Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease with high morbidity and mortality, for which there is no available cure. Currently, it is generally believed that AD is a disease caused by multiple factors, such as amyloid-beta accumulation, tau protein hyperphosphorylation, oxidative stress, and inflammation. Multitarget prevention and treatment strategies for AD are recommended. Interestingly, naturally occurring dietary flavonoids, a class of polyphenols, have been reported to have multiple biological activities and anti-AD effects in several AD models owing to their antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-amyloidogenic properties. In this review, we summarize and discuss the existing multiple pathogenic factors of AD. Moreover, we further elaborate on the biological activities of natural flavonoids and their potential mode of action and targets in managing AD by presenting a wide range of experimental evidence. The gathered data indicate that flavonoids can be regarded as prophylactics to slow the advancement of AD or avert its onset. Different flavonoids have different activities and varying levels of activity. Further, this review summarizes the structure–activity relationship of flavonoids based on the existing literature and can provide guidance on the design and selection of flavonoids as anti-AD drugs.

The gut microbiota is increasingly important in the overall human health and as such, it is a target in the search of novel strategies for the management of metabolic disorders including blood pressure, and cardiovascular diseases. The link between microbiota and hypertension is complex and this review is intended to provide an overview of the mechanism including the production of postbiotics, mitigation of inflammation, and the integration of food biological molecules within this complex system. The focus is on hydrolyzed food proteins and peptides which are less commonly investigated for prebiotic properties. The analysis of available data showed that food peptides are multifunctional and can prevent gut dysbiosis by positively affecting the production of postbiotics or gut metabolites (short-chain fatty acids, polysaccharides, biogenic amines, bile acids). Peptides and the postbiotics then displayed antihypertensive effects via the renin-angiotensin system, the gut barrier, the endothelium, and reduction in inflammation and oxidative stress. Despite the promising antihypertensive effect of the food peptides via the modulation of the gut, there is a lack of human studies as most of the works have been conducted in animal models.

Prolamin of sorghum-based distiller's grains was extracted and its physicochemical properties were further determined. The prolamin was found to be rich in acidic amino acids, resulting in an isoelectric point of pH 4.0. High content of α-helix structure endowed the protein good thermostability with a denaturation of 123.47 °C. The prolamin was resistant to pepsin but susceptible to trypsin in vitro digestion. The nutritional evaluation score was low and the protein does not belong to a good source of food protein due to the low digestion and lack of essential amino acids. The prolamin exhibited low water-holding capacity, oil-holding capacity, foam properties, and emulsifying properties. Moreover, the protein possessed good film-forming properties, and the characteristics of high temperature resistance, low water-holding capacity and oil-holding capacity of prolamin can endow the protein film with excellent properties of water blocking, oil blocking, and high thermal stability.

Summary The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of purified recombinant buckwheat trypsin inhibitor (rBTI) on gelling properties of chicken meat emulsion. Recombinant BTI was obtained by culturing and inducing an M15 strain containing pQE30‐BTI plasmid, and then purified by Ni2+ affinity chromatography. rBTI exhibited good thermal stability and retained 67.7% ± 4.0% of its initial activity even after heating in a boiling water bath for 100 min. Results showed that the breaking force, deformation, penetration force and water‐holding capacity of chicken meat gels increased with the increase of rBTI (0‰–0.10‰), indicating that rBTI could improve the gel‐forming ability of chicken meat. Meanwhile, trichloroacetic acid (TCA)‐soluble peptide content decreased with rBTI addition and more myosin heavy chain (MHC) was retained on SDS‐PAGE. Compared with the group without rBTI, the content of TCA‐soluble peptide in the group with rBTI (0.10‰) decreased by 52.4%. rBTI is a specific inhibitor for trypsin, one of the dominant proteases resulting in myosin degradation. Thus, we concluded that rBTI improved the gel properties by deducing the degradation of myosin by endogenous enzymes. Furthermore, the addition of rBTI had no significant influence on the whiteness of the gels. With the advantages of good thermal stability, no unpleasant smell and the function of improving gel properties of meat emulsion, rBTI could be used as a potential candidate for food additives in food processing.