Obesity is a growing global public health dilemma. The objective of this project is to develop and validate a screening mechanism for bioactive compounds that may reduce body fat and promote health. Resistant starch (RS) reduces body fat in rodents. Amylose starch that has a high content of RS, endogenous compounds obtained from the ceca of amylose starch fed mice (fermented RS), and individual short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) were tested. The Caenorhabditis elegans model and Nile red staining were selected to determine the intestinal fat deposition response to bioactive components. The fluorescence intensity of Nile red was reduced to 76.5% (amylose starch), 78.8% (fermented RS), 63.6% (butyrate), or 28-80% (SCFAs) of controls, respectively (P < 0.001). The reduced intestinal fat deposition suggests reduced food intake or increased energy expenditure. C. elegans is a practical animal model to screen for bioactive compounds that may prevent or treat obesity.

Two cultivars of Japanese parsley were harvested in different seasons; their antioxidant capacities were evaluated by oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) methods, and the contents of hydrophilic and lipophilic antioxidants were compared. Japanese parsley possessed potent antioxidant capacities both in hydrophilic and lipophilic extracts when evaluated by ORAC methods. LC/MS/MS analyses revealed that chlorogenic acid and four kinds of quercetin glycosides were major antioxidants in the hydrophilic extract. Lutein was the main contributor to the antioxidant capacity of the lipophilic extract. Antioxidant capacities of the hydrophilic extracts of both cultivars tended to be higher in winter because of the increase in the contents of chlorogenic acid and quercetin glycosides. An obvious trend in the lipophilic antioxidant capacities or lutein contents was not observed irrespective of the cultivar.

The effect of chili pepper leaves (CPL) on the sensory characteristics, microbial load, consumer acceptability, and nutritional quality of salt bread was evaluated. Crushed and powdered CPLs were used in salt bread at different substitution levels: 0 (control), 0.5, 1, 2, 3 and 4% (wt/wt flour). All sensory attributes of salt breads with 0.5% crushed CPL (CCPL) or powdered CPL (PCPL) were comparable with the control. The consumer acceptability for 0.5% CCPL and PCPL were 97 and 93%, respectively. The use of 0.5% CPL in salt bread boosted the β-carotene content from <1 µg/100 g to up to 238 µg/100 g and significantly increased the folate and iron levels. Water activity values were comparable with the control and microbial counts of the enriched products were within acceptable limits. Results showed that CPL can be incorporated in salt bread as a means to improve iron, vitamin A, and folate nutrition in areas where micronutrient malnutrition is prevalent.Keywords: β-carotene, bread, chili pepper leaves, folate, iron, sensory evaluation IntroductionIron, vitamin A, and folate are among the micronutrients deficient in the diet of many people in developing countries. In the Philippines, iron and vitamin A deficiencies remain as public health problems (FNRI, 2013) among children and women (pregnant and lactating). Folate deficiency, which is associated with birth defects, colorectal cancer, and lifelong physical and intellectual disabilities, is also an emerging concern (deVogel et al., 2008;Fujimori et al., 2011). Green leafy vegetables are very rich in essential micronutrients such as vitamin A (in the form of β-carotene), folate, and iron (Ng et al., 2012;Gupta and Prakash, 2011). shown to effectively enhance its nutrient profile (ii, iv, vi).The use of chili pepper leaves as an inexpensive ingredient to boost the nutritional quality of salt bread was therefore investigated. The effects of crushed and powdered form of chili pepper leaves on the salt bread in terms of quality, sensory characteristics, and consumer acceptability were assessed. The samples were cooled and packed in polyethylene bags and kept at ambient temperature until analyzed. Materials and Methods Sample collection Screening of best formulationThe best formulation was determined using laboratory panel consisting of 14 staff from Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) as evaluators. Prior to the actual evaluation, product lexicon was developed, wherein sensory attributes for salt bread were identified and agreed upon by the same set of panelists (Meilgaard et al., 2007). Salt bread was randomly selected and coded with three-digit random numbers.One whole piece (60 _ 64 mm width x 34 _ 40 mm height) of coded salt bread of each treatment was presented to each sensory panelist one at a time. The attributes evaluated by the panelists were green color, aroma and taste (0=none; 15=very intense), surface texture appearance (0=smooth; 15=very rough), after-taste (0=none; 15= very perceptible), mouthfeel/texture (0=smooth; 15=very grainy), denseness ...

Rice wine lees is a major by-product generated in the Philippine rice wine or tapuy production. Flour was developed using tapuy lees and used as a functional ingredient in polvoron. Preparation of flour involved washing of the pressed lees, filtration, sterilization, drying and grinding to a fine powder. The water activity of the sample was <0.400 and microbial loads were within acceptable limits, with 2.30 × 10 4 cfu/g total plate count and 2.50 cfu/g mold count. The flour had high crude protein (45.03 ± 0.14%) and dietary fiber (13.10 ± 0.08%) levels. When used in polvoron, up to 50% (w/w) of lees can be substituted to all-purpose flour with minimal effect on quality. Using 33% lees, significant improvement in crude protein content was noted, without adversely affecting the taste and overall sensory quality of the product. Results demonstrated the feasibility of producing a functional food ingredient using a major by-product of tapuy production. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSLees is a nutritious, but underutilized, by-product of rice wine manufacture. In tapuy production, a large volume of lees (about 27% of the weight of raw rice) is generated and is merely discarded. The use of lees in the development of valueadded food products will be a step toward making nutrient-dense foods available to consumers, while addressing waste management problem from rice wine production. Results of this study would provide manufacturers of rice wine a valuable resource to make their process more efficient and productive. This will also serve as a basis to further explore the nutritional quality of rice wine lees and its potential applications in other food products.