Season, storage and extraction method impact on the phytochemical profile of Terminalia ivorensis.

Background: Terminalia ivorensis (TI) is used in West African ethnomedicine for the treatment of conditions including ulcers, malaria and wounds. Despite its widespread use, the phytochemical profile of TI remains largely undetermined. This research investigated the effects of extraction method, season, and storage conditions on the phytochemical composition of TI to contribute towards understanding the potential benefits.

Hemp and buckwheat are valuable sources of dietary amino acids, beneficially modulating gastrointestinal hormones and promoting satiety in healthy volunteers.

Purpose: This study evaluated the postprandial effects following consumption of buckwheat, fava bean, pea, hemp and lupin compared to meat (beef); focussing on biomarkers of satiety, gut hormones, aminoacids and plant metabolites bioavailability and metabolism.

Methods: Ten subjects (n = 3 men; n = 7 women; 42 ± 11.8 years of age; BMI 26 ± 5.

Fruit-Based Beverages Contain a Wide Range of Phytochemicals and Intervention Targets Should Account for the Individual Compounds Present and Their Availability.

Benefits from micronutrients within fruit juice and smoothies are well documented, but fewer studies research the role of phytochemicals. Well-controlled human studies are essential to evaluate their impact, particularly on glucose and lipid regulation but also gastrointestinal health. Planning these studies requires data on the potential molecular targets.

Analysis of polyphenolic metabolites from in vitro gastrointestinal digested soft fruit extracts identify malvidin-3-glucoside as an inhibitor of PTP1B.

Protein-tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B, EC 3.1.3.

The anthocyanins in black currants regulate postprandial hyperglycaemia primarily by inhibiting α-glucosidase while other phenolics modulate salivary α-amylase, glucose uptake and sugar transporters.

The hypoglycaemic effects of two Ribes sp. i.e.

Revalorisation of rapeseed pomace extracts: An in vitro study into its anti-oxidant and DNA protective properties.

Rapeseed pomace (RSP) is a waste product obtained after edible oil production from Brassica napus. Analysis of ubiquitous secondary metabolites in RSP samples (two breeds, harvested in 2012/2014 respectively from North East of Scotland) and their ethanol/water (95:5) Soxhlet extracts were carried out. Soxhlet extraction of the RSP (petroleum ether followed by 95% ethanol) gave a solid extract.

Availability and dose response of phytophenols from a wheat bran rich cereal product in healthy human volunteers.

Scope: Phytophenols present in cereals are metabolised to compounds that could be partly responsible for the reduced risk of chronic diseases and all-cause mortality associated with fibre-rich diets. The bioavailability, form and in vivo concentrations of these metabolites require to be established.

Materials And Methods: Eight healthy volunteers consumed a test meal containing a recommended dose (40 g) and high dose (120 g) of ready-to-eat wheat bran cereal and the systemic and colonic metabolites determined quantitatively by LC-MS.

Nutritional and Phytochemical Content of High-Protein Crops.

Sustainable sources of high-protein plants could help meet future protein requirements. Buckwheat, green pea, fava bean, hemp, and lupin were analyzed by proximate analysis and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to determine their macro- and micronutrient contents, and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to elucidate the phytochemical profiles. The protein contents ranged from 20 to 43% (w/w), and all samples were found to be rich in insoluble fiber: 9-25% (w/w).

Major phenylpropanoid-derived metabolites in the human gut can arise from microbial fermentation of protein.

Scope: Plant secondary metabolites, such as phenolic acids are commonly associated with benefits for human health. Two of the most abundant phenylpropanoid-derived compounds detected in human faecal samples are phenylacetic acid (PAA) and 4-hydroxylphenylacetic acid (4-hydroxyPAA). Although they have the potential to be derived from diets rich in plant-based foods, evidence suggests that these compounds can be derived from the microbial fermentation of aromatic amino acids (AAAs) in the colon.

High-protein, reduced-carbohydrate weight-loss diets promote metabolite profiles likely to be detrimental to colonic health.

Background: Diets that are high in protein but reduced in carbohydrate contents provide a common approach for achieving weight loss in obese humans. However, the effect of such diets on microbiota-derived metabolites that influence colonic health has not been established.

Objective: We designed this study to assess the effect of diets with reduced carbohydrate and increased protein contents on metabolites considered to influence long-term colonic health, in particular the risk of colorectal disease.

Selective bio-availability of phenolic acids from Scottish strawberries.

Scottish strawberries were found to be a rich source of phenolic acids, namely benzoic (1287.95 +/- 279.98 mg/kg) and cinnamic (1159.

Anti-inflammatory implications of the microbial transformation of dietary phenolic compounds.

Due to the success of therapeutic anti-inflammatory compounds to inhibit, retard, and reverse the development of colon cancer, the identification of dietary compounds as chemopreventives is being vigorously pursued. However, an important factor often overlooked is the metabolic transformation of the food-derived compounds in the gut that may affect their bioactivity. Commonly consumed dietary phenolics (esterified ferulic acid and its 5-5'-linked dimer), which have the potential to undergo predominant microbial transformations (de-esterification, hydrogenation, demethylation, dehydroxylation, and dimer cleavage), were incubated with human microbiota.

Inhibition of 15-lipoxygenase-catalysed oxygenation of arachidonic acid by substituted benzoic acids.

Elevated levels of phospholipases, prostaglandin synthases and lipoxygenases in colonic cells at various stages of malignancy indicate a strong link between dietary lipids and colon cancer. Lipoxygenase-catalysed arachidonic acid metabolism plays a key role in colorectal carcinogenesis and has the potential to be modulated by phenolic compounds. Plant-based foods are rich sources of phenolic compounds and in the human colon they are predominantly available as simple phenolics such as the benzoic acids.

Availability of blueberry phenolics for microbial metabolism in the colon and the potential inflammatory implications.

Blueberries are a rich source of phenylpropanoid-derived phytochemicals, widely studied for their potential health benefits. Of particular interest for colonic health are the lower molecular weight phenolic acids and their derivatives, as these are the predominant phenolic compounds detected in the colon. Blueberries contained a wide variety of phenolic acids, the majority of which (3371.

EPR investigation into the effects of substrate structure on peroxidase-catalyzed phenylpropanoid oxidation.

The plant polymer lignin represents one of the most structurally diverse natural products and results from the oxidative coupling of phenylpropanoid monomers. Peroxidase catalyses the oxidation of phenylpropanoids to their phenoxyl radicals, and the subsequent nonenzymatic coupling controls the pattern and extent of polymerisation. Using EPR spectroscopy, we have demonstrated that for a series of substrates increased methoxylation increases peroxidase-catalyzed oxidation and that this is most easily achieved with the monomeric alcohols.

Inhibition of cytokine-induced prostanoid biogenesis by phytochemicals in human colonic fibroblasts.

Many of the inflammatory pathways regulating the production of prostanoids are implicated in the development of colon cancer. Diets rich in fruits and vegetables are associated with decreased rates of colon cancer and this may reflect anti-inflammatory properties of some phytochemicals in plant-based foods. In order to ascertain which of the many dietary compounds may be protective, a cell-based screening method was established to determine their effects on the production of prostanoids.

Structural modification of phenylpropanoid-derived compounds and the effects on their participation in redox processes.

Oxidation and reduction processes are fundamental to many of the proposed mechanisms by which dietary phytochemicals are thought to exert protective effects against cardiovascular disease and some cancers. An understanding of the redox chemistry of these compounds is essential in assessing their potential to participate in these processes. Phenylpropanoid-derived compounds were selected and synthesised where required to represent many of the structural features found in this important group of compounds.

Radical formation and coupling of hydroxycinnamic acids containing 1,2-dihydroxy substituents.

Hydroxycinnamic acids involved in the deposition and cross-linking of plant cell-wall polymers do not usually contain 1,2-dihydroxy substituents, despite the presence of both 3,4-dihydroxycinnamic acid and 4,5-dihydroxy-3-methoxycinnamic acid as intermediates in the biogenesis of lignin. Since the O-methyl transferases, enzymes catalysing methylation, are targets for the genetic manipulation of lignin biosynthesis, the potential incorporation of these 1,2-dihydroxated substrates becomes increasingly significant. Using EPR spectroscopy, it was observed that 1,2-dihydroxy substituents did not have an inhibitory effect on radical formation.