Antiviral Potential of Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) Oil and COVID-19

Background: COVID-19 caused by the novel SARS Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is causing serious problems in the global public health sphere. In the absence of a powerful antiviral treatment, the exploration of plant-based products with antiviral potential has gained interest. Scope and Approach: This commentary presents the prospects of utilizing coconut oil directly or its derivatives such as monolaurin in treating COVID-19 with a special emphasis on their biochemical characteristics features. The potential pitfalls therein and way forward are also highlighted. Key findings and conclusions: There are enough research-backed evidences to demonstrate the antiviral capabilities of coconut oil and monolaurin. The possibility of developing a medium-chain fatty acidbased nasal spray as a prophylactic or therapeutic is also discussed. Nevertheless, the potential impediments in devising suitable therapeutic models to treat SARS-CoV-2, are presented.Copyright © 2021 Bentham Science Publishers.

Design, development, and evaluation of rotary drum dryer for turmeric rhizomes (Curcuma longa L.)

Turmeric is a challenging crop to dry because of its heat sensitive volatile content and browning characteristics. In this study, a pilot scale biomass fired rotary drum dryer was developed for drying turmeric rhizomes. The drying experiments were conducted at 50, 60, and 70 degrees C air temperatures at an air velocity of 2 and 3 m/s and the drum speeds of 6 and 9 rpm. The turmeric rhizomes dried at a faster rate at the operating conditions of 70 degrees C air temperature, 3 m/s air velocity and 9 rpm drum rotational speed. Among the evaluated thin layer drying models, Page model comparatively gave higher R-2 values (0.998), lower sum of square error (0.001), and root mean square error (0.01) values. The effective moisture diffusivity of turmeric in the rotary dryer ranged from 0.33 to 0.5 x 10(-10) m(2) s(-1). The calculated activation energy of turmeric rhizomes was 19,338 kJ/kg mol(-1). The higher curcumin, oleoresin, starch, and color values such as lightness, redness, and yellowness value of 4.92%, 16.5%, 58.09%, and 59.87, 28.43, and 74.21, respectively, was observed at 50 degrees C, 9 rpm drum rotational speed and 3 m/s air velocity. The results indicated that the color of turmeric could be retained by drying at 50 degrees C. Practical Applications The present scenario, turmeric has been considered as an important crop against COVID-19 due to its antiviral properties and also food applications such as natural coloring agent and flavor enhancer. The unit operations involved in turmeric processing is washing, boiling, drying, polishing, and size reduction. The amount of curcumin content presents in turmeric decides its value. Drying is the time-consuming process compared to other unit operations and has an impact over the quality parameters of turmeric. Sun drying is the main traditional drying method normally practiced by the farmers for bulk drying of turmeric rhizomes. However, the sun-dried turmeric rhizomes lost its product value because of poor quality end product (dark yellowish brown color). This could be due to longer exposure of the product in sun causes change in the volatiles and color in turn degrades the market value and fetches lower price to the farmer. And also decreased drying rate, prolonged drying time, non-uniformity, and lesser energy consumption are the other factors that degrades further the quality of the product. Hence, a drying technology should be identified to overcome the problems faced by the farmers and also to dry the bulk capacities of the turmeric rhizomes at low cost. Rotary dryers are capable of processing larger capacities of various agricultural products having wide range of thermophysical and aerodynamic properties. The current research focused on developing a rotary dryer to reduce the drying time and also to retain the quality that benefits both farmers and industries by providing good quality product.

Editorial: Recent Applications of Ozone in Agri-Food Industry

Dear Researchers and Readers, Ozone is an advanced oxidation technology having multi-dimensional applications in the food industry such as antibacterial and antiviral action on fresh horticultural produce and minimally processed fruits and vegetables, stored product insects control, mycotoxin degradation in grains, pesticide degradation from fresh produce and starch modification. Sujayasree et al. ([9]) highlighted that ozone is green technology for mycotoxin degradation in different food matrix. Recently, many industries have developed the small scale ozone based sanitization system to clean fruits, vegetables, cereals and meat based products for household purpose. [Extracted from the article] Copyright of Ozone: Science & Engineering is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Role of food nutrients and supplementation in fighting against viral infections and boosting immunity: A review.

BACKGROUND: The viral infections can be highly contagious and easily transmissible, which even can lead to a pandemic, like the recent COVID-19 outbreak, causing massive deaths worldwide. While, still the best practical way to prevent the transmission of viruses is to practice self-sanitation and follow social distancing principles, enhancing the individual's immunity through the consumption of proper foods containing balanced nutrients can have significant result against viral infections. Foods containing nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, few polysaccharides, and some non-nutrients (i.e. polyphenols) have shown therapeutic potential against the function of viruses and can increase the immunity of people. SCOPE AND APPROACH: The results of conducted works aiming for studying the potential antiviral characteristics of diverse groups of foods and food's nutrients (in terms of polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, vitamins, and minerals) are critically discussed. KEY FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION: Nutrients, besides playing an important role in maintaining normal physiology of human's body and healthiness, are also required for enhancing the immunity of the body and can be effective against viral infections. They can present antiviral capacity either by entering into the defensive mechanism directly through interfering with the target viruses, or indirectly through activating the cells associated with the adaptive immune system. During the current situation of COVID-19 pandemic (the lack of proper curative viral drug), enhancing the immunity of individual's body through proposing the appropriate diet (rich in both macro and micro-nutrients) is one of few practical preventive measures available in fighting against Coronaviruses, this significant health-threatening virus, as well as other viruses in general.