Critical reviews in food science and nutrition
-
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr · Jan 2015
ReviewSugar ester surfactants: enzymatic synthesis and applications in food industry.
Sugar esters are non-ionic surfactants that can be synthesized in a single enzymatic reaction step using lipases. The stability and efficiency of lipases under unusual conditions and using non-conventional media can be significantly improved through immobilization and protein engineering. ⋯ Depending on the esterification degree and the nature of fatty acid and/or sugar, a range of sugar esters can be synthesized. Due to their surface activity and emulsifying capacity, sugar esters are promising for applications in food industry.
-
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr · Jan 2015
ReviewVeganism Is a Viable Alternative to Conventional Diet Therapy for Improving Blood Lipids and Glycemic Control.
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) have each outlined a set of dietary recommendations aimed at improving glycemic control and blood lipids, respectively. However, traditional vegan diets (low-fat diets that proscribe animal product consumption) are also effective at improving glycemic control, and dietary portfolios (vegan diets that contain prescribed amounts of plant sterols, viscous fibers, soy protein, and nuts) are also effective at improving blood lipids. The purpose of this review was to compare the effects of traditional vegan diets and dietary portfolios with ADA and NCEP diets on body weight, blood lipids, blood pressure, and glycemic control. The main findings are that traditional vegan diets appear to improve glycemic control better than ADA diets in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), while dietary portfolios have been consistently shown to improve blood lipids better than NCEP diets in hypercholesterolemic individuals.
-
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr · Jan 2015
ReviewFormation and Degradation of Beta-casomorphins in Dairy Processing.
Milk proteins including casein are sources of peptides with bioactivity. One of these peptides is beta-casomorphin (BCM) which belongs to a group of opioid peptides formed from β-casein variants. Beta-casomorphin 7 (BCM7) has been demonstrated to be enzymatically released from the A1 or B β-casein variant. ⋯ BCMs have been detected in raw cow's milk and human milk and a variety of commercial cheeses, but their presence has yet to be confirmed in commercial yoghurts. The finding that BCMs are present in cheese suggests they could also form in yoghurt, but be degraded during yoghurt processing. Whether BCMs do form in yoghurt and the amount of BCM forming or degrading at different processing steps needs further investigation and possibly will depend on the heat treatment and fermentation process used, but it remains an intriguing unknown.
-
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr · Jan 2015
Status of bioactive compounds in foods, with focus on fruits and vegetables.
Components of cereals, legumes, pulses, proteins, sea food, milk, carbohydrates and lipids are being evaluated for their influence on human health, as biofunctional compounds. However, references dealing with fruits and vegetables exceed any other food group and accordingly their focus. Fruits and vegetables abound in a spectacular range of such health influencing compounds and thus, study of their bioactivity, in lieu of their consumption in fresh or processed form. ⋯ Thus, the imminent scope to obviate their structural chemistry, influence on storage and processing conditions, factors favoring their bio-accessibility/bio-availability in the food formulations, influencing human health. It is the meticulous combination of these compounds in daily consumption that determines their usefulness to human body. What is of paramount importance is the actual health benefits accrued from consumption of such functional- compound based fresh/processed fruits,vegetables or other foods.