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Food Futures Research Cluster

Permanent link for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10292/16049

AUT’s Food Futures Research Cluster aims to contribute to sustainable food systems in Aotearoa/New Zealand and the broader Pacific region, particularly in relation to the challenges that sustainable development presents.

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    Tune Your Appetite: How Music Impacts Food Choice, Intake and Emotions During a Meal
    (Wiley, 2025-02-25) Siangphloen, P; Shepherd, Daniel; Kantono, K; Hamid, N
    Auditory cues, such as music, can potentially impact our eating behavior. In the present study, the effects of listening to music that varied in liking while consuming a meal on hunger, meal duration, food intake, and hedonic ratings were investigated. Measures of emotion were also obtained to understand the changes in meal duration, and both food intake and a 10-point visual analogue scale rating. A crossover experimental design involving 66 participants (27 males, 39 females) was employed, in which participants consumed lunch in a control condition, and while listening to music that they either liked or disliked. The results showed that listening to liked music significantly increased eating time, the intake of healthy food, and the consumption of afternoon snacks. Conversely, listening to disliked music significantly increased the consumption of unhealthy food. Additionally, the study explored the role of emotions in explaining these changes. It was found that ratings of hunger were higher, and more negative emotions were evoked, when participants consumed lunch while listening to disliked music. The silent and liked music conditions, which evoked more positive emotions, resulted in higher ratings of food pleasantness, overall liking of healthy and unhealthy food, and food satisfaction. Overall, the findings of this study highlight the significant influence of music upon appetite, food liking, and emotional responses during a lunch meal, emphasizing the potential practical applications in promoting healthier eating behaviors in real-world food-eating environments.
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    Improving the Bioactivities of Apricot Kernels Through Fermentation: Investigating the Relationship Between Bioactivities, Polyphenols, and Amino Acids Through the Random Forest Regression XAI Approach
    (MDPI AG, 2025-02-28) Zhao, Zhiyu; Kantono, Kevin; Kam, Rothman; Le, Thao T; Kitundu, Eileen; Chen, Tony; Hamid, Nazimah
    Apricot kernels are known for being a rich source of oil, protein, and bioactive compounds. This study focused on enhancing the bioactivities of apricot kernels through fermentation. Additionally, this study explored the correlations between polyphenols, amino acids, antioxidant activities, and total phenolic content (TPC). The findings indicated that apricot kernels fermented with Lactiplantibacillus plantarum exhibited increased antioxidant activity, as assessed by the FRAP and CUPRAC methods, and an increased TPC compared to naturally fermented samples. The CUPRAC activity increased significantly from 1.03 to 1.82 mg of ascorbic acid per gram of sample on day 7, and the FRAP activity increased from 4.9 to 12.2 mg of ascorbic acid per gram of sample on day 3 of fermentation. Moreover, the TPC significantly increased from 1.67 to 7.58 mg of gallic acid per gram of sample on day 9 of fermentation. The results further demonstrated that, during the fermentation process, the concentration of hydroxybenzoic acid increased from 0.52 µg/g on day 0 to 5.3 µg/g on day 9. The DL-3-phenyllactic acid content demonstrated a significant increase from 0.42 µg/g on day 0 to 99.62 µg/g on day 5, while the benzoic acid content exhibited a notable increase from 45.33 µg/g to 138.13 µg/g over the fermentation period, with peak levels being observed on day 5. Similarly, most amino acids demonstrated a rise in concentration as the fermentation progressed, peaking on the ninth day. This study further employed random forest regression as a form of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) to explore the relationships between phenolic compounds, amino acids, and antioxidant activities. Amino acids like L-cystine and L-anserine were found to positively impact FRAP values, while L-histidine and 1-methyl-L-histidine contributed to the CUPRAC antioxidant activity. Notably, hydroxybenzoic acid emerged as a key contributor to both the FRAP value and TPC, highlighting its significance in improving the overall antioxidant capacity of apricot kernels. These findings indicate that, under optimised fermentation conditions, apricot kernels hold promise as functional food ingredients due to the beneficial antioxidant properties observed in this study.
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