Is food preference innate instinct driven or human's free will?

The question whether food preference decisions are controlled by innate instincts, or a conscious decision-making process is still open. The answer to this question is important not only for neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers but also for food scientists and developers. Looking from different perspectives involved in food preference decisions could not only settle a long ongoing debate but also pave the way to understand why people prefer to eat what they eat.

Anti-Amyloid Aggregation Activity of Black Sesame Pigment: Toward a Novel Alzheimer's Disease Preventive Agent.

Black sesame pigment (BSP) represents a low cost, easily accessible material of plant origin exhibiting marked antioxidant and heavy metal-binding properties with potential as a food supplement. We report herein the inhibitory properties of the potentially bioaccessible fraction of BSP following simulated gastrointestinal digestion against key enzymes involved in Alzheimer's disease (AD). HPLC analysis indicated that BSP is transformed under the pH conditions mimicking the intestinal environment and the most abundant of the released compounds was identified as vanillic acid.

Chemical composition and inhibitory activities on dipeptidyl peptidase IV and pancreatic lipase of two underutilized species from the Brazilian Savannah: Oxalis cordata A.St.-Hil. and Xylopia aromatica (Lam.) Mart.

Brazil has the greatest vegetal biodiversity in the world, but products derived from native species are not optimally utilized. Oxalis cordata and Xylopia aromatica are two underutilized species whose leaves and fruits, respectively, have been used as food in the 19th century. In this study, we used chemical and in vitro assays to evaluate the potential of these species as functional foods.

Epilutein for Early-Stage Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Randomized and Prospective Study.

Purpose: The hypothesis that oral supplementation of the epilutein/lutein combination could augment the macular pigment optical density (MPOD) in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) was tested.

Methods: In a prospective randomized interventional study, 40 consecutive patients with early-stage AMD were recruited. After a 2-week run-in period, patients were randomly treated with a daily oral administration of 8 mg epilutein and 2 mg lutein (group 1) or 10 mg lutein (group 2) for 2 months.

Efficient Binding of Heavy Metals by Black Sesame Pigment: Toward Innovative Dietary Strategies To Prevent Bioaccumulation.

Black sesame pigment (BSP) was shown to bind lead, cadmium, and mercury at pH 7.0 and to a lower extent at pH 2.0.