Search results

This study aims to evaluate the safety and quality of organic food product versus conventional ones in the Lebanese market.

Selected organic and conventional Lemon and cucumber were assessed for the presence of pesticides residues using LC-MS/MS and GC/MS/MS, also compared at the level of total polyphenols content, flavonoids, tannins and tested for their antiradical and antibacterial activities.

The findings indicate that organic lemons were contaminated by four types of pesticide residues (33.33%), while one pesticide residue (22.22%) was detected in conventional one, which were all below the European Union Maximum Residue Limits. For cucumber, six pesticide residues (66.66%) were detected in organic samples, while in conventional, eight pesticide residues (55.55%) were detected. However, absolutely four samples (44.44%) in each of conventional and organic cucumber samples surpass the maximum residue levels. Both lemon and cucumber, regardless of the farming systems, possess potent antioxidant activity with no significant difference, except for lemon, where total polyphenol was highly significant in conventional. Additionally, this study showed that lemon of conventional origin was slightly more effective in inhibiting the growth of gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial strains compared to organic samples, while both cucumber types did not exert any antibacterial effect.

This is the first paper to assess the polyphenols, pesticide residue and biological activities of organic lemon and cucumber in Lebanese market as well as comparing conventional to organic.

This paper seeks to investigate Cordia myxa L. (CM) extracts as hepatoprotective agents, through their antioxidant activities.

Oxydative liver damage in rats was induced in Wister rats by two agents: carbon Tetrachloride (CCl₄) and thioacetamide (TA). Oxydative damage was evaluated by a measurement of aspartate transaminase (AST), glutamate transaminase (ALT) and Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), in sera of the rats. Several extracts of Cordia myxa were prepared and were fed to experimental animals over a period of two weeks. Liver recovery was assessed by measuring the above hepatic enzymes and their comparison with the control group of animals. Phenolic content of the extracts was measured by Folin‐Ciocalteu reagent and was calculated as gallic acid equivalents. α,α‐diphenyl‐β‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay was used to measure antiradical activity of the extracts and it was compared with ascorbic acid.

Maximum fruit extract can be obtained by hand‐macerating the peeled fruit rich in phenolic content 11.1±1.47 mg/g gallic acid equivalent. Its antiradical activity was measured as 16.34±0.81 that was calculated as 10.0±1.24 ascorbic acid equivalent. CCl4 and TA induced comparable oxidative liver damage as measured through hepatic enzymes. A significant (p=0.05) liver recovery was noticed when animals treated with CCl4/TA were fed with CM extracts.

The study reports the protective role of C. myxa in chemically induced fibrosis by carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) and thioacetamide (TA).

Solid-state fermentation (SSF) has been highlighted as an alternative to obtain valuable compounds using agro-industrial wastes as a substrate. The present study evaluated the impact of extrusion combined with SSF on the production of phenolic compounds and their antioxidant activity using pecan nut shell (PWS) as a substrate.

PWS and extruded pecan nut shell (PWSE) were fermented for 120 h at 30°C using Aspergillus oryzae (A. oryzae). Samples were withdrawn from incubator at 6 h, 12 h and then every 12 h until 120 h fermentation. PWS and PWSE samples were extracted. The total phenolic content (TPC) and radical scavenging activity (RSA) extracts were characterized from the resulting extracts.

The use of PWSE yielded higher A. oryzae biomass and at a higher rate after 120 h of fermentation (PWS 75.74% vs PWSE 87.50%). In general, the TPC and the RSA increased with fermentation time. However, the PWSE yielded significantly higher (p < 0.05) TPC and RSA values after SSF in comparison to the nonextruded PWS. Condensed tannins showed different trends depending on the fermented substrate. Overall, results showed that the extrusion pretreatment joint with the SSF represents a good alternative to raise the phenolic content and antiradical activity of lignocellulosic materials such as PWSs.

This study offers valuable information that may be used by the pecan walnut industry to valorize the shell coproduct as a substrate to produce functional ingredients or fungal enzymes.

Although milk is considered a vital source of nutrition for the livelihood, as the beginning of civilization, its antioxidant potential is required to be improved. This paper aims to increase antioxidant activities in milk and soy milk (Glycine max L.) has been found as a good compatible source. Hence, the present work was planned to investigate the impact of blending of different proportions of soy milk with standardized milk (i.e. 50 per cent soy milk with 50 per cent standardized milk, 60 per cent soy milk with 40 per cent standardized milk, 70 per cent soy milk with 30 per cent standardized milk and 100 per cent standardized milk as control sample) on antioxidant properties and sensory attributes of the blends.

Antioxidant properties of the blends were determined in terms of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, ferric reducing antioxidant power and total phenol content. Sensory evaluation was carried out using a nine-point hedonic scale based on four selected quality attributes (i.e. smell, taste, color and appearance and mouthfeel) and ranked for their quality traits by fuzzy modeling.

A blend containing 70 per cent soy milk with 30 per cent standardized milk showed the highest antioxidant activities as compared to control milk sample (p < 0.05). Blend of 50 per cent soy milk with 50 per cent standardized milk was found most acceptable on the basis of sensory analysis and its antioxidant activities were also appreciable as compared to control milk sample (p < 0.05). Smell, taste, color and appearance and mouthfeel influenced the acceptability of formulated milk samples in decreasing order of significance (p < 0.05).

The present attempt has been made to formulate liquid milk by mixing standardized milk and soy milk, in which enhancement in the antioxidant activities of standardized milk and masking of off-flavor of soy milk is done. It is not done before and it may improve the nutritional and commercial value of the milk. Further, fuzzy modeling used for choosing appropriate blend in terms of sensory scores is also found as a novel approach.

The paper aims to analyse the effect of acid hydrolysis on the chemical composition and the biological activities of Rubia tinctorum collected from the south of Tunisia. It proposes to clarify the relationship between alizarin content and the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Rubia extract.

The paper opted for analytical tools (HPLC) and the in-vitro study of biological activities, namely, the antioxidant activity which is evaluated using the radical scavenging assay (ABTS) and ferric reducing power assay (FRAP); the antimicrobial activity is tested using the wells agar diffusion method.

The paper provides information about the positive effect of acid hydrolysis, namely, the enhancement of alizarin content in the extract which has increased its antioxidant and antimicrobial activities.

This paper fulfils an identified need to study the relationship between the chemical composition, biological activities and colour enhancement.

This paper aims to evaluate the antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of ethanol, methanol and aqueous extracts of the jujube fruit.

The fruit samples were harvested from Ziziphus lotus L. in three regions of Morocco: Aïn Chifae (Immouzer), Saiss (Fez) and Guercif. The fruit extracts were obtained by Soxhlet method using ethanol, methanol and water, and then a phytochemical screening was done for each extract. Total phenolic and total flavonoids contents were also determined. Afterward, the antimicrobial activity of the studied extracts was evaluated using the broth microdilution method. To estimate the total antioxidant effect of these extracts, the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) scavenging and phosphomolybdate tests were performed.

Results showed that the highest content of polyphenols and flavonoids was found for ethanol and methanol extracts, while the lowest content was found in the aqueous extracts for all populations studied. Thus, results showed that the highest content of phenolic compounds was recorded in the population of Fez. Methanol extract of this population was the richest in polyphenols (30.36 mg/g) and in flavonoids (13.03 mg/g). The antimicrobial tests showed that Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the most sensitive (6.25 mg/ml), compared to the other tested strains. Based on the minimal bactericidal concentrations/minimal fungicidal concentration or MFC/MIC ratio, it seems that ethanol extracts showed a bactericidal effect against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtillis, and a bacteriostatic effect against Enterococcus faecalis. On the other hand, the methanol extract showed bacteriostatic effect against Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In addition, methanol extracts of Ziziphus lotus have significant antioxidant potent.

Methanol and ethanol extracts of Ziziphus lotus fruit have demonstrated strong antimicrobial effect. Moreover, the authors were able to show that the extract of Ziziphus lotus fruit has a very important antioxidant power.

The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the functionalities, safety regulations and product applications of herb Stevia rebaudiana extract. This plant material is embedded with multiple functionalities such as antioxidant, antidiabetics, anti-inflammation and antimicrobial. The regulations released from global authorities are covered to ensure the safety premise of stevia. Besides, the product applications of the extract of aerial parts of the herb S. rebaudiana helps us to recognize its value from commercial side.

Relevant literatures are selected and obtained from main scientific databases such as Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed and trade magazines published between 2000 and 2023. The keywords and their possible combinations such as sweetening, antioxidant, antidiabetics, anti-inflammation, safety and product development were used to ensure the preciseness and completeness of literature searching. Major data such as sweetness, total phenolic content and dose together with latter critical conclusions from searched publications were appropriately used and discussed. In this review, approximately 150 scientific literatures were meticulously ordered and analyzed. In applications, it is the first time that sentiment analysis was used to obtain a market assessment of the stevia-containing products.

This review paper helps rearrange the scientific affairs of those stevia extract’s functions like sweetening, antioxidant, antidiabetics and inflammation. Sweetness indexes of steviol glycosides were summarized together for comparison while various in vitro and in vivo approaches were reviewed to quantify those functions’ capacities and to depict the related mechanism. The regulation of steviol glycoside compounds such as rebaudioside A was established by global authorities such as US Food and Drug Administration and Joint FAO/World Health Organization Expert Committee to ensure the safety endorsement before commercialization. Then, this study discussed about the market performance of stevia ingredients or products with the self-developed data analytics. This study also investigated the product development progress of stevia-containing food products in the categories of beverage, bakery, dairy and confectionery. Those stevia-containing food consumer goods can be acceptable by certain consumers.

This review paper precisely presents the evidential information about the stevia’s multiple functionalities with mechanisms and global regulation milestones. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is then the first time to probe the stevia-containing products’ market performance through data analytics.

The purpose of this paper is to review phytochemical potential of acacia and its associated health advantages. Acacia a moderate-sized, deciduous tree and recognised as health-promoting species because of availability of essential bioactive components. The bioactive compounds such as tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids, fatty acids and polysaccharides (gums) present in the plant parts of acacia, namely, bark, leaves, flowers, fruits, twigs and seeds, have medicinal value and thus are used to overlay the formulations of plant-based drugs and value-added foods.

Major well-known bibliometric information sources such as Web of Science, Scopus, Mendeley and Google Scholar were searched with keywords such as “nutrition value of acacia”, “bioactive compounds”, “health benefits”, “processing and safety” were chosen to obtain a database of 1,428 papers. The search considered papers in the English language from the past 18 years of publication in journals (2004–2022). The article selection process consisted of the screening of titles and abstracts, based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Articles that did not have acacia components as a study objective were taken into consideration for exclusion. A final database of 87 scientific sources was made after sorting and classifying them according to different criteria based on topic relevance, country of origin and year of publication. Articles with other random descriptors were also searched to complement the discussion of the results obtained.

The literature reflected that acacia contains all necessary phytochemicals like polyphenols, flavonoids, terpenoids, glucosinolates, alkaloids and carotenoids along with essential macro, micro-nutrients. Furthermore, processing methods such as soaking, cooking, roasting and dehusking significantly reduced the anti-nutritional factors present in acacia seeds of different species. This review also focused on the processing methods that are used to eliminate or lower down the anti-nutritional factors from the seeds. Previous findings related to acacia plant parts with respect to food development are explored and mentioned.

This review emphasised mainly on recent studies that had been reported on ethnomedical acacia plants therapeutically, commercially and exponentially for further studies to increase the utilisation in food processing.

Carotenoids are pigments that have significant value as colorants and antioxidants in pharmaceutical, food, textile and cosmetic industries. Owing to its high demand, this study aims to identify ß-carotene producing bacteria from different terrestrial habitats of Jaipur region.

In this paper, standard isolation and purification process was used, followed by colony morphology and biochemical characterization of ß-carotene producing bacteria. ß-carotene concentration was determined quantitatively using spectrophotometric method.

Out of 43 isolates, 21 isolates showed peak range between 400 and 500 nm confirming the presence of carotenoids. Only one bacteria SAN-A has capacity to produce ß-carotene confirmed by the thin layer chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a yield of 1.68 mg/l. The 2, 2-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazil (DPPH) assay showed an IC50 value of 4.0 mg/ml.

The present study revealed the presence of ß-carotene producing bacteria in the soil of different terrestrial habitat of Jaipur region which can be exploited as an economical source for ß-carotene production.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate in vivo the bioavailability of the Ilex paraguariensis polyphenols due to total polyphenols and changes in antioxidant capacity (AOC) in human plasma after an acute intake of 300 ml of an infusion of yerba maté (YM) for 120 minutes. Also, we evaluated the variation of plasma protein or plasma uric acid after the acute intake of YM infusion.

Seventeen healthy young volunteers participated in the determining plasma of total polyphenols concentration (TPC, Folin-Ciocalteu method), plasma AOC for ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2′-azinobis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid diammonium salt [ABTS] methods), plasmatic uric acid and plasma total protein over the 120 minutes test.

It was found that the bioavailability of YM polyphenols during 120 minutes was 49.3 ± 11.9 per cent, the TPC was increased to 6.0 ± 1.5 per cent, the plasma AOC was increased by FRAP 8.3 ± 3.3 per cent and by ABTS 6.0 ± 2.0 per cent and no significant variation of plasma protein or plasma uric acid was found.

Maté polyphenols has a thrifty effect on the natural antioxidant defenses of the body, which are beneficial to human health.

There was no information on the bioavailability of polyphenols in YM infusions prepared in its traditional form as “hot mate”.