Recent Patents on Food, Nutrition & Agriculture - Volume 2, Issue 1, 2010

Baker's yeast is the gas-forming ingredient in bakery products. Methods have been invented to properly handle baker's yeast and optimize its activity at the bakery plant. Over the years, incentives for inventions on yeast storage and activation have greatly changed depending on trends in the baking industry. For example, retailer's devices for cutting bulk pressed yeast and techniques for activating dry yeast have now lost their importance. Review of patents for invention indicates that activation of baker's yeast activity has been a very important issue for bakers, for example, with baking ingredients called yeast foods. In the recent years and especially for highly automated bakeries, interest has moved to equipments and processes for optimized storage of liquid cream yeast to thoroughly control dough fermentation and bread quality.

Complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs), in particular herbal medicines, are commonly used by cancer patients in conjunction with chemotherapy treatment for their anticancer properties and supportive care. However, the effects of many of these herbs are not well-documented due to limited studies done on them. Severe herb-drug interactions (HDIs) have been recorded in some cases, and failure to recognize these harmful HDIs can lead to dire consequences in cancer patients. This study discusses clinically-relevant interactions between anticancer drugs (ACDs) and herbs classified into 7 categories: cancer treatment and prevention, immune-system-related, alopecia, nausea and vomiting, peripheral neuropathy and pain, inflammation, and fatigue. Some promising patents which contain these herbs and thus may manifest these interactions are also presented in this article. Pharmacokinetic interactions involved mainly induction or inhibition of the cytochrome P450 isozymes and p-glycoprotein, while pharmacodynamic interactions were related to increased risks of central nervous system-related effects, hepatotoxicity and bleeding, among others. Clinicians should be vigilant when treating cancer patients who take CAMs with concurrent chemotherapy since they face a high risk of HDIs. These HDIs can be minimized or avoided by selecting herb-drug pairs which are less likely to interact. Furthermore, close monitoring of pharmacological effects and plasma drug levels should be carried out to avoid toxicity and ensure adequate chemotherapeutic coverage in patients with cancer.

Recently donkey milk has been the focus of several studies because of its special nutritional properties and composition, which is very close to human milk. When a mother cannot breastfeed, or chooses not to breastfeed, the use of a milk substitute must provide the best option to meet the nutritional and health needs of the infant. Donkey milk has been widely used in the past to replace human milk, because chemical composition and protein content are close to that of human milk, and also because the allergenicity of donkey milk is low. The recent studies of the paediatric scientists have demonstrated that infant formulae, which are based on dairy cows milk, are less adapted than donkey milk. In fact, donkey's milk digestibility is higher than cow's milk and similar to human milk, because of the high whey proteins content and the few casein content. Since donkey milk supply is related to its seasonal availability during the year, in this study were evaluated the effects of a specific technological treatment (spray-dryer) and a particular storage temperature (-20°C) on the protein fractions of donkey milk. The results obtained in fresh, frozen and powdered donkey milk showed different values in total proteins, caseins, whey proteins and lysozyme content. The article presents some promising patents on protein fractions among fresh, frozen and powdered donkey milk.

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) including chondroitin sulfate (CS) and chondroitin sulfate/dermatan sulfate (CS/DS) copolymers are anionic straight chain polysaccharides. They are galactosamine containing GAGs (galactosaminoglycans) having wide range of applications in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries. This article reviews techniques to isolate and characterize these galactosaminoglycans from animal and poultry tissues. Patent based information is also discussed. Cartilaginous tissues are the major source of CS consisting entirely of D-glucuronosyl-N-acetylgalactosamine repeating disaccharide units, in which the galactosamine is sulfated at C4 or C6. In contrast, most galactosaminoglycans in non-cartilaginous connective tissues (e.g. skin and tendon) are CS/DS copolymers comprised of varying proportions of D-glucuronosyl-N-acetylgalactosamine and L-iduronosyl-N-acetylgalactosamine. Tissues are digested with proteinase (e.g. papain) to liberate GAGs, which are fractionated to isolate and purify galactosaminoglycans. Common techniques used for fractionation of GAGs include: precipitation with different concentrations of ethanol; solubilization of GAG precipitated as GAG-quarternary ammonium compound complexes with different concentrations of NaCl; anion exchange chromatography and gel filtration chromatography. Purified galactosaminoglycans are examined by various methods including chondroitinase digestion, high performance liquid chromatography and electrophoresis. Histological methods are used to localize galactosaminoglycans in tissues. The patent information on the CS hydrolase and ultraviolet irradiation may be useful for the preparation of CS oligosaccharide.

This article reviews the patents that have been presented during the last decade related to the extraction of carotenoids from various forms of organic matter (fruit, vegetables, animals), with an emphasis on the methods and mechanisms exploited by these technologies, and on technical solutions for the practical problems related to these technologies. I present and classify 29 methods related to the extraction processes (physical, mechanical, chemical, and enzymatic). The large number of processes for extraction by means of supercritical fluids and the growing number of large-scale industrial plants suggest a positive trend towards using this technique that is currently slowed by its cost. This trend should be reinforced by growing restrictions imposed on the use of most organic solvents for extraction of food products and by increasingly strict waste management regulations that are indirectly promoting the use of extraction processes that leave the residual (post-extraction) matrix substantially free from solvents and compounds that must subsequently be removed or treated. None of the reviewed approaches is the best answer for every extractable compound and source, so each should be considered as one of several alternatives, including the use of a combination of extraction approaches.

Phytonutrients in many indigenous plants are receiving a lot of attention as they are important in antimicrobial and anticancer therapies. Tropical areas, especially India, South America and Africa, are the main sources of patentable plant products and have indigenous populations with well developed traditional medicinal knowledge. Phytochemicals, including carotenoids, phenolics, alkaloids, nitrogen-containing compounds, and organosulfur compounds, are recieving much attention as they impart important health benefits. This article gives an insight into some important phytochemicals, and analyses the ethical issues on property rights of plant products. Many patent applications have been lodged, and quite a number have been granted. Pharmaceutical industries are engaging in massive speculative bioprospecting on plant based phytochemicals and products, usually resulting in conflicts with indigenous populations. More focus is given here-in to Tylosema esculentum (marama) plant, found in drier parts of Southern Africa and known to contain high quantities of essential phytochemicals. Important phytochemicals in marama include fatty acid (mainly oleic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, behenic acid), protein and phenolic acid components. The marama plant has high potential as a source of medical and cosmetic products. If conflicts surrounding property rights on plant based products are resolved, phytochemicals can be a good source of income for indigenous populations in areas where such plants are found.

The patents annotated in this section have been selected from various patent databases. These recent patents are relevant to the articles published in this journal issue, categorized by food additives, micro & macro-molecular food supplements, edible alternatives, food technology, nutraceuticals, healthy diet, nutritional value, calorie intake, malnutrition & related diseases, plant derivatives, agricultural technology and products, crop improvement and safety issues related to food, nutrition & agriculture.