Current Nutrition & Food Science - Volume 2, Issue 1, 2006

The first year of CNF has been completed. The first birthday has been reached after the publication of 3 issues with a total number of 28 manuscripts. Initial steps are always the most difficult and delicate to accomplish when launching a new journal. Our main goal since the very beginning of the journal is quality. We are very happy and thankful with the support received from our CNF Editorial Advisory Board Members as well as from many other scientists throughout the world that have trusted CNF either by submitting manuscripts for publication or by kindly collaborating in the review of the submitted manuscripts, a very important and essential task to guarantee a high scientific quality to the journal. I wish to express my most sincere thanks to all of them for the important collaboration as well as to Miss Samreen Laeeq, the Manager Publications, for the great job she is doing. The editorial team has noticed the good reception that CNF has got in the area and this encourages us to continue our task with more and renovated stimuli. Day by day, the new scientific data improves our knowledge on what we eat, its nutritional composition and how it affects our health. It also supports dietary recommendations for promoting optimal health. But, in addition to professionals, consumers are also receiving better information on the relationship between diet, nutrition and health. The consumer awareness on daily diet and its effect on health is driving food industry towards the production of new foods with different nutritional claims. In this way, food companies are committed to provide healthier foods as demanded by consumers and thus, the number of new food products with healthy claims as well as the number of dietary supplements with any particular nutritional benefit are increasing at a very fast rate. The availability of scientific information constitutes an essential tool for the research and development of all these new foods. The same applies for the research on diets and/or specific nutrients and its relationship with diseases. Sometimes, research findings are somehow contradictory and new further data are required. In most cases, the amount of available information is huge and difficult to compile because the volume of published scientific information on nutrition and food is disperse and growing exponentially in recent years. Furthermore, the information is many times widely spread in the scientific literature making it rather difficult to the interested scientist to reach a clear and rapid conclusion. During 2005, CNF has published reviews on topics of interest in nutrition and food science. Just to mention some of the most interesting published topics, the reviews have dealt with the nutritional influence on diseases like cardiovascular, prostate cancer, anorexia nervosa, celiac disease, inflammation, Alzheimer, muscle disfunction, etc., the modulation of the metabolic syndrome by certain nutrients, parenteral nutrition, and the effect of several food bioactive compounds, like selenoproteins, resveratrol, vitamin E, n-3 PUFA, etc. on health. CNF will publish 4 issues in 2006. The journal will be indexed in Medline and this will facilitate its diffusion and the search of its published articles by any interested scientist. CNF provides reviews on different topics of interest in nutrition and food science, trying to provide an updated state-of-the-art on each focused topic and thus, helping scientists to reach clear ideas about the current knowledge and latest novelties on such topic. I am very confident that CNF will significantly contribute to disseminate interesting, updated and rigorous scientific information on nutrition and food science.

Crohn's disease (CD) is a life-long inflammatory process affecting any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. This condition most often presents in childhood and adolescence and almost universally impacts adversely upon the nutritional state of the patient. Weight loss is a common presenting feature and potential long-term adverse outcomes include malnutrition, anaemia, osteopaenia and impaired linear growth. Understanding the nutritional aspects of this disease is especially important in growing children and adolescents entering and advancing through puberty. In addition, a nutritional approach to the management of CD is now well established as a valid and effective treatment to induce and maintain disease remission. The mechanisms of this therapy are beginning to be defined, and include direct antiinflammatory effects and alteration of intestinal microflora. This review focuses upon the role of nutritional therapy in the management of CD in children and adolescents in the context of a comprehensive nutritional approach to managing individuals with this chronic condition.

Evidence reviewed in this paper suggests that there is an increased risk for rapid weight gain and overweight in children who are perceived by their caregivers as having difficult temperamental characteristics. Recent findings indicate that parental perceptions of difficult temperament mediate the effect of the most potent risk factor, parental weight, in the development of childhood overweight. Further prospective trials that make tightly focused, a priori predictions regarding well defined temperamental characteristics and their potential relationship to a single well defined outcome measure would strengthen the validity of these findings. Parental behaviors associated with feeding differ between children who are perceived as having difficult temperaments versus those who are perceived as having easier temperaments. Parental prompting and control over feeding appears to occur more frequently among overweight parents who perceive their children as being difficult. Such control has been associated with overweight in laboratory observations of parental feeding practices. Randomized controlled trials that attempt to modify parental feeding interactions with high risk children would be indicated to determine the worth of such interventions in addressing the obesity epidemic.

Zinc has multiple roles in maintaining the physiological conditions of the cardiovasculature. Because atherosclerosis is a disease marked by chronic inflammation and oxidative stress, the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of zinc are of obvious importance in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. The anti-inflammatory properties of zinc are not well understood. Zinc is involved in multiple cell signaling pathways, implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The fact that inflammation itself affects zinc by changing intracellular zinc concentrations and distributions makes the role of zinc in inflammation even more complex. In addition, zinc protects the cardiovasculature from oxidative damage by preventing the formation of free radicals and the oxidation of macromolecules. Thiol groups of proteins, for example are protected from oxidation by zinc. Zinc chelated by thiol groups however, can be replaced by small reactive molecules during inflammation and oxidative stress. In certain cell signaling molecules this process appears to be the mechanism of activation/inactivation in response to inflammation. In addition, zinc also plays a crucial role in gene expression acting on the DNA, RNA and protein level. Zinc is required by transcription factors, RNA processing enzymes, as well as by protein folding chaperones. The response of cells and organisms to zinc supplementation or deprivation is therefore complex and further complicated during inflammatory processes such as atherosclerosis.

It has long been established that dietary fats play a significant role in both the prevention and progression of chronic disease. Hypertension, obesity, and insulin resistance are three recognized risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease and are largely influenced by dietary fat intake. Saturated fat intake is well known to promote the development of chronic disease. Monounsaturated fats are considered to be beneficial, whereas the role that polyunsaturated fats play in health and disease has become increasingly controversial. Polyunsaturated fats are generally thought to be beneficial for human health, however the controversy relates to whether these are rich in omega-6 or omega- 3 fatty acids, and the ratio of these fatty acids. Studies have shown that these fats can exert both positive and negative effects on weight gain, blood pressure, and glucose metabolism. Recent studies indicate that dietary fat intake can affect not only the health of the adult, but that fats may also play an important role during fetal development. This review examines the role that saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats play in the onset, progression, and prevention of hypertension, obesity, and insulin resistance in animal models and human studies. More specifically, we have addressed the role of dietary fats during fetal development and in the health of adults and children.

Pomace oil ('orujo' olive oil), is an olive sub-product which possesses potential beneficial components (e.g. tetra- and pentacyclic triterpenes: oleanolic and maslinic acids, erythrodiol and uvaol) to which great variety of biological effects is attributed. Pharmacological properties of oleanolic acid have been demonstrated: anti-inflammatory, antitumoral, hepatoprotective, cytotoxic, anti-diabetogenic, antibacterial and anti-HIV activities. There is scarce evidence about the pharmacological effects of these triterpenoid on vascular events; the chronic treatment of Dahl salt-sensitive hypertensive rats with these natural compounds (oleanolic and ursolic acids) prevent the development of hypertension with significant bradycardia and potent diuretic activity. In relation to erythrodiol and uvaol, only their therapeutic efficiency on different experimental models of inflammation has been reported. Moreover, uvaol plays a protective role on the oxidation of lipoproteins of low density in vitro, as well as a protective effect on induced hepatic injuries. Maslinic acid is effective in the treatment of diseases caused by agents that use the serin-protease in their mechanism of infection, like the AIDS virus and it has capacity to prevent the damage caused by the free radicals. Therefore, the intake of 'orujo' olive oil, as a source of these compounds, might be beneficial in this regard.

The majority of type 2 diabetic patients are overweight and any excess weight, or weight gain, adversely affects glycaemic control. Paradoxically, antidiabetic agents used to improve glycaemic control are frequently associated with weight gain, particularly insulin therapy. Such weight gain further deteriorates glycaemic control and increases insulin resistance. Understanding body weight regulation in type 2 diabetic patients is therefore necessary to better adapt for the effect of such medication on weight. Expressed in terms of energy, weight gain results from positive energy balance. Positive energy balance in type 2 diabetes is most usually attributed to decreased energy expenditure and the cessation of glycosuric energy loss following the initiation of hypoglycaemic treatment. It appears from current literature however that these two factors, even in combination, cannot completely explain observed weight gain. Indeed, the precise contribution of energy intake and appetite, a key determinant of energy intake, to this positive energy balance remains a black box. In this review the potential contribution of a change in feeding regimen to weight gain associated with insulin treatment is assessed, with particular attention being paid to insulin's effect within the brain.

The introduction of infant formulas created a new age in infant feeding practices. With the introduction of infant formulas, it became a great ambition to create a more adapted product, as the composition of breast milk is gold standard for infant feeding. In this paper, it was aimed to review the rationale and concerns of the use of newer infant formulas, supplemented with pro-, prebiotics, nucleotides, and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, in order to help pediatricians for their choice. However, it should always be kept in mind that whatever can be achieved with these formulas, they will always be inferior to breast milk.

Osteoporosis is a major health issue in ageing populations. Therefore, it would be desirable if low bone mass leading to osteoporotic fractures could be prevented. A nutritional approach would be an inexpensive means to achieve this goal. So far we found 25/54 items with bone resorption inhibitory activity in the rat. Activity appears to be restricted to the categories vegetables, salads, herbs, mushrooms, fruits and red wine residue. To date we have identified 10 monoterpenes as active components of herbs rich in essential oils and a gamma glutamyl peptide as active agent (in vitro) from onion. Two items were also studied as to their effect on bone "mass". Both improved trabecular bone mineral density. Furthermore, 6.2 g of fresh active items per kg body weight appears as the minimal inhibitory dose. Thus, in humans the amount of active items consumed by way of a regular Western diet with 2-3 servings/day of 80 g each of fruits and vegetables might be too low to elicit a protective effect. Whether 5 daily servings of the active items we have identified in rats are capable to inhibit bone resorption in humans must now be established with clinical intervention studies.

This review summarizes the results of the Danone International Probiotics Convention which examined the most recent science available on the impact of probiotics and intestinal microflora on human health. This is the second convention organized by Danone following that devoted to the 'Intelligent Intestine' which was held in Paris in June 2002 [1]. The 2003 Convention was devoted to recent scientific progress in the various field of the life sciences, enabling, not only enhanced elucidation of what happens in the body when we eat probiotics, examining properties of those microorganisms of particular value in terms of well-being and health. Probiotics are, in fact, first of all, foods that, when eaten regularly, have a role, specific to each strain, which is exercised in the host procuring beneficial assistance to various systems in addition to the conventional nutritional health benefits when consumed as a dairy product [2] It is indispensable to provide scientific proof of that activity by developing and publishing pertinent research papers, both scientific and clinical. The Nice Convention enabled the findings of numerous scientists working in the field to be pooled and shed new light on the future of probiotics.

An animal model was developed which allows the testing of the effect of dietary factors on digesta passage in the stomach, the small intestine, the large intestine and the total gastrointestinal tract in growing pigs (46 - 119 kg BW). Rates of digesta passage were determined using a simultaneous pulse dose of titanium dioxide (TiO2) mixed in the diet and suspensions of chromiumIIIoxide (Cr2O3) and barium sulphate (BaSO4) in saline, introduced via cannulae to the proximal jejunum and to the terminal ileum, respectively. Faecal recovery of each of the markers was quantified using an one-compartment model from which the transit times (TT) of the markers were derived. The TT of TiO2 represented the passage of digesta over whole gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) whereas the TT of Cr2O3 and BaSO4 represented the TT over the small plus large intestines and over the large intestines, respectively. The TT over the stomach and small intestine were estimated from the TT determined over the whole GIT and over the two sections of the GIT. Besides a control diet (C diet), three diets were offered differing in the contents of non starch polysaccharides (NSP) and water-holding capacity (WHC). A combination of palm kernel expeller and toasted soy bean hulls were included in the diet as NSP sources (NSP diet) and hydrolysed maize starch was included to elevate WHC (WHC diet). The fourth diet had both a high NSP content and a high WHC content (NSP plus WHC diet). The mean transit time (MTT) of the marker passing the whole GIT was on average 75 h and NSP significantly decreased TT over the total GIT and through the large intestines (P < 0.05). In contrast, NSP tended to increase the TT of the stomach contents (P < 0.10). The effects of WHC were smaller and limited to tendencies for a decrease of the TT in the large intestines (P < 0.10) and an increase of the TT in the small intestine (P < 0.10). It is concluded that NSP and to a lesser extent WHC, have opposite effects on digesta passage in the proximal and distal GIT, respectively. The animal model developed in the present study seems a valuable method to test the effect of dietary factors on the passage of digesta.