Objective: We evaluated the immune-enhancing effect of EA treatment in a cyclophosphamide (Cy)-induced immunosuppressed rat model. Design: We analyzed the immune enhancement effect of EA...
antioxidants, protein, nutrition, enzymes, analysis
Background: People with intellectual disabilities (IDs) have an increased risk of obesity and health concerns related to their nutritional status and dietary intake. Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a multi-component intervention on weight, waist circumference (WC), clinical health parameters and dietary habits in a group of overweight and obese adults with mild-to-moderate ID. Design: A 7-month cluster-randomised trial and a 7-month follow-up of the intervention group after the end...
protein, nutrition, quality, storage, analysis
Background: Black tea is fully fermented tea with abundant functional components that benefit the gastroin- testinal tract. But whether black tea extract relieves constipation is unknown. Therefore, we used loperamide to induce constipation in mice to assess the therapeutical effect of extracts from aged black tea with different storage times. Design: Sixty-three C57BL/6J male mice were randomly divided into Control group (Con), Model group (Mod), Positive group (Pos), aged 6 years group...
polyphenols, protein, fiber, nutrition, quality
Background: Sufficient iodine intake is important for thyroid function and, particularly, among women of reproductive age. Water is a universal component of the diet and could be an important source of iodine. Iodine concentration in drinking water varies geographically. It is therefore of nutritional interest to explore the variation and the contribution of iodine from water and beverages. Objective: To analyze the iodine concentrations in tap water, mineral waters, and coffee from different...
nutrition, color, safety, analysis, extraction
Despite development in cancer treatment and prevention options during the past few years, cancer of the pancreas remains a diagnosis associated with poor prognosis and limited options for prevention. Diet has proven to be an important risk factor for development of many types of cancer, particularly for cancers of the digestive system. Still, evidence regarding its relation to pancreatic cancer remains ambiguous. To investi- gate the relationship between diet and pancreatic cancer, an analysis...
protein, fiber, nutrition, quality, analysis
Background: The dietary habits among snus users are largely unknown and have not been accounted for in observational studies on the health effects of snus use. Aim: To examine whether snus users eat unhealthier than never tobacco users. Methods: A total of 3,397 male participants, examined between 1994 and 2014 in the Northern Sweden Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Disease (MONICA) study, were included. Snus use and dietary habits were self-reported using...
protein, fiber, nutrition, quality, analysis
Objectives: This study aimed to systematically review the evidence for associations between consumption of legumes and cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes (T2D) and their risk factors among healthy adults. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Scopus up to 16 May 2022 for ≥4 weeks long randomized (RCT) and non-randomized controlled trials and prospective cohort studies with follow-up ≥12 months, assessing legume intake...
food science, wheat, flour, protein, fiber
Objectives: The aim was to systematically review the associations among white meat consumption, cardiovas- cular diseases (CVD), and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods: Databases MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Scopus were searched (15th October 2021) for randomized intervention trials (RCTs, ≥ 4 weeks of duration) and pro- spective cohort studies (≥12 month of follow-up) assessing the consumption of white meat as the intervention/ exposure. Eligible...
food science, protein, fiber, nutrition, quality
Background: Corn peptides, a novel food prepared from corn gluten meal (CGM) by enzymatic hydrolysis or microbial fermentation, have attracted considerable interest owing to their various bioactive properties. However, the underlying mechanism of corn peptides attenuate non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remains unclear. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of corn peptides in NAFLD and to decipher the under- lying mechanisms. Design:NAFLD was induced by a high-fat diet...
polyphenols, protein, nutrition, quality, fermentation
Background: Animal models have provided some evidence of the pro-inflammatory effects of the commonly used emulsifier carrageenan. However, the effects of food-grade carrageenan among people with ulcerative colitis (UC) are largely unknown. Methods: A randomized, placebo-controlled cross-over study comparing high molecular carrageenan and oat- based beta-glucan preparation (placebo) among patients (n = 7) with quiescent UC was performed. Primary endpoint was Simple Clinical Colitis Activity...
flour, protein, fiber, nutrition, processing
Background: Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress implicated in leptin resistance in the diet-induced obesity, which can accelerate the development of atherosclerosis forms the background of this study. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of capsaicin on hyperleptinema by inhibiting ER stress in apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE-/-) mice fed a western diet (WD). Design: ApoE -/- mice were assigned one of three experimental diets: WD (60% kcal from fat, n = 10), WD + 0.015%...
antioxidants, starch, protein, nutrition, quality
The understanding of how physical activity and insufficient physical activity are associated with health out- comes has increased considerably over the past decades. Along with physical activity, the evidence on the associations between sedentary behavior and health has increased, which has resulted in the introduction of recommendations of sedentary behavior. In this article, we 1) present terminology for physical activity and sedentary behavior epidemiology, 2) show the relevant scientific...
nutrition, quality, color, safety, analysis
Background: The relationship between fruit, whole grain, and total energy consumption and the gut microbi- ome in the Chinese population remains unclear. Objective: We investigated the relationship between intakes of fruits, whole grains, and energy, and the diver- sity and composition of gut microbiota. Design: This cross-sectional study included 167 subjects aged 40-75 years who underwent colonoscopy at Nankai Hospital in Tianjin, China. Each of the participants completed a personal history...
polyphenols, wheat, starch, fiber, nutrition
Background: A proprietary combination of Garcinia mangostana fruit rind and Cinnamomum tamala leaf extracts (LI80020F4, CinDura®) improved the physical performance and muscle strength of resistance-trained adult males. Objective: This study assessed the underlying mechanisms of the ergogenic potential of LI80020F4 in in vitro and in vivo models. Methods: The individual extracts and their combination (LI80020F4) were assessed for nitrite production in EAhy926 human endothelial cells. Subsequent...
polyphenols, antioxidants, protein, fiber, nutrition
Background: Nutritional status and maternal feeding during the perinatal and postnatal periods can program the offspring to develop long-term health alterations. Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated an association between maternal obesity and intellectual disability/cognitive deficits like autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in offspring. Experimental findings have consistently been indicating that maternal supplementation with methyl donors, attenuated the social alterations and repetitive...
protein, nutrition, processing, safety, analysis
Background: The fruits of Phyllanthus emblica L. are high in nutrients and have excellent health care function and developmental value. There are many management strategies available for diabetes and hyperlipidemia. Nevertheless, there is a lack of an effective and nontoxic drug. Objective: The present study was designed to first screen four extracts of P. emblica L. on insulin signaling target gene expression levels, including glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) and p-Akt/t-Akt. The ethyl acetate...
polyphenols, antioxidants, protein, nutrition, processing
Background: Non-compliance with medical nutrition therapy can lead to an increase in cardiometabolic risk factors, resulting in an increase in the frequency of morbidity and mortality. Objective: This study aims to compare the effectiveness of two different medical nutrition therapies designed to reduce cardiometabolic risk factors. Design: The study was conducted on voluntary overweight and obese women who sought services at a special- ized Nutrition and Dietary Counseling Clinic. The clinic...
protein, fiber, nutrition, quality, analysis
Water, being an essential nutrient, is crucial for all life. Adequate maintenance of body water compartments is required for optimal fluid balance, which is a prerequisite for cellular homeostasis and blood pressure regula- tion. Water balance is the result of dietary intake of both fluids and foods as well as metabolically produced water, excretion from the kidneys and losses from other sources (e.g. sweat and feces). The water content in food items varies considerably and ranges from about...
protein, nutrition, color, safety, analysis
Dietary fiber is a term crudely defined as carbohydrates (CHOs) that escape digestion and uptake in the small intestine. Lignin, which is not a CHO, is also a part of the dietary fiber definition. Dietary fibers come in dif- ferent sizes and forms, with a variety of combinations of monomeric units. Health authorities worldwide have for many years recommended a diet rich in dietary fibers based on consistent findings that dietary fibers are associated with reduced incidences of major...
food science, antioxidants, wheat, starch, protein