Rapid estimation of the energy content of composite foods: the application of the Calorie Answer™.

The estimation of calories in foods is central in the maintenance of body weight and energy regulation. Conventional laboratory analysis using bomb calorimetry to determine calorie content is expensive and time-consuming. There is a need to explore alternative techniques for calorie estimation that requires less processing and resources. The potential of using near infrared spectroscopy for calorie measurements with Calorie Answer™ was evaluated in this study. The caloric content of 105 different foods was measured, and compared against values reported on nutrition labels. The average percentage relative standard deviation for triplicate measurements was 1.7% for all foods. The percentage difference between stated and measured calories was modest, at 4.0% for all foods. Stated and measured calorie contents were significantly and highly correlated (R2=0.98, p<0.001). The use of near infrared spectroscopy, using Calorie Answer™, is a rapid, reproducible and cost-effective way of measuring calorie content in a diverse range of foods. Its application in many parts of Asia Pacific and other emerging nations will generate much needed information on the calorie content of complex foods consumed by people living in these regions.

Evaluation of antioxidant capacity of Chinese five-spice ingredients.

Phenolic compounds in spices were reportedly found to possess high antioxidant capacities (AOCs), which may prevent or reduce risk of human diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes. The potential AOC of Chinese five-spice powder (consist of Szechuan pepper, fennel seed, cinnamon, star anise and clove) with varying proportion of individual spice ingredients was investigated through four standard methods. Our results suggest that clove is the major contributor to the AOC of the five-spice powder whereas the other four ingredients contribute to the flavour. For example, the total phenolic content as well as ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) values increased linearly with the clove percentage in five-spice powder. This observation opens the door to use clove in other spice mixtures to increase their AOC and flavour. Moreover, linear relationships were also observed between AOC and the total phenolic content of the 32 tested spice samples.