Search results

Many factors can influence the bioactive compounds in cocoa beans. The purpose of this paper is to characterize the bioactive compound profile of 12 cocoa bean clones produced in Bahia’s Southern region.

Total phenolic content, total flavonoids and total anthocyanins were determined using spectrophotometric methods. Caffeic acid, caffeine, theobromine, catechin and epicatechin contents were determined using Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography with a Photodiode Array Detector. Principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out using to determine the variability of the results found in relation to the clones studied.

The authors observed variations in the bioactive compound content between the analyzed cocoa clones. The SRN clone showed the highest levels of phenolic content, flavonoids, caffeine, catechin, and epicatechin. PCA showed that all the clones had unique characteristics related to the composition of their bioactive compounds content, classifying each clone in a well-defined manner.

This work is an important contribution for the characterization of new cocoa bean clones in relation to their content of bioactive compounds. The information reported in this paper can be decisive in the choice of the variety of cocoa in the production of chocolate with high bioactive compounds content and claim of functional property.

Phenolic compounds, including flavonoids, are nutritionally important for their antioxidant activities and protective functions against disease risk caused by oxidative stress. These compounds are primarily found in fruits, and mangoes are an important source. This paper aims to address these issues.

In this work, the antioxidant activities of mangoes cultivated in three different ways were evaluated by their ability to capture free radicals using the DPPH radical.

The results showed that the biodynamic mangoes had highest antioxidant activity in mature‐green and ripe fruits, while for those of organic origin the antioxidant activity was highest in unripe fruits. The organic mangoes also showed highest values of phenolic compounds at all maturation stages. The mangoes from conventional crops had lower values for all parameters evaluated in this study than the organically and biodynamically cultivated fruits.

This work brings an important contribution in the field of agriculture at a time when organic and biodynamic systems of cultivation are an alternative to the conventional system and that pollutes the environment and produces food that contains quantities of chemical contaminants that can damage the health of the consumer. The comparison in phenolic compounds content, flavonoids and antioxidant activity in biodynamic, organic and conventional systems is original and of great importance, showing that the ecological cropping systems are less harmful to the environment and promote improvements to the chemical composition of foods.

Due to the importance attributed to the phenolic compounds present in cocoa samples for their beneficial effects on health, the purpose of this paper was to analyze four samples of organically and conventionally cultivated cocoa from the south area of Bahia for their composition of phenolics, flavonoids and their antioxidant activity.

Non‐fermented beans, fermented beans, roasted nibs and cocoa liquor were analyzed using spectrophotometry.

In general, the samples that contained a higher level of phenolics and flavonoids were the roasted nibs and the non‐fermented samples in both cultivation systems. The fermented beans and the liquor contained a lower level.

The relationship between the concentration of total phenols and the capacity to “mop up” free radicals from the cocoa extracts appears to be highly significant. The extracts with a higher concentration of phenols also show higher antioxidant activity (non‐fermented beans extracts and organically and conventionally cultivated nibs).

This work brings an important contribution in the field of agriculture at a time when organic systems of cultivation are an alternative to the conventional system and that pollutes the environment and produces food that contains quantities of chemical contaminants that can damage the health of the consumer. The comparison in phenolic compounds content, flavonoids and antioxidant activity in organic and conventional systems is original and of great importance, showing that the ecological cropping systems are less harmful to the environment and promote improvements to the chemical composition of foods.

During the last few years there has been an increase of interest in work-based learning (WBL), which can be understood as a process of both developing workplace skills and promoting labor force productivity. This paper aims to map the scientific landscape related to WBL research worldwide.

combined bibliometrics and network analysis techniques to analyze data of scientific publications related to WBL indexed at the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection.

results show an increase of publications over time: Education & Educational Research as the most frequent research area to which the articles were assigned, the UK and Australia as the main countries and Monash University (Australia) and Middlesex University (England) as the main organizations producing knowledge on WBL.

By offering a global scientific landscape of WBL research published so far, the authors aimed to contribute to future academic debates and studies in this field of knowledge.

We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.