The effect of consuming a liquid diet vs a solid diet 24-hr preexperimental trials on adherence in athletes

Discrepancies in energy and macronutrient intakes between tests are apparent even when a solid prepackaged diet (Sdiet) is used to standardize dietary intake for preexperimental trials. It is unknown whether a liquid prepackaged diet (Ldiet) leads to improved adherence, resulting in lower variability in energy and macronutrient intakes. This study assesses the ability of athletes to replicate a diet when an Ldiet or Sdiet was used as a dietary standardization technique. In a cross-over design, 30 athletes were randomly assigned to either Sdiet or Ldiet. Each diet was consumed for two nonconsecutive days. Participants were instructed to consume all the meals provided and to return any leftovers. The coefficient of variation (CV) was calculated for each nutrient for the two methods and reported as the average CV. The Bland–Altman plots show that differences between Days 1 and 2 in energy and macronutrient intakes for both diets were close to zero, with the exception of some outliers. The %CV for Sdiet was higher than Ldiet (5% and 3% for energy, 5% and 3% for carbohydrate, 5% and 2% for protein, and 5% and 3% for fat, respectively). There was a strong positive correlation for energy and all macronutrients between Days 1 and 2 for both methods (r > .80; p < .05). Ldiet is an effective technique to standardize diet preexperimental trials and could be used as an alternative to Sdiet. Furthermore, Ldiet may lead to additional improvements in the compliance of participants to the diet and also decrease the cost and time of preparation

Investigating the sensory acceptance of tropical fruit based products

Fruits have been used to design functional foods due to the presence of bioactive compounds and their antioxidant capacity. Hylocereus polyrhizus (dragon fruit) and Averrhoa carambola (star fruit) are tropical fruits that have been used to control diseases such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes in the traditional medicine of different countries (1, 2). Due to their high water content and their short shelf life, different preservation methods, such freezing and drying have been used to maintain their properties as much as possible and to allow their transport and storage to different regions (3). However, several factors such as the effect of the food matrix, the release of nutrients, the design of products and their sensory perception (4) need to be determined in products formulated with preserved fruit. The aim of this study was to establish the sensory acceptance of beverages based on fresh, frozen and dried dragon fruit and star fruit. Six tropical fruit based beverages were prepared. Three were formulated using dragon fruit in fresh, frozen and dried forms to contain 290 micrograms (mg) of Gallic acid equivalents (GAE) per millilitre (mL) of total phenolic content; three more based on fresh, frozen and dried star fruit were formulated with 490 mg GAE/mL total phenolic content. A hedonic test was conducted using Compusense Cloud software to determine the overall acceptance of the six beverages in order to evaluate five different attributes using a 9-point scale (9= ‘like extremely’, 1= ‘dislike extremely’): appearance, colour, taste, viscosity and mouthfeel. Ethical approval was obtained from the University Research Ethics Committee (Reg. No. UREC 201379). IBM SPSS Statistics software, version 27, was used to carry out a Friedman non-parametric test and Wilcoxon post hoc test with a Bonferroni correction to compare the sensory acceptance of beverages. 26 participants (8 males and 18 females) between 18 and 50 years were recruited. The overall acceptance was significantly different between tested products, Χ2 (5) = 20.276, p = 0.001. Post hoc tests showed a significant difference (p=0.003) between dried and fresh star fruit based products. Fresh and frozen dragon fruit based beverages as well as the fresh star fruit product were the most preferred, ranking between ‘like slightly’ and ‘like moderately’ for overall acceptance. Attributes such as appearance, colour and taste influenced the like-dislike response. The results of this study provide valuable data to consider hedonic test as a tool to determine the attributes linked to acceptability, and to establish the influence of food matrix on sensory attributes. Fresh and frozen dragon fruit and fresh star fruit based products could be used in in vivo studies to evaluate the effect of polyphenols on health biomarkers