Human consumption of plant foods in the British Neolithic:

2000 ◽  
pp. 123-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P Richards
1987 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT A. BURNS

Plants contain a wide variety of protein protease inhibitors. However, most is known about the serine protease (trypsin and chymotrypsin) inhibitors found in legumes, particularly soybeans. These inhibitors in unheated legume protein (a) impair the protein's nutritional quality, (b) induce pancreatic hyper-trophy in some but not all experimental animals, (c) enhance the action of chemical pancreatic carcinogens in Wistar rats but not hamsters or mice, (d) are reported to be carcinogenic to the pancreas of Wistar rats and (e) inhibit certain experimental tumors in rats, mice and hamsters. The physiological significance of the low residual protease inhibitor levels in commercially processed plant proteins and human foods prepared from such proteins remains to be resolved. Plant proteins prepared for human consumption, however, contain low levels of pro-tease inhibitor activity which are of no nutritional concern in animals or humans.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia Shen ◽  
Chaoqiang Jiang ◽  
Yifeng Yan ◽  
Chaolong Zu

Selenium (Se) accumulation in plant foods may be providing dietary Se to minimize the health problems related to Se deficiency. In this study, rice plants were cultivated in different naturally seleniferous soils (0.5–1.5 mg Se kg−1). Se concentration in rice plant tissues was analysed, and the distribution and translocation of Se in rice were also studied. The effect of exogenous Se on yield and Se concentration in rice grain was also investigated by spraying Na2SeO3 (15 mg L−1, 15 g ha−1). Results show that Se concentration in root, straw and grain of rice was increased with increased concentrations of Se in seleniferous soils. The root accumulated higher Se than straw and grain under the same naturally seleniferous soil. Spraying Se significantly increased Se concentration in grain, hull, brown rice and polished rice compared with spraying water. Se concentration in the grain fractions was in the following order: Bran > brown rice > whole grain > polished rice > hull. About 13.7% Se in wholegrain was discarded by milling process if about 6.9% of it was polished as bran. Se-enriched rice could be produced in naturally seleniferous soils with Se concentration from 0.5 to 1.0 mg kg−1, and this polished rice would provide enough Se (60–80 μg day−1) to satisfy the human requirement. Therefore, naturally seleniferous soils may be an effective way to produce Se-enriched rice without spraying Se fertilizer, which will be more economically feasible and environmentally friendly for without exogenous Se added to the soils or plants. However, the polished rice and brown rice, produced by spraying Na2SeO3 (15 g ha−1) or grown in soil with total Se upto 1.5 mg kg−1 was not suitable for daily human consumption, unless diluted with Se-deficient rice to meet the standard (≤0.3 mg Se kg−1). This study imparted a better understanding of the utilization of seleniferous soils and Se-enriched rice for human health and food safety.


2014 ◽  
Vol 84 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 25-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangwen Tang

Humans need vitamin A and obtain essential vitamin A by conversion of plant foods rich in provitamin A and/or absorption of preformed vitamin A from foods of animal origin. The determination of the vitamin A value of plant foods rich in provitamin A is important but has challenges. The aim of this paper is to review the progress over last 80 years following the discovery on the conversion of β-carotene to vitamin A and the various techniques including stable isotope technologies that have been developed to determine vitamin A values of plant provitamin A (mainly β-carotene). These include applications from using radioactive β-carotene and vitamin A, depletion-repletion with vitamin A and β-carotene, and measuring postprandial chylomicron fractions after feeding a β-carotene rich diet, to using stable isotopes as tracers to follow the absorption and conversion of plant food provitamin A carotenoids (mainly β-carotene) in humans. These approaches have greatly promoted our understanding of the absorption and conversion of β-carotene to vitamin A. Stable isotope labeled plant foods are useful for determining the overall bioavailability of provitamin A carotenoids from specific foods. Locally obtained plant foods can provide vitamin A and prevent deficiency of vitamin A, a remaining worldwide concern.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-25
Author(s):  
Nur Amalina binti Mustafa ◽  
Muhammad Ashraf bin Redzuan ◽  
Muhamad Hazim bin Zuraimi ◽  
Muhamad Shuhaimi bin Shuib ◽  
Shahnaz Majeed ◽  
...  

Objective: Owing to the habit of consuming ready food among the citizens of Malaysia a study was conducted to evaluate 20 samples of canned soya milk for the presence of possible microbial content. The samples were collected randomly from shopping malls, restaurants and kiosk in Ipoh Malaysia. Methods: All samples collected across Ipoh, were subjected to test for presence bacteria in nutrient agar, blood agar and macConkey media. The possible microbial load was swapped from surface and soya milk content with a sterile cotton and streaked on nutrient agar, blood agar and macConkey culture media. The streaked petri plates were incubated for 48 hours at 37oC. Results: The study revealed negative microbial growth in all except two samples from the surface and soya milk content collected from a restaurant in nutrient agar and blood agar medium. The presence of microbes was conformed as gram positive staphylococcus sp. through gram staining. The positive growth may be imputed to poor storage condition at the restaurant. Conclusion: It can be computed from the study that the majority of the samples were free from bacterial growth, suggesting strong in house quality control mechanism at the processing unit and exquisite storage conditions in malls and kiosk suggesting that soya milk available in malls and kiosk are fit for human consumption.


2020 ◽  
Vol 142 ◽  
pp. 105-118
Author(s):  
CC Sauvé ◽  
A Hernández-Ortiz ◽  
E Jenkins ◽  
F Mavrot ◽  
A Schneider ◽  
...  

The population of grey seals Halichoerus grypus in Canadian waters is currently used as a commercial source of meat for human consumption. As with domestic livestock, it is important to understand the occurrence in these seals of infectious agents that may be of public health significance and thus ensure appropriate measures are in place to avoid zoonotic transmission. This study examined the prevalence of antibodies against Brucella spp., Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, 6 serovars of Leptospira interrogans, and Toxoplasma gondii in 59 grey seals and determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) the presence of these potentially zoonotic agents in specific organs and tissues of seropositive animals. The presence of encysted Trichinella spp. larvae was also investigated by digestion of tongue, diaphragm and other muscle samples, but none were detected. Seroprevalence against Brucella spp. and E. rhusiopathiae was low (5 and 3%, respectively). All 59 seals tested had antibodies against L. interrogans, but no carrier of this bacterium was detected by PCR. Seroprevalence against T. gondii was 53%, and DNA of this protozoan was detected by PCR in 11/30 (37%) seropositive animals. Standard sanitary measures mandatory for commercialization of meat products for human consumption should greatly reduce the potential for exposure to these infectious agents. However, special consideration should be given to freezing seal meat for at least 3 d to ensure destruction of tissue cysts of T. gondii.


2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-65
Author(s):  
Keith Clavin

The last several decades have witnessed a drastic increase in ecological writing, but also a substantial lack in regards to the discussion of human population control. This article argues that the deficiency has been reproduced within several recent examples of eco-cinema, Snowpiercer and Mad Max: Fury Road. Despite strong conservationist themes and narratives encouraging social revolution, the films encounter similar theoretical difficulties, and enact similar resulting absences, within their representational fields. As a consequence, the environmental topics are filtered through an anthropocentric lens that generates a set of paradoxes regarding human consumption, sacrifice and the visualisation of future sustainable states.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2A) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Muniz De Almeida Albuquerque

The water purification procedure aims to obtain a product appropriate for human consumption, minimizing the presence of contaminants and toxic substances present in the water. Among these contaminants, some radionuclides of natural origin, such as uranium, thorium and their descendants, have been identified. Studies have shown that the stages of purification are quite effective in removing the radionuclides contained in water. The removal is due to co-precipitation of the radionuclides with the suspended materials and the precipitated material is accumulated and characterized as a Technologically Concentrated Natural Occurrence Radioactive Material (TENORM) by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). This residue can present significant levels of radioactivity and, when discarded in the environment without any treatment, can generate a problem of environmental impact and a risk to the health of the population. In this way, some gamma emitters of the series of U, Th and the K-40 were determined in the residues generated at the Potable Water Treatment Plants – PWTPs in six municipalities of Pernambuco. The results obtain corroborate the classification of the residues generated in the PWTPs as concentrators of the radioactive components contained in the water supplied to the system and reinforce the need for the release to the environment, which is the usual way of disposal of this waste, to be carried out only after considering the radiological protection standards established.


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