Development of a healthy food and nutrition plan (Malaysia Healthy Food Plan Basket [MHFPB]) for lower-income households in Peninsular Malaysia

The food assistance program is used to help lower-income households get a nutritious diet. Many developed countries have developed food program to provide nutritional safety for households or individuals to promote good health but not in Malaysia. Thus, the aim of this study was to establish and develop a healthy food and nutrient plan called Malaysia Healthy Food Plan Basket [MHFPB] for lower–income households in Peninsular Malaysia. The development process of this food basket have several stages namely 1) Reference family definition; 2) Food group and serving selection based on Malaysian Dietary Guidelines; 3) Draft of food basket based on the food intake survey; 4) Nutrient analyses and food quantity specification to meet Recommended Nutrient Intake; 5) Definition of food outlet; 6) Food products selection for pricing; 7) Calculation method for MHFPB; 8) Validation of the MHFPB. The results showed that a total of 35 types of foods were included in the MHFPB with 20 types of fresh produce and 15 types of dried produce for reference family members of five. The nutrient content ranged between 88-113% of energy, while for micronutrients, it was quite difficult to achieve 100% of the recommendation, but most of the micronutrient targets for all family members were more than 65%. The weekly cost of foods in MHFPB was RM320.33, with the highest food price was anchovies (RM25.00/kg) and the cheapest food was watermelon (RM1.90/kg). The market survey shows that the increment of 1.5% to 3.3% for two consecutive months, with the price of fish and vegetable groups increase slightly. In conclusion, the food and nutrient plan can be used to supply healthy foods for lower-income households in Peninsular Malaysia, where the price of this plan was considered to be minimum cost to get healthy foods and assumed to be affordable for lower-income families, with a condition that a government give incentives to help this group to buy food. The social food protection program are needed to ensure that nutritious foods can be consumed by lower-income families in Peninsular Malaysia

Effect of biscuit baking conditions on the stability of microencapsulated 5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid and their physical properties

Among the folate compounds, 5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid (5-CH3THF) is regarded as one of the most bioactive forms of folate. It is regarded as the better source of folate to humans as compared to folic acid, a synthetic form of folate, which is used for fortifying foods to prevent the incidence of neural tube defects in the new born babies. The use of 5-CH3THF as an alternative fortificant, in place of folic acid, has been explored by various researchers. However, fortification of 5-CH3THF is problematic due to its lower stability. This study investigated the stability of microencapsulated 5-CH3THF in biscuits baked at various temperatures and times as well as changes in their physical properties. Microcapsule with pectin and alginate ratio of 80:20, prepared by spray drying, gave the highest retention (68.6%) of the 5-CH3THF, therefore, chosen for fortification. The encapsulated and unencapsulated 5-CH3THF were mixed separately with flour and biscuit ingredients and baked at 180°C, 200°C and 220°C, each for 5, 9 and 12 min. The inclusion of encapsulated and unencapsulated 5-CH3THF in the biscuit formulation and subsequent baking at various temperatures and times resulted in retention of 5-CH3THF from 19.1% to 1.7%. Microencapsulation of 5-CH3THF slightly improved the retention of 5-CH3THF over unencapsuated biscuits at 180°C for 5 min, but almost no such effect was achieved under baking temperatures of 200°C and 220°C. Physical analysis showed darker colour, harder texture and lower moisture content for biscuits baked at higher test temperatures. It seems intense heating condition that caused “over baking” of the biscuit likely to be responsible for the loss of the vitamin as well as less desirable physical properties of the biscuits

An exploratory study of visual aids using life-sized photographs of serve/portion sizes of foods and their effectiveness in recording dietary intakes

The aim of the present study was to develop life-sized food photographs as a tool for dietary intake assessment. This was an experimental study and used weighed record method to measure the dietary intake of subjects and a one-day 24-hour recall method was used to compare with the weighed record method. A total of fifteen subjects of Universiti Putra Malaysia staff with monthly household income below than MYR2300 (low income) were selected. From a hundred and sixteen food items were photographed, eleven of them were chosen for validation. A paired samples t-test showed that the percent weight differences between weighed record and 24-hour recall methods was between -10.7 to 5.3%, and foods that had definitive shape and form couldn't be estimated by the subjects. A correlation analyses between the two methods shows that there was a significant correlation (p<0.01) between these two methods. Nutrient intake analyses show that macronutrient intakes differed between 8.1 to 11%, while for other nutrients the differences were between -2.0 to 3.1%. Findings showed that there was no significant difference between both methods for nutrients (p≥0.05), while vitamin A and C (p≤< 0.01) and iron (p≤0.05) hadpositive correlation. An accurate estimation of micronutrient intakes for 24-hour recall method shows that these photographs can be used in dietary intake assessment to reduce the error and increase the accuracy in food and nutrient intakes estimation

Vitamin D3 and 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 Content of Retail White Fish and Eggs in Australia

Dietary vitamin D may compensate for inadequate sun exposure; however, there have been few investigations into the vitamin D content of Australian foods. We measured vitamin D3 and 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3) in four species of white fish (barramundi, basa, hoki and king dory), and chicken eggs (cage and free-range), purchased from five Australian cities. Samples included local, imported and wild-caught fish, and eggs of varying size from producers with a range of hen stocking densities. Raw and cooked samples were analysed using high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array. Limits of reporting were 0.2 and 0.1 µg/100 g for vitamin D3 and 25(OH)D3, respectively. The vitamin D3 content of cooked white fish ranged from &lt;0.1 to 2.3 µg/100 g, and the 25(OH)D3 content ranged from 0.3 to 0.7 µg/100 g. The vitamin D3 content of cooked cage eggs ranged from 0.4 to 0.8 µg/100 g, and the 25(OH)D3 content ranged from 0.4 to 1.2 µg/100 g. The vitamin D3 content of cooked free-range eggs ranged from 0.3 to 2.2 µg/100 g, and the 25(OH)D3 content ranged from 0.5 to 0.8 µg/100 g. If, as has been suggested, 25(OH)D3 has five times greater bioactivity than vitamin D3, one cooked serve (100 g) of white fish, and one cooked serve of cage or free-range eggs (120 g) may provide 50% or 100%, respectively, of the current guidelines for the adequate intake of vitamin D (5 µg) for Australians aged 1-50 years

Folates in quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa), amaranth (Amaranthus sp.) and buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum): Influence of cooking and malting

Effects of processing on the contents of five folate vitamers in quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat were analysed using a trienzymatic extraction method followed by LC–MS/MS. Total folate (TF) content, corresponding to the sum of folic acid (FA), 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) and 10-formyltetrahydrofolate (10-CHOTHF) expressed as folic acid equivalent, in raw quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat were 309 ± 8.07, 228 ± 24.2 and 153 ± 12.4 μg/100 g dw, respectively, being dominantly 5-MTHF. Boiling and steaming reduced the TF in amaranth by 58% and 22%, respectively, whereas up to a 10–15% increase was observed in quinoa. Boiling and steaming did not significantly alter the TF content in buckwheat although significant changes were observed in some individual folate vitamers. Malting, on the other hand significantly increased TF content in amaranth by 21% (276 ± 14.2 μg/100 g dw) and buckwheat by 27% (193 ± 20.0 μg/100 g dw), whereas no significant change in quinoa was observed. Based on the EFSA recommendations, a portion of amaranth and quinoa (either boiled, steamed or malted) may contribute up to more than 25% of the dietary reference value for folates, whereas buckwheat may contribute only 14% when cooked and 19% when malted. Results demonstrate that quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat are good sources of folates, regardless of processing.The scientific work was funded by the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under the scope of the strategic project UID/EMS/00667/2013. The analytical work has been financially supported by Project ELEMENTARIA funded by the Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge, I.P. Lisbon, Portugal (2013DAN850) and PRO-METROFOOD project, funded by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 739568.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Vitamin D3 and 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 content of retail white fish and eggs in Australia

Dietary vitamin D may compensate for inadequate sun exposure; however, there have been few investigations into the vitamin D content of Australian foods. We measured vitamin D3 and 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3) in four species of white fish (barramundi, basa, hoki and king dory), and chicken eggs (cage and free-range), purchased from five Australian cities. Samples included local, imported and wild-caught fish, and eggs of varying size from producers with a range of hen stocking densities. Raw and cooked samples were analysed using high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array. Limits of reporting were 0.2 and 0.1 μg/100 g for vitamin D3 and 25(OH)D3, respectively. The vitamin D3 content of cooked white fish ranged from <0.1 to 2.3 μg/100 g, and the 25(OH)D3 content ranged from 0.3 to 0.7 μg/100 g. The vitamin D3 content of cooked cage eggs ranged from 0.4 to 0.8 μg/100 g, and the 25(OH)D3 content ranged from 0.4 to 1.2 μg/100 g. The vitamin D3 content of cooked free-range eggs ranged from 0.3 to 2.2 μg/100 g, and the 25(OH)D3 content ranged from 0.5 to 0.8 μg/100 g. If, as has been suggested, 25(OH)D3 has five times greater bioactivity than vitamin D3, one cooked serve (100 g) of white fish, and one cooked serve of cage or free-range eggs (120 g) may provide 50% or 100%, respectively, of the current guidelines for the adequate intake of vitamin D (5 µg) for Australians aged 1–50 years. View Full-Text Keywords: food composition data; vitamin D3; 25-hydroxyvitamin D3; fish; eggsSample purchase, preparation and analysis was funded by the Western Australia Department of Health. L.J.B is funded by a Curtin University Research Fellowship; R.M.L is funded by a NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship

Probiotic-loaded microcapsule system for human in situ folate production: Encapsulation and system validation

This study focused on the use of a new system, an alginate | -poly-l-lysine | alginate | chitosan microcapsule (APACM), able to immobilize a folate-producing probiotic, Lactococcus lactis ssp. cremoris (LLC), which provides a new approach to the utilization of capsules and probiotics for in situ production of vitamins. LLC is able to produce 95.25 ± 26 g·L 1 of folate, during 10 h, and was encapsulated in the APACM. APACM proved its capacity to protect LLC against the harsh conditions of a simulated digestion maintaining a viable concentration of 6 log CFU·mL 1of LLC. A nutrients exchange capacity test, was performed using Lactobacillus plantarum UM7, a high lactic acid producer was used here to avoid false negative results. The production and release of 2 g·L 1 of lactic acid was achieved through encapsulation of L. plantarum, after 20 h. The adhesion of APACM to epithelial cells was also quantified, yielding 38% and 33% of capsules adhered to HT-29 cells and Caco-2 cells, respectively.Fundacão para a Ciência e Tecnologia, POPH-QREN and FSE (FCT, Portugal) through grants, SFRH/BD/80800/2012 and SFRH/BPD/101181/2014, respectively. The authors thank the FCT Strategic ProjectPEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013 and the project “BioInd—Biotechnology and Bioengineering for Improved Industrial and Agro-Food Processes”, ref. NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000028 co-funded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2–O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER

Food Frontiers : An academically sponsored new journal

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Folate: Methods of analysis

Folates and its derivatives occur as polyglutamates in nature. The multiplicity of forms and the generally low levels in foods makes quantitative analysis of folate a difficult task. The assay of folates from foods generally involves three steps: liberation of folates from the cellular matrix; deconjugation from the polyglutamate to the mono and di-glutamate forms; and the detection of the biological activity or chemical concentration of the resulting folates. The detection methods used are the microbiological assay relying on the turbidimetric bacterial growth of Lactobacillus rhamnosus which is by far the most commonly used method; the HPLC and LC/MS techniques and bio-specific procedures. This review attempts to describe the methods along with the merits and demerits of using each of these methods