A prebiotic substance has been defined as a non-digestible food ingredient that beneficially affects the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon. Therefore, compared to probiotics, which introduce exogenous bacteria into the colonic microflora, a prebiotic aims at stimulating the growth of one or a limited number of the pote...

The development of new functional foods requires technologies for incorporating health-promoting ingredients into food without reducing their bioavailability or functionality. In many cases, microencapsulation can provide the necessary protection for these compounds, but in all cases bioavailability should be carefully studied. The present paper gives an overview of the application of various m...

The achievement of optimal folate status to prevent neural-tube defects, and possibly other diseases, is hindered by the well-recognised incomplete bioavailability of the natural folates found in foods compared with the synthetic vitamin, folic acid. Folate bioavailability from different foods is considered to be dependent on a number of factors, including the food matrix, the intestinal deconj...

Absorption from wheat intrinsically and extrinsically labelled with 67Zn and extrinsically labelled with 65Zn was measured from 67Zn faecal excretion and 65Zn whole-body retention in rats. There were significant differences between the extrinsically- and intrinsically-labelled 67Zn (P < 0.001), but not between the extrinsically-labelled 65Zn and intrinsically-labelled 67Zn. The effect of chicke...

In the past few decades, many types of functional factors have been identified in dietary foods; for example, flavonoids are major groups widely distributed in the plant kingdom. However, the absorption rates of the functional food factors are usually low, and many of these are difficult to be absorbed in the intact forms because of metabolization by biological processes during absorption. To g...

Fluctuations in food availability are a major challenge faced by primates living in seasonal climates. Variation in food availability can be especially challenging for females, because of the high energetic costs of reproduction. Therefore, females must adapt the particular demands of the different reproductive stages to the seasonal availability of resources. Madagascar has a highly seasonal c...

The availability of multiple sources of food and drink has a profound influence on choice behavior in rodents. It is not known how other taxa might respond to the same kind of variation in availability. We tested European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) with various combinations of unadulterated and repellent-treated (0.025% citronellyl acetate) resources. In Experiment 1, birds drank more plain t...

Global data indicate a high prevalence of hidden hunger among population. Deficiencies of certain micronutrients such as folic acid, iodine, iron, and vitamin A have long lasting effects on growth and development and therefore have been a National priority from many decades. The strategy implemented so far limits to the use of supplemental sources or fortified foods in alleviating the burden of...

OBJECTIVE The present study assessed the impact of the 2009 food packages mandated by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) on dietary intake and home food availability in low-income African-American and Hispanic parent/child dyads. DESIGN A natural experiment was conducted to assess if the revised WIC food package altered dietary intake, home food ...