Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism最新文献

Introduction: The pattern of diet intake is associated with food availability and the intake of nutrients from different food groups and is an important component of nutritional status. The dietary habits of individuals are integral to understanding their nutritional wellbeing, making this assessment crucial for public health interventions. The objective of the study was to assess the dietary intake pattern and nutritional status among women of reproductive age in slum areas of Pokhara Metropolitan. Methodology. A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted to assess the dietary intake pattern and nutritional status among 404 women of reproductive age in the slum area of Pokhara from June 2019 to December 2019. A simple random sampling technique was used to select the wards while a purposive sampling technique was used to collect the samples. 24-hour recall meal-based questions and anthropometric measurements were used for collecting data. Data were entered into EpiData and analyzed using SPSS version 16 software for analysis. Frequency and mean, median, chi-square test, and logistic regression were performed.

Results: The mean (±SD) age (SD) of the participants was 31 (±9.25) years, and most of the participants belonged to the age group 25-35 years. Out of 404 women of reproductive age, 99% of the participants consumed starchy staple foods daily, while 56.7% ate vegetables daily, and nearly half frequently consumed prepackaged foods and soft drinks. Among the total participants, 41.3% were found with a normal BMI, 37.6% were overweight, and only 12.4% were underweight. There was a significant association between underweight and age, women's occupation, and frequency of food consumption per day. Age, knowledge of nutrition, and frequency of food consumption per day were found to be associated factors with being overweight at a p value <0.05.

Conclusion: Age, occupation status, and frequency of food consumption were the key predictors of being underweight, and age, knowledge regarding nutrition, and frequency of meals were the key predictors of being overweight. Developing countries must emphasize the importance of considering these factors in public health interventions and strategies aimed at promoting healthy weight management. More studies are needed.

Despite extensive documentation of the negative consequences of smoking on a wide range of diseases and disorders, the direct effect of smoking on seminal plasma vitamin B₆ (vitB₆) concentration is not addressed yet. Here, we attempted to examine the influence of smoking on the levels of seminal plasma vitB₆ in fertile and subfertile males. One hundred and ninety-five participants were categorized into two groups: fertile men (smokers (n = 32), nonsmokers (n = 43)) and subfertile men (smokers (n = 65), nonsmokers (n = 55)). According to the World Health Organization criteria, conventional semen analysis was performed for all subjects involved in the study. The concentration of vitB₆ in semen samples was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry. There was no significant difference in the mean seminal plasma concentrations of vitB₆ in smokers versus nonsmokers in both fertile (p=0.5096) and subfertile (p=0.5224) groups. Besides, no significant correlations were observed between seminal plasma concentration of vitB₆, duration of smoking, and men's age in all tested groups. In conclusion, these findings elucidate that smoking has no significant impact on the levels of seminal plasma vitB₆ in both fertile and subfertile men.

Dietary protein plays a crucial role in the modulation of several physiological processes to sustain health and well-being. There is robust evidence of enhanced muscle protein synthesis, improved physical fitness, body composition, and performance contributed by protein supplementation combined with exercise among trained individuals or athletes. Evidence of the efficacy of such intervention on healthy adults having a sedentary lifestyle is limited. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of 12 g of additional protein in the form of a protein supplement compared to a placebo combined with a simple exercise program on plasma amino acid level, body composition, and muscle strength among healthy Indian adults having a relatively sedentary lifestyle. This double-blinded, randomized controlled trial was conducted on sedentary healthy adults 20-45 years of age, with a body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 27.9 kg/m². Eighty-two participants were randomized into either the protein (intervention) or placebo (control) group. The exercise regime was the same for both groups. Out of 82 randomized participants, 58 completed the intervention. Blood tests were conducted for the amino acid OMICS measurement followed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) for body composition and isokinetic dynamometry for muscle strength. A significant improvement was observed in the lean mass (kg) and appendicular muscle mass (AMM) adjusted for weight in the intervention group compared to the control group (p < 0.05). The muscle strength and contractile quality were comparable in the 2 groups. Plasma BCAA showed a significant negative association with body fat % (r = -0.43, p < 0.05 for the intervention group and r = -0.33, p = 0.07 for the control group) and a positive association with lean body mass % (r = 0.56, p < 0.01 in the intervention group vs r = 0.29, p = 0.10 in the control group) in the intervention group compared to control. In conclusion, this study highlighted the value of incorporating a lifestyle intervention including protein supplementation with simple exercises to optimize body composition in sedentary healthy individuals. This trial is registered with CTRI/2018/12/016777.

Aims: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of reborn soup on the perceptions of saltiness and palatability.

Methods: Subjects comprised 103 staff working at Kokura Daiichi Hospital (22 males, 81 females, and mean age: 35 ± 12 years old). They tested soups (commercially available soup with 0.9% NaCl solutions (A), commercially available soup with 0.6% NaCl solutions (B), and reborn soup diluted to 0.6% NaCl solutions (C)). Evaluations of saltiness and palatability for each solution were conducted using a visual analog scale in a double-blinded randomized manner. We estimated 24-hour salt excretion using spot urine samples to estimate salt intake and also assessed blood pressure, the awareness of salt intake using a self-description questionnaire score, and other confounding factors including lifestyle factors.

Results: In all subjects, the average estimated salt intake was 9.0 ± 2.0 g/day, and the rates at which subjects met the established salt intake targets were 15.1% in 73 females without hypertension (<6.5 g/day), 23.5% in 17 males without hypertension (<7.5 g/day), and 0.0% in 13 subjects with hypertension (<6.0 g/day). In both saltiness and palatability, B scored significantly lower than A, but C scored significantly higher than B. Salt intake levels were categorized into tertiles (Q1, lowest; Q3, highest). C scored significantly higher for palatability in the Q1 group than in the Q3 group.

Conclusions: Most participants exceeded the established targets of salt intake. The high-salt-intake group might be able to feel less palatable. Our results indicate that reborn soup may be effective in reducing salt intake without loss of palatability.

Purpose: This cross-sectional survey study aimed to examine the association between vegetarian diet consumption and sleep quality, academic performance, and health-related quality of life among female undergraduate college students.

Method: A sample of 158 undergraduate female college students was recruited using a convenience sampling approach. Data collection utilized reliable and validated English-language instruments including the Vegetarian Quality of Life Questionnaire (VEGQOL), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and health-related quality of life scale (HRQoL). The data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and appropriate descriptive statistics.

Results: Vegetarians exhibited a significantly lower BMI compared to nonvegetarians (F (1, 156) = [6.09], p=0.015). Those strictly adhering to a vegan diet (48.79 ± 9.41) had the lowest vegetarian quality of life among all participants following various forms of a vegetarian diet (F (3, 68) = [2.78], p=0.04). The majority of female college students reported good to excellent general health (91.7%), with 53.2% perceiving their sleep quality as fairly good. However, the mean PSQI global score of 8.04 (±3.35) indicated poor sleep quality. No significant association was found between diet type (vegetarian vs. nonvegetarian) and academic performance (cGPA) (χ ² (4, N = 158) = 2.92, p=0.57). There was no significant relationship between diet types and academic performance, HRQoL, and sleep quality.

Conclusion: Despite a significant association between vegetarian diet and lower BMI, surprisingly, no substantial relationships were identified between diet type and academic performance, HRQoL, and sleep quality. These findings contribute to the ongoing discourse on the potential impacts of a vegetarian diet on various facets of female college students' well-being and highlight the need for further exploration in this field.

Vitamin B12, or cobalamin, is an essential nutrient required for diverse physiological functions secondary to its role as a critical cofactor for two mammalian enzymes, methionine synthase and methylmalonyl-CoA mutase. While essential throughout all life stages, several pathways that require vitamin B12, including hematopoiesis, myelination, and DNA/histone methylation, are particularly critical during pregnancy and fetal development. This narrative review aims to describe vitamin B12 in pregnancy, with emphasis on the placenta's role in ensuring adequate nutrition of the fetus and impacts of vitamin B12 deficiency on placental development and function. Our literature search included preclinical model systems and human cohorts and interventions. Our review identified evidence of B12 deficiency resulting in impaired placental development, greater placental inflammation, and modulation of placental docosahexaenoic acid concentration, collectively suggestive of vitamin B12 deficiency as a determinant of both maternal and fetal health outcomes. Heterogeneity in study design complicated generalization of findings. Future studies should consider selecting a B12 marker that is relatively stable across pregnancy, such as holotranscobalamin, while accounting for important confounders such as maternal folate.

Food safety is a global concern, with millions suffering from foodborne diseases annually. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports significant morbidity and mortality associated with contaminated food consumption, and this emphasizes the critical need for comprehensive food safety measures. Recent attention has turned to postbiotics, metabolic byproducts of probiotics, as potential agents for enhancing food safety. Postbiotics, including organic acids, enzymes, and bacteriocins, exhibit antimicrobial and antioxidant properties that do not require live organisms, and this offers advantages over probiotics. This literature review critically examines the role of postbiotics in gut microbiome modulation and applications in the food industry. Through an extensive review of existing literature, this study evaluates the impact of postbiotics on gut microbiome composition and their potential as functional food ingredients. Research indicates that postbiotics are effective in inhibiting food pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enterica, and Escherichia coli, as well as their ability to prevent oxidative stress-related diseases, and they also show promise as alternatives to conventional food preservatives that can extend food shelf life by inhibiting harmful bacterial growth. Their application in functional foods contributes to improved gut health and reduced risk of foodborne illnesses. Findings suggest that postbiotics hold promise for improving health and preservation by inhibiting pathogenic bacteria growth and modulating immune responses.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is known as a major public health problem with a noticeable adverse impact on quality of life and health expenditures worldwide. Despite using routine multiple pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions, including diet therapy and increasing physical activity, controlling this chronic disease remains a challenging issue, and therapeutic goals are often not achieved. Therefore, recently, other therapeutic procedures, such as using herbal products and functional foods as complementary or alternative medicine (CAM), have received great attention as a new approach to managing T2D complications, according to the literature. We reviewed the existing evidence that supports using various fundamental medicinal herbs, including cinnamon, saffron, ginger, jujube, turmeric, and barberry, as CAM adjunctive therapeutic strategies for T2D patients. The current review addressed different aspects of the potential impact of the abovementioned herbal products in improving glycemic indices and lipid profiles, including the effect size reported in the studies, their effective dose, possible side effects, herbs-drug interactions, and their potential action mechanisms.

Poor sleep quality and psychological distress in pregnancy are important health concerns. Serotonin and melatonin levels may underlie variation in these adverse outcomes. In this study, we examined dietary nutrients involved in serotonin and melatonin synthesis in relation to maternal sleep quality and affective symptoms during pregnancy. Pregnant women at no greater than normal medical risk at enrollment completed 24-hour dietary recalls in mid-late pregnancy. Usual intakes of vitamin B6, vitamin D, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) + docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and tryptophan were estimated from dietary intake of foods and supplements using the National Cancer Institute (NCI) method. Sleep quality, depression, and anxiety were measured using validated questionnaires. Associations between nutrient intakes, sleep quality, and affective symptoms were estimated using generalized estimating equation models adjusting for potential confounding factors. In minimally adjusted models, EPA + DHA and tryptophan intakes were associated with a lower score indicating better sleep quality (b: -1.07, 95% CI: -2.09, -0.05) and (b: -12.40, 95% CI: -24.60, -0.21), respectively. EPA + DHA and tryptophan intakes were also associated with a lower odds of shorter sleep duration and sleep disturbances. In addition, tryptophan was associated with a lower odds of higher sleep latency. However, associations were attenuated and nonsignificant after adjustment for demographic and lifestyle factors. In conclusion, intakes of EPA + DHA and tryptophan were associated with improved sleep quality, but these associations were confounded by maternal demographic and lifestyle characteristics. This study highlights the need to consider dietary intake and pregnancy health in the context of demographic characteristics and lifestyle behaviors.