Shift of aromatic profile in probiotic hemp drink formulations: A metabolomic approach

Vegetal drinks as a substitute for milk consumption are raising striking interest in the food industry. Soy and rice drinks are the most successful milk substitutes but are low in protein and fiber contents, are rich in sugars, and their cultivation systems are unsustainable; thus, alternative vegetal sources to resolve these limits must be found. A winning candidate could be hemp seed, which is a powerhouse of nutrients, is sugarless, rich in fiber and proteins, and little land and nutrients demanding. The aim is to develop novel drinks obtained from hemp seeds mixed or not with soy and rice and fermented with probiotics (Lactobacillus fermentum, Lb. plantarum, and Bifidobacterium bifidum). The drinks were characterized for their microbial growth, by means of culture-dependent and-independent techniques, and for their volatilome, by means of solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS) analysis. The results showed that hemp seed drinks have a specific aroma and its compounds are dependent on the type of formulation and to the probiotic used. For example, in hemp seed drinks, 2-heptanol, 2-methyl, 2,4-decadienal, 2-butanone, 3-hydroxy, 2,3-butanedione, and propanoic acid were fine descriptors of probiotics fermentations. Multivariate analysis of volatile metabolites and their correlation to some physiological parameters and nutritional values offered a novel approach to assess the quality of functional hemp drinks which could result in a decisional tool for industrial applications

In vitro bioaccessibility and bioavailability of iron from breads fortified with microencapsulated iron

Iron deficiency is the most prevalent mineral deficiency in the world. Food fortification offers an alternative to standard oral iron therapy, which often causes unpleasant side effects. In this study, bread was fortified with either ferrous sulphate or ferrous fumarate. To prevent undesired organoleptic changes in colour, odour and taste, iron compounds were introduced in the form of microcapsules. Eight types of bread were prepared using conventional fermentation or sourdough and fortified with one of four types of microcapsule. The in vitro bioaccessibility and bioavailability of the iron were determined using the human epithelial adenocarcinoma cell line Caco-2, preceded by digestion in a dynamic gastrointestinal digester, which mimics the upper gastrointestinal tract of an adult human. The bioaccessibility of the iron after digestion of the fortified breads varied from 41.45 to 99.31%. The iron transport efficiency varied widely, from 1.16 to 13.78%. Generally, both bioaccessibility and transport efficiency were higher in the samples of breads prepared by conventional fermentation. The mRNA expression of DMT1 and IREG1, cellular iron transporters which serve as molecular markers of iron movement across the intestinal border, was not statistically significant