內(nèi)容: This study investigated the association of hypertension with cognitive impairment and determined whether better adherence to plant-based diet (PBD) patterns may modify the association. We analyzed 4 485 elderly individuals with normal cognition at baseline from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (2011?2018). Cognitive function was assessed by the Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE), and cognitive impairment was defined as an MMSE score below 18 points. Diet patterns were assessed using the overall plant-based diet index (PDI), healthful plant-based diet index (hPDI), and unhealthful plant-based diet index (uPDI) derived from a simplified food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Blood pressure was measured through physical examination. Cox proportional hazard regression and restricted cubic spline were performed. Participants with hypertension had an increased risk of cognitive impairment compared with normal group. The associations between hypertension and cognitive impairment were more pronounced among participants with lower PDI than those with higher PDI, among participants with lower hPDI than those with higher hPDI, and among participants with higher uPDI than those with lower uPDI. A healthful PBD pattern may attenuate hypertension-induced cognitive impairment, while an unhealthful PBD pattern may exacerbate hypertension-induced cognitive impairment in elderly. Adherence to healthful PBD pattern could be used to prevent or mitigate adverse neurological effects in the hypertensive population.

內(nèi)容: Epidemiological studies showed that night workers are at higher risk of developing chronic metabolic diseases. However, no study has investigated the changes in circadian rhythms caused by a combined effect of sleep and diet in a real-life setting on cardiometabolic health, gut microbiota, and psychological status in healthy people. A 4-week step-wise misaligned-realigned controlled-feeding trial with a 2 × 2 factorial design (sleep and diet) was conducted on healthy young adults. At first, subjects experienced a one-week circadian rhythm misalignment with a high-fat fast-food diet, extended eating window, and delayed sleep schedules, then gradually transited to a complete circadian rhythm realignment with a high-fiber balanced diet, 8-h time-restricted eating, and normal sleep schedules. Circadian rhythm misalignment led to significantly higher levels of fasting glucose and homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) of subjects compared to baseline and failed to recover to the baseline level in circadian rhythm realignments. Notably, the incremental area under the curve (iAUC) of postprandial glucose decreased with circadian rhythm adjustments as compared to that in circadian rhythm misalignment, suggesting circadian rhythm realignment by sleep or/and diet could partly restore glucose metabolism impaired by a short-term circadian rhythm misalignment. However, circadian rhythm changes did not result in overall perturbations of gut microbiota diversities.

內(nèi)容: Non-enzymatic glycation reaction in food can produce diet-derived advanced glycation end products (dAGEs), which have potential health risks. Thus, it is of great significance to find efficient substances to improve the negative effects induced by dAGEs on human health. This study investigated the intervening effects of peanut skin procyanidins (PSP) on the dAGEs-induced oxidative stress and systemic inflammation in experimental mice model. Results showed that the accumulation of AGEs in serum, liver, and kidney was significantly increased after mice were fed dAGEs (P < 0.05). The expression of advanced glycation product receptor (RAGE) was also significantly increased in liver and kidney (P < 0.05). PSP could not only effectively reduce the accumulation of AGEs in serum, liver and kidney of mice, but also reduce the expression of RAGE in liver and kidney of mice. And the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), and IL-1β in serum of mice were significantly decreased (P < 0.05), while the levels of anti-inflammatory factor IL-10 were increased, and the inflammatory injury in mice was improved. In addition, the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT) in liver and kidney of mice were increased (P < 0.05), and the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) was decreased (P < 0.05), which enhanced the antioxidant capacity of mice in vivo, and improved the oxidative damage of liver and kidney. Molecular docking technique was used to confirm that the parent compound of procyanidins and its main metabolites, such as 3-hydroxyphenylacetic acid, could interact with RAGE, which might inhibit the activation of nuclear transcription factor (NF-κB), and ultimately reduce oxidative stress and inflammation in mice.

內(nèi)容: Bone loss caused by ageing has become one of the leading health risk factors worldwide. Wheat germ (WG) is consists of high amounts of bioactive peptides, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and dietary fibre. Currently, WG has been proven to possess strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. We recently explored the beneficial effects and relevant mechanisms of a WG-rich diet (2.5% and 5% WG, m/m) on bone homeostasis in aged rats. Our results showed that 5% WG supplementation for 12 months effectively attenuated ageing-induced microstructural damage and differentiation activity changes in the femur. The 5% WG supplementation also significantly increased the levels of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) (P < 0.01), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) (P < 0.05), and decreased inflammatory cytokine levels (tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6)) (P < 0.01). Furthermore, the WG-rich diet reshaped the composition of the gut microbiota, enhancing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)-producing microbes and reducing inflammation-related microbes. In addition, metabolomics analysis showed that 5% WG supplementation improved plasma metabolites related to bone metabolism. Conclusively, our study purports long-term WG-rich diet may preserve bone homeostasis by regulating gut microbiota and plasma metabolites in aged rats.

內(nèi)容: In this study, 10 novel anti-inflammatory peptides were identified from duck liver, and their molecular mechanism was demonstrated based on machine learning and molecular docking. Using Sephadex G-15 gel chromatography separation, reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography purification, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry identification, and BIOPEP database comparison, 10 novel anti-inflammatory peptides were initially found. Their splendid angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition and anti-inflammatory properties were confirmed by machine learning. With binding energies less than –20.93 kJ/mol, molecular docking revealed that they could efficiently bind to the active pockets of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin 6 (IL-6), cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) proteins with efficiency, indicating that the compounds can spontaneously form complexes through hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions with the protein binding pockets. In the lipopolysaccharide-induced RAW264.7 cell model, the release of NO, TNF-α, and IL-6 and the mRNA expression of inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-6, COX-2, and NF-κB) were significantly inhibited by these peptides. We concluded it might be due to their anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting the protein phosphorylation of inhibitor of NF-κB (IκBα) in the cytoplasm and preventing the translocation of NF-κB p65 in the cytoplasm to the nucleus, thereby regulating the NF-κB signaling pathway. This study is essential for the screening of anti-inflammatory peptides and the investigation of the mechanism of action.

內(nèi)容: Chymosin is one of the critical enzymes in cheese making. Herein, we proposed a novel fluorometric assay for chymosin determination. Firstly, covalent organic frameworks (COF) were synthesized and exfoliated to 2-dimensional COF nanosheets (COF NS) by ultrasound treatment. Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) were loaded with COF NS to prepare AuNPs/COF NS (Au@COF NS). Secondly, rhodamine B (RhB) modified substrate peptide (Pep) for chymosin was linked with Au@COF NS to construct a Pep-Au@COF NS nanocomposite. For the sensing principle, fluorescence of RhB was quenched by Au@COF NS and the fluorescence intensity was weak due to the fluorescence resonance energy transfer between COF NS and RhB of Pep. However, in the presence of chymosin, the RhB was released by specific cleavage of the substrate peptide by chymosin and resulted in the recovery of fluorescence. The increased fluorescence intensity was proportional to the increase of chymosin concentration and thus a “turn on” fluorescent sensor for chymosin was constructed. The sensor showed a linear range in the concentration of 0.05-60.00 μg/mL for the detection of chymosin with a detection limit of 20 ng/mL. The sensor was used to quantify chymosin in rennet product with good selectivity, which has the potential applications in cheese manufacturing.

內(nèi)容: Trehalose (TRE) was used to improve the gastrointestinal tolerance of Lactobacillus plantarum embedded with whey protein concentrate/pullulan (WPC/PUL) hydrogel and the embedded L. plantarum was applied to juice. The study indicated that 5% TRE significantly increased the viable counts of L. plantarum embedded in WPC/PUL hydrogel from (8.83 ± 0.03) to (9.14 ± 0.04) (lg (CFU/g)) in simulated gastric juice (SGJ) and from (9.13 ± 0.04) to (9.38 ± 0.04) (lg (CFU/g)) in simulated intestinal juice, respectively. The addition of TRE improved the glass transition temperature of WPC/PUL hydrogel and decreased the hardness and its solubility in SGJ, which may be responsible for the improved protection of WPC/PUL hydrogels on L. plantarum. In addition, TRE increased the viable counts of L. plantarum in WPC/PUL probiotic microcapsule juice at low pH and high temperature during storage.

內(nèi)容: Branched-chain fatty acids (BCFAs) are new bioactive fatty acids with anti-inflammatory properties. However, the role of BCFAs in alleviating ulcerative colitis has not been clarified. Herein, we evaluated the protective effect of BCFAs from goat milk in mice with colitis induced using dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) and explored the corresponding mechanism. These results show that BCFAs extracted from goat milk can significantly alleviate weight loss in mice, and reduce the disease activity index and the activity of myeloperoxidase while increasing the content of antioxidant enzymes in colon tissue and reducing the oxidation stress response. These data also show that BCFAs can down-regulate the gene and protein expression of the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/ nuclear factor κB p65 (NF-κB p65)/NOD-like receptor thermal protein domain associated protein 3 (NLRP3) signaling pathway, and at the same time significantly reduce the expression of pro-inflammatory factors tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin 1β (IL-1β), and IL-18 in colon tissue, and significantly increase the expression of the anti-inflammatory factor IL-10. In conclusion, these results demonstrated that BCFAs in goat milk exerted effects on colitis-related inflammatory cytokines and inhibited inflammation by inducing the TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 pathway to alleviate DSS-induced ulcerative colitis. This study provides evidence for the potential of BCFAs as bioactive fatty acids in food products and to ameliorate ulcerative colitis development in mice.

內(nèi)容: Gut microbiota plays an important role in food allergy. The immunoglobulin G (IgG)/immunoglobulin E (IgE) binding capacity and human gut microbiota changes of digestion products derived from glycated ovalbumin (OVA) were investigated. Gastrointestinal digestion effectively destroyed the primary structure of glycated OVA, resulting in a significantly higher digestibility than gastric digestion, and more abundant peptides < 3 kDa. Moreover, gastric and gastrointestinal digestion products have different fluorescence quenching and red shift of fluorescence peaks, and possess different conformational structures. These changes resulted in a decrease in 28.7% of the IgE binding capacity of gastrointestinal digestion products beyond that of pepsin. Moreover, gastrointestinal digestion products of glycated OVA increased significantly the proportion of Subdoligranulum, Collinsella, and Bifidobacterium. Therefore, gastrointestinal digestion products of glycated OVA altered human intestinal microbiota, reducing the risk of potential allergy.

內(nèi)容: Lactic acid bacteria and coagulase-negative staphylococci play an important role in the production of fermented sausages, such as inhibiting the growth of undesirable bacteria and antioxidant. In this study, the effects of inoculation with different starter cultures (Lactiplantibacillus plantarum HN108 and Staphylococcus simulans NJ209) on the free amino acids (FAAs), biogenic amines (BAs) and volatile compounds of fermented sausages were investigated using an amino acid analyzer, ultra performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry, respectively. The pH and carbonyl content of the inoculated group was significantly lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05). L. plantarum HN108 significantly reduced the content of FAAs and BAs in fermented sausage production (P < 0.05), while S. simulans NJ209 promoted the formation of FAAs (especially bitter amino acids) and exhibited slight BAs-reducing activity. In addition, L. plantarum HN108 promoted the formation of volatile compounds such as ketones, alcohols and alkenes in sausages. In conclusion, L. plantarum HN108 could contribute to reducing the content of putrescine and tyramine and forming the desirable flavor compounds in fermented sausages. Thus, L. plantarum HN108 is expected to be a starter culture that can improve the safety and flavor of fermented sausages.