Functional foods, characterised by their ability to provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition, have gained popularity due to their potential to improve general well-being. Prebiotics are non-digestible substances present in food that have the unique ability to support the growth and activity of beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. This, in turn, brings about a multitude of health benefits for the individual. Marine macroalgae, also known as seaweeds, are a promising source of renewable biomass that contains a significant quantity of bioactive compounds. Sargassum species, which are common among seaweeds, are known for their abundant presence and complex biochemical composition, making them a promising candidate as functional foods. This review article delves into the topic of functional foods and the various prebiotics derived from terrestrial plants, along with the documented health benefits associated with them. Additionally, this article reports on the key bioactive compounds found in brown seaweed that have the potential to be prebiotics. A literature search on the potential health benefits of Sargassum species demonstrated in vitro and in animal models was also undertaken.

Brown seaweeds are rich in bioactive polysaccharides such as laminarin, fucoidan, and alginate, which exhibit a wide range of biological activities and hold great potential for applications in the functional food and nutraceutical industries. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in developing advanced and sustainable extraction techniques to improve the recovery of these valuable compounds. While conventional methods – including Soxhlet extraction, hydrodistillation, and maceration – are still commonly used, they are often time-consuming, inefficient, and environmentally taxing. In contrast, innovative techniques such as enzyme-assisted extraction (EAE), microwave-assisted extraction, and ultrasound-assisted extraction offer faster, more selective, and eco-friendly alternatives. Among these, EAE has emerged as a particularly promising approach due to its efficiency, mild operating conditions, and ability to preserve the integrity of thermolabile compounds. However, challenges related to enzyme stability and reusability limit its industrial application. To address these issues, enzyme immobilisation has been explored, with magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) gaining considerable attention as effective supports due to their large surface area, biocompatibility, and ease of magnetic separation. This review provides an overview of the biology of brown seaweeds and their major bioactive polysaccharides, followed by a critical evaluation of enzyme immobilisation methods. Particular emphasis is placed on the use of MNPs as supports for immobilised enzymes in the context of polysaccharide extraction. The integration of immobilised enzymes with green extraction technologies offers a promising route toward more efficient, sustainable, and scalable recovery of marine-derived bioactives.

Bioconversion of used automotive engine oil (UEO) into lipase was conducted via submerged fermentation by Burkholderia cenocepacia ST8, as a strategy for value-added product generation and waste management. Response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network hybrid with genetic algorithm (ANN-GA) were employed to optimize the fermentation medium for enhancing extracellular lipase production by B. cenocepacia ST8. Employing a four-factor-five-level central composite rotatable experimental design (CCRD), a reduced quartic polynomial RSM model and ANN model (4-4-1) trained using Bayesian Regularization were developed to attain the optimized fermentation medium for maximum level of lipase production. The RSM model predicted the following as the optimum media constituents: 2.28% v/v of Tween 80, 2.26% v/v of UEO, 0.79% w/v of nutrient broth, and 1.33% w/v of gum arabic, with an actual lipase yield of 216 U/mL. While, ANN-GA predicted the optimum media constituents to be 3% v/v of Tween 80, 3% v/v of UEO, 0.72% w/v of nutrient broth, and 3.38% w/v of gum arabic, with actual lipase yield of 225 U/mL. In comparison to the unoptimized medium, optimized RSM and ANN-GA systems both demonstrated a 1.6-fold increment in lipase production. Tween 80 and nutrient broth concentrations were the most important variables influencing the lipase production. The findings of this study indicated that the ANN-GA and RSM could be useful for effective optimization of the fermentation medium for enzyme production.

Bee pollen, as one of the products of bees, is often claimed as nature's most complete food. The present work aimed to evaluate and compare the physicochemical properties, proximate composition, and phytochemical content of stingless bee pollen Heterotrigona itama from eight different geographical origins in Sarawak, Malaysia. Storage studies of the stingless bee pollen samples at four different temperatures were also conducted. The pH and water activity of the pollen samples were in the range of 3.45 to 3.69 and 0.39 to 0.51, respectively. Pollen samples contained 51.96% carbohydrates, 16.31% protein, 4.85% lipid, and 2.24% minerals on average. In addition, the total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity of pollen extracts ranged from 27.99 to 63.17 mg GAE/g and 66.73 to 94.03% radical scavenging activity, respectively. The phytochemical screening test revealed that saponin, terpenoid, and flavonoids were present in all the pollen extracts under investigation. Processed bee pollen is relatively stable at a storage temperature of or below 40 degrees C. In addition, no obvious degradation in terms of protein content, TPC or antioxidant scavenging activity was observed, even at an incubation temperature of 50 degrees C. The results of the present study indicated that processed stingless bee pollen of Sarawak origin is a natural product that could last a long time at an ambient temperature of 25 degrees C in addition to its good source of nutritional and bioactive compounds.

Bioactive compounds are chemical substances that have biological effects favourable to human health. Many foods contain bioactive compounds, such as fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts, but animals only have extremely small levels of these substances. Many industries use bioactive compounds extensively, including poultry, agriculture, cosmetics, biofuel, and medical research. Techniques for extraction are necessary to get potential bioactive compounds. The ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) is identified as one of the most efficient methods, given its benefits for the extraction of bioactive substances. This review paper focused on the fundamental concepts behind the ultrasonication process as well as a recently published study on the use of ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) to extract bioactive compounds from a wide range of sources for various applications.Keywords: bioactive compounds, ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), oligosaccharides, prebiotic

Prebiotics are termed as substrates that can confer health benefits with selective utilisation by host microbiota. They are oligosaccharides that can withstand gastric and enzymatic digestions in the small intestine. Prebiotics can be selectively fermented by probiotics in the large intestine to produce short-chain fatty acids, vitamins, and other compounds. These compounds can enhance the host immunity against diseases, normalise bowel movements, improve mineral absorption, and lower blood cholesterol level. Inulin, fructooligosaccharides (FOS), galactooligosaccharides (GOS), lactulose, and xylooligosaccharides (XOS) are some examples of prebiotics. Prebiotics may be incorporated as nutritional ingredients into various functional foods or presented as nutraceuticals in the form of tablets or capsules, sometimes with probiotic cultures, for the benefit of consumer’s health. Most naturally occurring prebiotics can be found in some fruit and vegetables such as beans, cereals, asparagus, onion, raw garlic, tomatoes, and legumes which can be extracted through several techniques. This review paper provides the theoretical background on traditional extraction techniques such as chemical extraction, enzymatic hydrolysis, autohydrolysis and several novel extraction techniques including microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE). The operating conditions, advantages and disadvantages are also discussed.Keywords: Prebiotics, traditional extraction, novel extraction, lignocellulosic and plant materials

The purpose of this study was to utilize the fruit peel of Baccaurea angulata to produce a fruit jam. The B. angulata fruit was an underutilized fruit known as “ Belimbing Hutan ” or wild starfruit in Sabah and Sarawak. The peel of B. angulata fruit makes up more than 60% of the fruit and is a significant source of food waste having potential to be explored. Using conventional jam making technology, the peel of B. angulata was used as the principal ingredient to produce a jam besides sugar and pectin. To find the optimal formulation, the D-Optimal of Mixture Design of Design Expert Version 10 software was employed. The software generated sixteen formulations and from those sixteen formulations, sensory evaluation was conducted to determine the optimal formulation. The optimal acceptability of the B. angulata fruit peel jam was determined by using seven sensory responses namely sweetness, sourness, spreadability, colour, texture, aroma and overall acceptance. Of the sixteen formulations, formulation number 9 (49.5% puree, 49.5% sugar and 1.0% pectin) was selected by the sensory panellists with the highest mean score of overall acceptability (7.2). The contour plots generated using the software explained the various combinations of ingredients that affected the seven sensory responses of the fruit jam.

The purpose of this study was to develop a food product from the peel of an under utilised native fruit, Baccaurea angulata, known locally as Belimbing Hutan. The peel of Baccaurea angulata fruit makes up more than 60 % of the fruit and is a significant source of food waste having potential to be explored. As such, the present study was the first to explore the feasibility of producing a food product from the peel. Using conventional jam making technology, the peel of Baccaurea angulata was used as the principal ingredient besides sugar and pectin to develop a jam product. The physicochemical properties and nutritional composition of the jam were determined by the Association of Analytical Chemists (AOAC) official methods of analyses with slight modifications as written in methods section. The nutrition composition included moisture content, protein, fat and ash. Carbohydrate was calculated by subtracting the sum of protein, fat, moisture, ash and crude fibre from 100%. Vitamin C was determined by Iodometric titration. Physicochemical properties such as pH, total soluble solid (TSS) and titratable acidity (TA) were also determined. The jam product has an acidic pH which is 2.82. The other results of the study indicated that jam produced from Baccaurea angulata had similar properties as other well-known fruit jams. The results showed that Baccaurea angulata jam was rich in carbohydrate (69.85 %) and supplied 279.84 kcal of energy.

A novel functional drink, Kelulut honey enriched with seaweed (designated as K hS), was successfully developed by using design of experiment (DOE) approach in this study. A two-level-factor Full Factorial Design (FFD), 2 2 , was employed to screen the interactions among the two major composition ( Kelulut honey and seaweed) as well as to analyse the effect of these ingredients towards the sensory and proximate properties of the newly developed product. The design of experiment (DOE) and data analysis were executed by using Design- Expert Software. Two main approaches of hedonic tests, i.e., the measurement of preference and the measurement of acceptance were applied during sensory evaluation. Results indicated that amount of seaweed and honey used during the preparation of K hS did affect the moisture content and pH of the end product significantly. Sensory evaluation revealed that the overall acceptability score of the newly developed Kelulut honey enriched with seaweed drink was prefered moderately by most of the panelists and thus it could be a favourable product to be commercialised in the market.

This study aims to compare the chemical composition of honey samples produced by Heterotrigona itama and Tetrigona binghami which originated from Sarawak, Malaysia. One hundred and six (106) honey samples were collected from local bee farms and analysed in terms of their chemical profiles. The chemical analysis conducted includes physicochemical composition such as moisture, total phenolic content, sugar, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), pH and organic acids and proximate analysis which included ash, protein, carbohydrates and energy. Independent T-test was used as a statistical tool to investigate the significant difference between the composition of both honey samples. The results showed that honey samples of Heterotrigona itama and Tetrigona binghami possessed significant difference (p<0.05) in moisture, total phenolic content, fructose, glucose, pH, protein, gluconic acid, acetic acid, ash, carbohydrates and energy. The honey samples of Heterotrigona itama exhibited significantly higher fructose and glucose at the average of 22.00 +/- 3.48 g/100 g and 23.45 +/- 3.23 g/100 g, respectively. Besides, the honey samples also possessed higher pH value, gluconic acid, ash, carbohydrates and energy. Meanwhile, Tetrigona binghami honey samples possessed significantly (p< 0.05) higher moisture content, total phenolic content, protein and acetic acid compared to the Heterotrigona itama's honey samples. To conclude, the geographical and floral origins of honey are the two important quality parameters which fundamentally affect the physical-chemical properties as well as biological activities of honey samples.

This study aimed to assess and compare the nutritional composition between unripe and ripe freeze-dried Terung Asam from Sarawak. Terung Asam was checked for its maturity upon collection. Whole fruits were freeze-dried and used for proximate analyses. The redness/greeness (a*) of unripe and ripe fresh Terung Asam used in this study were -14.20 ± 3.11 and 12.57 ± 1.60 respectively. The moisture content of unripe fresh Terung Asam was significantly higher than ripe fresh Terung Asam (p < 0.05). There were statistically significant differences in crude protein (p < 0.05), crude fat (p < 0.05), ash (p < 0.05) and crude fibre (p < 0.001) between unripe and ripe freeze-dried Terung Asam (UFTA and RFTA respectively). RFTA had higher crude fibre (19.87 ± 0.68g/100g) and ash (6.20 ± 0.18g/100g) than UFTA (13.86 ± 0.58g/100g crude fibre, 5.43 ± 0.12g/100g ash). In contrast, UFTA was higher in protein (10.77 ± 0.30g/100g) and fat (0.74 ± 0.05g/100g) than RFTA (9.43 ± 0.40g/100g crude protein, 0.48 ± 0.08g/100g fat). The results of this study suggested that whole fruits of UFTA and RFTA were good source of crude protein, crude fibre and mineral. The data gathered from this research can contribute to the body of knowledge of this underutilized indigenous fruit as well as becoming useful for future product development using Terung Asam.

Collagen base biomaterials are widely applied in the field of tissue engineering. However, these fibrous proteins in animal connective tissues are insufficient to fulfill the mechanical properties for such applications. Therefore, alginate as a natural polysaccharide was incorporated. In this study, Smooth wolf herring skins was collected from the local fish ball processing industry for collagen extraction using acid solubilisation method. On the other hand, alginate from brown seaweed (Sargassum polycystum) was extracted with calcium carbonate at 50 degrees C. The composite films of different collagen and alginate ratio were prepared by lyophilisation with pure collagen film as control. The effects of alginate on swelling behaviour, porosity, collagenase degradation and tensile strength of the composite films were investigated. Swelling behaviour increased with alginate content, 50 % alginate film achieved 1254.75 % swelling after 24 h. All composite films achieved more than 80 % porosity except the film with 80 % collagen (65.41 %). Porosity was highest in 100 % alginate (94.30 %). Highest tensile strength (1585.87 kPa) and young modulus (27.05 MPa) was found in 50 % alginate film. In addition, resistance to collagenase degradation was improved with alginate content, lowest degradation rate was determined in 80 % alginate film. Results indicated alginate is efficient in improving some mechanical properties of the composite film.

Schizophyllum commune UTARA1 was used for lipase production under solid state fermentation (SSF) of sugarcane bagasse (SB) impregnated with used cooking oil medium. Pretreatments of steam, microwave, hydrochloric acid (HCl), sodium hydroxide (NaOH), and their combinations, such as steam-assisted HCl, steam-assisted NaOH, microwave-assisted HCl, and microwave-assisted NaOH, on the milled SB, were done prior to SSF to investigate their effects on lipase production via SSF. The highest lipase activity among the pretreated SB was 0.200 U/gSB, using steam-assisted HCl treated SB, which is lower than the lipase activity produced from the untreated SB, which was 0.413 U/gSB. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) imaging showed significant rupture of the SB structure after steam-assisted-HCl pretreatments where the thin walls of the SB pith were wrinkled and collapsed, with no distinctive cell wall structure. The HCl pretreated SB gave the highest crystallinity index (CrI), 91.43%, compared to the untreated, 61.90%. Conversely, microwave and NaOH pretreatments reduced the CrI, which were 46.15% and 43.36%, respectively. In this study, the results obtained indicated that pretreated SB did not improve the lipase production of Schizophyllum commune UTARA1 under SSF.

A Plackett-Burman design (PBD) combined with a steepest ascent approach is a powerful technique to screen the important operating parameters for the production of reducing sugars from sugarcane bagasse (SB). In this study, the most significant parameters (p< 0.05), as identified by PBD, were as follows: pretreatment duration, pH of pretreatment process, loading of enzyme cellulase, SB loading, and moisture content of SB. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results showed that the model of reducing sugar productivity was able to provide a high correlation between the response and its parameters. Thus, the path of steepest ascent (PSA) method was used to assess the optimal region of variables for improved reducing sugar productivity from SB. The PSA analysis revealed that by treating 7.25 g of SB (with 84% moisture content) for 82.0 minutes at a pH of 8.8, followed by the addition of 34.0% v/w of cellulase, a reducing sugar productivity of 0.03 g/L could be achieved per hour during the enzymatic saccharification process.

Microbial-Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) has recently emerged as a sustainable technique for soil improvement. This paper aims to study the effectiveness of MICP in improving the shear strength and reducing the hydraulic conductivity of soils. A species of Bacillus group, B. megaterium was used to trigger the calcite precipitation. The experimental variables included soil types (tropical residual soil and sand), soil densities (85%, 90%, and 95% of their respective maximum densities), and treatment conditions (untreated, treated with cementation reagents only, treated with B. megaterium only, and treated with B. megaterium and cementation reagents). The results showed that MICP could effectively improve shear strength and reduce hydraulic conductivity for both residual soil and sand. The improvements, however, varied with soil densities, soil types, and treatment conditions. With MICP treatment, the improvement ratios in shear strength of the residual soil specimens were significantly higher (1.41–2.64) than those of the sand specimens (1.14–1.25). On the contrary, the sand specimens resulted in greater hydraulic conductivity reduction ratios (0.09–0.15) than those of the residual soil specimens (0.26–0.45). These observations can be explained by the particle-particle contacts per unit volume and pore spaces in the soil specimens. Both soil specimens when treated with cementation reagents only exhibited slight alterations in the shear strength (ranging from 1.06–1.33) and hydraulic conductivity (ranging from 0.69–0.95). The results implied that natural calcite forming microorganisms only exist for insignificant amount. The amount of calcite precipitated in the treated residual soil specimens ranged from 1.080% to 1.889%. The increments of calcite content in the treated sand specimens were comparatively higher, ranging from 2.661% to 6.102%. The results from Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis confirmed the experimental findings.

Nitrilotriacetic acid modification on sugarcane bagasse was performed to evaluate its potential in the removal of basic blue 3 (BB3) from synthetic solution. To the best our knowledge, this is the first time the present modification was reported. A comparative study in the removal capacities of natural sugarcane bagasse (NSB) and nitrilotriacetic acid modified sugarcane bagasse (NTA-SB) indicated that NTA-SB shows an enhancement in BB3 sorption. The sorption characteristics of BB3 by NTA-SB were studied under various experimental conditions such as pH, contact time, initial concentration, sorption isotherm and agitation rate. The optimum pH for the removal of BB3 was recorded in the range of 5 to 9 and the sorption process correlated well with pseudo-second order kinetic model. Experimental data obtained were fitted into both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm model and the maximum sorption capacity of NTA-SB calculated based on Langmuir model was 54.35 mg/g.

Response surface methodology based on central composite design was employed for statistical optimization of medium components for the production of pullulanase by Raoultella planticola DSMZ 4617. The combined effects of three independent variables, i.e., concentrations of sago starch and peptone and initial culture pH were analyzed using a reduced cubic model, which was developed by central composite design in predicting the optimum yield of pullulanase activity. Under these conditions, the model predicted a maximum production of pullulanase (1.94 U/mL) at 6.12 g/L sago starch, 15.34 g/L peptone, and at initial culture pH of 7.23. By applying the statistical design, the pullulanase production was enhanced to about nearly two times higher (1.70 U/mL) as compared with the fermentation using nonoptimized medium (0.95 U/mL). It was observed that the experimental values obtained were in good agreement with the values predicted from the models with relatively small errors between the values.

The use of pullulanase (EC 3.2.1.41) has recently been the subject of increased applications in starch-based industries especially those aimed for glucose production. Pullulanase, an important debranching enzyme, has been widely utilised to hydrolyse theα-1,6 glucosidic linkages in starch, amylopectin, pullulan, and related oligosaccharides, which enables a complete and efficient conversion of the branched polysaccharides into small fermentable sugars during saccharification process. The industrial manufacturing of glucose involves two successive enzymatic steps: liquefaction, carried out after gelatinisation by the action ofα-amylase; saccharification, which results in further transformation of maltodextrins into glucose. During saccharification process, pullulanase has been used to increase the final glucose concentration with reduced amount of glucoamylase. Therefore, the reversion reaction that involves resynthesis of saccharides from glucose molecules is prevented. To date, five groups of pullulanase enzymes have been reported, that is, (i) pullulanase type I, (ii) amylopullulanase, (iii) neopullulanase, (iv) isopullulanase, and (v) pullulan hydrolase type III. The current paper extensively reviews each category of pullulanase, properties of pullulanase, merits of applying pullulanase during starch bioprocessing, current genetic engineering works related to pullulanase genes, and possible industrial applications of pullulanase.

Bio-mediated soil improvement is a relatively young technology in geotechnical engineering. The practical applications of the technique are still exposed to some uncertainties. This paper investigated the effect of the concentration of the cementation reagent on the performance of bio-mediated soil improvement. The shear strength, calcite content, pH, and ammonium content of the bio-mediated soil were measured under three concentrations of a cementation reagent, i.e. 0.25 M, 0.5 M, and 1 M. The results showed that the calcite precipitation and shear strength improved with the increased concentration of the cementation reagent up to 0.5 M. However, the improvement was retarded at higher concentration (i.e. 1.0 M). This is likely due to the inhibitory effect and halophilic characteristic of the bacteria used for the biocementation.