European Journal of Nutrition最新文献

Purpose: Athletes are at increased risk for functional constipation due to high-intensity training, irregular diets, and disrupted circadian rhythms. Soluble fibers, particularly konjac glucomannan (KGM), have shown potential in alleviating constipation, but clinical evidence, especially in athletes, is limited. This study aimed to assess the effects of an 8-week KGM intervention on gastrointestinal symptoms and gut microbiota in elite male Taekwondo athletes with functional constipation.

Methods: In this double-blind randomized controlled trial, we enrolled male elite Taekwondo athletes diagnosed with functional constipation according to Rome IV criteria. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either KGM supplementation (dietary intervention group, DG) or placebo (control group, CG) for 8 weeks. Primary outcomes included the Patient Assessment of Constipation Symptoms (PAC-SYM), Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life (PAC-QoL), bowel movement frequency (BMF), Bristol Stool Scale, and the Bowel Function Index (BFI). Stool samples were collected for 16S rRNA gene sequencing to evaluate microbial composition and diversity.

Results: Compared to the placebo group, the KGM group exhibited significant improvements in PAC-SYM, PAC-QoL, BMF, and BFI scores (p < 0.05 for all). Microbial analysis revealed a marked increase in α-diversity and elevated relative abundances of Prevotella_9, Phascolarctobacterium, Lactobacillus, Bacteroides, and members of the Prevotellaceae family, alongside reduced levels of Alistipes and Desulfovibrio. Correlation analyses indicated a strong association between microbial shifts and symptom improvement. Functional predictions further suggested differential expression in microbial metabolic pathways, including upregulation of biotin biosynthesis I and nitrate reduction VI (assimilatory), and downregulation of L-methionine biosynthesis III (all p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Konjac glucomannan significantly ameliorated gastrointestinal symptoms in elite athletes with functional constipation, potentially via modulation of the gut microbiota.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the associations between the intake of high- and low-fat fermented dairy (cheese and fermented milk), their proteomic profiles, and mortality risk.

Methods: This cohort study included 25,187 participants (mean age 57.7 years, 60.9% females). Fermented dairy intake was assessed by a modified diet history method. In a random subset of this cohort (n = 4359), we constructed proteomic signatures for fermented dairy intake using 136 candidate plasma proteins.

Results: During 23.5 years of follow-up, 9742 participants died. High-fat cheese (> 20% fat) intake was inversely associated with risk of all-cause mortality (HR for an increment of 20 g/day, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.96-0.99, P < 0.001) and cardiovascular disease mortality (HR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.93-0.99, P = 0.006). Low-fat cheese intake showed an inverse association with all-cause mortality (HR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.96-1.00, P = 0.047). Low-fat fermented milk intake was inversely associated with all-cause mortality (HR for an increment of 250 g/day, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.85-0.97, P = 0.006), while high-fat fermented milk (> 2.5% fat) showed null association. A total of 42, 26, 0, and 39 proteins were identified for the signature of high-fat cheese, low-fat cheese, high-fat fermented milk, and low-fat fermented milk, respectively. Inverse associations with all-cause mortality were observed for all three signatures with identified proteins. The identified proteins were involved in biological pathways related to immune response and inflammation.

Conclusion: Our study indicated that consuming high-fat cheese, low-fat cheese, and low-fat fermented milk was linked to survival benefits. Plasma proteins improve our understanding of the health effects of fermented dairy.

Rice is the staple food for half of the world's population but is low in lysine content. We previously developed transgenic lysine-rich rice with enhanced free lysine content in rice seeds and demonstrated that it could improve skeletal growth and development in rats. However, the effects of lysine-rich rice on muscle remain to be studied. We hypothesized that lysine-rich rice was able to improve muscle growth in weaning rats via its anabolic effects on muscle metabolism. Male weaning Sprague-Dawley rats received lysine-rich rice (HFL) diet, wild-type rice (WT) diet, or wild-type rice with various doses of lysine supplementation (WT + Lys) diet (+ 0%, + 10%, + 20%, and + 40% lysine) for 70 days. Muscle strength and quality were analyzed by biomechanical test and muscle fiber typing of the extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles. Molecular mechanisms of lysine on muscle growth were also explored by rat serum biochemistry and cell culture systems. Results indicated that the HFL diet improved rats' muscle growth, strength, and physiological cross-sectional area (CSA) over the WT diet group. The CSAs of fast-twitch muscle fibers (Type IIb and IIx) were also increased. In addition, the HFL increased serum insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and decreased serum myostatin (MSTN) concentrations. The cell culture model showed that lysine deficiency reduced IGF-1 expression and inhibited myoblast differentiation associated with muscle growth. Our findings showed that lysine-rich rice improved muscle growth and development in weaning rats. Higher dietary lysine possibly inhibited MSTN and activated of IGF-1 signaling pathway for muscle growth and development.

Purpose: Dietary advanced glycation end products (AGEs) might exert adverse effects on mental disorders. To explore whether elevated dietary AGEs intake is associated with increased risk of mental disorders, and whether this association might be affected by genetic risk and allostatic load (AL).

Methods: A prospective cohort study, including a total of 112,989 participants, conducted at least two 24-h dietary assessments in the UK Biobank Study (2006-2010) and were followed up until 2021. Dietary AGEs, including Nε-(1-Carboxyethyl)-l-lysine (CEL), Nε-(carboxymethyl) lysine (CML), and Nδ-(5-hydro-5-methyl-4-imidazolon-2-yl)-ornithine (MG-H1) were estimated via averaged data from the multiple 24-h food assessments according to the ultra-performance LC-tandem MS based dietary AGEs database. Incident depression and anxiety, ascertained via hospital admission records and mental health questionnaires.

Results: During an average follow-up period of 12.9 years, 5489 and 5163 participants developed depression and anxiety, respectively. When comparing high (Q5) quantiles with low quantiles (Q1&2) of dietary AGEs intake, HRs (95%CIs) of depression, anxiety, and mental disorders were 1.16 (1.07, 1.27), 1.11 (1.01, 1.22) and 1.14 (1.07, 1.22), respectively. High dietary CML and MG-H1 intake were also associated increased risk of depression, anxiety, and their co-occurrence. The positive associations between dietary AGEs intake and the risk of depression were more pronounced among participants with intermediate and high genetic risk (P-interaction < 0.001) and with high AL level (P-interaction = 0.019).

Conclusions: Consuming high levels of dietary AGEs (including CML and MG-H1) was associated with an increased risk of depression and anxiety. This association may be affected by genetic risk and AL.

Purpose: The present study aimed to clarify associations between coffee intake and kidney function with consideration of the effect modifications from coffee intake-related genetic polymorphisms.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 7,468 Japanese participants 35-69 years old (3,953 women: 52.9%) from the baseline survey of the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort study. Coffee intake was estimated with a self-administered questionnaire. Three coffee intake-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (in AHR [rs4410790], HECTD4 [rs2074356], and CYP1A2 [rs762551]) were selected with reference to previous studies. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR [ml/min/1.73 m²]) and CKD (defined as eGFR < 60 ml/min/1.73 m²) were determined.

Results: In participants with a slow metabolizing genotype of rs4410790, eGFR with higher coffee intake was 1.64 ml/min/1.73 m² (95% CI 0.29-2.98) lower than with low coffee intake. For a frequent coffee consumer genotype of rs2074356, eGFR in participants with moderate coffee intake was higher than with low coffee intake. For heterozygous-type rs762551, coffee intake was associated with a lower prevalence of CKD (OR: 0.53, 95% CI 0.33-0.83). Moreover, with the frequent coffee consumer genotype of rs2074356, higher coffee intake was associated with a lower prevalence of CKD (OR: 0.27, 95% CI 0.08-0.78).

Conclusion: Associations of coffee intake with kidney function and CKD may differ across coffee intake-related polymorphisms in Japanese adults. These findings suggest that attention should be paid to heterogeneous associations between coffee intake and kidney function according to genetic polymorphisms. Further longitudinal studies are expected to address causal questions of these associations.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the association between adherence to the Nordic diet and risks of mortality, chronic disease incidence, and cardiometabolic markers, using a GRADE-assessed systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Methods: We conducted a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis, searching PubMed, Scopus, and ISI Web of Science through April 10, 2025. Our analysis included 32 prospective cohort studies and 15 RCTs examining Nordic diet adherence and health outcomes. We calculated pooled relative risks (RRs) and weighted mean differences using random-effects or fixed-effects models, assessed heterogeneity with Cochran's Q test and I² statistics.

Results: In prospective cohort studies, individuals with higher adherence to the Nordic dietary pattern had lower risks of all-cause mortality (RR 0.78, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.71-0.86), cardiovascular mortality (RR 0.84, 95% CI 0.79-0.80), cancer mortality (RR 0.86, 95% CI 0.81-0.91), and other-cause mortality (RR 0.69, 95% CI 0.60-0.79) compared to those with lower adherence. Similarly, higher adherence was associated with reduced incidence of type 2 diabetes (12% lower risk), cardiovascular disease (8%), coronary heart disease (11%), stroke (12%), and cancer (16%). In RCTs, participants assigned to the Nordic diet showed significant improvements in fasting glucose, insulin, lipids, and blood pressure compared to control diets. However, no effects were observed for high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein A1, or C-reactive protein.

Conclusion: This comprehensive analysis demonstrates that the Nordic diet significantly reduces mortality risk and the incidence of chronic diseases while improving cardiometabolic markers.