Phenolic compounds of green tea: Health benefits and technological application in food

Green tea has been an important beverage for humans since ancient times, widely consumed and considered to have health benefits by traditional medicine in Asian countries. Green tea phenolic compounds are predominately composed of catechin derivatives, although other compounds such as flavonols and phenolic acids are also present in lower proportion. The bioactivity exerted by these compounds has been associated with reduced risk of severe illnesses such as cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Particularly, epigallocatechin gallate has been implicated in alteration mechanisms with protective effect in these diseases as indicated by several studies about the effect of green tea consumption and mechanistic explanation through in vitro and in vivo experiments. The biological activity of green tea phenolic compounds also promotes a protective effect by antioxidant mechanisms in biological and food systems, preventing the oxidative damage by acting over either precursors or reactive species. Extraction of phenolic compounds influences the antioxidant activity and promotes adequate separation from green tea leaves to enhance the yield and/or antioxidant activity. Application of green tea phenolic compounds is of great interest because the antioxidant status of the products is enhanced and provides the product with additional antioxidant activity or reduces the undesirable changes of oxidative reactions while processing or storing food.In this scenario, meat and meat products are greatly influenced by oxidative deterioration and microbial spoilage, leading to reduced shelf life. Green tea extracts rich in phenolic compounds have been applied to increase shelf life with comparable effect to synthetic compounds, commonly used by food industry. Green tea has great importance in general health in technological application, however more studies are necessary to elucidate the impact in pathways related to other diseases and food applications.

Food security status in rural areas of Mizoram,Northeast India

Rural areas practice subsistence of the Mizoram state, India agriculture where shifting cultivation dominates the farming systems. As a result, output from crops is very low and thus, the rural areas suffer from food insecurity. This paper analyses food security status in the rural areas of Mizoram and suggests the measures to attain food security. A case study of 16 villages, lying in all the eight districts of Mizoram, was conducted in 2014 and 1527 households （76%） out of total 2010 households were surveyed through purposive random sampling method. Structured questionnaire was constructed and questions on three food security components and 13 indicators were asked. We used Z score technique to calculate data and finally got a composite score of all the components of food security. Our result shows that food availability in the study villages is very less as composite score stands for o.oo3 whereas food accessibility is comparatively higher, mainly due to availability of fair price shops （mean value is one）, high agricultural working population （40.1%） and high literacy rate （70.6%）. Therefore, its composite score is 0.236. Food stability scores only -0.062 and finally overall food security stands for 0.178, which is inadequate. We have suggested that‘system rice intensification＇, which is already in practice, should be given priority. Adequate irrigation facilities, proper public distribution system, cultivation of fruits and vegetables, value addition in farm products and access to market may achieve food security.