Mediterranean-Style Diet Improves Systolic Blood Pressure and Arterial Stiffness in Older Adults.

We aimed to determine the effect of a Mediterranean-style diet, tailored to meet dietary recommendations for older adults, on blood pressure and arterial stiffness. In 12 months, randomized controlled trial (NU-AGE [New Dietary Strategies Addressing the Specific Needs of Elderly Population for Healthy Aging in Europe]), blood pressure was measured in 1294 healthy participants, aged 65 to 79 years, recruited from 5 European centers, and arterial stiffness in a subset of 225 participants. The intervention group received individually tailored standardized dietary advice and commercially available foods to increase adherence to a Mediterranean diet.

A Mediterranean-like dietary pattern with vitamin D3 (10 µg/d) supplements reduced the rate of bone loss in older Europeans with osteoporosis at baseline: results of a 1-y randomized controlled trial.

Background: The Mediterranean diet (MD) is widely recommended for the prevention of chronic disease, but evidence for a beneficial effect on bone health is lacking.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of a Mediterranean-like dietary pattern [NU-AGE (New Dietary Strategies Addressing the Specific Needs of the Elderly Population for Healthy Aging in Europe)] on indexes of inflammation with a number of secondary endpoints, including bone mineral density (BMD) and biomarkers of bone and collagen degradation in a 1-y multicenter randomized controlled trial (RCT; NU-AGE) in elderly Europeans.

Design: An RCT was undertaken across 5 European centers.

Antioxidant intake from diet and supplements and risk of digestive cancers in middle-aged adults: results from the prospective NutriNet-Santé cohort.

Experimental studies suggest beneficial effects of antioxidants in digestive cancer prevention. However, epidemiological results are contrasting and few studies quantitatively assessed supplemental intake. This study aimed at investigating the associations between antioxidant intakes (dietary, supplemental and total) and digestive cancer risk.

Smartphone Interventions for Weight Treatment and Behavioral Change in Pediatric Obesity: A Systematic Review.

Background: Traditional approaches for treating or managing children and adolescents with overweight or obesity have limited effectiveness. Current advances in smartphone technology may improve the attractiveness and accessibility of weight management support for children and adolescents with overweight or obesity. This systematic review aimed to provide a comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of using smartphones in the multidisciplinary treatment of child and adolescent overweight or obesity, with a specific interest in behavior change.

Fine mapping of quantitative trait loci underlying sensory meat quality traits in three French beef cattle breeds.

Improving the traits that underlie meat quality is a major challenge in the beef industry. The objective of this paper was to detect QTL linked to sensory meat quality traits in 3 French beef cattle breeds. We genotyped 1,059, 1,219, and 947 young bulls and their sires belonging to the Charolais, Limousin, and Blonde d'Aquitaine breeds, respectively, using the Illumina BovineSNP50 BeadChip (Illumina Inc.

Whole body protein breakdown is less inhibited by insulin, but still responsive to amino acid, in nondiabetic elderly subjects.

Responses of whole body glucose disposal (GDR) and protein breakdown (PB) to physiological insulin levels are altered in nondiabetic elderly subjects. Amino acids enhance inhibition of PB by insulin in young subjects. We hypothesized that addition of amino acid to insulin may improve the defect in PB regulation by insulin in elderly people.

Assessment of energy expenditure associated with physical activities in free-living obese and nonobese adolescents.

Background: Information on activity patterns and the energy cost of activities is critically missing.

Objective: We measured the energy cost of and time devoted to various activities in obese and nonobese adolescents.

Design: Daily energy expenditure (DEE) and its main components were determined in 27 obese and 50 nonobese adolescents aged 12-16 y by using whole-body calorimetry with the same activity program and the heart rate-recording method in free-living conditions.

Increase in complement component C3 is an early response to experimental magnesium deficiency in rats.

The importance of the inflammatory process in the pathology of experimental Mg-deficiency has been reconsidered but the sequence of events leading to inflammatory response remains unclear. In this study, the effect of Mg-deficiency on complement system by measuring total C3 concentration, mRNA abundance for rat pre-pro complement C3 in liver by RT-PCR, complement haemolytic activity and C3 activation by Western Blot was studied. Weaning male Wistar rats were fed either Mg-deficient or control experimental diets for 2 or 8 days.

High magnesium concentration in vitro decreases human leukocyte activation.

In view of experimental data suggesting that pharmacological magnesium (Mg) therapy could be expected to temper hypersensitivity, the aim of the present study was to assess the effect of in vitro high Mg concentration (8 mmol/l vs. 0.8 mmol/l) on human leukocyte activation.

Stress protein expression cDNA array study supports activation of neutrophils during acute magnesium deficiency in rats.

Recent studies underline the importance of the immunoinflammatory processes in the pathology of acute magnesium (Mg)-deficiency. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of acute experimental Mg-deficiency in the rat on neutrophil activity. Weaning male Wistar rats were fed either a Mg-deficient or a control diet for 8 days.

Net energy value of two low-digestible carbohydrates, Lycasin HBC and the hydrogenated polysaccharide fraction of Lycasin HBC in healthy human subjects and their impact on nutrient digestive utilization.

The metabolizable energy content of low-digestible carbohydrates does not correspond with their true energy value. The aim of the present study was to determine the tolerance and effects of two polyols on digestion and energy expenditure in healthy men, as well as their digestible, metabolizable and net energy values. Nine healthy men were fed for 32 d periods a maintenance diet supplemented either with dextrose, Lycasin HBC (Roquette Frères, Lestrem, France), or the hydrogenated polysaccharide fraction of Lycasin HBC, at a level of 100 g DM/d in six equal doses per d according to a 3 x 3 Latin square design with three repetitions.

Increased phagocytosis and production of reactive oxygen species by neutrophils during magnesium deficiency in rats and inhibition by high magnesium concentration.

Recent studies underline the importance of the immunoinflammatory processes in the pathology of Mg deficiency. Neutrophils possess a superoxide anion-generating NADPH oxidase and its inappropriate activation may result in tissue damage. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of experimental Mg deficiency in the rat on polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMN) activity and the role of increasing extracellular Mg.

Inflammatory response following acute magnesium deficiency in the rat.

The importance of inflammatory processes in the pathology of Mg deficiency has been recently reconsidered but the sequence of events leading to the inflammatory response remains unclear. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to characterize more precisely the acute phase response following Mg deficiency in the rat. Weaning male Wistar rats were pair-fed either a Mg-deficient or a control diet for either 4 or 8 days.

Modulation by colonic fermentation of LES function in humans.

Colonic fermentation of carbohydrate has been shown to influence gastric and intestinal motility. Our aim was to investigate the effects of colonic infusion of lactose and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) on lower esophageal sphincter (LES) function in humans. LES pressure (LESP), transient relaxations of LES (TLESRs), and esophageal pH were monitored over 6 h on 4 different days in 7 healthy volunteers.

Role of fermentable carbohydrate supplements with a low-protein diet in the course of chronic renal failure: experimental bases.

During the past few years, considerable attention has been given to the impact of nutrition on kidney disease. The question arises of whether the effect of a moderate dietary protein restriction could be reinforced by enrichment of the diet with fermentable carbohydrates. Feeding fermentable carbohydrates may stimulate the extrarenal route of nitrogen (N) excretion through the fecal route.

Enhanced tumor necrosis factor-alpha production following endotoxin challenge in rats is an early event during magnesium deficiency.

Magnesium (Mg) plays an essential role in fundamental cellular reactions and the importance of the immuno-inflammatory processes in the pathology of Mg deficiency has been recently reconsidered. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effect of different stages of Mg deficiency on endotoxin response and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha) production. Weaning male Wistar rats were pair fed either a Mg-deficient or a control diet.

Exacerbated immune stress response during experimental magnesium deficiency results from abnormal cell calcium homeostasis.

The aim of this study was to assess the potential mechanism underlying the enhanced inflammatory processes during magnesium deficit. In this study, exacerbated response to live bacteria and platelet activating factors was shown in rats fed a magnesium-deficient diet. Peritoneal cells from these animals also showed enhanced superoxide anion production and calcium mobilising potency following in vitro stimulation.

Opposite fluxes of glutamine and alanine in the splanchnic area are an efficient mechanism for nitrogen sparing in rats.

Glutamine release by the liver constitutes a process of nitrogen salvage through the recycling of a part of the nitrogen, which prevents irreversible nitrogen losses as urea. The aim of this work was to study the nitrogen cycling in the splanchnic bed under different nutritional conditions: fed state, postabsorptive state (16 h food deprivation) or prolonged starvation (24 or 40 h). Rats were adapted to a 15% casein diet for 15 d and then sampled.

Intestinal fermentation lessens the inhibitory effects of phytic acid on mineral utilization in rats.

The specific effects of phytic acid (PA) and resistant starch (RS) on mineral bioavailability, namely, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn and Cu, were investigated in rats adapted to semipurified diets. The diets provided either 73 g/100 g digestible wheat starch (DS) alone, or 53 g/100 g DS plus 20 g/100 g crude potato starch (RS) and either 0 or 1.1 g/100 g PA.

Contribution of proteolysis and de novo synthesis to alanine production in diabetic rat skeletal muscle: a 15N/1H nuclear magnetic resonance study.

To assess the role of leucine as a precursor of alanine alpha-amino nitrogen in skeletal muscle during diabetes, extensor digitorum longus muscles from control (n = 7 experiments) and streptozotocin-diabetic rats (n = 8 experiments) were isolated and superfused with [15N]leucine (3 mmol/l) in the presence of glucose (10 mmol/l) for 2 h. Muscle perchloric acid extraction was performed at the end of superfusion in order to quantify newly synthesized alanine by 15N/1H nuclear magnetic resonance. Release of [15N]alanine in the superfusion medium was also measured.

pH is regulated differently by glucose in skeletal muscle from fed and starved rats: a study using 31P-NMR spectroscopy.

The aim of this study was to determine whether exogenous glucose metabolism influences the pH in superfused EDL muscle from growing rats fed or starved for 48 h (body weight 55 and 45 g, respectively). Energy state and intracellular pH of muscle were repeatedly monitored by 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-NMRS); glycogen and other energy metabolites were assayed enzymatically in muscle extracts at the end of the experiment. In EDL muscles from starved rats superfused with glucose for 4 h, intracellular pH was elevated (7-7.

Fermentable carbohydrate exerts a urea-lowering effect in normal and nephrectomized rats.

The influence of nondigestible carbohydrate on intestinal fermentations and on the route of nitrogen excretion has been investigated in normal rats and in unilaterally nephrectomized rats. Rats were adapted to 10% casein diets, either fiber free or containing different levels of two fermentable carbohydrates, inulin or crude potato starch. Ingestion of fermentable carbohydrate led to a considerable enlargement of the cecum because of hypertrophy of the cecal wall and an increase in cecal contents.

Effects of specific dietary sugars on the incorporation of 13C label from dietary glucose into neutral sugars of rat intestine and serum glycoproteins.

Although theoretically all glycoprotein sugars can be derived from glucose, it may be hypothesized that specific dietary sugars could be preferential substrates for glycoprotein synthesis. To test this hypothesis, groups of rats received either continuously (continuous-labelling experiment) or for a single nutritional period (pulse-labelling experiment) a 13C-rich diet containing either maize starch or artificially labelled [13C]glucose. Some groups of rats were also provided during a single nutritional period with low amounts (20-200 mg/animal) of low-13C dietary sugars (mannose, galactose, fucose or fructose).