Nutritional Profile and Chlorophyll Intake of Collard Green as a Convenience Food.

Collard green ( var. ) is widely cultivated for its adaptability and nutritional benefits. This study examines the nutritional composition and chlorophyll content of the "Couve-Manteiga" cultivar grown in Italy, emphasizing its potential application in convenience foods, such as fresh-cut, fifth-range, and freeze-dried products, to enhance chlorophyll intake in the population.

Stepwise Discovery of Insulin Effects on Amino Acid and Protein Metabolism.

A clear effect of insulin deficiency and replacement on body/muscle mass was a landmark observation at the start of the insulin age. Since then, an enormous body of investigations has been produced on the pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus from a hormonal/metabolic point of view. Among them, the study of the effects of insulin on body growth and protein accretion occupies a central place and shows a stepwise, continuous, logical, and creative development.

Anabolic Resistance in the Pathogenesis of Sarcopenia in the Elderly: Role of Nutrition and Exercise in Young and Old People.

The development of sarcopenia in the elderly is associated with many potential factors and/or processes that impair the renovation and maintenance of skeletal muscle mass and strength as ageing progresses. Among them, a defect by skeletal muscle to respond to anabolic stimuli is to be considered. Common anabolic stimuli/signals in skeletal muscle are hormones (insulin, growth hormones, IGF-1, androgens, and β-agonists such epinephrine), substrates (amino acids such as protein precursors on top, but also glucose and fat, as source of energy), metabolites (such as β-agonists and HMB), various biochemical/intracellular mediators), physical exercise, neurogenic and immune-modulating factors, etc.

Beta-Glucans of Cereals: Functional and Technological Properties.

β-glucans are a polymeric dietary fiber characterized by β-(1,3) and β-(1,4) glycosidic bonds between glucose monomers. They are often used as thickeners, stabilizers, and fat substitutes in foods. The functional and technological quality of β-glucans is attributed to their origin/source, molecular weight, and structural properties.

Modeling SILAC Data to Assess Protein Turnover in a Cellular Model of Diabetic Nephropathy.

Protein turnover rate is finely regulated through intracellular mechanisms and signals that are still incompletely understood but that are essential for the correct function of cellular processes. Indeed, a dysfunctional proteostasis often impacts the cell's ability to remove unfolded, misfolded, degraded, non-functional, or damaged proteins. Thus, altered cellular mechanisms controlling protein turnover impinge on the pathophysiology of many diseases, making the study of protein synthesis and degradation rates an important step for a more comprehensive understanding of these pathologies.

Neither Incretin or Amino Acid Responses, nor Casein Content, Account for the Equal Insulin Response Following Iso-Lactose Loads of Natural Human and Cow Milk in Healthy Young Adults.

Human milk contains <50% less protein (casein) than cow milk, but is equally effective in insulin secretion despite lower postingestion hyperaminoacidemia. Such potency of human milk might be modulated either by incretins (glucagon-like polypeptide-1,GLP-1); glucose-inhibitory-polypeptide, GIP), and/or by milk casein content. Healthy volunteers of both sexes were fed iso-lactose loads of two low-protein milks, i.

Effect of Reversal of Whey-Protein to Casein Ratio of Cow Milk, on Insulin, Incretin, and Amino Acid Responses in Humans.

Scope: Milk-proteins, besides lactose, stimulate insulin and incretin secretion. Although whey-proteins (WP) are more efficient than casein (Cas) in hormone secretion, the effects of reversal of the (WP/Cas) ratio in whole-milk are poorly known.

Methods And Results: Healthy volunteers received two different cow-milk drinks, at identical lactose (0.

Accelerated whole-body protein catabolism in subjects with type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and albuminuria.

Background: Albuminuria develops in ~40% of subjects with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), and is often associated with malnutrition, severe comorbidities and decreased life expectancy. The association between albuminuria and altered whole body protein turnover in T2DM is currently unknown.

Objective: To assess whole body protein degradation and synthesis in type 2 diabetes with and without albuminuria.

Are there dietary requirements for dispensable amino acids and if so, how do we assess requirements?

Purpose Of Review: Nonessential amino acids (NEAAs) represent a relevant portion of dietary protein(s), yet their requirement(s) has not been determined. Despite their nature as dispensable substrates, should either shortage of any NEAA precursor or impaired synthetic reactions occur, NEAA dietary intake may become insufficient. The purpose of this review is to discuss recent hypotheses and data on individual NEAA requirements and metabolism.

Nonessential amino acid usage for protein replenishment in humans: a method of estimation.

Background: Essential amino acids (EAAs) are key factors in determining dietary protein quality. Their RDAs have been estimated. However, although nonessential amino acids (NEAAs) are utilized for protein synthesis too, no estimates of their usage for body protein replenishment have been proposed so far.

A High-Fiber Diet Decreases Postabsorptive Protein Turnover but Does Not Alter Insulin Sensitivity in Men with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus.

Background: High-fiber diets (HFDs) are recommended in the diet of persons with diabetes, yet such diets can impair macronutrient digestion and/or absorption, modify insulin sensitivity, and reset metabolism.

Objectives: We studied the effects of a HFD on the kinetics of whole-body protein, a macronutrient that could be affected by dietary fiber, in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), under both basal-low insulinemic and hyperinsulinemic conditions.

Methods: Eight men with T1DM (body mass index range: 21.

Effects of Low-Protein, and Supplemented Very Low-Protein Diets, on Muscle Protein Turnover in Patients With CKD.

Introduction: Early studies have shown that patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are able to maintain nitrogen balance despite significantly lower protein intake, but how and to what extent muscle protein metabolism adapts to a low-protein diet (LPD) or to a supplemented very LPD (sVLPD) is still unexplored.

Methods: We studied muscle protein turnover by the forearm perfusion method associated with the kinetics of H-phenylalanine in patients with CKD: (i) in a parallel study in subjects randomized to usual diet (1.1 g protein/kg,  = 5) or LPD (0.

Decreased Homocysteine Trans-Sulfuration in Hypertension With Hyperhomocysteinemia: Relationship With Insulin Resistance.

Context: Homocysteine is an independent cardiovascular risk factor and is elevated in essential hypertension. Insulin stimulates homocysteine catabolism in healthy individuals. However, the mechanisms of hyperhomocysteinemia and its relationship with insulin resistance in essential hypertension are unknown.

Leucine Transamination Is Lower in Middle-Aged Compared with Younger Adults.

Insulin and age affect leucine (and protein) kinetics in vivo. However, to our knowledge, leucine transamination and the effects of insulin have not been studied in participants of different ages. The aims of the study were to measure whole-body leucine deamination to α-ketoisocaproate (KIC) and KIC reamination to leucine in middle-aged and younger healthy adults, both in the postabsorptive state and after hyperinsulinemia.

The contribution of muscle, kidney, and splanchnic tissues to leucine transamination in humans.

The first steps of leucine utilization are reversible deamination to α-ketoisocaproic acid (α-KIC) and irreversible oxidation. Recently, the regulatory role of leucine deamination over oxidation was underlined in rodents. Our aim was to measure leucine deamination and reamination in the whole body, in respect to previously determined rates across individual organs, in humans.

A Multifunctional Bread Rich in Beta Glucans and Low in Starch Improves Metabolic Control in Type 2 Diabetes: A Controlled Trial.

Design: Functional foods may be useful for people with diabetes. The soluble fibers beta glucans can modify starch digestion and improve postprandial glucose response. We analyzed the metabolic effects of a specifically designed 'functional' bread, low in starch, rich in fibers (7 g/100 g), with a beta glucan/starch ratio of (7.

Essential amino acids: master regulators of nutrition and environmental footprint?

The environmental footprint of animal food production is considered several-fold greater than that of crops cultivation. Therefore, the choice between animal and vegetarian diets may have a relevant environmental impact. In such comparisons however, an often neglected issue is the nutritional value of foods.

Clinical and biochemical determinants of the extent of liver steatosis in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Objective: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is very frequent in both type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and the metabolic syndrome (MS), which share clinical and metabolic characteristics. Whether and to which extent these characteristics can predict the degree of liver steatosis are not entirely clear.

Patients And Methods: We determined liver fat (divided into four classes) by standard sonographic images, and clinical and biochemical variables, in 60 consecutive patients with T2DM and with features of the MS.

Effects of CK2 inhibition in cultured fibroblasts from Type 1 Diabetic patients with or without nephropathy.

CK2 is a multifunctional, pleiotropic protein kinase involved in the regulation of cell proliferation and survival. Since fibroblasts from Type 1 Diabetes patients (T1DM) with Nephropathy exhibit increased proliferation, we studied cell viability, basal CK2 expression and activity, and response to specific CK2 inhibitors TBB (4,5,6,7-tetrabenzotriazole) and CX4945, in fibroblasts from T1DM patients either with (T1DM+) or without (T1DM-) Nephropathy, and from healthy controls (N). We tested expression and phosphorylation of CK2-specific molecular targets.

Decreased VLDL-Apo B 100 Fractional Synthesis Rate Despite Hypertriglyceridemia in Subjects With Type 2 Diabetes and Nephropathy.

Context: Subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and diabetic nephropathy (DN) often exhibit hypertriglyceridemia. The mechanism(s) of such an increase are poorly known.

Objective: We investigated very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL)-Apo B 100 kinetics in T2DM subjects with and without DN, and in healthy controls.

Lumican is overexpressed in lung adenocarcinoma pleural effusions.

Adenocarcinoma (AdC) is the most common lung cancer subtype and is often associated with pleural effusion (PE). Its poor prognosis is attributable to diagnostic delay and lack of effective treatments and there is a pressing need in discovering new biomarkers for early diagnosis or targeted therapies. To date, little is known about lung AdC proteome.

Nitric oxide in the normal kidney and in patients with diabetic nephropathy.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a gas with biological and regulatory properties, produced from arginine by the way of nitric oxide synthases (NOS), and with a very short half-life (few seconds). A "coupled" NOS activity leads to NO generation, whereas its uncoupling produces the reactive oxygen species peroxynitrite (ONOO(-)). Uncoupling is usually due to inflammation, oxidative stress, decreased cofactor availability, or excessive NO production.