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Hepatic osteodystrophy is one of the metabolic skeletal diseases, characterized by global changes in bone mineral density in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) under osteomalacia and osteoporosis. It is often overlooked the complication in patients with CLD. Hepatic osteodystrophy can seriously affect the quality of life and long-term prognosis of the patients. In this study, five kinds of fruits and vegetables (including cerasus humilis, kiwifruit, carrot, grape, and orange) were used as the raw materials to prepare a composite solid beverage (hereinafter referred to as "Wuguo Powder") by spray drying. Then, the female C57 mice were fed with the Wuguo powder, in order to determine the serum indexes and the bone microstructures. A systematic investigation was made to clarify the preventive effects of Wuguo Powder on the hepatic osteopathy induced by high-fat diet. The basis was also offered for the production and the nutrition health function of the Wuguo Powder. The results showed that the optimal formula for five kinds of fruits and vegetables was 40% cerasus humilis, 20% kiwifruit, 20% carrot, 10% orange, and 10% grape. The ingredients were added 40% of the total soluble solids composite drying agent (maltodextrin: WPI=30:10) and 3% of the stabilizer sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). The spray drying conditions were obtained: the air temperature of entry was 126°C, the feed rate was 6.3 mL/min, the height of the rotameter was 44.00mm, and the soluble solid content was 11.00%. The powder collection rate of Wuguo Powder was 60.86% under these conditions. The serum test showed that the levels of OC and TRACP-5b in the serum of the mice in the administration group were significantly lower than those in the model group (P<0.05). The levels of SOD and GSH-Px were significantly higher than those in the model group (P<0.05), while the levels of MDA were significantly higher than those in the model group (P<0.05), whereas, the lower than that in the model group (P<0.05). The ALT and AST levels were significantly lower than that in the model group (P<0.05), indicating no significant difference, compared with the blank group (P>0.05). The TC, TG, LDL-C levels were significantly lower than that in the model group (P<0.05). The level of HDL-C was significantly higher than that in the model group (P<0.05), indicating no significant difference from the blank group (P>0.05). The Micro-CT showed that the femoral BMD, BV/TV, BS/TV, Tb.N, and Conn.D of the administration group significantly increased (P<0.05), compared with the model group, whereas, the BS/BV and Tb.Sp significantly decreased (P<0.05). The results showed that five fruit powders were prepared by spray drying using the cerasus humilis, kiwi fruit, carrot, orange, and grape as the raw materials, adding the maltodextrin, whey protein isolate (WPI) as a composite drying agent and stabilizer CMC. Five kinds of fruit-vegetable complex solid drinks regulated bone metabolism. Specifically, the levels of OC and TRACP-5b decreased in the serum, and the oxidative stress was improved by the decreasing content of MDA and the increasing levels of SOD and GSH-Px in the serum. The liver damage was relieved by the decreasing levels of ALT and AST in the serum, and the blood lipid metabolism was regulated by the decreasing levels of TG, TC, LDL-C in the serum and the increasing level of HDL-C in the serum. As such, the bone microstructure was improved by increasing BMD, BV/TV, BS/TV, Tb.N, and Conn.D value, while decreasing BS/BV, and Tb.Sp. Therefore, five kinds of fruit-vegetable complex solid drinks can be expected to serve as the better preventive effect on the hepatic osteopathy induced by a high-fat diet in mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerasus humilis is naturally rich in a variety of vital vitamins and minerals, such as calcium and polyphenols, providing great benefits for health care functions, particularly on improving human immunity. Polyphenols are significant natural antioxidant substances for various functions, including softening blood vessels, promoting digestion, lowering blood lipids, diuresis, enhancing immunity, preventing arteriosclerosis and thrombus formation, even to inhibit the growth of bacteria and cancer. Specifically, an emphasis is put effect on inhibiting the proliferation of human liver cancer (HepG2), colon cancer (HCT116), and gastric cancer (BGC823). However, only a few reports focused on the natural active substances that contained in plum fruit. In this study, a novel extraction and purification process of plum polyphenols was proposed to determine the types and contents of polyphenols, and thereby to explore the in vitro effects of polyphenols. The processing parameters were optimized in the extraction and purification of polyphenols, together with the antioxidant activity of plum cerasus humilis. A single factor and response surface optimization tests were used to investigate the ultrasonic assisted enzymatic extraction process of polyphenol of Cerasus humilis. Macroporous resin was also selected to purify the crude extract of polyphenols. Moreover, high solution liquid chromatography was used to identify the types of phenolic substances, and the spectrophotometry was used to determine the total reducing power of polyphenol in cerasus humilises, and the scavenging effect of free radicals ·OH, DPPH·, ABTS·. The results showed that the optimum extraction parameters of polyphenol of cerasus humilis were as follows: The ultrasonic power was 105 W, temperature of enzymatic hydrolysis was 50 ℃, enzymatic hydrolysis time was 80 min, the ratio of liquid to material was 30:1 (mL/g), and the extraction amount of polyphenols was 42.63 mg/g. After the purification with macroporous resin, the total polyphenol content of cerasus humilises was 73.42 mg/g. All the 6 polyphenols were detected in the plum fruit of cerasus humilises, where their contents were ranked in order, chlorogenic acid > epigallocatechin gallate> caffeine > p-hydroxybenzoic acid >protocatechuic acid gallic > gallic acid. The total reducing power of polyphenol in cerasus humilises was not different from that of Vitamin C, indicating a significant scavenging effect on free radicals, such as ·OH, DPPH·, ABTS·. In the case of the same mass concentration, the reduction ability of purified product, crude extract, and Vc of the cerasus humilis were as follows: Vitamin C (IC50=35.05μg/mL) > the cerasus humilis polyphenols (IC50 =32.42 μg/mL) ＞ the crude extraction of Oleum Phenol (IC50=30.13 μg/mL). The reduction ability of purified cerasus humilis was not significantly different from that of vitamin C (P>0.05), but there was totally difference from the crude extract (P<0.05). The purification process can be used to remove some impurities without affecting the activity of the main components, indicating that it can improve the total reduction capacity. Cerasus humilis showed the good scavenging ability on DPPH·, ABTS·, and ·OH radicals. The purified product of cerasus humilis demonstrated an IC50 value of 72.65 μg/mL for the removal of ·OH, and an IC50 value of 110.12 μg/mL for the removal of DPPH·. The IC50 value for the removal of ABTS· was 55.45 μg/mL, and the total reducing power EC50 value was 32.42 μg/mL, indicating equivalent to the effect of Vc. The IC50 value for the crude extract of Prunella vulgaris polyphenols was 66.92 μg/mL for removing ·OH, the IC50 value for removing DPPH· was 98.42 μg/mL, the IC50 value for removing ABTS· was 49.87 μg/mL, and the total reducing power EC50 value was 30.13 μg/mL. The finding can provide a sound theoretical basis and technical support for the development and utilization of cerasus humilis in the production of plum fruits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strawberry has gained an increasing attention in recent years, due to its appealing taste and abundant nutritive substances, which can offer wide range of health benefits. However, a high content of water and sugar in strawberry can easily cause dehydration and decay during postharvest handling and storage. Hence, the preservation of strawberry fruits still remain a great challenge so far. Fortunately, a novel preservation technique under pressure has been increasingly used to store numerous types of fruits. Preservation under pressure refers to the fruits are subjected to a pressured atmosphere, higher than the internal pressure of fruits, for the storage. The moisture loss and respiration intensity in fruits can be effectively suppressed, and thereby to delay the fruit decay. The present study aims to investigate the effects of different nitrogen pressures on the physiology and storage quality of postharvest strawberries under cold storage conditions. Taking “Sweet Charlie” strawberry fruits as materials, the following experimental conditions can be used to store: 200kPa air, 150kPa nitrogen gas (14% O2 + 85.3% N2 + 0.021% CO2), 200 kPa nitrogen gas (10.5% O2 + 89% N2 + 0.016% CO2), 250kPa nitrogen gas (8.4% O2 + 91.2% N2 + 0.012% CO2), atmospheric-pressure nitrogen gas (10.5% O2 + 89% N2 + 0.016% CO2). The strawberry fruit without any treatment with pressurized nitrogen was used as a control. All the containers were placed in a refrigerated warehouse at the temperature range of 0-1℃, and the relative humidity of 85%-90%. During the storage, the physiological indexes of strawberry fruits were determined, including the respiration rate, weight loss rate, fruit firmness, titratable acid content, soluble solid content, raw pectin content, reducing sugar content, ascorbic acid content, total phenolic content, DPPH free radical scavenging rate, the malondialdehyde content, relative permeability of fruit cell membrane, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activity. Furthermore, a systematic elucidation was performed on the effects of different pressures in the nitrogen treatment on the postharvest physiology and storage quality of strawberry fruits. It was found that the pressurized nitrogen treatment can slow down the weightlessness of strawberry fruits in different degrees, while prevent the reduction of fruit hardness, the contents of titratable acid content and original pectin, further to maintain a low level of respiratory intensity during the storage. Specially, the 200 kPa nitrogen-treated strawberry can maintain the high content of soluble solids, reducing sugar, ascorbic acid, and total phenol, indicating excellent capacity of DPPH free radicals scavenging, the high activity of SOD and CAT, while the delayed formation of malondialdehyde, and the relative permeability of fruit cell membrane. Therefore, an optimal combined treatment can be achieved, including 200kPa nitrogen gas with the temperature of 0-1℃, and the relative humidity of 85%-90%, to efficiently delay fruit aging and maintain optimum fruit quality. The strawberry storage period can be set as 25 days, where the good fruit rate can be obtained over 80%, together with the excellent color and flavor. The present findings demonstrated the pressurized nitrogen storage can be a promising effective way to preserve the comprehensive quality of strawberry fruits. This study can also be expected to provide a sound theoretical basis and technical support for prolonging the storage and preservation period of strawberries and other fruits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyphenols are the main ingredients to whiten and beautify the human skin in beauty and health care products. Kiwifruit peel rich in polyphenols can be used as raw materials. This study aims to explore the extraction and whitening effect of polyphenols from the kiwifruit peel using Deep-Eutectic Solvents (DESs). A systematic investigation was made on the effects of DESs types, DES water contents, material-to-liquid ratio, extraction time, and temperature on the yield of total kiwifruit peel polyphenols. A Response Surface Method (RSM) experiment was combined to determine the best extraction. High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was selected to identify the composition of kiwifruit peel polyphenols. The inhibitory effect of kiwifruit peel polyphenols on the mushroom tyrosinase activity in vitro was evaluated, where the Kojic acid was taken as the positive control, while the L-tyrosine was used as the substrate. Besides, a model of melanin expression induced by α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) was constructed to explore the action mechanism of kiwifruit peel polyphenols on the melanin in B16 cells. The results showed that the highest yield of kiwifruit peel polyphenols was achieved when the DESs solvent was assisted by ultrasonic extraction, where the molar ratio of choline chloride-ethylene glycol was 1:2. The best process parameters were as follows. The water content of DES-1 was 18%, the material-to-liquid ratio was 1:29 mg/L, the extraction time was 22 min, and the extraction temperature was 69 ℃. As such, the yield of kiwifruit peel polyphenols was (55.53±1.27) mg/g under the optimal conditions. 10 kinds of polyphenol compounds were detected in the kiwifruit peel, including the gallic acid, protocatechin, (+)-catechin, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, epicatechin, paracoumaric acid, ferulic acid, rutin, and phloridin. The main components of kiwifruit peel polyphenols were (+)-catechin, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, and epicatechin, whose contents were 32.50, 46.40, 26.90, and 68.70 mg/L, respectively. The kiwifruit peel polyphenols presented an excellent inhibitory effect on the mushroom tyrosinase. The inhibition rate also gradually increased, as the mass concentration increased. When the mass concentration was 0.8 mg/mL, the inhibition rate reached 67.19%, which was lower than that of kojic acid at the same mass concentration (P<0.05). Compared with the blank group, the melanin content in B16 cells increased significantly after α-MSH induced, indicating that the α-MSH induced melanin expression model was successfully constructed. The amount of melanin production was set as 100% in the model group. The relative content of melanin in the B16 cells decreased gradually in a dose-dependent manner, as the concentration increased within the range of kiwifruit peel polyphenols. The relative content of melanin decreased to 75.08% in the treated B16 cells with 100 μg/mL kiwifruit peel polyphenols. Both kiwifruit peel polyphenols and positive control group exhibited an inhibitory effect on the tyrosinase activity in the B16 cells, compared with the model group. The kiwifruit peel polyphenols greatly inhibited the intracellular tyrosinase activity in a dose-dependent manner within the mass concentration range in the experiment. In the kiwifruit peel polyphenols, the relative activity of tyrosinase decreased to 69.45% in the treated B16 cells with 100 μg/mL. These findings can provide the potential application of kiwifruit peel polyphenols as a natural whitening agent in cosmetic and health care products. Polyphenols are the main ingredients to whiten and beautify the human skin in beauty and health care products. Kiwifruit peel rich in polyphenols can be used as raw materials. This study aims to explore the extraction and whitening effect of polyphenols from the kiwifruit peel using Deep-Eutectic Solvents (DESs). A systematic investigation was made on the effects of DESs types, DES water contents, material-to-liquid ratio, extraction time, and temperature on the yield of total kiwifruit peel polyphenols. A Response Surface Method (RSM) experiment was combined to determine the best extraction. High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was selected to identify the composition of kiwifruit peel polyphenols. The inhibitory effect of kiwifruit peel polyphenols on the mushroom tyrosinase activity in vitro was evaluated, where the Kojic acid was taken as the positive control, while the L-tyrosine was used as the substrate. Besides, a model of melanin expression induced by α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) was constructed to explore the action mechanism of kiwifruit peel polyphenols on the melanin in B16 cells. The results showed that the highest yield of kiwifruit peel polyphenols was achieved when the DESs solvent was assisted by ultrasonic extraction, where the molar ratio of choline chloride-ethylene glycol was 1:2. The best process parameters were as follows. The water content of DES-1 was 18%, the material-to-liquid ratio was 1:29 mg/L, the extraction time was 22 min, and the extraction temperature was 69 ℃. As such, the yield of kiwifruit peel polyphenols was (55.53±1.27) mg/g under the optimal conditions. 10 kinds of polyphenol compounds were detected in the kiwifruit peel, including the gallic acid, protocatechin, (+)-catechin, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, epicatechin, paracoumaric acid, ferulic acid, rutin, and phloridin. The main components of kiwifruit peel polyphenols were (+)-catechin, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, and epicatechin, whose contents were 32.50, 46.40, 26.90, and 68.70 mg/L, respectively. The kiwifruit peel polyphenols presented an excellent inhibitory effect on the mushroom tyrosinase. The inhibition rate also gradually increased, as the mass concentration increased. When the mass concentration was 0.8 mg/mL, the inhibition rate reached 67.19%, which was lower than that of kojic acid at the same mass concentration (P<0.05). Compared with the blank group, the melanin content in B16 cells increased significantly after α-MSH induced, indicating that the α-MSH induced melanin expression model was successfully constructed. The amount of melanin production was set as 100% in the model group. The relative content of melanin in the B16 cells decreased gradually in a dose-dependent manner, as the concentration increased within the range of kiwifruit peel polyphenols. The relative content of melanin decreased to 75.08% in the treated B16 cells with 100 μg/mL kiwifruit peel polyphenols. Both kiwifruit peel polyphenols and positive control group exhibited an inhibitory effect on the tyrosinase activity in the B16 cells, compared with the model group. The kiwifruit peel polyphenols greatly inhibited the intracellular tyrosinase activity in a dose-dependent manner within the mass concentration range in the experiment. In the kiwifruit peel polyphenols, the relative activity of tyrosinase decreased to 69.45% in the treated B16 cells with 100 μg/mL. These findings can provide the potential application of kiwifruit peel polyphenols as a natural whitening agent in cosmetic and health care products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Walnut is an important nut distributed throughout more than 50 countries and regions. The planting area of walnut in the whole world is 4 million hm2 and its yield is about 4 million tons so far. The planting area and yield of walnut in China are both maximum in the world, which is ranked the first among Chinese four dried fruits. Walnut is also a kind of important economic forest tree species in China. Walnut fruit contains rich nutrition such as linoleic acid, linolenic acid, protein, vitamins, minerals, and its unsaturated fatty acids content is more than 50%. Walnut has the reputation of the longevity fruit as it possesses good health care function. In particular, the oil content of walnut kernel can be up to 60%-70%, so walnut plays an important role in the safety of Chinese edible oil. Based on the walnut's nutritional ingredients and economic values, Chinese government has increased the development of walnut planting, and walnut is in an unprecedented stage of development and its planting area has been growing with a rate of 10% per year. By 2020, walnut area will reach 2.67 million hm2 and its yield will reach 3 million tons in China, which maybe leads to a decline of sales volume of walnut nuts, so it is urgent to develop the walnut processing industry. In this paper, Chinese walnut resource and its development strategy, walnut nutritional values, walnut processed products and Chinese walnut processing industry's status are described. Meanwhile, the economic benefits brought by Chinese walnut processing are analyzed. It will increase the revenue by 14.51 billion yuan and net profit by 12.85 billion yuan for enterprises if walnut can be sold 0.7 million tons, stored 0.5 million tons and processed 1.8 million tons (60% of the total production) per year. This paper presents 10 problems to be solved for walnut processing industry in China, including such aspects as increasing the policy support, improving the top-level design, implementing the industry-university-research alliance, exploiting the processing machinery, supporting the processing enterprises, forming the industrial chain, focusing on the public products, developing the high-grade products, carrying out the in-depth theoretical study, and opening the international market. Chinese walnut processing is still in the initial stage, and it is can not meet the needs of domestic and foreign markets at present. With the expansion of the planting area of walnut, it is necessary to develop the walnut processing industry. Chinese walnut processing industry will have broad market prospect and huge development space by means of developing high-grade products under the premise of improving the quality of popular production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]