Interactions of Food Components: Structural Changes and Effects on Nutritional Value

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Background

Food components like proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, polyphenols, and other trace elements provide different nutrition and flavor to human beings. Food components often do not exist in isolation but interact with each other at a chemical and physical level. These interactions lead to structural changes of food components, which in turn affect their nutritional value and bioavailability. For example, certain chemical reactions may break down the structure of nutrients, reducing their bioavailability, while other reactions may enhance the bioavailability of certain nutrients. Therefore, understanding the interactions between food components and the effects of these interactions on the structural changes and nutritional value can help us better understand the nutritional composition of food and provide guidance for healthy food production.

In recent decades, much research has been conducted on the impact of food component interactions on their functional properties, delivery characteristics, and taste, which could help guide the food product industry. However, the ways and degrees of interactions among food components have received less attention. From macro to micro, at various levels of physical scales, the interactions between food components involve physical and chemical changes to varying degrees. For example, strong interactions, such as covalent reactions, dehydration condensation, and formation of ionic bonds, have been limitedly investigated in comparison to mild interactions, such as Van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonds. It is necessary to investigate the effects of varying degrees of interactions on the structural, functional, nutritional, and processing properties of food components from different perspectives. Among them, the material basis is the most important foundation for other properties, as new substances that play a key role in nutrition may be generated.

With this mind, the goal of this Research Topic is to gather original research and review articles that investigate and explore the effects of interactions between/among food components in different ways and with varying degrees on their structural, nutritional, functional, flavor properties during processing. Subtopics include, but are not limited to:

· Possible ways and degrees of the interactions/reactions between/among different food components;

· Material basis investigation during the interaction /reaction and the underlying mechanisms;

· Effects of components interaction products (conjugation/complex) on the prevention/alleviation of chronic diseases or other bioactivities;

· Digestion, absorption, bioavailability and bioaccessibility of components interaction products (conjugation/complex) and their metabolic rules;

· Changes of processing characteristics (texture and flavor) during the interaction/reaction of different components.

Keywords: food components, covalent, non-covalent, structural analysis, nutrition property, processing property, reaction, sensory health, interaction

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