Current Research in Food Science最新文献

{"title":"Application of indigenous Saccharomycopsis fibuligera for light-flavor Baijiu fermentation: Changes of microbial community and flavor metabolism","authors":"Jie Tang ,&nbsp;Bin Lin ,&nbsp;Yimin Shan ,&nbsp;Gang Zhang ,&nbsp;Liping Zhu ,&nbsp;Wei Jiang ,&nbsp;Qun Li ,&nbsp;Lei Zhang ,&nbsp;Shengzhi Yang ,&nbsp;Qiang Yang ,&nbsp;Shenxi Chen ,&nbsp;Hai Du","doi":"10.1016/j.crfs.2025.101008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crfs.2025.101008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ethyl acetate, a characteristic flavor compound in light-flavor Baijiu (LFB), plays a pivotal role in defining its sensory profile. Insufficient concentrations in fermented grains may diminish the quality of Baijiu. Indigenous microbial bioaugmentation has proven effective in improving Baijiu quality by reshaping microbial community and modulating flavor metabolism within fermentation ecosystems. This study investigated the effects of <em>Jiuqu</em> fortified with an indigenous <em>Saccharomycopsis fibuligera</em> Y162 on the microbial community, physicochemical parameters, and volatile compound profiles throughout the fermentation of LFB. Results demonstrated a significant increase in ethyl acetate content in both original Baijiu and fermented grains, alongside pronounced fungal community restructuring. PacBio single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing analysis showed that <em>Lactobacillus helveticus</em>, <em>Rhizopus</em> sp., <em>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</em>, and <em>Issatchenkia orientalis</em> became the dominant species at the end of fermentation. Correlation network analysis revealed that ethyl acetate was significantly related (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.05, |ρ| &gt; 0.7) to the <em>I. orientalis</em> and <em>Rhizopus</em> sp. (the main fungal biomarkers), which was driven by the functional <em>S. fibuligera.</em> Mantel test further highlighted acidity, temperature, and moisture as critical environmental factors influencing the microbial community (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.05, |ρ| &gt; 0.7)<em>.</em> To summarize, biofortification with <em>S. fibuligera</em> exhibited positive effects in enhancing typical flavor metabolites by influencing fungal community structure in LFB. These findings imply that the indigenous strains have great application potential in improving the quality of Baijiu.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10939,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Food Science","volume":"10 ","pages":"Article 101008"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143549552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Functional compounds in tropical fruit processing by-products and intrinsic factors affecting their composition: A review","authors":"María Romero-Martínez,&nbsp;Ricardo Andrade-Pizarro,&nbsp;Claudia De Paula","doi":"10.1016/j.crfs.2025.101028","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crfs.2025.101028","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Tropical fruits, highly demanded in the food industry, generate a considerable amount of waste during processing. These traditionally discarded by-products, such as peels, seeds and pomace, are rich in bioactive compounds, natural molecules that have beneficial properties for human health, as they participate in various metabolic processes in the organism. Among the most prominent compounds are flavonoids, carotenoids, phenolic compounds, tannins and vitamin C. Beyond their health benefits, these compounds have significant industrial value and are widely used in the textile, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, biotechnological and food fields, in the latter especially as preservatives, additives, colorants and others. This review explores the main bioactive compounds found in fruit by-products, highlighting their functional relevance and analyzing the intrinsic or fruit-derived factors that influence the composition of these compounds, such as the type of by-product (peels, seeds, bagasse, pomace), the variety of fruit, and the state of maturity at the time of processing. In addition, the extraction methods used to obtain these compounds are addressed, differentiating between conventional techniques, such as solvent extraction, and emerging methods, such as ultrasound-assisted extraction and supercritical fluid extraction, which offer advantages in terms of efficiency and sustainability. The diversity of bioactive compounds and their potential application in various industries highlight the importance of ongoing research in this field. It is necessary to further study the factors that influence the composition of these compounds, as well as the development of more efficient and sustainable extraction methods. These advances will not only add value to food industry waste, but will also contribute to the development of natural products with health benefits.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10939,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Food Science","volume":"10 ","pages":"Article 101028"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143643308","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A novel hybrid MCDM framework combining TOPSIS, PROMETHEE II, and VIKOR for peach drying method selection","authors":"Burak Gülmez","doi":"10.1016/j.crfs.2025.101034","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crfs.2025.101034","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The selection of optimal drying technologies for peach processing presents a complex decision-making challenge due to multiple conflicting criteria. This study introduces a novel hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework combining TOPSIS, VIKOR, and PROMETHEE II methods to evaluate eight drying technologies. The evaluation was conducted across twelve criteria, encompassing product quality, operational efficiency, economic factors, and environmental impact. Data were collected from five industry experts through structured matrices. The results demonstrate that vacuum drying emerged as the optimal technology, maintaining the top position in 75 % of sensitivity scenarios. Freeze drying and heat pump drying consistently ranked among the top three alternatives across all methods. The correlation analysis revealed strong agreement between VIKOR and PROMETHEE II rankings (0.857), while TOPSIS provided complementary insights. Sensitivity analysis identified energy consumption, investment cost, and nutritional retention as the most critical factors influencing technology selection. The findings indicate that advanced drying technologies significantly outperform traditional methods in terms of overall performance. This research provides a comprehensive framework for evidence-based decision-making in food processing technology selection and establishes quantitative benchmarks for future technology evaluations in the fruit drying industry.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10939,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Food Science","volume":"10 ","pages":"Article 101034"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143681396","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unlocking chickpea flour potential: AI-powered prediction for quality assessment and compositional characterisation","authors":"Ali Zia ,&nbsp;Muhammad Husnain ,&nbsp;Sally Buck ,&nbsp;Jonathan Richetti ,&nbsp;Elizabeth Hulm ,&nbsp;Jean-Philippe Ral ,&nbsp;Vivien Rolland ,&nbsp;Xavier Sirault","doi":"10.1016/j.crfs.2025.101030","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crfs.2025.101030","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The growing demand for sustainable, nutritious, and environmentally friendly food sources has placed chickpea flour as a vital component in the global shift to plant-based diets. However, the inherent variability in the composition of chickpea flour, influenced by genetic diversity, environmental conditions, and processing techniques, poses significant challenges to standardisation and quality control. This study explores the integration of deep learning models with near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to improve the accuracy and efficiency of chickpea flour quality assessment. Using a dataset comprising 136 chickpea varieties, the research compares the performance of several state-of-the-art deep learning models, including Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Vision Transformers (ViTs), and Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs), and compares the most effective model, CNN, against the traditional Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) method. The results demonstrate that CNN-based models outperform PLSR, providing more accurate predictions for key quality attributes such as protein content, starch, soluble sugars, insoluble fibres, total lipids, and moisture levels. The study highlights the potential of AI-enhanced NIR spectroscopy to revolutionise quality assessment in the food industry by offering a non-destructive, rapid, and reliable method for analysing chickpea flour. Despite the challenges posed by the limited dataset, deep learning models exhibit capabilities that suggest that further advancements would allow their industrial applicability. This research paves the way for broader applications of AI-driven quality control in food production, contributing to the development of more consistent and high-quality plant-based food products.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10939,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Food Science","volume":"10 ","pages":"Article 101030"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143715536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unveiling microbial dynamics in terasi spontaneous fermentation: Insights into glutamate and GABA production","authors":"Gemilang Lara Utama ,&nbsp;Novia Rahmah Maulani Sahab ,&nbsp;Siti Nurmilah ,&nbsp;Vira Putri Yarlina ,&nbsp;Edy Subroto ,&nbsp;Roostita L. Balia","doi":"10.1016/j.crfs.2024.100950","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crfs.2024.100950","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Terasi, a traditional Indonesian seafood product made from shrimp, undergoes fermentation facilitated by a consortium of microorganisms, including Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) and yeast, which contribute to its distinctive umami flavor. This study investigates the microbial dynamics and production of key metabolites, including γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), during terasi fermentation. Total Plate Count (TPC) and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) were used to monitor changes in glutamate and GABA levels, with glutamate increasing from 105.18 mg/mL on day 3–139.19 mg/mL on day 14, and GABA rising from 90.49 mg/mL to 106.98 mg/mL over the same period. Metagenomic analysis using high-throughput sequencing of bacterial 16 S rRNA identified Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidota as dominant phyla. While LAB populations remained relatively stable, yeast became detectable from day 4. Notably, core bacterial genera such as <em>Vibrio, Macrococcus, Staphylococcus, Exiguobacterium, Jeotgalicoccus, Prevotella, Salinicoccus, Bacillus, Pseudarthrobacter</em>, and <em>Vagococcus</em> were highly abundant and played significant roles in GABA production, likely due to their glutamate decarboxylase activity. These findings reveal a clear correlation between microbial succession and metabolite production, offering valuable insights into the fermentation process of terasi. This study enhances the understanding of traditional food fermentation and presents opportunities to optimize beneficial compounds in terasi products.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10939,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Food Science","volume":"10 ","pages":"Article 100950"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11699049/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142930812","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of prebiotics from diverse sources on dysbiotic gut microbiota associated to western diet: Insights from the human Mucosal ARtificial COLon (M-ARCOL)","authors":"Ophélie Uriot ,&nbsp;Clémence Defois-Fraysse ,&nbsp;Ingrid Couturier ,&nbsp;Charlotte Deschamps ,&nbsp;Claude Durif ,&nbsp;Cyril Chaudemanche ,&nbsp;Assia Dreux-Zigha ,&nbsp;Stéphanie Blanquet-Diot","doi":"10.1016/j.crfs.2024.100968","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crfs.2024.100968","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Associated to various illnesses, Western Diet (WD) is acknowledged to have deleterious effects on human gut microbiota, decreasing bacterial diversity, lowering gut bacteria associated to health (such as <em>Akkermansia muciniphila)</em>, while increasing those linked to diseases (e.g., <em>Proteobacteria</em>). In this study, we evaluated the potential of two new prebiotics to counteract the negative effect of WD on gut microbiota, namely raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFO) from chickpeas and laminarin (LAM) from algae, when compared to the well-known inulin (INU). The effects of prebiotics on gut microbiota composition and metabolic activities were investigated in the Mucosal-Artificial Colon, set-up to reproduce WD condition, as compared to healthy control (n = 3). None of the prebiotics was able to efficiently offset the shift in microbiota induced by WD. Nevertheless, when compared to non-supplemented WD, all prebiotics showed significant impacts on microbiota composition, that were both prebiotic and donor-dependant. RFO was the only prebiotic to enhance α-diversity, while it led to an increase in <em>Blautia</em> and <em>Butyricicoccaceae</em>, associated with higher amounts of gas and butyrate. LAM and INU did not strongly impact microbial metabolic activities but were associated with a rise in <em>Prevotella_9</em>/<em>Agathobacter</em> and <em>Faecalibacterium,</em> respectively. To conclude, this study showed that all tested prebiotics had different impacts on human gut microbiota structure and activities, which was further donor-dependent. M-ARCOL appears as a suitable <em>in vitro</em> tool to better understand the mechanisms of action of prebiotic compounds in relation to gut microbes and define responders and non-responders to prebiotic supplementation, opening the possibility of customized nutritional strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10939,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Food Science","volume":"10 ","pages":"Article 100968"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11743849/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143001810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Adulteration detection in cactus seed oil: Integrating analytical chemistry and machine learning approaches","authors":"Said El Harkaoui ,&nbsp;Cristina Ortiz Cruz ,&nbsp;Aaron Roggenland ,&nbsp;Micha Schneider ,&nbsp;Sascha Rohn ,&nbsp;Stephan Drusch ,&nbsp;Bertrand Matthäus","doi":"10.1016/j.crfs.2025.100986","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crfs.2025.100986","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Economically motivated adulteration threatens both consumer rights and market integrity, particularly with high-value cold-pressed oils like cactus seed oil (CO). This study proposes a machine learning model that integrates analytical measurements, data simulations, and classification techniques to detect adulteration of CO with refined sunflower oil (SO) and determine the detectable limit of adulteration without measuring a huge number of different mixtures. First, pure CO and SO samples were analyzed for their fatty acid, triacylglycerol, and tocochromanol content using HPLC or GC. The resulting oil composition data served as the foundation for further simulations. Monte Carlo (MC) simulations outperformed Conditional Tabular Generative Adversarial Networks (CTGAN) in simulating realistic oil compositions, with MC yielding lower Kullback-Leibler Divergence values compared to CTGAN. The MC-simulated data were then used to simulate larger datasets, a critical step for training and testing two classification models: Random Forest (RF) and Neural Networks (NN), as robust training cannot be achieved with small sample sizes. Both models achieved good classification accuracies, with RF achieving higher accuracy than NN, reaching 94% on simulated datasets and 90% on real-world samples with detectable adulteration levels as low as 1%. RF also offers better interpretability and is computational less demanding as compared to NN which makes it advantageous for authenticity verification in this study. Therefore, combining MC simulation with RF as a robust method for detecting CO adulteration is proposed. The proposed method, coded in Python and available as open-source, offers a flexible framework for continuous adaptation with new data.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10939,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Food Science","volume":"10 ","pages":"Article 100986"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143096296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrated metabolomics and transcriptomics analysis provides insights into biosynthesis and accumulation of flavonoids and glucosinolates in different radish varieties","authors":"Da Cai,&nbsp;Yanjie Dong,&nbsp;Lei Wang,&nbsp;Shancang Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.crfs.2024.100938","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crfs.2024.100938","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Radish is an important vegetable worldwide, with wide medicinal functions and health benefits. The quality of radish, strongly affected by phytochemicals like flavonoids and glucosinolates, are quite different depending on the radish varieties. However, the comprehensive accumulation profiles of secondary metabolites and their molecular regulatory mechanisms in different radish cultivars remain unclear thus far. Herein, we comprehensively analyzed the secondary metabolite and gene expression profiles of the flesh and skin of four popular radish varieties with different flesh and/or skin colors, using UPLC-MS/MS-based metabolomics and transcriptomics approach combined with RT-qPCR. The results showed that altogether 352 secondary metabolites were identified in radish, of which flavonoids and phenolic acids accounted for 60.51% of the total. The flesh and skin of each variety exhibited distinct metabolic profiles, making them unique in coloration, flavor, taste, and nutritional quality. The differential metabolites were mostly enriched in flavonoid biosynthesis, flavone and flavonol biosynthesis, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and glucosinolate biosynthesis pathway. Further, 19 key genes regulating the differential accumulation of flavonoids among different radish varieties were identified, such as <em>RsCHS</em>, <em>RsCCOAMT</em>, <em>RsF3H</em>, <em>RsFLS</em>, <em>RsCYP75B1</em>, <em>RsDFR</em>, and <em>RsANS</em> that were significantly upregulated in red-colored radish tissue. Also, 10 key genes affecting the differential accumulation of glucosinolates among different varieties were identified, such as <em>RsCYP83B1</em>, <em>RsSUR1</em>, and <em>RsST5a</em> that were significantly increased in the skin of green radish. Moreover, systematical biosynthetic pathways of flavonoids and glucosinolates and co-expression networks between genes and metabolites were constructed based on integrative analysis between metabolomics and transcriptomics. Our findings provide a novel insight into the mechanisms of radish quality formation, thereby providing a molecular basis for breeding and cultivation of radish with excellent nutritional quality.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10939,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Food Science","volume":"10 ","pages":"Article 100938"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11665663/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142881696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Plant tissue-based scaffolds filled with oil function as adipose tissue mimetics","authors":"Elyse S. Czapalay ,&nbsp;Yasamin Soleimanian ,&nbsp;Jarvis A. Stobbs ,&nbsp;Alejandro G. Marangoni","doi":"10.1016/j.crfs.2025.101002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crfs.2025.101002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cellulosic scaffolds filled with oil were designed to replicate animal adipose tissues. Many plants are structured as polysaccharide-based cellular solids. They maintain their integrity after drying, can serve as a scaffold for incorporating fat, and do not lose integrity upon heating, thus resembling native adipose tissue. Carrots, broccoli, and asparagus were freeze-dried and subsequently filled with peanut oil, its glycerolysis product (GP), and the oleogel of this GP. Oleogel-filled scaffolds displayed high oil binding capacity (≥95%), and an oil loss resembling that of adipose tissue. In addition, the texture of oleogel-filled asparagus and broccoli tissue closely resembled that of beef and pork adipose tissues, respectively. Plant scaffolds closely emulated the temperature-dependent rheological behavior of adipose tissue. These new materials could significantly improve the quality of plant-based meat analogues, such as burgers and sausages, by preventing the thermal softening of the material upon cooking and excessive oil loss.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10939,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Food Science","volume":"10 ","pages":"Article 101002"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143422655","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Structure and properties of citrus pectin as influencing factors of biomarkers of metabolic syndrome in rats fed with a high-fat diet","authors":"Pablo Méndez-Albiñana ,&nbsp;Raquel Rodrigues-Díez ,&nbsp;Pilar Rodríguez-Rodríguez ,&nbsp;Rodrigo Moreno ,&nbsp;David Muñoz-Valverde ,&nbsp;Laura Casani ,&nbsp;Mar Villamiel ,&nbsp;Javier Blanco-Rivero","doi":"10.1016/j.crfs.2025.101014","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crfs.2025.101014","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Pectin, widely used as a food and pharmaceutical ingredient, has garnered attention in recent years due to its bioactive properties. We conducted an <em>in vivo</em> study to evaluate the effects of citrus pectin on biomarkers of metabolic syndrome (MtS), including lipid profile, hypertension, and adipose tissue. Supplementing a high-fat diet (60% energy from fat) with 20% pectin for 4 weeks significantly reduced body weight and fat accumulation, improved insulin resistance, and decreased circulating leptin levels, demonstrating a beneficial effect on MtS. Pectin exhibited excellent viscosity, emulsifying properties, and water-holding capacity, forming a viscous gel in the gastrointestinal tract. This gel delays gastric emptying, enhances satiety, and reduces food and calorie intake, leading to lower weight gain in rats fed pectin. Its viscosity also interferes with lipase activity, lipid hydrolysis, and absorption, while its oil-holding capacity may help prevent lipid absorption. The presence of galactose in pectin's structure showed potential for improving insulin resistance. Furthermore, both degree of esterification (DE) and pH influence pectin's functionality. At acidic pH levels, such as those found in the stomach and duodenum, high methoxyl pectin (HMP) retains fats and bile salts more effectively, contributing to better cholesterol regulation. These effects, combined with the antioxidant properties of pectin, helped reverse arterial hypertension associated with MtS. Overall, our findings highlight the potential of citrus pectin as a natural bioactive ingredient for combating obesity-related disorders, complementing pharmacological treatments and promoting health through innovative dietary approaches.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10939,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Food Science","volume":"10 ","pages":"Article 101014"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143549417","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}