Bioactive compounds in coffee and their role in lowering the risk of major public health consequences: A review.

This article addresses the bioactive components in coffee aroma, their metabolism, and the mechanism of action in lowering the risk of various potential health problems. The main bioactive components involved in the perceived aroma of coffee and its related health benefits are caffeine, chlorogenic acid (CGA), trigonelline, diterpenes, and melanoids. These compounds are involved in various physiological activities. Caffeine has been shown to have anticancer properties, as well as the ability to prevent the onset and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma and to be anti-inflammatory. CGA exhibits antioxidant action and is implicated in gut health, neurodegenerative disease protection, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease prevention. Furthermore, together with diterpenes, CGA has been linked to anticancer activity. Trigonelline, on the other side, has been found to lower oxidative stress by increasing antioxidant enzyme activity and scavenging reactive oxygen species. It also prevents the formation of kidney stones. Diterpenes and melanoids possess anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, respectively. Consuming three to four cups of filtered coffee per day, depending on an individual's physiological condition and health status, has been linked to a lower risk of several degenerative diseases. Despite their health benefits, excessive coffee intake above the recommended daily dosage, calcium and vitamin D deficiency, and unfiltered coffee consumption all increase the risk of potential health concerns. In conclusion, moderate coffee consumption lowers the risk of different noncommunicable diseases.

Effect of pretreatments and solar tunnel dryer zones on functional properties, proximate composition, and bioactive components of pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) pulp powder.

Pumpkin fruits are large in size and need to be cut into pieces for use. The quality and storage life of cuts rapidly deteriorated. Big size fruits can be converted to shelf stable product to minimize postharvest loss using solar driers. However, drying temperature and RH in long solar tunnel drier not uniform and may affects quality of dried products. Therefore this research work aimed to investigate the effects of pre-drying treatments and solar tunnel dryer zones on the functional properties, proximate composition, and bioactive components of pumpkin pulp powder. Three groups of pumpkin slices were pre-treated in 1% citric acid (20 min), 2% salt (20 min) solutions, and the other group blanched at 65 °C in 1% salt solution (2 min), untreated sample used as a control. Pre-treated samples then dried in three zones of tunnel solar drier (zone I, zone II and zone III). Treatment combinations were laid down in factorial RCBD replicated 3 times. Results showed that pulp powder from salt pre-treated slice and dried at zone III results in the highest values of shrinkage, rehydration ratio, water holding capacity, and bulk density. Moisture content decreased from zone I to III, and with salt blanching in range of 8.2 to 6.4%, no effect in crude fat content, slices pre-treated in 2% salt solution results is better crude protein and fiber contents in zones. Better retention of total polyphones, beta-carotene, ascorbic acid, with high DPPH scavenging activity and lowest IC50 values were observed for salt pre-treated sample but dried in zone II of the drier. In general relatively better functional properties, proximate composition and bioactive compounds of the powder can be preserved when slices pre-treated in 2% salt solution and dried in zone II of solar tunnel drier characterized by 54.9 ± 3.7 °C, RH value of 31.4 ± 3.4% and air velocity of 0.45 m/s.

Anchote (Coccinia abyssinica [Lam.] Cogn.) powder, an underutilized indigenous crop, as a substitute to commercial pectin in the production of strawberry jam.

The study investigated the potential of anchote (Coccinia abyssinica [Lam.] Cogn.) tuber powder as a substitute to commercial pectin. Mixture D-optimal design was used to generate 14 experimental runs using ranges: strawberry fruit (45-55%), sugar (43-53%), and anchote powder (0.75-1.75%). The effect of anchote powder on physicochemical and textural qualities of the jams was evaluated. The parameters measured include: moisture content (30.7-32.8%), total soluble solid (50.7-65.4 ºBrix), water activity (0.73-0.80), pH (2.93-3.13), titratable acidity (0.58-0.72%), gel strength (326.39-440.37 g mm), hardness (26.36-35.09 g), cohesiveness (0.89-0.94), energy of penetration (418.72-489.51 g s), adhesiveness (-25.38 to -103.79 g s) and stickiness (-13.78 to -29.22 g). The jam formulation J13 (50% strawberry, 48.2% sugar, 1.33% anchote) was best performing. Numerical optimization showed the best combination of parameters at 52.4% strawberry, 46.0% sugar, 1.07% anchote. The jam formulated with anchote powder was comparable with the jam made using pectin.

Starch composition and functional properties of raw and pretreated anchote (Coccinia abyssinica (Lam.) Cogn.) tuber flours dried at different temperatures.

Anchote (Coccinia abyssinica (Lam.) Cogn.) is an indigenous tuber crop produced in southwest part of Ethiopia. As an indigenous and underutilized tuber, limited scientific information is available about the characteristics of dried anchote powder. In this study, attempts were made to investigate the starch composition and functional properties of flours produced from the raw and pretreated tuber dried at different temperatures (60, 80, and 100°C). The results showed that both pretreatment and drying temperature significantly (p < .05) affected the amylose/amylopectin ratio, pH, total soluble solids (TSS), water absorption capacity (WAC), oil absorption capacity (OAC), water absorption index (WAI), water solubility index (WSI), swelling power (SP), total polyphenols content (TPC), and total flavonoid content (TFC). The treatment combinations result in varied ranges of pH (5.70-6.47), TSS (5.37-10.8 °Brix), WAC (2.42-4.21 g/g), OAC (0.94-1.44 g/g), WAI (3.40-5.42 g/g), WSI (11.40%-20.37%), SP (4.56-7.20 g/g), foaming capacity (FC) (3.31%-33.33%), foam stability (FS) (1.89%-20.00%), amylose content (AC) (14.18%-36.11% ), TPC (0.22-0.80 mg GAE/g), and TFC content (0.12-0.44 mg CE/g). The blanched and boiled anchote flours dried at relatively lower drying temperature exhibited better WAC, SP, and WAI than the raw. Considering the determined parameters, the flour from the tuber can be used as an ingredient in different food formulations.

Effects of Variety and Curing and Drying Methods on Quality Attributes of Turmeric (Curcuma domestica) Powder

Abstract Variety and the method used for curing and drying affect the quality and marketability of processed turmeric (Curcuma domestica) powder. This study was conducted to determine the effects of Variety (Bonga51/71, HT3/2002, and Dame), Curing method (conventional curing (CCM) and improved curing (ICM)), and Drying method (open-air drying (OSD), solar tunnel dryer (STD), and greenhouse solar dryer (GSD)) on the quality attributes (moisture content, total ash, acid-insoluble ash, curcumin, oleoresin, essential oil, and color rating) of turmeric powder using a 3x2x3 factorial design. The results revealed that moisture content was reduced substantially to 7.67% and 6.5% for HT3/2002 variety cured with CCM and ICM but dried with STD, respectively; and to 6.67% and 6.42% for Dame variety cured/dried/ with ICM/GSD and CCM/STD, respectively. Dame variety cured with ICM and dried with GSD resulted in the lowest total ash (6.67%); but it gave the lowest acid-insoluble ash when cured with CCM and dried with OSD (0.993%) and GSD (0.997%). The highest curcumin retention (6.99%) and oleoresin yield (13.88%) were obtained from Bonga51/71 variety cured with CCM and dried with STD, and Dame variety cured with ICM and dried with OSD, respectively. On the other hand, the highest (6.52%) essential oil yield was obtained from Bonga51/71 variety cured with CCM and dried with OSD. In summary, OSD provides the lowest total and acid-insoluble ashes (pharmacognostic parameters of turmeric for different medicinal uses) and the highest oleoresin (contains color, pungency, and flavor constituents of turmeric) in CCM and ICM curing methods, respectively.