Oxidative stress in probiotic Petit Suisse: Is the jabuticaba skin extract a potential option?

This research evaluated the action of jabuticaba skin extract (JSE) obtained through supercritical extraction compared with the antioxidants ascorbic acid, cysteine chloride, and glucose oxidase along probiotic Petit Suisse cheese processing. Physico-chemical analyses (pH, proteolysis, antioxidant activity, organic acids, and fatty acid profile) and microbiological (starter culture and probiotic culture counts) were carried out over 28 days of refrigerated storage. Addition of JSE on Petit Suisse was variable and dependent of the evaluated parameters with satisfactory findings in consumer test. However, the supplementation of probiotic Petit Suisse with JSE should be evaluated with care.     

Enhancement of antimicrobial activity of a lactoperoxidase system by carrot extract and β-carotene

Effect of carrot extract (CE) on the bactericidal activity of a bovine lactoperoxidase system (LPOS) was evaluated using Salmonella enteritidis (10⁶ cfu/ml). LPOS antimicrobial activity increased from 1.4 to 3.8 log units by addition of 20-fold diluted CE. β-Carotene, a major pigment of carrot, also induced the increase in the activity, indicating that β-carotene is one of the major enhancers of LPOS antimicrobial activity. Discolouration of β-carotene was observed by the co-localisation of LPOS with β-carotene. The discolouration was mainly caused by the oxidation of β-carotene through hypothiocyanate ion (OSCN^?), which is produced by LPOS. The storage test of LPOS in the presence of β-carotene indicated that oxidised β-carotene leads to the sustainable OSCN^? generation through an oxidised β-carotene/SCN^? redox cycling reaction. Concomitant use of LPOS and β-carotene or β-carotene-rich food components raises the possibility of development of an effective disinfectant.     

Is beer a source of prebiotics?

Beer contains low‐molecular‐weight β‐linked oligosaccharides that originate from the degradation of β‐glucan in the barley cell wall during malting and mashing. Over 90% of these oligosaccharides contain three or four glucosyl units. They remain intact through a static oral, gastric and small intestinal in vitro human digestive system model, indicating that they should be available to beneficial organisms known to be present in the human large intestine. Several intestine‐associated Lactobacillus strains were shown to be capable of growth on these β‐linked oligosaccharides, thereby leading us to tentatively propose that these compounds may represent prebiotics. Copyright © 2017 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling     

Is the standard compliance check protocol a valid measure of the accessibility of tobacco to underage smokers?

OBJECTIVE: To determine if the standard compliance check protocol is a valid measure of the experience of underage smokers when purchasing tobacco in unfamiliar communities. SETTING: 160 tobacco outlets in eight Massachusetts communities where underage tobacco sales laws are vigorously enforced. PROCEDURE: Completed purchase rates were compared between underage smokers who behaved normally and inexperienced non-smoking youths who were not allowed to lie or present proof of age (ID). RESULTS: The "smoker protocol" increased the likelihood of a sale nearly sixfold over that for the non-smokers (odds ratio (OR) 5.7, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.5 to 22). When the youths presented an ID with an underage birth date, the odds of a completed sale increased dramatically (OR 27, 95% CI 3.4 to 212). Clerks judged to be under 21 years of age were seven times more likely to make an illegal sale (OR 7.6, 95% CI 2.4 to 24.0). CONCLUSIONS: Commonly used compliance check protocols are too artificial to reflect accurately the experience of underage smokers. The validity of compliance checks might be improved by having youths present ID, and by employing either tobacco users, or non-tobacco users who are sufficiently experienced to mimic the self confidence exhibited by tobacco users in this situation. Consideration should be given to prohibiting the sale of tobacco by individuals under 21 years of age.     

Fractionation of the water-soluble extract of a cheese made from goats’ milk by filtration methods: behaviour of fat and volatile compounds

The intense aroma of goat cheese is mainly due to volatile polar compounds, particularly short- and medium-chain length free fatty acids, contained in its water-soluble extract (WSE). This fraction also contains the taste compounds of the cheese and has been fractionated in order to assess its chemical composition. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the behaviour of the most abundant volatile compounds and fat components in the WSE during multiple successive fractionation steps: i.e. fractionation by 10 and 1 kDa ultrafiltrations and 0.5 kDa nanofiltration. Lipid and volatile components were analysed by TLC-FID and GC–MS methods, respectively, at each filtration step. In the WSE, 43 volatile components were identified and short-chain free fatty acids were the most abundant. Volatile and fat compounds were largely retained during the 10 and 0.5 kDa filtration steps and to a lesser extent during the 1 kDa filtration step. The retention of various volatile compounds could be explained, beside possible interactions with the membranes used, by adsorption or interaction of these compounds with fat or protein material.     

Is the production of the biogenic amines tyramine and putrescine a species-level trait in enterococci?

Biogenic amines (BA) are toxic nitrogenous compounds that can be accumulated in foods via the microbial decarboxylation of certain amino acids. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains belonging to different species and genera have been described as BA producers and are mainly responsible for their synthesis in fermented foods. It is generally accepted that the capacity to produced BAs is strain-dependent. However, the large number of enterococci identified as BA producers suggests that the aminogenic trait may be a species-level characteristic. Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus durans strains of different origin were analysed to determine their capacity to produce tyramine and putrescine. The presence of the genes responsible for this and the identity of their flanking regions were checked by PCR. The results suggest that tyramine biosynthesis is a species-level characteristic in E. faecalis, E. faecium and E. durans. Putrescine synthesis was found to be a species-level trait of E. faecalis, with production occurring via the agmatine deamination pathway. Some E. faecium strains of human origin also produced putrescine; this trait was probably acquired via horizontal gene transfer.     

Is meat sexy? Meat preference as a function of the sexual motivation system

When their sexual motivation system is activated, men behave in ways that would increase their desirability as a mating partner to women. For example, they take greater risks and become more altruistic. We examine the possibility that men’s sexual motivation, when elicited, can influence their preference for meat because meat signals status to others, including women—and signalling status is one way to help men achieve their mating goals. We find support for this hypothesis in three studies involving consumption (Study 1) and preference (Studies 2 and 3) for meat. Men’s desire for status mediates their liking for meat. In contrast, when their sexual motivation system is activated, women like meat less, possibly since they pursue other strategies such as beauty and health to make themselves desirable to men. Thus, we suggest that evolutionary processes shape food preferences. We discuss the contributions and limitations of our results as well as practical implications for reducing meat consumption—to not only improve one’s physical health but food sustainability.     

Comparison of encapsulation properties of major garlic oil components by hydroxypropyl β-cyclodextrin

The major garlic oil (GO) components were encapsulated by hydroxypropyl β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD), and their encapsulation properties were compared in this study. Our results showed that the optimal conditions for the GO encapsulation were as follows: weigh ratio at 12:88 (GO: HP-β-CD), pH at 5.0, and inclusion time at 4 h. Furthermore, results from the phase solubility curves indicated that two components of diallyl disulfide (DADS) and diallyl trisulfide (DATS) had higher water solubility caused by HP-β-CD and that DATS-HP-β-CD complex had higher stability constant (K _1:1 = 6.702 × 10⁵) and more significant change in free energy ( \Updelta G_\textCOMP^* \Updelta G_{\text{COMP}}^{*}  = −3.496 × 10⁴) than DADS-HP-β-CD. These findings indicated that DATS was better suited to be encapsulated by HP-β-CD compared to DADS. The result finally obtained from gas chromatography–flame ionization detector (GC–FID) confirmed the easier inclusion properties of DATS by HP-β-CD.     

Polyphenol characterization and encapsulation in β-cyclodextrin of a flavonoid-rich Hypericum perforatum (St John's wort) extract

Purified methanolic extracts of Hypericum perforatum (HP) from Northern Greece were very rich in flavonoids. Among simple polyphenols determined by GC-MS, epicatechin, catechin and quercetin predominated, their concentrations being 118.9 ± 20.6, 8.7 ± 1.4 and 5.8 ± 0.8 mg/g extract. LC-MS analysis revealed that the HP extract was mainly consisted of quercetin glucosides, catechin and quercetin. Among anthocyanins, malvidine was present at 1.96 ± 0.2 mg/g. The 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) and the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays showed that the HP extract exerted significant antioxidant activity. The inclusion complex of HP with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) was prepared by mixing 1:4 mass ratios of its components in aqueous media and subsequent freeze-drying. The encapsulation was verified by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and NMR studies, and encapsulation efficiencies were 27.5, 30.0 and 35.0% for catechin, epicatechin and quercetin respectively. DSC after thermal oxidation indicated that the inclusion complex remained intact at temperatures where the free HP extract was oxidized. It is concluded that the encapsulation in β-CD improves the thermal stability of nutraceutical antioxidants present in St John's wort extract, suggesting that the inclusion complex could serve as a flavonoids-rich food supplement or a novel additive to enhance the antioxidant capacity of fresh or thermally processed food.     

Is intersucking in dairy cows the continuation of a habit developed in early life?

Intersucking, i.e., cattle sucking the udder of heifers or cows, is a frequent problem in dairy herds and may lead to udder damage, mastitis, milk loss, and culling of breeding animals. Using epidemiological methods, we conducted an observational cross-sectional study to investigate risk factors for intersucking in Swiss dairy cows. We asked 114 randomly selected dairy farmers about a broad spectrum of environmental factors possibly associated with intersucking, such as housing conditions, management, and feeding of calves, heifers, and cows. Thirty of the 114 farms were confronted with intersucking in cows. The mean proportion of intersucking cows per farm was 1.6%. From a total of 3077 cows (Swiss Brown Cattle, Simmental, and Holstein Friesian) we recorded 49 cows that had performed or were currently intersucking. In 69% of these cows, intersucking had been observed as heifers. Using path analysis and multivariable stepwise backward logistic and linear regression analyses, we revealed that the most important risk factor for intersucking cows was the presence of intersucking heifers on a farm (odds ratio = 7.8). The results suggest that intersucking in cows is the continuation of a habit that was already established in a cow's subadult life. This emphasizes the importance of looking not only at the animal's current environmental situation but also considering its entire life history for the prevention of behavioral problems.     

Is cumulative fossil energy demand a useful indicator for the environmental performance of products?

The appropriateness of the fossil Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) as an indicator for the environmental performance of products and processes is explored with a regression analysis between the environmental life-cycle impacts and fossil CEDs of 1218 products, divided into the product categories "energy production", "material production", "transport", and "waste treatment". Our results show that, for all product groups but waste treatment, the fossil CED correlates well with most impact categories, such as global warming, resource depletion, acidification, eutrophication, tropospheric ozone formation, ozone depletion, and human toxicity (explained variance between 46% and 100%). We conclude that the use of fossil fuels is an important driver of several environmental impacts and thereby indicative for many environmental problems. It maytherefore serve as a screening indicatorfor environmental performance. However, the usefulness of fossil CED as a stand-alone indicator for environmental impact is limited by the large uncertainty in the product-specific fossil CED-based impact scores (larger than a factor of 10 for the majority of the impact categories; 95% confidence interval). A major reason for this high uncertainty is nonfossil energy related emissions and land use, such as landfill leachates, radionuclide emissions, and land use in agriculture and forestry.     

Towards improving the nutrition and health of the aged: the role of sprouted grains and encapsulation of bioactive compounds in functional bread – a review

Aging reduces the absorption of nutrients. Literature related to functional bread processing techniques including sprouting of grains and the application of encapsulation technology and the bioavailability of bioactives was reviewed. Functional ingredients including sprouted/germinated grain particularly brown rice and wheat flours enhance the bioactive properties of functional bread. Ingredients with high polyphenol content such as lavender and melissa by-products, tea-extracts and aronia powder enhance the bioactive content and appear to have a favourable effect on the shelf-life of bread and antioxidant status of consumers. Incorporation of encapsulated bioactive compounds into bread have a huge potential to improve the bread quality and increase the bioavailability and bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds including polyphenols. More investigations and new areas of research should focus on sprouted grain flours and the application of encapsulation technologies especially nanoencapsulation to optimize the bioactivity, storage, bioavailability and nutritional profile of bread to improve nutrition and health with aging.     

Is glassiness a common characteristic of soil organic matter?

Until now, glass transitions were detected in isolated humic and fulvic acids as well as in distinct soil samples with usually high Corg contents. The results of this study indicate that glassiness has to be considered a common characteristic of soil organic matter (SOM). However, two types of glassiness were observed in various soil types. Additionally to a typical glass transition with low intensity, a slowly reversing glasstransition-like step transition with significantly higher intensity was detected in 52 out of 102 tested soil samples. The intensity of this transition type is correlated to the organic matter content of the samples. The transition behavior additionally depends on characteristics of the locations and changes within soil profiles. Relations to particulate organic matter (POM), mineral-associated organic matter (MOM), and the thermostable fraction of the soil samples were not significant. A surprising result of the study is that the step transition temperatures of all analyzed air-dried soil samples range between 51 and 67 degrees C in closed systems, pointing to a superordinate mechanism which controls the matrix rigidity of the organic molecules. This may be represented by the formation of hydrogen bond based cross-links between water molecules and SOM suggested in a previous study. Thus, glassiness in SOM may be caused by physical and physicochemical mechanisms.