Selected nutrients and antinutrients in peanut cultivars harvested in Brazil

The role of fermentation with lactic acid bacteria in quality and health effects of plant-based dairy analogues

The modern food industry is undergoing a rapid change with the trend of production of plant-based food products that are more sustainable and have less impact on nature. Plant-based dairy analogues have been increasingly popular due to their suitability for individuals with milk protein allergy or lactose intolerance and those preferring a plant-based diet. Nevertheless, plant-based products still have insufficient nutritional quality, undesirable structure, and earthy, green, and bean-like flavor compared to dairy products. In addition, most plant-based foods contain lesser amounts of essential nutrients, antinutrients limiting the bioavailability of some nutrients, and allergenic proteins. Novel processing technologies can be applied to have a homogeneous and stable structure. On the other hand, fermentation of plant-based matrix with lactic acid bacteria can provide a solution to most of these problems. Additional nutrients can be produced and antinutrients can be degraded by bacterial metabolism, thereby increasing nutritional value. Allergenic proteins can be hydrolyzed reducing their immunoreactivity. In addition, fermentation has been found to reduce undesired flavors and to enhance various bioactivities of plant foods. However, the main challenge in the production of fermented plant-based dairy analogues is to mimic familiar dairy-like flavors by producing the major flavor compounds other than organic acids, yielding a flavor profile similar to those of fermented dairy products. Further studies are required for the improvement of the flavor of fermented plant-based dairy analogues through the selection of special microbial cultures and formulations.

Bioactive compounds of peanut skin in prevention and adjunctive treatment of chronic non-communicable diseases

The global prevalence of cancer continues to increase, so does its mortality. Strategies that can prevent/treat this condition are therefore required, especially low-cost and low-toxicity strategies. Bioactive compounds of plant origin have been presented as a good alternative. In this scenario, due to its abundant polyphenolic content (around 60 to 120 times greater than that of the grain), peanut skin by-products stand out as a sustainable source of food bioactives beneficial to human health. Investigated studies highlighted the importance of peanut skin for human health, its phytochemical composition, bioactivity and the potential for prevention and/or adjuvant therapy in cancer, through the advanced search for articles in the Virtual Health Library (VHL), Science direct and the Mourisco platform of the FioCruz Institute, from 2012 to 2022. Using the keywords, "peanut skin" AND "cancer" AND NOT "allergy", the words "peanut testa" and "peanut peel" were included replacing "peanut skin". 18 articles were selected from Plataforma Mourisco, 26 from Science Direct and 26 from VHL. Of these, 7 articles evaluated aspects of cancer prevention and/or treatment. Promising benefits were found in the prevention/treatment of chronic non-communicable diseases in the use of peanut and peanut skin extracts, such as cholesterolemia and glucose control, attenuation of oxidative stress and suppressive action on the proliferation and metabolism of cancer cells.

Optimizing Procedures for Antioxidant Phenolics Extraction from Skin and Kernel of Peanuts with Contrasting Levels of Drought Tolerance

Peanut is an affordable legume known for its nutritional value and phenolic content. The kernel and skin of 14 peanut genotypes contrasting in drought tolerance had their phenolic profiles determined and reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging activity evaluated. Firstly, temperature and % EtOH to extract antioxidant phenolic compounds were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). The optimized extraction conditions, 60 °C and 35% EtOH for kernels and 40 °C and 60% EtOH for skins, were further adopted, and phenolic compounds were identified and quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization-quadrupole-time of flight-mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detector (HPLC-PDA). As a result, phenolic acids and glycosidic/non-glycosidic flavonoids were found. Principal component analysis was conducted, and the pairwise score plot of the skin extracts based on individual phenolic compounds showed a trend of genotype clustering based not only on drought tolerance but also on botanical type of germplasm. Therefore, our results demonstrate the status quo for antioxidant phenolic compounds of peanut genotypes contrasting in drought tolerance grown under natural field conditions.

Comparative Evaluation of the Antioxidant Properties of Whole Peanut Flour, Defatted Peanut Protein Meal, and Peanut Protein Concentrate

Defatted peanut meal is a low value agro-industrial residue from peanut oil production with potential use as a value addition food ingredient. In this study, peanuts were roasted at 100°C for 5 min, de-skinned and milled into whole peanut flour (WPF) from which the defatted meal (DPM) was prepared by acetone extraction and the peanut protein concentrate (PPC) obtained from the DPM using isoelectric pH precipitation. The protein content, amino acid profile, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and in vitro antioxidant properties of the peanut samples were then determined. Results showed that DPM had a TPC of 0.12 ± 0.02 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g, which was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than and twice the levels in WPF and PPC (0.06 ± 0.03 mg GAE/g). However, WPF had TFC of 0.21 ± 0.01 μg quercetin equivalent (QE)/g, which was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than DPM (0.16 ± 0.03 μg QE/g) and PPC (0.11 ± 0.05 μg QE/g). However, PPC had superior amino acid profile in addition to stronger radical scavenging and metal chelation activities than WPF and DPM. The results suggest that PPC is a protein rich product that could be utilized as an ingredient in food product fortification to enhance nutritional quality and in the formulation of functional foods with antioxidant benefits.

Climate risk to peanut cultivation in Brazil across different planting seasons

BACKGROUND

Peanuts are widely grown in Brazil because of their great importance in the domestic vegetable oil industry and the succession of sugarcane, soybean and maize crops, contributing to soil conservation and improvement in agricultural areas. Thus, the present study aimed to determine the zoning of peanuts' climatic risk by estimating the water requirement satisfaction index (WRSI) for the crop in Brazil. We used a historical series of data on average air temperature and rainfall between 1980 and 2016. Reference evapotranspiration was estimated using the method of Thornthwaite, and we subsequently calculated crop evapotranspiration and maximum evapotranspiration. Water balances for all stations were calculated using the method of Thornthwaite and Mather, with an available water capacity in the soil of 15, 30 and 45 mm. The definitions of suitable, unfit and restricted areas and the planting season were performed using the WRSI.

RESULTS

Brazil has low climatic risk areas for growing peanuts throughout the year, except for winter. The country reveals that 88.19%, 97.93%, 99.16% and 39.25% of its area is suitable for planting peanuts on planting dates in spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Brazil has a large part of the areas favorable to the planting of peanuts. The maximum availability of soil water at a depth of 15, 30 and 45 mm does not influence regions with respect to peanut growing in Brazil. The states of Piauí, Ceará and Bahia are the most unsuitable on the winter planting date, with an average WRSI of 0.22. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.