Impact of different casein to fat ratios on the physicochemical composition, functionality and sensory quality of mozzarella cheese

Cheese is widely used as an ingredient in prepared foods to add taste, texture and nutritional quality. Mozzarella cheese is pasta filata product, manufactured in various shapes and used as pizza ingredient. Milk composition especially casein to fat ratio (C/F) is prime factor that dictate the functionality and sensory properties of Mozzarella cheese. Large restaurants do not purchase cheese from local manufacturer due to their non standardized manufacturing parameter which imparts variability in product quality. The study was aimed to standardize the mozzarella cheese manufacturing conditions with special reference to C/F and investigate its impact on the mozzarella cheese quality. Results showed significant (p<0.01) increase in cheese protein and stretchability with increase in C/F of cheese milk. However, moisture, fat and meltability are inversely related with C/F. High C/F results in fat reduction in cheese which adversely affect the mozzarella cheese sensory attributes. Casein to fat ratio (C/F) 0.8 was found to produce mozzarella cheese with good stretchability (35.61cm), optimum melt time (118.33 sec.) and excellent sensory properties

Mitigation of heavy metals in different vegetables through biological washing techniques

Availability of nutritious and healthy food is the foremost challenging issue in all over the word. Vegetables are essential part in human diet and considered as natural reserves of nutrients gifted by Almighty Allah to human beings. Heavy metals are among the most toxic food pollutants and their intake through diet leads to several disorders. The sources of heavy metal contamination include waste water irrigation, industrial emissions, transportation and application of metal-based pesticides. In Pakistan this situation is more alarming as vegetables grown in peri-urban areas have shown high incidence of heavy metals accumulation. In this study effort was made to mitigate different heavy metals (Ar, Cd, Cr and Pb) in cauliflower, spinach, okra and brinjal collected from peri-urban areas through washing with different biological solutions. Heavy metals contents were determined by using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS). Vegetable showed high load of heavy metals in unwashed form that reduced significantly by washing with different biological solutions. Among the different biological solutions, washing of vegetables with 8% ginger solution was found to be more effective

Crosstalk between Gut and Brain in Alzheimer’s Disease: The Role of Gut Microbiota Modulation Strategies

The gut microbiota (GM) represents a diverse and dynamic population of microorganismsand about 100 trillion symbiotic microbial cells that dwell in the gastrointestinal tract. Studiessuggest that the GM can influence the health of the host, and several factors can modify the GMcomposition, such as diet, drug intake, lifestyle, and geographical locations. Gut dysbiosis can affectbrain immune homeostasis through the microbiota–gut–brain axis and can play a key role in thepathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, including dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Therelationship between gut dysbiosis and AD is still elusive, but emerging evidence suggests that it canenhance the secretion of lipopolysaccharides and amyloids that may disturb intestinal permeabilityand the blood–brain barrier. In addition, it can promote the hallmarks of AD, such as oxidativestress, neuroinflammation, amyloid-beta formation, insulin resistance, and ultimately the causationof neural death. Poor dietary habits and aging, along with inflammatory responses due to dysbiosis,may contribute to the pathogenesis of AD. Thus, GM modulation through diet, probiotics, or fecalmicrobiota transplantation could represent potential therapeutics in AD. In this review, we discussthe role of GM dysbiosis in AD and potential therapeutic strategies to modulate GM in AD.<br/

Quality evaluation of yoghurt stabilized with sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and taro (Colocassia esculenta) starch

Stabilizers are important component in manufactured products such as yoghurt. The addition of stabilizers improves body, texture, appearance, mouth feel and prevents technical defects such as synersis in yoghurts. In this study starch was extracted from plant sources (sweet potato, taro) with and without use of chemicals. Yoghurt was enriched with different levels of extracted starch. Yoghurt samples were analyzed for physicochemical and functional attributes such as pH, acidity, synersis, water holding capacity, viscosity, total solids and sensory profile. Use of chemically extracted starches at the level of 0.3-0.4% (Sweet potato) and 0.2-0.3% (Taro)   in yoghurt manufacturing showed better  results  in  terms  of  lowering synersis, increasing water holding capacity, viscosity and overall acceptability as compared to the yoghurt containing stabilizer i.e. gelatin 0.5% w/w. Use of starches did not significantly affect the sensory attributes. Yoghurt that contains sweet potato and taro starch at 0.5% gave excellent results for water holding capacity, viscosity and for all sensory attributes as compared to gelati

Chemical Composition, Nitrogen Fractions and Amino Acids Profile of Milk from Different Animal Species

Milk composition is an imperative aspect which influences the quality of dairy products. The objective of study was to compare the chemical composition, nitrogen fractions and amino acids profile of milk from buffalo, cow, sheep, goat, and camel. Sheep milk was found to be highest in fat (6.82%±0.04%), solid-not-fat (11.24%±0.02%), total solids (18.05%±0.05%), protein (5.15%±0.06%) and casein (3.87%±0.04%) contents followed by buffalo milk. Maximum whey proteins were observed in camel milk (0.80%±0.03%), buffalo (0.68%±0.02%) and sheep (0.66%±0.02%) milk. The non-protein-nitrogen contents varied from 0.33% to 0.62% among different milk species. The highest r-values were recorded for correlations between crude protein and casein in buffalo (r = 0.82), cow (r = 0.88), sheep (r = 0.86) and goat milk (r = 0.98). The caseins and whey proteins were also positively correlated with true proteins in all milk species. A favorable balance of branched-chain amino acids; leucine, isoleucine, and valine were found both in casein and whey proteins. Leucine content was highest in cow (108±2.3 mg/g), camel (96±2.2 mg/g) and buffalo (90±2.4 mg/g) milk caseins. Maximum concentrations of isoleucine, phenylalanine, and histidine were noticed in goat milk caseins. Glutamic acid and proline were dominant among non-essential amino acids. Conclusively, current exploration is important for milk processors to design nutritious and consistent quality end products

Characterization of bioactive fatty acids and oxidative stability of microwave vacuum dried fish powder supplemented extruded product

his study was aimed to determine the retention of bioactive fatty acids and oxidative stability of fish powder (FP) supplemented extruded products. The Labeo rohita fish meat was minced, microwave vacuum dried, and extruded. Product formulations containing FP (0-25%) and semolina (75-100%) were optimized using response surface methodology. The maximum bioactive fatty acids retention was 94.84% in the final product. The highest values of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) were 87.97% and 85.66% at 25 °C for 30 and 60 days. Maximum TBARS values were 0.42 and 0.44 mg MDA/kg at 25 °C for 0 and 30 days, respectively. The highest carbonyl contents were 6.02, 7.67, 9.37 nmol/mg protein for 0, 30, and 60 days of storage at 25 °C, respectively. The moderate barrel exit temperature (125 °C) and feed moisture contents (20%) and high screw speed (150 rpm), FP (25%) exhibit the highest retention of PUFAs in a produc

Disparities in cardiovascular research output and disease outcomes among high-, middle- and low-income countries - An analysis of global cardiovascular publications over the last decade (2008-2017)

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Health research is crucial to managing disease burden. Previous work has highlighted marked discrepancies in research output and disease burden between high-income countries (HICs) and low- and lower-middle-income countries (LI-LMICs) and there is little data to understand whether this gap has bridged in recent years. We conducted a global, country level bibliometric analysis of CVD publications with respect to trends in disease burden and county development indicators.Methods: A search filter with a precision and recall of 0.92 and 0.91 respectively was developed to extract cardiovascular publications from the Web of Science (WOS) for the years 2008-2017. Data for disease burden and country development indicators were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease and the World Bank database respectively.Results: Our search revealed 847,708 CVD publications for the period 2008-17, with a 43.4% increase over the decade. HICs contributed 81.1% of the global CVD research output and accounted for 8.1% and 8.5% of global CVD DALY losses deaths respectively. LI-LMICs contributed 2.8% of the total output and accounted for 59.5% and 57.1% global CVD DALY losses and death rates.Conclusions: A glaring disparity in research output and disease burden persists. While LI-LMICs contribute to the majority of DALYs and mortality from CVD globally, their contribution to research output remains the lowest. These data call on national health budgets and international funding support to allocate funds to strengthen research capacity and translational research to impact CVD burden in LI-LMICs