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The industrial manufacturing of fruits and vegetables generates approximately 50% by-product waste, causing a negative environmental impact and significant expenses. Nevertheless, fruit and vegetable by-products (FVB) are rich nutrients and extranutritional compounds that contribute to bowel health, weight management, lower blood cholesterol levels and improved control of glycemic and insulin responses. Due to the positive influence of FVB fibers and bioactive compounds during the digestion of glycemic carbohydrates, such as starch, baked goods are ideal food systems to accommodate FVB, since most of them have a high glycemic index. Therefore, this is an area of recent interest with critical environmental, economic and health implications worldwide. However, the utilization of FVB in baked goods leads to the loss of acceptability, in many cases caused by a lack of understanding of the physical structure and composition of FVB and their effects on food quality. The objective of this review is to provide a mechanistic understanding of the impact of the physical structure and composition of FVB on common baked goods and their influence on the nutritional and physical quality of the resulting product. This review will support the use of FVB as ideal ingredients while improving the added value of waste streams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the beginning of the 20th century, fruits and vegetables have historically been promoted as an important part of the human diet. The plethora of epidemiological and intervention studies has shown, since then, positive associations between fruit and vegetable intake and improved health outcomes and/or prevention of certain chronic diseases. In this regard, dietary fiber has traditionally been viewed as having beneficial effects due to inherent physical properties of solution viscosity and insoluble particles coupled with fermentation by colonic bacteria. However, it is now clear that they exert an important function as a carrier for phytonutrients, which is particularly important for fruits and vegetables, which often have high contents of bioactive phytonutrients such as polyphenols. Remarkably, production and processing of fruit and vegetables for human consumption results in a large amount of food waste due to their high-water contents, fast respiration rate, high sensitivity to environmental factors, and/or presence of inedible parts. Although the utilization of fruit and vegetable waste as animal feed is limited due to their low content of digestible energy, their rich palette of dietary fibers and polyphenols could make it a rich source of health-promoting dietary compounds. As an example, interest in the ability of dietary fibers and (poly)phenolic compounds to influence carbohydrate metabolism and colonic health could make problematical fruit and vegetable biomass a game-changer source of dietary supplements. This presentation will cover recent progress on the nature of interactions between polyphenols and the plant cell wall, how this affects polyphenol bioaccessibility and bioavailability during digestion, and how processing can result in dietary supplements with tailored structure and solubility of their dietary fibers and chemical stability and bioaccesibility of their (poly)phenolic compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, extrudates are considered unhealthy products, being characterized as high in calories; rich in fat, sugar, and salt; and low in nutritional compounds. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of lucerne (Medicago sativa) on the physicochemical, nutritional, and functional characteristics of corn extrudates. In order to achieve these goals, water content, water activity, expansion index, bulk density, porosity, hygroscopicity, optical properties, antioxidant activity, individual phenolic acids, folates, individual flavonoids, and volatile compounds were analyzed. The results showed that the typical characteristics of corn extrudates such as expansion, crunchiness, and density were maintained with 10% lucerne addition, highlighting a strong negative Pearson correlation (p < 0.05) between all studied parameters and lucerne addition. On the other hand, the lucerne addition caused a linear increase of bioactive compounds, showing positive Pearson correlations between flavonoids, folates, and antioxidant activity. The volatile profile of corn extrudates improved with the addition of lucerne leading to volatile compounds such as limonene, β-mircene, and hexanal. Overall, considering the textural, nutritional, and functional characteristics of corn extrudates, we determined that a percentage addition on 10% lucerne could be successfully used in the manufacturing of corn extrudates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of the physical structure of cereal endosperm on the natural structural integrity (intact cells) and starch bioaccessibility of the resultant flours was studied using maize as example. Endosperm hardness, defined by its intracellular (protein matrix) and extracellular (cell walls) constituents, affected the granular and molecular damage of the starch of the resultant flours leading to higher digestibility of raw hard than soft endosperm flours, but comparatively lower digestibility after cooking. After milling, hard endosperm possessed more damaged starch (radial splitting of amylopectin clusters) in the periphery of the resultant particles that increased in vitro starch digestibility of raw flours. Conversely, the hard endosperm plant tissue matrix significantly limited water availability and heat transfer on starch gelatinisation, thereby decreasing the digestion rate after hydrothermal processing (in particle size flours >80 μm). This study provides a unique mechanistic understanding to obtain cereal flours with slow digestion property for commercial utilisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]