Citrus and its peels, which are by-products from juice and/or jam processing, have long been used in Asian folk medicine. Citrus peels show an abundant variety of flavanones, and these flavanones have glycone and aglycone forms. Aglycones are more potent than glycones with a variety of physiological functions since aglycone absorption is more efficient than glycones. Bioconversion with cytolase converted narirutin and naringin into naringenin and hesperidin into hesperetin. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of bioconversion of Citrus unshiu (CU) peel extracts with cytolase (CU-C) in RAW264.7 cells. HPLC chromatograms showed that CU and CU-C had 23.42% and 29.39% total flavonoids, respectively. There was substantial bioconversion of narirutin to naringenin and of hesperidin to hesperetin. All citrus peel extracts showed DPPH scavenging activities in a dose-dependent manner, and CU-C was more potent than intact CU. RAW264.7 cells were pre-treated with 0∼500 μg/mL of citrus peel extracts for 4 h and then stimulated by 1 μg/mL of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 8 h. All citrus peel extracts showed decreased mRNA levels and protein expression of LPS-induced inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in a dose-dependent manner. Especially, CU-C markedly inhibited mRNA and protein expression of iNOS and COX-2 compared to intact citrus peel extracts. All citrus peel extracts showed decreased NO production by iNOS activity. This result suggests that bioconversion of citrus peel extracts with cytolase may provide potent functional food materials for prevention of chronic diseases attributable to oxidation and inflammation by boosting the anti-inflammatory effects of citrus peels.

This study investigated the preference and recognition of cooked rice mixed with multigrains. The data for the analysis was collected from 464 people who were residing in Seoul, Gyeongsang and Jeolla area, and analyzed by the SPSS 18.0 program. The result showed that 77.8% of the respondents liked cooked rice mixed with multigrain, showing significant difference by age (p<0.001) and occupation (p<0.01). Of the respondents, 33.8% consumed cooked rice mixed with multigrains at least once a day, showing significant difference by gender (p<0.01), age (p<0.001) and occupation (p<0.001). The most popular type of grains to mix with rice were, in order, black rice (3.8)> brown rice (3.7)> barley (3.7)> proso millet (3.4)> foxtail millet (3.4)> SoRiTae (3.3)> sorghum (3.2)> adlay (3.2)> mung bean (3.1)> buckwheat (3.0)> BacTae (2.8). A total of 32.5% of the respondents answered that 21～30% was proper mixing ratio of multigrains-added cooked rice, showing age (p<0.001), occupation (p<0.001) and resident area (p<0.05). Three or four kinds of grains were preferred to mix cooked rice, showing significant difference by age and occupation (p<0.001). Of the respondents, 43.1% chose price reduction as the most desired improvement of multigrains in the market. Most of the subjects had affirmative view intake of cooked rice mixed with multigrains, but recognized that multigrains were expensive. From these results, this study will provide basic information for the increased availability of multigrains and optimization of the multigrain ratio mix.

This study was conducted to produce oligosaccharides from buckwheat hull by using commercial enzymes. Yields of oligosaccharides obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis of the cellulose and hemicellulose fractions were 132.37 and 393.04 g/kg, respectively. Xylose, glucose, fructose, xylobiose, xylotriose, cellobiose, and cellotriose were detected in the hydrolysate produced from buckwheat hull. Antioxidant activity of oligosaccharide from cellulose fraction (OSC) reduced with increasing hydrolysis time; however, the antioxidant activity of oligosaccharide from hemicellulose fraction (OSF) increased as the hydrolysis time was prolonged. OSF and OSC showed higher increase in viable counts compared to the control. As a result, oligosaccharides produced from buckwheat hull by enzymatic hydrolysis showed antioxidant activity and prebiotic effects. It is suggested that utilization of oligosaccharides produced from buckwheat hull as functional food materials may be improved when hydrolysis time and conditions are controlled for this purpose.

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