Meat products are an important part in our daily diet, providing valuable nutrients for the human body. However, heating processes cause the meat to become more appetizing with changes in texture, appearance, flavor, and chemical properties by the altering of protein structure and other ingredients. As one kind of cooking-induced contaminants, heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) are widely present in protein aceous food products with strong carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. In order to promote the safety of traditional meat products, this review focused on the formation, metabolism, biological monitoring and inhibitory mechanism of HAA. An overview of the formation pathways, hazards, and control methods of HAAs during food processing in recent years was studied, aiming to provide some valuable information for exploring effective methods to inhibit the production of associated hazards during food processing. Systematic selection of different types of flavonoids to explore their effects on the formation of HAAs in an actual barbecue system can provide theoretical reference for effectively controlling the formation of HAAs and reducing their harm to human health.

The present study aimed at making a rational usage for European eel bone by-products by preparing Europen eel bone peptide chelated calcium (EBPC-Ca). Nutritional properties and bioactivity of EBPC-Ca were evaluated. Results showed that nutritional properties of calcium ions will cause intra- and inter-molecular folding and aggregation of peptide to uniformly form EBPC-Ca chelate. The chelated compound of EBPC and calcium ion triggered a strong apoptosis in heterogeneous human epithelial colorectal adenocarcinoma (Caco-2) in concentration- and time-dependent manners. Western blot analysis revealed that the EBPC-Ca induced apoptosis may be the result of a blocked autophagy flux through mitochondrial-dependent pathway. Additionally, the increase in FGF-23 protein expression inhibited the absorption of calcium ions and alleviated cell apoptosis. It was also found that the cell apoptosis occurs with significant increases in the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and Ca²⁺ in the cells, indicating the anti-tumor potential of EBPC-Ca may involve multiple channels.

Dihydromyricetin (DHM), as a bioactive flavanonol compound, is mainly found in "Tengcha" (Ampelopsis grossedentata) cultivated in south of China. This study aimed to investigate the anti-hyperglycemic and anti-dyslipidemic activities of DHM using type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) rats, which was induced by feeding with high fat and fructose diet for 42 days and intraperitoneal administration of streptozocin. Forty-eight freshly-weaned rats were randomly assigned into the negative control (Blank), low dose (100 mg/kg), medium dose (200 mg/kg), high dose (400 mg/kg), and positive (40 mg/kg, met) groups. Fasting blood glucose and body weight were measured at weekly interval. Oral glucose tolerance tests were performed on days 42. The results revealed that DHM possessed significant antihyperglycaemic and antihyperinsulinemic effects. Moreover, after the DHM treatment, p-Akt and p-AMPK expression was upregulated, and glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) expression was downregulated, indicating that the potential anti-diabetic mechanism of DHM might be due to the regulation of the AMPK/Akt/GSK-3β signaling pathway.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of agar oligosaccharide-iron (AOS-iron) on intestinal tissue pathology and microbiota in IDA rats induced by a low-iron diet, further to find the relationship between intestinal microbiota and iron metabolic disorders. After 4 weeks of AOS-iron supplementation, the fecal iron content of IDA rats markedly increased in a dose-dependent manner, only the damaged cecum and colon tissues in medium-dose (MD) and high-dose (HD) groups were repaired to the baseline, while the diversity of gut microbiota was improved even at low dose (LD). Furthermore, the supplementation of AOS-iron altered the composition of gut microbiota. At the genus level, the beneficial microbiota was enriched in AOS-iron groups, but the relative abundance of potential opportunistic pathogens obviously reduced compared to that in the anemia model (AM) group. Spearman's correlation analysis revealed that biochemical parameters, including blood metabolic parameters, iron contents, body weight, GSH-PX and T-AOC activity, were positively correlated with SMB53, Anaerotruncus, Anaerostipes and Coprobacillus but negatively correlated with Morganella, Fusobacterium and Serratia. These findings indicated that AOS-iron effectively repaired the damaged intestinal tissue and ameliorated iron metabolic disorders by regulating gut microbiota desirably, which could provide references for the treatment of IDA.