This session was held digitally on June 5, 2025. All conference recordings are freely available on the SFN website at the following address: https://sfnutrition.fr/workshop-de-la-sfn/. A summary is presented here. Cereal products have been consumed since antiquity and are an important component of the Mediterranean diet (Bach-Faig et al, 2011). The Mediterranean diet is considered a model of sustainable eating due to its health benefits, its social and cultural food identity, its potential for territorial development, its lower environmental impacts, and its contribution to biodiversity conservation (Lorca-Camara et al, 2024). Furthermore, recommendations from the EAT-Lancet report and various international organizations - the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations (UN) - emphasize the need for a transition toward more sustainable diets, based on reducing the consumption of animal proteins in favor of plant proteins. This summary on cereal products reflects the presentations from the webinar on (i) the health impact of glycemic index and glycemic response, (ii) their relevance as carriers of proteins with a focus on pasta, and (iii) the combined nutritional and environmental impact of pasta-based dishes. (c) 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS on behalf of Societe Franc & cedil;aise de Nutrition (SFN). This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Four nutritionally optimized cowpea-based pasta incorporating or not teff and/or amaranth leaves underwent in vitro static gastro-intestinal digestion using the Infogest model. The aim of this study was to characterize the peptides released at the end of the gastric and intestinal phase of cowpea-based pasta compared to wheat-based pasta controls with an increasing fiber content, using SDS-PAGE and mass spectrometry. At end of intestinal phase, the four cowpea-based pasta presented slightly lower peptides number of similar size compared to wheat-based pasta, which could indicate a lower proteolysis. Additionally, no significant difference in origin of peptide profile was observed with teff or amaranth leaf additions within cowpea-based pasta, nor with the increase of fiber within wheat-based pasta. Peptide released from cowpea-based pasta mainly comes from cowpea proteins, and especially globulins "RmlC-jelly roll fold" and "11S-seed storage protein". Vigilance is required for these globulin which have putative allergenic epitopes on their sequences.

Cooking pulses involves simultaneous heat and water transfer, which modifies seed components and affects starch and protein digestibility. This study evaluated the impact of soaking and cooking on the in-vitro protein digestibility (IVPD) of chickpeas. Grains were soaked at 30 °C for 0, 45, 90, or 360 min to assess water transfer effects, or cooked in water at 85 °C for 300 min, at 100 °C for 180 min, or at 100 °C for 90 min followed by 113 °C for 40 min to isolate heat transfer effects at comparable final water contents. Cooked samples reached the same final water content as hydrated grains but exhibited different degrees of starch gelatinization and vicilin and legumin denaturation. Water transfer alone did not alter IVPD (≈84%), whereas cooking increased protein digestibility by 3–4%. This improvement was associated with an 87% reduction in trypsin inhibitor activity and unfolding. Increasing cooking temperature further enhanced protein denaturation but did not improve IVPD, suggesting aggregation. PDCAAS values remained high and unchanged, indicating preserved protein quality. Because the cultivar studied exhibited low initial trypsin inhibitor activity, larger digestibility improvements may be expected for cultivars with higher inhibitor levels.

To improve the viscoelastic properties of Feruloylated Water Extractable Arabinoxylan (F-WEAX) gels, F-WEAX was crosslinked using a laccase in the presence of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC). The CNC/F-WEAX weight ratio ranged from 0 to 1.5, with a constant F-WEAX concentration of 1 % (w/v). The addition of CNC increased gel stiffness and the elastic modulus scales as [CNC]3. CNC also affects the relaxation behaviour, enhancing significantly the loss factor at low frequencies. QCM-D measurements shows that F-WEAX adsorbed irreversibly onto CNC with the same affinity as non-feruloylated ones. In the presence of CNC, the action of laccase produces double the quantity of elastically active oxidation products, which are the dimer and trimer forms of ferulic acid (FA). As a consequence, the swelling capacity of the F-WEAX-CNC gels decreases, however less than anticipated from the increase in shear modulus. The synergistic enhancement of elasticity, while maintaining swelling capacity, is tentatively attributed to the formation of high-functionality junctions through the irreversible adsorption of F-WEAX onto CNC.

Synthèse du workshop SFN en partenariat avec Panzani donné en visioconférence le jeudi 5 juin 2025. Cette session s’est tenue en digital le 5 juin 2025. L’intégralité des conférences est disponible gratuitement sur le site de la SFN à l’adresse suivante : https://sfnutrition.fr/workshop-de-la-sfn/. Nous en présentons ici une synthèse. Les produits céréaliers sont consommés depuis l’antiquité et constituent un élément important du régime méditerranéen (Bach-Faig et al, 2011). L’alimentation méditerranéenne est considérée comme un modèle de consommation alimentaire durable pour ses bénéfices en matière de santé, son identité alimentaire sociale et culturelle, son potentiel pour le développement territorial, de plus faibles impacts environnementaux et une conservation de la biodiversité (Lorca-Camara et al, 2024). Par ailleurs, les recommandations du rapport EAT-Lancet et de divers organismes internationaux – l’Organisation pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture (FAO), l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS), l’Organisation des Nations unies (ONU) - insistent sur la nécessité d’une transition vers des régimes alimentaires plus durables, fondés sur une réduction de la consommation de protéines animales au profit de protéines végétales. La présente synthèse sur les produits céréaliers reprend les présentations du webinaire sur (i) l’impact sur la santé de l’index glycémique et de la réponse glycémique (ii) leur intérêt comme vecteurs de protéines avec un focus sur les pâtes alimentaires et (iii) l’impact combiné nutritionnel et environnemental de plats à base de pâtes alimentaires.

From 4/6 months of age, complementary foods such as infant flours (IF) are introduced in the infant diet to supplement the nutritional intake of breast milk and/or infant formula that are no longer sufficient. However, the lipid profile and micronutrient content of IF are often unbalanced. In addition, the current lack of knowledge about oxidation mechanisms in low-moisture systems makes it difficult to control them in this type of food. The aim of this study was to better understand oxidation mechanisms in IF with optimized lipid profile for infant nutritional needs using climate smart crops, and with or without, the addition of vegetal sources of natural antioxidants. Five IF were formulated using climate smart crops, i.e. cowpea and teff flours, as sources of essential omega-3 fatty acids to complement soy flours. Four IF contained heat treated cowpea flour to evaluate the impact of lipoxygenases inactivation in this flour on global IF oxidative stability. Three IF were also fortified in long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid that are essential to support infant development to check whether this staple food could be good nutritional vector. Among these IF, two were enriched in natural antioxidant fractions with the addition of either powdered amaranth leaves or black rice bran, bringing carotenoids and phenolic compounds. The oxidative stability of IF was monitored over a 6-month storage period at 25 °C. The results showed that including teff and cowpea flours in the IF formulation enabled a balanced lipid profile (omega-6/omega-3 ratio close to 5) and ensured relatively good overall oxidative stability. However, 50 % of vitamin A was lost after 2 weeks of storage. Black rice bran and amaranth leaves acted as vitamin A stabilizers, delaying losses. This study unveiled that oxidation is triggered mainly during initial flour milling and propagated at a relatively slow rate over storage in these low moisture foods. Oxidation rate was related to the antioxidants composition and was faster in the presence of photosensitive compounds.

Growing demand for sustainable, plant-based protein sources has stimulated interest in new ingredients for food enrichment. This study investigates the nutritional and digestive implications of enriching wheat dough with RuBisCO, in comparison to pea protein-enriched and gluten-enriched doughs. The protein quality and digestibility of these enriched doughs were analysed through dough characterization, in vitro digestion experiments and biochemical analysis of digesta. Our findings indicate that an enrichment at 10% of RuBisCO or pea proteins improves the chemical score and the in vitro PDCAAS (IV-PDCAAS) score of wheat dough as compared to the control dough. Digestibility assays suggest that RuBisCO introduction modifies the protein hydrolysis kinetics: the nitrogen release is lower during gastric digestion but larger during intestinal digestion than other samples. The analysis of the protein composition of the soluble and insoluble parts of digesta, using size-exclusion chromatography, reveals that the protein network in RuBisCO-enriched dough is more resistant to gastric hydrolysis than the ones of other doughs. Indeed, non-covalently bound peptides and disulfide-bound protein aggregates partly composed of RuBisCO subunits remain insoluble at the end of the gastric phase. The digestion of these protein structures is then mostly performed during the intestinal phase. These results are also discussed in relation to the digestive enzymatic cleavage sites, the presence of potential enzyme inhibitors, the protein aggregation state and the secondary structures of the protein network in each dough type.

This research aimed to evaluate the gelation process of ferulated pectin (FP) and ferulated arabinoxylan (AXF) in a new mixed hydrogel and determine its microstructural characteristics. FP from sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) and arabinoxylan from maize (Zea mays) bran were gelled via oxidative coupling using laccase as a crosslinking agent. The dynamic oscillatory rheology of the mixed hydrogel revealed a maximum storage modulus of 768 Pa after 60 min. The scanning electron microscopy images showed that mixed hydrogels possess a microstructure of imperfect honeycomb. The ferulic acid content of the mixed hydrogel was 3.73 mg/g, and ferulic acid dimer 8-5′ was the most abundant. The presence of a trimer was also detected. This study reports the distribution and concentration of ferulic acid dimers, and the rheological and microstructural properties of a mixed hydrogel based on FP and AXF, which has promising features as a new covalent biopolymeric material.

Designing food formulations is an important approach to meet a set of nutritional needs and to address malnutrition issues. Linear programming is an appropriate tool for designing novel nutritionally optimized formulations based on a combination of gluten-free climate-smart crops. Four nutritionally optimized cowpea-based pasta formulations in association or not with teff and/or amaranth leaves (AL) were designed to meet a woman’s protein requirements in terms of quantity and quality, fibers, ω6/ω3, iron, zinc and B9 vitamin, while limiting antinutritional factors such as phytates. To predict the processability of the flours into pasta and the visual acceptance of future pasta by consumers, the antioxidant and oxidant capacities of flours were measured and their color compared with the color of durum wheat semolina (DWS). The formulation combining cowpea and AL had the highest nutritional composition and lowest impact of phytates. The formulation with cowpea, teff and AL seems to be the easiest to process thanks to its lower lipoxygenase activity and the higher antioxidant capacity, followed by the teff-cowpea formulation. The color of the formulation that only contained cowpea was closest to DWS.

This study investigates the processability, culinary and rheological properties, biochemical composition and invitro starch digestibility of new gluten-free pasta formulated with whole cowpea flour alone or combined with teff and/or amaranth leaf flour(s). These pasta are compared with three wheat-based pasta with fiber content increasing from 4% to 16% g/100g, 16% g/100g being the average fiber content of cowpea-based pasta. The pasta were processed using low temperature extrusion and drying. The antioxidant properties of amaranth leaf flour facilitated extrusion by limiting excessive aggregation of the dough during hydration/mixing that is attributed to lipoxygenase activity of cowpea flour. The optimal cooking time and cooking losses of cowpeabased pasta were similar to wheat-based pasta with comparable fiber content, highlighting fiber as a key factor influencing culinary properties. Adding teff to cowpea-based pasta reduced cooking losses and firmness. Although some micronutrients were lost during pasta processing and cooking, the consumption of a cooked portion of 100 g of dry cowpea-based pasta still covered FAO nutritional recommendations for protein, fiber, iron, zinc, and vitamin B9 targeting adult women. Adding amaranth leaves helped meet recommended betacarotene levels. The in vitro slowly digestible starch content of cowpea-based pasta is similar to or higher than that of wheat-based pasta.

Food diversity is a challenging issue for sustainable agrifood systems. Diets are increasingly dependent on branded packaged foods. Therefore, the crop diversity offered in the food market through these products is of particular importance. We scrutinize this diversity for some crops under great societal challenge: pulses. Based on the product launches referenced in the Mintel database over the last decade, we compare the food products containing pulse crops with those containing another legume—soy. From the 350,000 products analyzed, our results show that soy is mainly used but reveal some progress in the use of pulse species, particularly in Europe. The position of the examined species in the list of ingredients and in the product description allows us to assess its importance. The text-mining methods used usefully enable the monitoring of crop usage in the food market. We discuss several perspectives, notably how to deepen these results regarding consumer choices.

SCOPE:The purpose of the study is to characterize the chemical diversity in rice bran (RB) lipidome and determines whether daily RB consumption for 4 weeks may modulate plasma lipid profiles in children.METHODS AND RESULTS:Untargeted and targeted lipidomics via ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) are applied to identify bioactive RB lipids from a collection of 17 rice varieties. To determine the impact of RB (Calrose-USA variety) supplementation on plasma lipid profile, a secondary analysis of plasma lipidome is conducted on data recorded in a clinical study (NCT01911390, n = 18 moderately hypercholesterolemic children) before and after 4 weeks of dietary intervention with a control or RB supplemented (15 g day-1 ) snack. Untargeted lipidomic reveals 118 lipids as the core of lipidome across all varieties among which phospholipids are abundant and oxylipins present. Phytoprostanes and phytofurans are quantified and characterized. Lipidome analysis of the children plasma following RB consumption reveals the presence of polar lipids and oxylipins alongside putative modulations in endocannabinoids associated with RB consumption.CONCLUSION:The investigation of novel polar lipids, oxylipins, phytoprostanes, and phytofurans in RB extracts provides support for new health-promoting properties interesting for people at risk for cardiometabolic disease.

Food biodiversity is a challenging issue for sustainable agri-food systems, particularly in the European one-health context. Most often studied at the levels of agricultural systems and food diets, few works examined plant species diversity used in food products. As the market is a main driver for farmers’ crop choices, analyzing how crop biodiversity is supported by the food industry will inform actions to promote it. By text-mining the ingredient lists of nearly 350,000 packaged food products extracted from the MINTEL database, we first provide a market assessment of legume biodiversity in processed food over the last decade, on a global scale. Soy appears as the major global legume crop for food, and there is still a clear lack of pulse diversity reflected in food products; some progress however was observed over the last years - particularly in Europe. Results suggest that lock-in continues to hamper stronger crop biodiversity.

Total or partial replacement of traditional durum wheat semolina (DWS) by alternative flours, such as legumes or wholegrain cereals in pasta improves their nutritional quality and can make them interesting vector for fortification. Climate-smart gluten-free (C-GF) flours, such as legumes (bambara groundnut, chickpea, cowpea, faba bean, and pigeon pea), some cereals (amaranth, teff, millet, and sorghum), and tubers (cassava and orange fleshed sweet potato), are of high interest to face ecological transition and develop sustainable food systems. In this review, an overview and a critical analysis of their nutritional potential for pasta production and processing conditions are undertaken. Special emphasis is given to understanding the influence of formulation and processing on techno-functional and nutritional (starch and protein digestibility) properties. Globally C-GF flours improve pasta protein quantity and quality, fibers, and micronutrients contents while keeping a low glycemic index and increasing protein digestibility. However, their use introduces anti-nutritional factors and could lead to the alteration of their techno-functional properties (higher cooking losses, lower firmness, and variability in color in comparison to classical DWS pasta). Nevertheless, these alternative pasta remain more interesting in terms of nutritional and techno-functional quality than traditional maize and rice-based gluten free pasta.

Arabinoxylans (AX) microcapsules loaded with insulin were prepared by enzymatic gelation of AX, using a triaxial electrospray method. The microcapsules presented a spherical shape, with an average size of 250 µm. The behavior of AX microcapsules was evaluated using a simulator of the human intestinal microbial ecosystem. AX microcapsules were mainly (70%) degraded in the ascending colon. The fermentation was completed in the descending colon, increasing the production of acetic, propionic, and butyric acids. In the three regions of the colon, the fermentation of AX microcapsules significantly increased populations of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus and decreased the population of Enterobacteriaceae. In addition, the results found in this in vitro model showed that the AX microcapsules could resist the simulated conditions of the upper gastrointestinal system and be a carrier for insulin delivery to the colon. The pharmacological activity of insulin-loaded AX microcapsules was evaluated after oral delivery in diabetic rats. AX microcapsules lowered the serum glucose levels in diabetic rats by 75%, with insulin doses of 25 and 50 IU/kg. The hypoglycemic effect and the insulin levels remained for more than 48 h. Oral relative bioavailability was 13 and 8.7% for the 25 and 50 IU/kg doses, respectively. These results indicate that AX microcapsules are a promising microbiota-activated system for oral insulin delivery in the colon.

This study provides a detailed characterisation of a leaf protein concentrate (LPC) extracted from Cichorium endivia leaves using a pilot scale process. This concentrate contains 74.1% protein and is mainly composed of Ribulose-1,5-BISphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase (RuBisCO). We show that the experimentally determined extinction coefficient (around 5.0 cm(-1) g(-1) L depending on the pH) and refractive index increment (between 0.27 and 0.39 mL g(-1)) are higher than the predicted ones (about 1.6 cm(-1) g(-1) L and 0.19 mL g(-1), respectively). In addition, the UV-visible absorption spectra show a maximum at 258 nm. These data suggest the presence of non-protein UV-absorbing species. Chromatographic separation of the concentrate components in denaturing conditions suggests that RuBisCO SC may be covalently bounded to few phenolic compounds. Besides, the sol-ubility of LPC proteins is higher than 90% above pH 6. Such high solubility could make LPC a good candidate as a functional food ingredient.