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Uncovering the secrets of tea

26 Nov 2012

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

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Food & Function issue 12 now published online

22 Nov 2012

Issue 12 of Food & Function is now available to read online.

This month’s front cover highlights the review article by Juliet Gerrard and colleagues from New Zealand who look at the role the Maillard reaction has played in the formation of flavour compounds in dairy products. There has been a lot of focus recently on the undesirable flavours produced through the Maillard reaction and how to minimize these, but the reaction also produces beneficial flavours as well. This review looks at the reaction as the source of favourable flavours for cooked dairy products and the models used to study flavour formation in food systems. They found that these models can be too simplified and are not easily applicable to complex food systems – identifying a gap which needs to be bridged.

The role of the Maillard reaction in the formation of flavour compounds in dairy products – not only a deleterious reaction but also a rich source of flavour compounds, Angela E. Newton, Antony J. Fairbanks, Matt Golding, Paul Andrewes and Juliet A. Gerrard, Food Funct., 2012, 3, 1231-1241

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Issue 11 of Food & Function now online

24 Oct 2012

The latest issue of Food & Function is now available online.

The front cover of this issue features work by Tony McGhie and colleagues from The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research, and Nutrigenomics, New Zealand. The authors report the combined use of analytical-scale HPLC with a high sensitivity time-resolved fluorescence coupled with fluorescence resonance energy transfer (TR-FRET) to detect the JAK2 inhibitory activity of Boysenberry drink. The authors found that of the 84 fractions obtained from the Boysenberry drink, ellagitannin and ellagic acid fractors inhibited JAK2 activity. Interestingly, whilst anthocyanins made up the majority of the phytochemical components of the drink and have previously been shown to have anti-inflammatory activity, they did not demonstrate any JAK2 activity.

Read the article for free for 6 weeks!

The combination of analytical-scale HPLC separation with a TR-FRET assay to investigate JAK2 inhibitory compounds in a Boysenberry drink, Tony K. McGhie, Harry Martin and Rona C. M. Lunken, Food Funct., 2012, 14, 1170-1175

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Issue 10 of Food & Function now available to read online

27 Sep 2012

The latest issue of Food & Function is now available online.

The front cover of this month’s issue highlights work by Suzana Almoosawi and colleagues collaborating from several UK institutions, who compared the effect of polyphenol-rich dark chocolate on biomarkers of glucose metabolism, blood pressure and lipid profile on two groups of women – women with a BMI less than or equal to 25 Kg m⁻²and women with a BMI greater than 25. The results of the study demonstrated that comsuming polyphenol-rich dark chocolate had beneficial health effects for a for women with a BMI greater than 25, but that consumption of polyphenol-deficient chocolate had adverse effects.

This story featured in Chemistry World in July – read the story here.

This article will be free to access for 6 weeks!

Differential effect of polyphenol-rich dark chocolate on biomarkers of glucose metabolism and cardiovascular risk factors in healthy, overweight and obese subjects: a randomized clinical trial, S. Almoosawi, C. Tsang, L. M. Ostertag, L. Fyfe and E. A. S. Al-Dujaili, Food Funct., 2012, 3, 1035-1043

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Poster prize winner at the International Nutrition and Diagnostics Conference 2012

24 Sep 2012

The International Nutrition & Diagnostics Conference 2012 was held between the 27-30th August at the Carolinium, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. The aim of this multidisciplinary conference was to bridge the gaps between specialists and fields of science as diverse as nutrition, clinical biochemistry, food technology, analytical chemistry and medicine.

The conference program covered a broad range of topics including functional foods, nutrition and health, nutrition and clinical diagnostics, phytochemicals and natural antioxidants and chemistry and human health.

Food & Function was honoured to be able to sponsor a poster prize at the event which was awarded to Zdeňka Polívková, Petr Šmerák, Hana Demová, and Milan Houška from Charles University and the Food Research Institute, Prague, for their poster on Antimutagenic Effects of Lycopene and Tomato Purée (pictured right receiving their prize), and received a copy of the book Mass Spectrometry & Nutrition Research.

Congratulations to the group on winning this prize.

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Themed issue on Cocoa Coffee and Tea now online

23 Aug 2012

Food & Function issue 9 is a themed issue on Cocoa Coffee and Tea. It contains selected contributions from The First International Congress on Cocoa Coffee and Tea 2011 (CoCoTea2011). The Guest Editors Vincenzo Fogliano and Marco Arlorio introduce the themed issue in their Editorial which you can read here.

Read the full themed issue on CoCoa Coffee and Tea here.

The front cover features a paper from Denis Barron and co-workers at Nestlé Research Center and Nestlé Nespresso in Lausanne, Switzerland. In their paper a series of six espresso coffees with different foam characteristics was produced by varying two preparation parameters, the extraction pressure and the filtration of the coffee beverage. The coffees were comparatively evaluated by a set of analytical and sensory techniques. The influence of the crema properties on aroma release are very complex, however, overall the presence of crema favoured the release of pleasant high volatiles. For more information read the full article here free for 6 weeks.

Impact of crema on the aroma release and the in-mouth sensory perception of espresso coffee, D. Barron, N. Pineau, W. Matthey-Doret, S. Ali, J. Sudre, J. C. Germain, E. Kolodziejczyk, P. Pollien, D. Labbe, C. Jarisch, V. Dugas, C. Hartmann and B. Folmer, Food Funct., 2012, 3, 923-930

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Long life rice

10 Aug 2012

Black rice is rich in antioxidants

Antioxidants in black rice have prolonged the life of fruit flies by 14%, say scientists from China.

Antioxidants inhibit the effects of reactive oxygen species in the body, which attack cells and are responsible for ageing. Black rice, rich in antioxidants and widely consumed in China, is associated with a reduction in the risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. It’s also been claimed to possess anti-ageing activity. Zhen-Yu Chen and colleagues from The Chinese University of Hong Kong fed antioxidants in black rice extract to fruit flies and observed that the flies lived longer than they normally would. Their mean lifespan increased from 44 days to 50 days…

Read the full article in Chemistry World.

Link to journal article

Black Rice Extract Extends the Lifespan of Fruit Flies, Yuanyuan Zuo, Cheng Peng, Yintong Liang, Ka Ying Ma, Hongjian Yu, Ho Yin Edwin Chan and Zhen-Yu Chen, Food Funct., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2FO30135K

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Food & Function issue 8 – now online

27 Jul 2012

The latest issue of Food & Function is now available online!

The front cover of this issue features work by Gregory Monteith and colleagues from The University of Queensland, Australia, who have found that chemicals in the peel of some mango varieties, but not the flesh, contain certain chemicals which prevent the formation of fat cells (adipogenesis). The authors suggest that the pathways involved in this inhibition of adipogenesis may be similar to those of resveratrol. These results show that phytochemical differences in composition and/or quantity across cultivars can have a big impact on adipogenesis.

Read the full article here – free to access for 6 weeks!

You can keep up to date with the latest developments from Food & Function by signing up for free table of contents alerts and monthly e-newsletters.

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Food & Function Blog

Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Uncovering the secrets of tea

Food & Function issue 12 now published online

Issue 11 of Food & Function now online

Top ten most accessed articles in August

Issue 10 of Food & Function now available to read online

Poster prize winner at the International Nutrition and Diagnostics Conference 2012

Top ten most accessed articles in July

Themed issue on Cocoa Coffee and Tea now online

Long life rice

Food & Function issue 8 – now online

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