Showing papers in "Agro Food Industry Hi-tech in 2007"

Food metabolomics: META-PHOR. A new European research initiative

Abstract: There is an ever-growing demand for improved food-stuffs which better meet the needs of both industry and the consumer. With increasing emphasis being placed on health and safety-related aspects of our food, there is also a strong desire to develop new tools to monitor and improve the quality of what we eat A new technology, metabolomics, has the potential to become one such toot of major value in this field. Although still in its infancy, metabolomics-based strategies are already being designed for a diversity of applications in, for example, food processing and quality control, plant breeding for improved crop varieties and in the development of novel foodstuffs. The importance of this technology has also recently been recognized by the EU Research division which now funds a multi-national metabolomics initiative focused on plant applications.

Strategies for modifying foods to increase satiety, and reduce subsequent intakes

Abstract: The consumption of foodstuffs that induce high satiety, and lead to decreased subsequent food intakes, may be one strategy to help prevent or alleviate overweight and obesity. Satiety and energy intakes are influenced by a number of food physicochemical factors. Therefore, modifying foods to increase satiety is multifaceted and may involve manipulating the composition of foods, incorporating novel food ingredients or modifying the physical structure of foods. Novel fat emulsions, dietary fibre and fibre-related structure of foods have been shown to increase satiety and reduce energy intakes. Furthermore, studies have demonstrated that increasing the volume of food, by incorporating the non-nutrients (water and gas), enhances satiety and provides another strategy to help reduce subsequent intakes.

Diversity of the human gastrointestinal microbiota

Abstract: Our gastro-intestinal tract is populated by reportedly the densest microbial ecosystem that is essential for the digestion of foods and affects health

The importance of accurate and understandable food allergen labelling for food-allergic consumers

Abstract: ATP, the currency of cellular energy metabolism, can be produced during aerobic and an-aerobic oxidation of metabolic substrates. The aerobic oxidation yields CO2 + H2O as metabolic end products while ATP is produced by oxidative phosphorylation in the mitochondria. Carbohydrate, protein and fat provide a similar amount of 12-13 ATP/MJ ME when the ME is based on their value as body constituent. The energetic efficiency is 42-43 percent. In the anaerobic mode, for glucose only, ATP is produced by substrate level phosphorylation during cytoplasmic glycolysis, the normal first step in the aerobic oxidation of glucose. However, under an-aerobic conditions cytoplasmic glycolysis produces lactate which requires one of two ways of aerobic clearance to avoid lactic acidosis. The 'ketogenic clearance' re-channels the lactate in aerobic oxidation of glucose, but elsewhere in the body. This ketogenic clearance can contribute to the normal ATP-requirement of the whole body, but causes a move to carbohydrate as energy substrate. If necessary these carbohydrates can be produced from body protein, with a decrease in the energetic efficiency to 29 percent. The "glucogenic clearance" re-cycles the lactate to glucose. This glucogenic pathway (Cori cycle) further lowers the energetic efficiency of ATP-production for peripheral use to 14.1 percent. The Cori cycle requires extra ATP and causes a move to fat as energy substrate. This desk study shows that the energetic efficiency of ATP-production for peripheral use will range between 14-43 percent depending on the need and availability of glucose. It is suggested that these results could be used to develop specific nutritional, physiological and environmental strategies to benefit physical fitness and weight management in daily practice.

Quality control of Chinese herbal tonic wine by high performance liquid chromatography fingerprint

Abstract: Herbal tonic wines are alcoholic drinks in which medicinal herbs are soaked and extracted. These drinks are considered having various health functions. However, the quality of herbal products is largely influenced by the origin and harvest season of the herbs. Due to its high commercial value, counterfeit often happens. We used high performance liquid chromatography to establish a fingerprint chromatogram of a Chinese herbal tonic wine for its quality control. Samples of 10 different production batches were analyzed to calculate the relative retention time a and the relative peak area A(r) Eight peaks with common characteristics were identified and used to evaluate the existence of main representative components. The results show that the method was convenient and applicable for the quality control of Chinese herbal tonic wine, in particular to monitor quality consistency and to detect counterfeit products.

Carbohydrate ingestion during recovery from prolonged exercise

Abstract: The intensive physical training programmes followed by many athletes often involve repeated bouts of physical exertion with relatively limited time available for recovery between exercise sessions. These individuals therefore strive to maximise their rate of recovery following exercise and the ingestion of carbohydrate is now widely recognised as an appropriate nutritional strategy to achieve this aim. This review considers several key issues relating to carbohydrate ingestion during recovery from prolonged exercise, with specific emphasis on the most effective methods of replenishing depleted fuel sources and ultimately restoring the capacity for physical exercise.