European Journal of Nutrition最新文献

Purpose: Coffee consumption has been associated with various health benefits; however, the underlying biological mechanisms remain poorly understood. In particular, the acute effects of coffee on circulating cytokines and the specific role of caffeine compared with the whole coffee matrix are still insufficiently characterised in humans. To our knowledge, no previous human study has directly compared immune modulation by coffee versus caffeine alone. We therefore aimed to elucidate the effect of a usual caffeine dose of 130 mg on postprandial cytokine secretion, and whether responses differ between coffee and pure caffeine.

Methods: In a randomized pilot trial, ten healthy volunteers completed three test days receiving either a coffee brew, an aqueous caffeine solution (each 130 mg caffeine/100 ml), or water. Quantitative analysis of caffeine was performed with UHPLC-MS/MS, immune markers were measured by a multiplex immunoassay.

Results: Our study demonstrates that both caffeine and coffee consumption influence the immune homeostasis, albeit with notable differences on cytokine secretion. Pure caffeine induced a higher anti-inflammatory response, as evidenced by the significant decrease in pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-17 A, IL-12p70, and IL-2 compared to coffee and water. The integrated response on the immune system is exemplified by the decrease of the pro-inflammatory IFN-γ (0.649 ± 0.068) and the anti-inflammatory IL-10 (0.478 ± 0.043), vs. baseline, respectively.

Conclusion: These findings provide novel in vivo evidence that usual coffee and caffeine acutely affects cytokine responses differently in healthy individuals. In conclusion, our study addresses an important gap regarding the immune properties of coffee and suggests that bioactive compounds beyond caffeine contribute substantially to its immunological effects.

Purpose: Amino acids (AA) are crucial for fetal growth, but their associations are not fully understood. We examined the associations of plasma AAs in early pregnancy with fetal growth trajectories across pregnancy.

Methods: 321 women from a GDM nested case-control study from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD Fetal Growth Studies were enrolled at 10-14 gestational weeks. Ultrasound schedules were randomly assigned to estimate weekly fetal growth. Plasma concentrations of aromatic AAs, branched-chain AAs, and AAs involved in one-carbon metabolism were measured using blood samples collected at enrollment. We modeled fetal growth trajectories across AA tertiles with cubic splines using linear mixed models, accounting for major confounders; global differences were tested using log-likelihood ratio tests. Then, we performed weekly comparisons of fetal growth parameters between AA tertiles to evaluate the trajectory of fetal growth parameters.

Results: In global tests, AAs were associated with fetal growth trajectories. In weekly comparisons, for instance, women with the highest tertile of methionine had lower estimated fetal weight (EFW) and biparietal diameter (BPD) in mid-pregnancy (EFW at week 27: 992.65 vs. 1050.72 g, p-value = 0.04, overall linear p-trend = 0.03; BPD at week 22: 51.90 vs. 54.06 mm, p-value < 0.0001, overall linear p-trend = 0.007), compared to the lowest tertile. The highest tertile of tyrosine was associated with lower BPD in mid-to-late pregnancy (BPD at week 20: 46.38 vs. 48.26 mm, p-value = 0.005, at week 31: 77.08 vs. 79.52 mm, p-value = 0.005, overall linear p-trend = 0.02).

Conclusions: Overall, plasma AAs were inversely related to subsequent fetal growth trajectories, with differences observed by AAs and gestational age.

Trial registration number: NCT00912132.