International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research最新文献

Aloe Barbadensis Miller (Aloe Vera, AV) is a widely recognized for its diverse health-promoting, skin care, and medicinal properties. This narrative review provides a comprehensive overview of AV's bioactive compounds, pharmacological activities, potential applications, its toxic and adverse effects, as well as the clinical evidence supporting AV's efficacy in disease prevention. AV contains over 200 bioactive compounds, with the inner clear gel of the leaves containing the majority of these compounds. These include phenolic acids (274.5-307.5 mg/100 g), flavonoids. (3.63-4.70 g/kg), polysaccharides (3.82-6.55 g/kg), saponins, alkaloids, terpenoids, and anthraquinone derivatives. Findings from clinical studies involving both humans and animals highlight the therapeutic potential of AV across diverse health domains. The studies demonstrate AV's efficacy in reducing blood glucose levels, exhibiting antioxidant and immunomodulatory effects, inducing apoptosis in cancer cells, protecting the liver from damage, and displaying antimicrobial properties. In the fields of dermatology and dentistry, AV has also been observed to promote skin and oral health. However, it is imperative to acknowledge potential risks, adhere to recommended dosages, and seek guidance from healthcare experts before employing AV as a natural therapeutic option. Moreover, considering safety concerns, further well-designed randomized controlled trials are necessary to substantiate the potential benefits of AV and comprehensively assess any associated risks.

Obesity is a severe health problem worldwide due to its association with various adverse health consequences. The present study aims to evaluate the anti-obesity effects of resveratrol, as a natural polyphenol, on the 3T3-L1 adipocytes. PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Web of Sciences, and Google Scholar databases were searched up to March 2022 using relevant keywords. All original articles, written in English, evaluating the anti-obesity effects of resveratrol on the 3T3-L1 adipocytes were eligible for this review. Initially, 4361 records were found in the electronic search databases. After removing duplicates and irrelevant studies according to the title and abstract, the full text of the 51 articles was critically screened and 38 in vitro studies were included in this review. Except for one case, all of these studies reported that different doses (ranged 1-200 μM) of resveratrol treatment have anti-obesity effects on 3T3L1 adipocytes through various mechanisms such as induction of apoptosis, a decrease of fat accumulation and adipogenesis, promotion of white adipocytes browning, inhibition of preadipocyte proliferation and consequent differentiation, and up-regulation of miRNA that involved in the antiadipogenic and triacylglycerol metabolism in white adipose tissue. The findings indicate that resveratrol has anti-obesity effects. Therefore, resveratrol treatment could be used to prevent and treat obesity and its related disorders. Well-designed randomized clinical trials with different doses of resveratrol are recommended to be performed on obese subjects.

Vitamins are important organic compound required for the proper functioning of cells and organisms. Vitamins of special industrial and pharmaceutical interests include riboflavin (vitamin B2) and pyridoxine (vitamin B6). Commercial production of those biological compounds has increasingly relied on microorganisms and requires simple methods for detecting and estimating their level of synthesis during the biotechnological process. In the case of yeast, methods based on autofluorescence, i.e. natural fluorescence emitted by several cellular compounds, including vitamins, may be useful. Considering that the intensity of emitted light is proportional to the intracellular concentration of riboflavin and pyridoxine, autofluorescence may be a convenient method for their quantification. In this report, we demonstrate a simple, rapid, and sufficiently trustworthy spectrofluorimetric method for determining the content of vitamins B2 and B6 in yeast cells which consists of cells growing, harvesting, washing, and resuspending in a buffer, and then measuring the emitted visible light using specific wavelength of excitation (λ_ex=340 nm and λ_em=385 nm for pyridoxine; λ_ex=460 nm and λ_em=535 nm for riboflavin). The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) estimated through measurements of vitamin fluorescence were below 0.005 μg/ml for riboflavin and below 0.05 μg/ml for pyridoxine, respectively. In turn, the smallest credible cell density for measuring autofluorescence was set at 1×10⁸ yeast cells/ml. The relative level of the cell's autofluorescence can be expressed in mass units by applying proper calculation formulas. A comparison of the autofluorescence-based method with the reference HPLC-UV method shows that autofluorescence measurement can be used in the screening analysis of vitamin content (especially riboflavin) in microbial cells.

The effect of green tea administration on serum lipids' concentrations remains unclear as various investigations, which have explored this topic, have produced conflicting results. Gender might be one of the factors influencing the impact of green tea on the lipid profile. Hence, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to assess the effect of green tea intake on the lipid profile in overweight and obese women. We searched five databases (Web of Science, SCOPUS, Embase, PubMed/Medline, and Google Scholar) using a combination of MeSH and non-MeSH terms. Results were expressed as weighted mean differences (WMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and synthesized with a random-effects model. In total, 15 eligible RCTs with 16 arms (1818 participants) were included in the meta-analysis. The combined effect size revealed a significant reduction in total cholesterol (TC) (WMD: -4.45 mg/dl, 95% CI: -6.63, -2.27, P<0.001) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (WMD: -4.49 mg/dl, 95% CI: -7.50 to -1.47, P=0.003) concentrations following green tea supplementation in overweight and/or obese women. In addition, a more pronounced reduction of triglyceride (TG) levels occurred when the baseline TG value was ≥150 mg/dL (WMD: -24.45 mg/dL, 95% CI: -40.63 to -8.26, P=0.003). Moreover, a significant decrease in TG concentrations occurred in RCTs conducted on overweight subjects (BMI: 25-29.99 kg/m²) (WMD: -5.88 mg/dl, 95% CI: -10.76 to -0.99, P=0.01). In the subgroup analyses based on the study population, a notable increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) values was observed in obese individuals (>30 kg/m²) (WMD: 2.63 mg/dl, 95% CI: 0.10 to 5.16, P=0.041). Consumption of green tea causes a reduction in LDL-C and TC concentrations in overweight and obese women. The decline in TG levels was notable particularly in overweight patients with hypertriglyceridemia at baseline. In addition, a significant increase in HDL-C was detected in obese subjects following intake of green tea.

Dietary recommendations on vitamin intake for human food fortification concerning vitamin A in various countries, larger economic zones and international organizations are mainly based on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) "Codex Alimentarius standards". The general vitamin A terminology is based on regulations of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) that are used to describe the involved derivatives. These regulations and terminology were set up in the middle of the last century. Starting with the decade of the 80ies in the 20th century a large improvement of molecular biological methodologies, background physiological mechanisms as well as analytical techniques contributed to a large diversification of this simply claimed vitamin A terminology. Unfortunately, the following terminology and governmental regulations for food fortification are imprecise and non-harmonized. In this article we tried to unravel this terminology for updating terminology, nutritional suggestions and governmental regulations for vitamin A, which are currently based on various uncertainties. According to the current regulations, the newly found vitamin A₅/X can be included in the current vitamin A terminology as "vitamin A₅" or alternatively or even in parallel as a new vitamin A-independent terminology as "vitamin X". Based on the detailed knowledge of research from the early beginning of general vitamin A pathway identification towards detailed research of the last decades the commonly used and simplified term vitamin A with relevance for governmental recommendations on vitamin intake and food fortification advice was now more correctly sub-categorized to further vitamin A₁, and A₅ sub-categories with vitamin A₁-alcohol as retinol, vitamin A₂-alcohol as 3,4-didehydroretinol and vitamin A₅-alcohol as 9-cis-13,14-dihydroretinol as their mainly relevant vitamin forms present in the human organism. Here we suggest and advise how the vitamin A terminology and further governmental regulations should be organized depending on a successful unraveling of the organization of the current vitamin A terminology.

Background: Gestational diabetes (GDM) is a pregnancy-related glucose intolerance with significant implications for maternal and fetal health. Calcium is essential for insulin secretion and metabolism, while iron intake may also impact GDM. This case-control study was conducted to investigate the relationship between calcium and iron intake with the risk of GDM. Methods: GDM was defined as Fasting Blood Sugar>92mg/dL or 75g Oral-Glucose-Tolerance-Test 120-minutes>153mg/dL. A 168-Item food-frequency-questionnaire was used to collect dietary calcium and iron intake from 24-40 weeks of gestation. The impact of total iron, red, processed/unprocessed meat consumption, calcium, and dairy intake on GDM were investigated. Results: A total of 229 GDM and 205 non-GDM women (18-45 years) participated. GDM group had higher pre-pregnancy weight, weight gain, and pre-pregnancy BMI. Across all models, GDM risk significantly increased in the third and fourth quartiles of iron intake. The fourth quartile had an Odds Ratio (OR) of 2.68 (CI 95%, 4.89-1.56; P<0.001) compared to the reference. Heme-iron consumption in the fourth quartiles increased GDM risk. In the second calcium intake model, ORs for the second, third, and fourth quartiles were 0.51 (CI 95%, 0.91-0.25), 0.43 (CI 95%, 0.77-0.24), and 0.35 (CI 95%, 0.63-0.19), respectively (P<0.001 all), reducing GDM risk by 50-65% compared to the first quartile. Dairy consumption in all quartiles of the first and second models was associated with lower GDM risk. Conclusions: Consumption of heme-iron through red and processed meat associated with an increased chance of developing GDM. Dairy intake reduces the chances of developing GDM in pregnant women.

Background: In vitro studies have shown that genistein inhibits the CYP240 enzyme, which is involved in the degradation of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol and its precursor 25-hydroxycholecalciferol, and increases their plasma levels. However, no clinical studies have primarily assessed the synergistic effect of isoflavones on vitamin D levels. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible additive effect of genistein supplementation on vitamin D levels, calcium metabolism and bone remodeling markers in healthy postmenopausal women during the spring-summer months. Patients and methods: We made a prospective, double-blind study with 150 healthy postmenopausal women that were randomized to three groups. One received placebo, another received calcium (1000 mg/day) and vitamin D (cholecalciferol, 800 U/day) and the third received calcium (1000 mg/day), vitamin D (cholecalciferol, 800 U/day) and genistein (90 mg/day). The study period was from May to September (spring-summer). Vitamin D, PTH, CTX and P1NP were determined by electrochemiluminescence at baseline and after 12 weeks. Results: Vitamin D levels increased in all groups: placebo (23±9 ng/ml vs. 29±10 ng/ml, p<0.05), calcium+vitamin D (26±10 ng/ml vs. 33±8 ng/ml, p<0.05) and calcium+vitamin D+genistein (24±9 ng/ml vs. 31±8 ng/l, p<0.05) without between-group differences. At study end, the percentage of women with vitamin D <20 ng/ml (11%) and <30 ng/ml (39%) had fallen without between-group differences. The effects on calcium metabolism and bone remodeling markers were similar between groups: rises in vitamin D were significantly linked to reductions in PTH, CTX and P1NP. Conclusion: Adding genistein to supplementation with calcium and vitamin D provided not additional changes in vitamin D levels, calcium metabolism or bone remodeling markers in healthy Spanish postmenopausal women during the spring-summer months.

A healthy and balanced diet is an important factor to assure a good functioning of the central and peripheral nervous system. Retinoid X receptor (RXR)-mediated signaling was identified as an important mechanism of transmitting major diet-dependent physiological and nutritional signaling such as the control of myelination and dopamine signalling. Recently, vitamin A5/X, mainly present in vegetables as provitamin A5/X, was identified as a new concept of a vitamin which functions as the nutritional precursor for enabling RXR-mediated signaling. The active form of vitamin A5/X, 9-cis-13,14-dehydroretinoic acid (9CDHRA), induces RXR-activation, thereby acting as the central switch for enabling various heterodimer-RXR-signaling cascades involving various partner heterodimers like the fatty acid and eicosanoid receptors/peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), the cholesterol receptors/liver X receptors (LXRs), the vitamin D receptor (VDR), and the vitamin A(1) receptors/retinoic acid receptors (RARs). Thus, nutritional supply of vitamin A5/X might be a general nutritional-dependent switch for enabling this large cascade of hormonal signaling pathways and thus appears important to guarantee an overall organism homeostasis. RXR-mediated signaling was shown to be dependent on vitamin A5/X with direct effects for beneficial physiological and neuro-protective functions mediated systemically or directly in the brain. In summary, through control of dopamine signaling, amyloid β-clearance, neuro-protection and neuro-inflammation, the vitamin A5/X - RXR - RAR - vitamin A(1)-signaling might be "one of" or even "the" critical factor(s) necessary for good mental health, healthy brain aging, as well as for preventing drug addiction and prevention of a large array of nervous system diseases. Likewise, vitamin A5/X - RXR - non-RAR-dependent signaling relevant for myelination/re-myelination and phagocytosis/brain cleanup will contribute to such regulations too. In this review we discuss the basic scientific background, logical connections and nutritional/pharmacological expert recommendations for the nervous system especially considering the ageing brain.