See related article, p 1129. Sugar-sweetened beverages are associated with cardiometabolic diseases, which may increase the risk of stroke and dementia. Limited prior findings suggest that sugarand artificially sweetened beverages are both associated with an increased risk of incident stroke, although conflicting findings have been reported. To our knowledge, studies are yet to examine the asso...

Acetone extract of whole fruit powder of Momordica charantia a given orally daily lowered the blood sugar and serum cholesterol levels to normal range after 15 to 30 days in alloxan diabetic rats. The blood sugar once lowered after 30 days treatment did not increase even after 15 days of discontinuation of the treatment.

Tomato fruit is renowned for its high concentration of phyto-nutrients such as lycopene and carotenoids, overall contribution to nutrition and human health. The effect of antisense suppression of ethylene receptor genes LeETR1 and LeETR2 over the quality of tomato fruit was investigated in this paper. During the different stages of ripening, the fruit of antisense transgenic tomatoes of ale1 an...

Plant metabolism changes during development and involves many enzymes acting in different subcellular compartments. Although difficult for our brains to grasp, this complexity lends itself to mathematical modeling (reviewed in Schallau and Junker, 2010; Rohwer, 2012). Such modeling has examined the effects of increasing atmospheric CO2 and the fluxes of carbohydrate metabolism in sugarcane (Sac...

It has been previously demonstrated, utilizing intraspecific introgression lines, that Lycopersicum Invertase5 (LIN5), which encodes a cell wall invertase, controls total soluble solids content in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). The physiological role of this protein, however, has not yet been directly studied, since evaluation of data obtained from the introgression lines is complicated by the ...

Auxin is one of the most prominent phytohormones regulating many aspects of fleshy fruit development including fruit set, fruit size through the control of cell division and cell expansion, and fruit ripening. To shed light on the role of auxin fruit ripening, we have previously shown that Sl-ARF4 is a major player in mediating the auxin control of sugar metabolism in tomato fruit (cv MicroTom)...

–Fruits and vegetables respire even after harvest. In respiration process the sugars and/or acids are consumed as substrates. The sugars contribute almost 90% in CO2 production of respiration. Uchino et al. 2004 developed respiration rate equation, which has been used to obtain a mathematical expression for sugar consumption/losses during storage of fruits by knowing the constants from experime...

An increasing proportion of California’s food consumers are Latinos of Mexican descent. How this population maintains its traditional eating patterns and incorporates new foods into its diet is the subject of a new survey. Since pre-columbian times, the traditional Mexican diet has included corn, chili peppers, beans, squash, and many other fruits and vegetables, as well as meat from wild anima...

Frugivorous and nectarivorous bats are able to ingest large quantities of sugar in a short time span while avoiding the potentially adverse side-effects of elevated blood glucose. The glucose transporter 4 protein (GLUT4) encoded by the Slc2a4 gene plays a critical role in transmembrane skeletal muscle glucose uptake and thus glucose homeostasis. To test whether the Slc2a4 gene has undergone ad...

Fresh strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa) are valued for their characteristic red color, juicy texture, distinct aroma, and sweet fruity flavor. In this study, genetic and environmentally induced variation is exploited to capture biochemically diverse strawberry fruit for metabolite profiling and consumer rating. Analyses identify fruit attributes influencing hedonics and sensory perception of s...