Food and Health
Volume:1 Issue: 2, Spring 2018

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin produced by some species of fungi such as Aspergillus and Penicillium. It is found as a contaminant in a variety of animal and human foods. Ochratoxin A has teratogenic, hepatotoxic, nephrotoxic, nephrocarcinogenic and immunosuppressive effects on human and animals. This study was carried out to evaluate the content of ochratoxin A in non-alcoholic beers, which were randomly collected from different retail outlets. All samples were analyzed for ochratoxin A by ELISA. Identification of fungal isolates was based on both macroscopic characters (colony growth, colony diameter) and microscopic characters. The tease Mount technique was used in this study and the fungi were cultivated in YGC (yeast glucose chloramphenicol agar) medium. All of the samples were contaminated with ochratoxin A but the levels of the contamination were below the maximum permitted levels. However, the difference between local and imported beer samples was not statistically significant (p>0.05). The mycological survey showed that 100% of domestic and imported beer samples were contaminated with Aspergillus, while 31.4% of the domestic and 40% of the imported beer samples were contaminated with Penicillium. Among the Aspergillus species, the most representative specie was Aspergillus niger. Although the ochratoxin A concentrations of non-alcoholic beers were under the European maximum permitted levels, the long-term continual consumption may have considerable health problem despite the low levels of contamination.

Biodegradable active packaging containing natural extracts derived from plants with antimicrobial properties is one alternative strategy that can be considered by the food packing industry to reduce the use of environmentally harmful synthetic polymers. Chitosan is a safe, natural, no allergen and biocompatible polymer with health benefits. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of chitosan film containing different concentrations of ajwain essential oil on some foodborne pathogenic bacteria, including Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 19118, Bacillus cereus ATCC 11778, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 65138 and Escherichia coli O157:H7 ATCC 25922, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus ATCC 43996 with disk diffusion method was evaluated. The results showed that by increasing the concentration of essential oil, the inhibition zone’s diameters were significantly expanded (p<0.05). The maximum and minimum antimicrobial effects of essential oil were observed against S. aureus (26.73mm) and E. coli O157:H7 (11.25 mm). The results of this study confirmed that the use of chitosan-based antimicrobial films incorporated with ajwain essential oil has a remarkable antibacterial effect and therefore it can be practical in active packaging in the food industry.

Child health is very vital in all societies, which is prejudiced by the interaction of numerous factors. Pediatric healthy nutrition is one of the most imperative and influential elements in the health of children which affects anthropometric indices. In this study, the effectiveness of one meal warm food for the rural kindergarten of two main cities in the East and West of I.R. Iran Urmia and Mashhad have been carried out. In this cross-sectional study, anthropometric z scores of 5508 children (2750, Urmia vs 2758, Mashhad) were measured by using WHO Anthro and Anthro plus software based on WHO 2007 standards and analyzed using SPSS. Based on the present findings, 16% of children from West and 15% of children from the East showed moderate to severe lower weight for height. In addition, girls showed more severe underweight than boys did. BMI-for-age children from the West and the East approximately showed 14% and 15% of moderate to severe underweight and dropped to about 9% and 12% respectively. Moreover, the percentage of overweight of children in the study was lightly changed to obese especially in boys from the West. Between the two genders, male and female, overweight in girls and obesity in boys found higher than the opposite sex, and relatively similar trends have continued after the intervention in the west. This project was successful to lower moderately severe wasting in children based on body mass index from 7% to about 5% in the west and from 6% to about 5% in the east too. The slight increase in the scale of overweight and obesity and a half percent of overweight children from the west after the program was shown. Even though boys from the West showed a higher increase of obesity than girls had more overweight than boys did, but there was no change before and after intervention in the east, reduction of moderate and severe underweight found similarly in both genders. Due to the relative success of the present intervention plan, nutritional education along these kinds of projects may improve the nutritional status of children in society and prevent pediatric malnutrition.

Genetically modified foods (GM foods) have revolutionized the agricultural industry towards more proficient farming in every geographical region of the world. The major tasks of this GM food technology could be summarized in four points including increase in food products, more convenient food processing, disease prevention and treatment and avoiding of using pesticides through the generation of pest-resistant crops. Although the GM foods technology had great advantages for human health, there are some concerns regarding biodiversity induced by modified plants, which can indirectly affect human being, as well. Further studies are warranted to define precisely the status of this technology in ecosystem in which human is living.

The link between gut microbiota composition, insulin resistance, and diabetes has been recently proposed. As such, the impact of probiotics on improving glycemic control has been reported recently. Although probiotics have attracted much interest as a complementary approach to improve glucose metabolism, the mechanisms underlying their actions remained to be determined. Hence, here we aim to review the mechanisms by which the probiotics might affect glycemic control. Probiotics improve glycemic control through diminishing fermentation of polysaccharides, suppressing inflammation, act as bile acid de-conjugate hydrolase, increase the bioavailability of Gliclazide drugs and changes in incretin secretion. However, the pathway behind the effect of probiotics on glycemic control is complex with many interplay interactions. The involvement of multiple mechanisms may explain the ambiguities in determining the exact mechanism that is behind this effect.

Diabetes is a progressive chronic disease and is considered as an important health problem, which has increased in recent years. The prevalence of diabetes in the Middle East in 2015 was 35.4 million, which more than 4.6 million people were in Iran. In this review, we specifically tried to summarize the results of clinical trials on the effects of selenium supplementation on glycemic control and lipid profile and inflammatory factors in type 2 diabetic patients. In this review, three interventional studies were included to evaluate the effect of Selenium supplementation on metabolic parameters. Serum insulin concentration and insulin resistance index were significantly reduced in two of the studies. Fasting plasma glucose and HDL cholesterol concentrations significantly increased in one study while in other studies no significant changes were observed. One of the studies showed a significant reduction in inflammatory Indicators and antioxidant capacity, one study also showed a significant decrease in lipid profiles. Selenium supplementation in patients with type 2 diabetes may have adverse effects on blood glucose homeostasis. However, it may improve lipid profile and antioxidant capacity and reduces inflammatory mediators in these patients. Therefore, in spite of the negative effects of glucose homeostasis with regard to the positive effects seen, further investigations are needed to evaluate the final effect of selenium supplementation in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Sleep disorders are very prevalent in the general population and are associated with significant medical, psychological, and social disturbances. A multidimensional approach is recommended for its assessment covering sleep hygiene measures, psychotherapy, and medication. The parasomnias, including sleepwalking, night terrors, and nightmares, have benign implications in childhood but often reflect psychopathology or significant stress in adolescents and adults and organicity in the elderly. Excessive daytime sleepiness is typically the most frequent complaint and often reflects organic dysfunction. Narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia are chronic brain disorders with an onset at young age, whereas sleep apnea is more common in middle age and is associated with obesity and cardiovascular problems. Therapeutic naps, medications, and supportive therapy are recommended for narcolepsy and hypersomnia; continuous positive airway pressure, weight loss, surgery, and oral devices are common treatments for sleep apnea. There is a need for identifying the association of sleep and general health so as to provide a better and safe mechanism of management of insomnia since the pharmacological therapy adds the risk of side effects and addiction problems. The data is collected based on the internet search and papers submitted in PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Sleep assessment is vital to physical and mental health. Having difficulty in getting proper sleep could be the base of initiation of many health problems According to our study in this article we suggest the importance of sleep to be measured and evaluated by the health care system for the individuals whether in hospitals or institutes or any organization.