According to the World Health Organization (WHO), obesity has become a global health problem.Approximately 2 billion adults were overweight and over 650 million of these were classed obese in 2016 (1) .Ready access to energy-dense, highly palatable food contributes to an obesogenic environment (2) .The demand for food consumption is not just driven by a need for energy but also by the pleasure of eating the food itself (3) .In order to control obesity, foods that increase satiation and satiety may be beneficial to reduce food intake (4) .Noodles served in a spicy broth are the basis of many Asian dishes.Capsaicin, the major pungent substance in chilli peppers, and oat fibre have been shown to increase satiety (5,6) .This study aimed to test the hypothesis that oat fibre and chilli may interact to affect satiety in humans.The satiety study was a randomised crossover design with 12 untrained volunteers (ethical reference number University of Leeds MEEC 16-040).The fasted subjects consumed a noodle soup breakfast meal (125 g cooked noodle in 200 ml clear broth) with 3 different levels of fibre in the noddle (0, 10, 20 % w/w of oat fibre (BG28, Swedish Oat Fibre) in strong wheat flour) and 2 levels of chilli (0 and 1 % w/v) in the broth over 6 breakfast sessions.Satiety was measured immediately pre-and post-consumption of the noodle meal with a 7-category intensity scale (none to strongest imaginable), measuring five attributes (hunger, fullness, desire to eat more food, desire to eat the next meal and willingness to eat).Results were analysed using a linear mixed model repeated measures ANOVA and Cohen's d for effects size.Hunger levels for all conditions decreased and fullness levels increased significantly after meal consumption.The addition of chilli to the 20 % fibre noodles had the most significant effect on hunger and fullness followed by 20 % fibre noodle without chilli.Chilli had no effect on hunger and fullness at 10 % fibre, but seem to reduce fullness at 0 % fibre.In conclusion, fibre and chilli appear to affect satiety synergistically at higher fibre levels.Future work will focus on determining the optimal level of fibre and capsaicin that can contribute to higher satiety effect and to investigate effects over longer post-meal periods.
The intactness of cell wall structures in foods has important repercussions for nutrient digestion and availability.In this study, we show the presence of intact cell wall structures in a commercial fruit smoothie (blend of banana, mango, orange and apple) and fruit purée (banana, mango), but not in fruit juices (apple or orange).Small clusters of cells were observed in fresh crushed fruit (banana, mango, and apple), the size of the cluster dependent on the type of fruit.When the smoothie was subjected to simulated gastro-intestinal digestion, cell wall structures were found abundantly even after 16 hrs of agitated incubation with digestive enzymes (protease, amylase and amyloglucosidase).Total dietary fibre (TDF) content of the smoothie was measured using the AOAC (991.43) and integrated fibre (IF) analysis methods.TDF-AOAC value was significantly lower (1.61%) than the TDF-IF (2.22%), but the ratio of insoluble to soluble dietary fibre (IDF: SDF) was consistently 1:3.Disruption of the cell wall structures in the smoothie by high shear homogenisation led to a 68% reduction in viscosity, 30% reduction in TDF content and a 10% increase in SDF.These experiments suggest that cell wall structures similar to those observed in crushed fruit are preserved during commercial smoothie manufacture and are retained during digestion.Their presence may have implications for fibre quantification and fibre functionality in the gut.We discuss the need to consider fibre structure, as well as content, when evaluating the nutritional properties of fruit and their products.
Aspergillus flavus is a pathogenic fungus associated with food safety issues worldwide. This study investigated the antifungal activity of citrus peel extracts prepared using food-grade solvents (hot water or ethanol). Mandarin (Citrus reticulata) peel ethanol extracts inhibited the mycelial growth of A. flavus (39.60%) more effectively than those of orange (32.31%) and lemon (13.51%) after 7 days of incubation. The growth of A. flavus could be completely inhibited by mandarin extracts at 300-400 mg mL-1, depending on the extraction solvent. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) separated the polyphenol-rich fractions, which showed up to 40% higher antifungal activity than crude extracts. Twelve polyphenols (2 phenolic acids and 10 flavonoids) were identified by HPLC-DAD, narirutin and hesperidin were the most abundant. In conclusion, citrus peels are promising bioresources of antifungal agents with potential applications in food and other industries.
Urban food systems are complex and increasingly recognised as not being sustainable, equitable or resilient. Though globalisation and lengthening of agrifood supply chains has brought many benefits, such as year-long availability of fresh produce and modernisation opportunities for some developing regions, they have increased reliance on food imports and reduced the food and nutrition resilience of many cities. This premise has been widely witnessed following recent financial, climatic and pandemic driven disruptions to food supplies. A greater understanding is thus needed of the lived reality of a modern city's ability to sustainably and equitably feed itself in a crisis situation or otherwise. In a changing world, such knowledge is valuable on a variety of strategic planning levels. Employing publically available data, the scale of food security and resilience, and options for their improvement, are holistically assessed through a case study spatial analysis of the urban food system of the city of Leeds in the United Kingdom. The case study found that the Leeds city region is home to a significant and diverse food production and provision system, but it is not food secure in terms of providing sufficient energy or macronutrients, or functioning in an equitable manner for all of its residents. Options for improving the performance of the system, including urban farming and industrial symbiosis, were found to be nuanced and would only be effective alongside a range of complimentary interventions as well as high levels of investment, multi-sector cooperation and strong governance. Though food system evolution and development are grounded in local context, the methods, general findings and circular economy focussed recommendations emanating from the case study, are widely applicable.The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12571-021-01142-2.
Abstract Intuitive eating is an intrinsic ability to moderate the amount and type of food, promoting a healthy diet and self-regulation of one's own weight. Different instruments (IES-H, IES-T, IES-2) have been developed to assess intuitive eating between different population groups from different countries. The construct validity and invariance of the 23-item Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) has been widely validated by Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis. However, these Classical Test Theory (CTT) methods have not always confirmed the same 4-factor structure. Rasch analysis, a Modern Test Theory method (MTT), has been used as an alternative approach to examine the psychometric properties of various health and medical instrument (HADS, KIDSCREEN-52, LANSS, MHRM). One significant difference between CTT and MT is the method of calculating a composite score. A CTT total sore is based on the summation of raw categorical scores, whereas these raw categorical scores are converted to interval-scaled measures into a Rasch composite score. Data was collected from 625 respondents was fitted to the Rasch Rating Scale Model. The data fitted the model adequately, as less than 5% and 1% of absolute standardised residuals were found to be ≥ 2 and ≥ 3, respectively. A Principle Component Analysis of Rasch residuals (PCAR) was used to determine the unidimensionality of the IES-2 and its subscales, after checking and adjusting for lack of item fit and proper rating scale functioning. PCAR indicated that all 23 items could not function as a single total unidimensional Rasch measure. However, the same item structure for the 4 subscales, originally proposed by Tylka and Kroon Van Diest, was confirmed by PCAR. The relationship between the respondents and the IES-2 items in each subscale could be explained using a Wright map, allowing both to be represented on the same logit scale. Statistical different levels of intuitive eating were determined for each subscale from a table representing the relationship between the lowest and highest possible raw scores and their Rasch measures. Wright maps showed the position of respondents between cut-off lines indicating different statistical levels along each unidimensional subscale of intuitive eating. The majority of respondents were classified into 2 out of 4 levels in the subscale Unconditional Permission to Eat, 3 out of 5 levels in Eating for Physical Rather Than Emotional Reasons, 3 out of 5 levels in Reliance on Internal Hunger and Satiety Cues and 2 out of 4 levels in Body-Food Choice Congruence.
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Induction of abiotic stress in tomato plants has been proposed as a mechanism for improving the nutritional quality of fruits. However, the occurrence of biotic stress can interfere with normal abiotic stress responses. In this study, the combined effect of water stress and infection with plant-parasitic nematodes on the nutritional quality of tomato was investigated. Plants were exposed to one or both stresses, and the levels of phenolic compounds, carotenoids, and sugars in fruits were analyzed as well as physiological responses. Levels of carotenoids lycopene and β-carotene were lower in water-stressed tomatoes but exhibited a different response pattern under combined stress. Nematode stress was associated with increased flavonoid levels, albeit with reduced yields, while chlorogenic acid was increased by nematodes, water stress, and the combined stress. Sugar levels were higher only in tomatoes exposed to both stresses. These results emphasize the importance of studying plant stress factors in combination.
An abstract is not available for this content. As you have access to this content, full HTML content is provided on this page. A PDF of this content is also available in through the 'Save PDF' action button.