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Effects of Functional Components in Cereals or Natural Products on...
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Effects of Functional Components in Cereals or Natural Products on Human Function

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2024) | Viewed by 9768

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xiaohu Luo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Food and Pharmaceutical Science, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315000, China
Interests: key technologies and equipment development for the degradation of harmful substances such as mycotoxins in cereals; effect of functional components in cereals or natural drugs on human function; development of key technologies for high quality storage of rice
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Wensen He

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Co-Guest Editor
School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Interests: bioactive
Dr. Yingbin Shen

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Co-Guest Editor
School of Life Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China
Interests: polysaccharides; polyphenols; protein; natural products; food and medicine homology; traditional Chinese medicine resources; precision nutrition; biological activity; functional foods
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

While cereals and their related components, which contain numerous nutritional benefits, are consumed by more than half of the world’s population, natural products are widely used as alternative medicine for their disease-modifying efficacy. Well-known cereals, natural products and their components including starch, oils, fatty acids, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients are widely recognized for their potential benefits in improving human functions. Additionally, in recent years, a wide array of fibers and bioactive phytochemicals, such as tocopherols, tocotrienols, vitamin B complex, phytosterols, carotenoids in rice bran, wheat, corn, millet, black rice, buckwheat, oats, and natural products such as yams, dates, and goji berries are also garnering increasing attention for their nutritional efficiencies. However, there is scarce experimental evidence on the role of cereals and natural products in the progression of human diseases, which merits further research and value-added development. This Special Issue aims to highlight the mechanisms of functional components in cereals and natural products in regulating intestinal immune, microbial homeostasis and other biological processes. It will also underscore research on intestinal microecology and the development of nutritional functional foods to open up the possibility for exploiting the health-beneficial characteristics of these tremendously important and underutilized cereals and natural products.

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Dr. Xiaohu Luo
Dr. Wensen He
Dr. Yingbin Shen
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

  • cereals 
  • natural products
  • precision nutrition 
  • functional components
  • polysaccharide
  • polyphenol
  • flavonoids
  • alkaloids
  • saponins 
  • free radical scavenger

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 6811 KiB  
Article
Structural Features, Physicochemical Properties, and In Vitro Digestibility of the Starch-Lipid Complexes Formed between High Amylose Starch and Stearic Acid or Potassium Stearate
by Yuheng Zhai, Hao Zhang, Shangyuan Sang, Bin Ren, Yongjun Yuan, Jiali Xing and Xiaohu Luo
Foods 2024, 13(6), 859; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13060859 - 12 Mar 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1493
Abstract
Starch-lipid complexes were prepared from high amylose starch (HAS) with stearic acid (SA) or potassium stearate (PS) at different molar concentrations. The complexes (HAS-PS) formed between HAS and PS showed polyelectrolyte characteristics with ζ-potential ranging from −22.2 to −32.8 mV, and the electrostatic [...] Read more.
Starch-lipid complexes were prepared from high amylose starch (HAS) with stearic acid (SA) or potassium stearate (PS) at different molar concentrations. The complexes (HAS-PS) formed between HAS and PS showed polyelectrolyte characteristics with ζ-potential ranging from −22.2 to −32.8 mV, and the electrostatic repulsion between anionic charges restricted the starch chain reassociation and facilitated the formation of V-type crystalline structures upon cooling. The hydrophobic effects enabled recrystallization of the SA, and the HAS-SA complexes exhibited weaker V-type crystalline structures than the HAS-PS complexes; both HAS-SA/PS complexes were of a similar “mass fractal” type, with a dimension varied from 2.15 to 2.96. The HAS-SA complexes had a considerable content of resistant starch (RS, 16.1~29.2%), whereas negligible RS was found in the HAS-PS complexes. The findings from the present study imply that the molecular order of starch chains and the macro-structures of starch particles are more important to regulate the digestibility of starch-lipid complexes than the crystalline structures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Functional Components in Cereals or Natural Products on Human Function)
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19 pages, 10230 KiB  
Article
Screening of Active Substances Regulating Alzheimer’s Disease in Ginger and Visualization of the Effectiveness on 6-Gingerol Pathway Targets
by Yecan Pan, Zishu Li, Xiaoyu Zhao, Yang Du, Lin Zhang, Yushun Lu, Ling Yang, Yilin Cao, Jing Qiu and Yongzhong Qian
Foods 2024, 13(4), 612; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13040612 - 18 Feb 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2481
Abstract
Ginger has been reported to potentially treat Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but the specific compounds responsible for this biological function and their mechanisms are still unknown. In this study, a combination of network pharmacology, molecular docking, and dynamic simulation technology was used to screen [...] Read more.
Ginger has been reported to potentially treat Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but the specific compounds responsible for this biological function and their mechanisms are still unknown. In this study, a combination of network pharmacology, molecular docking, and dynamic simulation technology was used to screen active substances that regulate AD and explore their mechanisms. The TCMSP, GeneCards, OMIM, and DisGeNET databases were utilized to obtain 95 cross-targets related to ginger’s active ingredients and AD as key targets. A functional enrichment analysis revealed that the pathways in which ginger’s active substances may be involved in regulating AD include response to exogenous stimuli, response to oxidative stress, response to toxic substances, and lipid metabolism, among others. Furthermore, a drug-active ingredient–key target interaction network diagram was constructed, highlighting that 6-Gingerol is associated with 16 key targets. Additionally, a protein–protein interaction (PPI) network was mapped for the key targets, and HUB genes (ALB, ACTB, GAPDH, CASP3, and CAT) were identified. Based on the results of network pharmacology and cell experiments, 6-Gingerol was selected as the active ingredient for further investigation. Molecular docking was performed between 6-Gingerol and its 16 key targets, and the top three proteins with the strongest binding affinities (ACHE, MMP2, and PTGS2) were chosen for molecular dynamics analysis together with the CASP3 protein as the HUB gene. The findings indicate that 6-Gingerol exhibits strong binding ability to these disease targets, suggesting its potential role in regulating AD at the molecular level, as well as in abnormal cholinesterase metabolism and cell apoptosis, among other related regulatory pathways. These results provide a solid theoretical foundation for future in vitro experiments using actual cells and animal experiments to further investigate the application of 6-Gingerol. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Functional Components in Cereals or Natural Products on Human Function)
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12 pages, 2072 KiB  
Article
Determination and Analysis of Composition, Structure, and Properties of Teff Protein Fractions
by Zhenyang Quan, Lili Zhang, Wenping Chang, Xiangli Ding, Jianya Qian and Jianhua Tang
Foods 2023, 12(21), 3965; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12213965 - 30 Oct 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1381
Abstract
To develop teff-based food products with acceptable quality, the composition, structure, and properties of teff protein fractions should be better understood. In this study, teff proteins were extracted, and their protein composition, structure, and properties were calculated, analyzed, and compared with those of [...] Read more.
To develop teff-based food products with acceptable quality, the composition, structure, and properties of teff protein fractions should be better understood. In this study, teff proteins were extracted, and their protein composition, structure, and properties were calculated, analyzed, and compared with those of wheat gliadin and glutenin. Results showed that teff flour contained 9.07% protein, with prolamin as its main protein fraction. The isoelectric points of albumin, globulin, prolamin, and glutelin were at pH 3.6, 3.0, 4.4, and 3.4, respectively. Teff prolamin and glutelin showed a significant difference in amino acids and free energy of hydration compared to wheat gliadins and glutenins. The protein chain length of teff prolamins was smaller than that of wheat gliadins, and teff glutelins lacked high molecular weight glutelin subunits. Teff prolamin had the highest α-helices content (27.08%), whereas no random coils were determined, which is different from wheat gliadin. Teff glutelin had a lower content of β-turn than wheat glutenin, and no α-helices were determined in it. Teff prolamin and glutelin had lower disulfide bond content and surface hydrophobicity. Teff prolamin had significantly higher thermal stability than wheat gliadin, whereas the thermal stability of teff glutelin was significantly lower than that of wheat glutenin. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Functional Components in Cereals or Natural Products on Human Function)
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15 pages, 2276 KiB  
Article
Characteristics of Highland Barley-Wheat Composite Flour and Its Effect on the Properties of Coating Batter and Deep-Fried Meat
by Jianhua Tang, Cong Xie, Wenping Chang, Zhenyang Quan and Xiangli Ding
Foods 2023, 12(21), 3923; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12213923 - 26 Oct 2023
Viewed by 1387
Abstract
Highland barley flour-based coating batter has rarely been reported, although highland barley flour is promising due to its high β-glucan and amylose content. In this study, highland barley flour was used to substitute 40% to 80% of wheat flour to form a highland [...] Read more.
Highland barley flour-based coating batter has rarely been reported, although highland barley flour is promising due to its high β-glucan and amylose content. In this study, highland barley flour was used to substitute 40% to 80% of wheat flour to form a highland barely-wheat composite flour used in the coating batter. The characteristics of the highland barley-wheat composite flour and its effect on the properties of coating batter and deep-fried meat were analyzed. Results showed that the composite flour significantly improved water holding capacity, oil absorbing capacity, and water solubility index. In contrast, no significant change was observed in the water absorption index or swelling power. The incorporation of highland barley flour significantly changed the pasting properties of the composite flour. Compared with the wheat flour, the viscosity and the pickup of the coating batter made with composite flour increased from 4905 Pa·s and 0.53% to more than 12,252 Pa·s and 0.63%, respectively, and its water mobility decreased. These changes were closely related to the substitution rate of highland barley flour. The composite flour significantly increased the moisture content from 27.73% to more than 33.03% and decreased the oil content of the crust from 19.15% to lower than 16.44%, respectively. It decreased L* and increased a* of the crust and decreased the hardness, adhesiveness, and springiness of the deep-fried meat. A spongy inner structure with a flatter surface was formed in all composite flour-based crusts, and the substitution rate influenced the flatness of the crust. Thus, highland barley flour could be used for batter preparation with partial substitution, enhancing the quality of deep-fried meat and acting as an oil barrier-forming ingredient for fried batter foods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Functional Components in Cereals or Natural Products on Human Function)
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20 pages, 1093 KiB  
Review
Dietary Strategies to Improve Exercise Performance by Modulating the Gut Microbiota
by Li Zhang, Haoyu Li, Zheyi Song, Yanan Liu and Xin Zhang
Foods 2024, 13(11), 1680; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13111680 - 27 May 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2142
Abstract
Numerous research studies have shown that moderate physical exercise exerts positive effects on gastrointestinal tract health and increases the variety and relative number of beneficial microorganisms in the intestinal microbiota. Increasingly, studies have shown that the gut microbiota is critical for energy metabolism, [...] Read more.
Numerous research studies have shown that moderate physical exercise exerts positive effects on gastrointestinal tract health and increases the variety and relative number of beneficial microorganisms in the intestinal microbiota. Increasingly, studies have shown that the gut microbiota is critical for energy metabolism, immunological response, oxidative stress, skeletal muscle metabolism, and the regulation of the neuroendocrine system, which are significant for the physiological function of exercise. Dietary modulation targeting the gut microbiota is an effective prescription for improving exercise performance and alleviating exercise fatigue. This article discusses the connection between exercise and the makeup of the gut microbiota, as well as the detrimental effects of excessive exercise on gut health. Herein, we elaborate on the possible mechanism of the gut microbiota in improving exercise performance, which involves enhancing skeletal muscle function, reducing oxidative stress, and regulating the neuroendocrine system. The effects of dietary nutrition strategies and probiotic supplementation on exercise from the perspective of the gut microbiota are also discussed in this paper. A deeper understanding of the potential mechanism by which the gut microbiota exerts positive effects on exercise and dietary nutrition recommendations targeting the gut microbiota is significant for improving exercise performance. However, further investigation is required to fully comprehend the intricate mechanisms at work. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Functional Components in Cereals or Natural Products on Human Function)
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