Obesity and chronic diet-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cancers, and celiac are increasing worldwide. The increasing prevalence of these diseases has led nutritionists and food scientists to pay more attention to the relationship between diet and different disease risks. Among different foods, rice has received increasing attention because it is a major component of billions of peoples' diets throughout the world. Rice is commonly consumed after polishing or whitening and the polished grain is known a high glycemic food because of its high starch content. In addition, the removal of the outer bran layer during rice milling results in a loss of nutrients, dietary fiber, and bioactive components. Therefore, many studies were performed to investigate the potential health benefits for the consumption of whole brown rice (BR) grain in comparison to the milled or white rice (WR). The objective of this work was to review the recent advances in research performed for purposes of evaluation of nutritional value and potential health benefits of the whole BR grain. Studies carried out for purposes of developing BR-based food products are reviewed. BR safety and preservation treatments are also explored. In addition, economic and environmental benefits for the consumption of whole BR instead of the polished or WR are presented. Furthermore, challenges facing the commercialization of BR and future perspectives to promote its utilization as food are discussed.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1541-4337.12449

Brown Rice Versus White Rice: Nutritional Quality, Potential Health Benefits, Development of Food Products, and Preservation Technologies.

Isolation, purification, structure and antioxidant activity of polysaccharide from pinecones of Pinus koraiensis.

Background The global crisis caused by the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, better known as COVID-19, brought the need to improve the population's immunity. The foods rich in polysaccharides with immunomodulation properties are among the most highly rated to be used as immune response modulators. Thus, the use of polysaccharides obtained from food offers an innovative strategy to prevent serious side effects of viral infections. Scope and approach This review revisits the current studies on the pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2, its characteristics, target cell interactions, and the possibility of using polysaccharides from functional foods as activators of the immune response. Several natural foods are explored for the possibility of being used to obtain polysaccharides with immunomodulatory potential. And finally, we address expectations for the use of polysaccharides in the development of potential therapies and vaccines. Key findings and conclusions The negative consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic across the world are unprecedented, thousands of lives lost, increasing inequalities, and incalculable economic losses. On the other hand, great scientific advances have been made regarding the understanding of the disease and forms of treatment. Polysaccharides, due to their characteristics, have the potential to be used as potential drugs with the ability to modulate the immune response. In addition, they can be used safely, as they have no toxic effects, are biocompatible and biodegradable. Finally, these biopolymers can still be used in the development of new therapies and vaccines.

Polysaccharides obtained from natural edible sources and their role in modulating the immune system: Biologically active potential that can be exploited against COVID-19

Sulfate radical (SO4•-)- and hydroxyl radical (HO•)-based advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are effective for the removal of organic pollutants in water treatment. This study compared the interactions of SO4•- and HO• for the transformation of phenol in UV/peroxydisulfate (PDS) and UV/H2O2 with the presence of NO2-, which is widely present in aquatic environments and transforms SO4•- and HO• to •NO2. By using laser flash photolysis, the products of phenol reacting with SO4•- and HO• were demonstrated to be phenoxy radical and phenol-HO-adduct radical, respectively. This result, along with density functional theory (DFT) calculations, indicate that the predominant reaction mechanisms of phenol with SO4•- and HO• with phenol are electron transfer and addition, respectively. The different mechanisms induced the much higher formation of nitrophenols by SO4•- than HO• in the presence of NO2- through the fast combination of phenoxy radicals and •NO2. The conversion yields of phenol to nitrophenols (including 2-nitrophenol and 4-nitrophenol), were 47.5% by SO4•- versus 5.3% by HO• at the experimental conditions. Increasing PDS/H2O2 dosages from 0.2 to 1 mM resulted in a 61.9% increase of nitrophenol conversion yield in UV/PDS/NO2- but a 35.4% decrease of that in UV/H2O2/NO2-. In addition, the significant formation of phenoxy radicals by SO4•- also induced many nitrated polymers in UV/PDS/NO2-, while those induced in UV/H2O2/NO2- were negligible. The significant formation of nitrophenols and nitrated polymers increased the mutagenicity by 860.5% when the removal rate of phenol was 98% by UV/PDS/NO2-. This is the first study to demonstrate the different mechanisms of phenol transformation by SO4•- and HO• in the presence of NO2-.

Comparative Study for Interactions of Sulfate Radical and Hydroxyl Radical with Phenol in the Presence of Nitrite.

Comparison of characterization, antioxidant and immunological activities of three polysaccharides from Sagittaria sagittifolia L.

Physicochemical properties and prebiotic activities of polysaccharides from longan pulp based on different extraction techniques.

Degradation of polysaccharides from Sargassum fusiforme using UV/H2O2 and its effects on structural characteristics.

Longan pulp polysaccharides relieve intestinal injury in vivo and in vitro by promoting tight junction expression

Structural elucidation, anti-inflammatory activity and intestinal barrier protection of longan pulp polysaccharide LPIIa

Rice husks (RHs) as an agro-waste generated from rice production, while its application is limited. This study was designed to introduce a full utilization of rice husks, which extracted the phytochemical at first and then produced cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) as the use of the residue. Furthermore, the phytochemicals extracted from rice husk was identified and its biological activity, including antioxidant activity, cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) and antiproliferative activity, had been detected as well. Results showed the bound fraction of rice husk had higher antioxidant than common fruit and grain. Free fraction of rice husk deserved to have further analysis in antiproliferative activity due to its low cytotoxicity. The CNCs produced by residue was using delignification process and acid hydrolysis treatments. The chemical composition of the residue obtained after phytochemical extraction was determined. CNCs morphological investigation was performed using an optical microscope and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Our strategy is to achieve a comprehensive utilization of rice husks with both economy and environment benefits.

/pdf/a-full-utilization-of-rice-husk-to-evaluate-phytochemical-4du4odqfuv.pdf

Ruifen Zhang

Papers

Physicochemical properties and prebiotic activities of polysaccharides from longan pulp based on different extraction techniques.

Degradation of polysaccharides from Sargassum fusiforme using UV/H2O2 and its effects on structural characteristics.

Longan pulp polysaccharides relieve intestinal injury in vivo and in vitro by promoting tight junction expression

Structural elucidation, anti-inflammatory activity and intestinal barrier protection of longan pulp polysaccharide LPIIa

A full utilization of rice husk to evaluate phytochemical bioactivities and prepare cellulose nanocrystals.