Sensory characteristics of products play an essential role on the consumer’ s acceptability, preference and consuming behavior choice. The sensory profiles and consumer hedonic perception for 14 UHT milk products using sensory quantitatively descriptive analysis and a 9-point hedonic scale were investigated in this study. There were significant differences in the sensory attributes intensity and liking scores among the organic whole milk, ordinary whole milk, low-fat milk, and skimmed milk (p < 0.05). Skimmed milk samples had lowest intensity scores of typical milk aroma, taste flavor and texture attributes, as well as had the lowest overall liking scores. Whole milk samples had higher sensory intensity scores than low-fat milk samples, even though no significant differences of overall liking scores were observed between whole milk and low-fat milk. Furthermore, the relationship between the sensory attribute and overall liking was demonstrated according to correlation analysis and partial least squares regression (PLSR) analysis. Overall liking increased significantly with the increasing of sweet, after milk aroma, protein-like, mellow and thick, while decreased significantly with the enhancement of cowy, cooked and whey (p < 0.05). These findings presented a potential strategy for identifying the key sensory attributes responsible for liking score differences among different kinds of UHT milk products.

Background: The discovery of traditional plants’ medicinal and nutritional properties has opened up new avenues for developing pharmaceutical and dietary strategies to prevent atherosclerosis. However, the effect of the antioxidant Dendrobium officinale polysaccharide (DOP) on atherosclerosis is still not elucidated. Purpose: This study aims to investigate the inhibitory effect and the potential mechanism of DOP on high-fat diet-induced atherosclerosis in Apolipoprotein E knockout (ApoE^−/−) mice. Study design and methods: The identification of DOP was measured by high-performance gel permeation chromatography (HPLC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). We used high-fat diet (HFD)-induced atherosclerosis in ApoE^−/− mice as an animal model. In the DOP intervention stage, the DOP group was treated by gavage with 200 μL of 200 mg/kg DOP at regular times each day and continued for eight weeks. We detected changes in serum lipid profiles, inflammatory factors, anti-inflammatory factors, and antioxidant capacity to investigate the effect of the DOP on host metabolism. We also determined microbial composition using 16S rRNA gene sequencing to investigate whether the DOP could improve the structure of the gut microbiota in atherosclerotic mice. Results: DOP effectively inhibited histopathological deterioration in atherosclerotic mice and significantly reduced serum lipid levels, inflammatory factors, and malondialdehyde (F/B) production. Additionally, the levels of anti-inflammatory factors and the activity of antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), were significantly increased after DOP intervention. Furthermore, we found that DOP restructures the gut microbiota composition by decreasing the Firmicutes/Bacteroidota (F/B) ratio. The Spearman’s correlation analysis indicated that serum lipid profiles, antioxidant activity, and pro-/anti-inflammatory factors were associated with Firmicutes, Bacteroidota, Allobaculum, and Coriobacteriaceae_UCG-002. Conclusions: This study suggests that DOP has the potential to be developed as a food prebiotic for the treatment of atherosclerosis in the future.

Background: Sarcopenia is an age-related condition characterized by progressive loss of muscle mass, strength, and function. The occurrence of sarcopenia has a huge impact on physical, psychological, and social health. Therefore, the prevention and treatment of sarcopenia is becoming an important public health issue. Method: 35 six-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into five groups, one of which served as a control group, while the rest of the groups were constructed as a model of sarcopenia by intraperitoneal injection of D-galactose. The intervention with lactoferrin, creatine, and their mixtures, respectively, was carried out through gavage for 8 weeks. Muscle function was assessed based on their endurance, hanging time, and grip strength. The muscle tissues were weighed to assess the changes in mass, and the muscle RNA was extracted for myogenic factor expression and transcriptome sequencing to speculate on the potential mechanism of action by GO and KEGG enrichment analysis. Result: The muscle mass (lean mass, GAS index), and muscle function (endurance, hanging time, and grip strength) decreased, and the size and structure of myofiber was smaller in the model group compared to the control group. The intervention with lactoferrin and creatine, either alone or combination, improved muscle mass and function, restored muscle tissue, and increased the expression of myogenic regulators. The combined group demonstrated the most significant improvement in these indexes. The RNA-seq results revealed enrichment in the longevity-regulated pathway, MAPK pathway, focal adhesion, and ECM–receptor interaction pathway in the intervention group. The intervention group may influence muscle function by affecting the proliferation, differentiation, senescence of skeletal muscle cell, and contraction of muscle fiber. The combined group also enriched the mTOR-S6K/4E-BPs signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and energy metabolism-related pathways, including Apelin signaling, insulin resistance pathway, and adipocytokine signaling pathway, which affect energy metabolism in muscle. Conclusions: Lactoferrin and creatine, either alone or in combination, were found to inhibit the progression of sarcopenia by influencing the number and cross-sectional area of muscle fibers and muscle protein synthesis. The combined intervention appears to exert a more significant effect on energy metabolism.

The metabolic utilization of different carbon sources by Streptococcus thermophilus JM905(S. thermophilus JM905) was determined using a high-throughput microbial phenotyping system, and changes in fermentation characteristics of S. thermophilus JM905 fermented milk were investigated at different fermentation periods, with changes in pH, water-holding capacity, viscosity, nuisance odor, and viable bacteria count being used to define the fermentation characteristics of the strain. Changes in the key metabolites, 2-hydroxybutyric acid, folic acid, L-lactic acid, D-glycerol-D-galactose-heptanol, (R)-leucine, L-aspartic acid, L-proline, D-arginine, L-isoleucine, hydra starch, L-lysine, L-tryptophan, and D-galactose, were clarified. Correspondingly, the fermented milk protein, amino acid, and fermented milk fat quality nutrient contents were determined to be 3.78 ± 0.054 g per 100 g, 3.405 ± 0.0234 g per 100 mL, and 0.161 ± 0.0030 g per 100 g, respectively. This study addressed strain carbon source utilization, changes in fermentation characteristics and metabolites during fermentation, with the aim of investigating the link between fermentation characteristics and metabolite quality components of Streptococcus thermophilus JM905 and its fermented milk with fermentation potential and to provide a useful reference for the screening of superior fermentation strains.

The aim of this study was to investigate the loss of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) from three supplements (two powders and one oil) after digestion (rumen and gastrointestinal) and their effects on the number and composition of rumen bacteria, using an in vitro approach. The concentration of supplements has a significant impact on the DHA loss rate and algal oil exhibited the highest rate of loss, but bioaccessibility was not significantly different from the other supplements. 16S rRNA sequencing showed that three DHA supplements altered the bacterial composition of in vitro batch cultures inoculated with rumen microorganisms from cows, and caused changes in the relative abundance of important bacterial phyla, families, and genera. DHA supplements altered the abundance of bacterial species, including Prevotella, Ruminobacter, Succiniclassicum, Succinivibrio, Lachnospiraceae, and Muribaculaceae. Importantly, these changes may be associated with the ruminal response in biohydrogenation. Algal oil has the most significant impact on rumen microbiota by reducing the richness and diversity of rumen microbiota, and significantly altering the composition of multiple important microbiota.

Lactobacillus-enriched yogurt is in increasingly high demand due to its health benefits, but the product stability requires an understanding of the microbial dynamics during fermentation and storage. This study investigated the interactions between probiotic pairs (L. paracasei L9 and L. acidophilus LAC) and starter culture (HYY) through fermentation kinetics, microbial viability, organic acid profiles, and metabolomics. The results demonstrated that L. paracasei L9 significantly increased the titratable acidity from 25.20 ± 7.01 °T to 36.56 ± 3.47 °T at 3 h and reduced the fermentation time by 0.5 h, whereas L. acidophilus LAC showed minimal effects. L. paracasei L9 achieved higher viability (8.4 lg CFU/g) via the high-affinity lactose transport and Leloir pathway, whereas the L. acidophilus LAC growth remained limited (6.9 lg CFU/g). The metabolomic investigation revealed the L9 + HYY upregulated glycerophospholipid metabolism and pantothenate/CoA biosynthesis to support rapid biomass accumulation. In contrast, LAC + HYY modulated the arginine and branched-chain amino acid metabolism for acid tolerance. During 21 days of storage, there were no significant differences in final TA values and lactic acid content among the probiotic supplementation groups. L9 + HYY remained stable (>9.0 lg CFU/g) by upregulating the aromatic amino acid biosynthesis and suppressing the purine/sulfur metabolism, whereas L. acidophilus LAC decreased to 6.02 lg CFU/g. These findings demonstrate the dual role of L. paracasei L9 in accelerating the fermentation and maintaining the microbial stability through metabolic reprogramming, which guides the development of improved probiotic yogurts.