Crop diversification can improve the sustainability of Western agriculture. In particular, pulses are crops that can help both agriculture and the food industry become more ecological, as they reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help reduce animal-based consumption. Today, however, the development of these crops in Europe has been hindered due to lock-in, since major crops have been co-developed to a greater extent in farming and food systems. After briefly reviewing the major mechanisms that lead to this lock-in, this article adopts a co-evolution framework to address the interconnected transition of agriculture and food systems. We explore how current societal trends in the agrifood system offer new opportunities for pulses, and how simultaneous changes both in production and consumption can facilitate this dual transition. Drawing on insights from the literature and interviews with stakeholders in France-taken here as examples-we argue that to develop pulses, strong support is required from public institutions to coordinate and guide the multiple actors involved in the same direction.

In order to gain information on the determinism of the perturbation of fuel homeostasis in situations characterized by a depletion in long-chain polyunsaturated omega3 fatty acids (omega3), the metabolic and hormonal status of omega3-depleted rats (second generation) was examined. When required, these rats were injected intravenously 120 min before sacrifice with a novel medium-chain triglyceride-fish oil emulsion able to provoke a rapid and sustained increase of the omega3 content in cell phospholipids. The measurement of plasma glucose, insulin, phospholipid, triglyceride, and unesterified fatty acid concentration indicated modest insulin resistance in the omega3-depleted rats. The plasma triglyceride and phospholipid concentrations were decreased in the omega3-depleted rats with abnormally low contribution of omega3 in both circulating and pancreatic islet lipids. The protein, insulin, and lipid content of the islets, as well as their intracellular and extracellular spaces, were little affected in the omega3-depleted rats. The metabolism of D-glucose in the islets of omega3-depleted rats was characterized by a lesser increase in D-[5-3H]glucose utilization and D-[U-14C]glucose oxidation in response to a given rise in hexose concentration and an abnormally low ratio between D-glucose oxidation and utilization. These abnormalities could be linked to an increased metabolism of endogenous fatty acids with resulting alteration of glucokinase kinetics. The release of insulin evoked by D-glucose, at a close-to-physiological concentration (8.3 mM), was increased in the omega3-depleted rats, this being considered as consistent with their insulin resistance. Relative to such a release, that evoked by a further rise in D-glucose concentration or by non-glucidic nutrients was abnormally high in omega3-depleted rats, and restored to a normal level after of the intravenous injection of the omega3-rich medium-chain triglyceride-fish oil emulsion. Because the latter procedure failed to correct the perturbation of D-glucose metabolism in the islets of omega3-depleted rats, it is proposed that the anomalies in the secretory behaviour of islets in terms of their response to an increase in hexose concentration or non-nutrient secretagogues is mainly attributable to alteration in K+ and Ca2+ handling, as indeed recently documented in separate experiments.

Domagała J., Pluta-Kubica A., Pustkowiak H. (2013): Changes in conjugated linoleic acid content in Emmental-type cheese during manufacturing. Czech J. Food Sci., 31: 432-437. The fatty acids composition including the conjugated linoleic acid content in the milk and in the samples of Emmental-type cheese during the manufacturing and ripening period was determined. The highest amount of volatile and the lowest amount of saturated fatty acids were observed at the end of ripening. In turn, the highest content of monoun-saturated fatty acids was found in the curd, however, it declined during processing. The richest in polyunsaturated fatty acids were the cheese samples after the warm room stage, however, the amount of these fatty acids became highly significantly lower at the end of ripening. The level of conjugated linoleic acid increased during manufacturing. Its content in the milk and the curd was highly significantly lower than at the other stages of production.

-Dietary proteins represent a key issue for the future regarding worldwide food security. Besides animal sources, plant proteins represent an opportunity to mainly contribute to protein demand. Whether some plant protein sources could appear as deficient in some essential amino acids, mixtures from different sources could represent opportunities to further propose adapted supply regarding specific demand. Such opportunities includes legumes as well as by-products of oil processing, i.e. canola and sunflower cakes. The nutritional benefits of such new sources are still under investigation considering benefits and limits like allergenicity. Finally, consumer behavior and acceptability remains the final bottleneck for developing new protein sources. Keywords:Dietary proteins / animal and plant protein sources / essential amino acids / oil processing-derived proteins Résumé -Les protéines végétales pour l'alimentation : des opportunités et des verrous. La production des protéines alimentaires représente un enjeu majeur au regard de la croissance actuelle de la consommation mondiale. En dehors des sources animales, les protéines issues des végétaux pourraient contribuer de façon plus importante à la demande protéique future. Néanmoins, certaines sources de protéines végétales sont déficitaires en certains acides aminés essentiels, les rendant nutritionnellement impropres à une consommation exclusive. Aussi, l'étude et la définition de la complémentarité des différentes sources protéiques végétales pourraient permettre de proposer une offre adaptée en fonction de demandes spécifiques. Ces nouvelles sources comprennent les légumineuses ainsi que des sous-produits de la production huilière, à savoir les tourteaux de colza et de tournesol. Les spécificités de ces nouvelles sources sont toujours à l'étude et devront considérer à la fois leurs bénéfices nutritionnels mais également leurs limites comme l'allergénicité. Enfin, le comportement et l'acceptabilité de ces nouveaux aliments par les consommateurs représentent encore des verrous qu'il faudra lever pour le développement de nouvelles sources de protéines issues des végétaux.

The metabolic fate of rumenic acid (9cis,11trans-octadecenoic acid) related to its position on the glycerol moiety has not yet been studied. In the present work, synthetic triacylglycerols (TAG) esterified with oleic and rumenic acids were prepared. Rats were force-fed synthetic dioleyl monorumenyl glycerol with (14)C labeled rumenic acid in the internal (sn-2) or in the external position (sn-1 or sn-3). Rats were then placed in metabolic cages for 16 h. At the end of the experiment, the radioactivity in tissues, carcass and expired CO(2) was measured. Rumenic acid that was esterified at the external positions on the TAG was better absorbed and oxidized to a greater extent than when esterified at the internal position. The fatty acid from the 2-TAG form was also better incorporated into the rat carcass. In the liver, rumenic acid appeared mainly in TAG (50%) and to a lesser extent in phospholipids (33%) whatever its dietary form. Moreover, analyses of lipids from Camembert cheese and butter revealed that rumenic acid was located mainly on the sn-1 or sn-3 positions (74%). Taken together, these data suggest that rumenic acid from dairy fat may be well absorbed and used extensively for energy production.