quinta-feira, 25 de fevereiro de 2016

Vinegar could potentially help treat ulcerative colitis

Date: February 10, 2016

Source: American Chemical Society

Summary:
Vinegar is the perfect ingredient for making tangy sauces and dressings. Now, researchers report that the popular liquid could also help fight ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease that research suggests is related to the gut microbiome. They found that vinegar suppressed inflammation-inducing proteins while improving the gut's bacterial makeup in mice.

Vinegar is the perfect ingredient for making tangy sauces and dressings. Now, researchers report in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistrythat the popular liquid could also help fight ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease that research suggests is related to the gut microbiome. They found that vinegar suppressed inflammation-inducing proteins while improving the gut's bacterial makeup in mice.

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic condition that affects millions of people around the world. Although its cause isn't completely understood, research suggests that bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract play an important part. People with the condition experience repeated inflammation of the large intestine's lining, which can cause ulcers, abdominal pain, diarrhea and other symptoms. At least one recent study suggested that vinegar, which has been used in traditional medicine for centuries, might be effective against ulcerative colitis. Lu Yu, Bo Liu and colleagues wanted to further investigate this possibility.

The researchers tested vinegar and its main ingredient, acetic acid, in a mouse model of ulcerative colitis. Giving the mice either substance by adding it in small amounts to their drinking water significantly reduced symptoms of the condition. An analysis of mouse stool samples showed that treated animals had higher levels of bacteria, such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria. Other studies have found these bacteria to be beneficial to mice with colitis-like symptoms. Treatment also lowered the levels of proteins that induce potentially damaging inflammation in the gut. The researchers say further work would be needed to determine vinegar's effects on ulcerative colitis in humans.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Fengge Shen, Jiaxuan Feng, Xinhui Wang, Zhimin Qi, Xiaochen Shi, Yanan An, Qiaoli Zhang, Chao Wang, Mingyuan Liu, Bo Liu, Lu Yu.Vinegar Treatment Prevents the Development of Murine Experimental Colitis via Inhibition of Inflammation and Apoptosis. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2016; 64 (5): 1111 DOI:10.1021/acs.jafc.5b05415

Cite This Page:
American Chemical Society. "Vinegar could potentially help treat ulcerative colitis." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 10 February 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160210110636.htm>.

Vitamin D-rich foods during pregnancy may reduce allergy risk in children

Date: February 11, 2016

Source: Mount Sinai Health System

Summary:
Higher intake of foods containing vitamin D during pregnancy – but not supplemental vitamin D intake – was associated with reduced risk of development of allergies in children, new research demonstrates.

Higher intake of foods containing vitamin D during pregnancy -- but not supplemental vitamin D intake -- was associated with reduced risk of development of allergies in children, according to a study led by an investigator from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

The research team conducted a prospective study of 1,248 mothers and their children in the United States over time, from the first trimester of pregnancy until the children reached about 7 years old. They found that higher intake of food-based vitamin D (equivalent to the amount of vitamin D in an 8-ounce serving of milk per day) during pregnancy was associated with 20 percent less hay fever at school age. There was no risk reduction linked to vitamin D intake by supplement.

"Expectant mothers have questions about what they should eat during pregnancy, and our study shows that it's important to consider the source of nutrients in a mother's diet," said Supinda Bunyavanich, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and The Mindich Child Health and Development Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Foods that contain vitamin D include fish, eggs, dairy products, mushrooms and cereals.

Vitamin D modulates the immune system, and its potential role in asthma and allergy has been of interest. Many prior studies have examined vitamin D and allergy outcomes at single points in time, but this study comprehensively assessed vitamin D levels at multiple points (during pregnancy, at birth and at school age) and by different methods (food frequency questionnaire and tests of serum 25(OH)D levels in both the mothers and school-age children).

"This study may influence nutritional counseling and recommendations to expectant moms to include vitamin D-rich foods in their diets," said Bunyavanich.

The National Institutes of Health supported this research. Collaborating institutions included Harvard Medical School, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital and University of Virginia Health System.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Mount Sinai Health System. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Supinda Bunyavanich, Sheryl L. Rifas-Shiman, Thomas A. Platts-Mills, Lisa Workman, Joanne E. Sordillo, Carlos A. Camargo, Matthew W. Gillman, Diane R. Gold, Augusto A. Litonjua. Prenatal, perinatal, and childhood vitamin D exposure and their association with childhood allergic rhinitis and allergic sensitization. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2016; DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2015.11.031

Cite This Page:
Mount Sinai Health System. "Vitamin D-rich foods during pregnancy may reduce allergy risk in children." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 11 February 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160211133815.htm>.

Daily dose of beetroot juice improved endurance and blood pressure

Study shows benefit in patients with heart disease

Date: February 11, 2016

Source:
Wake Forest Baptist Medical CenterSummary:A daily dose of beetroot juice significantly improved exercise endurance and blood pressure in elderly patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, a new study has concluded.

Scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have found that a daily dose of beetroot juice significantly improved exercise endurance and blood pressure in elderly patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF).

The study is published in the current online edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology-Heart Failure.

Exercise intolerance -- shortness of breath and fatigue with normal amounts of exertion -- is the primary symptom of HFPEF and is due partly to non-cardiac factors that reduce oxygen delivery to active skeletal muscles. HFPEF is a recently recognized disease that reflects how the left ventricle of the heart pumps with each beat. It occurs primarily in older women and is the dominant form of heart failure, as well as the most rapidly increasing cardiovascular disorder in this country.

Emerging evidence suggests that dietary inorganic nitrate supplementation has beneficial effects on blood pressure control, vascular health, exercise capacity and oxygen metabolism.

The Wake Forest Baptist researchers enrolled 19 people in a double-blinded, randomized safety study to determine which was better at improving exercise intolerance, a single dose or a daily dose of the juice given over multiple days. The beetroot juice used is produced by a company in the United Kingdom and is not commercially available in this country.

First, aerobic endurance and blood pressure were measured after the participants received either a single dose of beetroot juice or a placebo.

The researchers then administered a daily dose of beetroot juice to all 19 patients for an average of seven days, and measured endurance and blood pressure again. The juice dose in the study was equivalent to 2.4 ounces containing approximately 6 millimoles of inorganic nitrate.

The team found that the daily dosing of beetroot juice improved aerobic endurance by 24 percent after one week, as compared to the single dose which produced no improvement. Aerobic endurance was measured as cycling time to exhaustion at a fixed workload lower than their maximum.

Another finding was that consumption of the juice significantly reduced resting systolic blood pressure in both the single and daily dose groups by 5 to 10 mmHg.

No adverse events were associated with either intervention.

"Although larger trials need to be conducted, these initial findings suggest that one week of daily beetroot juice could be a potential therapeutic option to improve aerobic endurance in patients with HFPEF, which has implications for improving everyday activities and quality of life," said Dalane Kitzman, M.D., professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest Baptist and senior author of the study.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Joel Eggebeen, Daniel B. Kim-Shapiro, Mark Haykowsky, Timothy M. Morgan, Swati Basu, Peter Brubaker, Jack Rejeski, Dalane W. Kitzman.One Week of Daily Dosing With Beetroot Juice Improves Submaximal Endurance and Blood Pressure in Older Patients With Heart Failure and Preserved Ejection Fraction. JACC: Heart Failure, 2016; DOI:10.1016/j.jchf.2015.12.013

Cite This Page:
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. "Daily dose of beetroot juice improved endurance and blood pressure: Study shows benefit in patients with heart disease." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 11 February 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160211142001.htm>.

Plant extract shows promise in treating pancreatic cancer

Compound in neem tree packs a powerful punch against the cancer, study shows

Date: February 11, 2016 

Source: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso

Summary:
A natural extract derived from India's neem tree could potentially be used to treat pancreatic cancer, according to a new study. Researchers tested nimbolide, a compound found in neem leaves, against pancreatic cancer in cell lines and mice. The results revealed that nimbolide can stop pancreatic cancer's growth and metastasis without harming normal, healthy cells.
Rajkumar Lakshmanaswamy, Ph.D., holds a beaker that contains a mixture of pulverized neem leaves. A compound found in the leaves could potential be used to treat pancreatic cancer.
Credit: Raul De La Cruz / Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso

A natural extract derived from India's neem tree could potentially be used to treat pancreatic cancer, according to a new study in the journal Scientific Reports.

Biomedical scientists at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC El Paso) tested nimbolide, a compound found in neem leaves, against pancreatic cancer in cell lines and mice. The results revealed that nimbolide can stop pancreatic cancer's growth and metastasis without harming normal, healthy cells.

"The promise nimbolide has shown is amazing, and the specificity of the treatment towards cancer cells over normal cells is very intriguing," says Rajkumar Lakshmanaswamy, Ph.D., an associate professor in TTUHSC El Paso's Center of Emphasis in Cancer.

Pancreatic cancer has the highest mortality rate of all cancers with 94% of patients dying within five years of diagnosis. The cancer grows quickly and there are currently no effective treatments available, underscoring the importance of finding new therapies.

In the study, Lakshmanaswamy and his lab observed that nimbolide was able to reduce the migration and invasion capabilities of pancreatic cancer cells by 70 percent; meaning the cancerous cells did not become aggressive and spread. And that's promising, the researchers say. In humans, this migration and invasion -- or metastasis -- of pancreatic cancer to other regions of the body is the chief cause of mortality.

Nimbolide treatments also induced cancer cell death, causing the size and number of pancreatic cancer cell colonies to drop by 80 percent. "Nimbolide seems to attack pancreatic cancer from all angles," Lakshmanaswamy says.

The TTUHSC El Paso researchers stress that one of the most important findings is that nimbolide did not harm healthy cells in both the in vitro and in vivo experiments.

Lead author and postdoctoral researcher Ramadevi Subramani, Ph.D., explains, "Many people in India actually eat neem and it doesn't have harmful side effects, which suggests that using nimbolide for pancreatic cancer will not cause adverse effects like chemotherapy and radiation typically do."

While the results are promising, Lakshmanaswamy says there's still a long way to go before nimbolide can be used to treat pancreatic cancer in humans.

The TTUHSC El Paso team plans to continue researching the anticancer mechanisms behind the plant extract. They'll also study various ways to administer nimbolide to maintain its potency against pancreatic cancer.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Ramadevi Subramani, Elizabeth Gonzalez, Arunkumar Arumugam, Sushmita Nandy, Viviana Gonzalez, Joshua Medel, Fernando Camacho, Andrew Ortega, Sandrine Bonkoungou, Mahesh Narayan, Alok kumar Dwivedi, Rajkumar Lakshmanaswamy. Nimbolide inhibits pancreatic cancer growth and metastasis through ROS-mediated apoptosis and inhibition of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Scientific Reports, 2016; 6: 19819 DOI: 10.1038/srep19819

Cite This Page:
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso. "Plant extract shows promise in treating pancreatic cancer: Compound in neem tree packs a powerful punch against the cancer, study shows." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 11 February 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160211184014.htm>.

Tailored acupuncture lessens pain intensity in chronic pain (fibromyalgia)

And improves functional capacity and quality of life; effects still evident a year later

Date: February 15, 2016

Source: BMJ

Summary:
Nine weekly sessions of individually tailored acupuncture lessen perceived pain intensity, and improve functional capacity and quality of life, in people with the chronic pain condition, fibromyalgia, finds new research.

Nine weekly sessions of individually tailored acupuncture lessen perceived pain intensity, and improve functional capacity and quality of life, in people with the chronic pain condition, fibromyalgia, finds research published online in Acupuncture in Medicine.

The beneficial effects were still evident a year later, the findings show.

Fibromyalgia is primarily characterised by chronic widespread pain that is associated with fatigue, disordered sleep patterns, and/or depression. It affects up to one in 20 people.

The evidence suggests that 90% of people who have fibromyalgia try some form of complementary therapy, including massage, hydrotherapy, and acupuncture.

But most of the data on the pros and cons of acupuncture to alleviate symptoms have been based on clinical trials of standard, rather than individually tailored, treatment.

In a bid to find out if a personalised approach would make a difference, the researchers compared individually tailored acupuncture treatment with sham treatment in 153 adults, all of whom had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, according to diagnostic criteria set out by the American College of Rheumatology.

Both the real and simulated treatments, to which participants were randomly assigned, were provided in nine weekly sessions, each lasting 20 minutes. Participants continued to take the usual drugs they had been prescribed to alleviate symptoms (painkillers and antidepressants).

To evaluate the impact of both approaches, participants were asked about perceived levels of pain, depression, and health related quality of life (physical and mental), using validated scoring systems before treatment began, and then again 10 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months afterwards.

They were also asked about changes in the overall impact of their condition, as measured by the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, or FIQ for short, at 10 weeks, 6 and 12 months.

Analysis of the results showed that after 10 weeks, perceived pain intensity was lower among those given real acupuncture. Their pain scores had dropped by an average of 41%, compared with an average of 27% for those given the simulated treatment.

Significant differences persisted after a year, with an average fall of 20% in the pain score among those treated with the real thing compared with just over 6% for those given the simulated treatment.

FIQ scores also differed significantly between the two groups at all three time points, with reductions of 35%, 25%, and just over 22% for those given tailored acupuncture compared with 24.5%, just over 11%, and 5%, for those given simulated acupuncture.

Other aspects of pain intensity, including pressure pain threshold and the number of tender points also improved significantly more in the group given real acupuncture after 10 weeks, as did measures of fatigue, anxiety, and depression.

These differences were also evident after a year, although the researchers caution that participants were using higher levels of antidepressants after a year, which may have artificially inflated the positive outcomes.

Side effects were few and mild, prompting the researchers to suggest that tailored acupuncture may be a viable treatment for fibromyalgia.

"This treatment produced an improvement in the participants' condition, reflected by a reduction in pain intensity and enhanced functional capacity and quality of life after the intervention and during the follow up period," they write.

"Such an outcome has not been reported by previous studies following the application of standardised treatments: therefore, our results suggest that applying individualised treatment algorithms when starting a course of acupuncture may be important," they conclude.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by BMJ. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Jorge Vas, Koldo Santos-Rey, Reyes Navarro-Pablo, Manuela Modesto, Inmaculada Aguilar, M Ángeles Campos, José Francisco Aguilar-Velasco, Milagrosa Romero, Patricia Párraga, Vanesa Hervás, Olalla Santamaría, Carmen Márquez-Zurita, Francisco Rivas-Ruiz. Acupuncture for fibromyalgia in primary care: a randomised controlled trial.Acupuncture in Medicine, 2016; acupmed-2015-010950 DOI:10.1136/acupmed-2015-010950

Cite This Page:
BMJ. "Tailored acupuncture lessens pain intensity in chronic pain (fibromyalgia): And improves functional capacity and quality of life; effects still evident a year later." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 February 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160215210703.htm>.

New study finds clear differences between organic and non-organic milk and meat

Date: February 15, 2016

Source: Newcastle University

Summary:
Both organic milk and meat contain around 50 percent more beneficial omega-3 fatty acids than conventionally produced products, report researchers who conducted systematic literature reviews and analyzed data from around the world.

In the largest study of its kind, an international team of experts led by Newcastle University, UK, has shown that both organic milk and meat contain around 50% more beneficial omega-3 fatty acids than conventionally produced products.

Analyzing data from around the world, the team reviewed 196 papers on milk and 67 papers on meat and found clear differences between organic and conventional milk and meat, especially in terms of fatty acid composition, and the concentrations of certain essential minerals and antioxidants.

Publishing their findings today in the British Journal of Nutrition, the team say the data show a switch to organic meat and milk would go some way towards increasing our intake of nutritionally important fatty acids.

Chris Seal, Professor of Food and Human Nutrition at Newcastle University explains:

"Omega-3s are linked to reductions in cardiovascular disease, improved neurological development and function, and better immune function.

"Western European diets are recognised as being too low in these fatty acids and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommends we should double our intake.

"But getting enough in our diet is difficult. Our study suggests that switching to organic would go some way towards improving intakes of these important nutrients."

Western European diets are too low in omega-3 fatty acids

The systematic literature reviews analyzed data from around the world and found that organic milk and meat have more desirable fat profiles than conventional milk and meat.

Most importantly, a switch from conventional to organic would raise omega-3 fat intake without increasing calories and undesirable saturated fat. For example, half a litre of organic full fat milk (or equivalent fat intakes from other dairy products like butter and cheese) provides an estimated 16% (39 mg) of the recommended, daily intake of very long-chain omega-3, while conventional milk provides 11% (25 mg).

Other positive changes in fat profiles included lower levels of myristic and palmitic acid in organic meat and a lower omega-3/omega-6 ratio in organic milk. Higher levels of fat soluble vitamins such as vitamin E and carotenoids and 40% more CLA in organic milk were also observed.

The study showed that the more desirable fat profiles in organic milk were closely linked to outdoor grazing and low concentrate feeding in dairy diets, as prescribed by organic farming standards.

The two new systematic literature reviews also describe recently published results from several mother and child cohort studies linking organic milk and dairy product consumption to a reduced risk of certain diseases. This included reduced risks of eczema in babies.

Newcastle University's Professor Carlo Leifert, who led the studies, said:

"People choose organic milk and meat for three main reasons: improved animal welfare, the positive impacts of organic farming on the environment, and the perceived health benefits. But much less is known about impacts on nutritional quality, hence the need for this study.

"Several of these differences stem from organic livestock production and are brought about by differences in production intensity, with outdoor-reared, grass-fed animals producing milk and meat that is consistently higher in desirable fatty acids such as the omega-3s, and lower in fatty acids that can promote heart disease and other chronic diseases."

Avoiding iodine over- and under-supply from milk is a challenge

The study also found 74% more iodine in conventional milk which is important information, especially for UK consumers, where iodized table salt is not widely available.

Iodine is low in most foods, except seafood, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends Iodine fortification of table salt to address this. Iodine fortification of cattle feeds is also widely used to increase iodine concentrations in both organic and conventional milk.

Gillian Butler, co-author and senior lecturer in animal nutrition at Newcastle University, explains:

"There is a relatively narrow margin between dietary Iodine deficiency (<140 µg/day) and excessive intakes (> 500 µg/day) from our diet which can lead to thyrotoxicoxis.

"Optimising iodine intake is therefore challenging, since globally there seems to be as much concern about excessive rather than inadequate intake."

In the USA, China, Brazil and many European countries, where Iodine fortified salt is widely used, elevated levels of iodine in milk may increase the risk of excessive intake for individuals with high dairy consumption. For this reason the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has proposed a reduction in the permitted level of iodine in cattle feed from 5 to 2 mg iodine per kg of feed.

However, in the UK, where iodized salt is not widely available, the population relies more on milk and dairy products for adequate iodine supply. National Diet and Nutrition Survey data (NDNS) suggest that milk and dairy products supply between 31-52% of iodine in the UK diet.

The daily recommended intake of iodine in the UK is 140 µg/day and just over half comes from dietary sources other than milk/dairy products. Based on results from the study, half a litre of milk would provide 53% of and 88% of the daily recommended intake from organic and conventional milk respectively. However, pregnant and breastfeeding women have a higher iodine requirement (250 µg/day) and are therefore more at risk of iodine deficiency, which could affect neurological development in babies.

Further evidence of the health benefits of organic food

The work builds on a previous study by the team -- involving experts from the UK, US, France, Italy, Switzerland, Norway and Poland -- investigating the composition of organic and conventionally-grown crops.

This previous study -- also published in the British Journal of Nutrition -- showed that organic crops and crop-based foods are up to 60% higher in a number of key antioxidants than conventionally-grown crops and contained less of the toxic metal cadmium.

"We have shown without doubt there are composition differences between organic and conventional food. Taken together, the three studies on crops, meat and milk suggest that a switch to organic fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy products would provide significantly higher amounts of dietary antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids," concludes Professor Leifert.

"We need substantially more, well designed studies and surveys before we can accurately estimate composition differences in meat from different farm animals and for many nutritionally important compounds (vitamins, minerals, toxic metal and pesticide residues), as there is currently too little data to make comparisons.

"However, the fact that there are now several mother and child cohort studies linking organic food consumption to positive health impacts shows why it is important to further investigate the impact of the way we produce our food on human health.

The authors highlight that only a small number of studies have been carried out comparing organic and non-organic meat, and that even significant results may still carry a high level of uncertainty.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Newcastle University.Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal References:
Carlo Leifert et al. Higher PUFA and omega-3 PUFA, CLA, a-tocopherol and iron, but lower iodine and selenium concentrations in organic bovine milk: A systematic literature review and meta- and redundancy analysis. British Journal of Nutrition, February 2016
Carlo Leifert et al. Composition differences between organic and conventional meat; a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.British Journal of Nutrition, February 2016

Cite This Page:
Newcastle University. "New study finds clear differences between organic and non-organic milk and meat." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 February 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160215210707.htm>.

Compound in green tea found to block rheumatoid arthritis

Findings confirmed in animal model

Date: February 16, 2016

Source: Washington State University

Summary:
Researchers have identified a potential new approach to combating the joint pain, inflammation and tissue damage caused by rheumatoid arthritis.

Researchers at Washington State University in Spokane have identified a potential new approach to combating the joint pain, inflammation and tissue damage caused by rheumatoid arthritis.

Their discovery is featured on the cover of Arthritis and Rheumatology, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology, in print Tuesday, Feb 16.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a debilitating autoimmune disorder that mostly affects the small joints of the hands and feet. It causes painful swelling that progresses into cartilage damage, bone erosion and joint deformity.

"Existing drugs for rheumatoid arthritis are expensive, immunosuppressive and sometimes unsuitable for long-term use," said Salah-uddin Ahmed, the lead WSU researcher on the project.

His team evaluated a phytochemical called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which is a molecule with anti-inflammatory properties found in green tea. Their study suggests that EGCG has high potential as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis because of how effectively the molecule blocks the effects of the disease without blocking other cellular functions.

"This study has opened the field of research into using EGCG for targeting TAK1 -- an important signaling protein -- through which proinflammatory cytokines transmit their signals to cause inflammation and tissue destruction in rheumatoid arthritis," said Ahmed.

The researchers confirmed their findings in a pre-clinical animal model of human rheumatoid arthritis, where they observed that ankle swelling in animals given EGCG in a 10-day treatment plan was markedly reduced.

Ahmed has focused his research on studies related to rheumatoid arthritis for the last 15 years.

The WSU team, which includes researchers Anil Singh and Sadiq Umar, has been studying rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases at the WSU College of Pharmacy in Spokane since 2014. They joined with researchers from the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research in Hajipur, India, for this project.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Washington State University. The original item was written by Lori Maricle. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Anil K. Singh, Sadiq Umar, Sharayah Riegsecker, Mukesh Chourasia, Salahuddin Ahmed. Regulation of Transforming Growth Factor β-Activated Kinase Activation by Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate in Rheumatoid Arthritis Synovial Fibroblasts: Suppression of K63-Linked Autoubiquitination of Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor-Associated Factor 6. Arthritis & Rheumatology, 2016; 68 (2): 347 DOI:10.1002/art.39447

Cite This Page:
Washington State University. "Compound in green tea found to block rheumatoid arthritis: Findings confirmed in animal model." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 February 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160216181443.htm>.

Light-to-moderate drinking good for your heart

Date: February 18, 2016

Source:
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)Summary:People who drink wine, liquor or beer regularly are less prone to heart failure and heart attacks than those who rarely or never drink. Three to five drinks a week can be good for your heart.
Drinking a little alcohol every day may be part of a healthy lifestyle, according to new research.
Credit: © fotek / Fotolia

People who drink wine, liquor or beer regularly are less prone to heart failure and heart attacks than those who rarely or never drink. Three to five drinks a week can be good for your heart.

Drinking a little alcohol every day may be part of a healthy lifestyle, according to Imre Janszky, a professor of social medicine at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). He says alcohol does more good than harm for your heart when consumed in moderation.

And, Janszky says, it doesn't matter much whether you drink wine, liquor or beer.

"It's primarily the alcohol that leads to more good cholesterol, among other things. But alcohol can also cause higher blood pressure. So it's best to drink moderate amounts relatively often," he says.

Decreased risk with each additional serving

Along with a number of colleagues from NTNU and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Janszky has published two studies regarding the relationship between alcohol and heart health. One, published in the January 15 issue of the International Journal of Cardiology, is about heart failure. The second, from September 2015, is on acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and has been published in the Journal of Internal Medicine.

In both cases, research shows that people who regularly drink alcohol have better cardiovascular health than those who consume little or no alcohol.

The studies showed that those who drank three to five drinks per week were 33 per cent less prone to heart failure than those who abstained or drank infrequently. In the case of heart attacks, the risk appears to be reduced by 28 percent with each additional one-drink increment.

This does not surprise the researchers at all.

A majority of researchers worldwide seem to think three to five drinks a week can be good for your heart.

Different drinking patterns

"The relationship between alcohol and heart health has been studied in many countries, including the USA and southern European nations. The conclusions have been the same, but the drinking patterns in these countries are very different than in Norway. In countries like France and Italy, very few people don't drink," says Janszky. "It raises the question as to whether earlier findings can be fully trusted, if other factors related to non-drinkers might have influenced research results. It may be that these are people who previously had alcohol problems, and who have stopped drinking completely," he says.

For this reason, the researchers wanted to examine the theory with a Norwegian population where a significant population drinks rarely or not at all. In the myocardial infarction study, 41 per cent of participants reported that they did not drink at all or that they consumed less than half of one alcoholic beverage per week.

Both studies are based on the longitudinal HUNT 2 Nord-Trøndelag Health Study conducted between 1995 and 1997.

The greater the drinking frequency, the lower the risk

The study, which looked at the relationship between heart failure and alcohol, followed 60,665 participants who enrolled in the HUNT study between 1995-1997 and who had no incidence of heart failure at that time. Of those, 1588 of them developed heart failure during the period of the study, which ended in 2008. The risk was highest for those who rarely or never drank alcohol, and for those who had an alcohol problem.

The more often participants consumed alcohol within normal amounts, the lower their risk of heart failure turned out to be. Those who drank five or more times a month had a 21 per cent lower risk compared to non-drinkers and those who drank little, while those who drank between one and five times a month had a two per cent lower risk.

Drinking isn't necessary for a healthy heart

"I'm not encouraging people to drink alcohol all the time. We've only been studying the heart, and it's important to emphasize that a little alcohol every day can be healthy for the heart. But that doesn't mean it's necessary to drink alcohol every day to have a healthy heart," says Janszky.

In the heart attack study, 58,827 participants were categorized by how much and how often they drank. 2966 of the participants experienced an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) between 1995 and the end of 2008. The adjusted analyses showed that each additional one-drink increment decreased the risk of AMI by 28 percent.

Alcohol may increase other problems

The researchers stressed that few participants in the study drank particularly much, so they cannot conclude that high alcohol intake protects against heart attack or heart failure. They also encourage looking at the findings in a larger context, since the risk of a number of other diseases and social problems can increase as a result of higher alcohol consumption.

For example, the researchers observed that the risk of dying from various types of cardiovascular disease increased with about five drinks a week and up, while those who drank more moderate amounts had the lowest risk. High alcohol consumption was also strongly associated with an increased risk of death from liver disease.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal References:
Katalin Gémes, Imre Janszky, Staffan Ahnve, Krisztina D. László, Lars E. Laugsand, Lars J. Vatten, Kenneth J. Mukamal. Light-to-moderate drinking and incident heart failure — the Norwegian HUNT study.International Journal of Cardiology, 2016; 203: 553 DOI:10.1016/j.ijcard.2015.10.179
K. Gémes, I. Janszky, L. E. Laugsand, K. D. László, S. Ahnve, L. J. Vatten, K. J. Mukamal. Alcohol consumption is associated with a lower incidence of acute myocardial infarction: results from a large prospective population-based study in Norway. Journal of Internal Medicine, 2015; DOI: 10.1111/joim.12428

Cite This Page:
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). "Light-to-moderate drinking good for your heart." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 February 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160218060941.htm>.

Paleo diet is dangerous, increases weight gain, diabetes expert warns

Date: February 18, 2016

Source: University of Melbourne

Summary:
Following a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet for just eight weeks can lead to rapid weight gain and health complications, a new mouse study has demonstrated. The study has prompted researchers to issue a warning about putting faith in so-called fad diets with little or no scientific evidence.

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Breast milk sugars promote healthy infant growth through gut microbiome

Date: February 18, 2016

Source: Cell Press

Summary:
Bacteria that live in the gut interact with dietary components to affect health and wellness. Scientists now finds key components in breast milk that promote healthy infant growth and how interactions with the gut bacteria drive this process.
This visual abstract shows how two preclinical models for infant undernutrition establish a link between consumption of sialylated milk oligosaccharides, the gut microbiota, and healthy growth.
Credit: Charbonneau et al./Cell 2016

Bacteria that live in the gut interact with dietary components to affect health and wellness. In a study published February 18 in Cell, a team led by Jeffrey Gordon at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis now finds key components in breast milk that promote healthy infant growth and how interactions with the gut bacteria drive this process.

Childhood malnutrition causes over 3 million deaths every year and leads to stunted growth as well as deficits in immune and cognitive development. Partnering with colleagues in Malawi, Africa, where almost half of all children under five show stunted growth, the study's researchers obtained small samples of human breast milk from the mothers of healthy or stunted babies. They found that sugars containing sialic acid, which has been implicated in brain development, were far more abundant in the breast milk of mothers with healthy compared with stunted babies.

This suggested that these breast milk sugars might promote healthy infant growth. To determine if this was the case, the researchers established animal models that allowed both diet and the gut microbiome to be manipulated, since they found in a related study published concurrently in Science that gut microbes are important mediators of normal growth. Gordon and his team introduced a collection of bacterial strains isolated from the fecal sample of an undernourished infant into mice or piglets. The researchers then fed the animals a prototypical Malawian diet consisting of corn, legumes, vegetables, and fruit, which on its own is insufficient for healthy growth.

With both the diet and microbiome mimicking those of undernourished Malawian infants transitioning to solid foods, the researchers then tested the effects of sialylated sugars. Given the difficulty of purifying large quantities of compounds from human breast milk, they turned instead to cow's milk, which contains sialylated sugars, but at 20-fold lower concentration than in breast milk. Through a complex series of steps, they isolated sialylated sugars from whey, a byproduct of cheesemaking, and fed it to the animals. Remarkably, the animals showed substantial improvements in growth, with increases in lean body mass and bone volume as well as metabolic changes in the liver, muscle, and brain suggesting improved ability to mobilize nutrients under diverse conditions. Crucially, these effects depended on the presence of the gut microbiota.

Since the assortment of gut bacteria that were isolated in this study were defined and could be grown in a dish, the authors were then able to tease out which bacteria were affected by sialylated sugars and how the different strains interacted with one another. They found that one species of bacteria fed on sialylated sugars, while another in turn fed on the digested products of those sugars, pointing to a food web among the bacterial community living in the gut. However, these two bacterial strains alone were not able to support healthy growth in mice; instead, more complex interactions between different types of gut bacteria were needed to promote growth.

This study lays the groundwork for identifying the components of breast milk that are needed for infant health and how they interact with the gut microbiome and other dietary components. The authors are excited to extend the approach to look at other mothers and babies to see how general their observations are. "This capacity to look in a very controlled way at how food is partitioned among members of a microbial community and how the metabolic output of that community can affect human biology is part of our ongoing agenda," Gordon says.

One possible application that may stem out of this work is improving infant formulas as well as therapeutic foods used to treat undernutrition, both of which are currently based on cow's milk and are therefore deficient in sialylated sugars. The researchers are hopeful, but careful to point out that more needs to be learned about how different types of bacteria interact with components of breast milk and complementary foods, and to ensure that harmful gut bacteria would not thrive on those components and thereby gain an advantage over beneficial microbes.

"Even though our intentions are good, we want to make sure we do no harm," Gordon says. "This is just the beginning of a long journey, an effort to understand how healthy growth is related to normal development of the gut microbiota, and how we can establish whether durable repair of microbiota immaturity may provide better clinical outcomes."

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Cell Press. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Charbonneau et al. Sialylated Milk Oligosaccharides Promote Microbiota-Dependent Growth in Models of Infant Undernutrition.Cell, 2016 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.01.024

Cite This Page:
Cell Press. "Breast milk sugars promote healthy infant growth through gut microbiome." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 February 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160218132248.htm>.

Benefits of taking the natural pigment astaxanthin

New light shed on neurogenesis, molecular basis for promotion of spatial memory capacity

Date: February 22, 2016

Source: University of Tsukuba

Summary:
With the recent rise in popularity of naturally-derived supplements to maintain a healthy body, there has been a great deal of attention toward development of the so-called "brain foods", which can enhance brain function. Of particular importance is the natural red pigment astaxanthin (ASX) abundant in both salmon and in crustaceans such as shrimp and crab. ASX has a powerful antioxidant effect, and is capable of penetrating the blood-brain barrier, entering the brain, where it acts directly on nerve cells. ASX is also known to have a neuroprotective effect. However, there are many unanswered questions as to the effects of ASX on hippocampal function, especially whether or not it can increase the neuroplasticity of the hippocampus.
ASX enhanced AHN in adult mice.
Credit: University of Tsukuba

With the recent rise in popularity of naturally-derived supplements to maintain a healthy body, there has been a great deal of attention toward development of the so-called "brain foods," which can enhance brain function. Of particular importance is the natural red pigment astaxanthin (ASX) abundant in both salmon and in crustaceans such as shrimp and crab. ASX has a powerful antioxidant effect, and it holds promise as a next-generation natural supplement. ASX is capable of penetrating the blood-brain barrier,entering the brain, where it acts directly on nerve cells. ASX is also known to have a neuroprotective effect in neurological animal disease model. However, there are many unanswered questions as to the effects of ASX on hippocampal function, especially whether or not it can increase the neuroplasticity of the hippocampus.

A research group led by University of Tsukuba Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences Professor Hideaki Soya and Professor Randeep Rakwal has investigated the effect on hippocampal function of the naturally-derived pigment ASX, which is believed to have the most powerful antioxidant activity among carotenoids. Their results showed for the first time that giving ASX to mice for four weeks promoted neurogenesis in the hippocampus in a concentration-dependent manner, and elevated the learning and memory capacity of the hippocampus. Furthermore, when the team investigated the molecular mechanism of the ASX activity on the hippocampus using high-throughput DNA microarray technology and bioinformatics analyses such as IPA, it brought to the fore specific molecular pathways that could contribute to improved memory capacity.

By conducting future targeting experiments on the molecular mechanism behind ASX action, as hypothesized from these bioinformatics analyses, aimed at hippocampal tissues and cells with gene deletion methods or specific inhibitors, researchers may be able to clarify the mechanism in greater detail, which could help target mechanisms in the development of medical foods and new drugs.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Tsukuba. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Jang Soo Yook, Masahiro Okamoto, Randeep Rakwal, Junko Shibato, Min Chul Lee, Takashi Matsui, Hyuk Ki Chang, Joon Yong Cho, Hideaki Soya.Astaxanthin Supplementation Enhances Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis and Spatial Memory in Mice. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, 2015; DOI: 10.1002/mnfr.201500634

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University of Tsukuba. "Benefits of taking the natural pigment astaxanthin: New light shed on neurogenesis, molecular basis for promotion of spatial memory capacity." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 February 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160222090848.htm>.

Little diet pain, big health gain

Date: February 22, 2016

Source: Cell Press

Summary:
Those who struggle with obesity, take heart. Losing as little as 5 percent of your body weight is enough to reap significant health benefits, according to a study. The randomized controlled trial of 40 obese men and women compared, for the first time, the health outcomes of 5 percent, 10 percent, and 15 percent weight loss. While additional weight loss further improved metabolic health, 5 percent weight loss was sufficient to reduce multiple risk factors for type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease.
Magkos et al. demonstrate the profound therapeutic effects of weight loss on metabolic function in subjects with obesity. This visual abstract shows how even a moderate 5% weight loss has considerable health benefits, including decreased intra-abdominal and intra-hepatic fat and increased multiorgan insulin sensitivity and b cell function. Additional weight loss further improves many cardiometabolic outcomes.
Credit: Magkos et al./Cell Metabolism 2016

Those who struggle with obesity, take heart. Losing as little as 5% of your body weight is enough to reap significant health benefits, according to a study published February 22 in Cell Metabolism. The randomized controlled trial of 40 obese men and women compared, for the first time, the health outcomes of 5%, 10%, and 15% weight loss. While additional weight loss further improved metabolic health, 5% weight loss was sufficient to reduce multiple risk factors for type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease.

"These results demonstrate you get a large bang for your buck with a 5% weight loss," says senior study author Samuel Klein of Washington University School of Medicine. "Based on these findings, we should reconsider changing current obesity practice guidelines to stress a target goal of 5% weight loss, rather than 5% to 10% weight loss, which increases the perception of failure when patients do not achieve weight losses that are greater than 5%."

Obesity is a major risk factor for a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Most treatment guidelines, including those recently proposed by several major medical and scientific societies, recommend moderate weight loss of 5% to 10% to achieve improvements in metabolic function and health. "However, it is much easier to achieve a 5% weight loss than it is to achieve a 10% weight loss, so it is important to understand the health benefits that occur with a 5% weight loss and what additional benefits can be expected with more weight loss in people with obesity," Klein says.

To date, several large randomized controlled weight loss trials have evaluated the effects of different amounts of weight loss on clinical outcomes. But until now, none have separated the weight loss outcomes in those who achieved 5% weight loss from those who achieved 10% weight loss. Klein and his team set out to address this question by randomly assigning 40 obese individuals to either maintain their body weight or go on a low-calorie diet to lose 5%, 10%, or 15% of their body weight.

Importantly, all of the study participants showed signs of insulin-resistant glucose metabolism--a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes. When blood glucose levels rise after a meal, beta cells in the pancreas release a hormone called insulin into the blood, stimulating muscle, fat, and liver cells to take up the excess glucose. But in individuals with insulin resistance, glucose builds up in the blood instead of being absorbed by the cells, increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Among the 19 individuals who lost 5% of their body weight, beta cell function improved significantly, as did insulin sensitivity in fat tissue, liver, and skeletal muscle. Meanwhile, the nine participants who achieved additional weight loss showed further improvements in beta cell function and insulin sensitivity in muscle tissue. "Taken together, the findings show that 5% weight loss is sufficient to improve health outcomes, with additional weight loss further decreasing risk factors for metabolic and cardiovascular diseases," Klein says.

According to the authors, future studies should evaluate the effect of progressive weight loss on other obesity-related complications, such as arthritis and lung disease. It will also be important to test whether the findings apply to people with diabetes and to examine the cellular basis for the observed therapeutic effects.

In the meantime, Klein hopes that this study will serve as a motivating force to help people achieve manageable weight loss goals. "Our findings show that even a small amount of weight loss has important health benefits for multiple organ systems," he says. "We hope that these findings will encourage obese people to take reasonable steps to watch what they eat and increase their physical activity, because this will translate into a lower risk for diabetes and heart disease."

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Cell Press. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Magkos et al. Effects of Moderate and Subsequent Progressive Weight Loss on Metabolic Function and Adipose Tissue Biology in Humans with Obesity. Cell Metabolism, February 2016 DOI:10.1016/j.cmet.2016.02.005

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Cell Press. "Little diet pain, big health gain." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 February 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160222134055.htm>.

Almond joy: Eating just a handful a day boosts diet health, study shows

Date: February 22, 2016

Source: University of Florida

Summary:
Just add a handful of almonds: a University of Florida study suggests that improving one's diet can be as simple as that.

Just add a handful of almonds: a University of Florida study suggests that improving one's diet can be as simple as that.

Researchers studied the effect that the addition of almonds can have on a person's diet quality, based on data collected from 28 parent-child pairs living in North Central Florida.

The parents were instructed to eat 1.5 ounces of whole almonds each day during the three-week intervention portion of the research period, and the children were encouraged to eat half an ounce of whole almonds or an equivalent amount of almond butter each day. Although only one parent and one child's habits were analyzed in the study, which was published in the December issue of the Journal of Nutrition Research, the researchers encouraged the whole family to participate and provided enough almonds and almond butter for everyone in the family to eat.

At the beginning of the 14-week research period the research subjects' average Healthy Eating Index scores were 53.7 ± 1.8 for the parents and 53.7 ± 2.6 for the children. The Healthy Eating Index is a measure of diet quality that assesses conformance to the USDA's Dietary Guidelines for Americans. A score below 51 is reflective of a poor diet, a score between 51 and 80 reflects a need for improvement and a score greater than 80 indicates a good diet.

After the almond intervention, the average Healthy Eating Index score for parents and children increased, with parents' average increasing to 61.4 ± 1.4 and children's average increasing to 61.4 ± 2.2. They increased their Healthy Eating Index component scores for total protein foods and decreased the intake of empty calories.

The researchers believe the parents and children were replacing salty and processed snacks with almonds, said Alyssa Burns, a doctoral student in the UF/IFAS food science and human nutrition department who conducted the study.

Over the past 20 years, per-capita consumption of nuts and seeds has decreased in children 3 to 6 years old, while the consumption of savory snacks--like chips and pretzels--increased. Researchers were interested in studying the addition of almonds into 3- to 6-year-old children's diets, because encouraging healthy eating habits during early childhood can have numerous lifelong benefits.

"The habits you have when you are younger are carried into adulthood, so if a parent is able to incorporate almonds or different healthy snacks into a child's diet, it's more likely that the child will choose those snacks later on in life," Burns said.

They were also interested in learning how easy or difficult it is to incorporate almonds into the diets of preschool-aged children--an age when food preferences are developed.

"Some of the challenges that we saw were that the kids were getting bored with the almonds, or they didn't like the taste of the almonds or the almond butter," Burns said.

To counter that, she said they came up with creative ways for the parents to incorporate the almonds into their children's diets--for instance, adding them to familiar foods like oatmeal, smoothies or sandwiches.

The study's results suggest whole food approaches, like adding almonds to one's diet, may be an achievable way to improve overall public health.

"Adding a variety of fruits, vegetables and nuts to your diet can improve your overall diet quality," Burns said.

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The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Florida.Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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University of Florida. "Almond joy: Eating just a handful a day boosts diet health, study shows." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 February 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160222220821.htm>.

How sweet can you get? Plant-derived sweetener thaumatin becomes 1.7 times sweeter after amino acid swap

Date: February 23, 2016

Source: Kyoto University

Summary:
Researchers have made a sweeter version of thaumatin, a natural sweetener commonly used in 'diet' beverages, gummy, and jelly candies. Thaumatin, a protein derived from the fruit of an African tropical plant, is the sweetener of choice when it comes to "diet" beverages and gummy and jelly candies boasting natural ingredients. Thaumatin also masks bitterness and helps enhance flavor.
Japanese researchers have made a sweeter version of thaumatin, a natural sweetener widely used in "diet" beverages, gummies, and jelly candies.
Credit: Eiri Ono/Kyoto University

A sweeter version of a widely used plant-derived sweetener is on the way. Researchers have found a way to make thaumatin -- one of the sweetest natural sugar substitutes on the market -- even sweeter.

"Making natural sweeteners stronger could be a huge plus to the food industry, especially as there are concerns regarding the consumption of low-calorie sugar substitutes to prevent life style-related diseases," says lead author Tetsuya Masuda of Kyoto University.

Thaumatin, a protein derived from the fruit of an African tropical plant, is the sweetener of choice when it comes to "diet" beverages and gummy and jelly candies boasting natural ingredients. Thaumatin also masks bitterness and helps enhance flavor.

Only humans and primates taste sweetness from thaumatin. Masuda and colleagues have analyzed its structure with X-rays to determine which parts of the protein make it taste sweet to us. From these studies they found that the basic amino acids in thaumatin play a crucial role in eliciting "sweetness," implying that substituting acidic amino acids with basic ones could make it sweeter. In this study, Masuda replaced aspartic acid with asparagine, making thaumatin 1.7 times sweeter than before. This also confirms the complex interaction between thaumatin and the sweetness receptor of the tongue, which was discovered in the early 2000s after long speculation by scientists. Sweetness is detected when positively charged molecules on the protein come in the vicinity of negatively charged molecules on the sweetness receptor.

"For a long time the mechanism in which we taste sweetness from thaumatin was a mystery, and for that reason it took very long to sweeten it up," Masuda explains. "Now that we've taken steps in the right direction, I'm excited about developing applications for a stronger form of thaumatin."

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Kyoto University.Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Tetsuya Masuda, Keisuke Ohta, Naoko Ojiro, Kazuki Murata, Bunzo Mikami, Fumito Tani, Piero Andrea Temussi, Naofumi Kitabatake. A Hypersweet Protein: Removal of The Specific Negative Charge at Asp21 Enhances Thaumatin Sweetness. Scientific Reports, 2016; 6: 20255 DOI: 10.1038/srep20255

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Kyoto University. "How sweet can you get? Plant-derived sweetener thaumatin becomes 1.7 times sweeter after amino acid swap." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 23 February 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160223102845.htm>.

Food-based proteins discovered as key to child malnutrition in developing countries

Date: February 23, 2016

Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine

Summary:
Contrary to popular belief among world relief workers, children in developing countries may not be eating enough protein, which could contribute to stunted growth, a study suggests.

Contrary to popular belief among world relief workers, children in developing countries may not be eating enough protein, which could contribute to stunted growth, a Johns Hopkins-directed study suggests.

Analyzing blood samples from more than 300 African children -- more than 60 percent of whom had stunted growth -- researchers found that children who were stunted had 15 to 20 percent lower levels of essential amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, than children who were growing normally. They also had lower levels of other protein markers. These results were published in the Feb. 19 edition of the journal EBioMedicine.

"This challenges the widespread assumption that children are getting enough protein in developing countries," says lead study author Richard Semba, M.D., M.P.H., the W. Richard Green Professor of Ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute. "This could cause a huge shift in the aid community. We have to really think about trying to improve the diet. Children are not getting quality food."

Essential amino acids are considered essential because they cannot be synthesized by the body and must be obtained from diet, Semba says. The best food sources of essential amino acids are animal-derived foods, such as milk, eggs and meat; soybeans also are a good source. Insufficient intake of essential amino acids can not only impact growth but could also adversely affect multiple metabolic pathways in the body since they play diverse roles in human health.

"We are delighted that the resources and expertise at the National Institute on Aging could help facilitate this important work," says Luigi Ferrucci, scientific director of the National Institute on Aging.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Semba says, international organizations were focused on protein malnutrition in children in developing countries. But in the 1970s, the emphasis shifted to micronutrient dietary supplements because the assumption was that most children received adequate protein. This study suggests that micronutrient supplements sprinkled on a typical diet of grain-based porridge are insufficient, he says. About 160 million children under age 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition worldwide, according to his study; nearly all children who are stunted live in poor areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Semba and colleagues used an analytical chemistry technique called liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to measure blood levels of amino acids, as well as other essential compounds called glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids and other metabolites in blood samples from 313 children ages 1 to 5 from six villages in rural southern Malawi. Participants' height and weight were recorded by trained field workers.

Sixty-two percent of study participants were stunted. Children who were stunted had lower concentrations of all nine essential amino acids, including tryptophan (27 percent lower), isoleucine (15 percent lower), leucine (17 percent lower), valine (15 percent lower), methionine (13 percent lower), threonine (21 percent lower), histidine (15 percent lower), phenylalanine (6 percent lower) and lysine (22 percent lower), compared with nonstunted children. In addition, stunted children had 10 to 40 percent lower concentrations of other nutritional markers, such as conditionally essential amino acids (arginine, glycine, glutamine), nonessential amino acids (asparagine, glutamate, serine) and six different sphingolipids. Sphingolipids are fundamental components for development of the brain. In addition, stunting was associated with alterations in concentrations of glycerophospholipids, which are needed to make the membranes of all cells.

Semba, who also holds an appointment in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's departments of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology and of International Health, says the findings cannot necessarily be extrapolated to other children at risk of stunting, since there may be dietary, cultural and environmental factors that differ from the setting in rural Malawi. Semba and colleagues have plans for additional study in this population, including looking at younger children and following children over time.

Semba and his colleagues hope that this research will prompt a broader discussion on how to address child malnutrition.

"Providing high-quality protein with sufficient levels of essential amino acids in developing countries will be a major challenge and will require substantial investment in the agricultural sector," says Semba.

"No child should be stunted by the age of 2. The brain damage is nearly irreversible, and the child faces a lifetime of disadvantage," says Martin Bloem, senior nutrition advisor at the United Nations World Food Programme. "To provide high-quality food to fix this problem, it will cost $125 to $150 per child."

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Johns Hopkins Medicine. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Richard D. Semba, Michelle Shardell, Fayrouz A. Sakr Ashour, Ruin Moaddel, Indi Trehan, Kenneth M. Maleta, M. Isabel Ordiz, Klaus Kraemer, Mohammed A. Khadeer, Luigi Ferrucci, Mark J. Manary. Child Stunting Is Associated with Low Circulating Essential Amino Acids.EBioMedicine, 2016; DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2016.02.030

Cite This Page:
Johns Hopkins Medicine. "Food-based proteins discovered as key to child malnutrition in developing countries." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 23 February 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160223132807.htm>.