Dietary carcinogens and anticancer effect of bioactive food components

Nutrition plays a crucial role in the prevention of chronic diseases, as most of them can be related todiet. Diet is an important factor in determining cancer incidence in many countries and regions. Dietcan have both positive and negative effects on carcinogenesis. Dietary carcinogens represent 30 to35% of cancer causes. Several substances in diet such as mycotoxins, heterocyclic amines,polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, N-nitroso compounds and acrylamide have been associated withincreased risk of cancer. Diet also contains bioactive food components [BFC] which prevent cancerdevelopment. Their beneficial effects could be either maintenance or promotion of a state of wellbeing or health and/or a reduction of cancer risk. Research on BFC continues to evolve albeit withshared challenges among scientists in the field of cancer treatment and prevention. Certaincompounds such as phytochemicals and probiotics have cancer preventing properties. Awareness ofthe importance of consumption of functional foods or BFC as well as the importance of the wholediet rather than the isolated compounds as a cancer-preventive strategy for the general public shouldbe promoted

Assessment of the quality of bran and bran oil produced from some Egyptian rice varieties

Rice [Oryza satlva L] is one of the leading food crops of the world, the staple food ofover half the world's population. Tha bran, which is an important byproduct obtainedduring rice milling, constitutes about 1/10 of the weight of the rice grain. Rice branis the outer brown layer including the rice germ that is removed during the millingprocess of brown grain. This milling byproduct is reported to be high in natural vitaminsand minerals, particularly vitamin E.The present study was conducted to determine the chemical composition of branand bran oil of 13 different rice varieties commonly produced in Egypt, to study theutilization of rice bran in [Dread production, and to assess the quality and acceptanceof the rice bran edible oil produced.Rice bran was produced from 13 Egyptian varieties of recently harvested rice as wellas from paddy rice stored for 1 year. The extracted bran was immediately stabilizedthen subjected to chemical analysis [such as moisture content, protein, fat,carbohydrates, fiber, and ash] as well as trace and heavy metals determination [P, K,Na, Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu, and Mg]. Bread was produced by adding Giza172 rice bran atthree different concentrations to wheat flour then subjected to chemical analysis,caloric content, and organoleptic examination. Bran oil was extracted from the differentvarieties of rice bran [recently harvested and stored] then subjected to chemicaland organoleptic examinations as well as vitamin E and oryzanol determination.The percentage of rice bran of newly harvested Egyptian rice was 11.68% and was'10.97% in stored rice. The analysis showed mean values of 5.91 and 5.53% formoisture, 14.60 and 14.40% for crude protein, 14.83 and 15.20% for fat, 44.77 and45.40% for carbohydrates, 6.55 and 7.06% for crude fiber, and 8.87 and 8.50% forash for newly harvested and stored rice bran, respectively. Bread containing 15% ricebran showed the highest score percentages for organoleptic quality compared withthe control [100% wheat flour]. Rice bran oil showed higher scores of taste, smell,appearance, and texture than corn oil and sunflower oil.Rice bran contains high nutritional components as well as phytochemicals such asvitamin E [i.e. tocopherols and tocotrienols] and the y-oryzanol fraction that havepositive effects on human health. Storage of paddy rice before milling resulted insignificant effect on all studied rice bran characters and rice bran oil characters underthe present investigation except crude protein and carbohydrates characters,Substitution of wheat flour with rice bran by 15% in bread production to fortify thebread with vitamin E and to reduce the amount of imported flour is recommended

Pilot screening of acrylamide level in some Egyptian brands of potato aaaand corn products

Acrylamide is a chemical compound produced in starchy foods that have been cooked at high temperatures. Acrylamide is proven to be carcinogenic in rodents and a probable human carcinogen, with increasing evidence of positive associations with human cancers. Acrylamide is formed in potato crisps, chips, bread and crisp bread. lt was first discovered by scientists in Sweden in 2002. To determine the level of acrylamide in popular Egyptian brands of potato crisps and corn products produced by domestic food industrial factories. Seven brands of potato and eight brands of corn products were collected, crashed and after preparing the extracts of each sample, high performance liquid chromatography [HPLC] was used for measuring the amount of acrylamide. The amounts of acrylamide ranged 247-1677 micro g/kg in potato brands and <35-419 micro g/kg in corn products. As acrylamide is a dangerous toxin for human health, its level in these products, that are used extensively by people especially children, should be strictly traced and reduced

Comparative study on the effects of steviosides and aspartame on glucose, urea and creatinine levels of normal and type 2 diabetic rats

Comparing the effects of the natural nonnutritive sweetener [steviosides] and the artificial sweetener [aspartame] on the plasma glucose, urea, and creatinie levels of normal and type 2 diabetic rats revealed that treating normal and diabetic rats with different doses of both sweeteners reduced the plasma glucose levels except in normal rats treated with low dose of aspartame and high dose of steviosides that increased glucose levels by 17.3% and in normal rats treated with the high aspartame dose [38%] but fortunately they were still within the normal glucose range. All doses of both sweeteners increased urea levels in normal rats by percentages ranging from 5.2% to 41.7% though they were within the normal urea range except the low aspartame dose and high steviosides dose, moreover medium aspartame dose reduced urea level by 11.1%. All doses of both sweeteners reduced the urea levels in diabetic rats with the highest reduction percentage in those treated with the high steviosides dose [63.8%] while the lowest [40.9%] was in those treated with the medium dose of aspartame but unfortunately, no dose succeeded to lower urea levels to their normal ranges. Treating normal rats with different doses of both sweeteners increased the plasma creatinine by percentages ranging from 33.3% in the medium steviosides dose to 33.3% in the low spartame dose although they were kept within the normal creatinine range. Treating diabetic rats with different doses of both sweeteners succeeded to lower creatinine levels to their normal ranges with reduction percentages ranging from 25.8% to 38.1%. The creatinine levels were more or less similar in diabetic rats treated with different doses of both sweeteners with no significant differences between the two sweeteners in any dose