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Selenium is a trace nutrient that has both nutritional and nutraceutical functions, whereas narrow nutritional range of selenium intake limits its use. Selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) are less toxic and more bioavailable than traditional forms of selenium, suggesting that SeNPs have the potential to replace traditional selenium in food industries and/or biomedical fields. From the perspective of how SeNPs can be applied in health area, this review comprehensively discusses SeNPs in terms of its preparation, nutritional aspect, detoxification effect of heavy metals, nutraceutical functions and anti-pathogenic microorganism effects. By physical, chemical, or biological methods, inorganic selenium can be transformed into SeNPs which have increased stability and bioavailability as well as low toxicity. SeNPs are more effective than traditional selenium form in synthesizing selenoproteins like glutathione peroxidases. SeNPs can reshape the digestive system to facilitate digestion and absorption of nutrients. SeNPs have shown excellent potential to adjunctively treat cancer patients, enhance immune system, control diabetes, and prevent rheumatoid arthritis. Additionally, SeNPs have good microbial anti-pathogenic effects and can be used with other antimicrobial agents to fight against pathogenic bacteria, fungi, or viruses. Development of novel SeNPs with enhanced functions can greatly benefit the food-, nutraceutical-, and biomedical industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a notorious food-borne pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus can readily cause diseases in humans via contaminated food. Biofilm formation on various surfaces can increase the capacity of viable S. aureus cells for self-protection due to the stubborn structure of the biofilm matrix. Increased disease risk and economic losses caused by biofilm contamination in the food industry necessitate the urgent development of effective strategies for the inhibition and removal of S. aureus biofilms. Natural products have been extensively used as important sources of "eco-friendly" antibiofilm agents to avoid the side effects of conventional strategies on human health and the environment. This review discusses biofilm formation of S. aureus in food industries and focuses on providing an overview of potential promising target-oriented natural products and their mechanisms of S. aureus biofilm inhibition or removal. Hoping to provide valuable information of attractive research targets or potential undeveloped targets to screen potent natural anti-biofilm agents in food industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As plant-derived natural products, saponins have been widely applied for the dietary modification of metabolic syndrome. However, the underlying mechanisms of their preventive and therapeutic effects are still largely unclear. Nuclear receptors have been identified as potential pharmaceutical targets for treating various types of metabolic disorders. With similar structure to endogenous hormones, several saponins may serve as selective ligands for nuclear receptors. Recently, a series of saponins are proved to exert their physiological activities through binding to nuclear receptors. This review summarizes the biological and pharmacological activities of typical saponins mediated by some of the most well described nuclear receptors, including the classical steroid hormone receptors (ER, GR, MR, and AR) and the adopted orphan receptors (PPAR, LXR, FXR, and PXR). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a standard strain of American strains library widely used in scientific research,Escherichia coliATCC 8739 was used in microarray analysis experiment to study the antimicrobial activity of cinnamaldehyde (CMA). The reverse transcription (RT)-PCR and western blot experiments were used to verify the results of microarray analysis. The microarray analysis showed that 126 genes expressed differentially, where the number of upregulated genes was 83 (65.9%) and downregulated genes was 43 (34.1%). These differentially expressed genes were divided into 16 classes including hypothetical protein (19.8%), metabolism of coenzymes, prosthetic groups (11.9%) and so on. The results of RT-PCR and western blot experiments coincide with the microarray analysis, so the microarray analysis study was effective. These results indicated that flagellin and cell membrane may be the preliminary antibacterial mechanism of CMA. CMA could affect the synthesis and aggregation of cytoplasmic protein and interfere with ATP metabolism. These effects of CMA could lead to bacterial metabolic disorder and autolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work developed a fluorescence polarization (FP) assay for simultaneous monitoring BPA, BPF, BADGE, and BFDGE in canned tuna. The assay was based on the competitive binding between bisphenol analogues (BPs) and dexamethasone fluorescein (Dex-fl) for mouse peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α ligand binding domain (mPPARα-LBD*). The soluble form of mPPARα-LBD* was expressed inEscherichia colistrain Rosetta (DE3), as a recognition element on detection of BPs. Under optimized conditions, four bisphenol analytes were detected at concentrations corresponding to the specific migration limits (SMLs) as required by the European Union. The FP assay showed IC50values of 2.80, 6.51, 1.72, and 4.28 mg L−1with a limit of detection of 0.35, 0.08, 0.10, and 0.49 mg L−1for BPA, BPF, BADGE, and BFDGE, respectively. The analysis of spiked canned tuna samples showed the acceptable recoveries ranged from 87.9% to 77.3%, with variation coefficients ranging from 9.0% to 15.8%. With the high sensitivity and wide-range affinities to BPs, the developed assay based on mPPARα-LBD* exhibited the potential to be a screening assay for fast detection of BPs in canned tuna. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Survivability of probiotics in foods is essential for developing functional food containing probiotics. We investigated polymerized whey protein (PWP)-based microencapsulation process which is developed for protecting probiotics likeLactobacillus acidophilusNCFM and compared with the method using sodium alginate (SA). The entrapment rate was 89.3 ± 4.8% using PWP, while it was 73.2 ± 1.4% for SA. The microencapsulated NCFM by PWP and SA were separately subjected to digestion juices and post-fermentation storage of fermented cows’ and goats’ milk using the encapsulated culture. The log viable count of NCFM in PWP-based microencapsulation was 4.56, compared with that of 4.26 in SA-based ones and 3.13 for free culture. Compared with using SA as wall material, PWP was more effective in protecting probiotic. Microencapsulation ofL. acidophilusNCFM using PWP as wall material can be exploited in the development of fermented dairy products with better survivability of probiotic organism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Acrylamide is known to be a neurotoxic, genotoxic, and carcinogenic compound in animal, which is classified as a probable human carcinogen. In this study, a total of 223 samples of traditional Chinese foods were analyzed for acrylamide content, including cereal breakfast, cookie, bread, noodle, crispy rice, snow-cake, fried dough twist, fried bread stick, roasted cake, dried fruit flake, potato chips, sweet potato, dried fish or shrimp, soybean powder, chestnut, peanut, almond, crisp candy, dried vegetable, green tea, wafer, and cigarette. Results of the study showed that the average and median contents of acrylamide in all the selected foods were 113 and 76 μg kg−1, respectively. The results indicated that processing methods had significant influence on acrylamide formation. The highest acrylamide content was found by puffering processing. The data obtained here could be helpful for the estimation of exposure and risk assessment of acrylamide in Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]