Effect of Milling on Nutritional Components in Common and Zinc-Biofortified Wheat.

Biofortification is one of the most successful approaches to enhance the level of micronutrients in wheat. In the present study, wheats with zinc biofortification (foliar fertilization and breeding strategies) were milled into five components (whole flour, break flour, reduction flour, fine bran, and coarse bran) and their mineral content and nutritional components were evaluated. The results revealed that biofortification greatly increased the Zn concentration (by 30.58%-30.86%) and soluble Zn content (by 28.57%-42.86%) of whole flour after digestion. This improvement is mainly in break flour, reduction flour, and fine bran. Meanwhile, the contents of macronutrients including ash, lipids, and proteins and micronutrients containing iron, calcium, and vitamins (B1, B6, and B9) increased after biofortification. In addition, there was a decline in the concentrations of vitamins B2 and B5. Although dietary fibers and starch are the major carbohydrates, total dietary fiber exhibited a declining trend in coarse bran, and starch exhibited a rising trend in break and reduction flour. There was a decrease in the molar ratio of phytates: zinc did not promote a significant improvement in zinc bioaccessibility. These results can be useful for generating wheat varieties rich in micronutrients as well as having better nutritional traits.

Bentong ginger oleoresin mitigates liver injury and modulates gut microbiota in mouse with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease induced by high-fat diet.

The present study aimed to examine the protective effect of Bentong ginger oleoresin (BGO) on the occurrence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and its underlying mechanism. In the present study, 14-week BGO treatment reduced the high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity. The serum total cholesterol (TC) was reduced from 4.76 ± 0.30 to 3.542 ± 0.49 mmol/L and fatty liver score decreased to the normal level (1.6 ± 0.55). BGO had antihypercholesterolemia activity, alleviated abnormal lipid metabolism, and improved liver fat accumulation. In addition, liver inflammatory cytokine tests and Western blotting analysis indicated that BGO might play an anti-inflammatory role by mediating the NF-κB signaling pathway. Moreover, BGO regulated the gut microbiota in NAFLD mice and finally mediated their benefits for the host, which might be associated with reduced abundance of Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group and Fournierella. BGO showed effective liver protection and regulation of gut microbiota for the HFD-induced NAFLD in obese mice. As a result, BGO may serve as an effective dietary supplement for the improvement of NAFLD-related metabolic diseases. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: This study provides a new way to improve the added value of Bentong ginger. It also provides certain experimental data on BGO as a kind of the functional food ingredient. The current work also provides new ideas for the improvement and treatment of NAFLD.

Pollutants removal, greenhouse gases emission and functional genes in wastewater ecological soil infiltration systems: influences of influent surface organic loading and aeration mode.

The influences of influent surface organic loading rate (SOLR) and aeration mode on matrix oxygen, organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus removal, greenhouse gases emission and functional gene abundances in lab-scale wastewater ecological soil infiltration systems (WESISs) were investigated. In WESISs, intermittent or continuous aeration improved oxygen supply at 50 cm depth and hardly changed anaerobic condition below 80 cm depth, which enhanced chemical oxygen demand (COD), NH4+-N, total nitrogen (TN) removal, the abundances of bacterial 16S rRNA, amoA, nxrA, narG, napA, nirK, nirS, qnorB, nosZ genes and reduced CH4, N2O conversion efficiencies with SOLR of 16.9 and 27.6 g BOD/(m2 d) compared with non-aeration. Increased SOLR resulted in high TN removal, low N2O emission in aeration WESIS, which was different from non-aeration WESIS. High average COD removal efficiency of 90.7%, NH4+-N removal efficiency of 87.0%, TN removal efficiency of 84.6%, total phosphorus (TP) removal efficiency of 93.1% and low average N2O emission rate of 12.8 mg/(m2 d) were achieved with SOLR of 16.9 g BOD/(m2 d) in intermittent aeration WESIS. However, continuous aeration WESIS obtained high average removal efficiencies of 90.1% for COD, 87.5% for NH4+-N, 84.1% for TN, 92.9% for TP and low average emission rate of 13.1 mg/(m2 d) for N2O with SOLR of 27.6 g BOD/(m2 d). Aeration could be an optional strategy for WESISs to achieve high pollutants removal and low CH4, N2O emission when treating wastewater with high SOLR.

Impact of Surfactants on Nanoemulsions based on Fractionated Coconut Oil: Emulsification Stability and in vitro Digestion.

Functional oils have broad application prospects in functional foods and beverages because of their rich beneficial ingredients and healthier intake. The small droplets of the nanoemulsion enhance the effective delivery, solubility and bioavailability of the various hydrophobic food components. This study used a mixed oil phase of green tea seed oil and fractionated coconut oil, compared the emulsifying properties of natural surfactants: Whey protein isolate, soy lecithin, tea saponin and synthetic surfactant: Tween 80 in the preparation of nanoemulsions by ultrasonic method. In particular, the impact of emulsifier type and concentration, pH, ionic strength, and heat treatment on the mean particle size and ξ-potential were investigated. The long-term storage stability of the fabricated nanoemulsions was also monitored during storage at different temperatures. In addition, the effects of emulsifier type on the bioavailability of nanoemulsions were evaluated. For all nanoemulsions studied, the mean particle size decreasing with increasing emulsifier concentration. Tea saponin and soy lecithin can produce smaller droplets of nanoemulsion than Whey protein isolate. Tea saponin has the same emulsifying ability as Tween 80. Presumably tea saponin-stabilized droplets may be maintained by electrostatic repulsion and steric repulsion. All of the nanoemulsions significantly improved the bioavailability of the mixed oil phase compared to the unemulsified oil phase. This study highlights the potential of natural surfactants in the ultrasonic preparation of nanoemulsions containing functional oils, and provides a basis for the application of natural surfactants and new functional oils in food industry.

Development of Low-calorie Organogel fromsn-2 Position-modified Coconut Oil Rich in Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids.

Coconut oil rich in medium-chain saturated fatty acids was enzymatically modified at the sn-2 position with polyunsaturated fatty acids from fish oil by trans-esterification reaction. The modified coconut oil was combined with gelators (γ-oryzanol and ß-sitosterol) to prepare organogels. The effects of different modified coconut oil contents and γ-oryzanol:ß-sitosterol ratios on thermodynamic and rheological properties, and microstructures of organogels, as well as their relationships, were studied. The results showed that the addition of gelators increased the hardness, solid fat content, and oil binding capacity of organogels. In addition to its highest melting point and enthalpy change, the organogel containing γ-oryzanol:ß-sitosterol (6:4) had the best texture properties that closely resemble the crystalline structure properties. Moreover, the developed organogels had the properties of a pseudoplastic fluid, as described by the power law equation. G' of organogel was found to be significantly higher than G'', which indicates that the organogel remains in solid state. The analysis of crystal morphology showed that the crystal of organogels were clusters, consisting of dense three-dimensional network of gel.

Optimization of Microencapsulation of Human Milk Fat Substitute by Response Surface Methodology.

Human milk fat substitutes (HMFS) are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids which upon microencapsulation, can be used as a source of high quality lipids in infant formula. The response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the microencapsulation condition of HMFS as a functional product. The microencapsulation efficiency (MEE) of microencapsulated HMFS was investigated with respect to four variables including concentration of soy lecithin (A), ratio of demineralized whey powder to malt dextrin (B), HFMS concentration (C), and homogenizing pressure (D). The optimum conditions for efficient microencapsulation of HMFS by the spray drying technique were determined as follows: the amount of soybean lecithin-0.96%, ratio of desalted whey powder to malt dextrin-2.04:1, oil content-17.37% and homogeneous pressure-0.46MPa. Under these conditions, the MEE was 84.72%, and the basic indices of the microcapsules were good. The structure of the microcapsules, as observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), revealed spherical, smooth-surfaced capsules with diameters ranging between 10-50 µm. Compared with HFMS, the peroxide value (POV) and acid value (AV) of the microcapsule were significantly lower during storage indicating that the microencapsulation process increases stability and shelf life. Infrared spectroscopic analyses indicated that HFMS had the same characteristic functional groups as the oil extracted from microcapsules. Simulated in vitro digestion revealed that the microcapsules were digested completely within 2h with maximum lipid absorption rate of 64%. Furthermore, these results advocate the embedding process of HFMS by RSM due to its efficacy.