The drastic rise in global warming and the fossil fuel consumption have resulted in destruction of the ecological balance, reduction of the environmental quality, and demotion of the sustainable development. The utilization of biofuels have been paid much attention to by researchers and policy makers due to its benefits and indisputable contributions to protect the living environment. Free fatty acid-rich rice bran oil which is unsuitable for food purposes could be a good candidate for biofuel production. Accordingly, rice bran oil-based biofuels (straight oil and its biodiesel) as promising alternative fuels to petrodiesel were reviewed in this article from the sources, components, and physicochemical perspectives. In addition, biodiesel production from rice bran oil using various methods and catalysts was thoroughly detailed. The oxidative stability of rice bran biodiesel as a function of the storage time was also discussed. The application of rice bran oil-based biofuels to diesel engines was completely analyzed and critically discussed based on engine performance, combustion, and emissions characteristics. The effects of using rice bran oil-based biofuels on the lubricating oil degradation, deposit formation, wear, and sound intensity of diesel engines were explained in detail. Finally, the economic aspects of using rice bran oil and its biodiesel as fuels were also assessed. As a conclusion, the blend containing 20% rice bran oil biodiesel and 80% petrodiesel fuel, both in volume, could be the most effective composition considering the techno-economic aspects of diesel engines; meanwhile the remaining blends appeared to be improper for the existing diesel engines.

Rice bran oil-based biodiesel as a promising renewable fuel alternative to petrodiesel: a review.

The addition of inulin and Lactobacillus casei 01 in sheep milk ice cream.

Background Oils and fats have many functions in food product preparation. Quality, stability and nutritional features of oils are the most important factors in food technology. There is no pure oil with good functional and nutritional properties and appropriate oxidative stability. Therefore, vegetable oils are modified using different methods to enhance their commercial applications and to improve their nutritional quality. Modification methods are hydrogenation, interesterification, fractionation and blending. Scope and approach Trans isomers of fatty acids formed during hydrogenation are known to have negative effects on health. Interesterification needs special equipment and is more expensive. Fractionation is also applicable only for some fats/oils. Blending should not have any adverse effects on health attributes. Blending vegetable fats/oils with different compositions and properties is one of the simplest methods to create new specific products with desired textural, oxidative and nutritional properties which lead to improved industrial applications. Key findings and conclusions This paper is a brief review of recent publications on the positive advantages of blending vegetable oils with different properties to obtain new oil mixtures. There are many researches on oil blending, and results show that oil blending is widely used in food industry to produce blended oils with improved stability and nutritional characteristics at an affordable price. In the future, there are also many economical and health reasons for the production of new oil blends using new and conventional oil sources to be introduced to the market.

Vegetable oil blending: A review of physicochemical, nutritional and health effects

Network meta‐analysis (NMA) compares several interventions that are linked in a network of comparative studies and estimates the relative treatment effects between all treatments, using both direct and indirect evidence. NMA is increasingly used for decision making in health care, however, a user‐friendly system to evaluate the confidence that can be placed in the results of NMA is currently lacking. This paper is a tutorial describing the Confidence In Network Meta‐Analysis (CINeMA) web application, which is based on the framework developed by Salanti et al (2014, PLOS One, 9, e99682) and refined by Nikolakopoulou et al (2019, bioRxiv). Six domains that affect the level of confidence in the NMA results are considered: (a) within‐study bias, (b) reporting bias, (c) indirectness, (d) imprecision, (e) heterogeneity, and (f) incoherence. CINeMA is freely available and open‐source and no login is required. In the configuration step users upload their data, produce network plots and define the analysis and effect measure. The dataset should include assessments of study‐level risk of bias and judgments on indirectness. CINeMA calls the netmeta routine in R to estimate relative effects and heterogeneity. Users are then guided through a systematic evaluation of the six domains. In this way reviewers assess the level of concerns for each relative treatment effect from NMA as giving rise to “no concerns,” “some concerns,” or “major concerns” in each of the six domains, which are graphically summarized on the report page for all effect estimates. Finally, judgments across the domains are summarized into a single confidence rating (“high,” “moderate,” “low,” or “very low”). In conclusion, the user‐friendly web‐based CINeMA platform provides a transparent framework to evaluate evidence from systematic reviews with multiple interventions.

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CINeMA: Software for semiautomated assessment of the confidence in the results of network meta-analysis

BACKGROUND\nThe U.S. diet is high in salt, with the majority coming from processed foods. Reducing dietary salt is a potentially important target for the improvement of public health.\n\n\nMETHODS\nWe used the Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) Policy Model to quantify the benefits of potentially achievable, population-wide reductions in dietary salt of up to 3 g per day (1200 mg of sodium per day). We estimated the rates and costs of cardiovascular disease in subgroups defined by age, sex, and race; compared the effects of salt reduction with those of other interventions intended to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease; and determined the cost-effectiveness of salt reduction as compared with the treatment of hypertension with medications.\n\n\nRESULTS\nReducing dietary salt by 3 g per day is projected to reduce the annual number of new cases of CHD by 60,000 to 120,000, stroke by 32,000 to 66,000, and myocardial infarction by 54,000 to 99,000 and to reduce the annual number of deaths from any cause by 44,000 to 92,000. All segments of the population would benefit, with blacks benefiting proportionately more, women benefiting particularly from stroke reduction, older adults from reductions in CHD events, and younger adults from lower mortality rates. The cardiovascular benefits of reduced salt intake are on par with the benefits of population-wide reductions in tobacco use, obesity, and cholesterol levels. A regulatory intervention designed to achieve a reduction in salt intake of 3 g per day would save 194,000 to 392,000 quality-adjusted life-years and $10 billion to $24 billion in health care costs annually. Such an intervention would be cost-saving even if only a modest reduction of 1 g per day were achieved gradually between 2010 and 2019 and would be more cost-effective than using medications to lower blood pressure in all persons with hypertension.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nModest reductions in dietary salt could substantially reduce cardiovascular events and medical costs and should be a public health target.

Projected effect of dietary salt reductions on futurecardiovascular disease

Inulin as a heterogeneous blend of fructose polymers is diversely found in nature primarily as storage carbohydrates in plants. Besides, inulin is believed to induce certain techno-functional and associated properties in food systems. Inulin owing to its foam forming ability has been successfully used as fat replacer in quite a wide range of products as dairy and baked products. Furthermore, it is known to impart certain nutritional and therapeutic benefits that extend apart to improve health and reduce the risk of many lifestyle related diseases. Additionally, as a functional ingredient, Inulin has been adopted in various efficacy studies involving animal and human studies to function as a prebiotic, in promoting good digestive health, influencing lipid metabolism and has some beneficial roles in ensuring optimum levels of glucose and insulin. This review article is an attempt to present a comprehensive overview on both techno-functional and therapeutic potential of inulin.

Functional and therapeutic potential of inulin: A comprehensive review

Agro-industry yields ample quantity of several byproducts with considerable importance. These byproducts are mostly under-utilized, often used as animal feed or rejected as waste; hence their true potential is not harnessed. The use of such superfluous resources is of not only economic significance but also a form of commercial recycling. Rice bran is an important byproduct of rice milling industry with a global potential of 29.3 million tons annually. It is gaining great attention of the researchers due to its nutrient-rich composition, easy availability, low cost, high antioxidant potential, and promising effects against several metabolic ailments. Bioactive components of rice bran, mainly γ-oryzanol, have been reported to possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hypocholesterolemic, anti-diabetic, and anti-cancer activities. Rice bran oil contains appreciable quantities of bioactive components and has attained the status of "Heart oil" due to its cardiac-friendly chemical profile. Nutraceutics have successfully been extracted from rice bran using several extraction techniques such as solvent extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, microwave-, and ultrasonic-assisted extraction. Current paper is an attempt to highlight bioactive moieties of rice bran along with their extraction technologies and health benefits.

Rice bran nutraceutics: A comprehensive review.

Summary

Instant study was an attempt to elucidate the suitability of wheat bran for extrusion cooking and to check the effect of different extrusion parameters on the dietary fibre profile as well as on water solubility index. Response surface methodology was used to optimise the extrusion parameters. From results, it was concluded that extrusion cooking had a positive effect on total and soluble dietary fibre. Whilst the insoluble dietary fibre decreased appreciably with the varying processing parameters, the decrease in insoluble fibre and increase in soluble fibre were probably due to disruption of covalent and noncovalent bonds in the carbohydrate and protein moieties leading to smaller and more soluble molecular fragments. Additionally, water solubility index was greatly enhanced by varying extrusion temperature and screw speed. Conclusively, the findings suggest the usefulness of extrusion cooking to beneficially modify the wheat bran for value addition.

Effects of extrusion cooking on the dietary fibre content and Water Solubility Index of wheat bran extrudates

Background Increased consumption of processed foods especially baked products containing high amounts of sodium directly relates to the higher prevalence of hypertension and other related diseases. So, the urge to salt reduction in baked products while conserving the quality, taste and functional attributes of products has received noteworthy consideration. Scope and approach Main focus of this review is to highlight different strategies which are being used for salt reduction, their possible constraints and resulting impact on the physico-chemical and sensory attributes of baked products. Key findings and conclusion Gradual reduction in salt level is the simplest approach but the possible constraint of this strategy is that only limited amounts of salt can be reduced over a longer time span. Salt reduction in short time period can be achieved by using suitable salt replacers and taste enhancers with an aim to maintain the product's physicochemical and sensory characteristics. At industrial level the most widely used salt replacer is potassium chloride (KCl). A relatively new technique for salt reduction is to create contrasting salt levels throughout the product and use of larger size encapsulates which increases the saltiness perception at lower concentrations. Government organizations and industries should initiate an integrated strategy by adopting suitable salt reduction technique along with public awareness and regulations in order to attenuate the daily salt intake nationwide.

Salt reduction in baked products: Strategies and constraints

Current study was performed to evaluate the effect of basil seed gum on physicochemical, sensorial, and rheological parameters of bread. Purposely, gum was extracted from basil seeds followed by its addition in bread in different proportions (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5%). With basil seed gum addition, a significant impact on physical properties such as weight loss of bread (went down from 20.43 to 9.97g), volume (increased from 797.3 to 996.6 cm3), specific volume (increased from 3.47 to 4.15 cm3 g−1) and width/height ratio of central slice (increased from 0.67 to 0.94) was observed. Scanning electron micrographs depicted pore size decrease with the addition of basil seed gum and minimum pore size was observed for bread containing 2% gum. Sensory evaluation results favored bread with 2% basil seed gum. Conclusively, basil seed gum can effectively be used to improve the nutritional, physicochemical and sensory profile of bread.

Practical Implications
This article involves the extraction of basil seed gum followed by the evaluation of properties imparted by it (basil seed gum) in the bread. The use of additives in baking industry is a common practice and has numerous beneficial effects on storage stability, rheological characteristics as well as shelf life of bread. Hydrocolloids from the pericarp of basil seeds have excellent hydrophilic and rheological properties. The bread samples containing gum can exhibit smooth surface with less cavities. Moreover, heat stable or weak thermo-irreversible nature of basil seed gum makes it suitable for food products that need processing at higher temperatures. Scanning electron micrographs of bread samples also represent that the addition of basil seed gum can significantly improve the microstructure and porosity of bread.

Summer Rashid

Papers

Functional and therapeutic potential of inulin: A comprehensive review

Rice bran nutraceutics: A comprehensive review.

Effects of extrusion cooking on the dietary fibre content and Water Solubility Index of wheat bran extrudates

Salt reduction in baked products: Strategies and constraints

Effect of Basil Seed Gum on Physico‐Chemical and Rheological Properties of Bread