Menopause is characterized by hormonal decline, increasing susceptibility to osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, and metabolic dysfunction. Phytoestrogens, plant-derived bioactive compounds with estrogenic and anti-inflammatory properties, have emerged as potential alternatives to hormone therapy for mitigating these risks. This review critically examines their molecular mechanisms, bioavailability challenges, and clinical applications. Their impact on bone mineral density, cardiovascular function, neuroprotection, and metabolic regulation is evaluated, alongside safety considerations. However, inconsistencies in clinical outcomes underscore the need for standardized dosing strategies and precision-based approaches informed by genetic and microbiome profiling. Beyond clinical utility, their role in sustainable nutrition and global health equity is also considered. By integrating molecular insights with translational applications, phytoestrogens represent a promising, non-hormonal strategy for improving menopausal health.
Traditional foods high in saturated fats pose significant health risks. This has prompted the food industry to reduce saturated fats and increase functional unsaturated fatty acids. Three-dimensional food printing provides a promising platform for precise customization of food structure and nutrition and for developing personalized healthy foods. However, healthy oils usually have low viscosity and a liquid state at room temperature, making them incompatible with the extrudability and self-supporting qualities required for 3D printing. In addition, oils are prone to oxidation and instability during processing, which has become a major obstacle to practical application. This review systematically summarizes structural construction strategies for healthy oil-based printable inks, including oleogels, emulsion gels, and Pickering emulsions, and clarifies adaptive regulation of ink rheology and printing parameters. It further examines how printing processes affect the nutritional value and physicochemical stability of healthy oils. Meanwhile, this review highlights the potential of this technology for applications in personalized nutrition and medically tailored diets. Finally, it discusses core challenges, including structurant development, large-scale printing, and digestion kinetics, and proposes future directions for next-generation healthy oil-based 3D-printed foods.
This review explores the potential of plant-based agro-industrial by-products as sustainable protein sources. It examines how enzymatic hydrolysis can modify and enhance their techno-functional properties for food applications. A literature search (2020-2025) in major databases identified experimental studies using protein-rich by-products (≥10 g/100 g protein) processed into protein ingredients, concentrates, isolates, and, especially, hydrolysates. These by-products generally exhibit favorable amino acid profiles and notable bioactive properties, including antioxidant and enzyme-inhibitory activities. Hydrolysis, often combined with greener extraction and pretreatment technologies, improves key techno-functional properties. Reported surfactant-related effects include increased solubility, emulsifying, foaming, and oil-holding capacities. Moisturizing properties such as water-holding capacity, gelation, and texture are enhanced, while hydrodynamic behavior is tailored to improve colloidal stability. These functionalities have been successfully exploited in breads, cakes, yogurts, emulsified meat products, confectionery, encapsulated systems, and other model foods, enabling partial replacement of conventional ingredients such as eggs, milk solids, or synthetic surfactants. Despite these advances, most applications remain concentrated in bakery and dairy products, underscoring the need for broader exploration in other food matrices and for studies addressing scale-up, regulatory considerations, and consumer acceptance. Overall, plant protein hydrolysates derived from agro-industrial by-products are promising, sustainable ingredients for the development of functional, cleaner-label foods.
The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria necessitates alternative antimicrobial strategies. Here, tetrahedral framework nucleic acids (tFNAs) were engineered as a nanoplatform to co-deliver nisin and quercetin (tFNQ) against a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strain isolated from retail pork. tFNAs enhanced bacterial association and enabled nuclease-responsive release, significantly improving antibacterial activity at sub-minimum inhibitory concentrations (sub-MIC) compared with the free combination. tFNQ induced membrane disruption and depolarization, accompanied by reduced hemolytic activity. Transcriptomic profiling and RT-qPCR validation revealed coordinated transcriptional changes in genes associated with virulence regulation and stress response. In particular, agrA was significantly downregulated, whereas the virulence repressor rot was upregulated. These changes were accompanied by reduced expression of hemolysin related genes and genes involved in antimicrobial peptide tolerance. Collectively, these findings demonstrate the advantages of tFNAs as an effective co-delivery platform for enhancing the antibacterial activity of nisin and quercetin against foodborne MRSA. The observed physiological and transcriptomic responses provide molecular evidence associated with the improved antibacterial performance of tFNQ and support the potential application of tFNAs-based co-delivery strategies for antimicrobial intervention.
Rising demand for plant-based proteins is driving interest in separation technologies that minimize water, chemical, and energy use while preserving ingredient functionality. Conventional wet extraction of cereal proteins typically increases environmental impact and alters the protein structure and functional properties. In contrast, electrostatic separation is a solvent-free dry fractionation approach for producing protein-enriched cereal ingredients from whole grains and processing side streams. It exploits differences in tribocharge among particles, using an electric field to selectively direct protein-rich and fiber- or starch-rich cereal fractions into separate streams. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the electrostatic separation of cereal proteins using a machine-method-materials framework.Electrostatic separation offers a water- and chemical-free route to protein enrichment and can better preserve native functionality than conventional wet processing. However, cereal protein processing remains challenging due to complex composition and process variables. The reported results often depend on optimizing airflow and electric field strength, tightly controlling moisture, and implementing hybrid or multi-pass configurations. Future progress will require improved charge control strategies, scalable separator designs, and application-driven evaluation of electrostatically enriched cereal protein ingredients in real food systems.
Onion is one of the most consumed and produced vegetables globally, recognized for its widespread health benefits and nutraceutical properties attributed to its rich composition of bioactive compounds with diverse biological activities. The postharvest, consumption, and industrial processing of onions generate substantial amounts of by-products, posing significant environmental and socioeconomic challenges. Given that these by-products are also abundant in bioactive compounds, a potential strategy for their valorization and mitigation of their adverse impacts involves extracting these compounds and their application in various sectors, particularly the food industry. This study aims to conduct a comprehensive review of the diverse applications of onion by-product extracts across various fields to understand current trends in the literature and highlight key findings. Furthermore, many bioactive compounds present in onion by-products exhibit limited applicability and low stability under external factors. To address these limitations, microencapsulation emerges as a promising strategy. This work also emphasizes the various microencapsulation techniques applicable to onion by-products, aiming to identify the most effective approaches and optimal conditions. Ultimately, this review seeks to identify existing knowledge gaps and outline future challenges and perspectives related to the valorization of onion by-products, thereby providing insights into strategies that may mitigate their negative impacts.
Underwater Electrical Shockwave (UES) is an innovative non-thermal pretreatment technology designed to enhance the extraction of plant bioactives. It offers distinct advantages over conventional methods-including superior retention of bioactivity, rapid processing times, and broad applicability to diverse materials. While promising, previous literature has lacked a comprehensive evaluation of its mechanisms, applications, and economic feasibility, particularly regarding industrial scale-up. This review comprehensively addresses these gaps by examining UES device design, enhancement mechanisms, critical operational parameters, and diverse applications, complemented by economic and comparative assessments with established pretreatment technologies. Quantitative evidence demonstrates that UES can improve extraction yields by up to 40% and reduce energy consumption by approximately 30-50% under optimized conditions (Yasuda et al. 2017). The findings highlight the significant practical implications of UES for industrial-scale applications in the food industry, presenting it as a sustainable and efficient alternative for bioactive ingredient extraction. However, significant challenges remain in scaling up this technology from laboratory proof-of-concept to robust industrial implementation. To this end, this review dedicates a section to critically analyze the challenges of industrial scaling, including engineering hurdles, economic viability, and regulatory considerations. Current challenges and future research directions are also outlined to support its broader implementation.
Dyslipidemia is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Evidence suggests that probiotics may improve serum lipid profiles through multiple mechanisms, including bile salt hydrolase activity, cholesterol assimilation, conversion of cholesterol into coprostanol, deconjugation and precipitation of cholesterol by probiotic enzymes, regulation of host gene expression related to lipid metabolism, and production of short-chain fatty acids, although the magnitude and consistency of these effects across studies remain uncertain. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of probiotic intervention on serum lipid profiles, including triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). A systematic search was performed in PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Cochrane Library up to February 2025. Data were pooled using a random-effects model, and mean differences with 95% confidence intervals were calculated. A total of 155 RCTs (n = 9,906) were included. Probiotic intervention significantly reduced triglyceride (MD = -10.83 mg/dL, p < 0.0001), total cholesterol (MD = -8.46 mg/dL, p < 0.0001), and LDL-C (MD = -5.83 mg/dL, p < 0.0001), while contributed to modestly increased in HDL-C (MD = 1.28 mg/dL, p < 0.0001). Overall, probiotics significantly improve serum lipid profiles, supporting their role as an adjunctive approach to dyslipidemia management.
Emerging evidence suggests the Portfolio diet may confer benefits beyond managing hyperlipidemia. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the association between adherence to the Portfolio diet and disease outcomes in observational studies. Four databases were searched through September 2025, and 10 studies consisting of 513,284 participants were included. Data from 4 prospective cohort studies (n = 352,396) were pooled using random-effects models for disease outcomes. Each 1-standard deviation increase in the Portfolio Diet Score (PDS) was associated with a 6% lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) (RR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.92 to 0.96) and a 10% lower risk of all-cause mortality (RR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.86 to 0.95). Qualitative synthesis suggested that higher adherence to the Portfolio diet was associated with lower type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk and lower odds of cancer. In conclusion, higher adherence to the Portfolio diet is inversely associated with risks of CVD and mortality, while the favorable associations with T2D and cancer remain preliminary and hypothesis-generating.
Eggs play a critical role in bakery products, providing essential functionalities such as foaming, emulsification, and gelation, leading to structure formation. Traditional egg replacement approaches rely on trial-and-error methods focused on matching texture and sensory properties. However, such strategies fall short due to the multiple techno-functional properties of egg components and a lack of understanding of their interactions with other ingredients. Most studies on egg functionality have been conducted on simplified model systems, which do not consider the impact of processing conditions, such as mixing, baking, and cooling, on final product quality. Substituting eggs with plant-based alternatives is challenging due to limited mechanistic knowledge of egg properties and unknown interactions between plant proteins and batter components, such as lipids, emulsifiers, wheat proteins, and starch. Furthermore, knowledge of key colloidal structures forming during physicochemical transformations throughout processing steps is lacking. This review highlights the need for a new approach bridging ingredient-level functionality and cake quality by mapping colloidal and structural dynamics occurring during cake-making. We examine egg functionality in foam-based (sponge cake) and emulsion-based (pound cake) systems and evaluate plant-based replacement strategies. This work proposes a bottom-up approach connecting molecular and colloidal interactions to macroscopic functionality, providing a mechanistic foundation for designing egg replacers.
Arabinoxylans (AXs) are major non-starch polysaccharides found in cereals, attracting significant interest among cereal chemists, nutritionists, and food technologists for their technological and nutritional importance. Cereal-extracted arabinoxylans (CEAXs) exhibit a wide range of characteristics and yields, which vary based on the cereal source and the specific extraction or modification methods employed. Additionally, AXs are a family of biopolymers with useful industrial applications and functional properties like solubility, viscosity, gelling, and hydration. Notably, their complex fiber structure is associated with various health benefits, including prebiotic, antioxidant, and antidiabetic properties, making AXs particularly valuable in the medicinal and nutraceutical industries. AXs play a key role in supporting short-chain fatty acid production, regulating blood glucose, promoting beneficial microbiota, and enhancing antioxidant capacity. The current review elucidated extraction and modification strategies for obtaining arabinoxylans from cereals and by-products, and discussed the effects these strategies can have on yield, biochemical composition, molecular characteristics, and antioxidant activity. In this critical review, a significant gap in rational AXs ingredient design is addressed by synthesizing how extraction and modification strategies shape the structural features of cereal arabinoxylans and how these changes govern their functional and nutritional properties.
Distinct from traditional food printing in their utilization of beneficial life forms (BLFs), this review firstly concludes and analyzes an innovative five‑dimensional food printing (5DFP) approach. In this approach, BLFs embedded in an edible printing matrix (3D) undergo time‑dependent (4D) growth, metabolism, or differentiation, actively driving the dynamic evolution of matrix structure, function, and sensory properties. It also simultaneously generating multiple signals (e.g., color, flavor, shape and nutrient changes) that can be visually identified or amplified for detection, thereby facilitating data collection and feedback‑driven printing optimization. The sources and features of BLFs for 5DFP are systematically summarized, including applied natural fermentative microorganisms and promising photosynthetic microorganisms, plant/animal functional cells, and their engineered variants, showing promise for nutrient synthesis, targeted delivery, and living label applications. Moreover, optimization strategies such as BLFs modulation, carrier material and printing parameter optimization, and multi‑nozzle systems integrated with physical field‑assisted technologies are discussed for feasibility validation. Moving beyond these technical aspects, key barriers including biosafety, regulatory approval, scalability, ethics, consumer acceptance, and long‑term stability are also critically highlighted. Accordingly, future research should focus on expanding BLF materials, advancing technical strategies, and reinforcing regulatory systems, while AI‑based approaches remain a promising yet exploratory direction in 5DFP.
Traditionally made long-term fermented soybean (LTFS) foods, including doenjang, miso, ganjang, and douchi, are produced through months to years of fermentation under high-salinity conditions (12-20% NaCl), generating convergent postbiotic profiles comprising free amino acids, isoflavone aglycones, bioactive peptides, indole derivatives, and gamma-aminobutyric acid. These postbiotics engage host immune, metabolic, and redox signaling through AMPK-SIRT1 activation, NF-kB and RAAS suppression, Nrf2-Keap1 induction, and aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling. Epidemiological evidence from Korean, Japanese, and Chinese cohorts consistently associates LTFS consumption with improved metabolic outcomes despite high concomitant sodium exposure, suggesting that fermentation-derived bioactive compounds suppress the adverse metabolic consequences of sodium. However, most mechanistic evidence derives from cell and animal models, and human intervention data directly measuring signaling endpoints remain sparse. Gut microbiota biotransformation of LTFS-derived bioactive compounds generates secondary metabolites with distinct biological activities, contributing to substantial inter-individual variability in physiological responses and underscoring the need for precision nutrition approaches that account for individual microbiota composition, metabolic phenotype, and genetic background. This review critically evaluates evidence within a postbiotic-to-signaling framework, distinguishes associative observational findings from preclinical mechanistic evidence, identifies contradictions and null findings, and highlights research priorities including standardized metabolite profiling and human intervention studies with mechanistic biomarker endpoints.
As a sustainable plant protein resource, wheat germ protein (WGP) has attracted increasing attention because of its high digestibility, balanced essential amino acid profile, and broad potential in functional food development. However, its industrial application remains limited by processing bottlenecks and an incomplete understanding of its structure-function relationships and molecular mechanisms of action. This review systematically summarizes the structural characteristics, digestion behavior, and functional properties of WGP, and further evaluates its incorporation into diverse food matrices, particularly bakery products, meat analogues, and other functional formulations. In addition, current evidence on the physiological activities of WGP and its derived bioactive peptides is critically examined, with emphasis on antioxidant, antihypertensive, immunomodulatory, neuroprotective, and metabolic regulatory effects, together with the signaling pathways involved. Available studies indicate that WGP-derived peptides exert health-promoting effects not only through activation of key pathways such as Nrf2 and AMPK, but also through modulation of systemic homeostasis via the gut-brain and gut-liver axes. Overall, this review highlights the need to move beyond conventional nutritional fortification toward a mechanism-oriented design strategy, and provides a theoretical basis for the development of next-generation functional foods and specialized medical nutrition products based on WGP.
Coconut oil cake and meal generated during oil and milk processing contain significant quantity of high-quality proteins. Compared to other plant proteins, coconut proteins contain higher ratio of essential amino acids, better digestibility, and demonstrate versatile functionality in food matrices. However, they are seldom extracted at industrial scale and used in food formulations. This study evaluates the critical linkage between the extraction methods, protein structure, nutritional quality, functional properties, allergenicity, and their suitability for food applications. Conventional extraction techniques such as alkaline extraction and isoelectric precipitation are assessed alongside emerging techniques, such as membrane-based separations, enzyme, microwave and ultrasound-assisted extractions, with emphasis on the protein yield, structural integrity, and functional properties. Structure-function relationship governing solubility, thermal stability, gelation, interfacial, rheological, oil and water binding properties are critically analyzed, particularly for the predominant globulin fractions. The generation of bioactive peptides during enzymatic hydrolysis and their relevance in functional food are also examined. Strategies to improve functionality, including deamidation, protein-polysaccharide conjugation and amino acid-mediated modulation of protein-protein interactions, are discussed. Process scale-up and limited knowledge on value chain are the key challenges limiting the commercialization of coconut proteins. The work outlines directions for future research and industrial applications of coconut proteins.
Biogenic amines (BAs) are microbial-derived compounds that may exert adverse effects in humans when present at high concentrations. They are mainly formed by amino acid decarboxylation and can be produced by various microorganisms, including lactic acid bacteria, enterobacteria, staphylococci and Bacillus spp. While high BA levels in non-fermented foods indicate spoilage, their presence in fermented foods is often unavoidable, making process control essential to limit their accumulation. Plant-based fermented foods are gaining global interest, but their production frequently relies on spontaneous fermentation, which may lead to uncontrolled BA formation. This review evaluates BA occurrence in plant-based fermented foods, focusing on products fermented by bacteria and fungi: (i) Brassicaceae vegetables (e.g., sauerkraut and kimchi), (ii) soy-based products (e.g., soy sauce, miso, tempeh), and (iii) olives and other pickles. Mitigation strategies are also discussed, including the reduction of microbial aminobiogenic potential and BA degradation through microbial metabolism or the addition of food-grade ingredients with BA-degrading activity, such as diamine oxidase (DAO). BA levels are highly variable and influenced by raw materials, ingredients and processing conditions, occasionally reaching potentially harmful concentrations, particularly for histamine. This review provides a critical overview of risks and strategies to improve the safety and quality of plant-based fermented foods.
Humans have continuously evolved the agrifood system to achieve adequate, safe, nutritious and, more recently, sustainable food supplies. Industrialization introduced modern farming equipment, food factories, and global distribution networks, substantially increasing production while improving safety, access and resource efficiency. Despite these advances, agrifood systems remain major contributors to environmental pressures and sometimes produce food of low nutritional value. Consequently, food systems must evolve to reflect and balance changing consumer needs and priorities, technological progress, and planetary boundaries to ensure adequate nutrition for a growing and diverse population. As a central element of the agrifood chain, advancements in food processing can better align products with these goals. Drawing on insights from 1)population dynamics, needs and preferences, 2)food production and processing, and 3)impacts of food on healthy diets, this perspective examines how food processing can support nutritious, safe, and affordable diets while building resilience across the food system. Food processing is not an isolated technical activity, but a strategic interface through which upstream drivers (e.g., demographic change, agricultural variability) are translated into downstream outcomes (e.g., nutritional quality, consumer acceptance). Collectively, this perspective delivers an interdisciplinary reflection on the challenges food systems face and contextualizes how these elements influence meeting global food demands.
Neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and multiple sclerosis, are increasingly associated with disruption of the microbiota-gut-brain axis. Common alterations include reduced beneficial microbial taxa, impaired short-chain fatty acid production, intestinal and blood-brain barrier dysfunction, and sustained inflammatory responses. These findings support the development of microbiota-targeted dietary interventions. This review summarizes current evidence on polyphenols, bioactive peptides, and pectin-derived oligosaccharides (POS) as prebiotic or prebiotic-like compounds with potential activity through the microbiota-gut-brain axis. Particular attention is given to structure-function relationships, host-microbe interactions, and the sustainable recovery of these compounds from food by-products. Preclinical studies suggest that these bioactives may reduce microglial activation, improve mitochondrial function, strengthen intestinal and blood-brain barrier integrity, and enhance cognitive or motor performance. Early clinical studies also indicate possible benefits on mood, selected cognitive outcomes, metabolic regulation, and inflammatory biomarkers, although evidence remains limited. Microbiota-derived metabolites from polyphenols, such as urolithins, together with glycomacropeptide and POS, appear to be key mediators. However, clinical validation in major neurodegenerative diseases remains fragmented. Standardized formulations, mechanistic trials, harmonized endpoints, and precision-nutrition strategies are required to confirm their therapeutic potential.
Dietary fat intake acutely induces a dynamic postprandial state characterized by transient elevations in triacylglycerol-rich lipoproteins, circulating non-esterified fatty acids, and lipid mediators, superimposed on habitual diet and individual metabolic status. Within this context, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as lipid-bilayer nanoparticles whose lipid composition may reflect cellular lipid handling and contribute to interorgan signaling. This narrative review integrates mechanistic evidence, omics studies, and human feeding trials to examine how dietary lipids and postprandial lipemia may influence EV biogenesis and remodel EV lipid composition and molecular cargo across the fasted-fed cycle, while clearly distinguishing EV lipidomes from broader plasma and lipoprotein lipidomic changes. We highlight available evidence on the differential effects of fatty acid classes and dietary patterns on EV lipid signatures, pro-inflammatory and pro-thrombotic potential, and putative roles in endothelial dysfunction, adipose-liver-muscle crosstalk, immunometabolism, and insulin resistance. We also discuss methodological challenges in distinguishing EVs from lipoproteins in postprandial plasma, together with opportunities to use rigorously characterized postprandial EV signatures as integrative biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk and readouts of nutrition-based interventions. Overall, current evidence supports moving beyond a fasting, lipoprotein-centric perspective toward a postprandial framework in which EV lipidomes are investigated as complementary mediators and biomarkers of cardiometabolic disease.
There is a burgeoning interest in emerging quantum technologies and how to make optimal use of them. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current literature on quantum sensing and quantum computing in the field of food and nutrition science. A systematic search was conducted across Medline, Embase, Global Health, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, and Google Scholar, up to August 20, 2024. Non-English, non-peer-reviewed articles and those solely about traditional computing without quantum applications were excluded. A total of 58 articles were included, highlighting emerging quantum technologies for nutrient detection and dietary optimization. Quantum sensing, particularly with quantum dots, shows high sensitivity for assessing food quality and composition parameters, including vitamins and antioxidants. In addition, quantum-inspired algorithms, such as the Hybrid Quantum Genetic Algorithm, are being developed for personalized nutrition and diet optimization. However, many applications are still in the early stages, with limited empirical validation and challenges, such as material toxicity and limited integration with traditional methods. Although promising, the practical benefits of quantum technology over classical methods are currently marginal, necessitating further research and technological advancements.
