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Replacing sucrose with safe natural intense sweeteners has importance in health concerns as a way to produce healthy foods with low caloric value. The present study has been carried out to utilize glycyrrhizin and licorice extract (LE) from Glycyrrhiza glabra L as a substitute of sucrose for sweetening toffee and cake preparation. Sensory attributes of the produced products (toffee and cakes) were evaluated and its biological effects on the body weight, organ relative weight, hematological and biochemical parameters and enzyme activities were studied in vivo. The results indicated that toffee prepared from replacing sugar with glycyrrhizin at 50:50 ratio (750 mg/100 g) showed the highest sensory over all acceptability scores. Replacing 25% glucose syrup with licorice extract (1.37 g /100 g) gave the higher score of sweetness, flavour, overall acceptability and absence of bitterness comparable to those prepared using increase the level of licorice extract. Cakes sweetened with 250 mg glycyrrhizin as 50% sugar replacer had no significant effect on the organoleptic properties but reduced their caloric value. We investigated biological impacts of young male rats fed with low and high doses of glycyrrhizin or licorice extract for 60 days. The results showed glycyrrhizin treated group significantly (P< 0.05) decreased feed intake with insignificant reduction in body weights gain (%) and insignificant increases in feed efficiency ratio as compared to control group but licorice extract treated group showed insignificant increase in body weight gain and feed efficiency ratio compared with the control group. Treatment with glycyrrhizin or licorice extract caused significant reduction in triglycerides (TG), with insignificant increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and decrease alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), and acid phosphatase (ACP) values compared to control groups. Histopathological investigation of liver and kidney tissues of glycyrrhizin treated rats showed completely normal structure with regular arrangement of cell when compared with control group.

Phytochemical screening (saponins, tannins, steroids, alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols and glycosides) of four medicinal plant seeds (Jatropha curcas, Simmondsia chinensis (Jojoba), Moringa oleifera and Datura metel) extracted by aqueous, ethanol and Folch solvents, were examined for their antimicrobial activity against three types of plant pathogenic fungi namely; Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizoctonia solani, in addition to four types of bacteria, namely; Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Ralstonia solanacearum and Pesudomonas aeruginosa using disc diffusion paper. Results revealed that different concentrations of aqueous extracts were more effective against bacterial activity compared to fungal activity, except for D. metel aqueous extract which showed no antifungal effect and very weak effect on only two of the tested bacteria. B. cereus was more sensitive to J. curcas aqueous extract, while P. aeruginosa was more sensitive to S. chinensis and M. oleifera aqueous extracts. On the other hand, results showed that J. curcas and M. oleifera ethanol extracts were more effective on Staph. aureus growth, while S. chinensis and D. metel did not have any effect on any of the fungi or bacteria under study. The evaluation of the antifungal and antibacterial effect did not confirm the broad spectrum of S. chinensis Folch extract, while M. oleifera and D. metel were more effective on reducing R. solani growth. Also F. oxysporum was affected by J. curcas Folch extract only at high concentrations. These findings support that the traditional use of the plant extracts in the treatment of different infections caused by pathogenic microbes is valuable and should be taken in consideration.

Bitter Almond, Plum and Mango Kernels as Sources of Lipids B y M . H . A b d E l A a 1 , E . G. G o m a a andH.A. K a r a r a *The chemical composition of bitter almond, plum and mango kernels and the physico-chemical characteristics of their lipids were studied. Bitter almond and plum kernels contained higher amounts of lipids in comparison to mango kernels. All kernel lipids were found free from hydrocyanic acid.The predominant lipid class of the studied kernel lipids was triglycerides.Oleic acid was the major fatty acid present in bitter almond and plum kernel lipids, while mango kernel lipids were rich in stearic and oleic acid. Bittermandel-, Pflaumenund Mangokerne als Quelle fur LipideDie chemische Zusammensetzung van Bittermandel-, Pflaumen-und Mango-Kernen sowie die physico-chemischen charakteristischen Daten ihrer Lipide sind Gegenstand dieser Untersuchung. Bittermandel-und Pflaumen-Kerne enthielten einen hoheren Anteil an Lipiden,verglichen mit dem Lipidanteil van Mango-Kemen. Keines der Kernlipide enthielt Blausaure. Vorhernchende Lipid-Klasse der untersuchten Kernlipide ist die der Triglyceride. In den Lipiden der Bittermandel-und Pflaumen-Keme ist der Gehalt an Olsaure dominierend, wihrend Mangokern-Lipide besonders reichhaltig sowohl an Olsaure als auch an Stearinsaure sind.

Citrus juice production generates 15 million tons of wastes a year in the world, including peels, seeds and fruit pulps. This study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of extracted essential oils from six Egyptian citrus fruit peels. This antimicrobial activity was determined by paper disc diffusion method against six fungal strains and nine bacterial strains. Maximum inhibition zones were resulted against Penicillium sp and Aspergillus niger CAIM 147 with oils of lime and lemon peels which were extracted by hydrodistllation. In addition, the lime oil was more effective on fungal strains than lemon oil. The results showed also that oils of mandarin, sour orange and sweet orange peels extracted by the same method did not show any antifungal activity on the all tested fungi. While grapefruit peel extract has moderate effect on some fungal and bacterial growth. Also these essential oils of lime and lemon peels had very strong antibacterial activity on Bacillus subtilis DBDR 100, Clostridium botulinum ATCC 3584, Escherichia coli CCM 5172, Klebsiella pneumonia ATCC 12296 and Salmonella senftenbergy ATCC 8400. The essential oils extracted by organic solvents from all citrus fruit peels used in the present work were moderate weak activity against tested fungi and bacteria. The obtained results agreed with the phenolic contents in the essential oils extracted from citrus fruit peels and the results showed that increasing of phenolic content in these oils increased the diameter of inhibition zones of the all tested fungi and bacteria. The results showed that the lime peel oil extracted by hydrodistillation (10µl) was more effective and completely inhibited the growth of A. niger and Penicillium sp compared with lemon peel oil. Different concentrations of oil lime extracted by hydrodistllation were more effective against bacterial strains activities compared to lemon oil. B. subtilis was more sensitive at low concentration (10µL) of lime oil followed by K. pneumonia and S. senftenbergy at 30µL under the same conditions. And E. coli and Cl. botulinum were more resistant with lime oil until 50 and 40µL of lime oil, respectively. On the other hand, 20µL of lemon peel extracted by hydrodistillation completely inhibited the growth of B. subtilis, while the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of oil lemon peel was 30µL for K. pneumonia and S. senftenbergy, 40µL for E. coli and 50µL for Cl. botulinum. Accordingly, the essential oils of lime and lemon peels extracted by hdrodistllation contained antimicrobial compounds which can be used as preservatives in the food industries.