Strawberries and blueberries are two of the most commonly consumed berries. Berries, in general, are characterized by their highly nutritive compounds, including minerals, vitamins, fatty acids, and dietary fiber, as well as their high content and wide diversity of bioactive compounds, such as phenolic compounds and organic acids. These bioactive compounds have been associated with protective effects against chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s and other disorders. In this paper 16 human intervention studies investigating the beneficial health effects of dietary strawberry or blueberry consumption on inflammation, cardiovascular disease or cognitive function and mental health are reviewed.
Potato peel is a by-product of potato-based food production and seen as a zero-or negative-value waste of which millions of tons are produced every year. Previous studies showed that potato peel is a potential material for film development when plasticized with 10% to 50% glycerol (w/w potato peel). To further investigate potato peel as a film-forming material, potato peel-based films containing the plasticizer sorbitol were prepared and investigated on their physicochemical properties in addition to films containing glycerol. Due to sufficient producibility and handling of casted films in preliminary trials, potato peel-based films containing 50%, 60%, or 70% glycerol (w/w potato peel) and films containing 90%, 100%, or 110% sorbitol (w/w potato peel) were prepared in this study. Generally, with increasing plasticizer concentration, water vapor and oxygen permeability of the films increased. Films containing glycerol showed higher water vapor and oxygen permeabilities than films containing sorbitol. Young's modulus, tensile strength, and elongation at break decreased with increasing sorbitol concentration, whereas no significant effect of plasticizer content on elongation at break was shown in films containing glycerol. Due to crystallization of films containing sorbitol as a plasticizer, potato peel-based films containing 50% glycerol (w/w) were identified as the most promising films, characterized by a water vapor transmission rate of 268 g 100 μm m −2 d −1 and an oxygen permeability of 4 cm 3 100 μm m −2 d −1 bar −1. Therefore, potato peel-based cast films in this study showed comparable tensile properties with those of potato starch-based films, comparable water vapor barrier with those of whey protein-based films, and comparable oxygen barrier with those of polyamide films.
Potatoes are grown in large quantities and are mainly used as food or animal feed. Potato processing generates a large amount of side streams, which are currently low value by-products of the potato processing industry. The utilization of the potato peel side stream and other potato residues is also becoming increasingly important from a sustainability point of view. Individual constituents of potato peel or complete potato tubers can for instance be used for application in other products such as bio-based food packaging. Prior using constituents for specific applications, their properties and characteristics need to be known and understood. This article extensively reviews the scientific literature about physical, chemical, and biochemical modification of potato constituents. Besides short explanations about the modification techniques, extensive summaries of the results from scientific articles are outlined focusing on the main constituents of potatoes, namely potato starch and potato protein. The effects of the different modification techniques are qualitatively interpreted in tables to obtain a condensed overview about the influence of different modification techniques on the potato constituents. Overall, this article provides an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of the possibilities and implications of modifying potato components for potential further valorization in, e.g., bio-based food packaging.
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