Side streams from wheat processing, such as the bran and gluten fractions, show great potential as a feedstock for the production of novel food ingredients and materials. In this study, we prepared hybrid polysaccharide-protein hydrogels via enzymatic crosslinking of wheat bran arabinoxylan and gluten fractions. Arabinoxylan was first isolated from wheat bran via subcritical water extraction, which preserved the covalently bound ferulic acid moieties to the arabinoxylan core amenable for laccase crosslinking. Gluten was fractionated into its main protein components (glutenin and gliadin) via treatment with aqueous ethanol. Hydrogels with different contents of arabinoxylan and gluten were prepared, demonstrating the integration of the protein fractions within the polysaccharide gel network. Increased addition of gluten led to gradually softer hydrogels, suggesting that the gluten fractions were not involved in the covalent crosslinking with the ferulic acid moieties to any noticeable level. Freeze-drying and regeneration of the hydrogels led to a 3-fold–10-fold increase in the storage and loss moduli, depending on the sample. Analysis of the structure of the hydrogels revealed that the addition of gluten upon enzymatic crosslinking impacted the physical interactions and crystallinity of the arabinoxylan populations, resulting in phase separation of the protein and polysaccharide components. This study demonstrates that tunable hydrogels can be prepared from cereal side streams, with potential as functional plant-based food hydrocolloids with improved nutritional properties, combining dietary fibre and protein components.

Knowledge about food structures at different length scales is key for the continued development of sustainable, tasty and healthy foods. It is critical to control, model and predict the supramolecular architecture of foods along the whole value chain: from raw materials, to their changes during processing, all the way to how products form structures during consumption and digestion. Today, advanced physical methods enable us to obtain structural information from the nanoscale-to the microscale with unprecedented resolution. The structural details can then relate to the mesoscale and microscale functionalities, important for the appeal and consumption of food products. X-ray and neutron techniques expand and strengthen the food structure characterisation toolbox. They enable in situ and in operando investigations with greater detail as well as new types of measurements that are not possible with other techniques. The knowledge gained will complement compositional and functional data obtained by other techniques, providing robustness to the interpretation of complex structural information. There are several intrinsic scientific challenges to overcome: from the lack of relevant sample environments to advanced data processing and modelling tools that consider the complexity of the food. The new frontier in food structural science can be gained through interdisciplinary collaborations not only in academia but also from the wider innovation ecosystem. This review showcases how the use of X-ray and neutron techniques is already leading to transformational knowledge in structural food science with a perspective that points to the future of this new multidisciplinary discipline.

We present a systematic study of thermoplastic polypropylene (PP) composites reinforced with wood fibers (WF) derived from Norway spruce industrial residues (FibraQ) as scalable, sustainable alternatives to conventional polymers. The wood fibers retain a characteristic softwood monosaccharide profile and display robust morphological integrity and uniform dispersion across loadings from 20 to 50 wt%. Mechanical characterization demonstrates a linear increase in tensile modulus and strength with increasing WF content, counterbalanced by reduced ductility and impact toughness due to increasing fiber network density. Thermal analyses confirm enhanced stability and elevated Vicat softening temperatures upon WF addition. Importantly, these composites exhibit outstanding closed-loop mechanical recyclability: after three industrially relevant processing cycles, PPWF retains >90% of initial stiffness and >94% tensile strength, significantly outperforming neat PP and previously reported biocomposite systems. Our study provides the first direct quantitative comparison of recyclability and structural retention for industrially relevant PPWF composites. These advances offer a pathway for integrating renewable residues into high-performance, durable, and circular materials platforms beyond the capabilities of conventional polymers.

Arabinoxylans are the most abundant polysaccharides in the bran from wheat and rye kernels. Ferulic acid moieties covalently bound to arabinosyl substitutions in arabinoxylans can be oxidised and crosslinked by laccase enzymes, forming xylan hydrogels stabilised by chemical and physical interactions. Here, we explore the use of α-L-arabinofuranosidases to tune the rheological properties of laccase-crosslinked feruloylated arabinoxylans from wheat (WAX) and rye (RAX) brans, proposed to be mediated via intermolecular backbone interactions. The effect of subsequent freeze-drying and regeneration of the hydrogels on their multiscale structure and viscoelastic properties was further evaluated by X-ray scattering, microscopy and rheology measurements. The combined use of α-L-arabinofuranosidases from glycosyl hydrolase (GH) families GH62 and GH43 with complementary specificity towards different substitution motifs in arabinoxylan resulted in synergistic arabinose removal with a 48 % and 33 % increase in arabinose removal in WAX and RAX respectively, while retaining the ferulic acid moieties in both WAX and RAX. The extent of ferulic acid oxidation in WAX and RAX seemed to be affected by substrate inaccessibility for the laccase and polysaccharide chain aggregation, which was further accentuated by enzymatic arabinose removal. Rheological investigations revealed that laccase-crosslinked WAX hydrogels pretreated with arabinofuranosidases showed a decrease of 65–95 % in the storage and loss moduli compared to the non-pretreated WAX hydrogels, whereas arabinose removal improved the viscoelastic properties of RAX hydrogels both before and after regeneration, with an increase of storage moduli of 72–100 %. Arabinofuranosidase treatments and freeze-drying/regeneration altered the hydration properties of the hydrogels and their network structure, promoting the occurrence of ordered domains. Our results show that the biophysical properties of the arabinoxylans in terms of aggregation and hydration largely influence substrate accessibility to laccase-mediated oxidation and the multiscale assembly of the hydrogels upon freeze drying and regeneration, thus impacting their overall rheological properties. These dietary fibre hydrogels from cereal side streams have large potential to be used as food hydrocolloids, contributing to the overall circularity of the food system.

We report a dual-pathway decarbonization strategy for high-impact polystyrene (HIPS) that integrates renewable bio-rubbers and marine biomass fillers to reduce reliance on fossil-derived components. Poly(butadiene-co-myrcene) copolymers with 20–50 wt% myrcene were synthesized via neodymium-catalyzed coordination polymerization, achieving high cis-1,4 stereoregularity and molecular weights suitable for impact modification. These bio-rubbers were incorporated in situ during styrene polymerization to produce Bio-HIPS with tunable morphology, transitioning from a salami to a core–shell structure as the myrcene content increased. Concurrently, Caribbean Sargassum biomass was chemically treated to remove non-cellulosic components and used as a 20 wt% bio-filler in both commercial and bio-HIPS matrices. Comprehensive characterization revealed that treated Sargassum enhanced matrix-filler adhesion, improving mechanical properties and maintaining processability. Bio-HIPS composites exhibited increased stiffness, preserved damping capacity, and elevated glass transition temperatures compared to commercial counterparts. This work demonstrates a scalable, sustainable approach to producing high-performance, partially bio-sourced HIPS, valorizing marine waste and advancing circular materials design.

Amylose is one of the two major glucose polymers in starch, the other being amylopectin. Amylose has long linear structure with a few branches. It is normally present in amorphous conformation in native starch granules, but the crystalline structure of amylose double helices is found in high-amylose starch granules and retrograded starch. Amylose can also form single-helical inclusion complexes with alcohols and certain lipids. Due to its rapid retrogradation rate and its ability to complex with lipids, amylose can affect the texture, stability, and digestibility of food products, and thus, it is important to quantify the amylose content of starch in order to determine its end-uses. However, there are several methods to analyze amylose content, and these methods do not give the same results as they do not measure the same thing. Hence, it is crucial to know the method used when comparing the amylose contents among different starches.

Mixed-linkage β-glucans (MLGs) are ubiquitous cell wall structural polysaccharides, mainly present in grasses and other organisms (i.e., Equisetaceae and lichens). MLGs are linear homopolysaccharides built by d-glucopyranose units (Glc) that show a singular primary structure of both β-(1→3) and β-(1→4) glycosidic linkages. This creates a block intramolecular copolymer structure with randomly distributed cellotriose, cellotetraose and even longer oligosaccharide domains, depending on the biological source. The solubility and aggregative properties of MLGs are largely dependent on their intramolecular structure, molecular weight, and concentration, which in turn influence their viscosity and rheological properties. MLGs are an important source of dietary fibers in our diets with nutritional and health benefits, contributing to improved cholesterol levels, blood sugar regulation, immunomodulatory function, satiety and weight management, and gut health as prebiotics. The mechanisms involved in these health benefits are related to both physicochemical and biological processes, such as increased viscosity of the digesta, interactions with starch and other food nutrients, inhibition of the enzyme activity, increased bile salt excretion, and enhanced growth of beneficial gut bacteria and production of bacterial metabolites. MLGs have important nutritional and biological applications as food ingredients in bread and baking applications, and in plant-based alternatives to animal products.

Wood is the most abundant renewable natural resource composed of different polysaccharides and lignin, but its utilisation is hampered by intermolecular linkages between these components forming lignin‐carbohydrate complexes (LCCs) causing recalcitrance. The links between glucuronoxylan and the γ‐C of lignin (γ‐ester linkages) are thought to contribute to one‐third of LCCs, but direct evidence for their natural occurrence and their role in recalcitrance has been scarce so far. To address these issues, Phanerochaete carnosa glucuronoyl esterase ( Pc GCE), hydrolysing γ‐ester linkages, was expressed in cell walls of developing wood in hybrid aspen ( Populus tremula L. × tremuloides Michx.). The enzyme reduced HSQC 2D NMR signals corresponding to the γ‐esters and xylan in dioxane‐extracted LCCs without altering glucuronoxylan content or structure. This increased acid solubility of lignin and lignin content. Reduced wood recalcitrance was shown by increased sugar yields and glucose production rates (by approx. 20%) in saccharification without pretreatment and increased xylan extractability by subcritical water (by approx. 70%). Moreover, trees expressing Pc GCE exhibited greater primary and secondary growth. Transcriptomics and metabolomics analyses in developing wood suggested that growth could have been induced by a higher transcription of SMR2 and RPOTmp, which was likely triggered by the secondary cell wall integrity signalling. The results provide evidence for the natural existence of LCC γ‐esters and their significant contribution to lignocellulose recalcitrance. Furthermore, they show that reducing γ‐ester linkages could increase plant productivity.

Glycogen is a glucose-storage polysaccharide molecule present in animals, fungi and bacteria. The enzyme glycogenin can self-glycosylate, forming an oligosaccharide chain that primes glycogen synthesis. This priming role of glycogenin was first believed to be essential for glycogen synthesis, but glycogen was then found in the skeletal muscle, heart, liver and brain of glycogenin-knockout mice (Gyg KO), thereby showing that glycogen can be synthesized without glycogenin. Within the liver, glycogen is present in the form of individual glycogen particles, called β particles, and larger composite aggregates of linked β particles, called α particles. Previous studies suggested that liver glycogenin plays a role in linking β particles into α particles and thus participating in glucose homeostasis, which implies that α particles would be absent in Gyg KO mice liver. Here we test this through targeted characterization of glycogen structure and through proteomic and metabolic studies on Gyg KO mice. The results show that, contrary to what had been believed, glycogenin is not necessary for normal liver-glycogen metabolism.