Food & Function Blog

For Food & Function, the top 10 most accessed articles in February were as follows:

Nuts, especially walnuts, have both antioxidant quantity and efficacy and exhibit significant potential health benefits
Joe A. Vinson and Yuxing Cai  
Food Funct., 2012, 3, 134-140
DOI: 10.1039/C2FO10152A, Paper

Anti-inflammatory activity of natural dietary flavonoids
Min-Hsiung Pan, Ching-Shu Lai and Chi-Tang Ho   
Food Funct., 2010, 1, 15-31
DOI: 10.1039/C0FO00103A, Review Article

Hass avocado modulates postprandial vascular reactivity and postprandial inflammatory responses to a hamburger meal in healthy volunteers
Zhaoping Li, Angela Wong, Susanne M. Henning, Yanjun Zhang, Alexis Jones, Alona Zerlin, Gail Thames, Susan Bowerman, Chi-Hong Tseng and David Heber  
Food Funct., 2013, 4, 384-391
DOI: 10.1039/C2FO30226H, Paper 

Transcription profiles of LPS-stimulated THP-1 monocytes and macrophages: a tool to study inflammation modulating effects of food-derived compounds
Wasaporn Chanput, Jurriaan Mes, Robert A. M. Vreeburg, Huub F. J. Savelkoul and Harry J. Wichers  
Food Funct., 2010, 1, 254-261
DOI: 10.1039/C0FO00113A, Paper

Black tea: chemical analysis and stability
Shiming Li, Chih-Yu Lo, Min-Hsiung Pan, Ching-Shu Lai and Chi-Tang Ho  
Food Funct., 2013, 4, 10-18
DOI: 10.1039/C2FO30093A, Review Article

Characterization of polarized THP-1 macrophages and polarizing ability of LPS and food compounds
Wasaporn Chanput, Jurriaan J. Mes, Huub F. J. Savelkoul and Harry J. Wichers  
Food Funct., 2013, 4, 266-276
DOI: 10.1039/C2FO30156C, Paper

Review of in vitro digestion models for rapid screening of emulsion-based systems
David Julian McClements and Yan Li  
Food Funct., 2010, 1, 32-59
DOI: 10.1039/C0FO00111B, Review Article

Effects of tea and coffee on cardiovascular disease risk
Siv K Bøhn, Natalie C Ward, Jonathan M Hodgson and Kevin D Croft  
Food Funct., 2012, 3, 575-591
DOI: 10.1039/C2FO10288A, Review Article

Prior supplementation with long chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids promotes weight loss in obese adults: a double-blinded randomised controlled trial
Irene A. Munro and Manohar L. Garg  
Food Funct., 2013, 4, 650-658
DOI: 10.1039/C3FO60038F, Paper

Pomegranate: a fruit that ameliorates metabolic syndrome
Svjetlana Medjakovic and Alois Jungbauer  
Food Funct., 2013, 4, 19-39
DOI: 10.1039/C2FO30034F, Review Article 

Take a look at the articles, and then let us know your thoughts and comments below.

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Flavanols from tea accumulate in the cell nucleus, which could help in understanding their beneficial health effects © Shutterstock

Everyone knows that a cup of tea is good for you, but the exact reasons for this are not clear. To discover the fundamentals of tea’s health benefits, scientists in Germany have investigated the interactions of compounds from tea with cells on a molecular level.

Both green and black tea contain  around 30,000 polyphenolic compounds, some of which have been shown to have numerous health benefits, including reducing cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and inflammation. Despite their positive effects, which have been seen in epidemiological findings and clinical trials, their exact biochemical mechanism is still not clear. Polyphenols can act as antioxidants, and for a long time this was thought to be the reason for their health benefits. However, recent studies have shown that this only plays a small part in their effectiveness.

Read the full article in Chemistry World.

Tweet: RT @ChemistryWorld We love a cup of tea at Chemistry World Towers but why exactly is it so good for you? http://rsc.li/TEfBON

Link to journal article
Phenolic promiscuity in the cell nucleus – epigallocatechingallate (EGCG) and theaflavin-3,3′-digallate from green and black tea bind to model cell nuclear structures including histone proteins, double stranded DNA and telomeric quadruplex DNA
Gediminas Mikutis, Hande Karaköse, Rakesh Jaiswal, Adam LeGresley, Tuhidul Islam, Marcelo Fernandez-Lahore and Nikolai Kuhnert
Food Funct., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2FO30159H