Effect of pomegranate peel extract on the oxidative stability of pomegranate seed oil.

Pomegranate seed oil is valuable source of bioactive compounds with health-beneficial effects, but it is sensitive to oxidation due to high content of PUFA. In order to improve stability of pomegranate seed oil, the influence of natural antioxidant (0.1% pomegranate peel extract) and a combination of synthetic antioxidant (0.01% butylhydroxytoluene) and pomegranate peel extract (0.05%) was investigated. The oxidation process was followed by monitoring fatty acid composition and measuring the quality and stability parameters of oil (acid value, peroxide value, anisidine value and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances value) during storage for 12 days at 65 °C. Furthermore, total phenolic content and DPPH radical scavenging activity was measured. Pomegranate peel extract as well as a combination of pomegranate peel extract and BHT can have a significant positive impact (P < 0.05) on improvement of the quality and stability parameters of pomegranate seed oil. Furthermore, such activity was better than BHT used alone.

Inclusion of phytogenic blends in different nutrient density diets of meat-type ducks.

A total of 160 1-day-old ducklings (average initial body weight of 53 g), were used in a 42-d feeding trial to evaluate the effects of reducing nutrient density of diets, and supplementing the diets with a phytogenic blend (quillaja, anise, and thyme) on their growth, carcass quality, and nutrient digestibility. After checking body weight on d 1, the birds were sorted into pens with 5 birds/pen and 8 pens/treatment. The treatments were: T1, Basal diet; T2, T1+150 ppm phytogenic blend; T3, T1-(1% CP, 0.04% Lys, 0.05% Met+Cys, 0.02% Ca, and 0.02% P, and 50 kcal ME); T4, T3+150 ppm phytogenic blend. The results indicated that reducing nutrient density of the diets had an adverse effect (P<0.05) on body weight gain (BWG) on d 1 to 21, d 21 to 42, and the overall experimental period. Supplementing the diets with the phytogenic blend improved (P<0.05) BWG and feed conversion ratio (FCR) on d 21 to 42 and the overall experimental period. Feed intake was not affected by treatments. Low nutrient density diets increased (P<0.05) the cooking loss percentage of breast meat. Supplementing the diets with the phytogenic blend decreased (P<0.05) the lightness of breast meat. The percentage of drip loss was influenced (P<0.05) by nutrient density and the phytogenic blend on d 1 and d 7. The relative weights of breast meat, abdominal fat, gizzard, liver, spleen, and bursa of Fabricius, pH, and TBARS values were not affected by the treatments. The digestibility of dry matter, energy, nitrogen, ADF, and NDF was decreased (P<0.05) by reducing nutrients density of the diets, but addition of the phytogenic blend alleviated (P<0.05) the negative effects of lowering the nutrient density. The results indicated that the ducks fed high nutrient density diets supplemented with the phytogenic blend showed higher BWG and nutrient digestibility and lower FCR, cooking loss, drip loss, and TBARS value, without any negative effect on meat quality and relative organs weights.

Antimicrobial and antioxidant effects of spice extracts on the shelf life extension of raw chicken meat.

The antimicrobial and antioxidant effects of different spice extracts in raw chicken meat during storage for 15 days at 4 °C were studied. Raw chicken meat was treated with BHT (positive control), Syzygium aromaticum (SA), Cinnmomum cassia (CC), Origanum vulgare (OV), and Brassica nigra (BN) extracts and the different combinations as well as the results were compared to raw chicken meat without any additive (negative control). The antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of spice extracts were determined. Total phenolic contents and flavonoid contents were ranged from 14.09 ± 0.78 to 24.65 ± 0.83 mg of GAE/g and 7.07 ± 0.15 to 12.13 ± 0.24 mg of quercetin/g, respectively. The pH, instrumental color (CIE L*, a*, b*), total viable counts (TVC), Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) counts, Enterobacteriaceae counts, Pseudomonas spp. counts and 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were determined at a gap of 3 days interval for a period of 15 days. The bacterial counts of T-W-SA+T-W-CC+T-W-OV samples were lower than control samples during storage. T-W-SA+T-W-CC+T-W-OV samples maintained significantly (P<0.05) higher L*, a* and b* values while storing. The TBARS values of T-W-SA+T-W-CC+T-W-OV samples were lowest among the samples. These results show that spice extracts are very effective against microbial growth, lipid oxidation and has potential as a natural antioxidant in raw chicken meats.

Red beet (Beta vulgaris L.) leaf supplementation improves antioxidant status in C57BL/6J mice fed high fat high cholesterol diet.

The effect of diet supplemented with red beet (Beta vulgaris L.) leaf on antioxidant status of plasma and tissue was investigated in C57BL/6J mice. The mice were randomly divided into two groups after one-week acclimation, and fed a high fat (20%) and high cholesterol (1%) diet without (control group) or with 8% freeze-dried red beet leaf (RBL group) for 4 weeks. In RBL mice, lipid peroxidation determined as 2-thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS value) was significantly reduced in the plasma and selected organs (liver, heart, and kidney). Levels of antioxidants (glutathione and beta-carotene) and the activities of antioxidant enzyme (glutathione peroxidase) in plasma and liver were considerably increased, suggesting that antioxidant defenses were improved by RBL diet. Comet parameters such as tail DNA (%), tail extent moment, olive tail moment and tail length were significantly reduced by 25.1%, 49.4%, 35.4%, and 23.7%, respectively, in plasma lymphocyte DNA of RBL mice compared with control mice, and indicated the increased resistance of lymphocyte DNA to oxidative damage. In addition, the RBL diet controlled body weight together with a significant reduction of fat pad (retroperitoneal, epididymal, inguinal fat, and total fat). Therefore, the present study suggested that the supplementation of 8% red beet leaf in high fat high cholesterol diet could prevent lipid peroxidation and improve antioxidant defense system in the plasma and tissue of C57BL/6J mice.

Red beet (Beta vulgaris L.) leaf supplementation improves antioxidant status in C57BL/6J mice fed high fat high cholesterol diet

The effect of diet supplemented with red beet (Beta vulgaris L.) leaf on antioxidant status of plasma and tissue was investigated in C57BL/6J mice. The mice were randomly divided into two groups after one-week acclimation, and fed a high fat (20%) and high cholesterol (1%) diet without (control group) or with 8% freeze-dried red beet leaf (RBL group) for 4 weeks. In RBL mice, lipid peroxidation determined as 2-thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS value) was significantly reduced in the plasma and selected organs (liver, heart, and kidney). Levels of antioxidants (glutathione and beta-carotene) and the activities of antioxidant enzyme (glutathione peroxidase) in plasma and liver were considerably increased, suggesting that antioxidant defenses were improved by RBL diet. Comet parameters such as tail DNA (%), tail extent moment, olive tail moment and tail length were significantly reduced by 25.1%, 49.4%, 35.4%, and 23.7%, respectively, in plasma lymphocyte DNA of RBL mice compared with control mice, and indicated the increased resistance of lymphocyte DNA to oxidative damage. In addition, the RBL diet controlled body weight together with a significant reduction of fat pad (retroperitoneal, epididymal, inguinal fat, and total fat). Therefore, the present study suggested that the supplementation of 8% red beet leaf in high fat high cholesterol diet could prevent lipid peroxidation and improve antioxidant defense system in the plasma and tissue of C57BL/6J mice.

STUDY ON THE PROTECTIVE MECHANISM OF ORGANIC ACIDS IN HUMAN UMBILICAL VEIN ENDOTHELIAL CELLS / 营养学报

Objective: To examine the effects of four organic acids (OA), namely chlorogenic acid (CHA), ascorbic acid (AA), citric acid (CA) and malic acid (MA), on monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) and monocyte colony stimulating factor (M-CSF), as well as on antioxidant function in human vascular endothelial cells (EC). Methods: Original human umbilical vein EC were cultured and incubated for 12 h respectively with ox-LDL, in the presence of CHA, AA, CA and MA at different concentrations(10, 20, 40 mg/L), to study the protective effect on human vascular EC and its mechanism . Results: (1) TBARS value of oxLDL group was 14.85 times higher than that of normal LDL group which was not different with blank group. TBARS values of the OA+oxLDL group were lower at different extents when compared with ox-LDL group, showing dose-effect response. The inhibitory effects of CHA and AA were better than those of CA and MA. (2) MCP-1 and M-CSF of ox-LDL group were higher than those of blank group. Both MCP-1 and M-CSF of OA+ox-LDL groups statistically decreased when compared with ox-LDL group; MCP-1 and M-CSF of single CHA or AA (40 mg/L)group were lower than those of blank group respectively. Conclusion: The protective effects of OA on human vascular EC were contributed to their antioxidant activities, probably through MCP-1 and M-CSF .