JSFA presents mouth-watering
papers
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accessible online, or browse through the popular papers in the
Members’ lounge at HQ
 Pea
and whey to help lower blood pressure
Extracts from pea and whey can help in the fight against hypertension.
These extracts have been shown to have angiotensin converting
enzyme (ACE) inhibitory properties. ACE inhibitors are already
a class of drug commonly handed out to sufferers of elevated
blood pressure. Researchers at the University of Ghent in
Belgium were interested in purifying the extracts that have
this ACE inhibiting activity for their clinical potential.
They subjected the protein extracts that have this activity
to several techniques including centrifugation and ultrafiltration
and increased the inhibitory activity of the extracts by 800
times in pea and over 5,000 times in whey.
Fractionation of angiotensin I
converting enzyme inhibitory activity from pea and whey
protein in vitro gastrointestinal digests.
Vanessa Vermeirssen, John Van Camp, Willy Verstraete,
Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture,
DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.1926 (Available on EarlyView) |
Identifying impurities in honey with an electronic nose
Researchers working in the US and Belgium have discovered
a quick and accurate way to detect whether honey has been
adulterated. The zNose uses a surface acoustic wave
to check the aroma of the honey. The wave travels between
two electrodes and any molecules between these two electrodes
slow the wave, allowing accurate sampling of the aroma. The
scientists used the zNose to detect invert sugars from beet
and sugar cane sources. These cheaper sugars can be added
as a filler for honey, compromising its purity. The zNose
could detect adulteration with the cheaper invert sugar sources
at as little as 1%, proving itself as a cheap and efficient
method for quality control.
Fast aroma profiling to detect
invert sugar adulteration with zNose.
Els A Veraverbeke, Joseph Irudayaraj, Jeroen Lammertyn,
Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture,
DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.1961 (Available on EarlyView) |
Novel fat creates heat-resistant chocolate
Chocolate is eaten all over the world, but in tropical temperatures
requires constant refrigeration. In India researchers are
looking at methods to make chocolate more resistant to higher
temperatures. They replaced up to 20% of the cocoa butter
with kokum fat, a fat found in the seeds of trees native to
southern India. This fat has a high melting point of 39–43°C,
making it ideal as a cocoa butter replacement for hotter climates.
Hardness of chocolate with this fat increased by up to a third
and percentage of solid chocolate at 30°C by 40%, with
very little change in the overall quality of the chocolate.
Application of kokum (Garcinia
indica) fat as cocoa butter improver in chocolate.
B Maheshwari, S Yella Reddy, Journal of the Science
of Food and Agriculture. DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.1967 (Available
on EarlyView) |
Traditional Indian medicine helps treat diabetes
Scientists at Annamalai University in India have found that
the Bael fruit, a native of the Indian sub-continent long
employed in traditional medicine, can be used to treat type
II diabetes mellitus. Diabetics are unable to control their
blood sugar levels and the therapies currently available are
dietary modification — drugs that lower blood sugar and
insulin injections.
The researchers compared the effects of the fruit extract
with a blood sugar-lowering drug in rats with diabetes. They
found that the fruit extract had effects comparable to the
drug, lowering both blood sugar and blood lipid levels to
near normal levels and that the extract performed even better
than the drug in lowering kidney and liver lipid levels.
Antihyperlipidaemic effect of Aegle
marmelos fruit extract in streptozotocin-induced diabetes
in rats.
N Kamalakkannan, P Stanely Mainzen Prince, Journal
of the Science of Food and Agriculture, DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.1978
(Available on EarlyView). |
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