Utilization of red and yellow Coffea arabica var. Caturra pulp: macronutrient analysis, carotenoid extraction, and encapsulation for dairy product enrichment.

This study aimed to investigate the macronutrient and carotenoid content of red and yellow Coffea arabica var. Caturra pulp, a by-product of coffee processing in Colombia. The study employed ultra-sound-assisted extraction (UAE) to extract carotenoids, and a 23 factorial design was used to evaluate the effects of pulp color, biomass-solvent ratio, and solvent mixture composition on carotenoid content and extraction yield. The condition that provided the highest carotenoid extraction was further encapsulated by spray drying and added to a dairy product. The results showed that coffee pulp has significant dietary fiber content and high levels of carotenoids, with yellow pulp having a higher content than red pulp. Lutein isomers and lutein esters were the most abundant carotenoids found in both red and yellow coffee pulp. The highest carotenoid extraction was achieved using a 1:40 (g/mL) biomass:solvent ratio and a 20:80% v/v Ethanol:Ethyl Acetate solvent mixture for the yellow pulp. The carotenoid extract also demonstrated high encapsulation efficiency (46.57 ± 4.03%) and was found to be stable when added to a fermented milk product. This study presents an alternative solution for utilizing coffee by-products in Colombia, which could positively impact the families of over half a million Colombian coffee producers.

Genome-Scale Metabolic Reconstruction, Non-Targeted LC-QTOF-MS Based Metabolomics Data, and Evaluation of Anticancer Activity of Cannabis sativa Leaf Extracts.

Over the past decades, Colombia has suffered complex social problems related to illicit crops, including forced displacement, violence, and environmental damage, among other consequences for vulnerable populations. Considerable effort has been made in the regulation of illicit crops, predominantly Cannabis sativa, leading to advances such as the legalization of medical cannabis and its derivatives, the improvement of crops, and leaving an open window to the development of scientific knowledge to explore alternative uses. It is estimated that C. sativa can produce approximately 750 specialized secondary metabolites. Some of the most relevant due to their anticancer properties, besides cannabinoids, are monoterpenes, sesquiterpenoids, triterpenoids, essential oils, flavonoids, and phenolic compounds. However, despite the increase in scientific research on the subject, it is necessary to study the primary and secondary metabolism of the plant and to identify key pathways that explore its great metabolic potential. For this purpose, a genome-scale metabolic reconstruction of C. sativa is described and contextualized using LC-QTOF-MS metabolic data obtained from the leaf extract from plants grown in the region of Pesca-Boyaca, Colombia under greenhouse conditions at the Clever Leaves facility. A compartmentalized model with 2101 reactions and 1314 metabolites highlights pathways associated with fatty acid biosynthesis, steroids, and amino acids, along with the metabolism of purine, pyrimidine, glucose, starch, and sucrose. Key metabolites were identified through metabolomic data, such as neurine, cannabisativine, cannflavin A, palmitoleic acid, cannabinoids, geranylhydroquinone, and steroids. They were analyzed and integrated into the reconstruction, and their potential applications are discussed. Cytotoxicity assays revealed high anticancer activity against gastric adenocarcinoma (AGS), melanoma cells (A375), and lung carcinoma cells (A549), combined with negligible impact against healthy human skin cells.

Edible Insects in Latin America: A Sustainable Alternative for Our Food Security.

Nowadays, the food industry faces paramount challenges in different areas, since worldwide consumers are increasing every day, and at the same time, they are demanding new convenient products. Recent studies show that the current food production system is unsustainable over time and therefore is necessary to create new alternatives of production. New food trends are focused on the consumption of natural products, that have an eco-friendly production approach, and a beneficial nutritional profile for the consumer's health. Hence, products are being created to not only have good organoleptic characteristics, but also to contain a wide variety of micro and macronutrients, and to be sustainable within their production. For this reason, the use of raw materials that satisfy the needs previously mentioned is being implemented. For instance, the use of insects as raw material, because they have a high protein content comparable to animal-based foods. Specifically, ants and crickets can contain between 9 and 77% protein of dry weight, while beef contains between 25 and 28%. On the other hand, insects present an ease and sustainable production system, compared to livestock farming, since some of them feed with food waste generated by humans. In addition, require less food for their upbringing; insects can convert 2 kg of feed into 1 kg of insect mass, while cattle use 8 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of body weight. On the other hand, there is evidence that insects produce fewer greenhouse gases during their production, for example, pigs produce between 10 and 100 times more greenhouse gases per kg of weight. United States, Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Argentina have begun to develop and consume these products; thus, promoting different and new ventures. Large-scale production of insect-based food products could help solve or even prevent the looming food problem and contribute to the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations. Thus, the aim of this review work was to compile and investigate the edible insect's alternatives in Latin America, as well as the commercially available or potential derivative products. We discussed the nutritional value of edible insects, and how they could contribute to food security.

Hemp seeds: Nutritional value, associated bioactivities and the potential food applications in the Colombian context.

For many years, Colombia was one of the countries with the largest illegal cultivation of cannabis around the world. Currently, it is going through a period of transition with a new government law that recently allows the cultivation, transformation, and commercialization of such plant species. In this sense, the identification of strategies for the valorization of products or by-products from Cannabis sativa represent a great opportunity to improve the value chain of this crop. One of these products is hemp seeds, which are exceptionally nutritious and rich in healthy lipids (with high content of three polyunsaturated fatty acids: linoleic acid, alpha-linolenic acid, and gamma-linolenic acid), good quality protein, and several minerals. In addition, hemp seeds contain THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) or CBD (cannabidiol) in traces, molecules that are responsible for the psychoactive and therapeutic properties of cannabis. These low terpenophenolic contents make it more attractive for food applications. This fact, together with the constant search for proteins of vegetable origin and natural food ingredients, have aroused an important interest in the study of this biomass. Some bioactivities of phytochemical compounds (polyphenols and terpenoids, mainly) present in hemp seeds have provided antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory properties. This review summarizes and discusses the context of hemp use in Latin-American and the new opportunities for hemp seeds culture in Colombia considering the valuable nutritional value, main functional bioactivities, and recent advances in food market applications of hemp seeds.

Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Phenolic Compounds from Mango (Mangifera indica L.) Seed Kernels and Their Application as an Antioxidant in an Edible Oil.

Phenolic compounds from mango (M. indica) seed kernels (MSK) var. Sugar were obtained using supercritical CO2 and EtOH as an extraction solvent. For this purpose, a central composite design was carried out to evaluate the effect of extraction pressure (11-21 MPa), temperature (40-60 °C), and co-solvent contribution (5-15% w/w EtOH) on (i) extraction yield, (ii) oxidative stability (OS) of sunflower edible oil (SEO) with added extract using the Rancimat method, (iii) total phenolics content, (iv) total flavonoids content, and (v) DPPH radical assay. The most influential variable of the supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) process was the concentration of the co-solvent. The best OS of SEO was reached with the extract obtained at 21.0 MPa, 60 °C and 15% EtOH. Under these conditions, the extract increased the OS of SEO by up to 6.1 ± 0.2 h (OS of SEO without antioxidant, Control, was 3.5 h). The composition of the extract influenced the oxidative stability of the sunflower edible oil. By SFE it was possible to obtain extracts from mango seed kernels (MSK) var. Sugar that transfer OS to the SEO. These promissory extracts could be applied to foods and other products.

Selective Extraction of Piceatannol from Passiflora edulis by-Products: Application of HSPs Strategy and Inhibition of Neurodegenerative Enzymes.

Passiflora edulis by-products (PFBP) are a rich source of polyphenols, of which piceatannol has gained special attention recently. However, there are few studies involving environmentally safe methods for obtaining extracts rich in piceatannol. This work aimed to concentrate piceatannol from defatted PFBP (d-PFBP) by means of pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) and conventional extraction, using the bio-based solvents selected with the Hansen solubility parameters approach. The relative energy distance (Ra) between solvent and solute was: Benzyl Alcohol (BnOH) < Ethyl Acetate (EtOAc) < Ethanol (EtOH) < EtOH:H2O. Nonetheless, EtOH presented the best selectivity for piceatannol. Multi-cycle PLE at 110 °C was able to concentrate piceatannol 2.4 times more than conventional extraction. PLE exhibited a dependence on kinetic parameters and temperature, which could be associated with hydrogen bonding forces and the dielectric constant of the solvents. The acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and lipoxygenase (LOX) IC50 were 29.420 µg/mL and 27.682 µg/mL, respectively. The results reinforce the demand for processes to concentrate natural extracts from food by-products.

Recent applications of on-line supercritical fluid extraction coupled to advanced analytical techniques for compounds extraction and identification.

In a previous review (Sánchez-Camargo et al., J. Sep. Sci. 40 (2017) 213-227), we discussed the application of on-line supercritical fluid extraction coupled to chromatographic techniques. This review includes an update of the most recent publications (from January 2016 till June 2018) on this topic, which employs advanced analytical techniques for extracting and identifying valuable analytes. Supercritical fluid extraction has been widely recognized as a green sample preparation technique, because it is efficient, environmentally friendly, powerful, and faster, offering the possibility of direct coupling to analytical instrumental techniques. Among those techniques, supercritical fluid chromatography has experienced an innovative progression in the last 10 years, and the most recent applications of supercritical fluid extraction are coupled to this advanced analytical tool. The general principles, both methodological and instrumental of on-line supercritical fluid extraction coupled to supercritical fluid chromatography are described here. Besides, applications of the mentioned coupling for analysing biological fluids, food, soil, and botanical samples are also presented and discussed. Finally, a brief description about the very recent on-line coupling of supercritical fluid extraction to ion mobility spectrometry is presented, as well as concluding remarks about the importance of using these coupled techniques in the near future.

Development of green extraction processes for Nannochloropsis gaditana biomass valorization.

In the present work, the valorization of Nannochloropsis gaditana biomass is proposed within the concept of biorefinery. To this aim, high-pressure homogenization (HPH) was used to break down the strong cell wall and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) with pure CO2 was applied as a first step to extract valuable compounds (such as non-polar lipids and pigments). Extraction of the remaining residue for the recovery of bioactive compounds was studied by means of an experimental design based on response surface methodology (RSM) employing pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) with green solvents such as water and ethanol. Optimum extract was achieved with pure ethanol at 170°C for 20 min, providing an important antioxidant capacity (0.72 ± 0.03 mmol trolox eq g-1 extract). Complete chemical characterization of the optimum extract was carried out by using different chromatographic methods such as reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (RP-HPLC-DAD), normal-phase HPLC with evaporative light scattering detection (NP-HPLC-ELSD) and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry detection (GC-MS); carotenoids (e.g. violaxanthin), chlorophylls and polar lipids were the main compounds observed while palmitoleic, palmitic, myristic acids and the polyunsaturated eicosapentanoic (EPA) acid were the predominant fatty acids in all PLE extracts.