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Special Issue "Plant Foods and Underutilized Fruits as Source of Functional Food Ingredients: Chemical Composition, Quality Traits, and Biological Properties"

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A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2018) | Viewed by 37699

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Dr. Dario Donno

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Guest Editor

Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Forestali e Alimentari, Università degli Studi di Torino, Grugliasco, Torino, Italy
Interests: agrobiodiversity and natural resources; agrifood application and their health-promoting and nutritional properties; analytical strategies for phytochemical and nutritive characterization; reuse strategies for processing waste derived from agricultural and food products; traditional and innovative extraction methods; HPLC fingerprinting and chemometrics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Federica Turrini

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Co-Guest Editor

Department of Pharmacy, University of Genoa, Viale Cembrano 4, 16148 Genoa, Italy
Interests: green extraction; ultrasound; waste management; circular economy; food chemistry; dietary food supplements; functional foods
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Changes in lifestyle and demographics, rising consumer incomes, and shifting preferences due to advanced knowledge about the relationships between food and health, contribute to generate new needs in food supply. Today, the role of food is not only intended as hunger satisfaction and nutrient supplying, but also as an opportunity to prevent nutrition-related diseases and improve physical and mental well-being. For this reason, there is a growing interest in novel or less well-known plant foods that offer an opportunity for health maintenance. Recently, interest in plant foods and underutilized fruits is ever more growing and agrobiodiversity exploitation offers effective and extraordinary potentialities. Plant foods could be an important source of health-promoting compounds and functional food ingredients with benefical properties: the description of quality and physico-chemical traits, the identification and quantification of bioactive compounds, and the evaluation of their biological activities are important to assess plant food efficacy as functional foods or source of food supplement ingredients.

Dr. Dario Donno
Dr. Federica Turrini
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

natural plant foods
healthy properties
phytochemicals
agrobiodiversity
human nutrition
analytical strategies
bioactivity
unconventional fruits
in vitro test
natural antioxidants

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Open AccessEditorial

Plant Foods and Underutilized Fruits as Source of Functional Food Ingredients: Chemical Composition, Quality Traits, and Biological Properties

Dario Donno

and

Federica Turrini

Foods 2020, 9(10), 1474; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9101474 - 15 Oct 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2547

Abstract

Changes in lifestyle and demographics, rising consumer incomes, and shifting preferences due to advanced knowledge about the relationships between food and health contribute to generate new needs in the food supply. Today, the role of food is not only intended as hunger satisfaction and nutrient supply but also as an opportunity to prevent nutrition-related diseases and improve physical and mental well-being. For this reason, there is a growing interest in the novel or less well-known plant foods that offer an opportunity for health maintenance. Recently, interest in plant foods and underutilized fruits is continuously growing, and agrobiodiversity exploitation offers effective and extraordinary potentialities. Plant foods could be an important source of health-promoting compounds and functional food ingredients with beneficial properties: the description of the quality and physicochemical traits, the identification and quantification of bioactive compounds, and the evaluation of their biological activities are important to assess plant food efficacy as functional foods or source of food supplement ingredients. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Foods and Underutilized Fruits as Source of Functional Food Ingredients: Chemical Composition, Quality Traits, and Biological Properties)

Research

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Open AccessArticle

Mechanism of Action against Food Spoilage Yeasts and Bioactivity of Tasmannia lanceolata, Backhousia citriodora and Syzygium anisatum Plant Solvent Extracts

and

Foods 2018, 7(11), 179; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods7110179 - 29 Oct 2018

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4396

Abstract

Bioactive properties of solvent extracts of Tasmannia lanceolata, Backhousia citriodora and Syzygium anisatum investigated. The antimicrobial activities evaluated using agar disc diffusion method against two bacteria (Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus) and six weak-acid resistant yeasts (Candida albicans, Candida krusei, Dekkera anomala, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe). The antioxidant activities determined using DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging and reducing power assays. Quantification of major active compounds using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography. Extracts showed broad-spectrum antifungal activity against weak-acid resistant yeasts in comparison to the standard antifungal agents, fluconazole and amphotericin B. Dekkera anomala being the most sensitive and strongly inhibited by all extracts, while Escherichia coli the least sensitive. Polygodial, citral and anethole are the major bioactive compounds identified in Tasmannia lanceolata, Backhousia citriodora and Syzygium anisatum, respectively. Hexane extracts contain the highest amount of bioactive compounds and demonstrate the strongest antimicrobial activities. Methanol and ethanol extracts reveal the highest phenolic content and antioxidant properties. Fluorescence microscopic results indicate the mechanism of action of Backhousia citriodora against yeast is due to damage of the yeast cell membrane through penetration causing swelling and lysis leading to cell death. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Foods and Underutilized Fruits as Source of Functional Food Ingredients: Chemical Composition, Quality Traits, and Biological Properties)

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Open AccessArticle

Influence of Clitoria ternatea Flower Extract on the In Vitro Enzymatic Digestibility of Starch and Its Application in Bread

Charoonsri Chusak

Christiani Jeyakumar Henry

Praew Chantarasinlapin

Varanya Techasukthavorn

and

Sirichai Adisakwattana

Foods 2018, 7(7), 102; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods7070102 - 02 Jul 2018

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 7458

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the effect of the Clitoria ternatea L. flower extract (CTE), on the inhibition of pancreatic α-amylase, in vitro starch hydrolysis, and predicted the glycemic index of different type of flours including potato, cassava, rice, corn, wheat, and glutinous rice flour. The application in a bakery product prepared from flour and CTE was also determined. The results demonstrated that the 1% and 2% (w/v) CTE inhibited the pancreatic α-amylase activity by using all flours as a substrate. Moreover, 0.5%, 1%, and 2% (w/v) CTE showed a significant reduction in the glucose release, hydrolysis index (HI), and predicted glycemic index (pGI) of flour. In glutinous rice flour, 1% and 2% (w/v) CTE had a significantly lower level of rapidly digestible starch (RDS) and slowly digestible starch (SDS) with a concomitant higher level of undigested starch. The statistical analysis demonstrated strong positive significant correlations between the percentage of CTE and the undigested starch of wheat and cassava. The addition of 5%, 10%, and 20% (w/w) CTE significantly reduced the rate of starch digestion of the wheat bread. The pGI of bread incorporated with 5% CTE (w/w) was significantly lower than that of the control bread. Our findings suggest that CTE could reduce the starch digestibility, the HI, and pGI of flour through the inhibition of carbohydrate digestive enzymes. Taken together, CTE may be a potent ingredient for the reduced glycemic index of flours. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Foods and Underutilized Fruits as Source of Functional Food Ingredients: Chemical Composition, Quality Traits, and Biological Properties)

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Open AccessArticle

Buchanania obovata: Functionality and Phytochemical Profiling of the Australian Native Green Plum

and

Foods 2018, 7(5), 71; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods7050071 - 04 May 2018

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5653

Abstract

The green plum is the fruit of Buchanania obovata Engl. and is an Australian Indigenous bush food. Very little study has been done on the green plum, so this is an initial screening study of the functional properties and phytochemical profile found in the flesh and seed. The flesh was shown to have antimicrobial properties effective against gram negative (Escherichia coli 9001—NCTC) and gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus 6571—NCTC) bacteria. Scanning electron microscopy analysis shows that the antimicrobial activity causes cell wall disintegration and cytoplasmic leakage in both bacteria. Antioxidant 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) testing shows the flesh has high radical scavenging activity (106.3 ± 28.6 μM Trolox equivalant/g Dry Weight in methanol). The flesh and seed contain a range of polyphenols including gallic acid, ellagic acid, p-coumaric acid, kaempferol, quercetin and trans-ferulic acid that may be responsible for this activity. The seed is eaten as a bush food and contains a delphinidin-based anthocyanin. The green plum has potential as a functional ingredient in food products for its antimicrobial and antioxidant activity, and further investigation into its bioactivity, chemical composition and potential applications in different food products is warranted. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Foods and Underutilized Fruits as Source of Functional Food Ingredients: Chemical Composition, Quality Traits, and Biological Properties)

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Open AccessArticle

Chemical and Nutritional Composition of Terminalia ferdinandiana (Kakadu Plum) Kernels: A Novel Nutrition Source

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Foods 2018, 7(4), 60; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods7040060 - 12 Apr 2018

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 8894

Abstract

Terminalia ferdinandiana (Kakadu plum) is a native Australian fruit. Industrial processing of T. ferdinandiana fruits into puree generates seeds as a by-product, which are generally discarded. The aim of our present study was to process the seed to separate the kernel and determine its nutritional composition. The proximate, mineral and fatty acid compositions were analysed in this study. Kernels are composed of 35% fat, while proteins account for 32% dry weight (DW). The energy content and fiber were 2065 KJ/100 g and 21.2% DW, respectively. Furthermore, the study showed that kernels were a very rich source of minerals and trace elements, such as potassium (6693 mg/kg), calcium (5385 mg/kg), iron (61 mg/kg) and zinc (60 mg/kg) DW, and had low levels of heavy metals. The fatty acid composition of the kernels consisted of omega-6 fatty acid, linoleic acid (50.2%), monounsaturated oleic acid (29.3%) and two saturated fatty acids namely palmitic acid (12.0%) and stearic acid (7.2%). The results indicate that T. ferdinandiana kernels have the potential to be utilized as a novel protein source for dietary purposes and non-conventional supply of linoleic, palmitic and oleic acids. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Foods and Underutilized Fruits as Source of Functional Food Ingredients: Chemical Composition, Quality Traits, and Biological Properties)

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Phytochemical Properties and Nutrigenomic Implications of Yacon as a Potential Source of Prebiotic: Current Evidence and Future Directions

and

Foods 2018, 7(4), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods7040059 - 12 Apr 2018

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 7928

Abstract

The human gut is densely populated with diverse microbial communities that are essential to health. Prebiotics and fiber have been shown to possess the ability to modulate the gut microbiota. One of the plants being considered as a potential source of prebiotic is yacon. Yacon is an underutilized plant consumed as a traditional root-based fruit in South America. Yacon mainly contains fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and inulin. Therefore, it has bifidogenic benefits for gut health, because FOS are not easily broken down by digestive enzymes. Bioactive chemical compounds and extracts isolated from yacon have been studied for their various nutrigenomic properties, including as a prebiotic for intestinal health and their antimicrobial and antioxidant effects. This article reviewed scientific studies regarding the bioactive chemical compounds and nutrigenomic properties of extracts and isolated compounds from yacon. These findings may help in further research to investigate yacon-based nutritional products. Yacon can be considered a potential prebiotic source and a novel functional food. However, more detailed epidemiological, animal, and human clinical studies, particularly mechanism-based and phytopharmacological studies, are lacking for the development of evidence-based functional food products. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Foods and Underutilized Fruits as Source of Functional Food Ingredients: Chemical Composition, Quality Traits, and Biological Properties)

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