Sensitive and specific detection of pine nut (Pinus spp.) by real-time PCR in complex food products
Pine nuts are a known source of food allergens and several cases of adverse immunological reaction after ingestion have been reported. To protect allergic consumers, methods to unequivocally detect the presence of pine nuts in complex matrices must be developed. A Taqman-based real time PCR method for the detection of Pinus spp. was set up. […]
Evaluation of the nutraceutical, antioxidant and cytoprotective properties of ripe pistachio (Pistacia vera L., variety Bronte) hulls
Every year tons of pistachio hulls are separated and eliminated, as waste products, from pistachio seeds. In this study the hulls of ripe pistachios were extracted with two organic solvents (ethanol and methanol) and characterized for phenolic composition, antioxidant power and cytoprotective activity. RP-HPLC-DAD-FLU separation enabled us to identify 20 derivatives, including and by far […]
Quantitative and qualitative optimization of allergen extraction from peanut and selected tree nuts. Part 1. Screening of optimal extraction conditions using a D-optimal experimental design.
A D-optimal design was constructed to optimize allergen extraction efficiency simultaneously from roasted, non-roasted, defatted, and non-defatted almond, hazelnut, peanut, and pistachio flours using three non-denaturing aqueous (phosphate, borate, and carbonate) buffers at various conditions of ionic strength, buffer-to-protein ratio, extraction temperature, and extraction duration. Statistical analysis showed that roasting and non-defatting significantly lowered protein […]
Quantitative and qualitative optimization of allergen extraction from peanut and selected tree nuts. Part 2. Optimization of buffer and ionic strength using a full factorial experimental design
A full factorial design was used to assess the single and interactive effects of three non-denaturing aqueous (phosphate, borate, and carbonate) buffers at various ionic strengths (I) on allergen extractability from and immunoglobulin E (IgE) immunoreactivity of peanut, almond, hazelnut, and pistachio. The results indicated that the type and ionic strength of the buffer had […]
Bioassay-guided isolation of proanthocyanidins with antioxidant activity from peanut (Arachis hypogaea) skin by combination of chromatography techniques
Purification and bioassay-guided fractionation were employed to isolate proanthocyanidins with antioxidant activity from peanut skin (Arachis hypogaea Runner 886). The crude extract was prepared with acetone (60% v/v) and purified using chromatographic methods, including a semipreparative HPLC technique. As a result, two proanthocyanidins were isolated and identified using NMR, epicatechin-(2 β→O→7, 4 β→8)-catechin (proanthocyanidin A1) […]