Caries and obesity are two common conditions affecting children in the United States and other developed countries. Caries in the teeth of susceptible children have often been associated with frequent ingestion of fermentable sugars such as sucrose, fructose, glucose, and maltose. Increased calorie intake associated with sugars and carbohydrates, especially when associated with physical inactiv...

Obesity resides upstream of the constituents of metabolic syndromes such as diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and arteriosclerosis. Postprandial hyperlipidemia is also implicated in atherogenesis. Therefore, factors that influence the body adiposity and the magnitude of postprandial hyperlipidemia have been intensively investigated. Diacylglycerol (DAG) oil, which is defined to contain DA...

According to their origin, major postharvest losses of citrus fruit are caused by weight loss, fungal diseases, physiological disorders, and quarantine pests. Cold storage and postharvest treatments with conventional chemical fungicides, synthetic waxes, or combinations of them are commonly used to minimize postharvest losses. However, the repeated application of these treatments has led to imp...

Herein we designed and characterized films composed of naturally derived materials for controlled release of proteins. Traditional drug delivery strategies rely on synthetic or semisynthetic materials or utilize potentially denaturing assembly conditions that are not optimal for sensitive biologics. Layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly of films uses benign conditions and can generate films with variou...

Pycnogenol is the registered trade name for a special standardized extract from the bark of the French maritime pine (Pinus pinaster ssp. atlantica), distributed by Horphag Research, U.K. The spray-dried, powdered extract is marketed worldwide as a food supplement, a herbal medicine, an ingredient in cosmetics, and as a food additive. The traditional use of pine bark was in the treatment of scu...

With an emphasis on decreasing calorie intake, more and more individuals are focusing on lowering their sugar consumption from foods and beverages. In response to this, food/beverage manufacturers are now introducing the highly touted sugar substitute rebaudioside A (Reb A), in place of all or most of the sugar in certain foods and beverages. The primary interest in Reb A is the fact that it is...

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) has a long history of use in foods as a flavor enhancer. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has classified MSG as generally recognized as safe (GRAS). Nevertheless, there is an ongoing debate exists concerning whether MSG causes any of the alleged reactions. A complex of symptoms after ingestion of a Chinese meal was first described in 1968. MSG wa...

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have historically been used in food fermentations to preserve foods and are generally-recognized-as-safe (GRAS) by the FDA for use as food ingredients. In addition to lactic acid; some strains also produce bacteriocins that have been proposed for use as food preservatives. In this study we examined the inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes 39-2 by neutralized and non-n...

Propionibacterium freudenreichii is a traditional dairy bacterium and a producer of short chain fatty acids (propionic and acetic acids) as well as vitamin B12. In food applications, it is a promising organism for in situ fortification with B12 vitamin since it is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) and it is able to synthesize biologically active form of the vitamin. In the present study, vita...

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are Gram-positive bacteria and are generally regarded as safe (GRAS) organisms. Therefore, LAB could be used for heterologous protein secretion and they are good potential candidates as antigen delivery vehicles. To develop such live vaccines, a better control of protein secretion is required. We developed an efficient secretion system in the model LAB, Lactococcus la...