The consumption of dietary supplements advertised as slimming agents is increasing with the prevalence of obesity.However, several of these supplements are adulterated with pharmacologically active substances or with ingredients lacking any demonstration of their efficiency.Alongside the phytochemicals endowed with lipolytic properties such as caffeine or synephrine, the alkaloid hordenine, naturally present in germinated barley and in other plants, belongs to such ingredients added to dietary supplements advertised to improve lipid mobilization in consumers.Since the lipolytic properties of hordenine were not documented so far, we aimed to verify the in vitro rapid effects of hordenine on rodent adipocyte lipolytic and antilipolytic responses.It was found that different doses of hordenine do not activate or inhibit lipolysis in mouse fat cells, which were responsive to the stimulatory (isoprenaline, forskolin) or inhibitory (insulin) control of triglyceride breakdown.Moreover, in human adipose tissue, hordenine interacted with monoamine oxidase (MAO) and competed for the oxidation of radiolabeled tyramine while it was not a substrate, or an inhibitor of the semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase involved in the degradation of benzylamine.Our results indicated that hordenine does not reproduce the already documented antilipolytic effects of tyramine or the lipolytic action of synephrine, two of its closely related naturally occurring phenethylamines.
Essiac ® is an herbal compound that has been widely used as a dietary supplement for health and immune system support, as well as a homeopathic cancer treatment.Despite multiple studies aiming to demonstrate its touted benefits, the results have been inconclusive.Some studies have shown Essiac ® to impart gastroenterological protection, combat reactive oxygen species (ROS), increase immune cell subsets, and reduce in vitro cancer cell numbers, while other studies have not been able to show reduced cancer load in vivo.Therefore, in this study using the fully-prepared proprietary blend, Essiac ® Liquid Herbal Extract (LHE), we thoroughly explored its health benefits using the nematode animal model, Caenorhabditis elegans (C.elegans), as well as assessed its antiproliferative abilities against three non-adherent (myeloma, lymphoma, and leukemia) and two adherent tumor forming (breast and prostate) cancer cell lines.Our findings show that when C. elegans were exposed to the recommended dosage of Essiac ® LHE, there was an increase in their overall lifespan, and an increase in their ability to withstand oxidative stress induced mortality when challenged.Additionally, our work demonstrated that a 24% exposure of Essiac ® LHE induced a significant decrease in cell viability and proliferation within all five cancer cell lines (RPMI 8226, Jurkat, CML, LNCaP, and MCF7).Furthermore, our results indicate that the anti-proliferative effects of Essiac ® LHE are not being mediated through the induction of intrinsic apoptosis, but through an alternative cellular mechanism.Taken together, these in vitro and in vivo findings lend support to the overall health benefits and antiproliferative abilities of Essiac ® LHE.
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is the most common medical disorder during pregnancy and has severe and long-lasting implications both for the mother and child. Nearly 10% of all United States pregnant females develop GDM. Dietary therapy is first line treatment and should be initiated as soon as GDM is diagnosed, however, consensus on specific dietary recommendations has not yet been achieved and nutrition counseling may vary widely from practice to practice. This systematic literature review encompasses novel supplement-based treatments (e.g. supplementation of fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals) and traditional diets (e.g. Glycemic Index Diet or Low Carbohydrate Diet) as well as evaluates the evidence for their application.
Cancer, the treatments that accompany it and the symptoms that in turn generate, increase the risk of suffering energy-protein malnutrition in patients with this disease, which causes a great deteriotation of health status, increased complications, decreased tolerance of cancer treatment and the patient’s quality of life. Among the prognostic factors such as the type of tumor, the stage of the disease and the general condition of the patient, involuntary weight loss is the potentially most sensitive factor to therapeutic intervention. All this leads to the inclusión of an nutritional intervention as a therapeutic tool involved in cancer treatment.
This study evaluated the effects of processing methods on chemical composition, physicochemical and functional characteristics of defatted and full fat flour samples from processed kariya seeds. The seeds were cleaned and subjected to heating processes (cooking and autoclaving) and biochemical processes (germination and fermentation), the seeds were dried and milled to flour. A portion was defatted and another portion left as full fat. The flour samples were analysed for the selected parameters using standard methods. The results showed that the bulk density ranged between 0.52-0.75 g/ml. The oil absorption and water absorption capacities ranged from 65.50–144.60% and 46.40–218.50% respectively. The water absorption and swelling capacities of the defatted samples increased with temperature increase. All processing treatments were found to increase protein content (22.16-49.94%) and in vitro digestibility (27.86–82.63%). Both the heating and biochemical processes reduced the level of antinutrients significantly. In conclusion, the kariya flour samples subjected to both fermentation and germination had better chemical composition, physico-chemical and functional properties.
Breast Cancer (BC) is the most prevalent cancer affecting females and the leading cause of death around the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that the incidence of BC increases approximately 1.8-2 % annually. Hence, it is important that new prevention and treatment strategies involving epigenetics and nutrigenomics are explored. Epigenetics refers to potential changes in gene expression and chromatin structure without alteration of DNA sequence, but still modulates the expression of a particular phenotype. Nutrigenomics determines the effect of dietary habits on cancer risk and tumor behavior, both in progression and inhibition of cancer. The modulation of chromatin structure is an essential component in the regulation of transcriptional activation and repression. Therefore, identifying the regulators of gene expression changes during cancer progression is essential for early diagnosis and inhibition of this malignancy. The methylation of promoter genes, as well as the interplay between microRNAs (miRNAs) and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) of target genes, is the primary component of epigenetics. Any defect in these processes is considered a crucial mechanism for gene and pathway dysregulation in all human cancers, including BC. Nutritional genomic and epigenetic mechanisms may play a pivotal role in prevention as well as early diagnosis of BC, especially for closely related female family members of BC patients. It seems cytosine methylation in Cytosine-phosphate-Guanine dinucleotide (CpG) Islands reflects changes in balance tissues rigidity. Hypo- and hypermethylation of CpG Islands (CGIs) play a crucial role in development of BC via up-regulation of oncogenes and down-regulation of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs). These could be the most effective mechanisms to distinguish BC from other types of cancer. beneficial effects of some nutritional components on the function and structure of non-coding RNA and DNA methylation. We also discuss the role of nutrigenomics as a non-invasive method to explore the epigenetic mechanisms involved in BC and also in the prevention, treatment, early diagnosis, and distinguishing a variety of cancers from each other. In addition, the importance of non-coding RNAs, including miRNAs in body fluids, also need to be further clarified.
Human health is significantly affected by dietary patten, nutritional habits, quality of food, and lifestyle. The diets enriched with bioactive food components like polyphenols, vitamins, minerals, polyunsaturated fatty acids, butyrate, and other dietary fibers are generally associated with a lesser incidence of chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disorders, and obesity. Apart from being antioxidants, some of these bioactive dietary components have the potential to regulate several cellular signaling pathways, modulate gene expression, affect transcription factors, and alter the microRNAs profile. MicroRNA (miRNA) is a non-coding-RNA that regulates the expression of its target gene(s) through its catalytic/regulatory functions. The miRNA is generally synthesized endogenously but it can also be obtained through dietary components that can change the expression of other genes. miRNA targets the specific mRNA, modulates expression of the gene(s) via binding to its complementary regions; thus, down-regulates the expression of the genes. Dietary food components impact cellular differentiation processes, proliferatory pathways, and pathophysiological conditions; thus, have the potential to affect the activity of genes associated with chronic diseases including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and obesity by modulating the associated signaling pathways. This review discusses the role of dietary food components like polyphenols (quercetin, resveratrol, curcumin, α -mangosteen, and epigallocatechin gallate), vitamins (A, D, and folic acid), Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, butyrate, and minerals (selenium, zinc) in modulating miRNA expression and their potential in causing chronic diseases.
This report presents findings from data collected in December 2019 for the year that preceded the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic.An estimated 89.5 percent of U.S. households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2019, with access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members.The remaining households (10.5 percent, down from 11.1 percent in 2018) were food insecure at least some time during the year, including 4.1 percent with very low food security (not significantly different from 4.3 percent in 2018).Very low food security is the more severe range of food insecurity where one or more household members experienced reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns at times during the year because of limited money and other resources for obtaining food.Among children, changes from 2018 in food insecurity and very low food security were not statistically significant.Children and adults were food insecure in 6.5 percent of U.S. households with children in 2019; very low food security among children was 0.6 percent.In 2019, the typical food-secure household spent 24 percent more on food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition.About 58 percent of food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest Federal nutrition assistance programs:
Background: Recent research indicated the involvement of vitamin D in the pathophysiology of type 1 diabetes. In this study, we investigated serum vitamin D status and its relation to metabolic profile in type 1 diabetic patients from Gaza Strip. Methods: This study was a case-control design and included 44 type 1 diabetic patients as well as 44 non-diabetic controls. Patients and controls were matched for age, gender and body mass index (BMI). Data were obtained from questionnaire interview, and biochemical analysis of blood samples. Results: Serum vitamin D was significantly lower in diabetic patients compared to non-diabetic controls (34.1 ± 19.1 versus 43.9 ± 16.9 ng/dl, P=0.012). The number of patients having vitamin D deficient, insufficient and sufficient were 5 (11.4%), 20 (45.5%) and 19 (43.2%) compared to controls of 0 (0.0%), 13 (29.5%) and 31 (70.5%), respectively ( χ 2 (corrected) =6.711, P=0.035). Serum glucose, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), serum insulin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), cholesterol, triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were significantly higher in patients than in controls whereas serum calcium was significantly lower in patients. Serum vitamin D showed significant negative correlations with HbA1c (r=-0.258, P=0.015), insulin (r=-0.257, P=0.016) and LDL-C (r=- 0.281, P=0.008) whereas significant positive correlation was found with calcium (r=0.251, P=0.018). Conclusion: The relationship of vitamin D with HbA1c, LDL-C and calcium suggests that vitamin D and/or calcium system may represent a future target for the design of novel therapeutic strategies for patients with type 1 Diabetes.
Nutritional phytoestrogens are weak estrogens, which entering into the human organism are able to reprogram the developmental program in sensitive periods of life (perinatally, at weaning, at puberty and in certain systems (e.g. immune system) during the whole life. Consequently they could cause (by faulty hormonal imprinting) lifelong alterations in the binding capacity of hormone receptors, inclination to diseases, manifestation of diseases etc. At the same time by adult age employment they can help healing of certain diseases. In some human cultures the consumption of phytoestrogens (isoflavones, as soy genistein or daidzein) is regular (in Asian countries) for thousand years, and this could contribute to the differences between the physiology of races. At present the consumption of soy (and isoflavones=phytoestrogens in them) is exponentially growing in European and American countries, what could influence the future (evolutionary) development (and uniformization) of endocrine (and endocrine-directed) systems of man. Some transformations of life-periods are observed (e.g. early menarche) and more are expected, however without serious attention. Considering this, phytoestrogens are the Troian horse of endocrine disruptors. Studying from medicinal aspect, the irregular (undosed) eating of phytoestrogens especially which does not attend the sensitive life-periods, can influence the endocrine system as well, as the strongly endocrine-regulated systems, which can be manifested in lower risk of later manifested diseases, as tumors or geriatric alterations however, it can cause reproductive and immune-deficiencies. The positive and mainly negative character of phytoestrogens have to be propagated for doctors and laymen alike. As phytoestrogens could cause different durable pathological alterations, the label on their presence (and effects?) in commercial foods, would be advisable.
Recently, the infection transmitted by the latest coronavirus (COVID-19), was associated with significant increase in morbidity and mortality, reflecting major public health issue. However, Ramadan fasting throughout an outbreak may be a new phenomenon for many of Muslims worldwide. The aim of this review was to determine the impact of Ramadan fasting on immune system function during COVID-19 pandemic. This review gathered the contemporary information throughout PubMed, Scopus, and Science Direct databases from relevant articles, to provide understanding of the potential impact of Ramadan fasting on the immune system during pandemic viral infection. The results of this review show many justifiable concerns arise to the consequences of refraining the body from essential nutrients and fluids for prolonged periods of time through a day. Especially this practice might intricate the health status of selected groups including the elderly and people having chronic diseases. On the other hand, many studies suggest that intermittent fasting boost the immune response of the body towards infections. Furthermore, there is no conclusive evidence regarding the relationship between fasting and increasing or decreasing the risk of catching a virus or improving oxidative stress status as well. Therefore, Muslims who practice fasting during pandemic face a circumstance in which no concrete scientific evidence proves the safety or danger of this religious practice. We conclude that there are proven benefits of fasting in augmenting the immune response; however, this summoned by many factors including general health status of the person who fasts, lifestyle, and epidemiological circumstances.
Questions of this nature prompted our team to determine dietary perceptions amongst adults with type 2 diabetes to identify areas requiring emphasis during diet teaching. We used questionnaire based interviews to collect perspectives from 400 participants attending the diabetes clinic at a private centerthe Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH)(generally speaking, representing high income sector) and public hospital-National Institute Diabetes and Endocrinology (NIDE)(generally speaking, representing low income sector Karachi, Pakistan). The questionnaire incorporated both closed and open-ended questions. It was designed with the help of a certified nutritionist and diabetologists involved in the care of the patients, incorporating commonly encountered misconceptions and myths, through experience. All interviews were conducted by the same certified clinical nutritionist, from each institute. Consenting subjects were adults (> 18 yrs of age) with type 2 diabetes, presenting for the first time to the diabetes clinic. Fallacies revealed at the interview were rectified then and there by the diabetes educator conducting it.
Background: Preservation of residual renal function (RRF) is an important factor in achieving adequate peritoneal dialysis (PD) therapy for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD).We investigated whether dietary salt restriction was effective during conservative therapy as a factor to prevent decreased RRF after starting PD therapy. Methods:We retrospectively observed 30 patients introduced to PD in a single center.To investigate the relationship between effects of a salt diet and decreased RRF in PD patients for the first year after starting PD, we divided patients into two groups according to salt intake before starting PD therapy: Group 1, <6 g/day; and Group 2, ≥6 g/day.Sodium intake was calculated using samples from 24-hour urinary collection and/or 24-hour peritoneal dialysate collection.Results: Before starting PD, residual renal Kt/V (rKt/V) and CCre (rCCre) were significantly lower in Group 1 than in Group 2 (p<0.001 and p<0.005, respectively).Normalized protein-equivalent of nitrogen appearance was also significantly lower in Group 1 than in Group 2 (p<0.001),suggesting that Group 1 might also maintain good control of protein.Moreover, compared with Group 2, decline rates in rKt/V and rCCre during the first year were significantly lower in Group 1 (p<0.005and p<0.001, respectively). Conclusion:Our results suggested that restricting salt intake was not only important to preserve RRF during the conservative therapy period in ESRD patients, but also might be important to prevent early decreases in RRF among PD patients.Hiramatsu T (2020) Dietary salt restriction during conservative therapy may prevent declines in residual renal function for the first year after starting peritoneal dialysis in patients with end-stage renal diseases
The novel COVID-19 virus has ongoing signs and symptoms, one of the signs and symptoms that is discovered recently is loss of taste, some pieces of research suggested that COVID-19 patients may have zinc deficiency however the main undiscovered concern is whether the virus is a causative or those patients had deficiency pre COVID-19, approximately they found 57.4% COVID-19 patients have low zinc serum levels which may indicate an advantage to administer a therapeutic approach for zinc deficiency for those patients. Pervious research experienced with common cold symptoms and zinc administration and resulted in conflicting data. More recently, Cochran review indicates zinc may be useful for common cold patients only if administered within 24 hours onset of symptoms. It was known previously for upper respiratory tract infections to cause loss of taste; this concern might be
Acrylamide is a carcinogenic, neurotoxic, and genotoxic compound formed from free asparagine and reducing sugars during frying or baking of food products. The potato products French fries and chips are substantial contributors to acrylamide intake. The aim of the present work was to study effects of lactic acid and other α -hydroxy acids on acrylamide formation in French fries. Effective inhibition of acrylamide formation in French fries was obtained by short-time dipping in 0.4% solution of lactic acid before par-frying. It is suggested that the inhibitory effect on acrylamide formation is due to formation of a 6-ring ester-acid amine between the protonated α -hydroxy acid and free asparagine. The highest efficiency was achieved by applying lactic acid solution in a two-step procedure with dipping before and after par-frying. This process can be adopted to industrial conditions by lactic acid dipping after blanching and thereafter by submerging the par-fried French fries in lactic acid solution directly after the fryer. Use of this technology will contribute to lower acrylamide levels and reduced consumer exposure from French fries.
