Physico-chemical properties and component interactions in high solids food systems

The present study aimed to investigate interactions of components in the high solids systems during storage. The systems included (i) lactose–maltodextrin (MD) with various dextrose equivalents at different mixing ratios, (ii) whey protein isolate (WPI)–oil [olive oil (OO) or sunflower oil (SO)] at 75:25 ratio, and (iii) WPI–oil– {glucose (G)–fructose (F) 1:1 syrup [70% (w/w) total solids]} at a component ratio of 45:15:40. Crystallization of lactose was delayed and increasingly inhibited with increasing MD contents and higher DE values (small molecular size or low molecular weight), although all systems showed similar glass transition temperatures at each aw. The water sorption isotherms of non-crystalline lactose and lactose–MD (0.11 to 0.76 aw) could be derived from the sum of sorbed water contents of individual amorphous components. The GAB equation was fitted to data of all non-crystalline systems. The protein–oil and protein–oil–sugar materials showed maximum protein oxidation and disulfide bonding at 2 weeks of storage at 20 and 40°C. The WPI–OO showed denaturation and preaggregation of proteins during storage at both temperatures. The presence of G–F in WPI–oil increased Tonset and Tpeak of protein aggregation, and oxidative damage of the protein during storage, especially in systems with a higher level of unsaturated fatty acids. Lipid oxidation and glycation products in the systems containing sugar promoted oxidation of proteins, increased changes in protein conformation and aggregation of proteins, and resulted in insolubility of solids or increased hydrophobicity concomitantly with hardening of structure, covalent crosslinking of proteins, and formation of stable polymerized solids, especially after storage at 40°C. We found protein hydration transitions preceding denaturation transitions in all high protein systems and also the glass transition of confined water in protein systems using dynamic mechanical analysis.

Postprandial serum endotoxin in healthy humans is modulated by dietary fat in a randomized, controlled, cross-over study

Background: High-fat diets may contribute to metabolic disease via postprandial changes in serum endotoxin and inflammation. It is unclear how dietary fat composition may alter these parameters. We hypothesized that a meal rich in n-3 (ω3) fatty acids would reduce endotoxemia and associated inflammation but a saturated or n-6 (ω6) fatty acid-rich meal would increase postprandial serum endotoxin concentrations and systemic inflammation in healthy adults. Methods: Healthy adults (n = 20; mean age 25 ± 3.2 S.D. years) were enrolled in this single-blind, randomized, cross-over study. Participants were randomized to treatment and reported to the laboratory, after an overnight fast, on four occasions separated by at least one week. Participants were blinded to treatment meal and consumed one of four isoenergetic meals that provided: 1) 20 % fat (control; olive oil) or 35 % fat provided from 2) n-3 (ω3) (DHA = 500 mg; fish oil); 3) n-6 (ω6) (7.4 g; grapeseed oil) or 4) saturated fat (16 g; coconut oil). Baseline and postprandial blood samples were collected. Primary outcome was defined as the effect of treatment meal on postprandial endotoxemia. Serum was analyzed for metabolites, inflammatory markers, and endotoxin. Data from all 20 participants were analyzed using repeated-measures ANCOVA. Results: Participant serum endotoxin concentration was increased during the postprandial period after the consumption of the saturated fat meal but decreased after the n-3 meal (p < 0.05). The n-6 meal did not effect a different outcome in participant postprandial serum endotoxin concentration from that of the control meal (p > 0.05). There was no treatment meal effect on participant postprandial serum biomarkers of inflammation. Postprandial serum triacylglycerols were significantly elevated following the n-6 meal compared to the n-3 meal. Non-esterified fatty acids were significantly increased after consumption of the saturated fat meal compared to other treatment meals. Conclusions: Meal fatty acid composition modulates postprandial serum endotoxin concentration in healthy adults. However, postprandial endotoxin was not associated with systemic inflammation in vivo. Trial registration: This study was retrospectively registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02521779 on July 28, 2015.

The political philosophy of Miki Kiyoshi: A close reading of the philosophical foundations of cooperative communitarianism

The thesis is a historical and philological study of the mature political theory of Miki Kiyoshi (1897-1945) focused on Philosophical Foundations of Cooperative Communitarianism (1939), a full translation of which is included. As the name suggests, it was a methodological and normative communitarianism, which critically built on liberalism, Marxism and Confucianism to realise a regional political community. Some of Miki’s Western readers have wrongly considered him a fascist ideologue, while he has been considered a humanist Marxist in Japan. A closer reading cannot support either view. The thesis argues that the Anglophone study of Japanese philosophy is a degenerating research programme ripe for revolution in the sense of returning full circle to an original point. That means returning to the texts, reading them contextually and philologically, in principle as early modern European political theory is read by intellectual historians, such as the representatives of Cambridge School history of political thought. The resulting reading builds critically on the Japanese scholarship and relates it to contemporary Western and postcolonial political theory and the East Asian tradition, particularly neo-Confucianism. The thesis argues for a Cambridge School perspective radicalised by the critical addendum of geo-cultural context, supplemented by Geertzian intercultural hermeneutics and a Saidian ‘return to philology’. As against those who have seen radical reorientations in Miki’s political thought, the thesis finds gradual progression and continuity between his neo-Kantian, existentialist, Marxian anthropology, Hegelian and finally communitarian phases. The theoretical underpinnings are his philosophical anthropology, a structurationist social theory of praxis, and a critique of liberalism, Marxism, nationalism and idealism emphasising concrete as opposed to abstract theory and the need to build on existing cultural traditions to modernise rather than westernise East Asia. This post-Western fusion was imagined to be the beginning of a true and pluralistic universalism.