European Journal of Nutrition最新文献

Purpose: The main purpose of this review is to explore the potential of rare sugars as an innovative nutritional intervention for obesity-related type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and associated cardiometabolic diseases. The central research question is whether rare sugars, due to their unique metabolic properties, can serve as effective alternatives to traditional treatments, helping to manage or prevent T2DM while minimizing long-term side effects linked to anti-diabetic drugs.

Methods: This review synthesizes evidence from in vitro, ex vivo, in vivo, and clinical studies to assess the effects of rare sugars on glucose metabolism, insulin sensitivity, lipid regulation, and overall cardiometabolic health. Studies were examined for their contributions to understanding the mechanistic pathways and therapeutic implications of rare sugars in comparison with conventional interventions.

Results: Evidence indicates that rare sugars differ significantly from regular sugars in their metabolic impact. Findings highlight their anti-hyperglycemic and anti-hyperlipidemic effects, with demonstrated improvements in insulin sensitivity and glucose regulation. Both animal and human studies suggest that rare sugars may reduce cardiometabolic risks associated with obesity and T2DM, supporting their role as promising functional sweeteners.

Conclusions: Rare sugars present a novel and promising strategy for managing obesity-related T2DM and preventing cardiometabolic complications. While current evidence underscores their beneficial metabolic properties, more comprehensive clinical trials in diverse populations are necessary to validate their efficacy and safety in long-term use. These findings open a pathway for rare sugars to be considered as part of dietary strategies aimed at improving cardiovascular and metabolic health.

Purpose: Recent trends in dietary supplement use, particularly non-vitamin, non-mineral products, are not well characterized. We assessed patterns of dietary supplement use among U.S. adults from 2011 to 2023.

Methods: We used data from five cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2011-2023, n = 29,216). Dietary supplement information was collected with in-home or telephone interviews by asking participants whether they used any dietary supplements in the preceding 30 days. Survey-weighted prevalence of overall and individual supplement use was calculated to be nationally representative of U.S. adults aged 20 years and older. We evaluated trends across cycles and conducted subgroup analyses by age, sex, race and ethnicity, education, body mass index, and self-reported health status.

Results: The overall use of any dietary supplements increased from 51.8% in 2011-2012 to 61.4% in 2021-2023 (Ratio = 1.19, 95% confidence intervals: 1.10, 1.27; Difference = 9.6% [5.6%, 13.5%]; P _trend < 0.001). Use of four or more supplement products increased from 10.0 to 16.2% between 2011-2012 and 2021-2023 cycles (Ratio = 1.63 [1.35, 1.96], Difference = 6.3% [3.9%, 8.6%], P _trend < 0.001). The observed increasing trend was consistent across different groups of age, sex, race and ethnicity, education, body mass index, and self-reported health status. There has been a steady rise in the use of ten supplements: biotin, vitamin B1, B12, C, D, zinc, co-enzyme Q10, fiber, ginger, and probiotic.

Conclusion: Dietary supplement uses among U.S. adults increased significantly during the last decade, with notable growth in the use of specific products like fiber and probiotic.

Purpose: Nutritional epidemiological research is shifting its focus from individual nutrients to dietary patterns, which challenges traditional statistical methods. Here, we aim to apply various machine learning algorithms to identify and predict dietary patterns in the Dutch population.

Methods: Data on food consumption, sociodemographic and lifestyle factors from 867 males and 866 females participating in the Dutch National Food Consumption Survey (DNFCS) were analysed. K-means, K-medoids, and hierarchical clustering were compared to identify dietary patterns by sex. Six classifiers (naïve Bayes, K-nearest neighbours, decision tree, random forest, support vector machine and xgboost) were used to predict identified dietary patterns based on sociodemographic and lifestyle factors.

Results: After comparison, the optimal clustering method, K-means clustering, identified two distinct dietary patterns for both sexes, i.e. Traditional and Health-conscious patterns. The Traditional pattern was characterised by a higher energy intake and consumption of bread, potatoes, red and processed meat, coffee, fats and oils, and sugary drinks. Conversely, a higher intake of fruit, vegetables, tea, nuts, seeds, and breakfast cereals characterised the Health-conscious pattern. The classification models demonstrated moderate predictive accuracies (60-68%). According to the classifiers, the most important predictors for both sexes were education level, age, and BMI.

Conclusion: Machine learning algorithms can be useful in identifying dietary patterns in population studies. We identified Health-conscious and Traditional patterns in a Dutch population, suggesting tailored public health interventions towards individuals adhering to a Traditional pattern. Future research should improve model validity and reproducibility to enhance its applicability in public health interventions and dietary guidelines.

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.