Evidence against a cognitive advantage in the older bilingual population

Recent evidence has challenged long-standing claims that multi-language acquisition confers long-term advantages in executive function and may protect against age-related cognitive deterioration. We assessed evidence for a bilingual advantage in older monolingual and bilingual residents matched on age, gender and socioeconomic status. A comprehensive battery of tests was administered to measure non-verbal reasoning, working memory capacity, visuo-spatial memory, response inhibition, problem-solving and language proficiency. Analyses, including Bayes factors, revealed comparable performance in both groups, with no significant differences on any task (and the only trend, found for the Tower of London task performance, indicated a monolingual advantage). Overall, therefore, our findings run counter to the bilingual advantage hypothesis. We consider the implications of our study, and offer suggestions for future work in this area

Potential use of isomaltulose to produce healthier marshmallows

Isomaltulose is a non-cariogenic sugar with a lower glycemic index but with the same caloric value and visual appearance as sucrose. Therefore, isomaltulose could potentially be used to produce healthier candies. In this regard, the aim of this research was to evaluate isomaltulose as a traditional sugar replacer in soft marshmallow type candies, in order to provide added value to these widely consumed products, making it possible to capture a new market niche. 18 formulations were studied combining different sugars (sucrose, glucose syrup, fructose and isomaltulose) and different percentages of gelatine (4, 5 and 6). Analyses of composition (degrees Brix and moisture content), pH and water activity (a(w)), instrumental colour and texture as well as a sensorial analysis were performed. Marshmallows with isomaltulose combined with fructose exhibited the lowest values of pH (4.99-5.14). Moreover, formulations with similar amount of isomaltulose and fructose presented lower instrumental hardness, higher cohesiveness and springiness, and the best sensory acceptance. A PLS multivariate analysis showed a good correlation between instrumental and sensory mechanical parameters. Therefore, instrumental measures of texture could be suitable for discerning an overall preference for marshmallows without using trained panellists. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.The authors thank the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia for funding the project PAID 2011-ref: 2012 and the PhD scholarship.Periche Santamaría, A.; Heredia Gutiérrez, AB.; Escriche Roberto, MI.; Andrés Grau, AM.; Castelló Gómez, ML. (2015). Potential use of isomaltulose to produce healthier marshmallows. Food Science and Technology. 62(1):605-612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2014.12.024S60561262

Physicochemical characteristics of citrus jelly with non cariogenic and functional sweeteners

In this study the effect of sweeteners with low glycemic index and non-cariogenic characteristics (isomaltulose, oligofructose and tagatose) in jelly prepared with citrus juice has been evaluated considering a citrus jelly formulated with sucrose as reference. The soluble solids, moisture content, pH, water activity, antioxidant capacity, optical and mechanical properties of jelly made using different sweeteners was determined during storage. Besides, mesophilic aerobics and moulds and yeasts was also counted to determine their stability over time. Sensory evaluation of the citrus jelly has also been done. The results showed the antioxidant activity decreased during storage in all formulations. Tagatose increased lightness whereas coordinates a*, b* and chrome of all the jellies prepared using new sweeteners were lower than jellies with sucrose. However, citrus jelly with only oligofructose or tagatose or with the mixture of isomaltulose and tagatose were most closely resembled to the control jelly with respect to mechanical properties. Jelly prepared with the combination of isomaltulose and tagatose in equal proportions obtained the best score in the sensorial analysis.The authors would like to thank the Serigo-Andres family for donating the raw materials, and also the GVA projects GV/2013/029, GV/2014/012 as well as the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Spain) for the financial support given to this research study (UPV PAID-06-12 SP20120889).Rubio-Arraez, S.; Capella Hernández, JV.; Castelló Gómez, ML.; Ortolá Ortolá, MD. (2016). Physicochemical characteristics of citrus jelly with non cariogenic and functional sweeteners. Journal of Food Science and Technology. 53(10):3642-3650. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-016-2319-4S364236505310Álvarez J, Pastoriza S, Alonso-Olalla R, Delgado-Andrade C, Rufián-Henares JA (2014) Nutritional and physicochemical characteristic of commercial Spanish citrus juices. Food Chem 164:396–405AOAC (2000) Official methods of analysis of AOAC international, 17th edn. Gaithersburg, MDCalzada-León R, Ruiz-Reyes ML, Altamirano-Bustamante N, Padrón-Martínez MM (2013) Features of the noncaloric sweeteners and their use in children. Acta Pediatr Méx 34(3):141–153Chacón-Villalobos A (2006) Current perspectives agribusiness oligofructosaccharides (FOS). Agron Mesoam 17(2):265–286De Oliva-Neto P, Menão PTP (2009) Isomaltulose production from sucrose by protaminobacter rubrum immobilized in calcium alginate. Bioresour Technol 100:252–4256de Queiroz Pane D, Dias CB, Meinhart AD, Ballus CA, Godoy HT (2015) Evaluation of the sweetener content in diet/light/zero foods and drinks by HPLC-DAD. J Food Sci Tech 52(11):6900–6913Edwards WP (2002) The science of goodies. Acribia S.A, SpainFood and Drug Administration (FDA) (2005) GRAS Notification Isomaltulose (PALATINOSE). http://www.fda.gov/ucm/groups/fdagov-public/@fdagovfoodsgen/documents/document/ucm268989.pdf . Accessed 12 July 2015Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (2010) GRAS Notification Tagatose. GRN No.352. http://www.fda.gov/ucm/groups/fdagov-public/@fdagov-foods-gen/documents/document/ucm269560.pdf . Accessed 12 July 2015Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (2011) GRAS Notification Oligofructose. GRN No.392. http://www.fda.gov/ucm/groups/fdagov-public/@fdagov-foodsgen/documents/document/ucm277112.pdf . Accessed 12 July 2015GME (2015) Gelatine manufactured Europe gelatine properties. http://www.gelatine.org/en/about-gelatine/properties.html . Accessed 12 July 2015ISO (2003) Sensory analysis. Guidelines for the use of quantitative response scales [ref. no.ISO 4121:2003]. International Organization for Standardization, GenevaISO (2008) Sensory analysis Vocabulary [ref. no.ISO 5492:2008]. International Organization for Standardization, GenevaLedur MJ, Tessaro I, Zapata CP (2013) Physicochemical characterization of Saccharides Powder obtained from Yacon Roots (Smallanthus sonchifolius) by membrane technology. Braz Arch Biol Technol 56(6):1024–1033Levin GV (2002) Tagatose, the new GRAS sweetener and health product. J Med Food 5(1):23–36Lina BAR, Jonker G, Kozianowski G (2002) Isomaltulose (Palatinose review of biological and toxicologycal studies). Food Chem Toxicol 40(10):1375–1381O’Donnell K, Kearsley M (2012) Sweeteners and sugar alternatives in food technology, 2nd edn. Wiley, ChichesterOh DK (2007) Tagatose: properties, applications, and biotechnological processes. Appl Microb Biotechnol 76(1):1–8Pacual MR, Calderón-Pascual V (2000) Food Microbiology. Analytical methodology for foods and drinks, 2nd edn. Diaz de Santos, MadridPeinado I, Rosa E, Heredia A, Andrés A (2012) Rheological characteristics of healthy sugar substituted spreadable strawberry product. J Food Eng 113(3):365–373Peinado I, Rosa E, Heredia A, Escriche I, Andrés A (2013) Optical, mechanical and sensorial properties of strawberry spreadable products formulated with isomaltulose. Food Bioprocess Tech 6(9):2353–2364Periche A, Heredia A, Escriche I, Andrés A, Castelló ML (2014) Optical, mechanical and sensory properties of based-isomaltulose gummy confections. Food Biosci 7:37–44Periche A, Heredia A, Escriche I, Andrés A, Castelló ML (2015a) Potential use of isomaltulose to produce healthier marshmallows. LWT-Food Sci Technol 62(1):605–612Periche Á, Castelló ML, Heredia A, Escriche I (2015b) Stevia rebaudiana, Oligofructose and isomaltulose as sugar replacers in Marshmallows: stability and antioxidant properties. J Food Process Preserv. doi: 10.1111/jfpp.12653Petersen-Skytte U (2006) Tagatose. In: Mitchell H (ed) Sweeteners and sugar alternatives in food technology. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, pp 262–292Pimentel TC, Madrona GS, Prudencio SH (2015) Probiotic clarified apple juice with oligofructose or sucralose as sugar substitutes: sensory profile and acceptability. LWT–Food. Sci Technol 62(1):838–846Rababah TM, Al-Mahasneh MA, Kilani I, Yang W, Alhamad MN, Ereifeja E, Al-U’datta M (2011) Effect of jam processing and storage on total phenolics, antioxidant activity, and anthocyanins of different fruits. J Sci Food Agric 91:1096–1102Rubio-Arraez S, Sahuquillo S, Capella JV, Ortolá MD, Castelló ML (2015) Influence of healthy sweeteners (Tagatose and Oligofructose) on the physicochemical characteristics of orange marmalade. J Texture Stud 46(4):272–280Shahidi F, Liyana-Pathirana CM, Wall DS (2006) Antioxidant activity of white and black sesame seeds and their hull fractions. 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Arsenic in Peruvian rice cultivated in the major rice growing region of Tumbes river basin

Arsenic (As) exposure from surface and groundwater in Peru is being recognised as a 16 potential threat but there are limited studies on As in the food-chain and none on As in 17 Peruvian rice. In this study, we have determined the As content in rice cultivated in the 18 Tumbes river basin located in the northern province of Peru, an area known for extensive rice 19 cultivation. We collected rice and soil samples from agricultural fields, soil was collected 20 using grid sampling technique while rice was collected from the heaps of harvested crop 21 placed across the fields. The average total As concentration in rice was 167.94 ± 71 μg kg-1 22 (n=29; range 68.39-345.31 μg kg-1). While the rice As levels were not highly elevated, the As 23 content of few samples (n=7) greater than 200 μg kg-1 could contribute negatively to human health upon chronic exposure. Average concentration of As in soil was 8.63 ± 7.8 mg kg-1 25 (n=30) and soil to grain transfer factor was 0.025 ± 0.018 for 12 matched samples. Compared 26 to our previous pilot study in 2006 (samples collected from the same agricultural fields but 27 not from exact locations) there was a 41% decrease in As soil concentration in this study. 28 Rice samples collected in 2006 (n=5) had a mean concentration of 420 ± 109 μg kg-1. Our 29 data provides a baseline of rice grain As concentrations in Peruvian province of Tumbes and 30 warrants further studies on factors affecting uptake of As by the rice varieties cultivated in 31 Peru and any potential human health risks

Enrichment of Milk Chocolate by Using EPA and DHA Originated from Various Origins: Effects on Product Quality

In this study, milk chocolate was enriched with different forms of omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA after conching process followed by tempering process. Total EPA and DHA contents of the milk chocolate samples increased to 168.1 and 13.8mg/25g chocolate, respectively. The main quality properties (melting, rheological, textural colour, a(w) and sensory) of the milk chocolate samples were also determined. Viscosity and yield stress values of molten milk chocolates ranged between 7685-15,600mPas and 79.1-237.5Pa, respectively. The results indicated that rheological parameters were influenced by the addition of various forms of EPA/DHA sources in different levels (P<0.05). Also, EPA/DHA source component addition did not significantly affect the T-onset and T-end of the samples. According to the sensory analysis results, chocolate with microencapsulated form of EHA/DHA source had the highest overall acceptance among the enriched chocolate samples. Usage potential of milk chocolate as a delivery agent of EPA and/or DHA was confirmed.Tayas Food Company (Kocaeli, Turkey); DSM Nutritional Products (Istanbul, Turkey); Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)Turkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [215O465]This work was funded by Tayas Food Company (Kocaeli, Turkey), DSM Nutritional Products (Istanbul, Turkey) and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), Project No. 215O465