Oats for the production of functional foods in Italy

In this presentation the development of an innovative oat product for the Italian food market was revised. The work was grounded on two aspects: i) the scientific data highlighting the positive role of oat fibre components in reducing the risk of heart diseases and in influencing cholesterol and glucose metabolism; ii) the growing demand of new opportunities to increase human consumption of oats and to promote health through a higher intake of oat soluble fibre. The project was carried out across different steps. The first step involved the identification of the consumers of interest, together with the most convenient product for them. Children and elders were selected as target consumers, then alimentary pasta, traditional Italian food, was chosen as a suitable product, as both groups could get health benefits from the improvement of its nutritional value through oat enrichment. The second step was focused on the choice of the raw material to be utilised: therefore, genetic variability for the functional compounds of the oat kernel (protein, â-glucan, total dietary fibre) was explored. Both husked and naked oat cultivars were considered in this analysis, the latter resulting the most suited material for pasta production. Finally, lowinput agronomical conditions were optimised for seed multiplication, as they favoured the accumulation of functional compounds in the kernel, safeguarding at the same time the environment. In collaboration with an Italian pasta industry, an innovative oat-enriched food was developed, using natural sources (oat flour and durum wheat semolina). The oat-wheat pasta was then proposed to a panel of consumers: it showed all the qualities to be included in the market of dietetic products, as it preserved the good organoleptic characteristics of natural foods, together with a better nutritional value, due to its higher content of good-quality protein, total dietary fibre and â-glucan.vokMyynti MTT tietopalvelu

Variations in Content and Extractability of Durum Wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var durum) Arabinoxylans Associated with Genetic and Environmental Factors

Arabinoxylans (AX) represent the most abundant components of non-starch polysaccharides in wheat, constituting about 70% of cell wall polysaccharides. An important property of AX is their ability to form highly viscous water solutions; this peculiarity has a significant impact on the technological characteristics of wheat and determines the physiologically positive influence in consumption. Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var durum), the raw material for pasta production, is one of the most important crops in Italy. As part of a large project aimed at improving durum wheat quality, the characterization of the nutritional and technological aspects of whole grains was considered. Particular attention was addressed to identify the best suited genotypes for the production of innovative types of pasta with enhanced functional and organoleptic properties. The objective of the present study was to investigate the genetic variability of AX by examining a group of durum wheat genotypes collected at two localities in Italy for two consecutive years. The environmental influence on AX content and extractability was also evaluated. Variability in the AX fraction contents was observed; the results indicated that AX fractions of durum wheat grain can be affected by the genotype and environment characteristics and the different contribution of genotype and environment to total variation was evidenced. The genotype × environment (G × E) interaction was significant for all examined traits, the variations due to G × E being lower than that of genotype or environment. The data and the statistical analysis allowed identification of the Italian durum wheat varieties that were consistently higher in total arabinoxilans; in addition, principal component analysis biplots illustrated that for arabinoxylan fractions some varieties responded differently in various environment climatic conditions

Characterisation for functional compounds of Italian oat genotypes

Functional foods are defined as foods which give physiological benefits beyond simple nutrition: they enhance overall health, help prevention or treatment of a disease, improve physical and mental performance, via an added functional ingredient (Jones 2002). As regards oats, an health claim was advanced in 1997, when FDA recognised the positive role of oat soluble fibre in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease, by lowering the level of serum cholesterol. Due to their high content of unsaturated lipids and protein of good biological value (rich in essential amino acids), oats represent therefore a raw material to be considered for the production of dietetic foods. An oat-wheat alimentary pasta was recently produced in Italy, using a reduced number of oat genotypes as sources of oat flour. In Italy, oat breeding programs are quite recent, being started about 20 years ago; breeding programs for naked oats are even more recent and rather limited. In addition, the available genetic variability for molecules acting as functional compounds (e.g. oat soluble fibre, â-glucan) has been poorly explored. In this study a group of naked oat cultivars from different countries and Italian breeding lines were characterised in terms of the main compounds related to nutritional quality: protein, soluble and insoluble â-glucan. Grain protein content ranged from 16.4% (BD126 and BD127, two Italian breeding lines) to 22.7 % d.m. (breeding line Se l84); the mean value was 19.2 ± 1.8 % d.m. The variation of â-glucan content was from 2.67 to 5.40 %d.m. and the mean value was 3,93 + 0.6 % d.m. Data showed also an high variability in relation to â-glucan composition (soluble and insoluble fraction). The results of two years of multiplication allowed to evidence significant genotype x year interactions for the functional components considered, in particular for total â-glucan. Finally, the water-soluble fraction of protein (albumins and globulins) was quantified in these genotypes. Jones, P.J. 2002. Clinical nutrition: 7.Functional foods more than just nutrition. CMAJ 1666(12): 1553-63.vokMyynti MTT tietopalvelu

Clinical and cytological findings in limbal stem cell deficiency

To evaluate and relate the clinical (including corneal sensitivity and tear function) and cytological (presence of goblet cells and cytokeratin 3- and 19-positive cells) features of limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD)

Use of Near Infrared Reflectance and Transmittance Coupled to Robust Calibration for the Evaluation of Nutritional Value in Naked Oats

A rapid accurate and precise method for simultaneous determination of beta-glucan and protein content in naked oat samples, based on the coupling of near-infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics, is presented. In particular, three different spectroscopic approaches [near infrared reflectance (NIR) and transmittance (NIT) on flour and NIT on whole grains] and various spectral pretreatments were considered. To account for the possibility of outlying samples, a robust version of the PLS algorithm (namely partial robust M-regression) was used. All the models resulted as accurate as the reference methods, reflectance spectroscopy being the technique providing the best outcomes. Variable reduction by inclusion of the most relevant predictors only (as evaluated by VIP scores) resulted in simpler and, in one case, more parsimonious models, without loss in accuracy