Colour, a vital constituent of food, is indispensable to the modern day consumer as a means for the rapid identification and ultimate acceptance of food. A number of reviews concerning the toxicology of natural and synthetic dyes, especially those used in food, have appeared since the dyestuffs became potential suspects for causing cancer. A large number of natural or synthetic dyes have been r...

Although steatorrhea is the most obvious symptom of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI), enzymatic digestion of protein and starch is also impaired. Low praecaecal digestibility of starch causes a forced microbial fermentation accounting for energy losses and meteorism. To optimise dietetic measures, knowledge of praecaecal digestibility of starch is needed but such information from PEI pat...

Of the five species of white rot fungi evaluated for their ability to decolorize Amaranth, Remazol Black B, Remazol Orange, Remazol Brilliant Blue, Reactive Blue, and Tropaeolin O in agar plates, Bjerkandera sp. BOS55, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, and Trametes versicolor displayed the greatest extent of decoloration. In static aqueous culture, the three cultures formed fungal mats which did not...

Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are part of a large protein family that protect other proteins from aggregation due to desiccation or osmotic stresses. Recently, the Amaranthus cruentus seed proteome was characterized by 2D-PAGE and one highly accumulated protein spot was identified as a LEA protein and was named AcLEA. In this work, AcLEA cDNA was cloned into an expression vector an...

The effect of nitrogen application levels (0.16 and 0.24 g N kg(-1) soil) on seed proteins and their amino acid compositions of amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) and quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) was studied. Total proteins of amaranth and quinoa had high contents of lysine (6.3-8.2 g 100 g(-1) protein) but low contents of methionine (1.2-1.8 g 100 g(-1) protein). Seed proteins were fractionated o...

Menopause is a gradual three-stage process that concludes with the end of periods and reproductive life. The antioxidant enzyme system get affected in postmenopause due to deficiency of estrogen, which has got antioxidant properties. The objective of the present study was therefore, to analyze the effect of supplementation of drumstick and amaranth leaves powder on lipid profile and blood press...

The ability of Shewanella decolorationis S12 to obtain energy for growth by coupling the oxidation of various electron donors to dissimilatory azoreduction was investigated. This microorganism can reduce a variety of azo dyes by use of formate, lactate, pyruvate, or H(2) as the electron donor. Furthermore, strain S12 grew to a maximal density of 3.0 x 10(7) cells per ml after compete reduction ...

This study examined the polyphenol composition and antioxidant properties of methanolic extracts from amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat and wheat, and evaluated how these properties were affected following two types of processing: sprouting and baking. The total phenol content amongst the seed extracts were significantly higher in buckwheat (323.4 mgGAE/100 g) and decreased in the following order: bu...

The objective was to determine the values of apparent metabolizable energy (AME) and corrected for nitrogen balance (AMEn) roasted in natura amaranth grains. A breeding stock 108 female Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) with an initial age 29 days used. birds were distributed a completely randomized design three treatments six replications, per experimental unit. used reference diet,...

Food contamination by heavy metals is a health burden in sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we illustrate this quantifying levels of Cd, Cr, Ni, Co, Pb, Fe, Cu and Zn vegetables from Bushenyi District (Uganda). Results show that cabbage, scarlet eggplant, tomato amaranth sold Bushenyi, Ishaka, Kashenyi, Kizinda Nyakabirizi open markets contain high Fe. The uptake overall appeared to be species-specific....