Glycemic index: overview of implications in health and disease : Is the glycemic index important in human nutrition?

As major part of the phytoplankton, microalgae are pivotal for the global food chain. Their exceptional capacity for CO2-fixation illustrates their indispensable significance to sustain earth's ecosystems. Further, they play a still underestimated role in eliminating contaminants from various environments. In addition to ecological benefit, many microalgal species exhibit high nutritional value and, at the same time, generate valued bio-products: Pigments, lipids, bioactive compounds, certain polysaccharides, bio-hydrogen and even biopolyesters with plastic-like properties have the potential for successful market penetration. Three substantial pigment groups, namely chlorophylls, carotenoids, and phycobilins, are essential for light harvesting and CO2 fixation. Those pigments will most likely undergo quick commercial success in “functional food”, cosmetics, aquaculture, pharmaceuticals, or food technology. Due to often high contents of polyunsaturated fatty acids essential for human metabolism, microalgal oils can be commercialized as health food and in the pharmaceutical and therapeutic field, creating much higher value than by converting them to biofuel. Finally, algal biomass remaining as residue after product recovery can be used as forage, biogas feedstock or biofertilizer. This utilization is needed for balancing the material- and energy cycles of the entire process. Thus, technology platforms following the principles of bio-refineries shall be established to enable the design of sustainable and economically feasible production of marketable microalgal products.

Microalgae as versatile cellular factories for valued products

Research has proved a relationship between functional components of food, health and well-being. Thus, functional components of food can be effectively applied in the treatment and prevention of diseases. They act simultaneously at different or identical target sites with the potential to impart physiological benefits and promotion of wellbeing including reducing the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, inflammation, type II diabetes, and other chronic degenerative diseases, lowering of blood cholesterol, neutralization of reactive oxygen species and charged radicals, anticarcinogenic effect, low-glycaemic response, etc. Previously, it was thought that functional ingredients such as non-starchy carbohydrates including soluble and insoluble dietary fibres, fucoidan; antioxidants including polyphenols, carotenoids, tocopherols, tocotrienols, phytosterols, isoflavones, organosulphur compounds; plant sterols and soy phytoestrogens occur only in plant foods (whole grains, fruits, and vegetables) as phytochemicals. However, probiotics, prebiotics, conjugated linolenic acid, long-chain omega-3, −6 and −9-polyunsaturated fatty acids, and bioactive peptides have proved that functional components are equally available in animal products such as milk, fermented milk products and cold-water fish. The way a food is processed affects its functional components. Many processing techniques have been found to lower the concentration of functional components in food. Conversely, other techniques were found to increase them. Hence, in a time when the role of a healthy diet in preventing non-communicable diseases is well accepted, the borderline between food and medicine is becoming very thin.

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Functional components and medicinal properties of food: a review

Background Germination has been widely employed to produce germinated edible seeds and sprouts for consumption in our daily life. Through simple germination procedures, many edible seeds can be germinated in a short time with improved nutritional and medicinal values. Understanding the main bioactive compounds and bioactivities of germinated edible seeds and sprouts can be helpful for their better utilization as functional foods. Scope and approach This review mainly summarizes recent studies about the bioactive compounds and bioactivities of germinated edible seeds and sprouts, and the potential molecular mechanisms of accumulating bioactive compounds in germination are discussed. Key findings and conclusions Germination can accumulate different bioactive compounds, such as vitamins, γ-aminobutyric acid and polyphenols, and this can be dependent on de novo synthesis and transformation. In addition, germinated edible seeds and sprouts possess many bioactivities, such as their antioxidant capacity, which is significantly increased after germination. Therefore, germination can be a green food engineering method to accumulate natural bioactive compounds, and those germinated edible seeds and sprouts rich in natural bioactive compounds can be consumed as functional foods to prevent chronic diseases.

Bioactive compounds and bioactivities of germinated edible seeds and sprouts: An updated review

Nowadays, the agro-food industry generates high amounts of byproducts that may possess added value compounds with high functionality and/or bioactivity. Additionally, consumers' demand for healthier foodstuffs has increased over the last years, and thus the food industry has strived to answer this challenge. Byproducts are generally secondary products derived from primary agro-food production processes and represent an interesting and cheaper source of potentially functional ingredients, such as peptides, carotenoids, and phenolic compounds, thus promoting a circular economy concept. The existing body of work has shown that byproducts and their extracts may be successfully incorporated into foodstuffs, for instance, phenolic compounds from eggplant can be potentially used as a mulfitunctional food additive with antimicrobial, antioxidant, and food colorant properties. As such, the aim of this review is to provide insights into byproducts and their potential as new sources of foodstuffs additives.

Agro-Food Byproducts as a New Source of Natural Food Additives

Beans, the variants of Phaseolus vulagris, are nutritionally and economically important food crop in each part of the world. Besides providing nutrients such as multifaceted carbohydrates, elevated proteins, dietary fiber, minerals, and vitamins, these also contain rich variety of polyphenolic compounds with prospective health benefits. This review mainly focuses the important nutritional aspects of beans as well as their contribution in decreasing the risks of chronically degenerative diseases.

Nutritional and Health Perspectives of Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.): An Overview

β-Glucan is an important functional ingredient having many health benefits. A lot of sources for this valuable ingredient have been identified. β-Glucan from these sources may be extracted to fulfill the ever growing demand for nutraceutical product. The industrialists may also exploit this situation by using this functional ingredient for developing new nutraceutical products. Such products may provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition. Numerous health benefits of β-Glucan are documented in scientific literature that may range from simple stomach problem to complex defense shield against cancer. This review focuses on potential sources of β-glucan, health implications, industrial applications and immunomodulatory effect of β-glucan.

https://www.longdom.org/open-access/perspective-of-glucan-as-functional-ingredient-for-food-industry-2155-9600.1000133.pdf

Perspective of β-Glucan as Functional Ingredient for Food Industry

Polysaccharides are present everywhere as important biomolecules having great potential as biomaterial with numerous applications in biotechnology and food industry sectors. These natural substances have characteristics of biodegradability, low immunogenicity, and low toxicity, thus they found their way into food and pharma products. In these industries, application of new technologies has emerged to improve the permeability, bioavailability, and retention time of polysaccharide material with limited interaction with drugs. The use of these polysaccharides as nanoparticles emerged as a result of research interventions to act as effective carriers in the food and pharmaceutical industry. During this decade, polysaccharide based nano polymers was applied to fabricate biomaterial for different biomedical applications such as drug carriers, cell encapsulation, and delivery of therapeutics to tumor tissues. New ideas are generated to use these nanopolymers in food products that can act as a carrier for drugs and nutrients. Some of these polysaccharides materials such as cellulose, chitosan, pectin, beta-glucan, and dextran can be modified into nanomaterials through chemical, mechanical or biochemical treatment to enhance their bioactive properties. These polysaccharide nanofibers, can be incorporated into food products such as muffins, meatballs, ice-cream further improving their nutritional quality while providing health benefits. This review, discusses the development of polysaccharide nanoparticles from various sources and its applications in food and pharma products in relation to health implications. 

Polysaccharide Based Nano Materials: Health Implications

Ultrasonic-assisted extraction technique by means of response surface methodology was used to study optimized conditions for extraction of insoluble dietary fiber (IDF) from wheat bran varieties, namely Zincol-2016 (ZL), Borlaug-2016 (BG), NARC (NC), and Pakistan-2013 (PN). Optimized parameters for time, temperature, and amplitude ranged from 10 to 11 min for 30–40°C, and 64%–65% for all varieties with extracted IDF (39%–41%). FTIR spectra confirmed the presence of IDF in extracted material. DSC showed endothermic behavior near 100°C during the melting process. TGA showed stability at 99°C and complete degradation at 372°C. Chemical characterization of IDF extract showed a reduction in protein and fat, thus improving purity and IDF content. Tested technique also improved functional properties like cation exchange capacity (meq/kg) 16.30–17.66, emulsifying capacity (%) 32.1–32.98, and swelling capacity (ml/g) 4.43–5.98 to a high level. Briefly, under-tested extraction parameters, the IDF has improved chemical and functional characteristics. Practical applications The study concludes that ultrasonic extraction, under-explored moderate, and optimized conditions will prove an efficient extraction technique yielding considerable quantity and quality of IDF from wheat bran. The above results show the possibility for the application of all tested samples of IDFs in the food industry, especially to expand the thermal stability of food for various purposes. The ultrasonically extracted IDFs have better structural integrity and functional characteristics which play an important part in preparation and quality maintenance of food products, especially cereal food products. 

Shaukat Bashir

Papers

Nutritional and Health Perspectives of Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.): An Overview

Perspective of β-Glucan as Functional Ingredient for Food Industry

Polysaccharide Based Nano Materials: Health Implications

Optimization of ultrasonic assisted extraction of insoluble dietary fiber from wheat bran and its characterization