Current Nutrition & Food Science - Volume 9, Issue 4, 2013

The current paper reviews published academic research on European consumer attitudes towards Functional Foods (FFs). The main goal is to rationalize the vast existing body of evidence on consumers’ understanding and use of FFs and identify further interesting research avenues. Almost all the studies analyzed in the current review reveal that consumer acceptance of the concept of FFs together with a better understanding of its determinants are core factors for market orientation, development and success. However, failure rates have shown that consumer acceptance is often neglected or at least far from being understood.

Bioaccessibility is defined as the amount of a food constituent transferred to the micelle fraction after digestion in the gut, when compared with the original amount of the constituent present in the food. Bioaccessible constituents may be able to pass through the intestinal barrier and hence become bioavailable within the body. Bioaccessibility is commonly determined by in vitro methods simulating the human digestion and is assumed to be a good starting point for estimating potential bioavailability of a food constituent. The study of bioaccessibility of functional ingredients is necessary in addition to studies on their potential beneficial nutritional effects. This review discusses the benefits and limitations of methods used to assess bioaccessibility, in addition to factors affecting bioaccessiblity, both dietary and physiological. Evidence regarding the bioaccessibility of specific functional ingredients, including carotenoids and flavonoids is especially highlighted. Potential approaches to enhance bioaccessibility of functional ingredients are also discussed.

The nutritional benefits of fish or fish oil consumption lies predominantly in its advantageous fatty acid profile, which is rich in long chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω3 PUFA). Evidence from a large number of epidemiological studies, clinical studies and intervention trials have established the protective effect of ω3 PUFA against several diseases. New experimental evidence also indicates the presence in fish oils of other class of bioactive fatty acids, such as the furan fatty acid (F-acids). Dietary recommendations suggest that the consumption of ω3 PUFA should be increased. The great variability of fatty acid composition of fish species throughout the year should be considered when fish are suggested as a means of improving health or used for oil extraction. The fish oil remains the principal source of ω3 PUFA as an ingredient into conventional food products enrichment and in ω3 PUFA concentrates production (i.e. integrator, nutraceutical), even if a variety of alternative ω3 PUFA sources, such as bacteria, fungi, plants and microalgae are currently being explored for commercial production. The present review summarizes the beneficial effects of ω3 PUFA dietary supplementation on cardiovascular disease, neurological disorder and type 2 diabetes as well as the biological actions of F-acids. Furthermore, in order to present the fish as a dietary source of bioactive fatty acids, differences in fatty acid composition of various fish species are recognized. The alternative ways to ensure an optimal ω3 PUFA intake are also provided by illustrating the possible applications of fish oil on the ω3 PUFA enrichment of functional foods.

The word phyto means plant in Greek. The term phytochemicals means “plant chemicals” and these include compounds such as flavonoids, beta-carotene, chlorophyll and anthocyanins that occur naturally in plants. Sometimes they are also called “phytonutrients”, especially where a health role for a phytochemical has been established. Vegetarian diets are rich in phytochemicals and antioxidants. These chemical substances obtained from plants are biologically active but not nutritive; however they protect humans against diseases. These are health-protecting compounds exclusively found in fruits, vegetables and other plants. They exhibit a potential for reducing the risk of cancer, other diseases, and have antioxidant properties. Generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), caused due to oxidative stress, is induced by a wide range of environmental factors including ultraviolet stress, pathogen invasion, herbicide action and oxygen shortage, such as carbon monoxide levels from pollution. The formation of ROS is reduced by phytochemicals and antioxidants. Free radicals cause rancidity in fats and damage to DNA. Delaying the aging process can be achieved by increasing the phytochemicals and anti-oxidant intake, through eating fruits and vegetables, decreased meat intake and taking anti-oxidant vitamin and mineral supplements. Consumption of a vegetarian diet with reduced meat consumption also minimizes the potential for risk of multiple diseases. Eating foods containing insufficient quantities of phytochemicals and antioxidants is one of the important factors resulting in old age disease. Sufficient evidence exists for public health policy to promote plant-rich diet for health promotion.

Emblica officinalis Gaertn (amla) fruit while being processed into candy by food processing industry generates a high brix candy syrup which otherwise is a waste and poses burden to environment. This candy syrup was converted into natural vinegar, a nutrient rich value added food product through two successive fermentations: alcoholic and acetic acid fermentations. Diluted candy syrup (20°Bx) supplemented with raisins was fermented to ethanol by using Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain 35 which produced 10.5% (v/v) ethanol in 28 days. The ethanol was further used for production of amla-candy syrup vinegar using cells of Acetobacter aceti NRRL 746. The wort (supplemented with mother vinegar and nutrients in the form of sulphates and nitrogen substrates) with initial acidity of 2% was fermented by A.aceti @7.5% (v/v) and mother vinegar @ 10% (v/v) at 5L scale. This resulted in production of vinegar with a final acidity of 5.7% (w/v) in 14 days having a fermentation efficiency of 75.5±8.21%, acetification rate of 4.11±0.36g/L/d and a yield factor of 0.95±0.07. The fermented vinegar so produced had 180mg/100ml of total phenols and 390mg/100ml ascorbic acid, making it a value added product from an otherwise amla waste.

Fish and fishery products can undergo undesirable changes during frozen storage and deterioration may limit the storage time. These changes result from lipid oxidation and enzymatic hydrolysis of lipid and protein. Approach: The quality changes (total lipids, primary and secondary lipid oxidation products as well as lipid and protein hydrolysis) in Caspian kutum, golden grey mullet, common carp, pike perch, and common kilka during frozen storage (-24 °C and a 6 month period) were examined. The statistical result showed that among all of fish species the highest lipid content belonged to the fresh samples and the least value was recorded for those stored for 6 months. The damage indices tested such as peroxide value (PV), thiobarbituric acid (TBA), free fatty acid (FFA) and total volatile nitrogen (TVN) during frozen storage revealed significant (P ≤ 0.01) correlation with the storage time. The changes in lipid oxidation indices (PV and TBA) and enzymatic deterioration indices (FFA and TVN) show that all the fish species are susceptible to significant change during the frozen storage, especially if the storage time is long and can be stored for five months in a frozen state with low undesirable changes of lipid and protein quality.

Canola seeds were subjected to conventional and microwave heat treatments to investigate changes in the phenolic profile of defatted meal and oil obtained from the toasted seeds. Different temperature (120–200 °C) and time (5–20 min) combinations were applied for toasting the seeds in a conventional oven. The seeds were also toasted using a microwave oven at 300 Watt power level with and without steaming. Phenolics were extracted from the defatted meal and oil of raw and toasted seeds. The main phenolic compounds namely sinapine (SP), sinapoyl glucose (SG), sinapic acid (SA) and canolol were identified and quantified by HPLC-DAD. Total phenolics and SA derivatives in the meal were found to decrease in both toasting treatments. Canolol was formed in the oil and subsequently increased with increasing toasting temperature up to 200 °C. The optimum toasting conditions under which the canolol content of the oil showed the highest increment rate (more than 2200 folds) were found to be 200 °C for 15 min in the conventional oven. However, the optimum microwave toasting conditions were 20 min with steam which increased canolol content by more than 1700 folds.

The effect of treatments of whole ungutted mullet fish (Mugil cephalus), by sorbate, thyme oil and their combination prior to cold storage (3-5°C), on quality attributes, biogenic amines and shelf-life was followed. Microbial growth was significantly reduced during cold storage as a result of pretreatments. Protein deterioration reactions, lipid oxidation, and other chemical responsible for fish spoilage were also significantly decreased by pretreatments. Sensorial acceptability was improved by pretreatments with compared to control. The obtained data support each other and was confirmed by the sensorial evaluation. Moreover, a synergetic effect between sorbate and thyme oil was noticed, which prolonged the shelf-life of pretreated mullet fish, where combination of sorbate and thyme had a pronounced effect than that noticed for other pretreatments. Accordingly, shelf-life was prolonged to 11, 11 and 13 days for sorbate, thyme oil and thyme+sorbate pretreatments respectively, compared to 7 days recorded for control. Thyme+sorbate pretreatment is hereby recommended, since it has been found to keep cold mullet in wholesome state, extended shelf-life and ensure safe consumption of the mullet fish. The formation of biogenic amines in pretreated mullet was delayed and showed a fluctuation pattern throughout storage period. So, the presence of biogenic amines does not reflect a degree of spoilage, as well as their absence does not indicate higher quality level.

The combination of polysaccharides as wall materials affects the stability of microcapsules. One of several factors influencing the stability is related to interaction between polysaccharides. The interaction of tamarind kernel powder, gum arabic and maltodextrin was obtained by UV-Visible spectrum and apparent viscosity in solution and on the aggregation of the W/O/W emulsions from encapsulation efficiency, creaming index, droplet size, ζ-Potential, viscosity and microstructure analysis. The experimental results indicated that there are interactions between each polysaccharide. In the solution system, peak occurred at 210 nm for a solution mixture from 0.1%gum arabic, 10.00% maltodextrin and 0.02%tamarind kernel powder. Moreover, the synergistic viscosity increase was also observed. Interestingly, a combination of three polysaccharides in W/O/W emulsion exhibited the lowest creaming rate, the largest droplet, one peak of size distribution, and gave high encapsulation efficiency and the highest viscosity value compared to single and binary combination of each polysaccharide treatment. The results suggest that the interaction between tamarind kernel powder, gum arabic and maltodextrin is responsible for the stability enhancement of microencapsulated system.