Bee products, including honey, have been utilized since ancient times for nutritional and therapeutic purposes. Recently, other bee products such as bee pollen, royal jelly, and propolis have caught ...a lot of attention. Being high in antioxidants and bioactive compounds, these products have established their applications in the pharmaceutical field as supplementary or alternative medicines. This review focuses on their use against polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)-related infertility. A systematic search of electronic databases including PubMed, Web of Science ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar was conducted from their inceptions up to November 2022. Studies with a small sample size, studies with inconclusive data, and pre-prints have been excluded. A narrative synthesis was performed during draft preparation after the authors independently performed a literature search. A total of 47 studies were finalized for the review. It can be observed that in vivo data on the use of bee products in treating PCOS mostly deals with their use in synergism with the PCOS medicines to enhance their effect and/or curb their side effects; however, clinical trials for the same are limited. With the amount of data being limited, it is difficult to map out the mechanism by which these products act in managing PCOS inside the human body. The review gives detailed insights into the reversal and restorative properties of bee products against the aberrations in reproductive health caused by PCOS.
Pollen is recognized as an excellent dietary supplement for human nutrition, which is why it can be found in different forms on the market (granules, capsules, tablets, pellets, and powders). But, ...the digestibility of pollen's nutrients is strongly affected by the presence of a pollen shell, which can decrease the bioavailability of nutrients by 50% and more. Since consumers have become more aware of the benefits of a healthy diet and the necessity to improve pollen digestibility, different pollen-based functional food products have been developed and extensive studies were done to estimate the beneficial effects of pollen-based feed on animal growth, health, and rigor mortise stage. Considering the positive effects of pollen nutrients and phytometabolites on human and animal health, the aim of this paper was to give an overview of recent achievements in the application of pollen in the formulation of functional food and animal diets. Special attention was paid to the effects of pollen's addition on the nutritional, functional, techno-functional, and sensory properties of the new formulated food products. Anti-nutritional properties of pollen were also discussed. This review points out the benefits of pollen addition to food and feed and the possible directions in the further development of functional food and feed for the wellbeing of everyone.
The common medlar (
Mespilus germanica
L.) is one of two species within the Mespilus genus (Maloideae subfamily). Its use can be traced back almost 30 centuries, from ancient Assyrians and ...Babylonians to Greeks and Romans and through modern times. During the Middle Ages it was a popular fruit tree and a highly appreciated ornamental tree in gardens across Europe. However, in modern times, the medlar is often considered an underestimated and underutilized fruit from the Rosaceae family. Nevertheless, it is slowly regaining its ‘medieval glory’ and commercial importance as a food-stuff for human consumption. The medlar plant has a wide array of traditional uses in both gastronomy and medicine. Ripe medlar fruits can be consumed fresh or processed into different products such as juice, concentrate, jam, cheese, leather, and honey. Meanwhile, unripe fruits can be used to prepare pickles or beverages such as cider. The nutritional potential of medlar fruits is attributed to sugars, organic acids, fatty acids, carotenoids, amino acids and proteins, vitamins, and essential elements. Scarce literature describes the richness of medlar fruit in bioactive phenolic compounds such as flavonoids and phenolic acids, which contribute to its antioxidant and antidiabetic properties. Additionally, a few studies describe other biological properties of the medlar plant including antimicrobial, cytotoxic and neurodegenerative effects of medlar fruits and leaves, while reports on the clinical studies are lacking. This review paper summarizes the chemical and nutritional properties of medlar fruit, traditional medicinal uses and biological activity of the medlar plant, relying on the most relevant and up to date scientific literature in the field.
Graphical abstract
Food nanoemulsions are known as very effective and excellent carriers for both lipophilic and hydrophilic bioactive compounds (BCs) and have been successfully used for controlled delivery and ...protection of BCs during gastrointestinal digestion (GID). However, due to sensitive and fragile morphology, BCs-loaded nanoemulsions have different digestion pathways depending on their properties, food matrix properties, and applied models for testing their digestibility and BCs bioaccessibility. Thus, this review gives a critical review of the behavior of encapsulated BCs into food nanoemulsions during each phase of GID in different static and dynamic in vitro digestion models, as well as of the influence of nanoemulsion and food matrix properties on BCs bioaccessibility. In the last section, the toxicity and safety of BCs-loaded nanoemulsions evaluated on in vitro and in vivo GID models have also been discussed. Better knowledge of food nanoemulsions' behavior in different models of simulated GI conditions and within different nanoemulsion and food matrix types can help to standardize the protocol for their testing aiming for researchers to compare results and design BCs-loaded nanoemulsions with better performance and higher targeted BCs bioaccessibility.
Food nanoemulsions are effective and excellent carriers for bioactive compounds (BCs).
Nanoemulsions are often subject to morphological and structural changes during digestion.
BC-s loaded nanoemulsions have different digestion pathways in different digestion models.
BC-s have different bioaccessibility in different nanoemulsion models.
Food matrix can affect the bioaccessibility of BCs entrapped in nanoemulsions.
•Each berry fruit species has unique protein composition of seeds.•Different varieties can differentiate by the abundance of their polypeptides.•Image analysis allowed detection and quantification of ...polypeptides in seeds.•Advanced data-analysis with SDS-PAGE could be used for authentication assessment.
Product authentication is one of the most important food quality assurances. Considering the importance of consumption of berry fruits with proven health-beneficial properties, high sensory values and rich composition in bioactive substances, the aim of this study was to evaluate a straightforward and simple procedure for the protein fingerprinting of berry seeds. For this purpose, protein profiles of 45 samples of genuine berry fruit cultivars (strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, black currant, blueberry, gooseberry, chokeberry, cape gooseberry, and gojiberry) were analyzed by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis in combination with advanced chemometric tools. The most important parameters for discrimination among berry seeds were polypeptides at 12.8; 15.1; 25.0; 26.4; 30.0; 41.8; 44.4; 46.0; 48.5; 52.3 and 56.4 kDa. Biomarkers obtained from the protein profile of berry seeds proved to be a powerful tool in the authentication of their botanical origin, as well as for potential detection of berry-based products adulteration.
The aim of this study was to identify and characterise different classes of bioactive compounds from freeze-dried red goji berries (RGB) grown in Serbia, using ultra-high-performance liquid ...chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC Q-ToF MS). In addition, this study aims to demonstrate the importance of applying the advanced UHPLC Q-ToF MS technique in the identification of various biocompounds. The analysis showed the presence of 28 phenolic compounds, 3 organic acids, and 26 phenylamides. The 2-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl-l-ascorbic acid (AA-2βG) was identified by UHPLC Q-ToF MS and quantified by standardised UHPLC-DAD method. Most of the compounds detected were derivatives of caffeic acid and ferulic acid, followed by quercetin derivatives. Among the phenylamides, several glucosylated caffeoyl and/or dihydrocaffeoyl derivatives of spermidine and spermine were characterized, confirming their recent characterization. Some glycosylated/non-glycosylated putrescine derivatives and caffeoyl-dihydrocaffeoyl-feruloyl spermidines were identified in goji berriesfor the first time. Their tentative structures and fragmentations were proposed.
•Different classes of bioactive compounds from Lycium barbarum L. were analysed.•UHPLC Q-ToF MS untargeted analysis was used for the detection bioactive compounds.•Glycosides of phenolic acids and quercetin were the most frequently identified.•The AA-2βG was identified and quantified in freeze-dried goji berry.•Various glycosylated and non-glycosylated goji phenylamides have been identified.
Tofu has a high nutritional value, but it may also contain components that may have an antinutritional effect, such as trypsin inhibitors (TI), lectins and ureases. The aim of this study was to ...investigate the influence of the hydrothermal-cooking process of soybean in combination with commercial chymosin-pepsin rennet on the content and activity of TI, urease and lectins in tofu. High total TI content was found in tofu (5.00-16.87%). In addition, Kunitz (KTI = 3.52-4.32%) and Bowman-Birk (BBI = 5.00-12.53%) TI were registered, and BBI was detected in polymeric (1.38-2.71%) and monomeric (3.42-9.82%) forms. TI activity of tofu was very low (5.86-9.34%), corresponding to the very low activity of urease (0.51-3.07%). The percentage of lectin (2.62-4.63%) and urease (0.03-0.12%) in tofu was low. The results showed that the applied tofu production process is very effective in reducing the content and activity of TI, urease and lectin and provides the values without nutritional harmful effect.
Vegetables are important contributors to a healthy diet, and their adequate daily intake can help prevent some of the major illnesses. The aim of the study was to examine the content of the major and ...trace elements in selected organically grown (OG) and conventionally grown (CG) vegetables (cabbage, kohlrabi, Brussels sprout, beetroot, carrot, potato, and onion), taken from city green markets. Multi-elemental analysis was carried out by inductively coupled plasma method with optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Nutritional quality evaluation in comparison to nutritional reference values was done. In studied vegetables, Al, Ca, K, Fe (with the exception of organic kohlrabi), Mg, Na, P, S, and Zn were quantified in all samples, whereas As, Cd, Co, Hg, Se, and V were below the limit of detection for these elements. Macroelements and trace elements were found at higher concentrations in OG and CG vegetables, respectively. Differences in concentrations of studied elements between the same vegetable species produced in two agricultural systems were significant, except for beetroot (
p
≤ 0.05). Principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis results showed that the botanical origin had higher influence on sample differentiation than the agronomic practice, which was in accordance with the results obtained by Mann-Whitney
U
test. Good quality of both OG and CG vegetables in respect of nutritionally beneficial elements was observed.
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