A New Way to Preserve Healthy Food with Natural Ingredients

Carolyn Trietsch wrote . . . . . . . . .

A natural antioxidant found in grain bran could preserve food longer and replace synthetic antioxidants currently used by the food industry, according to researchers at Penn State.

“Currently, there’s a big push within the food industry to replace synthetic ingredients with natural alternatives, and this is being driven by consumers,” said Andrew S. Elder, doctoral candidate in food science. “Consumers want clean labels — they want synthetic chemical-sounding ingredients removed because of the fact that they don’t recognize them, and that some of them (the ingredients) have purported toxicity.”

The Penn State researchers studied a class of compounds called alkylresorcinols (AR). Plants such as wheat, rye and barley produce ARs naturally to prevent mold, bacteria and other organisms from growing on the grain kernels. The researchers wondered if ARs could also preserve food in the same way from a chemical standpoint.

Along with using more natural ingredients, the food industry is also supplementing more foods with healthy oils rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Adding these healthy oils to foods that normally would not contain them could boost the health benefits of these foods to consumers. However, omega-3 rich oils have a shorter shelf life, which could cause these foods to spoil more rapidly.

“Most people consume omega-3s from marine sources,” said Elder. “As they break down, they can make the product smell and taste fishy. Consumers then throw these products out and don’t buy them again, and this results in an economic loss.”

Antioxidants are compounds that slow the rate at which omega-3 fatty acids degrade, preserving their health benefits and preventing food from spoiling as quickly. While consumers demand more natural ingredients, the food industry has struggled to find natural antioxidants that are as effective as synthetic ones.

“There are not many natural alternatives for synthetic antioxidants,” said Elder. “Our work is focused on identifying new natural antioxidants to extend the shelf life of food and meet consumer demands.”

ARs have health benefits for humans as well and can help protect against cancer, according to a review published in European Food Research and Technology, making them ideal natural additives. ARs also come from the bran layer of cereal plants, which the food industry usually discards or uses for animal feed.

“Bran is often a waste stream,” said Elder. “We’re taking something that’s usually discarded in a waste stream and turning it into something useful.”

The team developed a technique to extract and purify ARs from rye bran, then studied how well ARs were able to preserve omega-3-rich oils in emulsions, where two fluids do not fully mix — for example, vinegar and oil. The researchers chose to study AR action in emulsions because most people consume oils as emulsions, such as salad dressings. The researchers reported their findings online in Food Chemistry, and the study will be published in the January print edition.

The researchers found that ARs did act as antioxidants in an emulsion, preventing omega-3 oils from spoiling as rapidly as they did in emulsions with no antioxidants added. Then, they compared ARs to two antioxidants widely used by the food industry — alpha-tocopherol or Vitamin E, a natural antioxidant; and butylated hydroxytoluene, a synthetic antioxidant. However, ARs were not as effective as either the natural or the synthetic antioxidant.

Although the ARs did not work as well as other antioxidants in this round of experiments, the researchers noted that their AR extracts were not completely pure, which could have reduced the effectiveness of the ARs. Also, the researchers used a blend of different ARs that had different molecular structures. Future work looking at different types of ARs will reveal whether an individual AR type is more or less effective than conventionally-used antioxidants.

“We’re trying to identify natural antioxidants that are consumer-friendly, safe and effective,” said Elder. “We hope that one day this work will lead to ARs being available on the market and provide more options for the food industry to use.”

Source: The Pennsylvania State University

Is Bran Better than Fruits and Vegetables for Your Bowels?

Leslie Beck wrote . . . . .

Not having a bowel movement everyday doesn’t mean you’re constipated. For some people, it’s usual to go three times a week; for others, “normal” means going three, even four, times a day.

Constipation can make you feel bloated, distended, anxious and downright miserable. And, for some people, its uncomfortable symptoms can interfere with normal life. The good news: making simple lifestyle changes – especially dietary ones – is often all it takes to get your system back on track.

Medically speaking, constipation is defined as having less than three bowel movements a week. While it’s common to experience constipation from time to time, chronic constipation occurs when you have infrequent bowel movements or difficulty passing stools for several weeks to several months.

Not all fibre is the same

Not eating enough fibre often causes constipation and, not surprisingly, adding more of it to your diet can ease, and prevent, the condition. Not all fibre is created equal, though.

Grains, fruits, vegetables, pulses and nuts contain two types of fibre: soluble and insoluble, in varying amounts. Soluble fibre slows digestion and helps regulate blood sugar and cholesterol levels. It’s plentiful in oats, oat bran, barley and psyllium (e.g. Metamucil, psyllium-enriched bran cereals).

On the other hand, foods such as wheat bran, whole grains, nuts and many fruits and vegetables contain mainly insoluble fibre. It’s this type that retains water and adds bulk to stool, helping it pass more quickly through the intestines.

By keeping your bowel habits regular, a high fibre diet can help reduce the risk of hemorrhoids, diverticulosis, and possibly colon cancer.

How much fibre do you need?

Women aged 19 to 50 are advised to consume 25 grams of fibre each day; men require 38 grams. As we get older and our calorie requirements decrease, so do our fibre needs. After 50, women need 21 grams daily and men, 30 grams.

That’s certainly more than the 11 to 17 grams of fibre the average Canadian consumes each day. To ensure your daily diet provides enough, you need to make strategic food choices.

Bran vs. fruits and vegetables

Many people are successful at treating constipation by adding a concentrated source of insoluble fibre, such as wheat bran, to their diet. Two tablespoons of raw wheat bran has 4.5 g of fibre, one cup of bran flakes contains about 5 g and one-half cup of 100 per cent bran cereal delivers 12 grams.

Bran will do a better job than fruits and vegetables at treating constipation because it is a concentrated source of bulk-forming wheat bran.

But don’t stop there. I also encourage my clients to increase their intake of fruits and vegetables to boost overall fibre intake.

Fruits high in insoluble fibre include apples, berries, figs, kiwifruit, mango, oranges and plums. When it comes to vegetables, bell peppers, carrots, green beans, parsnips, peas and spinach are good sources.

Other decent sources of insoluble fibre include whole-wheat pasta (4 to 6 g fibre per cup, cooked), freekeh (10 g fibre per cup, cooked) quinoa (5 g fibre per cup, cooked), brown rice (3.3 g per fibre cup, cooked), 100 per cent whole grain breads (look for 2 to 3 g fibre per slice) and nuts and seeds.

Increase your fibre intake gradually, over a period of weeks, to prevent bloating, cramps or gas. And don’t forget to drink more water as you add fibre to your diet; fibre needs to absorb water in order to work effectively. Women need 9 cups of water each day and men require 12 cups.

Food vs. supplements

When consumed with water or added to foods, powders made from pysllium husks, inulin or natural fruit and vegetable fibres do increase your fibre intake. And, for some people, they are an effective constipation remedy. For others, though, they can worsen bloating. (Pysllium and inulin are soluble fibres; soluble fibres absorb water in the intestinal tract to form a gel, which can cause a bloating sensation.)

Popping a few capsules of a fibre supplement each day, however, won’t do much to shore up your fibre intake. One Metamucil Fibre capsule, for instance, has half of a gram (525 mg) of fibre. To be fair, the recommended dose is five capsules taken three times daily (total: 7.9 g fibre).

Personally, I’d rather eat real food than swallow 15 pills a day because, along with fibre, it also delivers vitamins, minerals and countless phytochemicals.

Other constipation culprits

Lifestyle factors may contribute to constipation, including very low calorie diets (less food means less bulk in your intestinal tract), a lack of exercise and repeatedly ignoring the urge to go. Changes in your daily schedule and travel can also wreak havoc with bowel habits.

Other causes can include low thyroid, problems with the nerves and muscle of the digestive tract, side effects of certain medications (such as from pain killers, antidepressants and antihistamines) and bowel blockages.

Check in with your doctor if you experience unexplained changes in your bowel movements that have lasted more than two weeks or if increasing your fibre intake makes your symptoms worse.

Source: The Globe and Mail