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Summary: Chinese dried noodles (CHDNs) were fortified with unhulled flaxseed flour (UHFF) and hulled flaxseed flour (HFF), and textures, antioxidant activities, sensory properties and microstructure were investigated. The optimal levels of UHFF and HFF added to CHDNs were 5% and 10%, respectively. Compared with HFF, UHFF addition enhanced the in vitro antioxidant activities but significantly decreased the colour of CHDNs. The addition of UHFF and HFF increased the cooking loss and decreased the hardness, firmness force, tensile strength and fracture distance ratio of cooked CHDNs in a dose‐dependent manner. The addition of levels of 5% UHFF, as well 5% and 10% HFF increased the flaxseed aroma of CHDNs. Both UHFF and HFF decreased the gaps in the internal structure of CHDNs. UHFF remarkably increased the roughness of CHDNs compared with HFF. In summary, UHFF and HFF have the potential to improve the overall quality of CHDNs without compromising the eating quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Phenolic profiles and gene expression pattern in their synthetic pathway, total antioxidant activities and antiproliferative activities in two genotypes of sweet corn (YT16 and YT28) during kernel maturation were analysed. Results showed that increasing trends of phenolics and flavonoids in the two genotypes of kernels from 10 to 30 days after pollination (DAP). Gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, p‐coumaric acid and ferulic acid were identified and quantified as the main phenolic compounds in both genotypes of kernels. High expressing levels of C4O and PAL resulted in the increasing phenolic contents. Higher expressing levels of CHS in YT28 led to higher flavonoid contents than that in YT16. The phenolic contents, antioxidant capacities and antiproliferative abilities of the two genotypes of sweet corn were competitive comparing to many fruits and vegetables. In addition, the maturation process of sweet corn could raise the kernel's bioactive ability as well as nutritional values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Antimicrobial essential oil nanoemulsions have been wildly applied in plant sterilisation. Here, a turmeric oil (TO) oil‐in‐water (O/W) nanoemulsion was developed to understand the antifungal mechanism between TO and Podosphaera xanthii (P. xanthii), simulating a moisture evaporation after spraying TO nanoemulsion on plant leaves. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo‐TEM) suggested the average hydrodynamic diameter of spherical TO nanoemulsion droplets was 150.2 nm with polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.17, which suggested no significant change after storing at 54 °C for 2 weeks. Atomic force microscope (AFM) as well as conductivity and viscosity demonstrated the phase inversion of droplets from O/W to water‐in‐oil (W/O) types during moisture evaporation is a primary mechanism to reveal the antifungal TO on cucumber leaves. Finally, the antifungal capacity of TO nanoemulsion was evaluated on living cucumber plants and demonstrated a remarkable antifungal effect on inhibiting the growth of P. xanthii. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of branched‐chain amino acids (BCAAs, leucine, isoleucine and valine) combined with Lactobacillus plantarum CGMCC18217 (L. plantarum) on the flavours and quality of fermented sausages. The parameters included pH, water activity, colour, texture, BCAAs metabolites and flavour compounds of fermented sausages in eight different groups (sausages with L. plantarum and individual BCAAs, that is L + Leu, L + Ile and L + Val groups; sausages with individual BCAAs, that is the Leu, Ile and Val groups; sausages only with L. plantarum assigned as the L group; and sausages with no L. plantarum and BCAAs assigned as the CK group). The results showed that the addition of BCAAs and L. plantarum significantly increased the hardness, cohesiveness and springiness of sausages. A total of sixty‐nine flavour compounds were identified in fermented sausages. The content of methyl‐branched alcohols, aldehydes, acids in the L. plantarum and BCAAs group significantly increased compared with the other groups (P < 0.05). Therefore, our data suggest the addition of L. plantarum and BCAAs potentially improved the texture of fermented sausages and formation of volatile flavours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Adulteration of goat meat with cheaper meat such as pork has been frequently found. Conventional PCR methods to distinguish goat meat from adulteration are qualitative, which easily produce false‐positive results due to contamination but not adulteration. To address this problem, real‐time PCR based on single‐copy housekeeping genes encoding replication protein A1 was developed for goat meat and pork. By calculating the Ct ratio of goat meat/pork, the goat meat content in a suspected adulteration could be deduced by a good linear correlation (R2 = 0.9868) in a range from 5% to 80%. Analysis of the simulated samples of goat meat showed high accuracy with recoveries of 104.91% and 105.00% for the goat meat contents of 40% and 60%, respectively, and coefficient of variations were as low as 9.24% and 9.09%. Thus, the developed assay supplied a useful tool for food regulation authorities to achieve quantitative authentication of goat meat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Asp‐Leu‐Glu‐Glu (DLEE) is one of the antioxidant peptides purified from Chinese dry‐cured Xuanwei ham in our previous study. In the current work, the stability in a simulated digestion system, the transportation pathway and the antioxidant ability of DLEE were further investigated in a Caco‐2 cell monolayer. In the simulated gastrointestinal digestion system, no oligopeptides were generated. In the transport trial, the inhibitors cytochalasin D increased the transport of DLEE across the Caco‐2 cell monolayer, with Papp values of 3.22 × 10−6 cm s−1. A decreased expression occludin was observed with the DLEE incubation in the cell monolayer, and the antioxidant activity showed to be increased gradually in basolateral side. This study indicates that the absorption of DLEE could mainly occur via paracellular transport and provides information about its antioxidant activity after being absorbed across a cell monolayer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This study aimed to investigate the differences in meat tenderisation between two Chinese native sheep breeds, Duolang and Hu. The tenderness of longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle, μ‐calpain autolysis and proteolysis of myofibrillar protein was measured at 1‐ and 7‐days postmortem storage at 4 °C. At 7‐days postmortem ageing, meat from Duolang sheep was more tender compared to that from Hu sheep. The Warner–Bratzler shear force of Duolang and Hu sheep was reduced by 55.20% and 41.51% at 7 days compared with 1 day, respectively. In Duolang LT, a higher proportion of 80‐kDa μ‐calpain was autolyzed than in the Hu samples at 1‐day postmortem ageing, but they did not differ significantly at 7 days. More titin, desmin and troponin‐T were degraded in Duolang sheep compared to Hu sheep. Additionally, pH values at the different ageing time were not significantly different, indicating that pH may be not a determinant factor contributing to the tenderness difference between the two breeds. Our data suggest the earlier activation of μ‐calpain and a larger extent of proteolysis of key structural proteins may contribute to the higher rate of tenderisation of Duolang compared to Hu sheep during postmortem ageing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: To have a better understanding of regulatory mechanism of carotenoid accumulation in sweetcorn (Zea mays L.), we analysed carotenoid profiles, expression patterns of carotenogenic genes and antioxidant activities in two genotypes of sweetcorn during kernel development. The results suggested that the expression of carotenogenic genes played an essential role in carotenoid accumulation and higher expression levels of carotenogenic genes obviously led to higher levels of total carotenoids. It was found that the expression of upstream genes (ZmPDS,ZmZDS and ZmCRTISO) had major influence on the content of total carotenoid during kernel development. The accumulation of lycopene was closely related to the coordination of upstream and downstream genes. The expression of ZmHYD and ZmZEP was influential on zeaxanthin accumulation, which was also influenced by the rate of ZmCHYB/ZmCHYE. Expression levels of ZmCHYE were still stable in order for α‐xanthophylls largely accumulated during kernel development. Lutein, zeaxanthin, α‐cryptoxanthin and β‐cryptoxanthin constituted the predominant carotenoids in sweetcorn. Two essential stages for carotenoid accumulation were found in sweetcorn during kernel development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multistep enzymatic extraction method was compared with a conventional chemical extraction process to evaluate the phenolic content and antioxidant activity of highland barley (Z2, Zangqing 25; CHQK, Changheiqingke). The main phenolic compound extracted was (+)-catechin, followed by ferulic acid, p-coumaric acid, caffeic acid and chlorogenic acid. The multi-enzymatic digestion yielded a higher retrieval of (+)-catechin compared to the conventional chemical extraction procedure (P < 0.05). Compounds obtained from the multi-enzymatic digestion process exhibited significantly higher (P < 0.05) antioxidant activities determined by oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) when compared to chemical extracts. These results suggest that highland barley subjected to in vitro multi-enzymatic digestion exhibits a higher phenolic content and antioxidant activity than the chemical extraction, and this multi-enzymatic digestion coupled with the CAA assay may be a valuable tool to evaluate the antioxidant potential of wholegrains and fruits, as well as vegetables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenolics are suggested to be the major bioactive compounds responsible for the health benefits of tea. Seven types of tea were extracted using boiling water. The extraction kinetics was investigated. To more fully characterise the antioxidant profiles and possible associated health benefits of these tea types, the total water-soluble solid content, phenolics, flavonoids, and antioxidant and antiproliferative activities were quantified. Green tea leaves ( GTL) were found to have the highest phenolic content (128.7 ± 1.7 mg g−1 , P < 0.05), followed by teas of decaffeinated green tea bag (d GTB), green tea bag ( GTB), black tea bag ( BTB), decaffeinated BTB, black tea leaves and oolong tea leaves ( OTL). Among the three leaf teas, GT displayed the greatest antioxidant activity (4850.2 ± 60.7 μmol g−1, P < 0.05), followed by black tea ( BT) and oolong tea ( OT). As for the four bag teas, decaffeinated GT possessed the strongest antioxidant activity (4431.1 ± 335.0 μmol g−1, P < 0.05), followed by GT, BT and decaffeinated BT. The results display that phenolic/flavonoid content well correlated with antioxidant activity. Proliferation of three human cancer cells was significantly inhibited in a dose-dependent manner after exposure to some tea extracts. This may influence consumers in selecting the type of tea and tea brewing times, exhibiting greater health benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]