Kristin Whitney

Dietary protein fortification enhances bakery nutrition, but its impact on dough mechanics remains unclear. To address this, 432 formulations were designed using eight proteins (up to 70.6% substitution), seven lipid configurations, and salt, with water adjusted (38%–159% baker's percentage). Texture profile analysis (10 mm compression distance) and dynamic rheometry (0.1–80 Hz at 0.5% strain) yielded 19 continuous and tertile‐discretized mechanical target variables. Parallel regression and classification workflows were developed to predict continuous values and tertile‐defined categories (low, medium, and high). Models included Ridge regression for continuous prediction, logistic regression for classification, and Random Forest and Gradient Boosting for both tasks, with performance evaluated using five‐fold cross‐validation. Both paradigms generally predicted rheological properties with higher accuracy ( R ² up to 0.87, classification accuracy up to 89.3%) than textural attributes ( R ² up to 0.78, accuracy up to 82.9%). Permutation importance revealed that soy protein, a pea‐quinoa blend, and bread flour were leading predictors, whereas lipids and salt showed low average predictive weight. Rheological regression models required eight to 10 predictors to retain ≥ 90% of full‐model R ² , whereas hardness, gumminess, chewiness, and resilience required four. Casein's normalized predictive importance was 42.1% higher in classification than in regression, indicating task‐dependent relevance. Rather than demonstrating biophysical causation, this research establishes an internally validated predictive framework. These findings advance formulation science by offering a mathematical basis to quantitatively screen and rationally design composite dough formulations. This predictive tool may support high‐plant‐protein food development by prioritizing formulations for experimental testing within the investigated domain.

Maize bran is an abundant cereal byproduct and a promising source of ferulated arabinoxylan biopolymers (FAXs). In this study, alkaline hydrolysis was optimized for FAX extraction from maize bran using a design-of-experiments approach evaluating alkali concentration, extraction time, and temperature. Purified FAXs were characterized for their chemical composition, phenolic and ferulic acid content, antioxidant activity, microstructure, and functional properties using GC–MS, HPLC, FT-IR, SEM, and standard antioxidant and functional assays. The FAX yields ranged from 14.7 to 18.9%, producing arabinose- and xylose-rich polymers (A/X ratio 0.68–0.74) with a high proportion of bound ferulic acid. Antioxidant assays (FRAP, ABTS, and DPPH) showed that alkaline-extracted and bound phenolic fractions exhibited substantially higher antioxidant capacity (p ≤ 0.05) than free phenolics, highlighting the importance of phenolic association with the arabinoxylan backbone. The FAX 3 extract also showed high activity in both the alkaline-extracted phenolic compounds (905.0 μg/g TE) and fraction II (286.5 μg/g TE), indicating that specific structural features may contribute to its bioactivity. In addition, FAXs demonstrated high water-holding capacity and favorable emulsifying properties. These results support the recovery of maize bran-derived FAXs as functional, antioxidant-active ingredients for food and related applications.

In this study, ferulated arabinoxylans (FAXs) were extracted from maize bran by optimizing al-kaline extraction method and explored their purification, identification and antioxidant potential. The current results showed that FAXs yield ranged from 14.7 to 18.9 % from maize bran. It was found that the FAXs were mainly composed neutral sugars including xylose (21–44%), arabinose (12–30%), galactose (2.7-7.4%) and glucose (4.6–9.4%), with an A/X ratio of 0.68–0.74. In addition, FAXs extracts showed significantly (p < 0.05) high content of ferulic acid in bound form as com-pared to free form. Furthermore, biopolymers FAXs possess powerful radical scavenging prop-erties due to their polyphenolic content and structural characteristics. FTIR spectra of maize bran extracted FAXs exhibited the presence of polysaccharide compounds. The corresponding bands were related to glycosidic linkage, which is assigned to the C-OH bend vibration in FAX. In functional characteristics, FAXs showed high water holding capacity, emulsion properties and emulsion stability in all treatments. In current research, FAXs have been comprehensively char-acterized, and several promising applications across the food, pharmaceutical, and agricultural industries can be explored based on these findings.

Spent coffee is rich in bioactive compounds, including chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, and caffeine, which offer health benefits. However, digestive processes can degrade these compounds; therefore, microencapsulation within Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cells offers a novel method to stabilize these bioactive compounds during digestion. In fact, it is important to mention that this technique of microencapsulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae has not been previously applied to spent coffee extract. As a result, in this study, spent coffee extract was microencapsulated in non-plasmolyzed (NPCs) and plasmolyzed (PCs) yeast cells using the spray drying method. The physicochemical properties of the extract and the microencapsulates were characterized, and the bioaccessibility of the bioactive compounds was evaluated with digestion in vitro. Encapsulation efficiency (EE) was 38.62% for NPCs and 55.78% for PCs, with loading capacities (LCs) of 126.36 and 242 g/kg, respectively (according to Equations (1) and (2)). The presence of antioxidant compounds, identified by HPLC in spent coffee, was confirmed in the microencapsulates using FTIR. In vitro digestion assays revealed higher bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds in the intestinal phase, greater than 90%, and increased antioxidant activity in beer made with plasmolyzed microcapsules (BPM). These results suggest that yeast microencapsulation effectively stabilizes the bioactive compounds of spent coffee extract, releasing them throughout the gastrointestinal tract in vitro, mainly in the intestinal phase. Thus, microencapsulated compounds could serve as functional additives with a good percentage of intestinal bioaccessibility.

The consumption of plant-based diets has become a burgeoning trend, and they are increasingly consumed globally owing to their substantial energy intensity and dietetic advantages. Plants possess numerous bioactive components that have been recognized to exhibit manifold health-promoting assets. Comprehension of the synthesis of these primary and secondary metabolites by plants and their method of action against several chronic illnesses is a significant requirement for understanding their benefits to human health and disease prevention. Furthermore, the association of biologically active complexes with plants, humans, disease, medicine, and the underlying mechanisms is unexplored. Therefore, this review portrays various bioactive components derived from plant sources associated with health-promoting traits and their action mechanisms. This review paper predominantly assembles proposed plant-derived bioactive compounds, postulating valuable evidence aimed at perceiving forthcoming approaches, including the selection of potent bioactive components for formulating functional diets that are effective against several human disorders. This meticulous evidence could perhaps provide the basis for the advanced preemptive and therapeutic potential promoting human health. Hence, delivery opens possibilities for purchasers to approach the lucrative practice of plants as a remedy, produce novel products, and access new marketplaces.

A typical metabolomic analysis consists of a multi-step procedure. Variation can be introduced in any analysis segment if proper care in quality assurance is not taken, thus compromising the final results. Sample stability is one of those factors. Although sophisticated studies addressing sample decay over time have been performed in the medical field, they are emerging in plant metabolomics. Here, we focus on the stability of wheat floret extracts on queue inside an auto-injector held at 25 °C. The objective was to locate an analytical time window from extraction to injection with no significant difference occurring in the sample. Total ion current chromatograms, principal component analysis, and volcano plots were used to measure changes in the samples. Results indicate a maximum work window time of 7:45 h for Steele-ND wheat methanolic extractions in an auto-sampler at 25 °C. Comparisons showed a significant gradual increase in the number and intensity of compounds observed that may be caused by the degradation of other molecules in the sample extract. The approach can be applied as preliminary work in a metabolite profiling study, helping to set the appropriate workload to produce confident results.

Summary: Potatoes have been added to bread for improvement of texture and moisture retention. The functional quality and starch digestibility in bread containing 5%, 10% or 15% potato flour were evaluated. Farinograph absorption of wheat and potato flour blends ranged from 59.0% to 77.7%. Bread with potato flour had significantly (P < 0.05) lower bread firmness during storage. There was a significant (P < 0.05) decrease in starch molecular weight as the level of potato flour increased. Inclusion of potato flour in these breads significantly (P < 0.05) increased the level of resistant starch (RS), while significantly (P < 0.05) decreasing the estimated glycemic index (eGI). Bread with no potato flour had 5.2% RS and an eGI of 95, while the bread with 15% potato flour had 11.3% RS and an eGI of 87. Overall, the addition of potato flour may reduce dough strength and loaf volume, but it reduced staling and increased resistant starch content of the bread.