Plant Foods for Human Nutrition

There is growing interest in legumes such as lentil as healthy ingredients in gluten-free products. In that respect, foods based on lentils, like alimentary pasta, have been produced and successfully commercialized in recent years. Lentils are also known for inducing severe allergic reactions; however, it is currently unknown if novel alimentary pasta based on lentil retains the same allergenic potential as lentil seeds. In this study, the allergenic content of alimentary lentil pasta compared with lentil seeds was analyzed by immunoassays using sera from patients with allergic sensitization to lentil or with specific antibodies that recognize major lentil allergens. The effect of boiling processing was also analyzed. Results showed that alimentary lentil pasta has a significant allergenic content close to the general allergenic content observed for lentil seeds. Both alimentary lentil pasta and lentil seeds were similarly affected by boiling, with an important transfer of allergens from the food to the boiling water. This study shows that alimentary pasta made of lentils has a significant allergenic potential and highlights the necessity to analyze the allergenic content of new foods and novel ingredients introduced in traditional food products.

High-fat/high-fructose diets promote early metabolic disorders in weight and lipid and glucose metabolism. Bioactive compounds such as polyphenols and fiber present in plant-based food prevent the development of metabolic disorders. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of Phaseolus vulgaris L. Flor de Mayo Eugenia (FME) bean leaves on early metabolic alterations in male Wistar rats fed a high-fat/high-fructose diet. After proximate and chemical analysis of FME bean leaves, thirty-six male Wistar rats (ethical approval 06FCN2019 and 77FCN2019) were randomly assigned to one of four groups: 1) standard diet (S) fed with Rodent Laboratory Chow 5001®; 2) standard diet + 10% dry FME bean leaves (SBL); 3) high-fat (lard) and high-fructose diet (H); and 4) high-fat/high-fructose diet + 10% dry FME bean leaves (HBL). The study was carried out for six weeks. Group H exhibited early metabolic alterations compared to Group S: final weight gain (↑15%), abdominal fat accumulation (waist circumference, ↑11%), triglycerides (↑30%), glucose (↑16%), insulin resistance (HOMA-IR, ↑32%), and fecal triglycerides (↑284%) and decreased total short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs, ↓17%). FME bean leave supplementation (HBL) prevented body weight gain (↓12%), abdominal fat accumulation (waist circumference, ↓10%), and early insulin resistance (glucose area under the curve, ↓6%) compared to Group H. The supplementary bean leave diet increased SCFA production (↑54%), most likely mediated by the fiber and polyphenols present in the leaves. Therefore, bean leaves are a low-cost alternative for human nutritional care and prevention of early metabolic alterations.

The antiglycation mechanisms of three structurally different salvianolic acids (Sals) including salvianolic acid A (Sal-A), salvianolic acid B (Sal-B) and salvianolic acid C (Sal-C) were investigated using the bovine serum albumin (BSA)-fructose model. The results showed that the three compounds could inhibit the formation of glycation products, maintain protein structural stability, mitigate the development of amyloid fibrils and scavenge radicals. Notably, Sal-A possessed the highest anti-glycated activity compared with Sal-B and Sal-C. This may be related to the fact that Sal-A contained the most molecules of caffeic acid (Sal-A, Sal-B, and Sal-C possessing two, one, and zero caffeic acid units, respectively), and caffeic acid played a leading role in the antiglycation properties relative to Danshensu. Moreover, these compounds quenched the intrinsic fluorescence intensity of BSA in a static mode, with the binding constants in the order of Sal-A > Sal-B > Sal-C. Obviously, Sal-A possessed the strongest binding affinity among these compounds, which may be one of the reasons why it exhibited the optimal antiglycation capability. Furthermore, molecular docking demonstrated that the three Sals exerted protective effects on BSA by preventing glycation modification of lysine and arginine residues. These findings would provide valuable insights into the potential application of Sals for alleviating non-enzymatic glycation of protein.

Carotenoids are important dietary components that can be found in vegetable crops. The accumulation of these compounds in fruit and vegetables is altered by the activity of carotenoid cleavage dioxygenases (CCDs) enzymes that produce their degradation. The aim of this work was to study the possible implication of CCD genes in preventing carotenoid storage in the horticultural crop summer squash (Cucurbita pepo L.). The relationship between the presence of these compounds and gene expression for CCDs was studied in three varieties showing different peel and flesh colour. Expression analysis for the CCD genes CpNCED1, CpNCED2, CpNCED3, CpNCED9, CpCCD1, CpCCD4a, CpCCD4b and CpCCD8 was carried out on different organs and at several fruit developmental stages. The results showed that the CpCCD4a and CpCCD4b genes were highly expressed in the variety with lowest carotenoid content suggesting a putative role in carotenoid accumulation pattern in summer squash fruit.

Juçara (Euterpe edulis M.) fruits are an interesting source of phenolic compounds, mainly anthocyanins, making them valuable to the food and pharmaceutical industries. Juçara fruits were harvested along the on-tree ripening process between March and June as practiced in Paraná state, Brazil and examined for their total anthocyanin content (TAC), total phenolic content (TPC), total phenolic acid (TPA) and total antioxidant capacity (TAA). Overall, TAC increased (91.52–236.19 mg cyanidin-3-glucoside equivalent/100 g dm) whereas TPC (81.69–49.09 mg GAE/g dm) and TPA (44.27–30.95 mg/100 g dm) decreased during ripening of juçara fruits. Use of tandem mass spectrometry allowed the identification of cyanidin-3,5-diglucoside, peonidin-3-glucoside and peonidin-3-rutinoside for the first time in juçara fruits. The analysis of the phenolic acids by HPLC-MS/MS indicated the presence of gallic, protocatechuic, p-hydroxybenzoic, vanillic, chlorogenic, caffeic, syringic, p-coumaric, sinapinic and ferulic acids. The high antioxidant capacity using DPPH radical scavenging capacity (655.89–745.32 μmol TE/g dm) and ORAC assays (1088.10–2071.55 μmol TE/g dm) showed that juçara fruits have potential as a source of novel natural antioxidants for disease prevention and health promotion, and also as natural food additives for developing new functional food products.

Date seed is a by-product of Phoenix dactylifera L. fruit which is well recognized for its polyphenols content and numerous health-beneficial effects. Due to the increasing interest in natural phytochemicals with antioxidant activities, the present study aimed to extract polyphenols from both raw and roasted date seeds and investigate the anti-angiogenic effect of these two extracts (raw and roasted date seed polyphenols extracts (DSPE) at 25 and 50 µg/mL) using human microvascular endothelial cells (HMVEC). Our results showed that both raw and roasted DSPE suppressed some angiogenesis features in a dose-dependent manner including cell proliferation, migration, and capillary-like structure formation, of which raw DSPE was more potent inhibitor than roasted DSPE. Reduction in reactive oxygen species, as well as enhancement of superoxide dismutase activity occurred using both raw and roasted date seed polyphenols extracts. However, no changes were observed in advanced oxidation protein products versus control. Taken together, our data indicated that raw and roasted DSPE possess antioxidant activity, which suggested their potential use as a source of polyphenols with anti-angiogenic properties. Nevertheless, further studies are required to explore the underlying mechanisms responsible for their anti-angiogenic activities.

Gute Bekömmlichkeit, hohe Gehalte an dem Provitamin A Carotin sowie eine gute therapeutische Wirkung bei der gefürchteten Säuglings-Enteritis machen die Möhre zum wichtigsten Gemüse in der Säuglings- und Kleinkinder-Ernährung. Entwicklungsphysiologische Untersuchungen gaben Aufschluß über die Bildung der ätherischen Öle in Speicherwurzeln von 2 Möhrensorten in Verbindung mit anderen wertgebenden Inhaltsstoffen. In einer Vegetationszeit von fast vier Monaten entwickelten sich die Möhren vom Fadentyp über Bündelmöhre zur verkaufsfähigen Möhre ohne Kraut und zur überständigen Ware. Der Gehalt an ätherischen Öl nahm mit zunehmender Wurzelentwicklung stark ab, der Carotingehalt dagegen stark zu. Ein ähnliches antagonistisches Verhalten zeigten die Mono- und Disaccharide. 5 jährige Untersuchungen der ätherischen Öle und ihrer Bestandteile von 8 verschiedenen Sorten und Herkünften von Spätmöhren des gleichen Standorts (Geisenheim/Rheingau) gestatteten statistische Auswertungen über signifikante Abhängigkeit von genetischen und ökologischen Faktoren. Von den 13 identifizierten Bestandteilen des ätherischen Möhrenöls ließen 5 (α-Pinen, Camphen, Myrcen, α-Phellandren und Bisabolen) weder einen gerichteten bzw. statitistisch gesicherten Einfluß der Sorte, noch einen solchen der Witterung des Vegetationsjahres erkennen. Von den übrigen 8 Komponenten konnten 3 (Sabinen, l-Limonen und Caryophyllen) sowohl in genetischer Hinsicht über die jeweilige Sorte als auch ökologisch über die Witterung während der Vegetationsjahre beeinflußt werden. 2 Bestandteile des ätherischen Möhrenöls (β-Pinen und γ-Terpinen) erwiesen sich als nur sortenabhängig, während 3 (α-Terpinen, p-Cymol und Terpinolen) nur auf Witterungseinflüsse in den verschiedenen Jahren reagierten. Die wohlschmeckende Herkunft IV der Sorte „Lange rote stumpfe ohne Herz” mit relativ hohem Carotingehalt hatte gesicherte Befunde über besonders hohe l-Limonen- und β-Pinengehalte, aber sehr geringe Sabinen- und Caryophyllengehalte. β-Pinen hatte in einer unserer früheren Untersuchungen gegen häufige Erreger der Säuglingsenteritis (Escherichia coli Stamm 0127 :B 8 undStaphylococcus aureus) die weitaus beste bakterizide und bakteriostatische Wirkung aller damals identifizierten Bestandteile des ätherischen Möhrenöls erbracht. Die bakteriostatische Wirkung erwies sich bei l-Limonen als genau so stark gegen E. coli wie bei β-Pinen. Nur gegenStaphylococcus aureus war β-Pinen wirksamer als l-Limonen. Auf Grund dieser und weiterer, hier nicht genannter Ergebnisse werden Möglichkeiten zur Züchtung wertstoffreicher Diätmöhren erörtert. In diesem Zusammenhang steht auch generell die biochemische Qualitätsbeurteilung im Vergleich zu der der Handelsklassen und EWG-Qualitätsnormen zur Diskussion. Auf die Doppelrolle des ätherischen Möhrenöls einerseits als erwünschtes Diäteticum und andererseits als unerwünschtes Lösungsmittel und Rückstandsreservoir für fettlösliche, toxische Pestizide (Dienmittel und Phosphorsäureester) wird abschließend hingewiesen.