The influence of different types of preparation (espresso and brew) on coffee aroma and main bioactive constituents

Coffee is one of the most popular hot drinks in the world; it may be prepared by several methods, but the most common forms are boiled (brew) and pressurized (espresso). Analytical studies on the substances responsible for the pleasant aroma of roasted coffee have been carried out for more than 100 years. Brew coffee and espresso coffee (EC) have a different and peculiar aroma profile, demonstrating the importance of the brewing process on the final product sensorial quality. Concerning bioactive compounds, the extraction mechanism plays a crucial role. The differences in the composition of coffee brew in chlorogenic acids and caffeine content is the result of the different procedures of coffee preparation. The aim of the present review is to detail how the brewing process affects coffee aroma and composition

Morbidity and psychological impact of prostate biopsy: the future calls for a change

Currently transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy (TRUS-Bx) is one of the most common urological procedures, with more than 1 million performed per year in Europe and the United States. [1] Among patients undergoing TRUS-Bx, approximately one-third will receive a diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa), while two-thirds receive a negative result on initial biopsy. Negative biopsy patients maintain an estimated risk of repeated biopsy of 12% at 1 year and 38% at 5 years. [2] Standard TRUS-Bx is likely to systematically miss significant tumors, particularly in the anterior and apical parts of the gland. [3] A crucial aim of urologists in the next decade is to increase the accuracy of the procedure and avoid the use of inappropriate biopsies

Anchovies: a healthy food and a good source of vitamins B2 (riboflavin) and B3 (niacin).

Vitamins are crucial for maintaining good health in humans; lack of a sufficient amount of them can cause serious disease [1]. Essential for the calculation of dietary intake of nutrients from food is the use of reliable, accurate and precise analytical methods for nutrients in the foods. The water-soluble vitamins act mainly as coenzymes, while the fat-soluble ones act in different and more complex ways [2]. In foodstuffs, the vitamins B2 (riboflavin) and B3 (niacin) may be present in free (riboflavin, nicotinamide and nicotinic acid) and binding forms (essentially riboflavin-5’-phosphate (FMN), riboflavin- 5’-adenosyldiphosphate (FAD), nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP)). Furthermore, they may be bound tightly but non-covalently to proteins and polysaccharides [3]. Anchovies are a good source of those two vitamins, based on the various nutrition tables available. Thus, the aim of this paper was to evaluate the content of vitamin B2 (riboflavin) and B3 (niacin, i.e. nicotinic acid plus nicotinamide) in anchovies samples provided by “Dimar Sapore di Mare” and to evaluate the possibility to use the health claims related to the above vitamins reported in EU Regulation 432/2012. In order to use the claim, the levels of these two vitamins must be at least 15% of the recommended dose given in the Annex Regulation 2008/100/ EC, that is 1.4 mg/100 g for riboflavin and 16 mg/100 g for niacin. In the current study, we tested different extraction procedures such as acidic hydrolysis, acidic hydrolysis plus protein precipitation, acidic plus enzymatic hydrolysis and enzymatic hydrolysis and we choose the best one for the extraction of riboflavin and niacin from anchovies. Additionally, a new analytical method to simultaneously determine these three compounds in anchovies by using HPLC-MS/MS triple quadrupole, has been developed. The analytical procedure is fast (2.5 minutes of chromatography run time), the method is sensitive (LOQ for all compounds is in the range 1-5 µg kg-1), accurate and robust as it is possible to apply the method to both normal and under-oil/canned anchovies. After method validation, the best method was then applied to the analysis of 23 anchovies samples, in order to understand the dietary intake of vitamins

Comparative Analysis of the Volatile Profile of 20 Commercial Samples of Truffles, Truffle Sauces, and Truffle-Flavored Oils by Using HS-SPME-GC-MS

The aroma profile of raw truffles, of truffle sauces, and of natural and artificial truffle flavored oils made from or made to imitate Tuber magnatum, Tuber melanosporum, and Tuber aestivum was characterized by solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS). Both naturally and artificiallymade oils were not only mainly dominated by bis(methylthio)methane (BMTM), a marker compound typical of white truffle, but also found in most of the oil samples flavored with black truffle. BMTM was not detected or detected in low amounts in black truffles but was very high in sauces (59.74–77.691%); instead, 1-octen-3-ol was high in truffles (35.227–75.208%) but low in sauces. Along the same lines, terpenoid compounds such as α-cubebene, copaene, caryophyllene, α-caryophyllene, and α- farnesene were not detected at all in T. aestivum raw truffle but were present in most truffle sauces. Thus, it was found that neither the natural nor the artificial truffle oil samples adequately replicated the aromas of the species of truffle examined, and this was confirmed by principal component analysis (PCA

Melittis melissophyllum L. subsp. melissophyllum (Lamiaceae) from central Italy: a new source of a mushroom-like flavor

1-Octen-3-ol is the most important C8 mushroom aromatic compound produced by many species of edible fungi and is also an aroma component in several food and beverages products. Under this view, the essential oil of flowering aerial parts of Melittis melissophyllum subsp. melissophyllum (Lamiaceae) growing in central Italy, obtained by hydrodistillation was characterised by GC–FID and GC–MS. This oil contained extremely high amount of the mushroom-like aroma component 1-octen-3-ol (43.6–54.2%), and could be considered as a new natural product for the use as flavouring agent in the food industry. Furthermore, headspace analysis suggested that this aromatic compound is only present in low concentration in the plant part, and is primarily formed in higher amount during hydrodistillation of this material

The soluble dietary fiber inulin can influence the bioaccessibility of enniatins

Enniatins (ENs) are bioactive compounds produced by the secondary metabolism of several Fusarium strains and are known to have various biological activities, such as acting as enzyme inhibitors, antifungal antibacterial agents, and immunomodulatory substances. This study investigated the bioaccessibility of the ENs in wheat crispy breads produced with three different inulin concentrations (1, 5 and 10%). The mean bioaccessibility data of the four ENs (A, A1, B and B1) ranged from 68.67% to 84.67 in the experiments carried out without inulin, whereas the data ranged from 51.00 to 74.00% in the experiments carried out with the wheat crispy bread produced with 5 and 10% of the inulin