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Bioactives and Functional Ingredients in Foods and Beverages 2.0

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A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2022) | Viewed by 8880

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Débora Villaño

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Guest Editor

Pharmacy Degree, Catholic University “San Antonio”—Murcia (UCAM), 30107 Murcia, Spain
Interests: pharmacology; pharmacognosy; natural products; health-promoting bioactives; human nutrition; oxidative stress; bioavailability and metabolism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to inform you that Molecules has launched the second edition of the Special Issue “Bioactives and Functional Ingredients in Foods and Beverage”.

Bioactives and functional ingredients are natural non-essential nutrients with the potential to exert health-protective or disease-preventive properties beyond their nutritive value. There are thousands of compounds, many of them understudied, that work differently, presenting a wide range of biological properties, namely: antioxidants, activators or inhibitors of enzymes, DNA protective compounds, hormone modulators, anti-bacterial, immune-modulatory substances, and so on.

Foods and beverages containing bioactives are already part of our daily diets, but it is expected that new designs and developments incorporating valuable bioavailable ingredients with the potential to modulate the metabolism and the physiological processes necessary for a claimed beneficial effect on the health of human subjects will arise—in particular, improving the current state of the art in demonstrating a cause–effect relationship between the consumption of the given food product and the health-promoting characteristic/s claimed, which are associated with the fully characterized bioactive molecules and metabolites in the food or the formulated edible product.

The present Special Issue intends to reflect, as far as possible, the recent advances connecting and integrating, “from farm to food and health”, the many factors involved in obtaining new foods and beverages enriched in bioactives and functional ingredients, as follows:

The ingredient sourcing, its quality, and the sustainability of the production systems;
The influence of the agronomical, industrial, and domestic processes to condition the maintenance of quality during shelf-life, and the expected functionality;
The demonstration of biological effects based on studies of the quality, bioavailability, and bioactivity of new foods and beverages enriched in bioactive compounds; the elucidation of the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of the organic forms, conjugates, circulating forms of the bioactives; and the markers of intake and bioactivity, with the support of advanced omics technologies;
The consumer-driven design of new foods and beverages, as well as the novel designs for specific population groups with special needs (e.g., aging adults, allergies, caloric intake control or restricted diets, chronic conditions, and immuno-depressed situations);
And much more.

Dr. Débora Villaño
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Added value food products
New developments and trends in foods and beverages
Bioactive compounds, biomolecules, and health-promoters
Bioaccessible, bioavailable, and bioactive compounds
Health-promotion and disease prevention and management
Chemical characterization of foods and beverages
Shelf-life, organoleptic, and functional quality
Structure–bioactivity relationship for claimed benefits

Related Special Issue

Bioactives and Functional Ingredients in Foods and Beverages in Molecules (15 articles)

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1677 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Comparison of Bioactive Metabolites, Antinutrients, and Bioactivities of African Pumpkin Leaves (Momordica balsamina L.) Cooked by Different Culinary Techniques

by Petunia Mashiane, Tinotenda Shoko, Vimbainashe Manhivi, Retha Slabbert, Yasmina Sultanbawa and Dharini Sivakumar

Molecules 2022, 27(6), 1901; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules27061901 - 15 Mar 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2253

Abstract

Prior to consumption, African pumpkin leaves (Momordica balsamina L.) are generally cooked. In this study, the effects of common household cooking methods (boiling, steaming, microwaving, stir-frying) on bioactive metabolites, carotenoids, antioxidant activity, antinutrients and inhibitory effects on α-glucosidase and α-amylase activities were examined. A set of 14 bioactive metabolites were identified in raw and cooked African leaves using UPLC-QTOF/MS. The results showed that the four different types of household cooking methods had different effects on the bioactive metabolomics profile of African pumpkin leaves. In comparison to raw leaves and leaves cooked in other methods, the concentrations of six phenolic compounds, rutin, cryptochlorogenic acid (4-caffeoylquinic acid), pseudolaroside A, isorhamnetin 3-O-robinoside, quercetin 3-galactoside, and trans-4-feruloylquinic acid, were highest in stir-fried leaves. Of all household cooking methods tested, stir-frying increased the content of lutein, β-carotene, and zeaxanthin by 60.00%, 146.15%, and 123.51%, respectively. Moreover, stir-frying African pumpkin leaves increased the antioxidant activity (DPPH and ABTS) and the inhibition of α-glucosidase and α-amylase. Compared to all four methods of household cooking, stir-frying reduced the antinutritive compounds compared to raw leaves. This work provides useful information to the consumers on the selection of suitable cooking methods for African pumpkin leaves. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioactives and Functional Ingredients in Foods and Beverages 2.0)

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19 pages, 1675 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Fructose and Oligofructose Addition on Milk Fermentation Using Novel Lactobacillus Cultures to Obtain High-Quality Yogurt-like Products

by Dorota Zielińska, Katarzyna Marciniak-Lukasiak, Marcelina Karbowiak and Piotr Lukasiak

Molecules 2021, 26(19), 5730; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules26195730 - 22 Sep 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3015

Abstract

The incorporation of prebiotics in fermented milk products is one of the best ways to promote health benefits while improving their sensory characteristics at the same time. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the addition of fructose and oligofructose (1% and 2%) on the physicochemical, rheological, sensory, and microbiological quality attributes of fermented milk products inoculated with indigenous probiotic starter cultures of Lactobacillus isolated from Polish traditional fermented foods. The samples were evaluated during 35 days of refrigerated storage. The oligofructose and fructose caused increases in the populations of bacteria in comparison to the control fermented milk products without the addition of saccharides. The degrees of acidification in different fermented milk samples, as well as their viscosity, firmness, syneresis, and color attributes, changed during storage. The highest overall sensory quality levels were observed for the samples supplemented with L. brevis B1 and oligofructose. This study is the first attempt to compare the influences of different sugar sources on the physicochemical, rheological, sensory, and microbiological quality attributes of fermented milk products. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioactives and Functional Ingredients in Foods and Beverages 2.0)

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19 pages, 1793 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Supplementation with Magnesium Salts—A Strategy to Increase Nutraceutical Value of Pleurotus djamor Fruiting Bodies

by Piotr Zięba, Agnieszka Sękara, Emilia Bernaś, Agata Krakowska, Katarzyna Sułkowska-Ziaja, Edward Kunicki, Małgorzata Suchanek and Bożena Muszyńska

Molecules 2021, 26(11), 3273; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules26113273 - 28 May 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2908

Abstract

The use of substrates supplemented with minerals is a promising strategy for increasing the nutraceutical value of Pleurotus spp. The current research was performed to analyze the effect of substrate supplementation with magnesium (Mg) salts on the Mg content, biomass, and chemical composition of pink oyster mushroom (Pleurotus djamor) fruiting bodies. Before inoculation, substrate was supplemented with MgCl₂ × 6 H₂O and MgSO₄, both salts were applied at three concentrations: 210, 420, and 4200 mg of Mg per 2 kg of substrate. The harvest period included three flushes. Substrate supplementation with 4200 mg of Mg caused the most significant decrease in mushroom productivity, of about 28% for both Mg salts. The dry matter content in fruiting bodies was significantly lower in the treatment in which 210 mg of Mg was applied as MgSO₄ in comparison to the control. Supplementation effectively increased the Mg content in fruiting bodies of P. djamor by 19–85% depending on the treatment, and significantly affected the level of remaining bioelements and anions. One hundred grams of pink oyster fruiting bodies, supplemented with Mg salts, provides more than 20% of the Mg dietary value recommended by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); thus, supplementation can be an effective technique for producing mushrooms that are rich in dietary Mg. Although P. djamor grown in supplemented substrate showed lower productivity, this was evident only in the fresh weight because the differences in dry weight were negligible. Mg supplementation increased the antioxidant activity of the fruiting bodies, phenolic compounds, and some amino acids, including L-tryptophan, and vitamins (thiamine and l-ascorbic acid). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioactives and Functional Ingredients in Foods and Beverages 2.0)

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