UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS and GC-MS Characterization of Phytochemicals in Vegetable Juice Fermented Using Lactic Acid Bacteria from Kimchi and Their Antioxidant Potential

This study aims to investigate fermentative metabolites in probiotic vegetable juice from four crop varieties (Brassica oleracea var. capitata, B. oleracea var. italica, Daucus carota L., and Beta vulgaris) and their antioxidant properties. Vegetable juice was inoculated with two lactic acid bacteria (LAB) (Companilactobacillus allii WiKim39 and Lactococcus lactis WiKim0124) isolated from kimchi and their properties were evaluated using untargeted UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS and GC-MS. The samples were also evaluated for radical (DPPH• and OH•) scavenging activities, lipid peroxidation, and ferric-reducing antioxidant power. The fermented vegetable juices exhibited high antioxidant activities and increased amounts of total phenolic compounds. Fifteen compounds and thirty-two volatiles were identified using UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS and GC-MS, respectively. LAB fermentation significantly increased the contents of d-leucic acid, indole-3-lactic acid, 3-phenyllactic acid, pyroglutamic acid, γ-aminobutyric acid, and gluconic acid. These six metabolites showed a positive correlation with antioxidant properties. Thus, vegetable juices fermented with WiKim39 and WiKim0124 can be considered as novel bioactive health-promoting sources.

Development of technology for production of functional fruit drinks

The object of research is the technology of functional fruit and vegetable juice products enriched with collagen. The subject of research is various types of collagen, formulations and parameters of technological operations for the production of functional juice drinks. The research is aimed at the develop technology, recipes for a new assortment of fruit and vegetable drinks enriched with collagen. Also it is aimed at the preserve the functional properties of collagen in canned juice products after high-temperature processing and create food products for everyday consumption to solve age-related and other problems associated with human health. In the course of the study, standard methods were used to determine the organoleptic indicators of various types of collagen, juice products, as well as to determine the mass fraction of moisture, carbohydrates, fats, proteins in the developed fruit and vegetable drinks enriched with collagen. Also, to confirm the presence and preservation of collagen in finished products, the electrophoresis method was used to determine the atomic mass unit of the constituent substances after complete drying of the samples. The proposed methods make it possible to assess the quality of the developed collagen-enriched drinks, prove the presence and preservation of a biologically active additive in the finished product after using the sterilization mode parameters – temperature and time, when receiving canned products. The developed formulations and technology make it possible to consider functional fruit and vegetable juice-containing products enriched with a biologically active additive collagen as effective and useful. An easily digestible food product for everyday consumption is proposed for solving age-related and other problems related to human health, with regulation of the pH value for effective use of the beneficial properties of this additive. In contrast to existing functional juice products, the proposed formulations and technology make it possible to obtain juice-containing fruit and vegetable blended products with a biologically active additive collagen. The technology minimizes the impact of collagen on the organoleptic characteristics of the developed recipe compositions of finished products and preserves its beneficial biologically active properties in the finished canned product after heat sterilization.

Association of Soft Drink Intake With Cardiovascular Disease Mortality and Morbidity: A Large Prospective Cohort Study

BackgroundThe associations of SSBs, ASBs and pure fruit/vegetable juices with CVD events have not been thoroughly evaluated. The present study determined the association of soft drinks with CVD and effects of the substitution of alternative beverages for soft drinks and the population-attributable fraction of CVD mortality due to soft drinks.MethodsA cohort study was performed using data from UK Biobank and 168007 participants (mean (SD) age, 55.6 (7.9) years) without CVD/cancer at baseline were eligible for this analysis. Dietary consumption of SSBs, ASBs and pure fruit/vegetable juices was self–reported via a 24–hour dietary questionnaire between 2009 and 2012 and followed up to 2018. ResultsDuring a median follow–up of 7.0-year, we recorded 5922 incident CVD cases and 884 CVD deaths. Multivariable adjusted analyses revealed that compared to non–consumers, participants who consumed >2.5 drinks/day had a higher risk of CVD mortality and incidence with HR (95% CI) of 1.63 (1.22–2.17) and 1.23 (1.09–1.39) for SSBs, and 1.77 (1.23–2.56) and 1.20 (1.02–1.42) for ASBs, respectively. Compared to non–consumers, moderate pure fruit/vegetable juice consumers (>0–2.5 drinks/day) have an 8% (2%–13%)–34% (16%–48%) lower risk for CVD incidence and mortality. There was a positive dose–response association of SSBs per 5% energy with CVD mortality and incidence with HR (95% CI) of 1.15 (1.17–1.25) and 1.06 (1.03–1.10), respectively. Substituting one drink/day of pure fruit/vegetable juice, un–sweetened tea/coffee for SSBs and ASBs was associated with 4%–24% lower risks for CVD mortality and incidence. A reduced SSB intake to below 5% energy may prevent 4% (1%–8%) of CVD mortality.ConclusionSSBs and ASBs was associated with a higher CVD mortality and morbidity. Pure fruit/vegetable juice and un–sweetened tea/coffee are suitable alternatives to SSBs and ASBs to reduce CVD risk.

Effect of high nitrate vegetable juice supplementation on plasma nitrate and blood pressure in healthy adults: a pilot randomized crossover intervention in healthy volunteers

Background: Beetroot juice has been demonstrated to decrease blood pressure due to the high inorganic nitrate content, but few studies have tested the effect of other high nitrate vegetable juices on blood pressure. Methods: This pilot randomized crossover trial aimed to investigate the effect of two different high nitrate vegetable juices on plasma nitrate concentrations and blood pressure in healthy adults. Eighteen healthy volunteers were randomized to receive 115 ml of beetroot juice or 250 ml of green leafy vegetable juice for seven days. Blood samples were collected, and clinic blood pressure measured at baseline and at the end of each juice consumption. Daily home blood pressure assessment was conducted two hours after juice consumption. Nitrate and nitrite concentrations were analysed using a commercially available kit on a Triturus automated ELISA analyser. Hills and Armitage analysis was used for the two- period crossover design and paired sample t- tests were performed to compare within-group changes. Results: Plasma nitrate and nitrite concentration significantly increased and there was significant reduction in clinic and home SBP mean during the beetroot juice period (P-values 0.004 and 0.002, respectively). Home DBP reduced significantly during green leafy vegetable juice consumption week (P-value 0.03). The difference between groups did not reach statistical significance during the formal crossover analysis adjusted for period effects. Conclusion: Beetroot juice and green leafy vegetable juice may reduce systolic or diastolic blood pressure but there was no statistically significant difference between the two juices, although this was only a pilot study.

First Report of Anthracnose on Rubus rosaefolius Smith Caused by Colletotrichum boninense in China

Raspberry (Rubus rosaefolius Smith), also called march bubble or milk bubble, is widely distributed and economically important in China. Raspberries are rich in nutrients such as essential amino acids, vitamin C, dietary fiber, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and minerals (Yang et al. 2019). In May 2019, a leaf spot disease was observed on raspberry in Enshi (N29°07'10', E108°23'12'), Hubei province of China. The symptoms were small dark-brown spots (Fig.1) on over 90% of observed plants. To isolate the pathogen, leaf sections (5 mm × 3 mm) from the border of the symptomatic tissue were cut and sterilized with 75% ethanol for 30 s, followed by 2% sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) for 2 min, and then rinsed three times with sterile water. Leaf sections were placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium amended with 25 μg / ml ampicillin and incubated at 25 °C in the dark for 3 days. Isolated colonies were sub-cultured on PDA by hyphal tip transfer. Eight fungal isolates with similar morphology, abundant white aerial hyphae, were collected. Colonies on PDA grew up to 80 mm in diameter by 7 days at 25 °C. The center of each colony became black (Fig.2). Conidia were unicellular, oval and hyaline. Conidia ranged in size from 14.5 to 19.75 µm × 5.80 to 10.20 µm (n=50) in 20% (v/v) V8 vegetable juice medium. No appressoria were observed. Morphological characteristics are similar to those of Colletotrichum spp. (Moriwaki et al. 2003). Total genomic DNA of a representative isolate S1 was extracted with a CTAB method (Stenglein et al. 2006). Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA, actin (ACT) , beta-tubulin (TUB2) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) genes were amplified and sequenced with the primer pairs of ITS4 / ITS5, ACT512F / ACT783R, Bt-2a / Bt-2b and GDF1 / GDR1, respectively (Weir et al. 2012). BLAST results showed that ITS, ACT, TUB2 and GAPDH gene sequences (GenBank accession nos. MN498030, MT780498, MT780496 and MT780497, respectively) were 99% identical to those of Colletotrichum boninense Moriwaki, Sato & Tsukiboshi (GenBank accession nos. MF076598, JX009583, JQ005588 and JX009905, respectively). Concatenated sequences of the four genes were used to conduct a phylogenetic analysis using neighbor-joining method in MEGA7 (Toussaint et al. 2016). The isolate S1 clustered with above C. boninense strains retrieved from NCBI database. Therefore, the present isolate S1 was identified as C. boninense. Pathogenicity tests were performed using one-month-old raspberry plants, 24 controls and 30 inoculated. The plants were sprayed with conidial suspension ( 106 conidia / mL) cultured on 20% (v/v) V8 vegetable juice medium for 15 days. The control plants were sprayed with sterile distilled water. All plants were covered with plastic bags 24h to maintain the relative humidity in the field. Fifteen days after inoculation, typical symptoms of brown spots were observed on leaves similar to the disease on field plants, while the leaves from the control group remained asymptomatic. C. boninense was reisolated and identified from inoculated symptomatic leaves. Anthracnose on raspberry caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Dai et al. 2013) and C. fioriniae (Schoeneberg et al. 2020) has previously been reported. However, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of Colletotrichum boninense causing leaf spot on Raspberry in China. If more reports of this pathogen are found on raspberries, then it may be necessary to develop effective management strategies for controlling this disease.

Cutaneous Carotenoid Level Measured by Multiple Spatially Resolved Reflection Spectroscopy Sensors Correlates with Vegetable Intake and Is Increased by Continual Intake of Vegetable Juice

Although vegetables are beneficial for human health, in many countries, the recommended vegetable intake is not reached. To assess vegetable intake, it is important to understand vegetable consumption. Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional and intervention study of 26 healthy individuals (50% women; 37.0 ± 8.9 years) and estimated vegetable intake on the basis of the cutaneous carotenoid level (CCL) with a noninvasive skin carotenoid sensor, considering that vegetable juice intake can increase CCL. Participants consumed vegetable juice containing 350 g of vegetables daily for 4 weeks. Blood carotenoid levels and CCL were measured for 12 weeks. Cross-sectional analysis showed a significant positive correlation between CCL and vegetable intake (r = 0.489). Vegetable juice consumption significantly increased CCL and the blood levels of α-carotene, β-carotene, and lycopene (p < 0.05). The correlation coefficient between the blood level and CCL for lycopene was smaller (r = 0.001) compared to that between the blood level and CCL for α-carotene (r = 0.523) and β-carotene (r = 0.460), likely because of bioavailability differences. In conclusion, noninvasive skin carotenoid measurements are effective for determining vegetable intake, and vegetable juice significantly increases CCL.