Recent Patents on Food, Nutrition & Agriculture - Volume 2, Issue 3, 2010

Flaxseed is the richest plant source of omega-3 fatty acid (α-linolenic acid) and the phytohormone lignans. It is also an essential source of high-quality protein and dietary fiber. Additionally, flaxseed has potential to be a source of phenolic compounds. Because of the beneficial physiological effects of its components, this seed is considered a functional food. It can contribute to the reduction of several diseases such as diabetes mellitus, arteriosclerosis and cancer. Food products and processing with regards to flaxseed are presented in this article. The article also presents some promising patents on food applications for flaxseed and its components. In addition, some potential opportunity areas are also discussed along with the impact of the use of this seed and its components in foods.

This review provides a complete overview over a spectrum of areas where value-added applications of algae are in sight, from conventional food, feed, dietary supplement, and cosmetics to novel technologies for environmental and biofuel applications. In most cases macro- and microalgae are discussed separately due to their inherent differences from cultivation. Comparison of various cultivation systems are made in relation to specific value-added products. The potential uses of algal biomeal, the sizable waste stream generated after extraction of targeted compounds such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) from the biomass of cultivated microalgae, are also discussed based on the concept of waste-recovery and biorefinery. The article presents some promising patents on potential industrial applications of macro- and microalgae.

Obesity is a current public health issue and is considered as a disease when excessive accumulation of visceral fat leads to a chronic low-grade inflammatory state associated with high circulating levels of inflammatory markers, such as cytokines and acute-phase proteins, insulin resistance and cardiovascular diseases. Diet is the source of basic nutrients for life maintenance and other phytochemicals known as bioactive compounds (present both in vegetal and animal products) that are associated with health promotion and disease prevention. This review examines the most representative phytochemicals such as phytosterols, saponins, phenolic compounds and alkaloids in edible plants associated with obesity prevention/ treatment, the biological mechanisms associated with this process as well as the development of products for human health improvement and maintenance. The article presents some promising patents on edible plants, their secondary metabolites and antiobesogenic potential

The dietary deficiency of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is associated with a variety of human diseases, such as brain disorders and infertility. Because of the capacity to convert DHA precursors, such as α-linolenic acid, to DHA is very limited in the human tissues and the brain, it has to be supplied in the diet. A great number of both in vivo and in vitro investigations have shown pharmacological and nutritional effects of DHA and its metabolites in animal tests and experiments at cell level, but limited documents discussed on how and why DHA can or cannot reach the target tissues to alleviate disorders after oral administration. A pure DHA intake in the form of a free fatty acid causes gastrointestinal complains. On the other hand, free DHA is unstable to oxidation and also difficult to be incorporated into delivering vehicles. Generally, DHA can be transported into tissues and the brain via plasma vehicle, and the major DHA carriers used in dietary supplements are phospholipids (PLs) and triglycerides (TGs). In the present paper, the key points center around proposed mechanisms mainly on (i) how the DHA carriers can be absorbed and distributed in the delivery of DHA into human tissues and the brain, and (ii) how consumers can benefit from nutritional supplements that contain the DHA carriers, particularly in the improvement of cognitive decline and fertility. It is also expected that this review may significantly help with driving sellers and consumers into a new way to choose various DHA supplements for the human health. The article presents some promising patents on docosahexaenoic acid - containing phospholipids and triglycerides based nutritional supplements.

The search for natural alternatives to synthetic antioxidants and antimicrobials is growing tremendously as consumers become concerned with currently used compounds. Peanut phytoalexins may become a viable source of these compounds. Recent developments have shown compounds derived from peanuts possess both high antioxidant activity and antimicrobial capabilities. Some of these compounds have been identified as stilbenes and other low molecular weight phenolic compounds. Patents have been awarded for increasing the amounts of these compounds in peanut plants and in the peanut seeds. Increasing phytoalexins in peanut seeds may provide a method to increase dietary consumption of these compounds. In addition to their use as antioxidants and antimicrobials, peanut phytoalexins may possess beneficial health effects. Studies have shown these compounds to have anti-diabetic, anticancer, and vasodilatory effects. Many of the recent patents concerning peanut phytoalexins focus on this area with patents being submitted for synergistic effects with chemotherapy drugs and treatment of diabetes and hepatitis B. Peanut phytoalexins may not only be able to replace synthetic food ingredients, but may also treat diseases that currently plague the human population.

Osmotic treatment describes a preparation step to further processing of foods involving simultaneous transient moisture loss and solids gain when immersing in osmotic solutions, resulting in partial drying and improving the overall quality of food products. The different aspects of the osmotic dehydration (OD) technology namely the solutes employed, solutions characteristics used, process variables influence, as well as, the quality characteristics of the osmodehydrated products will be discussed in this review. As the process is carried out at mild temperatures and the moisture is removed by a liquid diffusion process, phase change that would be present in the other drying processes will be avoided, resulting in high quality products and may also lead to substantial energy savings. To optimize this process, modeling of the mass transfer phenomenon can improve high product quality. Several techniques such as microwave heating, vacuum, high pressure, pulsed electric field, etc. may be employed during or after osmotic treatment to enhance performance of the osmotic dehydration. Moreover new technologies used in osmotic dehydration will be discussed. Patents on osmotic dehydration of fruits and vegetables are also discussed in this article.

Nano flavor preparation and its application have been reviewed in this paper. Nano flavor could be prepared by physical methods such as spray drying with microfluidization and ultrasonication, physical adsorption and so on, chemical methods such as complex formation, nano-sized self-structured liquid, and nano emulsification and so on. Different preparation technology could produce nano particles with different physical properties, thus they could be used in different occasions such as food, drug, cosmetics and so on. The article presents some promising patents on nano flavor preparation and its application

Traditional fermented food is not only the staple food for most of developing countries but also the key healthy food for developed countries. As the healthy function of these foods are gradually discovered, more and more high throughput biotechnologies are being used to promote the old and new industry. As a result, the microflora, manufacturing processes and product healthy function of these foods were pushed forward either in the respect of profundity or extensiveness nowadays. The application and progress of the high throughput biotechnologies into traditional fermented food industries were different from each other, which was reviewed and detailed by the catalogues of fermented milk products(yogurt, cheese), fermented sausages, fermented vegetables (kimchi, sauerkraut), fermented cereals (sourdough) and fermented beans (Tempeh, Natto). Given the further promotion by high throughput biotechnologies, the middle and/or down-stream process of traditional fermented foods would be optimized and the process of industrialization of local traditional fermented food having many functional factors but in small quantity would be accelerated. The article presents some promising patents on traditional fermented food industry.

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.