Category: Diet and Nutrition

Categories : Diet and NutritionTags :

Meat Substitutes Don’t Offer the Same Nutrition as Meat

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Ilya Mashkov on Unsplash

A study comparing meat and plant-based burger patties has found significant differences in nutritional content.  

As plant-based foods have improved in quality and availability, some have achieved a taste and texture remarkably similar to real beef, and they may even seem nutritionally equivalent in terms of items such as vitamins, fats and protein, based on their nutritional information labels.

But a Duke University research team’s deeper examination of the nutritional content of plant-based meat alternatives, using an analysis known as ‘metabolomics,’ shows they’re still quite different.  

Manufacturers of meat substitutes have gone to great trouble to make their plant-based products as meaty as possible, such as adding leghemoglobin, a plant-derived iron-carrying molecule to simulate bloodiness. Indigestible fibres like methyl cellulose thicken the texture of the meat substitutes. And to bring the plant-based meat alternatives up to the protein levels of meat, they use isolated plant proteins. Some meat-substitutes also add vitamin B12 and zinc to further replicate meat’s nutrition.

However, many other components of nutrition do not appear on the labels, and that’s where the products differ widely from meat, according to the study, which appears this week in Scientific Reports.

The metabolites that the scientists measured are building blocks of the body’s biochemistry, crucial to the conversion of energy, signaling between cells, building structures and tearing them down, and a host of other functions. There are expected to be more than 100 000 of these molecules in biology and about half of the metabolites circulating in human blood are estimated to be derived from our diets.

“To consumers reading nutritional labels, they may appear nutritionally interchangeable,” said Stephan van Vliet, a postdoctoral researcher at the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute who led the research. “But if you peek behind the curtain using metabolomics and look at expanded nutritional profiles, we found that there are large differences between meat and a plant-based meat alternative.”

The researchers compared 18 samples of a popular plant-based meat alternative to 18 grass-fed ground beef samples from a ranch in Idaho. The analysis of 36 carefully cooked patties found that 171 out of the 190 metabolites they measured varied between beef and the plant-based meat substitute.

The beef contained 22 metabolites that the plant substitute did not, while the plant-based substitute contained 31 metabolites that meat did not. The greatest distinctions occurred in amino acids, dipeptides, vitamins, phenols, and types of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids found in these products.

A number of important metabolites were found only in beef, or in greater quantities, including creatine, spermine, anserine, cysteamine, glucosamine, squalene, and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA. “These nutrients have potentially important physiological, anti-inflammatory, and or immunomodulatory roles,” the authors wrote in the paper.

“These nutrients are important for our brain and other organs including our muscles” van Vliet said. “But some people on vegan diets (no animal products), can live healthy lives – that’s very clear.” Besides, the plant-based meat alternative contained several beneficial metabolites not found in beef such as phytosterols and phenols.

“It is important for consumers to understand that these products should not be viewed as nutritionally interchangeable, but that’s not to say that one is better than the other,” said van Vliet, who eats a plant-heavy diet which still includes meat. “Plant and animal foods can be complementary, because they provide different nutrients.”

More research is needed, he said, to determine whether the presence or absence of particular metabolites in meat and plant-based meat alternatives have any short- or long-term effects.

No funding was received to perform this work.

Source:  Duke University School of Nursing

Categories : Ageing Diet and NutritionTags :

Sense of Smell Loss Uneven in Elderly

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Contrary to previously held scientific belief, the declining sense of smell in older people is not uniform, and their liking of many smells remains the same. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen reached this conclusion after examining a large group of older Danes’ and their intensity perception of common food odours.

The decline in smell has been demonstrated scientifically. Sense of smell gradually begins to decline from about the age of 55, and 75% of those over 80 show major olfactory impairment. While it was previously believed that one’s sense of smell broadly declined with increasing age, a study from the University of Copenhagen reports that certain food odours are significantly more affected than others.

Eva Honnens de Lichtenberg Broge and her fellow researchers tested the ability of older Danes to perceive everyday food odours. The researchers measured how intensely older adults perceived different food odours — as well as how much they liked the odours.

“Our study shows that the declining sense of smell among older adults is more complex than once believed. While their ability to smell fried meat, onions and mushrooms is markedly weaker, they smell orange, raspberry and vanilla just as well as younger adults. Thus, a declining sense of smell in older adults seems rather odor specific. What is really interesting is that how much you like an odour is not necessarily dependent on theintensity perception,” observed Eva Honnens de Lichtenberg Broge.

For example, liking seemed to be largely unaffected for fried meat, onions and mushrooms, despite the largest decline in intensity perception was seen for these specific odors. The ability to smell coffee declined, among other things, though they didn’t like the aroma of coffee to the same degree as younger adults.

The test subjects included 251 Danes between the ages of 60 and 98 and a younger group consisting of 92 people between the ages of 20 and 39.

Everyday food odours

Instead of using odours of chemical origin, which is commonly the procedure when testing the sense of smell, Eva Honnens de Lichtenberg Broge developed a test kit including 14 natural food odours familiar from everyday life, including bacon, onions, toast, asparagus, coffee, cinnamon, orange and vanilla. The odours, mainly made from essential oils, were presented to participants by sniffing sticks.

The food odours were chosen based upon commonly consumed foods and dishes that older people often eat and enjoy most according to meal plans and surveys from a Danish catering company that provides food for the elderly.

What’s the story?

The researchers can only speculate as to why the declining sense of smell in older adults seems to be odours specific, especially for savoury food smells and why, in some cases, liking is largely unaffected. 

“This may be due to the fact that these are common food odours in which saltiness or umami is a dominant taste element. It is widely recognised that salty is the basic taste most affected by aging. Since taste and smell are strongly associated when it comes to food, our perception of aroma may be disturbed if one’s taste perception of saltiness is impaired to begin with,” Eva Honnens de Lichtenberg Broge suggested.

Nutriton and quality of life

The researchers hope that their findings will help improve nutrition for the elderly. While the sense of smell is important for stimulating appetite and our serotonin levels as well, according to Eva Honnens de Lichtenberg Broge, their study demonstrates that the sensitivity of one’s sense of smell need not be decisive — participants’ liking of certain foods remained unchanged.

“Our results show that as long as a food odour is recognisable, its intensity will not determine whether or not you like it. So, if one wants to improve food experiences of older adults, it is more relevant to pay attention to what they enjoy eating than it is to wonder about which aromas seem weaker to them,” concluded Eva Honnens de Lichtenberg Broge.

Source: University of Copenhagen – Faculty of Science

Journal information: de Lichtenberg Broge, E.H., et al. (2021) Changes in perception and liking for everyday food odors among older adults. Food Quality and Preference. doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2021.104254.

Categories : Diet and Nutrition GastrointestinalTags :

Artificial Sweeteners Can Turn Gut Bacteria Bad

On By ModernMedia
Source: Breakingpic on Pexels

Scientists have found that common artificial sweeteners can turn previously healthy gut bacteria pathogenic, invading the gut wall and potentially leading to serious health issues.

This study is the first to show the pathogenic effects of some of the most widely used artificial sweeteners (saccharin, sucralose, and aspartame) on two types of gut bacteria, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis. E. faecalis is capable of crossing the intestinal wall to enter the bloodstream and congregate in the lymph nodes, liver, and spleen, causing a number of infections including septicaemia. To top it off, this commensal bacteria has emerged as a multi-drug resistant pathogen.

Previous studies have shown that artificial sweeteners can affect the composition of gut bacteria, but this new molecular research, led by academics from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), has shown that sweeteners can also induce pathogenic features in certain bacteria. It found that these pathogenic bacteria can latch onto, invade and kill epithelial Caco-2 cells lining the intestinal wall.

This new study discovered that at a concentration equivalent to two cans of diet soft drink, all three artificial sweeteners significantly increased the adhesion of both E. coli and E. faecalis to intestinal Caco-2 cells, and differentially increased biofilm formation. Bacteria growing in biofilms are less sensitive to antimicrobial resistance treatment and are more likely to secrete toxins and express disease-causing virulence factors.

Additionally, all three sweeteners caused the pathogenic gut bacteria to invade Caco-2 cells found in the wall of the intestine, save for saccharin, which had no significant effect on E. coli invasion.

Senior author Dr Havovi Chichger, Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Science at ARU, said: “There is a lot of concern about the consumption of artificial sweeteners, with some studies showing that sweeteners can affect the layer of bacteria which support the gut, known as the gut microbiota.

“Our study is the first to show that some of the sweeteners most commonly found in food and drink—saccharin, sucralose and aspartame—can make normal and ‘healthy’ gut bacteria become pathogenic. These pathogenic changes include greater formation of biofilms and increased adhesion and invasion of bacteria into human gut cells.

“These changes could lead to our own gut bacteria invading and causing damage to our intestine, which can be linked to infection, sepsis and multiple-organ failure.

“We know that overconsumption of sugar is a major factor in the development of conditions such as obesity and diabetes. Therefore, it is important that we increase our knowledge of sweeteners versus sugars in the diet to better understand the impact on our health.”
Source: EurekAlert!

Journal reference: Shil, A & Chichger, H (2021) Artificial Sweeteners Negatively Regulate Pathogenic Characteristics of Two Model Gut Bacteria, E. coli and E. faecalis. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. doi.org/10.3390/ijms22105228.

Categories : Diet and NutritionTags :

Scientists Search for Ways to Make Plant-based Protein Tastier and Healthier

On By ModernMedia

As the demand for meat continues to increase around the world, a paper in the new Nature journal, Science of Food, that explores the topic of ways to create healthier, better-tasting and more sustainable plant-based protein products that mimic animal-based foods. 

It’s no simple task, said lead author of the article, renowned food scientist David Julian McClements, University of Massachusetts Amherst Distinguished Professor.

“With Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods and other products coming on the market, there’s a huge interest in plant-based foods for improved sustainability, health and ethical reasons,” said  McClements, a leading expert in food design and nanotechnology, and author of Future Foods: How Modern Science Is Transforming the Way We Eat.

It’s a growing industry: in 2019, the US plant-based food market was valued at nearly $5 billion, with 40.5% of sales in the milk category and 18.9% in plant-based meat products. That reflects a growth in market value of 29% from 2017.

“A lot of academics are starting to work in this area and are not familiar with the complexity of animal products and the physicochemical principles you need in order to assemble plant-based ingredients into these products, each with their own physical, functional, nutritional and sensory attributes,” McClements said.

With funding from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Good Food Institute, McClements is leading a multidisciplinary team at UMass Amherst that is discovering how to design better plant-based protein. Co-author Lutz Grossmann, who recently joined the UMass Amherst food science team as an assistant professor, has expertise in alternative protein sources, McClements noted.

“Our research has pivoted toward this topic,” McClements said. “There’s a huge amount of innovation and investment in this area, and I get contacted frequently by different startup companies who are trying to make plant-based fish or eggs or cheese, but who often don’t have a background in the science of foods.”

While the plant-based food sector is growing to meet consumer demand, Prof McClements noted in the paper that “a plant-based diet is not necessarily better than an omnivore diet from a nutritional perspective.”

In order to provide the micronutrients that are naturally present in animal meat, milk and eggs, plant-based products have to be fortified with vitamin D, calcium, zinc and others. Adequate amounts of micronutrients are needed for, among other things, the proper functioning of the immune system. Meat-free diets presently increase risks for fractures and other conditions, although they have other considerable health benefits.

Plant-based foods also need to be digestible and provide the full complement of essential amino acids.

McClements said that many of the current generation of highly processed, plant-based meat products are unhealthy because they contain large amounts of of saturated fat, salt and sugar. But, he added, ultra-processed foods do not necessarily have to be unhealthy.

“We’re trying to make processed food healthier,” McClements explained. “We aim to design them to have all the vitamins and minerals you need and have health-promoting components like dietary fiber and phytochemicals so that they taste good and they’re convenient and they’re cheap and you can easily incorporate them into your life. That’s the goal in the future, but we’re not there yet for most products.”

To tackle these challenges, McClements said, the UMass Amherst team of scientists is taking a holistic, multidisciplinary approach.

Source: University of Massachusetts Amherst

Journal information: McClements, D. J & Grossmann, L., (2021) A brief review of the science behind the design of healthy and sustainable plant-based foods. npj Science of Food. doi.org/10.1038/s41538-021-00099-y

Categories : Diet and Nutrition Metabolic DisordersTags :

Milk Consumption Does Not Raise Cholesterol Levels

On By ModernMedia
Photo by ROBIN WORRALL on Unsplash

Regular consumption of milk is not associated with increased levels of cholesterol, according to new research.

A study published in the International Journal of Obesity analysed three large population studies and found that people who regularly drank high amounts of milk had lower levels of both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ cholesterol, although their BMI levels were higher than non-milk drinkers. Analysis of other large studies also suggests that regular milk drinkers had a 14% lower risk of coronary heart disease.

The team of researchers took a genetic approach to milk consumption by looking at a variation in the lactase gene associated with digestion of lactose. The study found that this gene variation for digesting lactose was a good identifier for people who consumed higher levels of milk.

“We found that among participants with a genetic variation that we associated with higher milk intake, they had higher BMI, body fat, but importantly had lower levels of good and bad cholesterol,” said Vimal Karani, Professor of Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics at the University of Reading said. “We also found that those with the genetic variation had a significantly lower risk of coronary heart disease. All of this suggests that reducing the intake of milk might not be necessary for preventing cardiovascular diseases.”

Contradictory research on the effect of high dairy intake and obesity and metabolic disorders was the motivation for the study. To exclude the effects of differences in sampling size, ethnicity and other factors, the team conducted a meta-analysis of data in up to 1.9 million people, including the UK Biobank and used the genetic approach to avoid confounding.

Even though the UK Biobank data showed that those with the lactase gene had an 11% reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, the study did not find a link between higher milk intake and increased likelihood of diabetes or related traits, such as glucose and inflammatory biomarkers.

“The study certainly shows that milk consumption is not a significant issue for cardiovascular disease risk even though there was a small rise in BMI and body fat among milk drinkers. What we do note in the study is that it remains unclear whether it is the fat content in dairy products that is contributing to the lower cholesterol levels or it is due to an unknown ‘milk factor’,” said Professor Karani.

Source: EurekaAlert

Journal information: Karani Santhanakrishnan Vimaleswaran et al, Evidence for a causal association between milk intake and cardiometabolic disease outcomes using a two-sample Mendelian Randomization analysis in up to 1,904,220 individuals, International Journal of Obesity (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41366-021-00841-2

Categories : Diet and Nutrition General Interest Mental HealthTags :

Bulimia Experience as a Teen Shaped Man’s Healthy Recipe Project

On By ModernMedia

A UK man who started a project coming up with gut-healthy-recipes said that it was “shaped” by his having had bulimia in his teenage years.

Clinician and scientist Dr Sunni Patel, 35, said as a teen he thought he was “chubby” and experienced the eating disorder when he was aged 15 to 18.

Binge eating was his “solace” he said, and he used religious fasting “as a cover”.

Dr Patel started a website sharing recipes, and he urged people not to underestimate how gut health affects mental health.

“I’d find comfort and my escapism via food.”
Dr Sunni Patel

He said he would fast for four days a week, eating fruit at the end of the day.

Being from a traditional Asian background, the way “one looks and acts tends to be judged a lot more”, he said.

“Because I’d got bulimia as a get out, I’d binge eat. I might eat six or seven crisp packets at one sitting. I’d find comfort and my escapism via food.”

Suffering bullying at school, Dr Patel said that there was “pressure as a teenager to look cool”. He said that “the thinner I got, the more attractive I felt”. Bulimia became the “solution”, he added.

As he lost weight, he began receiving compliments which would “feed the beast”.

At least 1.5 million people in the UK have an eating disorder, experts estimate, with 25% being male. Bulimia nervosa is a condition that occurs most commonly in adolescent females, though it can appear in just about any patient. It is characterised by indulgence in binge-eating, and inappropriate compensatory behaviours to prevent weight gain.

Dr Patel said after he went to university he stopped, “I wasn’t able to find the safe space to have the… episodes, I didn’t want the truth to come out.”

From around the age of 24, he received cognitive behavioural therapy and in recent years has had psychotherapy.

“I was diagnosed with gut issues in 2014 and that’s when I started exploring the link between gut health and depression. As my diet became healthier so did my mind.”

A business director as well as a clinician, he now comes up with gut-healthy-recipes that are shared on his Dish Dash Deets website, set up during the COVID pandemic, where he also keeps a blog.

Included in his recipes are his top foods to combat depression and low mood, such as bananas, berries, beans and lentils.

He said to anyone that is in a similar position to his, “find a safe person to talk to”, who would not judge, adding: “Don’t feel any shame. You’re human.”

“The more that you rely on it, you use it as your way of escaping, the more it becomes your norm,” he said.

He also currently does live cook-alongs on Instagram with invited celebrities and chefs.

“Food is still my escapism. Now I enjoy being in the kitchen and making things that will serve my needs, not make things worse.”

Source: BBC News

Categories : Ageing Diet and Nutrition Neurodegenerative DiseasesTags :

A Mediterranean Diet Keeps Dementia at Bay

On By ModernMedia
A dish full of vegetables which could be in a Mediterranean diet.

Researchers have reported that a Mediterranean diet may reduce the risk of developing dementia and cognitive loss, helping preserve memory functions as people age.

Specifically, the diet appears to lower the level of amyloid and tau proteins that are linked with dementia. People following the Mediterranean diet, already noted for its numerous health benefits, scored better on memory tests than those who were not following the diet.

The first of these proteins, amyloid protein, forms plaques in the brain, whereas the second, tau protein, forms tangles. Both are present in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s, though they are not uncommon in the brains of healthy older people, too.

“These results add to the body of evidence that shows what you eat may influence your memory skills later on,” said study author Tommaso Ballarini, PhD, of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Bonn, Germany. He adds:

Studies have linked good health with the foods that people living in Greece, Spain, and Italy ate before the 1960s. This diet consists primarily of vegetables and fruits, nuts and seeds, legumes, potatoes, whole grain foods, seafood, extra virgin olive oil, and wine in moderation. Poultry, eggs and dairy products are present to a limited extent, while red meat, added sugar, refined grains and oils, and processed foods are typically lacking in a Mediterranean diet.

Kristin Kirkpatrick, a dietitian at Cleveland Clinic told Medical News Today that the contents of a Mediterranean diet offers beneficial “omega-3 fatty acids, polyphenols, specific minerals, fiber, and protein” that “may support the brain’s health and protection throughout the years.”

However, Kirkpatrick cautioned that, “A diet, even one with strong clinical data on its benefit, is only as healthy as the individuals who choose its structure.”

Sensible portion sizes are important, she noted and warned against the “consumption of processed foods that are marketed as heart-healthy or contain the components seen in a traditional Mediterranean approach.”

The investigators recruited 512 individuals from the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases’ Longitudinal Cognitive Impairment and Dementia StudyTrusted Source. Participant  assessments showed that 343 were at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease while the other 169 people were “cognitively normal.”

Participants filled in questionnaires regarding the food they ate the previous month and the investigators asked them to record their intake of 148 specific food items. Participants were scored on their diet’s similarity to a Mediterranean diet, the most similar receiving a 9 and the least similar a 1. Since this was a self-reported study on eating habits, errors or misrepresentations are possible.

Individuals also took cognitive tests designed to detect the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. The tests assessed five areas: memory, working memory, language, executive functions, and visuospatial abilities. MRI brain scans determined each individual’s brain volume.

Finally, the researchers analyzed spinal fluid from a subsample of 226 participants who gave their consent, assessing the presence and amounts of the two biomarker proteins: amyloid and tau.

After adjusting for sex, age, and education, the scientists identified several clear links between better cognitive health and a Mediterranean diet.

The investigators  reported that:

  • Every dietary score point lower than 9 was linked to almost 1 year of the brain ageing that occurs in Alzheimer’s disease progression.
  • Participants who most closely followed the Mediterranean diet had fewer amyloid and tau protein biomarkers in their spinal fluid than those who had lower dietary scores.
  • People on the Mediterranean diet scored better on memory tests than people who were not.

Dr Ballarani concluded that, “More research is needed to show the mechanism by which a Mediterranean diet protects the brain from protein buildup and loss of brain function, but findings suggest that people may reduce their risk for developing Alzheimer’s by incorporating more elements of the Mediterranean diet into their daily diets.”

Source: Medical News Today

Categories : Cancer Diet and NutritionTags :

Could Cutting Sugary Drinks Reduce Cancer Risk in Women?

On By ModernMedia

A higher intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in adulthood and adolescence was linked to an increased risk of early-onset colorectal cancer (CRC) in women, according to data from a large prospective study.

The Nurses’ Health Study II followed over 95 000 registered nurses from 1991 to 2015. Those consuming at least two SSB servings a day in adulthood had more than double the early-onset CRC risk of those consuming less than one serving a week. This rose by 16% with each extra serving per day.

In the adolescent years of ages 13 to 18, each serving-per-day increment was associated with a 32% higher risk of early-onset CRC. Meanwhile, replacing each SSB serving per day for adults with a serving of a non-SSB drink was associated with a 17-36% lower risk.

“Considering the well-established, adverse health consequences of SSBs and the highest consumption being characterized in adolescents and young adults under age 50 years, our findings reinforce the public health importance of limiting SSB intake for better health outcomes,” Yin Cao, ScD, MPH, of Washington University in St. Louis, and co-researchers wrote.

Although CRC has been on the decline, the age of early onset — that is, diagnosed before age 50 — has been increasing the past two decades. In comparison to adults born around 1950, those born around 1990 had twice the colon cancer risk and four times the rectal cancer risk.

An estimated 12% of the US population currently consume more than three SSB servings per day, as shown by National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data. SSBs in the US are often include high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient, as opposed to South Africa which uses cane sugar.

In this study, the population consisted overwhelmingly of white females, ages 25 to 42, with an average age of approximately 42 at enrollment. Over up to 24-plus years of follow-up, 109 cases of early-onset CRC were recorded.

The researchers found that those with higher SSB intakes in adulthood tended to be less physically active and more likely to have a lower endoscopy history, to use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and consume red and processed meats. They were also less likely to take multivitamins and to have a reduced intake of alcohol, fibre, folate, and calcium, and to have a poorer diet overall.

No association was found between intake of artificially sweetened beverages or fruit juice in adulthood and risk of early-onset CRC, mirroring past research.

The investigators listed a number of possible pathways for the effect of SSBs on early-onset CRC. 

For example, compared with isocaloric solid foods, energy-containing beverages do not create a feeling of satiation, leading to weight gain. SSBs also initiate rapid blood glucose response and insulin secretion, possibly leading to insulin resistance, inflammation, obesity, and type 2 diabetes — metabolic conditions which are linked to heightened CRC risk.

Other possibilities include intestinal dysbiosis and endotoxemia caused by high fructose levels , the principal sweetener in SSBs in the US and certain other countries, which can impair gut barrier function, increasing gut permeability, and possibly promote cancer formation. A recent experimental study suggested that the high-fructose corn syrup in SSBs from the US enhanced the growth of aggressive tumours in mice, regardless of weight and metabolic syndrome.

High-fructose corn syrup has also been linked to metabolic dysregulation, regardless of obesity.

Fortunately, overall SSB intake has been trending downward in recent years, and Dr Cao and co-authors concluded that further limiting consumption may be “an actionable strategy to curb the rising incidence of [early-onset] CRC.”

Study limitations, the researchers said, included possible unknown confounding variables, the few early-onset CRC cases prevented pinpointing the window of exposure, and there weren’t enough diabetic participants to stratify by a personal history of diabetes. Since the participants were mostly white women, the results were not readily generalisable to other ethnic groups or to men.

Source: MedPage Today

Source Reference: Hur J, et al “Sugar-sweetened beverage intake in adulthood and adolescence and risk of early-onset colorectal cancer among women” Gut 2021; DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2020-323450.

Categories : Cardiovascular Disease Diet and NutritionTags :

A Daily Cup of Leafy Vegetables Can Slash Heart Disease Risk

On By ModernMedia

Eating just one cup of nitrate-rich vegetables each day can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease by up to 26%, according to research from New Edith Cowan University (ECU).

The study sought to find out whether people eating a diet with higher quantities of nitrate-rich vegetables, such as leafy greens and beetroot, had lowered blood pressure, and it also examined whether these same people were less likely to have a heart disease diagnosis in later years.

Cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of deaths around the world, attributed to some 13 million deaths in 2010 and making up one in every four deaths.

The study examined the diets of over 50 000 people in Denmark, who took part in the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health Study over a 23-year period. People who consumed the greatest amounts of nitrate-rich vegetables had about a 2.5 mmHg lower systolic blood pressure, and their risk of heart disease was 12 to 26% lower.

The results were published in the European Journal of Epidemiology. It is a collaboration between Edith Cowan University, the Danish Cancer Society and The University of Western Australia.  

Lead researcher Dr Catherine Bondonno from ECU’s Institute for Nutrition Research said that it was a priority to identify diets that prevent heart disease.

“Our results have shown that by simply eating one cup of raw (or half a cup of cooked) nitrate-rich vegetables each day, people may be able to significantly reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease,” Dr Bondonno said.

“The greatest reduction in risk was for peripheral artery disease (26 percent), a type of heart disease characterized by the narrowing of blood vessels of the legs, however we also found people had a lower risk of heart attacks, strokes and heart failure.”

The study found that only one cup of nitrate-rich vegetables was needed for optimum results, and it didn’t seem that there were any more benefits from eating more.

“People don’t need to be taking supplements to boost their nitrate levels because the study showed that one cup of leafy green vegetables each day is enough to reap the benefits for heart disease,” Dr Bondonno said. “We did not see further benefits in people who ate higher levels of nitrate rich vegetables.”

Dr Bondonno added that some shortcuts such as adding a cup of spinach when making a banana or berry smoothie could be an easy way to include more daily leafy greens.

“Blending leafy greens is fine, but don’t juice them. Juicing vegetables removes the pulp and fiber,” Dr Bondonno said.

The research adds to a growing body of evidence linking vegetables generally and leafy greens specifically with improved cardiovascular health and muscle strength.

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: Catherine P. Bondonno et al, Vegetable nitrate intake, blood pressure and incident cardiovascular disease: Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health Study, European Journal of Epidemiology (2021). DOI: 10.1007/s10654-021-00747-3

Categories : Diet and Nutrition ImmunologyTags :

Too Much Salt can Disrupt the Immune System

On By ModernMedia
Salt shaker spilling table salt. Image by Bruno /Germany from Pixabay

Researchers have found that, besides raising blood pressure, too much salt can disrupt the immune system by affecting their energy balance in immune calls and weakening them.

Back in 2015, the researchers had found that raised sodium concentrations in the blood affect both the activation and the function of patrolling monocytes — the precursors to macrophages.

“But we didn’t know exactly what was happening in the cells,” said Dr Sabrina Geisberger of the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology (BIMSB) at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC). She is lead author of the study of an international research team led by MDC scientists together with colleagues from University of Regensburg and from Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) /Hasselt University in Belgium.

The researchers began in the lab by measuring the metabolism immune cells exposed to high salt concentrations.

Changes appeared after just three hours. “It disrupts the respiratory chain, causing the cells to produce less ATP and consume less oxygen,” explained Prof Geisberger. ATP (adenosine triphosphate) powers all cells, providing energy for the ‘chemical work’—synthesising proteins and other molecules—needed for muscle power and metabolic regulation. ATP is produced in the mitochondria, the cell’s ‘power plant,’ using a complex series of biochemical reactions known as the respiratory chain. “Salt very specifically inhibits complex II in the respiratory chain.”

Consequences include the monocytes maturing differently due to a lack of energy. “The phagocytes, whose task is to identify and eliminate pathogens in the body, were able to fight off infections more effectively. But this could also promote inflammation, which might increase cardiovascular risk,” explained Professor Dominik Müller of the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC). Salt was shown to affect the functioning of human phagocytes in the same way.

Researchers at the ECRC then conducted a study in which healthy male participants six grammes of salt in tablet form to their usual diet every day for 14 days. In another clinical study, the researchers investigated a familiar scenario: eating a pizza from an Italian restaurant. After analysing the monocytes in the participants’ blood, they saw that the mitochondrial  dampening effect doesn’t just happen after an extended time with high salt intake—it also happens after a single pizza. The pizza experiment showed that the effect was fairly short. After eight hours, the effect was barely measurable.

“That’s a good thing. If it had been a prolonged disturbance, we’d be worried about the cells not getting enough energy for a long time,” commented Prof Müller. Mitochondrial activity is therefore not permanently stalled. However, the risk remains if a person eats very salty foods throughout the day. The pizza, incidentally, contained ten grammes of salt. Nutrition experts recommend that adults limit their daily intake to five or six grammes at most. The calculation includes the salt that is hidden in processed foods.

“The fundamental finding of our study is that a molecule as small as the sodium ion can be extremely efficient at inhibiting an enzyme that plays a crucial role in the respiratory chain,” said biochemist and metabolomics expert Dr Stefan Kempa of BIMSB. “When these ions flood into the mitochondria—and they do this under a variety of physiological conditions—they regulate the central part of the electron transport chain.” It therefore seems to be a fundamental regulatory mechanism in cells.

The next step is determining whether salt influences this mechanism in other cell types. Prof Kleinewietfeld believes that this is extremely likely because mitochondria aren’t just present in immune cells; they exist in every cell of the body, save for red blood cells.

Though the way in which different cell types regulate sodium influx into the mitochondria is still not properly understood, the study confirms that overconsumption of salt is unhealthy. “Of course the first thing you think of is the cardiovascular risk. But multiple studies have shown that salt can affect immune cells in a variety of ways. If such an important cellular mechanism is disrupted for a long period, it could have a negative impact—and could potentially drive inflammatory diseases of the blood vessels or joints, or autoimmune diseases,” said Professor Markus Kleinewietfeld of Hasselt University and VIB.

Source: Medical Xpress

More information: Sabrina Geisberger et al, Salt Transiently Inhibits Mitochondrial Energetics in Mononuclear Phagocytes, Circulation (2021). DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.052788