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Biodegradable and bioactive films were prepared using gelatin from nutraceutical capsules wastes and natural antioxidants present in papaya peel. These films are intended to be an alternative to synthetic polyethylene packages in food preservation. Papaya peel was incorporated in the gelatin matrix as macroparticulate powder and in the form of microparticles, in different concentrations (2.5, 5, and 7.5%). The papaya peel powder microparticles were produced by spray drying with gelatin as wall material. The results indicated that microparticles of papaya peel powder originated a more continuous film matrix increasing the tensile strength and Young’s modulus. Films with 5 and 7.5% papaya peel macroparticulate powder showed the highest antioxidant activity with values of 0.94 and 1.44 μmol Trolox equivalents (TE)/g dried film, respectively, when compared to films with microparticles (0.63 and 0.84 μmol TE/g dried film). When applied as packaging material for lard, the films with microparticles (7.5%) were the most efficient as active barriers (higher antioxidant activity), as a lower content of peroxides (3.47 mEq/kg) quantified after 22 days. The addition of natural antioxidants through papaya peel microparticles is a promising strategy for the development of environmentally friendly packaging of food products with high-fat content and susceptible to oxidation.

Currently, solving global environmental problems is recognized as an important task for humanity. In particular, automobile exhaust gases, which are pointed out as the main cause of environmental pollution, are increasing environmental pollutants and pollution problems, and exhaust gas regulations are being strengthened around the world. In particular, when an engine is idling while a car is stopped and not running, a lot of fine dust and toxic gases are emitted into the atmosphere due to the unnecessary fuel consumption of the engine. These idling emissions are making the Earth’s environmental pollution more serious and depleting limited oil resources. Biodiesel, which can replace diesel fuel, generally has similar physical properties to diesel fuel, so it is receiving a lot of attention as an eco-friendly alternative fuel. Biodiesel can be extracted from various substances of vegetable or animal origin and can also be extracted from waste resources discarded in nature. In this study, we used biodiesel blended fuel (B20) in a CRDI diesel engine to study the characteristics of gases emitted during combustion in the engine’s idling state. There were a total of four types of biodiesels used in the experiment. New Soybean Oil and New Lard Oil extracted from new resources and Waste Soybean Fried Oil and Waste Barbecue Lard Oil extracted from waste resources were used, and the gaseous substances emitted during combustion with pure diesel fuel and with the biodiesels were compared and analyzed. It was confirmed that all four B20 biodiesels had a reduction effect on PM, CO, and HC emissions, excluding NOx emissions, compared to pure diesel in terms of the emissions generated during combustion under no-load idling conditions. In particular, New Soybean Oil had the highest PM reduction rate of 20.3% compared to pure diesel, and Waste Soybean Fried Oil had the highest CO and HC reduction rates of 36.6% and 19.3%, respectively. However, NOx was confirmed to be highest in New Soybean Oil, and Waste Barbecue Lard Oil was the highest in fuel consumption.

Lard is highly appreciated for its flavor. However, it has not been elucidated how to consume lard while at the same time eliminating its adverse effects on postpartum cognitive function. Female mice were divided into three groups (n = 10): soybean oil (SO), lard oil (LO), and a mixture of soybean oil and lard at a ratio of 1:1 (LS). No significant difference was observed between the SO and LS groups in behavioral testing of the maternal mice, but the LO group was significantly worse compared with these two groups. Moreover, the SO and LS supplementation increased docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and total n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) levels in the brain and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing bacteria in feces, thereby mitigating neuroinflammation and lowering the p-ERK(1/2)/ERK(1/2), p-CREB/CREB, and BDNF levels in the brain compared to the LO group. Collectively, the LS group inhibited postpartum cognitive impairment by regulating the brain fatty acid composition, neuroinflammation, gut microbiota, and the SCFA/ERK(1/2)/CREB/BDNF signaling pathway compared to lard.

The effect of temperature on the antioxidant activity of phenolic acids (gallic, gentisic, protocatechuic, syringic, vanillic, ferulic, caffeic, and sinapic; 0.5 mmol/kg) was studied in pork lard, using an Oxipres apparatus, at a temperature range of 90 deg C to 150 deg C. The antioxidant activity of all studied compounds decreased with increasing working temperature, whereas a linear relationship (P less than 0.01) existed between temperature and the antioxidant activity in all cases. However, the relative rate of the antioxidant activity decrease with increasing temperature (i.e. in comparison with the activity at 90 deg C) was not the same for all studied phenolic acids. Easily oxidisable phenolic acids (i.e. gallic, gentisic, protocatechuic, and caffeic) showed a slower decrease in antioxidant activity with increasing temperature (in comparison with their activity at 90 deg C) than the less oxidisable ones (i.e. syringic, ferulic and sinapic acids, and especially vanillic acid). Consequently, only gallic, gentisic, protocatechuic, and caffeic acids showed a significant antioxidant activity at 150 deg C and vanillic acid was active only at 90 deg C.

Background As the gut microbiota contributes to metabolic health, it is important to determine specific diet-microbiota interactions that influence host metabolism. Bile acids and dietary fat source can alter phenotypes of diet-induced obesity, but the interplay with intestinal microorganisms is unclear. Here, we investigated metabolic consequences of diets enriched in primary bile acids with or without addition of lard or palm oil, and studied gut microbiota structure and functions in mice. Results In combination with bile acids, dietary lard fed to male C57BL/6N mice for a period of 8 weeks enhanced fat mass accumulation in colonized, but not in germ-free mice when compared to palm oil. This was associated with impaired glucose tolerance, lower fasting insulin levels, lower counts of enteroendocrine cells, fatty liver, and elevated amounts of hepatic triglycerides, cholesteryl esters, and monounsaturated fatty acids. Lard- and bile acid-fed mice were characterized by shifts in dominant gut bacterial communities, including decreased relative abundances of Lachnospiraceae and increased occurrence of Desulfovibrionaceae and the species Clostridium lactatifermentans and Flintibacter butyricus . Metatranscriptomic analysis revealed shifts in microbial functions, including lipid and amino acid metabolism. Conclusions Caution is required when interpreting data from diet-induced obesity models due to varying effects of dietary fat source. Detrimental metabolic consequences of a diet enriched with lard and primary bile acids were dependent on microbial colonization of the host and were linked to hepatic lipid rearrangements and to alterations of dominant bacterial communities in the cecum.

•A Western diet-induced model for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease metabolic disorder was established.•Mice developed extensive liver steatosis and pericellular fibrosis.•Mice had hypercholesterolemia, hyperglycemia, obesity, and inflamed adipose tissue.•Mice had decreased fecal bacterial diversity, with low Bacteroidetes/Bacteroides.•Model resembled histologic and microbiome features of human non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has a growing epidemiologic and economic burden. It is associated with Western diet (WD) patterns, and its pathogenesis involves metabolic disorders (obesity, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, and diabetes) and gut dysbiosis, features that are usually neglected or not reproduced by most animal models. Thus, we established a 6-mo WD-induced NAFLD mouse model associated with metabolic disorder, investigating its main features at the gut microbiome–liver-adipose tissue axis, also evaluating the correlations of gut dysbiosis to the other disease outcomes. Male C57 BL6 mice received a high-fat (30% lard and 0.2% cholesterol, ∼57% calories) and sucrose-rich (20%) chow, and a high-sugar solution (23.1 and 18.9 g/L of D-fructose and D-glucose) for 6 mo. The model featured high serum cholesterol levels, glucose intolerance, and hyperinsulinemia. WD intervention resulted in extensive macro/microvesicular liver steatosis and pericellular fibrosis—resembling human disease—accompanied by hepatic stellate cell activation and CD68+ macrophage infiltration, increased protein levels of proinflammatory p65-nuclear factor-κB, interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α, with decreased antioxidant regulator Nrf2. Mice showed clear obesity with adipocyte hypertrophy, and CD68+macrophage/mast cell infiltration in adipose tissue while a reduction in number of goblet cells was also observed in the small intestine. Moreover, the pyrosequencing of the 16 S ribosomal RNA of gut cecal content showed decreased bacterial diversity, enriched Firmicutes and Proteobacteria, decreased Bacteroidetes and Fusobacteria, and increased ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes. Bacteroidetes and Bacteroides had the highest number of significant correlations with liver–adipose tissue axis outcomes. In silico analysis of gut microbiome in NAFLD obese patients revealed a depletion in Bacteroides, which also correlated to disease outcomes. This mice model gathered suitable phenotypical alterations in gut–liver–adipose tissue axis that resembled NAFLD associated with metabolic disorders in humans and may be considered for preclinical investigation.

PurposeCardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality rates in Eastern Europe are among the highest in the world. Although diet is an important risk factor, traditional eating habits in this region have not yet been explored. This analysis assessed the relationship between traditional dietary pattern and mortality from all-causes, CVD and cancer in Eastern European cohorts.MethodsData from the Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors in Eastern Europe prospective cohort were used, including participants from Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic. Based on food frequency questionnaire data, we constructed an Eastern European diet score (EEDS) from nine food groups which can be considered as traditional in this region. The relationship between categorical (low, moderate, high) and continuous (range 0–18) EEDS and mortality was estimated with Cox-regression.ResultsFrom 18,852 eligible participants, 2234 died during follow-up. In multivariable adjusted models, participants with high adherence to the traditional Eastern European diet had significantly higher risk of all-cause (HR 1.23; 95% CI 1.08–1.42) and CVD (1.34; 1.08–1.66) deaths compared to those with low adherence. The association with cancer mortality was only significant in Poland (high vs. low EEDS: 1.41; 1.00–1.98). From the specific EEDS components, high consumption of lard was significantly positively related to all three mortality outcomes, while preserved fruit and vegetable consumption showed consistent inverse associations.ConclusionOur results suggest that traditional eating habits may contribute to the poor health status, particularly the high CVD mortality rates, of populations in Eastern Europe. Adequate public health nutritional interventions in this region are essential.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the reproducibility of the Dietary Habits and Nutrition Beliefs Questionnaire (KomPAN) in Polish adolescents and adults, including the assessment of indexes developed based on the questionnaire. In total, the study involved 954 subjects aged 15–65 (53.9% females). Interviews using the interviewer-administered questionnaire (IA-Q) in healthy subjects (n 299) and the self-administered questionnaire (SA-Q) in healthy subjects (n 517) and outpatients (n 138) were conducted and repeated after two weeks. Considering the consumption frequency of 33 food items, the cross-classification (test-retest) agreement of classification into the same category obtained for IA-Q in healthy subjects ranged from 72.2% (fruit juices) to 91.6% (energy drinks); the kappa statistic was >0.60 for all food items. For SA-Q conducted in healthy subjects the cross-classification agreement ranged from 63.8% (vegetable oils, margarines, mixes of butter and margarines) to 84.7% (lard); the kappa statistic was >0.50 for all food items. For SA-Q in outpatients, the cross-classification agreement ranged from 42.0% (both fruit juices and white rice, white pasta, fine-ground groats) to 92.0% (energy drinks); the kappa statistic was ≥0.40 for 20/33 food items. The kappa statistic for lifestyle items ranged 0.42–0.96, and for the nutrition knowledge level it ranged 0.46–0.73. The questionnaire showed moderate to very good reproducibility and can be recommended to assess dietary habits, lifestyle and nutrition knowledge of healthy adolescents and adults and those suffering from chronic diseases, after validation and/or calibration study is carried out. The reproducibility of the interviewer-administered questionnaire was better than its self-administered version. The reproducibility of the self-administered questionnaire was better in healthy subjects than in outpatients.