Odd chain fatty acids (15:0 and 17:0) from dairy fat as well as odd chain phenolic lipids (alkylresorcinols) from whole grain are commonly reviewed as candidate biomarkers for dietary analysis and their ingestion are inversely related to chronic disease risks. Therefore, low levels of dietary intake of these odd chain molecules may be related to higher risk of physiological states that cause chronic diseases or mortality. It is a prerequisite to examine and understand their main role in beneficial health effects in disease prevention. We propose odd chain fatty acids (OC‐FA) and most importantly odd chain phenolic lipids (OC‐PL) as potential essential dietary compounds since they play key roles in physiological mechanisms. This review evaluates potential roles of OC‐FA and OC‐PL in mitigating chronic diseases in vitro and in vivo studies to support our hypothesis for odd chain molecules as essential dietary lipids. Further studies are needed to investigate the relationship between reduced intake of OC‐FA‐ and OC‐PL‐containing foods and susceptibilities to chronic diseases.

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Odd chain phenolic lipids have gained interest due to their functionality in food and pharmaceuticals owing to their bioactivity, amphiphilic properties, and use for encapsulation and drug delivery. Alkylresorcinols (ARs) are the most studied and found in high concentrations in wheat bran. In parallel, high power ultrasound (US) is an emerging green non-thermal technology with many applications in food. This research aimed to investigate the use of US to extract crude ARs from wheat bran and potential applications for preparation of liposomal solutions for the production of emulsion-filled gels (EFGs) for delivery of functional ingredients and fat reduction in a margarine model system. US proved to be an efficient method of extraction of crude ARs from wheat bran, reducing traditional extraction time from 24 hr to 30 min. Crude ARs and US were then used to develop functional EFGs from US prepared liposomal solutions which were characterized using polarized-light microscopy (PLM), water activity, textural analysis, rancimat, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). US and crude ARs improved microstructure, hardness, and oxidative stability of the margarine model system.iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTSFirst and foremost, I owe the dedication of this work to my supervisor, Dr. Farah Hosseinian. The amount of knowledge and skills that were transferred to me from Dr. Hosseinian will be of value to me for the rest of my life. My greatest resource along the way was paying attention every time she spoke for her wealth of knowledge is an immeasurable asset. Her ability to see potential and encourage her students is inspiring and for that, I am deeply grateful to have had her as a mentor along my academic work.My gratitude is also owed to Dr. Aynur Gunenc whose experience in research provided me thoughtful guidance in the lab and who patiently taught me a great deal on data interpretation and writing manuscripts. Thank you to Dr. Jeremy Laliberte for allowing me to use his DSC, Hayat El for her training, and Trinda Crippin for kindly allowing us to use her lab for some of the research. Also in need of thanks are my peers in the lab. Nasim Meshginfar, who provided me with muchneeded coffee breaks and enriching discussions on science, life, and culture. Minfang Luo and Colleen Celton for their valuable teamwork, and Sandra Gerhards for helping me with obtaining results.And of course, I must thank my family who has always provided me with the support and encouragement I needed to push myself towards my goals. A special thanks to my mother, my sister, and my grandmother, who fill my life with plain old happiness.

Odd chain fatty acids (C15:0 and C17:0) from dairy fat as well as odd chain phenolic lipids (alkylresorcinols) from whole grain are commonly reviewed as candidate biomarkers for dietary analysis and their ingestion are inversely related to chronic disease risks. Therefore, low levels of dietary intake of these odd chain molecules may be related to higher risk of physiological states that cause chronic diseases or mortality. It is a prerequisite to examine and understand their main role in beneficial health effects in disease prevention. We propose odd chain fatty acids (OC-FA) and most importantly odd chain phenolic lipids (OC-PL) as potential essential dietary compounds since they play key roles in physiological mechanisms. This review evaluates potential roles of OC-FA and OC-PL in mitigating chronic diseases in vitro and in vivo studies to support our hypothesis for odd chain molecules as essential dietary lipids. Further studies are needed to investigate the relationship between reduced intake of OC-FA and OC-PL containing foods and susceptibilities to chronic diseases.

Phenolic compounds were characterized after traditional extraction method (TEM) and ultrasound-assisted extractions (UAEs) for 10 min (US10) and 15 min (US15). Four fractions (free, bound, conjugated esters, and conjugated glycosides) were obtained and characterized using RP-HPLC-PDA. The US10 extracted 22.1 % (454.3 mg/kg) phenolic compounds while US15 extracted 66.6% (1369.7 mg/kg) phenolic compounds compared to traditional extraction method (TEM) after 1 hour of extraction. US10 and TEM extracted a similar amount of aglycones (112.3 + 4.0 and 109.0 + 12.9 mg/kg, respectively) while US15 showed a significant decrease in aglycone extraction (58.9 + 4.1 mg/kg) (P<0.05).  In seabuckthorn kombucha, US decreased initial microbial load by 2.6 log CFU/mL, increased ORAC value by 3% and increased water solubility index (WSI) by 40% (from 6.64 g/g to 9.29 g/g) without syneresis. Results from this study suggest that application of US can enhance phenolic functionality during fermentation and is capable of decreasing syneresis, increasing oil yield, decreasing microbial load, and increasing ORAC with minimal loss of nutritional quality.