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Oligosaccharides are significant in mammalian milk, where they serve as prebiotics that promote the growth of beneficial gut bacteria in infants. Comprehensive research of milk oligosaccharides requires precise and validated analytical methods for compositional studies. To address this need, the focus of our study was to develop and validate an analytical method using UPLC-MS/MS to quantify seven specific oligosaccharides found in mammalian milk. The developed and optimized method has adequate linearity, accuracy, and precision parameters. The detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) limits for the seven compounds ranged from 0.0018 to 0.0030 μg/mL and 0.0054–0.0063 μg/mL, respectively. The sample preparation method yielded recovery rates above 90.5 %. Furthermore, no significant matrix effect was observed. The validated method was successfully applied to human, goat, and bovine milk samples, demonstrating its proficiency in identifying variances in the concentration of oligosaccharides across different mammals. This versatile method will allow future research about factors affecting oligosaccharide composition.

Black bean hulls (BBH) are rich in phenolic compounds, such as anthocyanins, which can be incorporated into common staple foods such as maize tostadas, enhancing the nutraceutical properties of these products. This study incorporates black bean hulls to produce nixtamalized maize tostadas with nutraceutical properties. Nixtamalized corn flour (NCF) and black bean hulls (BBH) were characterized in terms of protein, fat, crude and dietary fiber, anthocyanin concentration, and different starch fractions. NCF and BBH depicted 53.7 and 16.8% of total digestible starch (TDS), respectively, and 1.2 and 7.6% of resistant starch (RS), in the same order. BBH was incorporated into nixtamalized flour at 10, 15, and 20% w/w, and the resulting dough was thermo-mechanically characterized. Tostadas with BBH had higher protein, dietary fiber, and anthocyanin concentrations. Enriched tostadas did not show significant changes in texture or other sensory characteristics. However, a reduction in total digestible starch (61.97 up to 59.07%), an increase in resistant starch (0.46 to 2.3% from control tostadas to 20% BBH tostadas), and a reduction in the predicted glycemic index (52 to 49), among other parameters, indicated that BBH is a suitable alternative for developing nutraceutical food products.

Orange contains phytochemicals effective in the prevention/treatment of chronic diseases. Although many orange peel phytochemicals have been identified, information on their distribution in flavedo and albedo is incomplete limiting the development of applications for orange byproducts including comminuted orange obtained by grinding peel/juice and used in beverage formulations. Phytochemical concentration, antioxidant activity (AOA) and their relationship were determined for comminuted orange, juice and peel fractions. The highest vitamin C (74.7–98.2 mg ascorbic acid/100 g), flavones (235.9–265.0 mg hesperidin/100 g) and carotenoid (1.04–6.21 mg β-carotene/100 g) contents were found in flavedo. Albedo was the main source of phenolics (553.1–730.0 mg gallic acid/100 g), flavanones (1450.0–2084.5 mg hesperidin/100 g), and AOA (11953.2–15484.0 μmol trolox/100 g). AOA linearly correlated with phenolic, hesperidin, and flavonoid concentrations. Orange peel increased the phenolics, flavonoids and AOA of comminuted orange by 111%, 783% and 304%, respectively, when compared with juice, showing its potential to formulate functional foods.