Acute effects of an isocaloric macronutrient-matched breakfast meal containing almonds on glycemic, hormonal and appetite responses in men with type 2 diabetes: a randomized cross-over study.
Energy Extraction from Nuts: Walnuts, Almonds, Pistachios.
Daily consumption of pistachios over 12 weeks improves dietary profile without increasing body weight in healthy women: A randomized controlled intervention.
Dietary guidelines around the world recommend the regular intake of nuts because of their nutrient contribution to the diet and reported health benefits. However, consumers are often reluctant to include nuts in their diet due to the high caloric density of nuts. In a 12-week randomized, controlled intervention, we investigated how adding a pistachio portion to the daily diet affects body weight and composition, satiety, energy and nutrient intake. Sixty healthy pre-menopausal women who did not typically consume nuts were randomly assigned to a control or an experimental groups. Experimental participants (n = 30) consumed 44 g (250 kcal) pistachios mid-morning while controls (n = 30) maintained their current eating habits for 12 weeks. Ad libitum food intake and appetite sensations following the pistachio portion were assessed in all participants before and after the intervention in four 2-consecutive-day test sessions (under laboratory and then free-living conditions). Body weight and composition (DXA) were unchanged in both groups after 12 weeks. Pre- and post-intervention tests showed that ad libitum intake adjusted to the pistachio portion, mostly via reduced intakes of carbohydrates and starch, in parallel with decreased hunger and increased satiety following the morning snack. Intakes of MUFA, PUFA, linoleic acid, thiamin, pyridoxine, copper, manganese, and zinc were significantly higher among women consuming the pistachio snack, in spite of compensatory adjustments in intake. In conclusion, daily intake of 44 g pistachios improved nutrient intake without affecting body weight or composition in healthy women. The additional calories provided by the pistachios induced satiety and sufficient adjustment of intake to prevent body weight changes. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRY NUMBER: NCT03526120 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03526120.
Effect of a Nutritional and Behavioral Intervention on Energy-Reduced Mediterranean Diet Adherence Among Patients With Metabolic Syndrome: Interim Analysis of the PREDIMED-Plus Randomized Clinical Trial.
Aflatoxins in food and feed: An overview on prevalence, detection and control strategies.
Aflatoxins produced by the Aspergillus species are highly toxic, carcinogenic, and cause severe contamination to food sources, leading to serious health consequences. Contaminations by aflatoxins have been reported in food and feed, such as groundnuts, millet, sesame seeds, maize, wheat, rice, fig, spices and cocoa due to fungal infection during pre- and post-harvest conditions. Besides these food products, commercial products like peanut butter, cooking oil and cosmetics have also been reported to be contaminated by aflatoxins. Even a low concentration of aflatoxins is hazardous for human and livestock. The identification and quantification of aflatoxins in food and feed is a major challenge to guarantee food safety. Therefore, developing feasible, sensitive and robust analytical methods is paramount for the identification and quantification of aflatoxins present in low concentrations in food and feed. There are various chromatographic and sensor-based methods used for the detection of aflatoxins. The current review provides insight into the sources of contamination, occurrence, detection techniques, and masked mycotoxin, in addition to management strategies of aflatoxins to ensure food safety and security.
On-spot surface enhanced Raman scattering detection of Aflatoxin B1 in peanut extracts using gold nanobipyramids evenly trapped into the AAO nanoholes.
Simple, rapid, convenient, and economical surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate is developed for on-site evaluation of Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in food matrix using handheld Raman Spectrometer. Self-assembly of gold nanobipyramids (Au NBPs) into the nanoholes of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template/pattern using 'drop-dry' approach provides a reliable pathway for the rapid fabrication of highly active and uniform SERS substrate. It shows enhanced and reproducible SERS signals towards the probe molecule, 4-aminothiophenol (4-ATP) with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of less than 10% and an average enhancement factor (EF) of 1 × 108. For practical application, the proposed method is demonstrated for the detection of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in peanut extracts. The results show that the AFB1 in peanut extracts can be identified within 1 min, with a limit of detection of 0.5 μg/L. Compared with conventional ELISA based AFB1 analysis, our method is much more efficient (1 min versus >30 min).
The walnut genetic resources of INRA: chronological phenotypic data and ontology.
OBJECTIVES: Persian walnut (Juglans regia L.), the walnut species cultivated for nut production, is grown worldwide in temperate areas. In this work, chronological phenotypic data have been collected regarding a part of the walnut genetic resources of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) of Bordeaux. Using a well described ontology, these data have been collected in order to assess the phenotypic variations among the accessions, and to better manage the germplasm collection. These data can also be helpful for any breeding program as they provide a clear phenotypic characterization of the main cultivars. DATA DESCRIPTION: This paper introduces a dataset collected for 150 J. regia accessions for a period from 1965 to 2016, and for 3 observation sites, released as comma separated value spreadsheet. It includes observations about phenological traits (e.g. flowering dates), traits related to in-shell walnut (e.g. weight and size), and traits related to kernel (e.g. color). It can be used by other researchers particularly for multi-site phenological studies in the context of climate change since climate data files are also available. In addition, a complete walnut ontology was deposited in this repository and can assist to standardize the management of any walnut germplasm collection.
The Antimicrobial and Antiviral Activity of Polyphenols from Almond (Prunus dulcis L.) Skin.
Due to their antimicrobial and antiviral activity potential in vitro, polyphenols are gaining a lot of attention from the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. A novel antiviral and antimicrobial approach could be based on the use of polyphenols obtained from natural sources. Here, we tested the antibacterial and antiviral effect of a mix of polyphenols present in natural almond skin (NS MIX). The antimicrobial potential was evaluated against the standard American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) and clinical strains of Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant (MRSA) strains, by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). Herpes simplex virus type I was used for the antiviral assessment of NS MIX by plaque assay. Furthermore, we evaluated the expression of viral cascade antigens. NS MIX exhibited antimicrobial (MIC values of 0.31-1.25 mg/ml) and antiviral activity (decrease in the viral titer ** p < 0.01, and viral DNA accumulation * p < 0.05) against Staphylococcus aureus and HSV-1, respectively. Amongst the isolated compounds, the aglycones epicatechin and catechin showed the greatest activity against S. aureus ATCC 6538P (MIC values of 0.078-0.15 and 0.15 mg/ml, respectively), but were not active against all the other strains. These results could be used to develop novel products for topical use.
Enhanced Recovery of Antioxidant Compounds from Hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) Involucre Based on Extraction Optimization: Phytochemical Profile and Biological Activities.
Tree nut by-products could contain a wide range of phytochemicals, natural antioxidants, which might be used as a natural source for dietary supplements. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the phenolic and sterolic composition, as well as the antioxidant and other biological activities, of hazelnut involucre (HI) extracts. Experimental designs were developed in order to select the optimum extraction conditions (solvent, temperature, time) using turbo-extraction by Ultra-Turrax for obtaining extracts rich in bioactive compounds. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed by LC-MS and LC-MS/MS and they revealed important amounts of individual polyphenols and phytosterols, molecules with antioxidant potential. The richest polyphenolic HI extract with the highest antioxidant activity by TEAC assay was further evaluated by other in vitro antioxidant tests (DPPH, FRAP) and enzyme inhibitory assays. Additionally, the cytotoxic and antioxidant effects of this extract on two cancerous cell lines and on normal cells were tested. This is the first study to analyze the composition of both hydrophilic and lipophilic bioactive compounds in HI extracts. Our findings reveal that this plant by-product presents strong biological activities, justifying further research, and it could be considered an inexpensive source of natural antioxidants for food, pharmaceutical, or cosmetic industry.
Total polyphenolic compounds, total flavonoids, GC-MS analysis of volatile constituents, evaluation of antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Prunus dulcis nuts.
Prunus dulcis has been known as a source of nutrients in many traditional foods and as a source of important biologically active compounds in traditional medicines. The present study describes the determination of total polyphenolic compounds, total flavonoids and GC-MS analysis of hexane and chloroform fractions of 70% ethanol extract of whole almond shelled seed. Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of various extracts of the nuts were evaluated. Folin-Ciocalteau procedure resulted in total polyphenolic compounds as 0.008 mg (gallic acid equivalents)/mg of the dried extract and amount of total flavonoids contents yielded were 0.001 mg (quercetin equivalents)/mg of the nuts dried extracts. GC-MS analysis of the hexane and chloroform fractions yielded a number of volatile constituents, resulting in highest amounts of 6-Octadecenoic acid and 1,1,3,3-Tetramethyl cyclopentane as 37.52% and 24.54% in hexane and chloroform fractions respectively. Antioxidant activity using the DPPH radical scavenging assay resulted in very low activity in all the extracts. Only n-butanol extract showed mild activity against the gram negative E. coli with inhibition zone diameter 8 mm while rest of samples did not show any activity against any microbial strains under study.