​The Nutritional Facts of Bamboo Shoots have a Potential and Prospects for Utilization as a Health Food: A Review

In Indian tradition, bamboo shoot plays an important role in the traditional food of North East State of India. In India, it is used in the traditional food name as ushoi, soibum, rep, mesu, eup, hirring, etc. In the market, this crop fibre is applied in the bakery and meat products. It has lots of health benefits to the human because it is nutritionally important that contain huge amount of protein, carbohydrate, vitamin, fibre, minerals and very trace amount of fat. Mostly its shoot may be consumed as a food either in fresh form or canned form. The main aimed to study the bamboo shoot could be helpful in mitigating the problem of malnutrition and food security and boost immune system are the major challenges for humanity which facing during Covid-19 pandemic situation. The role of bamboo is increasing day-to-day. Due to the present of phytosterols and rich amount of fibre, it becomes nutraceuticals and apply as natural medicine in several diseases. In recent time, the people are aware to improve their immunity to fight against such type of diseases-to improve the digestion and appetite and recover weight or loss, to cure cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and cancer. The part of this crop mainly shoot has important role in the anticancer, antibacterial and also antiviral diseases. The bamboo smell is very strong due to the presence of phenolic compounds. In Tripura, new event are discovered such as bamboo shoot fortified cookies as a healthy snack. So that its unique characteristics, bamboo is known as miracle plant and green gold. It play an important role in the secondary metabolize formation, so that its taste is slightly acidic. Various bamboo shoot processing methods, effect of cooking, technological methods for removal of toxic constituent in shoots have also been discussed.

Evaluation of labeling, nutritional composition, ingredients and food additives in greek yogurtes marketed in supermarkets in the city of João Pessoa

To analyze the labeling adequacy of Greek Yogurts with the current Brazilian legislation for packaged products, which includes the list of ingredients, the content of proteins, carbohydrates and sugars, the amount of saturated fat and the presence of additives. This research was done in products of this kind available in João Pessoa - Paraíba supermarkets. The data collected was about the list of ingredients, nutritional facts and the information contained on the labels. The collected data were tabulated on the Excel ® spreadsheet and analyzed statistically by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). 107 yogurts from 10 different brands were evaluated, in which all yogurts were in compliance with current legislation. As of nutritional composition, the products had high amounts of added sugars, saturated fat and additives, which differs from the original composition of the original Greek yogurt recipe; however, the G brand had the lowest content of added substances and the best nutritional quality. The results show that consumers need to pay attention to product labels to make better choices, nutrition professionals are expected to better understand the composition of these yogurts to effectively guide their consumption.

Immunomodulator dietary foods as a promising preventive tool against infectious diseases such as COVID-19

The pandemic crisis of COVID-19 has brought significant attention towards increasing natural defense mechanism i.e. immunity in order to fight emerging new species of micro-organism. Natural ways to improve immunity include two major components, regular exercise and nutrient diet. The former is physical process and also demand the later and hence healthy nutritional diet can be claimed as basis for improving natural immunity. There are numerous plants and vegetables which can be used in diet however, few vegetables are most common around the globe. These immunomodulator dietary vegetables used as foods can be a promising preventive tool against infectious diseases such as COVID-19. Present work was undertaken in view of a review to present the commonly utilizable 17 vegetables and their nutritional information. The study was done based on gist of selected previous works and established nutritional facts related to selected dietary vegetables, their nutrition profile and its relation with immunity. The 17 vegetables are rich source of Calories, Carbohydrate, Protein, Vitamins such as A, D, B12, C, and B6; micronutrients such as Calcium, Sodium, Potassium, Iron, and Magnesium. All these vegetables have very less fat and no Cholesterol, which insures their health stimulating effect. Based on availability, use of these vegetables in alternate way can help to ensure supplementation of essential nutrients to boost natural immunity.

Association between nutrition labelling awareness and the metabolic syndrome: results from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2016–2018

Healthy dietary habits reduce the likelihood for the metabolic syndrome (MS). The present study investigated whether awareness of nutrition information is associated with a decreased likelihood for the MS after adjusting for potential confounders among Korean adults aged 20 years and older. Data were obtained from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2016–2018. Of the 14 490 participants, 4001 (27·6 %) participants had the MS. In total, 3815 (26·3 %) participants checked nutritional facts and made labelling-dependent purchasing decisions (aware + consider), 7001 (48·3 %) checked nutritional facts but did not make labelling-dependent purchasing decisions or were aware of nutrition facts but did not check them when making food purchasing decisions (aware + not consider) and 3674 (25·4 %) were unaware of nutritional facts (not aware). The aware + consider group was less likely to develop the MS than other groups. The aware + not consider, and not aware groups were at higher association with the MS compared with the aware + consider group. Statistically significant associations were observed between the MS and several demographic characteristics including sex, age, household income, education level, employment status, public health insurance status, smoking status, alcohol consumption and aerobic exercise.

Nutrition Food Labeling in the Saudi Market between Compliance and Relaxing Policy

Background: With increased demand for prepackaged food, the nutrient content of those products has increased especially fat, sugar, and sodium. We aimed to assess the compliance of nutritional labeling and to analyze the stated nutritional components as presented on prepackaged food products in Saudi market. Methods: A total of 1153 foods were randomly sampled from fourteen stores. Nutritional information was taken from nutrient declarations present on food labels and assessed through a comparison of mean levels and assess compliance with Saudi Food and Drug Authority regulations. Results: Overall, of the total number of products surveyed, 88% displayed nutritional facts, while 12% did not. Of the total products that had nutritional facts, only 38% met SFDA requirements while 97% disclosed the four key nutritional elements (energy, carbohydrate, protein and fat). In total, almost one third of the products had a high fat content, 40% were high in sugar and 20% were high in Sodium. We found also, 20% listed hydrogenated fat in their ingredient information, 90% of which was fully hydrogenated, while 10% was partially hydrogenated. Conclusion: There was a high percentage of products that displayed nutritional facts, but only a small percentage complied with SFDA's recent regulations. Food reformulation could have an extraordinary potential to overcome the increase in nutrition-related chronic disease in Saudi Arabia, and the information acquired from this paper provides an overview of thinking about the food supply as a major source needed for a national intervention.

Formulation and quality evaluation of instant mango drink powder

The study was conducted to develop a healthy instant mango drink powder and to compare its nutritional facts with commercially available mango drink powder. For this purpose, ripe Amropali mangoes were collected from a local source. After drying the mango pulp in a cabinet dryer, three formulations were prepared to compare with a locally available commercial brand mango drink powder. In this study, moisture, ash, protein, fat, carbohydrate, and energy contents were ranged from 0.2 to 4.6%, 0.4 to 2.6%, 0.7 to 2.2%, 0.6 to 0.9%, 89.5 to 97.8% and 375.4 to 400.5 kcal/100 g, respectively. The crude fiber was not found in any of the instant mango drink powder. Among the bioactive compounds, the flavonoid content in the commercial brand was higher than other formulated mango drink powder. In contrast, total anthocyanin content and total phenolic content values of all formulated instant mango drinks were higher than the commercial brand. Potassium, Magnesium, Chloride, Phosphorus, and Vitamin C were higher in formulated powder than the commercial preparation, but sodium, calcium, and iron contents were higher in the commercial mango drink powder. Antioxidant capacity was also found to be significantly higher in our formulated powder than that of commercial preparation. From the sensory and microbiological point of view, our formulated instant mango drink powder exhibited significant acceptability and stability. So, the formulated instant mango drink powder appears to be nutritionally and tastefully as acceptable as commercially available instant mango drink powders and able to meet day-to-day nutritional requirements as a supplement.

Does the current Scope of nutrition labelling provided in the Saudi markets cope with the increasing trend of chronic disease?

Background: With increased demand for prepackaged food, the nutrient content of those products has increased especially fat, sugar, and sodium. We aimed to assess the compliance of nutritional labeling and to analyze the stated nutritional components as presented on prepackaged food products in Saudi market. Methods: A total of 1153 foods were randomly sampled from fourteen stores. Nutritional information was taken from nutrient declarations present on food labels and assessed through a comparison of mean levels and assess compliance with Saudi Food and Drug Authority regulations. Results: Overall, of the total number of products surveyed, 88% displayed nutritional facts, while 12% did not. Of the total products that had nutritional facts, only 38% met SFDA requirements while 97% disclosed the four key nutritional elements (energy, carbohydrate, protein and fat). In total, almost one third of the products had a high fat content, 40% were high in sugar and 20% were high in Sodium. We found also, 20% listed hydrogenated fat in their ingredient information, 90% of which was fully hydrogenated, while 10% was partially hydrogenated. Conclusion: There was a high percentage of products that displayed nutritional facts, but only a small percentage complied with SFDA's recent regulations. Food reformulation could have an extraordinary potential to overcome the increase in nutrition-related chronic disease in Saudi Arabia, and the information acquired from this paper provides an overview of thinking about the food supply as a major source needed for a national intervention.