No abstract

The levels of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, manganese, nickel, and zinc in some glutenfree food samples used for celiac disease patients have been determined after microwave digestion by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The concentrations were found in the range of 0.09-0.66 (As), 2.9-6.6 (Cd), 4.7-100.3 (Cr), 866-2009 (Co), 0.043-0.26 (Cu), 3.2-17.4 (Fe), 1.4-10.5 (Pb), 12.9-41.3 (Mn), 0.35-0.46 (Ni) and 0.021-0.268 (Zn) mg kg -1 . The detection limits for As,

Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was applied for the detection of carcinogenic elements like bromine in four representative brands of loaf bread samples and the measured bromine concentrations were 352, 157, 451, and 311 ppm, using Br I (827.2 nm) atomic transition line as the finger print atomic transition. Our LIBS system is equipped with a pulsed laser of wavelength 266 nm with energy 25 mJ pulse(-1), 8 ns pulse duration, 20 Hz repetition rate, and a gated ICCD camera. The LIBS system was calibrated with the standards of known concentrations in the sample (bread) matrix and such plot is linear in 20-500 ppm range. The capability of our system in terms of limit of detection and relative accuracy with respect to the standard inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) technique was evaluated and these values were 5.09 ppm and 0.01-0.05, respectively, which ensures the applicability of our system for Br trace level detection, and LIBS results are in excellent agreement with that of ICPMS results.

Prevention of premature chronic diseases is an important component of healthy aging. Nutrition can help to reduce the risk of premature chronic diseases in some older adults. Soups are generally consumed for health as well as nutritive benefits particularly in patients whose intake of solids is poor due to several obstructive or pathological reasons. Pollen grains, especially of date palm, have high nutritional and medicinal value. Date palm pollen contain 30.11% protein, 19.54% fat, 4.85% fiber and 5.06% ash. Date palm pollen grains constitute a rich source of mineral elements, iron, zinc, calcium and magnesium values are (230.87, 283.03, 215.15 and 129.46 mg/100gm respectively). It's also characterized by its ability to be stored for long periods without noticeable changes in its components.Supplementation of dried soup with date pollen resulted in an increase in protein, fat, ash and fiber, on the other hand, carbohydrate and energy decreased. Red cabbage-tomato formula supplemented with date pollen recorded the highest iron content (29.5 mg/100gm) and zinc (30.74 mg/100gm) and highest rehydration ratio (4.72). The sensory quality of the soup samples was satisfactory and the highest acceptability was the red cabbage-tomato formula supplemented with date pollen.