Comparison of the Content of Selected Bioactive Components and Antiradical Properties in Yoghurts Enriched with Chia Seeds (Salvia hispanica L.) and Chia Seeds Soaked in Apple Juice

Due to the fact that consumers are looking for new, health-promoting products, there is a growing interest in various ingredients with a high biological activity that could enrich conventional foods. As is known, chia seeds are a rich source of various health-promoting compounds. The objective of this study was to determine the content of selected biologically active compounds and their antioxidant properties by means of DPPH●, ABTS+●, and the ability to chelate Fe (II) ions in chia seeds and yoghurts with the addition of these seeds and seeds soaked in apple juice. It was found that chia seeds are a rich source of bioactive ingredients with beneficial effects on human health—especially polyphenols. All the extracts showed antioxidant properties against the radicals used. The addition of seeds to yoghurt contributed to the presence of polyphenols, while soaking in apple juice resulted in a higher content of polyphenols in yoghurts. The enriched yoghurt extracts showed antioxidant properties against DPPH radicals and the ability to chelate Fe (II) ions. The addition of seeds soaked in apple juice significantly influenced the antioxidant activity against ABTS radicals. The addition of seeds (plain and soaked) did not cause significant changes in the pH of the yoghurts.

THE PRACTICES OF ENTOMOPHAGY AROUND THE WORLD WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO NORTH-EAST INDIA: A PRIMITIVE PRACTICE THAT NEEDS TO BE SAFEGUARDED

The indigenous people of many regions of the world have always relied on edible insects for food and livelihood. This is because edible insects possess valuable nutritional components that are comparable to conventional foods. This practice is very old and has become a crucial part of the pristine culture of the natives all over the world. However, this unique culture is day by day fading in some parts of the world by the force of ‘westernization’, modern culture, and ‘disgust factor’. In North-East India where the status of entomophagy is impressive and widely prevalent, the same threats are being perceived. A very few edible insects have been analysed nutritionally. This article discusses the prevalence of entomophagy around the world in general and focuses on the states of North East India particularly Assam and Arunachal Pradesh's edible insects and their nutritional analyses. The results show that edible insects are the potentially good and smart choice in the case of nutrients and can also potentially suffice for other conventional food products whenever they are not available or readily accessible. These results in particular will also help the public acknowledge edible insects, spread awareness, and thereby preserve this special knowledge of the locals. Therefore, there is an urgent need to analyse the rest of the edible insects of North East India recorded in literature, which will strengthen our knowledge of edible insects and sustain the culture to continuity.

Ora-Pro-Nóbis: Ampliando os Conhecimentos de sua Utilização na Alimentação a Partir da Educação Alimentar e Nutricional (EAN)

Resumo Alcançar a saudabilidade por meio da mudança dos hábitos alimentares ocupa uma posição de destaque atualmente. Pesquisadores do Mundo todo buscam estudar alimentos alternativos para a manutenção da saúde e até para o tratamento de doenças. Entre os alimentos alternativos surge o Ora-Pro-Nóbis (Pereskia Aculeata Mill.), uma planta alimentícia classificada como hortaliça não convencional, que se destaca por possuir teor elevado de proteína, fibras, vitaminas e sais minerais, além de ser de baixo custo e de fácil cultivo. O presente estudo tem como objetivo apresentar os benefícios da utilização do Ora-Pro-Nóbis na dieta humana, e aprimorar a orientação sobre o seu uso junto aos profissionais da área de nutrição, contribuindo, assim, para a atuação do nutricionista como educador, por meio da prática da “Transposição Didática”. Para o desenvolvimento deste artigo foi realizada uma busca bibliográfica nas bases de dados: Lilacs, SciELO, Medline, Google Acadêmico e Catálogo de Teses e Dissertações da Capes. Esse material poderá ser utilizado como base para o profissional da área de nutrição fazer uma análise comparativa da composição nutricional da hortaliça com outros alimentos convencionais consumidos pela população em geral. Dessa maneira, o educador terá informações que irão contribuir com o “saber ensinar” e a possível ampliação do “saber aprendido” dos educandos, buscando, assim, uma mudança no comportamento alimentar em prol da saúde. Palavras-chave: Alimentos Alternativos. Plantas Alimentícias. Transposição Didática. AbstractAchieving healthiness through changing eating habits occupies a prominent position today. Researchers from all over the world search for alternative foods for the health maintenance and even for the treatment of diseases. Among the alternative foods, Ora-Pro-Nóbis (Pereskia Aculeata Mill.), a food plant classified as non-conventional vegetable, stands out for its high content of protein, fibers, vitamins and mineral salts, besides being of low cost and easy cultivation. This study aims to present the benefits of using Ora-Pro-Nóbis in the human diet, and improve orientation of its use with professionals in the nutrition area, thus contributing to the nutritionist's performance as an educator through the practice of "Didactic Transposition". For the development of this article, a bibliographic search was carried out in Lilacs, SciELO, Medline, Google Academic and Capes Thesis and Dissertation Catalogues. This material can be used as a basis for the nutrition professional to make a comparative analysis of the vegetables’ nutritional composition with other conventional foods consumed by the general population. Thus, the educator will have information that will contribute to the "knowledge to teach" and the possible expansion of the students’ "learned knowledge", thus seeking a change in food behavior in favor of health. Keywords: Alternative Foods. Food Plants. Didatic Transposition.

What motivates consumers to buy organic foods? Results of an empirical study in the United States

Consumers perceive organic foods as more nutritious, natural, and environmentally friendly than non-organic or conventional foods. Since organic foods developed, studies on consumer behavior and organic foods have contributed significantly to its development. The presesent study aims to identify the factors affecting consumer buying behaviour toward organic foods in the United States. Survey data are collected from 770 consumers in the Midwest, United States. ANOVA, multiple linear regression, factor analysis, independent t-tests, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis are used to analyze the collected primary data. This research confirms health consciousness, consumer knowledge, perceived or subjective norms, and perception of price influence consumers’ attitudes toward buying organic foods. Availability is another factor that affected the purchase intentions of consumers. Age, education, and income are demographic factors that also impact consumers’ buying behavior. The findings help marketers of organic foods design strategies to succeed in the US’s fast-growing organic foods market.

Packaged Foods Labeled as Organic Have a More Healthful Profile Than Their Conventional Counterparts, According to Analysis of Products Sold in the U.S. in 2019–2020

The organic food market’s recent rapid global growth reflects the public’s interest in buying certified organic foods, including packaged products. Our analysis shows that packaged foods containing fewer ingredients associated with negative public health outcomes are more likely to be labeled organic. Previous studies comparing organic and conventional foods focused primarily on nutrient composition. We expanded this research by additionally examining ingredient characteristics, including processing and functional use. Our dataset included nutrition and ingredient data for 8240 organic and 72,205 conventional food products sold in the U.S. from 2019 to 2020. Compared to conventional foods, organic foods in this dataset had lower total sugar, added sugar, saturated fat and sodium content. Using a mixed effects logistic regression, we found that likelihood of classification as organic increased as sodium content, added sugar content and the number of ultra-processed ingredients and cosmetic additives on the product label decreased. Products containing no trans-fat ingredients were more likely to be labeled organic. A product was more likely to be classified “organic” the more potassium it contained. These features of organic foods sold in the U.S. are significant because lower dietary ingestion of ultra-processed foods, added sugar, sodium and trans-fats is associated with improved public health outcomes.

Nutraceuticals: Transformation of Conventional Foods into Health Promoters/Disease Preventers and Safety Considerations

Nutraceuticals are essential food constituents that provide nutritional benefits as well as medicinal effects. The benefits of these foods are due to the presence of active compounds such as carotenoids, collagen hydrolysate, and dietary fibers. Nutraceuticals have been found to positively affect cardiovascular and immune system health and have a role in infection and cancer prevention. Nutraceuticals can be categorized into different classes based on their nature and mode of action. In this review, different classifications of nutraceuticals and their potential therapeutic activity, such as anti-cancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-lipid activity in disease will be reviewed. Moreover, the different mechanisms of action of these products, applications, and safety upon consumers including current trends and future prospect of nutraceuticals will be included.

Grãos Secos de Destilaria na Alimentação de Frangos de Corte

O uso de coprodutos agroindustriais na alimentação animal promove a diminuição dos custos de produção com insumos básicos como o milho e a soja, evitando os impactos causados pelo descarte desta matéria orgânica no ambiente, além de ser fonte nutricional de qualidade. Dessa forma, os grãos secos de destilaria com solúveis (DDGS) se tornam uma alternativa lucrativa em função de baixo custo, qualidade proteica e apelo sustentável, por ser oriundo da produção de biocombustíveis. Em contrapartida, em decorrência da variabilidade da composição nutricional deste ingrediente, sua adição em dietas avícolas deve ser realizada com cautela, minimizando perdas no desempenho das aves. Dessa forma se buscou avaliar por meio de um artigo de revisão de literatura a utilização de grãos secos de destilaria na dieta de frango de corte. É importante reiterar que os componentes nutricionais podem variar, sendo maior para coprodutos do que para os alimentos convencionais, podendo causar distúrbios nutricionais, se análises frequentes não forem realizadas e se as dietas não forem adequadamente balanceadas, de acordo com a qualidade nutricional do alimento. O DDGS possui grande potencial no uso da alimentação de frango de corte, em função da qualidade nutricional, podendo minimizar custos dentro dessa cadeia. Palavras-chave: Aves de Corte. Biocombustíveis. Coprodutos. DDGS. Milho Abstract The use of agro-industrial co-products in animal feed promotes the reduction of production costs with basic inputs such as corn and soybeans, avoids the impacts caused by the disposal of this organic matter in the environment, besides being a nutritional source of quality. Thus, dry grains of soluble distillery (DDGS) become a profitable alternative due to the low cost, protein quality and sustainable appeal, because it comes from biofuel production. On the other hand, due to the variability of the nutritional composition of this ingredient, its addition in poultry diets should be performed with caution, minimizing losses in the poultries’ performance. Thus, it was sought to evaluate through a literature review article the use of dry distillery grains in the broilers’ diet. It is important to reiterate that nutritional components may vary, being higher for co-products than for conventional foods, and may cause nutritional disorders, if frequent analyses are not performed and if diets are not properly balanced, according to the food nutritional quality. DDGS has great potential in the use of chicken feeding, due to its nutritional quality, and can minimize costs within this chain. Keywords: Biofuels. Co-Products. DDGS. Corn.

Organik ve Geleneksel Yöntemle Üretilen İçme Sütlerindeki Bileşim Farklılıklarının FTIR Spektroskopisi ile Belirlenmesi

The organic food production has become one of the most attention receiving methods over the past two decades. Previous investigations on the differentiation of milk from conventional and organic production regarding its content ingredients have been done by chromatographic and titrimetric methods that are more time-consuming than Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. However, contradictory results are reported in the literature about quality differences between organic and conventional foods. The aim of our research was to evaluate FTIR spectroscopy as a rapid method for the detection of organic milk adulteration. Hundred and eighty-five (98 organic, 87 conventional) pasteurized whole fat (3% fatty) milk samples were supplied by different pasteurized milk markets in Columbus, Ohio, USA. The spectra of 185 milk samples at 25±1°C appeared quite homogeneous upon visual inspection. Infrared spectra were recorded between 4,000 and 700 cm-1 at a resolution of 4 cm-1 on the Agilent Cary 630 FTIR spectrometer with Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogies (SIMCA) to analyze the spectra. Results showed well-separated clusters allowing discrimination of conventional samples from organic milk according to fatty acid differentiation. FTIR spectrometer, when compared to other techniques, has the main advantage in allowing very rapid measurements and findings characterized by quick results and analyses in the dairy industry for economic adulteration of cow’s milk.

Alternative Food Networks: Perceptions in Short Food Supply Chains in Spain

Alternative spaces for the consumption of non-conventional foods as short commercialization chains have been increased worldwide, as well as the interest in understanding the dynamics developed in those initiatives from a social approach, has increased. This work aimed to analyze the Organizers, Producers and Consumers’ perceptions that participate in short food supply chains in ecological markets in the south of Spain. The Conventions Theory framework was used by applying a quantitative and qualitative methodology. A total of 159 questionnaires were applied (three to Organizers, 15 to Producers and 177 to Consumers). The questionnaire considered items related to social conventions for seven worlds (Domestic, Civic, Market, Industrial, Opinion and Inspired) and sociodemographic information. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used to analyze the information. Results show that coincidences and divergences are observed in the importance given to the worlds; the Civic, Inspired and Opinion worlds are perceived similarly by the three types of actors and are related to the interest in how these activities benefit the environment. Differences are attributed to the role played by each type of actor and to socioeconomic aspects. Results can materialize into different strategies to improve these initiatives and reach more consumers.