Current Nutrition & Food Science - Volume 17, Issue 6, 2021

Among the most significant matrices in the field of environmental radioactivity, water is certainly included, being subject to monitoring and controls to safeguard the environment from possible anthropogenic contamination. The presence of radionuclides in water also constitutes a health risk to human, because its consumption increases the likelihood of incurring cancer. In authors' laboratory, different experimental techniques were employed to measure radioactivity content of surface and drinking water, according to the Italian Legislation and to the Italian Institute for the Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) guidelines. Gamma spectrometry was employed to quantify the specific activity of gamma-emitters anthropogenic contaminants and natural radionuclides; liquid scintillation counting (LSC), to measure the activity concentration of tritium, radon and gross alpha and beta; total alpha/beta counting, with the thick source method, to detect about gross alpha and beta specific activity; emanometry, to estimate gas radon activity concentration.

In recent years, the prevalence of large spectrum of gluten-related disorders (GRDs) has increased. Gluten is one of the most widely distributed components of food in both industrialized and developing countries. The main structural protein complex of wheat and its proteins are classified into albumins, salt-soluble globulins, and insoluble prolamins (gliadins and glutenins). Gluten is also included in other cereals, including rye and barley. GRDs can be classified, based on their pathogenic mechanism, into (i) Autoimmune disorders, (ii) Allergic disorders, (iii) No autoimmune, not allergic disorders. Coeliac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disorder that occurs in genetically predisposed individuals who develop an immune reaction to gluten. It affects about 1% of people in most populations. The disease primarily interests the small intestine, but it is characterized by a wide range of clinical presentations, with both intestinal and extra-intestinal symptoms. Wheat allergy (WA) is an adverse immunologic reaction to wheat proteins. In the large field of WA a further classification can be made, distinguishing IgE-dependent WA, triggered by ingestion, inhalation or cutaneous and/or mucosal contact of wheat, and IgE-non-dependent WA. Its prevalence varies depending on the age and region, from 0.4% to 4%. Urticaria and/or angioedema, and anaphylaxis with or without exercise as a trigger, appear typically during childhood, asthma and/or rhinitis (Baker’s asthma) are more common during adulthood. Non-coeliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) is a condition in which gluten ingestion leads to one or more of a variety of immunological, morphological or symptomatic (both gastrointestinal or extra gastrointestinal) manifestations in people in whom CD has been excluded. It is supposed it’s due to an activated innate immune response.

In this review, we focus on the recent developments in the Time Domain Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (TD-NMR). The Introduction section describes the methods usually adopted for the assessment of food quality, whereas the second paragraph illustrates the basic physical principles of the TD-NMR technique. In the third section, we discuss the principal application of the TDNMR method in food science. In fact, in the last decades, TD-NMR has become one of the most efficient and advanced techniques for the analysis of food products. In TD-NMR technique, the proton relaxation (transversal relaxation, T2) is monitored, providing information about the mobility of the nuclei. TD-NMR is principally used for monitoring the fat composition of food products, which represents a crucial parameter to be considered for controlling the food properties and improving its quality. This paper will present a summary of the most important applications of low field TD-NMR technique in food science and the results of the most important researches.

Background: Fourier Transform InfraRed spectroscopy analysis on Bacillus clausii and Bacillus clausii in the presence of trehalose are reported. Objective: In order to characterize the thermal response of such systems the InfraRed technique was employed to collect the spectra from 25.0°C to 80.0°C in the 4000 cm-1-400 cm-1 spectral range. Methods: The data analysis was performed focusing the attention to the intramolecular OH stretching vibrational region by means evaluating the spectral distance as a function of temperature. Results: From this analysis it emerges that the thermal restraint of Bacillus clausii in the presence of trehalose is higher in respect to Bacillus clausii alone. Conclusion: Such a result, which confirms the bioprotective role of trehalose against external temperature changes, provides useful information for the applications of the disaccharide in food industry.

The pandemic COVID-19 has tremendously affected the food industry, particularly, the restaurants and other food vendors (FVs) that serve ready-to-eat foods. These food industries have been badly hit not only because of the lock down, imposed for COVID-19 containment, but also because of the consumer's concern for food safety. To revive the processed food industry, it is necessary to win back the consumer's confidence, which in turn requires a number of steps to be taken by both the policy makers and the food business operators. In this context, the present article describes how the maintenance of hygiene at places of food production would be important for the food industry in the COVID-19 regime. It has recommendations that could be useful for both food safety regulators and food business operators.

Enormous progress in the investigation of vitamin D is currently being made from the perspective of basic science to clinical medicine. The typical view of vitamin D function limited to calcium metabolism and bone homeostasis has undergone extensive revision and it has been revealed that vitamin D receptors exist in most tissues of the body. Nowadays, one of the most popular aspects of vitamin D in research area is its role in glucose metabolism and insulin resistance. The functional mechanism of vitamin D in metabolism includes genomic and rapid non-genomic actions that are discussed in this review. Briefly, the modulatory action of vitamin D in the gene expression of insulin signaling compartments and secretion of insulin hormone may point to its role in the pathogenesis and development of type II diabetes. Vitamin D induced activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway is through PTEN-mediated AKT downregulation. Also, allelic variations in VDR and DBP might affect insulin secretion and diabetes occurrence. Vitamin D influences insulin secretion from β-cell through calcium-dependent endopeptidases, which promotes the conversion of pro-insulin to insulin; hence it can be declared that calcium and vitamin D are essential for insulin exocytosis. Hypovitaminosis D in obese individuals is also associated with higher levels of serum parathormone, through which this secondary hyperparathyroidism probably contributes to insulin resistance associated with obesity. Moreover, vitamin D is an immune modulator that may affect inflammation as a contributor to diabetes.

The term “dietary supplement” defines a comprehensive and diverse category of products that are essential to our health but are absent or insufficient in the diet and may be needed to take separately; requirement of dietary supplements varies at different stages of life, such as infant, child-adult, pregnancy, lactation, and geriatrics. Dietary supplements are not medicines, nor should they be considered a substitute for food. The USFDA defines dietary supplements in part as a product taken by mouth that contains “dietary ingredients.” Nutritional ingredients comprise vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and herbs or botanicals, in addition to other substances that can be considered to supplement the diet. The market is flooded with various dosage forms of dietary supplements, such as capsules, tablets, powders, energy bars, liquids, etc. These include vitamins, minerals, herbal products containing extracts from herbs as well as algae and fungi, concentrate, metabolite, constituent, or extract, enzyme supplement, essential amino, and fatty acids. This article describes the importance of the dietary supplement, source, diseases that arise by deficiency, and the recommended doses for different groups.

Nutraceuticals are the combination of Nutrition and Pharmaceuticals and refer to the ‘food’ possessing pharmaceutical properties. They are classified into traditional (herbals, phytochemicals, probiotic, prebiotic) and non-traditional (fortified and recombinant) categories; nutraceuticals are mainly intended for preventing and treating diseases. Nutraceuticals possess several therapeutic activities, which can be exploited to treat disorders like cardiovascular, diabetes, cancer, inflammations, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Nutraceuticals are mainly obtained from natural sources, hence they are comparatively safer and cheaper alternatives than pharmaceuticals, which leads to tremendous growth and flourishing markets for these kind of products. The main objective of this review is to determine the advancement made in the field of nutraceuticals and their potential as pharmaceutical alternatives. This article focuses on the present and past market scenario of nutraceuticals, their therapeutic effects and advantages over pharmaceuticals products. Secondly, with the advancement of novel drug delivery systems, the drawbacks of nutraceuticals have been resolved, and efficacy has been improved, which resulted in gaining the interests of scientists and researchers in this field for further improvement. Thus, we can expect the lucrative market of nutraceuticals in the upcoming days. It is clear that nutraceuticals have great potential to replace pharmaceuticals and serve the wellbeing of mankind.

Background: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected more than 117 million people worldwide and caused almost 2.6 million deaths. Currently, the appropriate therapeutic drugs are not yet available to treat diseases caused by this coronavirus infection. This is due to the fact that discoveries and developments of new medications require a lot of time and resources. The alternative solution for this viral infection is to utilize medicinal plant-based bioactive compounds as therapeutic agents to fight against COVID-19. Methods: Herein, through an extensive search of the literature, we reviewed the potential of some bioactive compounds from medicinal plants as therapeutic agents against COVID-19. The results of this review still require further investigation to clinically validate them, either in vitro or in vivo, in order to find the effective antiviral drugs from medicinal plants for COVID-19 treatment. Results: From a total of 60 identified medicinal plants, 50 of them have possible effects as therapeutic agents against particular target proteins encoded by the coronavirus genes such as Nsp1, Nsp3 (Nsp3b, Nsp3c, PL^pro and Nsp3e), Nsp7-Nsp8, Nsp9-Nsp10, Nsp14-Nsp16 complexes, 3CL^pro, E protein, ORF7a, Spike (S) glycoprotein, C-terminal RNA binding domain (CRBD), N-terminal RNA binding domain (NRBD), helicase and RdRp. The most common bioactive compounds from the medicinal plants as therapeutic agents for COVID-19 treatment were flavonoid compounds. Conclusion: Medicinal plants can serve as starting points for therapeutic agent development against some target proteins of SARS-CoV-2. Nevertheless, the results require clinical validation, either in vitro or in vivo, for COVID-19 treatment.

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Background: Consumption of energy drinks (EDs) has increased exponentially among younger generations, and this increase is projected to continue. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the prevalence, knowledge level, intake patterns, and consumer experience of consuming EDs among university students in Jordan. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 467 students from 29 universities was conducted by a webbased questionnaire. Descriptive analyses, chi-square tests, and logistic regression were performed, with a p-value of ≤0.05 indicating significance. Results: The prevalence of EDs was 40.1% among university students. Over half (62.7%) of students had poor knowledge of EDs. The most significant determinants identified were male (OR=2.18; 95%CI: 1.14-4.15), undergraduate (OR: 4.01; 95% CI: 1.70-9.72), in a nonmedical discipline (OR=2.92; 95% CI: 1.56-5.44), smoker (OR=9.91;95%Cl: 5.30-18.54) and having a poor knowledge level (OR=40.46;95%CI: 14.33-114.27). Students mainly consumed Red Bull, and the majority consumed 1-2 can(s) daily. Students were more likely to consume EDs during exams to mainly stay awake. The major side effects experienced by this sample were increased urination and headache. No changes in mental or physical performance, weight, appetite, and sleeping pattern were observed among the majority of respondents. Conclusion: Consumption of EDs was moderate among university students. Gender, study course, study year, smoking, and knowledge level were determinants of their intake.