Oral administration of nasturtium affects peptide YY secretion in male subjects.

Scope: Nasturtium plants contain the glucosinolate glucotropaeolin and its corresponding breakdown product benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC), the latter being intensively studied with regard to cancer chemoprevention and anti-inflammatory properties. In addition, recent research has shown that isothiocyanates are able to activate the release of several gut hormones in vitro and in rodent studies. Here, we tested the effects of a dietary nasturtium administration on circulating levels of gut hormones in humans.

Bioavailability and metabolism of benzyl glucosinolate in humans consuming Indian cress (Tropaeolum majus L.).

Scope: Benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC), which occurs in Brassicales, has demonstrated chemopreventive potency and cancer treatment properties in cell and animal studies. However, fate of BITC in human body is not comprehensively studied. Therefore, the present human intervention study investigates the metabolism of the glucosinolate (GSL) glucotropaeolin and its corresponding BITC metabolites.

Determination of benzyl isothiocyanate metabolites in human plasma and urine by LC-ESI-MS/MS after ingestion of nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus L.).

A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated to determine the concentration of benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) metabolites in human plasma and urine. In this study, the following BITC metabolites have been considered: BITC-glutathione, BITC-cysteinylglycine, BITC-cysteine, and BITC-N-acetyl-L-cysteine. The assay development included: (1) synthesis of BITC conjugates acting as reference substances; (2) sample preparation based on protein precipitation and solid-phase extraction; (3) development of a quantitative LC-MS/MS method working in the multiple-reaction monitoring mode; (4) validation of the assay; (5) investigation of the stability and the reactivity of BITC conjugates in vitro; (6) application of the method to samples from a human intervention study.

Predictive modelling of interventions to improve iodine intake in New Zealand.

Objective: The potential effects of four interventions to improve iodine intakes of six New Zealand population groups are assessed.

Design: A model was developed to estimate iodine intake when (i) bread is manufactured with or without iodized salt, (ii) recommended foods are consumed to augment iodine intake, (iii) iodine supplementation as recommended for pregnant women is taken and (iv) the level of iodization for use in bread manufacture is doubled from 25-65 mg to 100 mg iodine/kg salt.

Setting: New Zealanders have low and decreasing iodine intakes and low iodine status.

Eating behaviour and eating disorders in students of nutrition sciences.

Objective: Sometimes the suspicion is put forward that nutrition students show more disordered eating patterns, which may be among the motivating factors to study nutrition. At the same time, it is not clear whether the students' increasing knowledge about diet and nutrition is associated with a more healthy eating behaviour or with an unhealthy obsession with food choices.

Design: Cross-sectional comparison of nutrition students from German universities during the first year of their studies (n 123) and during higher semesters (n 96), with a control group from other study programmes (n 68 and n 46, respectively).

Protein intake in the first year of life: a risk factor for later obesity? The E.U. childhood obesity project.

Effective strategies for primary prevention are urgently needed to combat the rapidly increasing prevalence of childhood obesity. Evidence accumulates that early nutrition programmes later obesity risk. Breast feeding reduces the odds ratio for obesity at school age, adjusted for biological and sociodemographic confounding variables, by some 20-25%.