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The oral bioaccessibility of several essential and toxic elements was investigated in raw and cooked commercially available seafood species from European markets. Bioaccessibility varied between seafood species and elements. Methylmercury bioaccessibility varied between 10 (octopus) and 60% (monkfish). Arsenic (>64%) was the toxic element showing the highest bioaccessibility. Concerning essential elements bioaccessibility in raw seafood, selenium (73%) and iodine (71%) revealed the highest percentages. The bioaccessibility of elements in steamed products increased or decreased according to species. For example, methylmercury bioaccessibility decreased significantly after steaming in all species, while zinc bioaccessibility increased in fish (tuna and plaice) but decreased in molluscs (mussel and octopus). Together with human exposure assessment and risk characterization, this study could contribute to the establishment of new maximum permissible concentrations for toxic elements in seafood by the European food safety authorities, as well as recommended intakes for essential elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accurate assessment of polyphenol intakes is needed in epidemiologic research in order to study their health effects, and this can be particularly challenging in international study settings. Objective: The purpose of this work is to describe the procedures to prepare a comprehensive polyphenol food-composition database that was used to calculate standardized polyphenol intakes from 24-h diet recalls (24HDRs) and dietary questionnaires (DQs) in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Design: With the use of the comparable food classification and facetdescriptor system of the computerized 24HDR program EPIC-Soft (renamed GloboDiet), foods reported in the 24HDR (n = 74,626) were first aggregated following a stepwise process. Multi-ingredient and generic foods were broken down into ingredients or morespecific foods with consideration of regional consumption habits before matching to foods in the Phenol-Explorer database. Foodcomposition data were adjusted by using selected retention factors curated in Phenol-Explorer. DQ foods (n = 13,946) were matched to a generated EPIC 24HDR polyphenol-composition database before calculation of daily intakes from the 24HDR and DQ. Results: Food matching yielded 2.0% and 2.7% of foods with missing polyphenol content in the 24HDR and DQ food data sets, respectively. Process-specific retention factors for 42 different polyphenol compounds were applied to adjust the polyphenol content in 35 prioritized Phenol-Explorer foods, thereby adjusting the polyphenol content in 70% of all of the prepared 24 food occurrences. A detailed food-composition database was finally generated for 437 polyphenols in 19,899 aggregated raw and prepared foods reported by 10 EPIC countries in the 24HDR. Conclusions: An efficient procedure was developed to build the most-comprehensive food-composition database for polyphenols, thereby standardizing the calculations of dietary polyphenol intakes obtained from different dietary assessment methods and European populations. The whole database is accessible online. This procedure could equally be used for other food constituents and in other cohorts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnopharmocological relevance During the European Middle Ages aromatic products imported from Asia and Africa were credited with both preventive and curative medical properties. In addition spices provided an image of wellness and as they were expensive and had many uses in cuisine and fragrance, they functioned as prestige consumer goods. Materials and methods This is an effort to look historically at a social and cultural phenomenon for the period roughly A.D. 1200–1500. Sources of information about the demand for and uses of spices include lists of materia medica, medical treatises, cookbooks, religious writings, descriptions of banquets and court ceremonial and literary works showing what might be called aspirational lifestyles. Results It is important to focus on the demand side of the spice trade rather than simply assuming a consistent demand and looking only at the supply (prices, routes, for example). Conclusions The demand for spices must be understood in terms of their attributed medical and wellness powers, but these in turn are related to the mysterious Eastern origins of spices that enhanced their image as elite consumer products and their association with spiritual as well as medical healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians of the Eurasian spice trade focus on the fortunes of black pepper (Piper Nigrum L. ) , largely because the trading companies of the Dutch and English which they study also did. Capsicum peppers are, however, the world׳s most consumed spice, and their story needs to be told in parallel. The five species of capsicum peppers spread across the world in less than two hundred years following their discovery by Europeans in South and Central America and proved both hardier than Piper nigrum and able to reproduce spontaneously. While the taste was similar but more pungent than black pepper, capsicums provided an important vitamin C and bioflavanoid supplement to poorer people in southern and eastern Europe far from the precepts of good taste as dictated from Paris, and rapidly became a mainstay of tropical cuisine across the world. This contribution seeks both to trace and to understand that diffusion and its principal vectors from historical research amongst a plethora of primary source materials in European and Asian languages. Medical and dietetic reaction is presented from a wide range of contemporary texts. The work proceeds according to deductive reasoning and in comparison to the diffusion of black pepper consumption. It reveals the very different strategies of import substitution and commercial embargo undertaken by Portuguese and Spanish authorities, a somewhat later date of arrival in China than previously thought, and three different, competing lines of entry into an important area of later cultivation, namely Central Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnopharmacological relevance Tropical spices have long been utilized in traditional medicine and cuisine. New archaeological evidence highlights temporal changes in the nature and scale of the ancient spice trade and in the ancient usage of these plants. Furthermore, a study of their ‘materiality’ highlights that the impact of spices extends beyond their material properties. Here the botanical remains of spices recovered from archaeological excavations at a port active in the Roman and medieval Islamic spice trade are evaluated. Materials and methods Recent excavations at Quseir al-Qadim, an ancient port located on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, have provided new evidence for the spice trade. Due to the arid conditions ancient botanical remains were preserved in abundance and these included spices, as well as a wide range of other food plants. Quseir al-Qadim was active as a transport hub during both the Roman and Islamic periods (ca. AD 1–250, known as Myos Hormos, and again during ca. AD 1050–1500, known as Kusayr), and the remains thus facilitate a study of temporal change in the trade and usage of these spices. Standard archaeobotanical methods were used to recover, identify and analyze these remains. Results At least seven tropical spices were recovered from the excavations, as well as several other tropical imports, including black pepper ( Piper nigrum ), ginger ( Zingiber officinale ), cardamom ( Elettaria cardamomum ), turmeric ( Curcuma sp.), fagara (cf. Tetradium ruticarpum ), myrobalan ( Terminalia bellirica and Terminalia chebula ) and betelnut ( Areca catechu ). A marked contrast between the two chronological periods in the range of spices recovered points to changes in the nature and scale of the trade between the Roman and medieval Islamic periods, while differences in the contexts from which they were recovered help to identify temporal changes in the way in which the spices were utilized during those periods. Conclusion Archaeological and textual evidence suggest that in antiquity spices were used in ritual (funeral rites, offerings), in perfumery, and in medicinal remedies, with black pepper the only tropical spice regularly employed in cuisine. By the medieval period the culinary role of spices had grown significantly, both in the Middle East and in Europe, while retaining their importance in medicinal applications. In both time periods they were luxuries available only to the upper strata of society, but the material properties of spices and their elite status made them desirable to a wider section of society. In their pursuit of spices people became entangled in a meshwork of relationships, altered social realities and political power struggles. Globalization is one such entanglement, highlighting that the potency of spices goes far beyond their ability to stimulate our taste buds, delight our sense of smell and cure our ailments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the 2016 International Chefs Day cooking workshops Art on a Plate. Nonexperimental pretest-posttest design Art on a Plate workshops with children from 14 countries in Asia, America, and Europe. A total of 433 workshop participants aged 4–14 years (mean age, 8.6 years). Instructed by a chef, children in the workshops created a self-chosen design on their plate with a spinach–fruit salad. Before and after the workshop, a questionnaire assessing liking and willingness to eat or taste; hunger was assessed using the Teddy the Bear method and emotions were assessed using the Self-assessment Manikin. The event coordinator evaluated salad intake. Linear and generalized linear (logit) mixed models were used to test statistical differences before and after the workshop. The workshop resulted in a small increase in liking (n = 409; P =.02) and person control (n = 375; P <.001) and a decrease in hunger (n = 379; P <.001). A total of 30% of children increased their liking scores, 18% decreased them, and 52% did not change them. Significant associations of liking and change in liking with salad intake were in the expected direction. This study showed the positive effect of a cooking workshop on children's salad liking across a selection of countries worldwide. Further research and novel methods are needed to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of cooking activities in real-life settings across countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]