Journal of Nutrition最新文献

Background: Acute neuroinflammatory and oxidative-stress (OS)-inducing stressors, such as high energy and charge (HZE) particle irradiation, produce accelerated aging in the brain. Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant foods, such as blueberries (BB), attenuate neuronal and cognitive deficits when administered to rodents before or both before and after HZE particle exposure. However, the effects of poststressor treatments are unknown and may be important to repair initial damage and prevent progressive neurodegeneration.

Objectives: This study assessed the differential efficacy and mechanistic targets of a BB-supplemented diet before and/or after HZE particle irradiation on neuroinflammation, OS, glial cell activation, and memory deficits.

Methods: Two-mo-old male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 120) consumed a 2% BB or control diet for 45 d. Rats were whole-body irradiated (150 cGy ⁵⁶Fe) or were not irradiated, followed by a 45-d post-treatment interval in which they were fed a 2% BB or control diet. The novel object recognition (NOR) test was performed at the end of the post-treatment interval to evaluate memory. Biomarkers of neuroinflammation, OS, and glial cell activity were evaluated in the hippocampus and frontal cortex of rat brains after euthanasia. Statistical analyses included analysis of variance, t-tests, and Pearson correlations.

Results: Pre- and/or postirradiation BB treatments were similarly effective at reducing ⁵⁶Fe-induced recognition memory deficits on the NOR and the protein and/or mRNA expression of neuroinflammatory factors (tumor necrosis factor-ɑ, inducible nitric oxide synthase, cyclooxygenase-2, phosphorylated IκB-α), 1 mediator of OS (NADPH oxidase), and markers for microglia and astrocyte activity (CD68 and glial fibrillary acidic protein) in the frontal cortex and hippocampus of rats 45 d postirradiation (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: Findings support the use of dietary post-treatments with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties to attenuate biochemical changes in the brain and memory deficits after acute neuroinflammatory/OS-inducing stressors, in addition to having protective benefits.

The plasma selenoprotein P (SELENOP) concentration leveling out was thought to represent saturation of the functional selenium body pool and an appropriate supply of selenium to all tissues, indicating that the necessary amount of selenium had been supplied. Based on the selenium intake when SELENOP reaches saturation, the estimated average requirement of selenium was set as 50 μg/d, and the recommended nutrient intake was 60 μg/d for Chinese general population. According to a recent study, "lactating Chinese women with the optimal daily selenium intake" was defined, and the adequate intake of 0‒6-mo-old infants was set as 15 μg/d, whereas 20 μg/d was calculated for 7‒12 mo old infants. Considering the negative health effects of intake of excessive nutrient levels of selenium, we recommend reducing the tolerable upper intake level (UL) for adults from 400 to 255 μg/d based on the results of the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT). The SELECT trial is a key basis for setting selenium's UL. It has a large sample size and long-term design. It rigorously measures selenium intake and monitors multiple health endpoints precisely. Also, with proper control groups, it effectively determines the threshold of adverse effects, enhancing the reliability of UL determination.

Background: Cultured meat technology represents an innovative food production approach that enables the large-scale cultivation of animal cells to obtain muscle, fat, and other tissues, which are then processed into meat products. Compared with traditional meat production methods, cell-cultured meat may significantly reduce energy consumption by 7%-45%, greenhouse gas emissions by 78%-96%, land use by 99%, and water use by 82%-96%. This technology offers several advantages, including a shorter production cycle and enhanced environmental sustainability, resource efficiency, and overall sustainability. However, numerous technical challenges remain.

Objectives: The latest advancements in cultured meat research were reviewed such as the development of serum-free media, maintenance of seed cell functionality, large-scale cell culture techniques, 3-dimensional culture methods, and innovations in scaffold materials.

Methods: Recent publications on cultured meat were examined.

Results: These hurdles were addressed to achieve low-cost, high-efficiency industrial production in the cultivated meat sector. Furthermore, as a supplement or substitute for traditional meat, cultured meat products must possess similar sensory characteristics and nutritional value, ensure high food safety standards, and maintain low production costs to enhance market competitiveness.

Conclusions: Achieving the industrialization of cultured meat necessitates careful consideration of several additional challenges related to sensory attributes, nutritional quality, food safety, and consumer acceptance. This review systematically examines these aspects to provide a theoretical and practical foundation for the sustainable biomanufacturing of cultured meat.

Background: Previous observational studies have not reached an agreement on the association between coffee consumption and risk of liver diseases. Also, none of these studies took sweetener added in coffee into consideration.

Objectives: We aim to explore the associations of consumption of sweetened and unsweetened coffee with chronic liver disease (CLD) and liver-related events (LREs), and evaluate the degree to which sweetener added counteracted the effect of coffee.

Methods: We performed a longitudinal cohort study of 170,044 participants without liver diseases or cancer at baseline investigation (2006-2010) and followed until 2022. Consumption of coffee and sweetener was assessed by 24-h dietary recall questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards models and restricted cubic splines were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results: During a median follow-up of 12.4 y, we identified 4152 incident of CLD and 853 LREs. Compared with nonconsumers, unsweetened coffee consumers of various amount had lower risk of CLD (HR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.67, 0.83 for 1.5∼2.5 drinks/d) and LREs (HR: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.46, 0.80 for 2.5∼3.5 drinks/d) in the multivariable Cox models. U-shaped associations of unsweetened coffee with CLD and LREs were observed. The results for sweetened coffee were less consistent and conclusive in both CLD and LREs. We detected positive associations between sweetener and CLD and LREs. Compared with unsweetened coffee consumers, consumers of different amount of sugar added to coffee had higher risk of CLD in the multivariable Cox model. For artificial sweetener, a significant higher risk of CLD (HR: 1.61; 95% CI: 1.25, 2.05)and LREs (HR: 1.82; 95% CI: 1.11, 2.98) was only found in those who added ≥2 teaspoons/drink. We detected significant interaction between artificial sweetener and coffee intake on the risk of CLD (HR for product term: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.60, 0.96; P = 0.018; relative excess risk due to interaction: -0.32; 95% CI: -0.58, -0.06).

Conclusions: Moderate consumption of unsweetened coffee was associated with lower risk of CLD and LREs. Adding sweetener into coffee could bring additional risk of liver diseases in coffee consumers.

Physical activity has been shown to improve various aspects of metabolic health and is frequently applied as an intervention in the management and prevention of overweight/obesity. Chrono-exercise can be studied in relation to time of day and timing in relation to a meal, which encompasses chronology and duration of the temporal interval, but the latter has received limited attention to date. This brief review and meta-analysis investigates whether the timing of a meal subsequent to acute exercise in children and adolescents with and without overweight/obesity moderates eating behavior and appetite. A quantitative synthesis of 28 controlled trials with 51 distinct conditions (N = 575; median sample size = 15, median age = 13 y, n = 297 overweight/obesity) was performed using multilevel random-effects meta-regressions and restricted splines to test the linear and nonlinear relationships between mean differences in energy intake between exercise and control conditions and the duration of the exercise-test meal interval, and if this moderated by participant weight status or exercise characteristics (i.e., intensity, duration, and method). Commencement of meals occurred from immediately to 3 h after cessation of exercise (median = 30 min, interquartile range = 8 min). The meal interval was not associated with effect sizes overall in the linear and spline analysis (ps = 0.576 and 0.971, respectively). Although there was only an interaction with weight status present in the linear analysis (P < 0.001), the meal interval significantly moderated effect sizes within-study arms with lean participants (ps = 0.006 and 0.019, respectively), but not in those with overweight/obesity (ps = 0.070 and 0.620, respectively) in both analyses. Exercise characteristics did not have an impact on this relationship. Taken together, prescriptions for meal timing may depend on the individual phenotype when seeking to optimize potential anorexigenic effects of acute exercise. This trial was registered at PROSPERO as CRD42021287838. (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=287838).

This perspective discusses the essential micronutrient zinc, which functions in >3000 human proteins (the zinc proteome), and the implications of three aspects to ascertain an adequate zinc status for human health. First, the advent of highly sensitive fluorescent (bio)chemicals revealed cellular pools of zinc ions involved in signaling and secretion from cells for paracrine, autocrine, and possibly endocrine functions. Zinc signaling adds a yet unaccounted number of targeted proteins to the already impressive number of zinc proteins. Second, cellular zinc concentrations are remarkably high in the order of the concentrations of major metabolites and, therefore, at the cellular level zinc is not a trace element. Zinc is also not an antioxidant because zinc ions are redox-inactive in biology. However, zinc can express indirect pro-oxidant or proantioxidant effects depending on how cellular zinc is buffered. Zinc sites in proteins and other biomolecules can become redox-active when zinc is bound to the redox-active sulfur donor atom of cysteine. This interaction links zinc and redox metabolism, confers mobility on tightly bound zinc, and has implications for treating zinc deficiency. Third, the concept of zinc deficiency in blood as the only measure of an inadequate zinc status needs to be extended to zinc dyshomeostasis in cells because overwhelming the mechanisms controlling cellular zinc homeostasis can result in either not enough or too much available zinc. We need additional biomarkers of zinc status that determine cell-specific changes and perturbations of the system regulating cellular zinc, including functional deficits, and address the multiple genetic and environmental factors that can cause a conditioned zinc deficiency or overload. Considering the wider context of altered zinc availability in different organs, cells, and organelles impinges on whether zinc supplementation will be efficacious and adds another dimension to the already high health burden of zinc deficiency and its sequelae worldwide.

Background: Digestion of gluten-derived immunogenic peptides along the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is not well established.

Objectives: This study aimed to map the digestion of gluten-derived immunogenic peptides along the GIT using the growing pig as a human adult model and actinidin as a model exogenous protease.

Methods: Entire male pigs 9 wk of age [n = 54, 19.3 ± 1.9 (mean ± SD) kg bodyweight] were fed whole wheat soda bread either with yellow kiwifruit (0 U protease actinidin activity/mL fresh juice) or green kiwifruit (27.0 U protease actinidin activity/mL fresh juice) for 8 d. Pigs were killed at 0, 20, 60, 120, and 300 min postprandially. Entire gastrointestinal contents were collected to determine the hydrolysis of wheat proteins in the stomach and the presence of immunogenic peptides along the GIT. Polynomial regression analysis was conducted to determine the treatment, time, and their interaction effects.

Results: In the stomach, the mean rate of digestion of wheat proteins was 0.08 ± 0.006% per minute (mean ± standard error), whereas the mean rate of reduction of immunogenic peptides (R5 epitopes) was 3.4 ± 0.1 mg/min. This resulted in a mean rate of 3.2 ± 0.7 mg/min of the R5 epitopes entering the small intestine. At 300 min postprandial, R5 epitopes reached the large intestine. All these values were influenced when the protease actinidin was present in the meal. For instance, actinidin doubled (P < 0.05) the rate of digestion of wheat proteins in the stomach and subsequently reduced the rate of R5 epitopes entering the small intestine (0.6 ± 0.4 mg/min) and the amount released (P < 0.05) into the large intestine.

Conclusions: Digestion of gluten immunogenic peptides is limited along the GIT, but it can be enhanced by a simultaneous intake of proteases.

Background: The Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015 measures diet quality and is associated with a lower risk of death from chronic disease. Dietary components may affect health via multiple mechanisms, including decreasing inflammation and affecting immune activation.

Objective: We hypothesized that the overall HEI-2015 score, or individual component scores, would be associated with altered inflammation and immune activation in healthy adults.

Methods: The association of HEI-2015 scores with 88 inflammation and immune activation markers was examined in 346 adults without diagnosed disease using general linear models to adjust for covariates, including visceral fat mass index (VFMI).

Results: The overall HEI-2015 score was inversely associated with plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) and leukocyte concentrations, which are markers of inflammation, but these associations lost statistical significance with adjustment for VFMI. However, even with VFMI adjustment, the total vegetable score was inversely associated with total lymphocyte concentration (β = -0.157 ± 0.052, P = 0.019) and with monocyte and neutrophil activation (e.g., classic monocyte CD11b β = -0.153 ± 0.055, P = 0.030; neutrophil CD11b β = -0.122 ± 0.051, P = 0.049). The refined grain score was inversely associated with percent NK-T cells (β =-0.171 ± 0.058, P = 0.037), IL-10 production by T cells (β = -0.204 ± 0.057, P = 0.0039), and positively associated with plasma soluble CD14 (β = 0.220 ± 0.059, P = 0.0041). The total dairy score was positively associated with production of multiple cytokines by lipopolysaccharide-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells [e.g., interleukin (IL)-1β β = 0.182 ± 0.054, P = 0.0066].

Conclusions: Adjustment for VFMI decreased the association of HEI-2015 with inflammation, consistent with the known role of adiposity in mediating effects of poor diet on inflammation. This study also identified component scores associated with various aspects of immune activation that bear further study to clarify possible health benefits. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02367287.

Background: Nutritional factors are important for skeletal muscle mass and grip strength development in children.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between erythrocyte membrane fatty acid patterns (FAPs) and skeletal muscle mass and grip strength in children.

Methods: A total of 452 children aged 6-9 y were included in this study. Appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) was assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Hand grip strength was determined by the Jamar Plus+ hand dynamometer (Sammons Preston). Appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (ASMI) was calculated, and the relative concentrations of 20 fatty acids in erythrocyte membranes were measured by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Factor analysis was used to explore the relationship between fatty acids and skeletal muscle mass and grip strength.

Results: Five FAPs were identified by factor analysis, and after adjusting for covariates, a multiple linear regression model showed that FAP2 (high C17:0, C20:5 n-3, C22:6 n-3) showed a negative correlation with ASM (β = -0.214; P < 0.001), ASMI (β = -0.085; P < 0.001), and left-hand grip strength (β = -0.235; P = 0.012). FAP3 (high C14:0, C15:0, C16:0, C16:1 n-7, low C20:4 n-6) scores were positively correlated with ASM (β = 0.134, P = 0.017). No other associations between FAPs and skeletal muscle mass were found.

Conclusions: The relationship between different FAPs and skeletal muscle health in children aged 6-9 y may be different. The pattern characterized by higher concentrations of C17:0, C20:5 n-3, and C22:6 n-3 in erythrocyte membranes may be associated with lower skeletal muscle mass. The pattern featuring higher concentrations of C14:0, C15:0, C16:0, and C16:1 n-7 and lower concentrations of C20:4 n-6 may be protective factors for muscle mass.