Arzu Akpinar-Bayizit

Phenolics in Human Health

Recent research focuses on health benefits of phytochemicals, especially antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of phenolic compounds, which is known to exert preventive activity against infectious and degenerative diseases, inflammation and allergies via antioxidant, antimicrobial and proteins/enzymes neutralization/modulation mechanisms. Phenolic compounds are reactive metabolites in a wide range of plant-derived foods and mainly divided in four groups: phenolic acids, flavonoids, stilbenes and tannins. They work as terminators of free radicals and chelators of metal ions that are capable of catalyzing lipid oxidation. Therefore, this review examines the functional properties of phenolics.

The Therapeutic Potential of Pomegranate and Its Products for Prevention of Cancer

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is considered one of the oldest known edible fruits and is the symbolic of abundance and prosperity. For thousand of years, many cultures have believed that pomegranate have beneficiary effects on health, fertility, longevity and rebirth. The recent interest for this fruit is not only because of the pleasant taste, but also due to the scientific evidences that suggest therapeutic activity such as anti-atherogenic, antiparasitic, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticarcinogenic and antiinflammatory effects. These beneficial effects were attributed to the antioxidative properties of pomegranate phenolic compounds, tannins and anthocyanins as well as other phytochemicals. The constituents of pomegranate have been thoroughly investigated, however, clinical trials are in progress to explore the therapeutic potential of pomegranate products, particularly determining preventive efficacy of pomegranate extracts in cancer, cardiovascular diseases, inflammation, diabetes and ultraviolet radiation-induced skin damage. In order to facilitate the further investigations the information contained in this work is based upon the immense work on impact of administration of pomegranate extracts, particularly in cancer prevention such as skin, prostate, breast, and colon.

Consumers’ Behavior towards Table Olives

Table olives are among the nutritious and functional foods with respect to high contents of monounsaturated fatty acids, phenolic compounds, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. World raw olive production is around 1.3-1.8 million tons per year, and about 10% of these olives are processed into table olives. Food quality focuses on customer needs and expectations and is an important means of competition on the market due to the high competition pressure and saturation of the market Consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay more for specific foods’ attributes, meaning high quality-foods, is a complex decision-making process. A powerful tool to understand the quality of foods and customer behaviors is consumer preference surveys, since cultural practices, sensory properties (color, taste, texture), package and socioeconomic status strongly influence the popularity of any food product. Hence, by understanding consumer preferences direct prediction and increase of consumption is possible based on the degree of happiness, satisfaction, enjoyment, or utility that olives provide.

Textural Properties of Herby Cheese

Herby (Otlu) cheese is a traditional cheese variety which is manufactured broadly in the eastern and southeastern regions of Turkey. In this study the textural properties of herby cheese containing various herbs sold in the markets was determined. The textural characteristics of traditional cheeses were different from industrial herby cheeses, particularly depending on manufacturing practices as well as raw milk composition, herbs, salt, etc. Traditional herby cheese had lower sensory scores for color, fracturability. Future studies should concentrate on the standardization of manufacturing process and the effect of herbs and their combination on final product properties to improve consumer perception and acceptability.

Assesment of some microbiological and chemical properties of pismaniye sweet

The objective of this research was to determine some microbiological and chemical properties of pismaniye sweet. A total of 47 plain and with cacao pismaniye samples were purchased from retail markets in the Marmara region, Turkey. Mean moisture, ash, fat and total sugar contents were found as 3.16 to 3.31, 0.18 to 0.23, 11.67 to 11.87 and 37.10 to 35.72%, for plain and with cacao, respectively. The microbial counts were in the range of 3.05 to 3.12 log cfu g -1 for total mesophilic aerobic bacteria (TMAB). 2.19 to 2.51 log cfu g -1 for yeast and mould, 0.17 to 0.59 log cfu g -1 for total Coliform group bacteria. It was observed that 51.06% of samples were contaminated by Staphylococcus types, 42.55% by Salmonella-Shigella and 10.64% by Escherichia coli. The microbiological findings showed the presence of high counts of microorganisms depending on poor sanitary practices due to empiric traditional manufacturing procedures.