Carlos Alberto FuenmayorNational University of Colombia | UNAL · Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos - ICTA (Bogotá)
Carlos Alberto Fuenmayor
Chemical Engineer, M.Sc., PhD in Food Science, Technology & Biotechnology
Associate Professor at the Institute of Food Science and Techology of the National University Colombia.
About
63
Publications
25,857
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Introduction
I’m interested in food chemical analysis, in particular electroanalytical chemistry and spectroscopy; the development and use of nanomaterials, especially edible nanofibrous membranes, for encapsulation of bioactive compounds with application as active food packaging devices; and on the study and utilization of Colombian authoctonous food matrices with functional characteristics.
Additional affiliations
September 2011 - October 2014
Position
- PhD Student
Description
- Thesis: Nanofibers: Tailor-Made Applications for the Food and Beverage Industry
August 2011 - October 2014
January 2009 - August 2011
Education
August 2011 - August 2014
January 2007 - January 2009
January 2001 - January 2006
Publications
Publications (63)
A simple sensing unit based on a disposable screen printed carbon electrode coated by an electrospun nylon-6 nanofibrous membrane was developed for in situ selective determination of ascorbic acid (AA) in different types of fruits. The membrane, prepared by electrospinning, represents a selective barrier to possible interferents, such as phenolic c...
Mead is a wine-type alcoholic beverage obtained from honey fermentation, traditionally consumed in Eastern Europe and Africa. In this work mead was obtained by alcoholic fermentation over 21 d at 25 °C by using honey, pollen, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae subsp. bayanus, from a must of 24 °Brix. During the fermentation, different physicochemical ind...
A novel amperometric sensor for the determination of bisphenol A (BPA) was fabricated using a glassy carbon electrode easily modified with multi-walled carbon nanotubes functionalized with hydroxyl groups. The catalytic activity of the modifier toward the oxidation of BPA was demonstrated by cyclic voltammetry, giving a well-defined peak at 0.55 V...
The use of natural carotenoids as food colorants is an important trend of innovation in the industry due to their low toxicity, their potential as bio-functional ingredients, and the increasing demand for natural and organic foods. Despite these benefits, their inclusion in food matrices presents multiple challenges related to their low stability a...
In a global scenario so severely affected by food insecurity, all food science and technology stakeholders are called to face the most pivotal of the sustainability challenges: ensuring the availability of safe and adaptable foods in all territories; foods that meet our needs as consumers with least possible negative impact. This was the guiding su...
Pollen is made up of many chemical constituents such as proteins, sugars, lipids, minerals and phytochemicals. These components make pollen products an excellent source of nutrients and antioxidants for consumers. However, mycotoxigenic fungi are also common in pollen, creating contamination from generated mycotoxins. With adequate monitoring, samp...
Bee pollen has a rich content of nutrients and several bioactive compounds. However, its stability and digestibility have some limitations as a food product for human consumption. In the first place, fresh bee pollen has high water content and water activity, which makes it very prompt to microbial spoilage. Also, the microstructure of pollen grain...
This study was aimed at evaluating the effects of digestion-resistant maltodextrin (DRM) inclusion, as a mean for functional dietary fiber-enrichment, on the quality and stability of precooked restructured beef steaks. The restructured steaks were prepared from ground beef by cold gelation, with alginate as binding agent, using three inclusion leve...
The Andean blueberry (Vaccinium meridionale Sw) is an underutilized wild fruit native to South America. It is known for its antioxidant properties and potential health benefits. In this study, Andean blueberry juice powders were produced via spray drying, using maltodextrin (MD), gum Arabic (GA) or a combination of both (MD:GA) as wall materials. T...
Dough is the first step to create baked goods that are known for their variety of presentations, textures, and flavors, divided into different groups such as bread, cakes, cookies, pizza, and puff pastries, among others. These products are mainly made from cereals or cereal-based flours. Particularly, starch and gluten from wheat help develop the c...
Honey quality is a global concern since this product is highly susceptible to adulteration, given its competitive price. As a reliable strategy for honey authenticity determination, this work introduces an intelligent classification system that considers the pattern recognition point of view to develop an economical and quick analytical method to i...
The effect of electrospun nylon-6 nanofibrous membranes (NFMs) on the concentration of bitter compounds and antioxidants of grapefruit juices during dead-end filtration processes was studied. Filtration experiments with aqueous standard solutions of different molecules showed that NFMs retain low molecular weight antioxidants (i.e., ascorbic and ca...
The volatile and non‐volatile chemical composition and bioactivity of propolis from the species Apis mellifera has been widely studied, but there is very little knowledge regarding propolis of other bee species, which ultimately hinders their differentiation and potential use. In this work, 53 propolis samples of A. mellifera and four stingless bee...
Background: Bee pollen is a natural product collected and transformed by bees, intended for human consumption, given its nutritional and bioactive richness. The fundamental operation of adequacy is drying, which allows its preservation, avoiding chemical or microbiological degradation, typically using tray dryers with hot air that use electricity o...
Bee pollen (BP) is a natural product with remarkable nutritional and bioactive composition. Some of the compounds of interest are carotenoids with provitamin A activity, possessing an excellent antioxidant capacity and positive health effects. For that, the objective of this work was to characterize the botanical origin and carotenoid profile in tw...
Andean blueberry fruit is considered a source of bioactive compounds. However, its industrial applications as an ingredient are limited due to its low stability. In this work, Andean blueberry juice powders were obtained via freeze–drying. The effects of maltodextrin (MD) and gum Arabic (GA) as encapsulating agents were evaluated on the morphologic...
Anthocyanin-rich fruit beverages are of special interest as functional products due to their antioxidant activity, antimicrobial properties against pathogens, and, more recently, evidence of prebiotic potential. The stability and bioactivity of anthocyanins, probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics have been extensively documented in beverage models...
This work aims to use an in-silico approach to develop ice cream formulations that were computationally designed using recommendations from experts, literature heuristics, legal regulations, food restrictions, target performance properties, and properties models. Such input information was transformed into mathematical models suitable for mixed-int...
Bee Products and Their Applications in the Food and Pharmaceutical Industries focuses on the health benefits of selected bee products by looking more closely at their pharmacological potentials and therapeutic applications in coping with various diseases. The book explores some of these products, such as royal jelly, propolis and bee venom, which i...
Bee bread is a nutritionally and functionally attractive food, given its content of protein, carbohydrates, lipids, and bioactive compounds. Since it involves microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria, yeasts, and fungi, it is a food with prebiotic and probiotic characteristics, with the consequent benefits to the health of consumers. Different s...
As a general rule, in a sustainable food model for the future of the growing world population, food biotechnology could be considered as a reliable for improving and increasing food production and processing. Food biotechnology consist of (1) genetic engineering approach (on plants, animals, or microorganisms) to improve food quality, (2) commercia...
Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus NCFB 2772 was employed to develop functional acid whey cheese (requesón) added with in situ produced exopolysaccharide (EPS) and tested as a carrier of commercial probiotic Lactobacillus paracasei ssp. paracasei. This EPS consists of glucose and galactose units, linked by β 1‐4/6 bonds (Tang et al., 2017)....
The use of natural carotenoids as food colorants is an important trend of innovation in the industry due to their low toxicity, their potential as bio-functional ingredients, and the increasing demand for natural and organic foods. Despite these benefits, their inclusion in food matrices presents multiple challenges related to their low stability a...
Different process conditions were evaluated to induce lactic acid fermentation of bee pollen at the pilot scale using three different commercial starter cultures. Clean and dry Colombian high Andean bee pollen was used as the sole source of nutrients (substrate). The effect of substrate preparation conditions (water:pollen ratio and initial substra...
Andean blueberry (Vaccinium meridionale Swartz) fruits are an underutilized source of anthocyanins and other valuable bioactive phytochemicals. The purpose of this work was to obtain Andean blueberry juice powders via freeze-drying processing and evaluate the effect of maltodextrin as a drying aid on their physicochemical, technological, microstruc...
Electrospinning was used to produce fibrous membranes, in single and multiple layers, from poly(ε-caprolactone), pullulan, and from mixtures of poly(ε-caprolactone) with potato modified starch and β-glucan. It was possible to obtain single-layer membranes from solutions of pullulan in water, poly(ε-caprolactone) in chloroform, and from mixtures of...
Electrospinning refers to a technique for producing nano- and micrometric-scale fibers using high voltage. It is a novel and useful technique applied over the last few years in the areas of food processing and medicine due to its versatility and low cost in the development of ultra-thin structures from natural and synthetic biopolymers, facilitatin...
Bee pollen is a natural matrix widely studied in its nutritional and bioactive compounds, including carotenoids. That composition is usually identified by Rapid Resolution Liquid Chromatography (RRLC) coupled to UV–Vis spectrophotometry, an expensive method that requires complex sample preparation and long analysis time. In this work, a correlation...
Quantitative analysis of carotenoids has been extensively reported using UV-Vis spectrophotometry and chromatography, instrumental techniques that require complex extraction protocols with organic solvents. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is a potential alternative for simplifying the analysis of food constituents. In this work, the...
Microwave-assisted extraction was applied for extracting phenolics from the Sacha Inchi shell. Response surface methodology was used to estimate the optimal operating conditions. A Box-Behnken design was employed to investigate the effects of the microwave power (500, 1000, and 1500 W), ethanol concentration (E30, E60, and E90 %, v/v), and extracti...
Se estudió la utilización de guandul (Cajanus cajan L.) y ahuyama (Cucurbita moschata D.) como alternativas nutricionales y tecnológicamente viables para la elaboración de harinas compuestas con destino a la preparación de productos alimenticios ricos en proteína y vitamina A de consumo tradicional por la población colombiana. Para el efecto se eva...
In this study, carotenoids were extracted from bee pollen using sunflower oil as a solvent, and the extract was incorporated into pellets for trout feeding. A total of 144 rainbow trout were fed over eight weeks using pellets with added bee pollen extract. The following diets (treatments) were used: (1) negative control (C−) without carotenoids; (2...
Electrospinning technology is useful for making ultrafine drug-eluting fibers for the clinical treatment of wounds. We show the incorporation of an antimicrobial LfcinB-derived peptide into Pullulan nanofibers. The palindromic peptide LfcinB (21-25)Pal: RWQWRWQWR was synthesized, purified, and characterized by means of the RP-HPLC and MALDI-TOF MS...
Bee pollen has been recently highlighted as a potential source of fat-soluble bioactive compounds, in particular carotenoids. However, these compounds are trapped or linked to other components in both the inner pollen grain structure and the exine, which might hinder their bioavailability. The solvent-extraction of carotenoids from plant matrixes u...
This study aimed at designing nature-identical flavorings for dairy drinks based on soursop (Anona muricata) VOCs profile, at different ripening stages, and after its processing into a fruit beverage, by combining conventional sensory analysis, and instrumental techniques: gas chromatography (GC/FID/MS) and a metal oxide (MOS)-based electronic nose...
Bee pollen is a hive product, resulting from floral pollen agglutination by worker bees and it is characterized by its excellent bioactive and nutritional composition. Currently, research is focused on bee pollen applications on food industry, because this product has been considered an excellent source of compounds for human nutrition. It is also...
The effect of chitosan‐based coatings containing ethanolic extracts of propolis (EEPs) on the quality of chill‐stored, vacuum‐packed fillets of cachama, an emerging aquaculture species of fish native to the Amazon basins, was evaluated. Coatings were prepared by adding propolis to chitosan following two different strategies: (1) incorporation of mi...
The increasing demands for foods with fresh‐like characteristics, lower synthetic additive and preservative contents, and low environmental footprint, but still safe to consume, have guided researchers and industries toward the development of milder processing technologies and more eco‐friendly packaging solutions. As sustainability acquires an inc...
p>¿Pueden pequeñas cosas ayudarnos a reducir el hambre, la mala nutrición y las enfermedades transmitidas por alimentos? En realidad, la nanotecnología es al mismo tiempo un enfoque científico y un conjunto de tecnologías emergentes, tal vez las más detalladamente observadas en la historia. Actualmente, es un blanco de investigación en el cual se f...
The squash (Cucurbita moschata) is a promising crop due to its high content of carotenoids. In this study, the drying kinetics of its pulp (2 cm cubes) was determined at 65, 75 and 85°C with 10 m s-1 air velocity. Total carotenoids losses were assessed at the end of the cubes drying process. The equilibrium humidity was reached after 11, 7 and 6 h...
Different conditions of the ethanol extraction of corozo exocarp were evaluated (extraction time and corozo/solvent ratio) with regard to the total phenolic compounds, total anthocyanins, in vitro antioxidant activity and total solids. A higher antioxidant activity (FRAP 0.3994 uM Trolox/g exocarp and TEAC 0.122 uM Trolox/g exocarp) was found in th...
Phenolic compounds are of great interest for the food industry, in particular due to their antioxidant capacity. Nevertheless, their relevance as bioactive substances is often hindered by poor stability and solubility. Phenolic compounds can be encapsulated for that better maintaining their bioactivity. In this work, we explore an alternative for t...
Phenolic compounds are of great interest for the food industry, in particular due to their antioxidant capacity. Nevertheless, their relevance as bioactive substances is often hindered by poor stability and solubility. Phenolic compounds can be encapsulated for better maintaining their bioactivity. In this work, we explore an alternative for the en...
Polyamidic nanofibrous membranes containing gated silica mesoporous particles, acting as carriers, are described as novel hybrid composite materials for encapsulation and on-command delivery of garlic extracts. The carrier system consists of MCM-41 solids functionalized in the outer surface, with linear polyamines (Solid S1) and with hydrolyzed sta...
Objective. To establish current knowledge about Colombian bee-pollen from a point of view nutritional and functional, contributing towards creating national technical standards and the identification of chemical differentiation factors for further researches. Material and methods. One hundred ninety-six samples of dried bee pollen were collected in...
Nylon-6 nanofibrous membranes (NFM) produced by electrospinning were applied as filter medium to clarify apple juices. The NFM exhibited good mechanical properties, lower density and higher porosity compared to commercial polyamide membranes. The filtration mechanism (initial filter, polarization and cake resistances) and the physicochemical charac...
Fifty-five samples of honey from Colombian stingless bees Melipona, Tetragona, Melipona compressipes, Melipona favosa, and Melipona eburnea were analyzed with an electronic nose. The electronic nose instrument, equipped with ten metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) sensors, was used to generate a pattern of the volatile compounds in honey samples. Physi...
The geographic location of Colombia and its mega-biodiversity have been identified as advantages for meliponiculture. This study analyzed pot-honey samples from different genera native from different regions of Colombia. The number of analyzed honey samples varies according to the genus and the species (Frieseomelitta sp., Melipona compressipes, Me...
Bio-polymeric (pullulan and β-cyclodextrin) emulsions in water were electrospun to fabricate nanofibrous
membranes and to encapsulate a bioactive volatile compound (R-(+)-limonene) simultaneously. The
morphology of the polysaccharide membranes obtained can be described as a pullulan nanofibrous matrix
with small crystals homogeneously dispersed....
Pre-Hispanic cultures that lived in territories of Central and South America practiced meliponiculture, extracting and processing honey and other products from several stingless bee species. Colonization of these territories introduced beekeeping of Apis mellifera, and practically eliminated meliponiculture. Nevertheless, honey of the species Trigo...
El polen recolectado por abejas es un producto de gran interés nutricional, debido a su concentración de diferentes componentes relevantes en la dieta humana. Sin embargo, estudios previos demuestran la limitación del sistema digestivo de organismos monogástricos para el aprovechamiento de algunos de estos nutrientes, debido en parte a la resistent...
A novel optical assay for sugar determination based on the catalytic and biocatalytic growth of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is presented. The reaction of carbohydrates with these Au salts in alkaline media generates AuNPs at room temperature (RT) without the need for Au seeds in the solution or fibrous mesh. The optical properties of the resulting A...
Hace un año celebramos la Primera Jornada de Actualización en el ICTA y esa experiencia motivó la programación de una Segunda. Durante el último año trascurrido, en el Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología
de Alimentos-ICTA de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogotá, se han reunido múltiples esfuerzos de profesores, estudiantes y personal admi...
En el contexto de la globalización, proceso mundial desigual, discontinuo y de larga duración, que se desarrolla en diferentes esferas de la sociedad como la económica, la política y la social, resulta
indispensable que la Universidad asuma el reto de estudiar articuladamente sus múltiples manifestaciones en dimensiones internacionales y en sus efe...
Questions
Questions (2)
As far as I know, the clinical relevance of some phenolic substances is limited by their low (water) solubility, which in the specific case of phenolics is defined by the presence and distribution of hydrophobic/"hydrophilic" functional gropus, which in turn greatly affect their antioxidant capacity.
On the other hand, the affinity of polyphenols for proteins, amongst other characteristics that are relevant for their actual (in-vivo) bioactivity (oxygen radical-scavenging capacity included), are rarely mirrored in laboratory conditions.
Then can one say in broad terms that, considering only these factors, antioxidant capacity/bioavailability/bioactivity of polyphenols are at least somewhat directly correlated to their water solubility? No? What would be an accurate way of posing this relationship? Thanks to all those who will read this question.
Besides SEM or TEM-related techniques, does anyone have any suggestion about other methodologies or instrumental techniques that might help in proving that the nanofibers that I obtained by coaxial electrospinning (aka co-electrospinning) are actually core-shell structured? Maybe X-ray difraction might be useful, though I am not sure. I would appreciate suggestions, including literature, on this topic.
