Location: Healthy Processed Foods Research
2024 Annual Report
Accomplishments
1. Grape seed polyphenolics prevent age and obesity induced memory loss. Most (90%) of the $4.5 trillion health budget is spent on chronic disease and mental health problems such as Alzheimer’s disease. Inflammation, accompanying obesity, is the root cause of most chronic diseases. Grapeseed polyphenolics reduce weight gain and inflammation in animal obesity-focused study models. ARS scientists in Albany, California, found that mice on high-fat diets supplemented with grapeseed or grapeseed extracts had improved performance in memory tests. There were significant differences in expression of genes in the hippocampus and in the taxonomy of gut bacteria with and without grapeseed treatments. This study suggests that antioxidants such as grapeseed polyphenolics in the diet may help to prevent chronic diseases, including Alzheimer’s.
2. Orange peel extract prevents gut bacteria from producing a compound that increases risk of cardiovascular disease. In 2021, about 700,000 people died from cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the United States. Trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) is a risk factor for CVD. Gut bacteria releases trimethylamine (TMA) from carnitine and other food and TMA is converted to TMAO in the liver. ARS scientists in Albany, California, fed mice high-fat diets supplemented with carnitine or carnitine and orange peel extracts. They found TMA and TMAO in the blood and urine were reduced when fed orange peel extracts. This shows that the formation of TMA, a known risk factor for CVD, is reduced by intake of orange peel extract.
3. Binary combinations of functional foods. A study of mice that were fed a high-fat diet shows that adding bioprocessed black rice bran and green tea extract to the diet resulted in a synergistic loss of weight gain during an eight-week high-fat feeding study as compared to the two diets in which only one of the supplements was added. ARS researchers in Albany, California, conducted additional studies on the content of insulin, glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, and LDL cholesterols in serum and associated biomarkers, which appear to indicate that, in addition to weight loss, the combination diet has the potential to treat/prevent diabetes and heart disease and to also prevent liver damage. Their results also show that gut hormones and inflammatory cytokines seem to be involved in governing the anti-obesity mechanisms in the mice. These considerations suggest the need for human trials to confirm the rodent data. A manuscript has been submitted for publication.
4. The hazelnut allergen, Cor a 9, is a heterocomplex. In the United States alone, the costs borne by families due to food allergies and the direct medical costs of food allergies were estimated at $24.8 billion annually. Defining all the allergens in an allergenic food is crucial for allergen detection and mitigation. ARS researchers in Albany, California, discovered, for the first time, a food allergen with multiple isoforms exists naturally in food as a complex of different molecules. The new information about food allergens may have a profound impact on the definition of allergens and the understanding of the allergenicity of food proteins. Better definitions of food allergens can be used to improve food allergy diagnosis and prognosis and enable food processors to efficiently develop mitigation methodologies to improve food product marketability.
5. Bioprocessed black rice bran enhances the growth inhibitory effect of an immune checkpoint inhibitor against murine colon tumors. Black rice bran, a waste product produced during the milling process of black rice which removes the bran and germ, contains bioactive phenolic, flavonoid, and phytosteroid compounds that may be responsible for reported antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities resulting in health-promoting effects including antiproliferative properties. The bioprocessed black rice bran used in this study is a fermentation product of black rice bran using shiitake mushroom, mycelia. Immune checkpoint inhibitors that affect antitumor immune cells are used in medicine for the treatment of a wide range of cancers. ARS researchers in Albany, California, administered this new food product to mice that had colon tumors, and the results showed that this food additive significantly reduced tumor size by approximately 48%, as compared to the control diet. The additional administration of an immune checkpoint inhibitor increased the reduction in tumor size from about 48% to 63%, which was significant. The mechanism that governs the anti-tumor effects is like that reported for medical human chemotherapies.
Review Publications
Lee, K., Kwon, K., Hwang, W., Lee, W., Kim, J., Lee, S., Kim, S., Friedman, M. 2023. Bioprocessed black rice bran potentiates the growth inhibitory activity of an immune checkpoint inhibitor against murine colon carcinoma. Food and Nutrition Sciences. 14(12):1149-1171. https://doi.org/10.4236/fns.2023.1412072.
Lee, H., Koh, G., Lee, H., Alves Buongiorno, P.L., Yokoyama, W.H., Wang, Y. 2024. Discovery of a novel bioactive compound in orange peel polar fraction on the inhibition of trimethylamine and trimethylamine N-oxide through metabolomics approaches and in vitro and vivo assays: Feruloylputrescine inhibits. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. 72(14):7870-7881. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.3c09005.
Guo, F., Zhang, Y., Howard, A., Xu, Y. 2024. Crystal structure of hetero hexameric 11S seed storage protein of hazelnut. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry. 210. Article 108653. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2024.108653.
Garcia-Rocha, K.F., Capaceta-Osuna, A., Ochoa-Acosta, A., Avena Bustillos, R.D., Osuna-Martinez, U., Cárdenas-Torres, F.I., Yokoyama, W.H., McHugh, T.H., Teran-Cabanillas, E. 2023. Upcycled romaine lettuce powder as a dietary supplement for control of metabolic syndrome. ACS Food Science and Technology. 3(8):1393-1402. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.3c00204.