Mol. Nutr. Food Res. 2023, 67, 202200293

DOI: 10.1002/mnfr.202200293

Pyrrolizidine alkaloid N-oxide (PANO), a common plant-based food protoxin, can be reduced to pyrrolizidine alkaloid (PA) by liver S9 and gut microbiota, causing liver toxicity and carcinogenicity. In article number 2200293, Frances Widjaja and co-workers used new approach methodologies to predict the relative potency (REP) of PANO to PA in both rats and humans at low and high dose levels.

The relative potency (REP) of senecionine N-oxide to senecionine is dose- and species-dependent. The dose dependency is of interest given that the values at low human dietary exposure levels cannot be determined in animal studies where high dose levels are used. Also, REP values for human can only be obtained with New Approach Methodology.

Comparison of PBMC transcriptome of metabolically healthy volunteers with overweight-obesity (OW-OB), and subjects with metabolically obese normal-weight (MONW) phenotype reveals that they share 257 differentially expressed genes compared to normal-weight (NW) controls. These genes, particularly the top up-regulated CXCL8, may be used as predictive biomarkers of metabolic impairment related to increased adiposity regardless of BMI, to apply nutritional preventive strategies.

This study investigates the impact of a pungent compound from ginger, [6]-gingerol, on the immune responses of a specific human blood leukocyte cell type, the neutrophils. The study observes that [6]-gingerol facilitates the production of reactive oxygen species and the secretion of a chemokine (CXCL8) upon subsequent stimulation with a bacterial derived peptide. This impact is mediated via the TRPV1 channel.

Eighteen participants with prediabetes are randomly allocated to consume a ketone monoester drink and a placebo drink in cross-over fashion. The circulating levels of ghrelin, peptide YY, and hunger ratings are assessed. No significant differences in the levels of ghrelin and peptide YY, as well as hunger ratings, are found between the two drinks.

Excessive visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is associated with inflammation. Our results evidence that a reduction in VAT is associated with improvements in inflammatory and adiposity markers in participants with metabolic syndrome.

Germinated brown rice (GBR) improves type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and the underlying mechanisms include improving insulin resistance and accelerating catabolism of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs).

In this study including 139913 participants aged over 40 years from three prospective cohort studies in South Korea, higher tomato consumption is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality (22%), and lycopene consumption is associated with a lower risk of all-cause (13%) and cardiovascular disease mortality (32%).

The present study finds that protocatechuic acid in vitro can significantly improve the quality of postovulatory aged oocytes, such as reducing the fragmentation rate and the incidence of abnormal spindle morphology and chromosome dislocation, improving mitochondrial function, inhibiting ROS accumulation and apoptosis, and increasing the sperm binding ability and embryo development rate. The results suggest that protocatechuic acid can be used to delay postovulatory oocyte ageing.