Exploration of bioactive peptides from various origin as promising nutraceutical treasures: In vitro, in silico and in vivo studies.

The current health scenarios describe growing public health problems, such as diabetes, hypertension and cancer. Therefore, researchers focused on studying these health issues are interested in exploring bioactive compounds from different food sources. Among them, bioactive peptides have garnered huge scientific interest because of their multifunctional biological activities such as antioxidative, antimicrobial, antihypertensive, anticancer, antidiabetic, immunomodulatory effect. They can be used as food and pharmaceutical ingredients with a great potential against disease targets. This review covers methods of production in general for several peptides obtained from various food sources including seed, milk and meat, and described their biological activities. Particular focus was given to bioinformatic tools to advance quantification, detection and characterize each peptide sequence obtained from different protein sources with predicted biological activity. Besides, various in vivo studies have been discussed to provide a better understanding of their physiological functions, which altogether could provide valuable information for their commercialization in future foods.

Assessment of physical, microstructural, thermal, techno-functional and rheological characteristics of apple (Malus domestica) seeds of Northern Himalayas.

In this research, two common apple seed cultivars Viz: 'Golden Delicious' (GD) and 'Red Delicious' (RD) of Northern Himalayan region were characterized for physical, techno-functional, microstructure, thermal, and rheological properties. Seeds showed a significant difference in width, arithmetic, and geometric mean diameters, volume, and surface area. Proximate analysis results revealed that seed flours have high oil content (> 20%) and are potentially rich sources of protein (> 40%). Color analysis of flours indicated their satisfactory whiter color with higher brightness values (L* ˃ 75), resulting from the reduced particle size which allows greater light penetration and relatively lower a* (< 1.5) and b* (< 11) values. Techno-functional attributes including water/oil absorption capacity, emulsifying capacity, and emulsion stability were significantly higher in RD than GD flour. There was also a significant difference in the average particle size of seed flours. Flour micrographs indicated the presence of oval/spherical-shaped starch granules embedded in dense protein matrix while, Differential Scanning calorimeter (DSC) revealed exothermic transition enthalpies for seed flours. Additionally, seed flours depicted high elastic modulus (G'), suggesting their suitability for modifying food texture. It was concluded that apple seeds exhibit significant potential for use in formulating protein-enriched foods while contributing to reducing industrial wastage.

Valorization of natural colors as health-promoting bioactive compounds: Phytochemical profile, extraction techniques, and pharmacological perspectives.

Color is the prime attribute with a large impact on consumers' perception, selection, and acceptance of foods. However, the belief in bio-safety protocols, health benefits, and the nutritional importance of food colors had focused the attention of the scientific community across the globe towards natural colorants that serve to replace their synthetic toxic counterparts. Moreover, multi-disciplinary applications of greener extraction techniques and their hyphenated counterparts for selective extraction of bioactive compounds is a hot topic focusing on process intensification, waste valorization, and retention of highly stable bioactive pigments from natural sources. In this article, we have reviewed available literature to provide all possible information on various aspects of natural colorants, including their sources, photochemistry and associated biological activities explored under in-vitro and in-vivo animal and human studies. However a particular focus is given on innovative technological approaches for the effective extraction of natural colors for nutraceutical and pharmaceutical applications.

Food hydrocolloids: Functional, nutraceutical and novel applications for delivery of bioactive compounds.

Nowadays, the consumers' understanding of the relation between diet and health has bought a profound change in their dietary pattern and lifestyle transformation. They aspire more to natural and health-full food products with desired quality and functionality. The emergence of this consciousness among consumers has become one of the driving factors for designing food products that can meet both their specific nutritional needs and health benefits. Known as the skeleton structure of food, hydrocolloids from food biopolymers have thus received much attention in recent years from both scientific communities as well as from consumers and food sectors. They play a crucial role in the tribology, rheology and sensory perceptions of food and pharmaceutical formulations when been utilized as viscosity enhancers, gelling agents, emulsifiers, coating, and stabilizing agents. Further, the implication of this multifarious class of biopolymers has increased tremendously because of their remarkable therapeutic potential. Based on prevailing literature hydrocolloids offer significant opportunities in tailoring the nutritional value along with providing health benefits via controlling gastric emptying and ileal brake mechanism, lowering plasma cholesterol levels, glycemic response, postprandial glucose and insulin levels, and prevention of colon cancer, and improving the bioavailability of specific bioactive compounds and drugs through their controlled and targeted delivery along the gastrointestinal tract. This review provides a comprehensive discussion on the functionality and nutraceutical potential of food colloids as a functional food ingredient with a specific focus on their application as controlled release excipients for nutraceuticals or drug release systems.