內容: Lonicera japonica (honeysuckle) is a traditional Chinese medicinal food, in which the main active ingredients are phenolic acids, polysaccharides, flavonoids, and volatile oils. They have various biological activities, including antiviral, antibacterial, antioxidant, hypoglycemic and lipid-lowering, and anti-inflammatory effects. This review summarizes the health effects and pharmacodynamic mechanisms of L. japonica extracts and the major active ingredients in these extracts, and the structures, metabolic process in vivo, and biotransformation processes of these compounds. In addition, the current status of the development of L. japonica-related functional foods is summarized. The aim is to provide a theoretical basis and reference for the further development and use of the active ingredients in L. japonica as functional foods for disease prevention and treatment.

內容: Moringa oleifera Lam. is a Moringa genus in the Moringaceae family that is high in nutrients and has a wide range of applications. Phenolic compounds are widely found in plants and have various health benefits for the human body. With its high content and wide variety of phenolic compounds, M. oleifera Lam. has been widely studied for its health benefits. The phenolic compounds in M. oleifera Lam. (MOPCs) can be a potential source of functional food ingredients in pharmaceutical and industrial applications. Numerous studies have shown that MOPCs have antioxidant, anti-obesity, anti-diabetic, and antibacterial effects. Although the research on MOPCs has been gradually increasing, the extraction, isolation, identification, biological activities, and comprehensive application of MOPCs need a more systematic summary and generalization. Therefore, this paper reviews the isolation and extraction methods, structure identification, biological activities, and comprehensive applications to provide a further reference for the research and application of MOPCs.

內容: The emergence of meal replacement (MR) originates from physical exercise or fitness as a substitute for one or all meals and later expands to the field of weight loss. Indeed, the main application of current meal replacement is to lose body weight, whether patients with obesity, diabetes, fatty liver, infertile or pregnant women can benefit from weight loss. In addition, MRs still exhibit more biomedical potential in preventing and treating diseases, like anti-diabetes, improving fatty liver and kidney disease, preventing cancer, conceiving and reducing pregnancy complications, and improving life quality. Indeed, there are also disadvantages to meal replacement, including causing adverse effects, although most are acceptable and tolerated. To date, various commercially-developed MRs are walking from dining table to sickbed. Therefore, a scientific understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of meal replacements is crucial for their extensive application beyond biomedical potentials.

內容: Globally, hyperuricemia is a growing health, social, and economic problem which could cause gout, chronic kidney diseases and other diseases. There are increasing evidences that a sensible diet makes sense to reduce the risk of hyperuricemia. This review aims to explore the metabolic mechanism of dietary factors and effects of dietary types associated with hyperuricemia. Recommendations for dietary modification to prevent hyperuricemia are as following: decreasing intake of animal organs, seafood, sugar-sweetened, and alcohol beverages is essential; choosing water or unsweetened tea and coffee instead of sweetened beverages is beneficial; and increasing intake of vegetables, reduced-fat dairy products, foods containing fiber, micronutrients and unsaturated fatty acids is helpful. In addition, consumption of fruits and legumes in moderation is advantageous, and low-fructose of fruits and low-purine of non-soy beans are recommended. Moreover, personalized diet needs to be emphasized for hyperuricemic patients accompanied with diverse metabolic diseases.

內容: Resistant starch (RS) has attracted much researchers’ attention because of its health-beneficial effects. Gut microbiota obviously shapes human health, but the effects of RS supplementation on the changes of human gut microbiota remain unclear. This observational meta-analysis aimed to reveal the effects of RS intake on α-diversity and composition of gut microbiota through meta-analysis. Two independent authors systematically searched articles from inception until February 2023 on four electronic databases. Twenty-four highly relevant trials were included conforming to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis protocol, and a total of 816 individuals were included. Significant heterogeneity analyses revealed that RS intake notably decreased Shannon index (weighted mean difference (WMD): –0.11; 95% confidence interval (CI): –0.21, –0.01), and stimulated the composition of health promoting bacteria genera, including Bifidobacterium (relative abundance: WMD: 1.75; 95% CI: 0.39, 3.11; bacterial populations: WMD: 0.36; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.69), Faecalibacterium (relative abundance: WMD: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.20, 1.20; fold change: effect size: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.60, 1.23), and Prevotella (relative abundance: WMD: 0.35; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.69). Taken together, the present study revealed that changes in the gut microbiota diversity and genera were correlated with RS supplementation, which may contribute to benefits in human health.

內容: Sodium chloride is one of the most widely used additives in meat curing. However, cured meat products contribute to a portion of the total sodium dietary intake. Consumers and researchers’ concern about excessive sodium intake has prompted the food industry to consider ways to reduce salt content of cured meat products. The aim of this review is to provide a broad but comprehensive understanding of salt reduction strategies for cured meat products. The implications and limitations of each approach were discussed. Green technologies treatments, such as ultrasonic technology, high-pressure processing, seem to be potential to ensure microbiological safety in low-sodium cured meat products. However, these novel technologies can cause protein and fat oxidization in meat products. A combination of multiple treatments could give the desired effect. In addition, different parameter conditions need to be set according to the specific meat to achieve better salt reduction effect.

內容: Aging is a physiological process that leads to degeneration and functional decline of the brain. This is accompanied by intracellular peroxidation and neuronal apoptosis. Natural antioxidants possess a remarkable effect on attenuating the oxidative stress cascade and apoptosis of neurons; however, the challenge of using natural antioxidants for neuroprotection is fabricating a delivery system to overcome the blood-brain barrier (BBB) transport. Herein, we successfully created a stable delivery platform built on rigid ferritin nanocage loading natural lycopene molecules, crossing the BBB in quantity and being taken up in neurons. This nanoparticle worked on D-galactose-induced senescence via alleviating neuronal hyperoxidation injury and weakening neuronal apoptosis in PC12 and BV2 cells. More importantly, this natural delivery system possesses inherent biocompatibility and potential application in improving the bioavailability of bioactive edible compounds with low water solubility. This study demonstrated the effectiveness of natural antioxidant nanomedicines in maintaining the defenses of intracerebral peroxidation and improve degenerating neurons, providing the potential to combat further imbalances of neuronal microenvironment in aging neuropathy.

內容: During the development of diet-induced obesity, the change of energy matebolism is closely related to the function of the circadian clock in mammals. Luteolin (LU), one of the most common natural flavonoids riched in many edible plants, can ameliorate obesity by activating adipose tissue browning, but its effect on circadian clock in this process remains poorly understood. Here we found that dietary LU improved circadian misalignment of energy expenditure in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed wild-type (WT) mice. Moreover, dietary LU efficiently elevated uncoupling protein 1 levels in adipose tissue during the dark period, which was similar to the LU-increased hepatic PER2 expressions. Hepatic peroxisome proliferators-activated receptors α (PPARα)/recombinant retinoid X receptor α (RXRα)/fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) pathway was rhythmically elevated by dietary LU in HFD-fed WT mice, whereas the promotion was inhibited in Per2-/- mice. Meanwhile, Per2 deletion abolished the effects of dietary LU on adipose tissue browning in HFD-fed mice. Further, LU treatment directly activated PPARα/RXRα/FGF21 signaling in primary cultured hepatocytes from WT mice rather than Per2-/- mice. Taken together, the deletion of the core clock component Per2 impedes LU-induced adipose tissue browning through weakening PPARα/RXRα/FGF21 pathway in mice, providing a new insight into the interplay of energy metabolism and circadian clock for the anti-obesity activity of LU.

內容: Moringa oleifera have laxative effects, but their active compositions and mechanisms are not very clear thus far. To this end, we systematically explored the active components and mechanism of M. oleifera leaves in relieving constipation by using the slow transit constipation (STC) mouse model and network pharmacology. The results of animal experiments showed that M. oleifera aqueous extract (MOA) had good laxative activity, and its 70% alcohol soluble part (ASP) also showed significant laxative activity (P < 0.01). Network pharmacological prediction results suggested that L-phenylalanine (Phe) was the key compound of ASP, and it might relieve constipation through tachykinin receptor 1 (TACR1) and three kinds of adrenergic receptors, including α1A (ADRA1A), α2A (ADRA2A), and α2B (ADRA2B). Further animal experiment results showed that Phe significantly promoted gastrointestinal motility. Phe may relieve STC by enhancing the release of substance P (SP) and upregulating the mRNA expression of TACR1 in the ileum. Importantly, Phe may also promote intestinal movement by downregulating the mRNA expression of ADRA2A and ADRA2B and upregulating the mRNA expression of Calm and the mRNA and protein expression of myosin light chain 9 in the ileum, thereby activating the G protein-coupled receptor-myosin light chain signaling pathway. These results lay a foundation for the application of M. oleifera and Phe in constipation.

內容: The risk of infection following consumption of foodborne pathogens contaminated foods became a significant concern for human health and imposes great economic losses to food industry. Herein, Ag nanoparticles were integrated to Cu-based metal-organic framework (Cu-MOF) for antibacterial activity. The crystal structure, morphology and composition of the prepared composite Ag@Cu-MOF were confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Antibacterial assays revealed that Ag@Cu-MOF exhibited increased inhibitory activity against Escherichia coli O157:H7 in comparison to Cu-MOF. Ag@Cu-MOF treated bacterial cells displayed distinct morphological changes, a decreased ratio of live/dead cells, as well as a reduction of intracellular ATP. Antibiofilm studies demonstrated that Ag@Cu-MOF could dramatically inhibit biofilm formation and disrupt preformed biofilms by interfering the metabolic activity and decreasing the expression of biofilm-associated genes. Food contamination model illustrated that Ag@Cu-MOF significantly prevented the growth of E. coli O157:H7 in packed pork. This study sheds light on the potential of Ag@Cu-MOF as a promising antimicrobial material for preserving pork.