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This paper aims to examine the association between the dietary inflammatory index, the consumption of Enteral Nutrition Supplemented with probiotics with certain serum inflammation markers and gastrointestinal complications among individuals diagnosed with COVID-19.

This cross-sectional investigation involved 100 COVID-19 patients who were admitted to intensive care units in hospitals. These patients were administered two different types of Enteral Nutrition, so the dietary inflammatory index (DII), gastrointestinal complications and some serum inflammation markers have been compared between two groups.

The mean DII scores in all patients were significantly pro-inflammatory (probiotic formula 2.81 ± 0.01 vs usual formula group 2.93 ± 0.14 p = 0.19). The probiotic formula consumption had an inverse association with High-sensitivity C-reactive Protein concentration (coef = −3.19, 95% CI −1.25, −5.14 p = 0.001) and lead to a reduction of 2.14 mm/h in the serum level of Erythrocyte sedimentation rate compared to normal formula. The incidence of diarrhea, abdominal pain and vomiting in probiotic formula patients was respectively 94%, 14% and 86% less than in usual formula patients (p = 0.05).

In this cross-sectional study for the first time, the authors found that probiotic formula consumption was inversely associated with serum inflammation markers and gastrointestinal complications incidence. The high DII leads to more gastrointestinal complications incidence and inflammation markers. More studies are needed to prove this relationship.

Globally, consumer’s inclination towards functional foods had noticed due to their greater health consciousness coupled with enhanced health-care cost. The fact that probiotics could promote a healthier gut microbiome led projection of probiotic foods as functional foods and had emerged as an important dietary strategy for improved human health. It had established that ice cream was a better carrier for probiotics than fermented milked due to greater stability of probiotics in ice cream matrix. Global demand for ice cream boomed and probiotic ice cream could have been one of the most demanded functional foods. The purpose of this paper was to review the technological aspects and factors affecting probiotic viability and to standardize methodology to produce functional probiotic ice cream.

Attempt was made to search the literature (review and researched papers) to identify diverse factors affecting the probiotic viability and major technological challenge faced during formulation of probiotic ice cream. Keywords used for data searched included dairy-based functional foods, ice cream variants, probiotic ice cream, factors affecting probiotic viability and health benefits of probiotic ice cream.

Retention of probiotic viability at a level of >10⁶ cfu/ml is a prerequisite for functional probiotic ice creams. Functional probiotic ice cream could have been produced with the modification of basic mix and modulating technological parameters during processing and freezing. Functionality can be further enhanced with the inclusion of certain nutraceutical components such as prebiotics, antioxidant, phenolic compounds and dietary fibres. Based upon reviewed literature, suggested method for the manufacture of functional probiotic ice cream involved freezing of a probiotic ice cream mix obtained by blending 10% probiotic fermented milk with 90% non-fermented plain ice cream mix for higher probiotic viability. Probiotic ice cream with functional features, comparable with traditional ice cream in terms of technological and sensory properties could be produced and can crop up as a novel functional food.

Probiotic ice cream with functional features may attract food manufacturers to cater health-conscious consumers.

The purpose of this study is to determine the viability of Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GR-1 (L. rhamnosus GR-1) in five yogurt samples with or without quinoa, chickpea, soybean and rice flour over various fermentation periods and refrigerated storage durations, with a focus on exploring the potential of functional foods, which provide health benefits beyond nutritional value. Additionally, the study aimed to evaluate consumer acceptance of yogurt fortified with functional flour. Using a nine-point hedonic scale, from 1 (dislike extremely) to 9 (like extremely), participants rated appearance, flavour, texture and overall acceptability.

The samples were inoculated with the probiotic strain L. rhamnosus GR-1 and fermented for 0, 2, 4 and 6 h at 38°C, followed by refrigerated storage at 4°C for 1, 15 and 30 days, respectively. Microbial enumeration was performed throughout fermentation and storage to assess the viability of L. rhamnosus GR-1. A sensory evaluation involving 86 participants was conducted to assess the consumer acceptability of the yogurt samples.

Notably, L. rhamnosus GR-1 achieved viable counts of 108 colony-forming units per mL in all treatments at all fermentation time points. Over the 30-day storage period, no statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) in average pH values were observed among the five treatments, and within each treatment, pH levels remained stable, with an overall mean of 4.2 ± 0.64. Treatment 4, which featured rice flour fortification, received higher hedonic scores from sensory panellists in terms of appearance, flavour, texture and overall acceptability. These findings indicate that incorporating functional flours in conjunction with cow’s milk effectively promotes and preserves the viability of L. rhamnosus GR-1 in yogurt.

Exploring the potential of probiotic yogurt enriched with diverse functional flours to enhance nutritional content and health benefits as well as attract new consumers, this study addressed a critical gap in understanding consumer perceptions and generated insights for creating innovative and health-promoting dairy products.

Probiotic coadministration with soy beverages has been shown to have favorable results in human health. This study aims to conduct a systematic review of randomized clinical trials to examine the effect of probiotic soy beverages (PSB) on human health aspects such as lipid profile, oxidative stress and kidney function.

The study was conducted based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. Relevant articles were extracted from PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science, Science Direct and Google Scholar up to April 2024. This paper searched all databases using the following keywords: (“Soy milk” OR “Soy beverage” OR “Fermented soy milk” OR “Soy Fermented Beverages”) AND (“Probiotic” OR “Probiotics”). The literature search did not consider language, age and publication date restrictions.

A total of 2,183 subjects were included in this review. PSB beneficially decreased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and total cholesterol levels and increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. PSB beneficially affected superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase and glutathione. PSB decreased serum creatinine and increased estimated glomerular filtration rate. Cystatin-C and progranulin decreased significantly in the PSB group. PSB had no significant effect on anthropometric indices, while decreased systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

This study provides a brief overview of the effect of PSB on lipid profile, oxidative stress, inflammation and kidney function for the first time.

The Pediococcus strains belong to the group of lactic acid bacteria (LAB). This study aims to isolate and identify the Pediococcus spp. from mother’s milk, and investigate their tolerance to low pH and bile salts, antibacterial activity, attachment to HT-29 cells and effect on cholesterol-lowering and digestive enzymes in mice.

Pediococcus species were isolated from mother’s milk, then tested for tolerance to acid and bile salts, their antibacterial effect and attachment to HT-29 cell line. In mice experiment, the levels of triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), HDL cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) and digestive enzymes such as amylase and lipase in serum of mice were measured after administration of 10⁸ CFU/mL bacterial suspension.

A total of 24 Pediococcus spp. including 16 isolates of Pediococcus pentosaceus and 8 isolates of Pediococcus acidilactici were isolated. Fifteen isolates (62.5%) were able to survive in low pH and bile salt concentration. Ten isolates (41.6%) exhibited the most powerful inhibitory effects against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. A total of four Pediococcus isolates (16.67%) showed strong attachment to HT-29 cells. In contrast to HDL-C and amylase, the serum levels of TC, TG and LDL-C were reduced and lipase was elevated significantly following administration of mother milk-derived Pediococcus isolates.

The Pediococcus isolates demonstrated good probiotic properties in particular cholesterol-lowering ability in mice. Thus, after more studies they can be considered as probiotic strain(s).

Functional foods have been marketed as promoting health and reducing the risk of disease. While the market of functional foods is increasing across the globe, little is known about how actual and subjective health status are related to functional food choices and existing research evidence is inconsistent. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to systematically explore the relationship between functional food choices and perception related dimensions vs medical dimensions.

The study used data collected from a large-scale mail survey in Japan (N = 8,368) and a representative Internet survey in Lithuania (N = 900). It used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the proposed conceptual model.

The general results indicated that functional foods could be used to maintain one’s subjective health status – the frequency of using functional food products was positively related to consumers’ subjective health status (p = 0.04). However, if consumers were experiencing health-related issues (self-reported disease symptoms or current medical treatment), there was no systematic relationship between such experience and the usage of functional food products.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to systematically analyze the relationship between subjective health status, self-reported disease symptoms, current medical treatment and the frequency of using different functional food product groups. The findings indicated that it is important to simultaneously consider different underlying factors, such as specific to functional food targeted disease symptoms and specific food product groups, which contributed to a more thorough understanding of functional food consumption.

This article investigated how consumer choices guided by their underlying microfoundations can either facilitate or hinder socio-technical transitions in the agri-food system. To this end, consumers from five countries (Argentina, Brazil, China, France and Italy) were asked to choose products common to the food basket of these five countries (coffee, yogurt and chicken) with different sensorial and ecological attributes.

To this end, 1,417 interviews were carried out in these countries. Data were collected on four choices (from the most sustainable to the least sustainable) as well as sociodemographic elements and whether or not the price was mentioned. These choices were observed using two logit models (A and B).

The article provides evidence that the propensity to choose ecologically beneficial foods is affected by country, gender, income and level of formal education as well as by the microfoundations of choice, such as individual values and attitudes.

To offer truly sustainable products, it is essential to take into account the role of countries and the microfoundations of their inhabitants’ food choices. By recognizing this crucial element, we can raise the probability of successful eco-friendly products, reducing their impact on the environment and enhancing welfare.

According to the results observed in this paper, to truly offer sustainable products, we must take into account the microfoundation and the sociotechnological transition elements. By doing so, we hope that efforts toward sustainability not only benefit the environment but also the surrounding communities. So, paying attention to consumers' food choice process helps to create products that are truly sustainable in every sense of the word and will benefit very much the society, in other words, will have a greater social implication.

This article makes a significant contribution to the theory by revealing how micro-foundations driving consumers' choices toward sustainable food products can accelerate the ecological sociotechnical transition in agri-food systems. By shedding light on this crucial aspect, we can pave the way for a more sustainable future.

In pursuit of affordable and nutrient-rich food alternatives, the symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) emerged as a selected food ink for 3D printing. The purpose of this paper is to harness SCOBY’s potential to create cost-effective and nourishing food options using the innovative technique of 3D printing.

This work presents a comparative analysis of the printability of SCOBY with blends of wheat flour, with a focus on the optimization of process variables such as printing composition, nozzle height, nozzle diameter, printing speed, extrusion motor speed and extrusion rate. Extensive research was carried out to explore the diverse physical, mechanical and rheological properties of food ink.

Among the ratios tested, SCOBY, with SCOBY:wheat flour ratio at 1:0.33 exhibited the highest precision and layer definition when 3D printed at 50 and 60 mm/s printing speeds, 180 rpm motor speed and 0.8 mm nozzle with a 0.005 cm³/s extrusion rate, with minimum alteration in colour.

Food layered manufacturing (FLM) is a novel concept that uses a specialized printer to fabricate edible objects by layering edible materials, such as chocolate, confectionaries and pureed fruits and vegetables. FLM is a disruptive technology that enables the creation of personalized and texture-tailored foods, incorporating desired nutritional values and food quality, using a variety of ingredients and additions. This research highlights the potential of SCOBY as a viable material for 3D food printing applications.

This study aims to explore the link between prevalent risk factors for early childhood diarrhea, including hygiene, feeding, weaning practices and maternal education and the occurrence and severity of early childhood diarrhea in Saudi Arabia.

A case-control study was conducted, involving 98 mothers from the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia (51 cases and 47 controls). Data were collected from both hospital and community sources. The collected data were statistically analyzed and depicted using descriptive statistics and frequency tables.

Demographic data revealed that 60% of mothers were housewives, 75% had normal deliveries and all babies were full term. In the study cohort, 44% of children aged one to two years. Four domains were compared: diarrheal management, hygiene, weaning and feeding practices. Diarrheal management was suboptimal in some cases: 29% increased fluid intake, 10% maintained adequate food intake, 50% sought medical advice, 58% were familiar with oral rehydration solutions and only 37% used them. Hygiene practices were deficient, with 35% using wipes or sanitizers, 64% handwashing before feeding and 52% adhering to the recommended 10-s duration. Controls exhibited better hygiene practices. Weaning practices were generally similar, with no significant differences between the two groups.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to collectively report on the risk factors linked to early childhood diarrhea in Saudi Arabia. This study yields significant insights, highlighting the crucial role of managing diarrhea, educating mothers and implementing proper household practices in impacting the occurrence and severity of this perilous ailment.

The escalating global mortality rates attributed to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have drawn the attention of the World Health Organization (WHO), prompting researchers worldwide to address this pressing health concern actively. This study aims to unravel insights into the relationship between specific diets and CVDs by examining authors, countries, articles, journal productivity and their impact.

Diet patterns are recognised as contributing to the rise of CVDs, prompting a comprehensive analysis of relevant literature from Scopus, Web of Science and PubMed databases using the Biblioshiny software.

The analysis delves into cluster development and major themes within the literature, encompassing holistic approaches to cardiovascular health, the nexus between diet, nutrition and cardiovascular health, the impact of plant-based diets on diverse populations, the role of the Mediterranean diet in cardiovascular health and the influence of dietary diversity on cardiovascular health across cultures.

Noteworthy developments in emerging areas like dietary history records, NutriOptimisation and MediCulinary Sensitivity are identified, providing a foundation for future researchers to contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 3.