Nutrição em Ação: O Poder das Frutas na Alimentação

O Programa Nutrição em Ação foi na feira livre mostrar quais as frutas que a população mias consome, as vitaminas de cada fruta, como elas podem introduzidas na alimentação e os benefícios que trazem à saúde.

Isolation, chemical characterization and antioxidant activity of Prunus spinosa L. fruit phenolic polysaccharide-proteins.

Wild blackthorn fruits are a slightly explored area and their use is negligible, although they show many therapeutic effects. Polysaccharide complexes were solubilized from ripe Prunus spinosa L. fruits by sequential extraction with water (cold and hot), oxalate, ammonia, and sodium hydroxide solutions. The extracted fractions were rich in carbohydrates, phenolics, and proteins, indicating the presence of complexes of these compounds. It was found that most of the material was released with 5% KOH and hot water. The aqueous fractions had a high molecular weight and also polydispersity index, while the other fractions had low molecular weight. Based on the monosaccharide composition, three groups of fractions were observed. The aqueous and oxalate fractions represent highly esterified pectin material, ammonia extraction provided a mixture of de-esterified pectin and hemicelluloses, and alkaline isolates were rich in arabinogalactan and hemicelluloses. Antioxidant activity tests revealed significant effects of blackthorn samples, alkali-extracted fractions at concentrations of 0.02 and 0.05 mg/mL achieved DPPH radical scavenging comparable to that of vitamin C. Most samples achieved maximum activity comparable to vitamin C at a concentration of 0.1 mg/mL. An analogous effect was also found by the FRAP test, all fractions had a significant reducing capacity at a concentration of 0.05 mg/mL, but only the alkaline fractions reached almost vitamin C level. Preliminary results may support interest in these "undiscovered" natural fruits as a rich source of natural antioxidants.

Enhancing thermal and emulsifying resilience of pomegranate fruit protein with gum Arabic conjugation.

In this study, a controlled Maillard reaction was carried out to conjugate gum Arabic (GA) polymer to pomegranate protein isolate (PPI). The Maillard conjugates (MCs) were visualized by SEM and authenticity of the conjugates was assessed by NMR, FTIR, and XRD. To reveal the effect of the Maillard conjugation on the quality attributes of PPI, functional properties, thermal stability, and emulsifying behaviors of PPI and MCs were investigated. The oil binding capacity of conjugated protein (370.52%) was higher than that of protein alone (208.19%). While GA and PPI were completely degraded or decomposed at a temperature of 1000 °C, the MCs retained approximately half of the initial mass. MCs displayed higher emulsifying activity (42.71 m2/g) and emulsifying stability (90.17 (ESI30)), compared to PPI (32.61 m2/g) and (72.25 (ESI30)). Stability coefficient was significantly improved and reached from 0.64 R to 0.95 R with the usage of MCs in the emulsions. A lower centrifugal precipitation rate was determined in MCs emulsions (28.26%) compared to PPI emulsions (45.42%). Utilization of MCs instead of protein alone as a stabilizer in the oil-in-water emulsions was a logical approach for increasing their stability against environmental degradations including freeze-thaw cycle, pH, ionic, and temperature stress.

Breakfast patterns and weight status among adolescents: a study on the Brazilian National Dietary Survey 2008-2009.

Examining the composition of breakfast concerning weight status is essential for evaluating adolescent health and understanding this gap. This study aimed to identify breakfast patterns and investigate the relationship with weight status among Brazilian adolescents. We used a subsample of 7425 adolescents aged 10-19 years from the 2008-2009 Brazilian Household Budget Survey. Breakfast eaters were those with intake of at least 50 kcal (209·2 kJ) between 05.00 and 10.00 hours. Breakfast dietary patterns were derived by principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation. We performed logistic regression analyses between breakfast patterns and weight status, considering the complexity of the survey sample design. Three breakfast patterns were identified explaining 44·8 % of data variability: (1) the Cereal, protein, fruit beverages and Northern/Northeastern pattern, characterised by high consumption of cookies, meats, dairy products, preparations with maize, eggs, fruit juices/fruit drinks/soya-based drinks, tubers/roots/potatoes and cereals, and negative adherence to cold cut meat and savoury snacks/crackers; (2) the Protein-based pattern, characterised by positive loadings for cold cut meat, milk and cheese, and negative for cookies, fruit juices/fruit drinks/soya-based drinks, tubers/roots/potatoes and cereals; and (3) the Mixed pattern, with positive loadings for cakes, coffee/tea, bread, fruit juices/fruit drinks/soya-based drinks, chocolate/desserts and savoury snacks/crackers. No association was found between skipping and weight status. Overweight adolescents had lower adherence to the Cereal, protein, fruit beverages and Northern/Northeastern pattern (OR = 0·67; 95 % CI 0·47, 0·96). This is the first study to address dietary patterns at the meal level with adolescent population-based data, which requires further investigation.

Comparative Proteomic Analysis on Fruit Ripening Processes in Two Varieties of Tropical Mango (Mangifera indica).

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is an economically important fruit. However, the marketability of mango is affected by the perishable nature and short shelf-life of the fruit. Therefore, a better understanding of the mango ripening process is of great importance towards extending its postharvest shelf life. Proteomics is a powerful tool that can be used to elucidate the complex ripening process at the cellular and molecular levels. This study utilized 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D-GE) coupled with MALDI-TOF/TOF to identify differentially abundant proteins during the ripening process of the two varieties of tropical mango, Mangifera indica cv. 'Chokanan' and Mangifera indica cv 'Golden Phoenix'. The comparative analysis between the ripe and unripe stages of mango fruit mesocarp revealed that the differentially abundant proteins identified could be grouped into the three categories namely, ethylene synthesis and aromatic volatiles, cell wall degradation and stress-response proteins. There was an additional category for differential proteins identified from the 'Chokanan' variety namely, energy and carbohydrate metabolism. However, of all the differential proteins identified, only methionine gamma-lyase was found in both 'Chokanan' and 'Golden Phoenix' varieties. Six differential proteins were selected from each variety for validation by analysing their respective transcript expression using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). The results revealed that two genes namely, glutathione S-transferase (GST) and alpha-1,4 glucan phosphorylase (AGP) were found to express in concordant with protein abundant. The findings will provide an insight into the fruit ripening process of different varieties of mango fruits, which is important for postharvest management.

Cell wall proteome analysis of banana fruit softening using iTRAQ technology.

Softening is important for quality formation in some climacteric fruits. The molecular mechanism underlying fruit softening is, however, not well understood. In this study, we performed a comparative cell wall proteomics analysis on pre-climacteric (P1) and post-climacteric (P2) banana fruit, corresponding to fruit at the mature green stage and softening ripening stage, respectively, using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) technology. A total of 5230 proteins were identified in both sample groups, of which 928 were predicted to be secreted proteins. Of the secreted proteins, 162 were differentially expressed in P2 versus P1. The majority of these proteins had catalytic activity, binding activity, electron carrier activity and antioxidant activity. Compared with P1, P2 had 105 and 57 up- and down-regulated proteins, respectively. GO and KEGG-pathway analysis of these differentially expressed secreted proteins revealed that most were implicated in cell wall metabolism, stress and defense response, signaling, and protein metabolism and modification. Quantitative RT-PCR further validated some key differentially expressed secreted proteins associated with cell wall metabolism, stress and defense response, signaling and protein destination. Our results represent the first cell wall proteome of banana fruit and comprehensive proteomic study of banana fruit softening. SIGNIFICANCE: Softening, which is the consequence of cell wall and turgor modification, is one of the most important factors determining banana fruit quality. The molecular mechanism regulating fruit softening in harvested banana is not currently well understood. In this study, we performed a comparative cell wall proteome analysis for pre-climacteric (P1) and post-climacteric (P2) banana fruit, corresponding to the mature green stage and softening ripening stage, respectively, using iTRAQ technology. We found 162 differentially expressed secreted proteins that were mainly implicated in cell wall metabolism, stress response and defense, signaling, and protein metabolism and modification. We have presented the first cell wall proteome of banana fruit and conducted a comprehensive proteomic study of banana fruit softening that will help to develop strategies to improve the sensorial quality and reduce post-harvest fruit losses.