Background Adequate human nutrition depends on the ingestion of many nutrients present in the diet. Proteins are indispensable macronutrients, including the essential amino acids. A protein source can vary its nutritional quality in terms of digestibility, amino acid profile, and its bioavailability. There are several disadvantages claimed to livestock and traditional animal protein sources. Thus, in a continuous increasing world population, a current challenge is the consumption of proteins with low-cost and easily supply, meeting environmental and social aspects. Scope and approach Plant proteins may be a critical step for reducing animal protein dependence by humans. This critical review contributes to facilitating the choice of a plant protein source based on the amino acid composition. Additionally, this overview can give insights into the development of new food products and add value to agro-industrial wastes and by-products. Furthermore, this paper shows the wide variety of sources of plant proteins, with balanced nutritional quality and high protein content as a potential protein supply for the human population and industrial applications. Key findings and conclusion A significant challenge is encountering the most suitable protein source since it depends on consumers' preferences, industrial availability, geographical location, and cultural elements. Nevertheless, it is possible to select a plant protein source comparing the essential amino acid composition of each source to the reference pattern.

Plant proteins as high-quality nutritional source for human diet

Background: Bamboo is a multipurpose plant known mostly for its industrial uses but is now being recognized as a potential source of bioactive compounds and natural antioxidants. All the parts of the bamboo plant such as rhizome, culm shaving, leaves, roots, shoots and seeds have clinical applications. Studies have revealed that bamboo is a rich source of antioxidants and regular consumption of bamboo-based products may reduce the risk of age-related chronic diseases including cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, cancer and diabetes. Scope and approach: This review article reports a comprehensive insight concerning antioxidants and antioxidant properties of bamboo shoots and leaves and their prospects for utilization in the development of functional foods and nutraceuticals. Antioxidants are vital constituents in the food and pharmaceutical industry as they scavenge free radicals that cause deterioration of products during processing and storage. They also promote human health by neutralizing cell damage caused by free radicals. Key findings and conclusion: Antioxidants are known to confer health benefits such as prevention of cancer and degenerative diseases, slowing down the aging process and promotion of cardiovascular health. The main antioxidants in bamboo leaves and shoots are phenols, vitamin C & E and mineral elements such as selenium, copper, zinc, iron and manganese. At present, natural antioxidants are in great demand as synthetic antioxidants being used in food and pharmaceuticals may be deleterious to health. Hence, bamboo a fast growing plant with huge biomass can serve as an alternative for the production of natural antioxidants.

Bamboo: A rich source of natural antioxidants and its applications in the food and pharmaceutical industry

Traditional and ayurvedic foods of Indian origin

Pasta products and noodles have been staple foods since ancient times in many countries all over the world. These cereal products are still increasingly popular worldwide for their convenience, nutritional properties, special flavor, and taste. Pasta and noodles are essentially the same type of food but differ in their raw materials and shaping process, as well as the people and regions in the world consuming them. Many additives have been developed and are being used today in pasta and noodle products for various purposes. However, due to lack of knowledge about specific uses for some additives, they are sometimes misused by manufacturers. This can lead to opposite technological effects instead and may even cause damage to human health. Due to consumer demands, interest now focuses on natural "green" food additives with broad-spectrum functions, high effectiveness, and low toxicity. In order to provide detailed references for noodle and pasta production, as well as to provide ideas for developing new types of these products, here we summarize the types of natural additives that are being incorporated in pasta and noodle products, mainly for quality improvement and food preservation.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1541-4337.12066

Natural Additives in Wheat-Based Pasta and Noodle Products: Opportunities for Enhanced Nutritional and Functional Properties.

Bamboo shoots are considered as one of the useful health foods because of their rich contents of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, fibres, and minerals and very low fat. Though bamboo shoots provide lots of health benefits, their consumption is confined mostly to Southeast Asian and East Asian countries. The acceptability of bamboo shoots as popular vegetable crop is very less due to their high pungent smell and bitter acidic taste. The use of bamboo as food in India is mainly restricted to Northeastern part of the country where they form an indispensable part of several traditional speciality dishes. The different ethnic communities take fresh or fermented bamboo shoot as one of most preferred traditional food items. Some of the important bamboo based traditional foods are ushoi, soibum, rep, mesu, eup, ekhung, hirring, and so forth. Bamboo shoots should be properly processed before they are consumed as freshly harvested shoots have high content of toxic cyanogenic glycosides which may pose serious health problems. The prospect of bamboo shoot industry in Northeast India is bright due to its rich genetic resources of bamboos. However, habitat destruction and extensive use of bamboos for food, handicraft, and construction purposes have resulted in severe depletion of natural bamboo resources. This review stresses upon the high nutritive values and health benefits of bamboo shoots and their usage as important traditional foods in Northeast India. The bamboo market potential of the region and use of in vitro plant micropropagation methods as effective means of bamboo conservation are also emphasized in this paper.

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The Nutritional Facts of Bamboo Shoots and Their Usage as Important Traditional Foods of Northeast India

Bamboo is intricately associated with humans from times immemorial. Popularly known for their industrial uses, a lesser known fact of bamboos is the usage of its young shoots as a food that can be consumed fresh, fermented, or canned. The juvenile shoots are not only delicious but are rich in nutrient components, mainly proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, and fiber and are low in fat and sugars. In addition, they contain phytosterols and a high amount of fiber that can be labeled as nutraceuticals or natural medicines that are attracting the attention of health advocates and scientists alike. The shoots are free from residual toxicity and grow without the application of fertilizers. Modern research has revealed that bamboo shoots have a number of health benefits: improving appetite and digestion, weight loss, and curing cardiovascular diseases and cancer. The shoots are reported to have anticancer, antibacterial, and antiviral activity. Shoots have antioxidant capacity due to the presence of phenolic compounds. The increasing trends of health consciousness among consumers have stimulated the field of functional foods and bamboo shoots can be one of them. Bamboo fiber is now a common ingredient in breakfast cereals, fruit juices, bakery and meat products, sauces, shredded cheeses, cookies, pastas, snacks, frozen desserts, and many other food products. This review emphasizes the health benefits of bamboo shoots and their potential for utilization as a health food.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1541-4337.2011.00147.x

Nutritional Properties of Bamboo Shoots: Potential and Prospects for Utilization as a Health Food

Bamboo is a plant which is lesser known as a source of food though awareness of the edible young shoots as food is increasing worldwide. Of the many known edible bamboos, shoots of Phyllostachys are popular vegetable in many South East-Asian countries. Phyllostachys mannii is one of the dominant species distributed extensively in regions of North-East India which is lesser known as compared to other species of Phyllostachys. The current study was undertaken to evaluate the proximate composition, vitamins, amino acids, minerals, bioactive components and antinutrient content of edible shoots of P. mannii Gamble. Results revealed that shoots contain adequate amount of protein (3.24 ± 0.03 g/100g FW), carbohydrate (2.73 ± 0.02 g/100g FW), vitamin C (3.23 ± 0.05 mg/100g FW) and are low in fat (0.44 ± 0.01 g/100g FW). Nineteen amino acids were detected in the shoots which includes eight essential, five conditionally essential and six non essential. Of all amino acids, the content was recorded minimum (1.05 ± 0.19 µg/mg DW) in ornithine and maximum (111.04 ± 9.59 µg/mg DW) in asparagine. WDXRF analysis detected 13 minerals in the shoots which includes eight macro and five microminerals with K (6660 ± 40 mg/kg DW) and P (930 ± 20 mg/kg DW) as dominant macromineral and Fe (9.1 ± 0.4 mg/kg DW) and Zn (10 ± 0.0 mg/kg DW) as dominant micromineral. Shoots are rich in phytosterols (265.49 ± 3.16 mg/100 g DW), phenols (382.23 ± 2.08 mg/100 g FW) and neutral detergent fiber (5.72 ± 0.03 g/100 g FW). Present results showed low cyanogen (36.22 ± 0.11 mg/kg FW) content in P. mannii compared to other bamboos and thus considered to be safe for consumption. Overall results indicate the richness of nutritional and bioactive compounds in Phyllostachys mannii which has thus potential to be used nutritious vegetable and as an ideal ingredient in functional food formulations and pharmaceuticals.

Evaluation of Proximate Composition, Vitamins, Amino Acids, Antioxidant activities with Minerals and Bioactive Compounds of Young Edible Bamboo (Phyllostachys mannii Gamble)

Underutilized wild medicinal plants have been used in various traditional system of medicine including Chinese, Turkish, African and Brazilian in the treatment of pain, purgative, constipation, tonic, hemostatic, headaches, arthritis, backache, rheumatism, and eczema. The aim of the present study is to quantify and identify the bioactive constituents of three ethnobotanically important wild plants of cold desert Ladakh including Rheum spiciforme, Rumex patientia, and Sonchus oleraceus. Using spectrophotometry, total phenol, flavonoid, phytosterol and antioxidant activity was analyzed. Rheum spiciforme has highest phenol content (77.2 mg/g), Rumex patientia was highest in phytosterol (133.3 mg/g) and flavonoids (88.7 mg/g). Sonchus oleraceus showed highest antioxidant activity by DPPH (IC50 = 39.51 μg/mL) and FRAP assay (98.93 mg/g). GCMS and FTIR metabolomics approach is used for the identification of secondary metabolites for further use in pharmaceutical preparations. FTIR analysis of the plant extract shows the presence of functional groups such as carboxylic acids, aromatics, alkanes, alcohols, phenols, aliphatic amines, alkenes and amine groups. GCMS analysis of methanolic extract revealed 29 different bioactive compounds with high content of 1-Naphthalenol, methylcarbamate (13.22 %), Cyclopentadecane (12.43 %) in Rheum spiciforme, 22 peak with high content of Benzene, 1,1'-sulfonylbis[4-chloro- in Rumex patientia (31.18 %) and 13 compounds identified with the highest % area of compound 2,2-Dimethoxybutane in Sonchus oleraceus (19.33 %). The functional groups and identified compounds have various health benefits including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and antifungal activity which could be used for production of food supplements and novel drugs. 

Phytochemical analysis, antioxidant activity and identification of bioactive constituents from three wild medicinally important underutilized plants of Ladakh, India using GCMS and FTIR based metabolomics approach

Assessment of preliminary subacute oral toxicity of Bambusa nutans aqueous extract based on histoarchitectural and biochemical alterations in LACA mice

Erratum to “Antioxidant activity and sensory evaluation of crispy salted snacks fortified with bamboo shoot rich in bioactive compounds” [Applied Food Research, volume 1, issue 2 (2021) 100018]

Nirmala Chongtham

Papers

Nutritional Properties of Bamboo Shoots: Potential and Prospects for Utilization as a Health Food

Evaluation of Proximate Composition, Vitamins, Amino Acids, Antioxidant activities with Minerals and Bioactive Compounds of Young Edible Bamboo (Phyllostachys mannii Gamble)

Phytochemical analysis, antioxidant activity and identification of bioactive constituents from three wild medicinally important underutilized plants of Ladakh, India using GCMS and FTIR based metabolomics approach

Assessment of preliminary subacute oral toxicity of Bambusa nutans aqueous extract based on histoarchitectural and biochemical alterations in LACA mice

Erratum to “Antioxidant activity and sensory evaluation of crispy salted snacks fortified with bamboo shoot rich in bioactive compounds” [Applied Food Research, volume 1, issue 2 (2021) 100018]