Euryale ferox, a prominent superfood: Nutritional, pharmaceutical, and its economical importance.

Euryale ferox (also known as foxnut), belongs to the family Nymphaeaceae. It is mainly grown in India, China, Japan, and Korea. It is a highly nutritious food, abundant in nutritional and bioactive compounds such as carbohydrates, protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and polyphenols. It is considered a functional food owing to its various health benefits such as antidiabetic, antihyperlipidemic, antifatigue, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, antimelanogenic, etc. E. ferox has immense potential in both food and non-food industries. Regardless of being recognized as a superfood packed with nutritional as well as medicinal properties, it is still neglected, and there has not been much attention given to its cultivation. Therefore, in this review, the potential of E. ferox as a superfood has been explored to enhance its utilization in the development of different foods and make it available outside its growing area. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Euryale ferox is abundant in several macronutrients and micronutrients; and considered as a superfood in terms of various health benefits. E. ferox has the ability to be used in the development of different health, functional, and nutraceutical foods, which will open a new door for the food industry to combat with numerous diseases.

Assessment of alpha glucosidase inhibitors produced from endophytic fungus Alternaria destruens as antimicrobial and antibiofilm agents.

Diabetes is considered as a major health concern worldwide and patients with diabetes are at high risk for infectious diseases. Therefore, α-glucosidase inhibitors possessing antibacterial activity along with the ability to inhibit biofilms would be better therapeutic agents for diabetic patients. In the present study, two fractions (AF1 and AF2) possessing α-glucosidase inhibitory activity were purified from an endophytic fungus Alternaria destruens (AKL-3) isolated from Calotropis gigantea. These were evaluated for their antimicrobial and antibiofilm potential against human pathogens. AF1 exhibited broad spectrum antimicrobial activity against all the tested pathogens. It also significantly inhibited biofilm formation and dispersed the preformed biofilm at sub-optimal concentrations. AF2 possessed lesser activity as compared to AF1. The active compounds were purified using semi preparative HPLC. Some of the active compounds were identified to be phenolic in nature. The active fractions were also determined to be non-mutagenic and non-cytotoxic in safety analysis. The study highlights the role of endophytic fungi as sources of α-glucosidase inhibitors with antimicrobial potential which can have application in management of diabetes.

Assessment of physicochemical characteristics and modifications of pasting properties of different varieties of maize flour using additives.

Maize cereal has potential to be used for food purpose but lack of viscoelastic behaviour that limits its use for this purpose. Therefore, present study on modification of pasting properties of maize flour using different additives was carried out. Flours of three maize varieties (PMH1, JL3459 and Buland) with and without additives (guar gum, xanthan gum, whey protein concentrate and potato starch) were analysed for physico-chemical and pasting properties. Maize (PMH1) had maximum thousand kernel weight (312.47 g), bulk density (0.80 g/ml), force to rupture (68.54 kg) and contained the highest starch (67.70%) and fat (5.08%) among the three varieties. Different levels of guar gum (0-1.0%), xanthan gum (0-1.0%), whey protein concentrate (0-15.0%) and potato starch (0-10.0%) were incorporated in flours from three maize varieties. Results showed that guar gum 1.0% (w/w basis) and xanthan gum 1.0% (w/w basis) incorporation led to the highest peak and final viscosity whereas whey protein concentrate and potato starch were not selected because of negative effect on these properties. These additives can be used as binding agent in chapati and other maize products.