Bioactive components derived from bovine milk

Although functional foods are currently regulated the same as conventional foods by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) there is some concern that they should not be. One concern is whether functional foods can/should carry the same type of health and nutrition labeling claims as conventional foods. For example, the type of nutrient content claim that describes a level of the nutrient such as "good or excellent source" presents a problem for functional foods since these claims relate back to a standard value for nutrients (the daily value or DV). At this time the bioactive or functional components in a functional food do not have daily values so they could not take advantage of this type of claim. Structure/function claims are also at issue since they are required to relate to the food's attributes of taste, aroma, and nutritive value, rather than attributes of functionality (which would pertain to functional foods). There appear to be three categories of issues concerning the regulation of functional foods: safety; efficacy; and their effect on the overall diet. Since bioactive components can be synthesized or extracted and concentrated, the concern is that the amounts of these substances in functional foods might reach levels which are actually injurious to health or they may negate beneficial effects of substances in the same food. Most people/organizations consider that functional foods need to document their functionality. This means that unlike conventional foods, all functional foods, by definition, would have to apply for a health claim. Finally, the long term overarching concern is what will be the impact of a functional food-driven market on overall health. It is of interest to see how the regulatory environment for functional foods evolves in the next few years and what impact that environment has on the future of these foods.

Bioactive food components for managing cellular senescence in aging and disease: A critical appraisal and perspectives

Background Obesity is a global health problem that requires a safe and efficient approach. The objective of the research was to study how to manage obesity with functional food and dietary advice. Female obese subjects were given a daily amount of functional food for 2 months along with dietary advice. The functional food consisted of a mixture of powdered orange pectin, carrot, eggplant, oat, wheat bran, green tea, green coffee bean, Nigella sativa seeds, flax seed, roasted lemon, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, and chili pepper. Anthropometric and biochemical parameters were assessed before and after dietary intervention. Bioactive components in the functional food were analyzed. Results Results showed obese subjects to demonstrate dyslipidemia and elevated insulin resistance, plasma malondialdehyde, glucose, and interleukin‐6, together with reduced liver and kidney function compared to normal controls. Intervention with functional food with dietary advice produced significant improvement in the determined biochemical parameters except for triglycerides, high‐density lipoprotein‐cholesterol, nitric oxide, and alanine transaminase, which only showed insignificant improvements. The functional food also demonstrated a significant reduction in body mass index and waist/hip ratio. Analysis of the functional food showed high phenolic and flavonoid contents and phytosterols with an ω‐3/ω‐6 ratio of 1/10. Dietary fibers were calculated to be 30.94%. Conclusion The intervention with functional food together with dietary advice has antiobesity effect with potential reduction of comorbidities associated with obesity, which might be due to the presence of phenolic compounds, phytosterols, ω‐3 fatty acids, and dietary fibers.

Clinical Trials in Cancer Prevention: Current Results and Perspectives for the Future

Autophagy-associated signal pathways of functional foods for chronic diseases

Cereal proteins and peptides have various functions, such as antidiabetic, antihypertensive, and antioxidant activities. Proteins that inhibit α-amylase activity, suppress glucose-transporter expression, and adsorb glucose to prevent diabetes can be easily applied as bioactive components in functional foods because they are tasteless and exert their functions in the gut. On the other hand, peptides that inhibit dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) activity to prevent diabetes, ACE activity to prevent hypertension, and suppress oxidative stress in the liver exert their functions after absorption from the small intestine. As peptides often have a bitter taste, the development of food-processing techniques to produce functional foods with favorable palatability is also required in order to apply scientific findings about peptides to functional foods.

The invasiveness and low survivability on the part of patients associated with cancer continues to raise global concern. Different approaches have been used in the treatment and restoration of normalcy in cancer patients. However, most of the therapeutic strategies employed are challenged with high cost, low efficacy, high toxicity, and multiple side effects. In recent times, emergent studies have provided evidence that functional foods and their bioactive components serve roles as potential agents in the prevention and treatment of cancers. Moreover, global interest has focused on how this chemoprevention potential of functional foods can be explored as plant-based medicines for drug development. Although, the literature is replete with the mechanism of chemoprevention elicited by individual components of functional foods, there are limited reports on their overall anti-cancer mechanisms. Therefore, this systematic review aims to unify the anti-cancer mechanisms of functional foods in cervical, breast, and liver cancers which were selected due to their high incidence and mortality globally. We reviewed articles from NCBI/PUBMED from 2010 until February 2020. Three different search words used include “Functional food and cervical cancer”; “Functional foods and breast cancer”; “Functional foods and hepatocarcinoma”. Consequently, 434 scientific papers resulted from the three search words. However, after applying the inclusion/exclusion criteria, 37 articles were selected: 14 on cervical cancer, 10 on breast cancer, and 13 on hepatocellular carcinoma. We subsequently emphasize the anti-cancer mechanisms of various functional foods in the studies selected and these include induction of apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, disruption of microtubular network, downregulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family expression, induction of autophagy, modulation of signaling cascades, ROS generation, and suppression of specific genes. Therefore, functional foods possess effective chemoprevention mechanisms which can be explored in drug development. Keywords: Cervical cancer, Breast cancer, Liver cancer, Cancer prevention, Functional foods, Bioactive compounds

: Evidence continues to mount that dietary components are important determinants of cancer risk and tumor behavior. Although these linkages are fascinating, numerous inconsistencies are also evident in the literature. Although multifactorial, these discrepancies likely reflect variation in the ability of food constituents to reach and/or modify critical molecular targets. Genetic polymorphisms can alter the response to dietary components (nutrigenetic effect) by influencing the absorption, metabolism, or site of action. Likewise, variation in DNA methylation patterns and other epigenomic events that influence overall gene expression can influence the biological response to food components and vice versa. Fluctuations in the ability of food components to increase or depress gene expression (nutritional transcriptomic effect) may also account for some of the inconsistencies in the response to foods. Functional proteomic studies that capture all of the proteins produced by a species and link them to physiological significance within the cell will be fundamental to understanding the relationship between dietary interventions, proteome changes, and cancer. Although a bioactive food component may influence a number of key molecular events that are involved with cancer prevention, to do so it must achieve an effective concentration within the target site, be in the correct metabolic form, and bring about a change in one or more small molecular weight signals in the cellular milleau (metabolomic effects). Fundamental to assessing and evaluating the significance of the interrelationships among bioactive food components with nutrigenetics, nutritional epigenomics, nutritional transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics is knowledge about the appropriate tissue/cell or surrogate to evaluate and validated biomarkers that reflect changes in each. As the era of molecular nutrition grows, a greater understanding about the role of foods and their components on cancer risk and tumor behavior will surely unfold. Such information will be critical in the development of effective preemptive approaches to reduce the cancer burden.

Functional oils and fats of nanoemulsion as a food nutrient transport system is considered to be effective and safe. The article expounds Composition, physicochemical properties, preparation methods and application research status on Functional oils and fats of nanoemulsion, to give more nutritional and functional of the Functional oils and fats, recommendations focus on the interaction with real food matrix between may study, optimization, explore new mechanism and preparation methods of the Functional oils and fats of nanoemulsion, in order to provide a theoretical basis for the further study of bioactive compounds or food components, and to effectively meet the urgent needs of the food industry for the high quality raw materials of the Functional oils and fats of nanoemulsion system, a wide range of bioactive compounds or food components are particularly considered.

Cereal bars represent a fast source of nutrients and energy, instrumental in enlarging the functional foods market. Among the different bioactive components, Arthrospira platensis (spirulina) has gained great interest for application in functional food, thanks to its pigment phycocyanin, a high-value protein, with antioxidant properties. The bar's nutritional composition was planned to produce enriched fruit cereal bars with an increased protein content of up to 10%, with a 2% spirulina addition. Bars were prepared by mixing sugars, honey, puffed wheat, and dried fruits (candied orange and lemon, peanuts, and almonds) at 130°C. Finally, different concentrations of spirulina powder (0.2%, 1.0%, and 2.0%) were added by mixing with heating off. Sensory evaluation was conducted by a trained panel on the enriched bars at three different spirulina concentrations. Tests included Descriptive Analysis (DA), Check-All-That-Apply questionnaire (CATA), and Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS). Sensory analysis indicated that olfactory and flavor notes were essentially red fruits, raisins, and toasted and spicy odor at all spirulina concentrations, without any trace of off-odors or -flavors. In the 0.2% spirulina bar the attribute "citrus" was dominant during the whole taste analysis, while 1% and 2% bars showed the dominance of "red and dried fruit" flavors. Enriched fruit cereal bars with spirulina up to 2% showed increased levels of a high-value protein, without inducing undesirable changes in sensory parameters. These are encouraging data for successful spirulina-supplemented functional foods production.

To evaluate recent developments in nutritional epigenomics and related challenges, opportunities, and implications for cancer control and prevention. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and understanding the factors that contribute to cancer development may facilitate the development of strategies for cancer prevention and control. Cancer development involves genetic and epigenetic alterations. Genetic marks are permanent, whereas epigenetic marks are dynamic, change with age, and are influenced by the external environment. Thus, epigenetics provides a link between the environment, diet, and cancer development. Proper food selection is imperative for better health and to avoid cancer and other diseases. Nutrients either contribute directly to cancer prevention or support the repair of genomic and epigenomic damage caused by exposure to cancer-causing agents such as toxins, free radicals, radiation, and infectious agents. Nutritional epigenomics provides an opportunity for cancer prevention because selected nutrients have the potential to reverse cancer-associated epigenetic marks in different tumor types. A number of natural foods and their bioactive components have been shown to have methylation-inhibitory and deacetylation-inhibitory properties. Natural foods and bioactive food components have characteristics and functions that are similar to epigenetic inhibitors and therefore have potential in cancer control and prevention.

Establishing health benefits of bioactive food components: a basic research scientist’s perspective

Cancer stem cells: potential target for bioactive food components

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of multiple functions of the coriander plant, including its nutritional and nutraceutical benefits, with special reference to linalool.Design/methodology/approachThe authors undertake a literature review of the coriander plant's history, chemical composition of coriander parts and its oil, and their nutraceutical potential. Various phytopharmacological appraisals have been discussed at length to investigate their important potential.FindingsCoriander is an annual, herbaceous plant which originated from the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions and known as medicinal plants. Coriander contains an essential oil (0.03‐2.6%). The different parts of this plant contain monoterpenes, limpnene, α‐pinene, γ‐terpinene, p‐cymene, citronellol, borneol, camphor, coriandrin, geraniol, dihydrocoriandrin, coriandronsA‐E, flavonoids and essential oils. It is used as a stomachic, spasmolytic and carminative which have a greater bioactive property. Various parts of this plant, such as seeds, leaves, flower and fruit, possess antioxidant activity, diuretic, anti‐convulsant anti‐diabetic activity, sedative hypnotic activity, anti‐mutagenic, anti‐microbial activity, anthelmintic activity. The physical properties, chemical composition and bioactivity affect the coriander's commercial value.Research limitations/implicationsCurrently available information on coriander seeds and leaves is insufficient. These observations have led to continuing research aimed at identifying specific bioactive components in foods, such as antioxidants, which may be responsible for improving and maintaining health. Antioxidants are present in foods as vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, and polyphenols. Coriander is also rich in such compounds. Research supports that some of these foods, as part of an overall healthful diet, have the potential to delay the onset of many age‐related diseases, so there is urgent need to explore the role of these compounds.Originality/valueThis review is unique in its comprehensive nature and reflects the importance of coriander as a medicinal food.

The establishment of functional effects due to variation in concentrations of micronutrients in our diet is difficult since they are often not immediately recognized as being healthy or unhealthy. Indeed, effects induced by micronutrients are hard to identify and therefore the establishment of the recommended daily intake, the optimal intake and the upper limit pose a challenge. For bioactive food components this is even more complicated. Whole-genome transcriptome analysis is highly suitable to obtain unbiased information on potential affected biological processes on a whole-genome level. Here, we will describe and discuss several aspects of transcriptome analysis in benefit-risk assessment, including effect size, sensitivity and statistical power, that have to be taken into account to faithfully identify functional effects of micronutrients and bioactive food components.