Subcritical water treatment of cereal residues including okara, defatted rice bran, desalted soy sauce lees, sake lees, corn kernel hull, and defatted rapeseed was conducted at 260°C for 5 min to obtain the antioxidative extracts. The antioxidative activities of the extracts were evaluated using DPPH radical, peroxyl radical, hydroxyl radical, hypochlorite ion, and peroxynitrite ion. The results show that the extracts from the sake lees, corn kernel hull, and defatted rapeseed had differently the antioxidative activities against all radicals and ions. However, the okara, defatted rice bran and desalted soy sauce lees had no activity against the hypochlorite ion.

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Present study demonstrated the preparation of MCM-41 as a support for the immobilization of Candida rugosa lipase by the physical adsorption technique. The lipase immobilized MCM-41 has been characterized by scanning electron microscopic and FTIR techniques. At pH 6, maximum lipase immobilization (250 mg/g) on MCM support has been observed and the immobilized lipase was employed as biocatalyst for the transesterification of the cotton seed oil with methanol. The pH of the reaction medium, reaction temperature and methanol/oil molar ratio have been optimized to achieve a maximum 98±3% fatty acid methyl esters yield (FAMEs)from cotton seed oil.

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Liquid marbles are water droplets covered with solid particles. Here we show a method for the preparation of edible liquid marbles and capsules covered with fatty acid crystals and triacylglycerol crystals. We prepared liquid marbles using a simple method; namely, a water droplet was rolled on lipid crystals in petri dishes. The resulting marbles were converted to capsules covered with a lipid shell by heating. These marbles were stable not only on glass surfaces but also on water surfaces because they had rigid hydrophobic exteriors. The lifetime of the liquid marbles on water depended on the alkyl chain length of the lipid molecules and the pH of the water. These findings are useful for applying liquid marbles to food, cosmetic, and medical products.

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Glabridin is a pharmacological active hydrophobic pyranoisoflavan isolated from licorice. It has low bioavailability and solubility and therefore is difficult to apply for industry use. We investigated the effect of combining caprylic triglyceride with glabridin (2-6%, w/w), emulsifier (3-7%, w/w), and homogenization pressure (70-130 MPa) on the droplet size of glabridin nanoemulsions using response surface methodology by a 3-factor-3-level Box-Behnken design. Oil content, emulsifier content and pressure had a significant effect on droplet size (p < 0.05). The optimal conditions for preparing glabridin nanoemulsions were predicted to be caprylic triglyceride (oil content), 3.7%; emulsifier content, 5.3%, and homogenization pressure, 129 MPa.

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The anti-cancer effects of various fatty acids are drawing a lot of attention. To determine whether different fatty acids affect the hypoxic response of liver cancer cells, we examined the effects of various fatty acids on the stabilization of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α protein in the HepG2 human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell line under condition containing 1% O₂. Of the fatty acids examined, only 9cis, 11trans (c9, t11)-conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and 10trans, 12cis (t10, c12)-CLA inhibited hypoxia-induced HIF-1α stabilization. In addition, HIF-1α prolyl hydroxylase or proteasome inhibition abrogated the effects of c9, t11- and t10, c12-CLA. Moreover, c9, t11- and t10, c12-CLA significantly inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptotic cell death under hypoxia. This is the first study showing that c9, t11- and t10, c12-CLA inhibit the hypoxic response in HCC cells.

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The catalytic activity of acid activated montmorillonite in the esterification of free fatty acids (FFA) is reported. Standard Montmorillonite (MMT) type STx-1 provided by the Clay Mineral Society repository was activated using phosphoric, nitric and sulphuric acids under different conditions and the resulting materials were characterized and evaluated as catalysts in the methyl esterification of lauric acid. Blank reactions carried out in the absence of any added catalyst presented conversions of 32.64, 69.79 and 79.23%, for alcohol:lauric acid molar ratios of 60:1, 12:1 and 6:1, respectively. In the presence of the untreated clay and using molar ratios of 12:1 and 6:1 with 12% of catalyst, conversions of 70.92 and 82.30% were obtained, respectively. For the acid activated clays, conversions up to 93.08% of lauric acid to methyl laurate were obtained, much higher than those observed for the thermal conversion or using untreated montmorillonite. Relative good correlations were observed between the catalytic activity and the development of acid sites and textural properties of the resulting materials. Therefore, a simple acid activation was able to improve the catalytic activity and produce clay catalysts that are environmental friendly, cost effective, noncorrosive and reusable.

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The oxidative stability of glyceroglycolipids (GLs) from spinach or brown edible seaweed (Laminaria japonica) was compared with those of phosphatidylcholines (PCs) from salmon roe and triacyglycerols (TAGs) from soybean oil or sardine oil. All the lipids were subjected to autoxidation after removing oxidants and/or antioxidants such as chlorophylls, tocopherols, and carotenoids. The oxidative stability of the lipids decreased with increasing number of bisallylic positions in the molecule. Due to the higher mean number of bisallylic positions, salmon roe PC and sardine oil TAG were oxidized more rapidly than soybean oil TAG. Spinach GL and brown edible seaweed GL showed the same oxidative stability as that found in soybean oil TAG, although the mean number of bisallylic positions of both GLs was much higher than that of soybean oil TAG and approached the number found in sardine oil TAG and salmon roe PC. The present study indicates the important effect of galactosyl and sulfoquinovosyl moieties on the oxidative stability of GL.

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The present study is aimed to measure the effect of caffeine and capsaicin on the blood glucose level of obese/diabetic model mice. The blood glucose level of KK-A^y obese/diabetic mice decreased significantly after dietary supplementations with less than 0.031% caffeine and less than 0.0042% capsaicin, while both food ingredients and the combination had little effect on body weight gain and abdominal white adipose tissue (WAT) weight at this dose. The blood glucose level of the control mice was 234.4 mg/dL at 10 days after feeding and it increased to 500.6 mg/dL after 28 days, while levels after intake of caffeine, capsaicin, and both together increased from 180, 131.6, and 140 mg/dL to 183.7, 255.1, and 151.6 mg/dL, respectively. The anti-diabetic activity of caffeine and capsaicin was confirmed by a decrease in total drinking water and in the blood insulin level.

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