Multiscale Structural Characterization of the Assembly Mode of Amylose-Lycopene Complexes

The formation and supramolecular structures of inclusion complexes between amylose and lycopene (amylose-lycopene complexes, ALCs) were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and 13C CP/MAS nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The results showed that the complex index of amylose to lycopene in ALCs was (17.10 ± 0.01)%, indicating that lycopene could enter the spiral cavity of starch to form a complex. ALCs exhibited a type II composite structure consisting of spherical V-shaped sub-microcrystals with a crystallinity of (65.32 ± 0.22)% and a T0 of (106.72 ± 0.63) ℃. Moreover, no characteristic absorption of lycopene at 960 cm-1 was observed, indicating complexation between the host and guest molecules. Furthermore, the structural components of ALCs were ranked as follows: double helix > amorphous form > V-shaped single helix. Among them, the proportions of double and V-shaped single helix structures in ALCs were (55.95 ± 3.25)% and (17.84 ± 0.96)%, respectively. These results indicated that amylose can include and twine around lycopene to form a thermally stable composite structure. This study provides a theoretical basis for expanding the prospective pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications of lycopene as a functional pigment

Advances in Studies on Toxicity and Transformation of Zearalenone and Its Derivatives

Zearalenone (ZEN) is a mycotoxin produced by the Fusarium species, which has various toxic effects. The chemical structures of ZEN and its derivatives are similar to that of estrogen. When ingested by animals or humans, ZEN and its derivatives can lead to disturbance of estrogen balance, thereby harming the reproductive system. Moreover, they can alter gene structure and consequently affect gene expression, and can even cause damage to the immune system, thus weakening the immune response. ZEN is transformed and metabolized into ZEN derivatives during food processing or after absorption by animals and plants, and its toxicity is altered due to structural and physicochemical changes. Studying the toxicity of ZEN and its derivatives as well as their transformation and metabolism in various organisms is important for ensuring food security and mycotoxin toxicity risk assessment

Structure Elucidation and Toxicity Analysis of the Degradation Products of Deoxynivalenol by Gaseous Ozone

Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) or scab is a fungal disease of cereal grains. Wheat scab affects the yield and quality of wheat and produces mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON), which can seriously threaten human and animal health. In this study, gaseous ozone was used to degrade DON in wheat scab and the degradation products of ozonolysis were analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole-orbitrap mass spectrometry (UHPLC Q-Orbitrap). Toxicology analyses of the degradation products were also studied using structure-activity relationships. Ozone (8 mg L−1 concentration) was applied to 2 μg mL−1 of DON in ultrapure water, resulted in 95.68% degradation within 15 s. Ten ozonized products of DON in ultrapure water were analyzed and six main products (C15H18O7, C15H18O9, C15H22O9, C15H20O10, C15H18O8, and C15H20O9) were analyzed at varying concentrations of ozone and DON. Structural formulae were assigned to fragmentation products generated by MS2 and Mass Frontier® software. According to structure-activity relationship studies, the toxicities of the ozonized products were significantly decreased due to de-epoxidation and the attack of ozone at the C9-10 double bond in DON. Based on the results of the study above, we can find that gaseous ozone is an efficient and safe technology to degrade DON, and these results may provide a theoretical basis for the practical research of detoxifying DON in scabby wheat and other grains

Effects of wheat flour particle size on flour physicochemical properties and steamed bread quality

Abstract In this study, differently sized particles of wheat flour (from 52.36 μm to 108.89 μm) were obtained by adjusting the distance between the rolls (0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, and 0.1 mm) of a heart mill. Results showed that reducing the particle size significantly increased the damaged starch (DS) content. Uniaxial tensile measurement of dough showed that reducing the particle size of wheat flour can effectively increase the maximum tensile resistance, but the extensibility reaches the maximum in samples at medium particle diameter (78 and 66 μm). Additionally, the ratio of dynamic moduli (G″/G′) decreased with a reducing particle size. The results of disulfide bond content, gluten microstructure, showed that finer flour granulation can strengthen the gluten network. The steamed bread (SB) making test showed that SB made from wheat flour of a smaller particle size had a significantly smaller specific volume than that made from a larger particle size. The texture profile analysis showed that with a decrease of wheat flour particle size, the hardness, chewiness of SB increased, the resilience decreased, and there was no significant difference in adhesiveness. Overall, the quality of SB made flour of medium particles (78 μm) is better

Ultrafine grinding of wheat flour: Effect of flour/starch granule profiles and particle size distribution on falling number and pasting properties

In the present paper, the properties of different ultrafine flour samples, including particle size distribution, damaged starch content, falling number, and pasting properties, were examined. The results indicated that the particle size decreased significantly after jet milling, as the rotation speed and grinding time increased, and the damaged starch content significantly increased as the size of the flour/starch decreased; this is in contrast to the significant decrease in falling number. Significant differences in pasting temperature were observed between straight-grade flour (68.6°C) and five ultrafine flour samples (from 86.3 to 87.9°C). We also observed significant increases in peak viscosity, trough, breakdown viscosity, final viscosity, and setback as the flour particle size decreased from 43.07 µm to 25.81 µm (D50). The same parameters significantly decreased as the flour particle size decreased from 25.81 µm to 10.15 µm (D50). Correlation analysis identified a significant negative correlation between flour particle size (D50) and damaged starch content and pasting temperature, while a significant positive correlation was found with the falling number values. The results of this work may have an important impact on the quality of processed foods

Reduction of Deoxynivalenol in Wheat with Superheated Steam and Its Effects on Wheat Quality

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is the most commonly found mycotoxin in scabbed wheat. In order to reduce the DON concentration in scabbed wheat with superheated steam (SS) and explore the feasibility to use the processed wheat as crisp biscuit materials, wheat kernels were treated with SS to study the effects of SS processing on DON concentration and the quality of wheat. Furthermore, the wheat treated with SS were used to make crisp biscuits and the texture qualities of biscuits were measured. The results showed that DON in wheat kernels could be reduced by SS effectively. Besides, the reduction rate raised significantly with the increase of steam temperature and processing time and it was also affected significantly by steam velocity. The reduction rate in wheat kernels and wheat flour could reach 77.4% and 60.5% respectively. In addition, SS processing might lead to partial denaturation of protein and partial gelatinization of starch, thus affecting the rheological properties of dough and pasting properties of wheat flour. Furthermore, the qualities of crisp biscuits were improved at certain conditions of SS processing