Nutritional Value of Date Fruits and Potential Use in Nutritional Bars for Athletes

The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is one of the oldest primary staple crops in Southwest Asia and North Africa. Date palms are also grown in Australia, Mexico, South America, Southern Africa, and the United States, especially in Southern California, Arizona, and Texas. Date fruit is a high nutritional value food that is rich in carbohydrates, dietary fibers, proteins, minerals and vitamin B complex such as thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pantothenic (B5), pyridoxine (B6), and folate (B9). Carbohydrates comprise 70% of date fruit mainly as fructose and glucose. Minerals in date fruits are calcium, iron, magnesium, selenium, copper, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, sulfur, cobalt, fluorine, and manganese. Date fruits are highly nourishing and may thus confer numerous potential health benefits. In recent years, a huge interest in the abundant health promoting properties of date fruits has led to the need to develop new food products using dates as a source of nutrients. Thus, the aim of this paper is to review the nutritional value of date fruits in the context of the potential use of dates in nutrition bars for athletes.

Current Limitations and Challenges with Lactic Acid Bacteria: A Review

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) play a critical role in food, agricultural, and clinical applications. The fast growing characteristics of LAB and their metabolic activity have been the key in most applications including food production, agricultural industry, and probiotics. However, the biochemical and biophysical environments have significant effect on the growth and metabolic activity of LAB. While the biochemical conditions are most likely established, controlling and optimizing of biochemical conditions have many limitations and challenges. In addition to selecting the right strain, desirable metabolic processes required optimizing and controlling the available nutrients including sugars, peptides, free amino acids, minerals, and vitamins in addition to buffering agents. Thus, much of research was conducted to understand the impact of available nutrients on the growth and metabolic activities of LAB. However, only a few nutritional parameters could be controlled at a time while holding other parameters constant. The nutritional parameters may also interact with each other resulting in faulty results. Characteristics of LAB such as fastidiousness in their nutritional requirements, ability to produce acid and antimicrobial compounds, and variations in the nutritional requirements among strains have added additional limitations and challenges in this regard. Thus, chemically defined media (CDM) were suggested to deal with different limitations and challenges. However, due to differences in growth conditions, results obtained in CDM may face some obstacles when it comes to industrial applications. Thus, this paper aimed to review the recent data in regard to the role of the nutritional requirements of LAB in optimizing and controlling metabolic activities and to discuss the associated limitations and challenges.

Young Corn Ear Addition Improves Some Nutrients and Lowering Glycemic Index of Chiffon Cake

The effects of partial replacement of wheat flour with young corn ear (YCE) on sensory properties and glycemic index (GI) of chiffon cake were investigated. Dried YCE was processed into powdered form and added in chiffon cake formulations to replace wheat flour partially at concentrations of 0 (control), 10%, 20% and 30%. Protein, ash and dietary fibre contents of chiffon cake added with YCE powder were increased in line with the levels of YCE used. Even though protein content of YCE-based cakes increased in line (13.3% to 15.7%) with the levels of YCE (10% to 30%), but there was no significant difference compared to control. Sensory evaluation results indicate that partial replacement of wheat flour with up to 10% is satisfactory as compared to other levels of wheat flour replacement. Interestingly, addition of YCE at 10% to partially replace wheat flour resulted in reduction of postprandial blood glucose response. The GI value for chiffon cake added with YCE was 49 lower than control cake which recorded GI value at 60. In conclusion, novel food ingredient of YCE can be incorporated in selected bakery products to enhance nutritional composition while at the same time help in reducing the GI value. Further investigation on the addition of YCE into other bakery products in relation to nutrition and glycemic response effects can also be explored.

Isoflavone Regulates Lipid Metabolism via Expression of Related Genes in OVX Rats Fed on a High-fat Diet

Objective To investigate the effects of isoflavone on body weight, fat mass, and gene expression in relation to lipid metabolism. Methods Thirty-six female SD rats were ovariectomized or sham-operated and fed on a high-fat diet. Two months later, abdominal incision was made, blood was collected to separate serum, and the liver and adipose tissue were immediately collected and weighed. Some portions of these tissues were frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80℃. Results Ovariectomy （OVX） with a high-fat diet could induce obesity in rats, while treatment with isoflavone significantly inhibited the increase in body weight and fat mass in abdomen. Serum total cholesterol and leptin were significantly decreased in isoflavone group, compared with the OVX group. The mRNA expression of liver fatty acid synthase （FAS） in the OVX group was significantly higher than that in sham-operated group, while this difference was not observed in the isoflavone group. The mRNA expression of liver hormone-sensitive lipase （HSL） in the OVX rats tended to be lower than that in the sham-operated rats. Furthermore, a large amount of isoflavone maintained the mRNA expression at a sham level. Conclusion Isoflavone may prevent obesity induced by ovariectomy with a high-fat diet, in part by modulating gene expression related to lipid metabolism.

Occurrence,properties and biological significance of pyroglutamyl peptides derived from different food sources

Pyroglutamyl(pGlu)peptides are formed from intramolecular cyclization of glutamine or glutamic acid residue at the N-terminal position of peptides.This process can occur endogenously or during processing of foods containing the peptides.Some factors such as heat,high pressure and enzymatic modifications contribute to pGlu formation.pGlu peptides are thought to have different characteristics,especially bitter and umani tastes,and thus can affect the sensory properties of foods that contain them.Moreover,some health-promoting properties have been reported for pGlu peptides,including hepatoprotective,antidepressant and anti-inflammatory activities.However,the role of pGlu residue in the peptide bioactivity is not completely established,although the hydrophobic-lactam ring is thought to enhance the peptide stability against degradation by gastrointestinal proteases.This review discusses the occurrence and formation of pGlu peptides in foods,their quantification,sensory and biological properties,and prospects in food applications.

Red Yeast Rice Increases Excretion of Bile Acids in Hamsters

Objective To investigate the hypocholesterolemic activity of red yeast rice （RYR） and its underlying mechanism. Methods Three groups of hamsters were fed either the control diet or one of the two experimental diets containing by weight 0.1% RYR （0.1RYR） or 0.3% RYR （0.3RYR）. Blood （0.5 mL） was collected from the retro-orbital sinus into a heparinized capillary tube at the end of week 0, 3, and 6. Plasma lipoproteins were measured using enzymatic kits, while fecal neutral and acidic sterols were quantified using a gas-liquid chromatography. Results Plasma total cholesterol was reduced by 12% in 0.1RYR group and by 18% in 0.3RYR group compared with the control value. Similarly, plasma triacylglycerol was decreased by 11% in 0.1RYR group and by 24% in 0.3RYR group. Western blotting analysis demonstrated that RYR had no effect on sterol regulatory element binding protein 2, fiver X receptor, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutary-CoA reductase, LDL receptor, and cholesterol-7α-hydroxylase. HPLC analysis confirmed that RYR contained 0.88% monacolin K. It was recently found that RYR supplementation increased excretion of fecal acidic sterols by 34 folds compared with the conlrol value. Conclusion Hypocholesterolemic activity of RYR is mediated at least partially by enhancement of acidic sterol excretion.

Effect of Biscuits and Muffins Added with Cornlettes Powder on the Glycemic Responses of Healthy Individuals

Dietary fibre content is a known factor that can affect the postprandial glycemic responses of a food and meal. Cornlettes vegetable which is rich in dietary fibre has been studied for its potential in lowering the peak glycemic responses of biscuits and muffins. Cornlettes was processed into powder and formulated into four formulations of selected bakery products. The glycemic responses produced by portions of the biscuits and muffins containing 25 g available carbohydrate were measured in 11 healthy volunteers. The incremental area under curve (AUC) of control biscuits was greater (81 ± 11 mmol × min/l) than cornlettes powder (CP) added biscuit (63 ± 12 mmol × min/l). Likewise, the AUC of control muffins was higher (88 ± 13 mmol × min/l) than CP-added muffins (74 ± 12 mmol × min/l). Control biscuits had an intermediate GI value of 61 while CP-added biscuits had a low GI value of 46. Both control and CP-added muffins recorded intermediate GI values (58 and 57, respectively). It is concluded that CP can be incorporated in selected bakery products as a potential ingredient to help lower the peak rise of postprandial glycemic responses.

In vitro Evaluating the Influence of Grape Seed Polyphenol Extract on the Digestibility of Macronutrients

Interaction between dietary polyphenol and proteins including digestive enzymes may result in reduced digestibility of food macronutrients, thus lowering absorption of nutrients that contributing to high energy accumulation in human body. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of grape seed polyphenol extract （GSPE） on the digestibility of starch, food lipid and food protein by digestive enzymes such as u-amylase, lipase, pepsin and trypsin. The digestion of each substrate was conducted at the optimal pH and temperature of specific enzyme. Bread containing different amount of grape pomace was used as a real food model and its digestion was conducted under simulated digestion condition. Concentrations of reducing sugar, fatty acid and amino acids in enzyme digested mixtures were determined as indicators of starch, lipid and protein digestions, respectively. Results indicate that GSPE significantly inhibited the digestion of starch, cooking oil and casein, but did not inhibit digestion of whey protein and egg white protein. Instead, the digestion of egg white and whey protein by trypsin was moderately enhanced in the presence of GSPE. However, under simulated human digestion condition, the grape pomace in the bread significantly reduced the digestibility of bread starch and protein.

Impact of Lifestyle Intervention on the Estimated Visceral Fat Area and Skeletal Muscle Mass in Men with Obesity

Background: The lifestyle modification remains the fundamental approach for the obesity treatment. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the effect of the multimodal lifestyle intervention on the estimated visceral fat area versus changes in musculoskeletal mass in a cohort of adult men with obesity. Subjects and Methods: A retrospective cohort study in which the file of eighty-two male subjects, aged 20 - 60 years, was studied for three months. Patients had been instructed to follow a balanced-hypocaloric diet, physical activity plan and general advice for combating the unhealthy lifestyle habits through the study period. Those who succeeded to loss > 5% of their body weight were classified as weight loser (WL) group, while others as weight resistant (WR) group. The results of In Body-720 bioelectric impedance analysis were used to report the fat mass (FM), visceral fat area (VFA), skeletal muscle mass (SMM), SMM/VFA ratio, osseous mass (OM), and basal metabolic rate (BMR) before and after the study period. Anthropometric measures, glucose, and lipid profile were also analyzed. Paired t-test was used to detect the significance of change between before and after measures, independent sample t-test was used to compare WL vs. WR groups. Results: There were significant decreases in weight, FM (p 0.05) and VFA (p 0.001), in addition to a significant rise of SMM/VFA ratio (p 0.05), together with insignificant changes of osseous mass, SMM and BMR after 3 months. Additionally, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, and triglycerides were significantly reduced (P 0.05). The percentages of reduction in weight, FM and VFA in WL vs. WR groups were highly significant (p 0.001), while the percentages of change in SMM, SMM/VFA ratio and BMR were significant (p 0.05). Conclusion: Lifestyle modification might be effective in production of positive changes in the body composition of patients with obesity. These changes were more significant in weight losers.

Resting Energy Expenditure in a Controlled Group of Young Arab Females: Correlations with Body Composition and Agreement with Prediction Equations

Objectives: To assess correlates of body compositions measures and resting energy expenditure (REE) in young Arab females, and to compare measured REE values with values calculated from REE predictive equations. Methods: Seventy nine healthy women, aged 18 - 30 years, were recruited for the study. All volunteers fasted for 8 hours, abstained from vigorous physical activity, smoking and caffeinated beverages for twelve hours before measuring body composition and REE. Resting energy expenditure was measured by indirect calorimetry and body composition was measured by a bioelectrical impedance analysis. Results: Measured-REE was significantly correlated with body fat mass, fat free mass, skeletal muscle mass, and soft lean mass (R2 ranges 0.498 - 0.592;p p ?101.9 kcal, p p > 0.05). Mean measured REE varied significantly with BMI (p Conclusion: All body composition measures were significantly correlated with REE measured. Mifflin-St. Jeor equation showed the closest estimate to the measured REE in predicting REE of participants who had a normal weight or were overweight. Harris-Benedict equation significantly overestimated REE and Owen significantly underestimated REE.

Strategies for practitioners to support patients in plant-based eating

Successfully implementing a plant-based diet is attain-able for patients, but the likelihood of achieving long-term,dietary maintenance can be increased by follow-up andsupport from practitioners. Practitioners, in particular physi-cians, are seen as nutrition authorities,and are thereforewell-positioned to deliver dietary advice and nutritionalprescriptions.

Esophageal squamous papillomas with focal dermal hypoplasia and eosinophilic esophagitis

Focal dermal hypoplasia(FDH) is a rare disorder of the mesodermal and ectodermal tissues. Here we present an eight-year-old female known to have FDH who presents with poor weight gain and dysphagia. She was diagnosed with multiple esophageal papillomas and eosinophilic esophagitis. She was successfully treated with argon plasma coagulation and ingested fluticasone propionate, which has not been described previously in a child.

Efficacy of Cooling Beef Taco Meat and Steamed Rice in United States School Foodservice Operations

Food is frequently cooked, cooled and reheated for service at a later time in schools and other foodservice operations in the United States [US]. Inadequate cooling of food has been associated with foodborne illness. The purpose of this study was to determine if practices commonly used in school foodservice to cool beef taco meat and steamed rice would meet US Food and Drug Administration [FDA] 2009 Food Code standards. Prepared products cooled at 5.08 cm and 7.62 cm depths in stainless steel counter pans were placed uncovered in a walk-in refrigerator, a walk-in freezer (beef taco meat only), and a walk-in refrigerator with an ice water bath. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including mean times and temperatures, with standard deviations. Cooling beef taco meat in a walk-in freezer at a depth of two inches and cooling steamed rice in a walk-in refrigerator at a depth of two inches with an ice water bath were the only methods that met both FDA Food Code time and temperature standards. Results suggest that challenges and risks exist with common methods used to cool food, especially if food volume is not reduced before cooling. Specific protocols for cooling procedures based on types of food and equipment are needed. These findings and recommendations are important for foodservice professionals who oversee food services and cooling practices in schools and other operations.

Molecular Verification of Two Potent Bacteria Isolated from Darfiyeh Cheese: <i>Lactococcus lactis</i>Subsp. <i>Lactis</i>and <i>Lactobacillus plantarum</i>

Raw goat milk cheeses are known for their natural microflora linked to many biodiversity factors such as the use of raw milk. That microflora serves probiotic attribution conferring a beneficial health impact on the consumer. Darfiyeh is an artisanal raw goat milk cheese manufactured traditionally in Northern Lebanese Mountains. To emphasize its clinical significance in both digestive and immune system, and to provide health remunerations to the consumer, the cheese microbiota will be investigated. To serve that purpose, the presence of the two potent probiotic Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB): Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and Lactobacillus plantarum will be investigated. For bacterial identification, selection and isolation: culture-dependent techniques that imply the use of laboratory media will be implemented, and culture independent techniques: Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) will be applied for further validation. Both bacteria were further verified as Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and Lactobacillus plantarum by implementing specie-specific primers for the qualitative PCR.