Prevalence of micronutrient deficiency in popular diet plans

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Research has shown micronutrient deficiency to be scientifically linked to a higher risk of overweight/obesity and other dangerous and debilitating diseases. With more than two-thirds of the U.S. population overweight or obese, and research showing that one-third are on a diet at any given time, a need existed to determine whether current popular diet plans could protect followers from micronutrient deficiency by providing the minimum levels of 27 micronutrients, as determined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) Reference Daily Intake (RDI) guidelines.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Suggested daily menus from four popular diet plans (<it>Atkins for Life </it>diet, <it>The South Beach Diet</it>, <it>the DASH diet</it>, <it>the DASH diet</it>) were evaluated. Calorie and micronutrient content of each ingredient, in each meal, were determined by using food composition data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. The results were evaluated for sufficiency and total calories and deficient micronutrients were identified. The diet plans that did not meet 100% sufficiency by RDI guidelines for each of the 27 micronutrients were re-analyzed; (1) to identify a micronutrient sufficient calorie intake for all 27 micronutrients, and (2) to identify a second micronutrient sufficient calorie intake when consistently low or nonexistent micronutrients were removed from the sufficiency requirement.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Analysis determined that each of the four popular diet plans failed to provide minimum RDI sufficiency for all 27 micronutrients analyzed. The four diet plans, on average, were found to be RDI sufficient in (11.75 ± 2.02; mean ± SEM) of the analyzed 27 micronutrients and contain (1748.25 ± 209.57) kcal. Further analysis of the four diets found that an average calorie intake of (27,575 ± 4660.72) would be required to achieve sufficiency in all 27 micronutrients. Six micronutrients (vitamin B7, vitamin D, vitamin E, chromium, iodine and molybdenum) were identified as consistently low or nonexistent in all four diet plans. These six micronutrients were removed from the sufficiency requirement and additional analysis of the four diets was conducted. It was determined that an average calorie content of (3,475 ± 543.81) would be required to reach 100% sufficiency in the remaining 21 micronutrients.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings are significant and indicate that an individual following a popular diet plan as suggested, with food alone, has a high likelihood of becoming micronutrient deficient; a state shown to be scientifically linked to an increased risk for many dangerous and debilitating health conditions and diseases.</p

Mobilization of xanthine oxidase from the gastrointestinal tract in acute pancreatitis

BACKGROUND: Xanthine oxidoreductase has been proposed to play a role in the development of local and systemic effects of acute pancreatitis. Under physiologic conditions, the enzyme exists mainly as xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH) but can be converted by proteolytic cleavage to its superoxide-generating form xanthine oxidase (XOD). In addition to its intracellular location XDH/XOD is also associated to the polysaccharide chains of proteoglycans on the external endothelial cell membrane. In the early stages of acute pancreatitis, this enzyme seems to be arising from its mobilization from the gastrointestinal endothelial cell surface. Taking into account the ability of α-amylase to hydrolyze the internal α-1,4 linkages of polysaccharides, we wanted to elucidate the involvement of α-amylase in XDH/XOD mobilization from the gastrointestinal endothelial cell surface and the relevance of the ascitic fluid (AF) as the source of α-amylase in experimental acute pancreatitis. METHODS: Acute pancreatitis was induced in male Wistar rats by intraductal administration of 5% sodium taurocholate. In another experimental group 3000 U/Kg α-amylase was i.v. administered. The concentrations of XDH, XOD and α-amylase in plasma and AF and myeloperoxidase (MPO) in lung have been evaluated. In additional experiments, the effect of peritoneal lavage and the absorption of α-amylase present in the AF by an isolated intestine have been determined. RESULTS: Similar increase in XDH+XOD activity in plasma was observed after induction of acute pancreatitis and after i.v. administration of α-amylase. Nevertheless, the conversion from XDH to XOD was only observed in the pancreatitis group. Lung inflammation measured as MPO activity was observed only in the pancreatitis group. In addition peritoneal lavage prevented the increase in α-amylase and XDH+XOD in plasma after induction of pancreatitis. Finally, it was observed that α-amylase is absorbed from the AF by the intestine. CONCLUSIONS: During the early stages of acute pancreatitis, α-amylase absorbed from AF through the gastrointestinal tract could interfere with the binding of XDH/XOD attached to glycoproteins of the endothelial cells. Proteolytic enzymes convert XDH into its oxidase form promoting an increase in circulating XOD that has been reported to be one of the mechanisms involved in the triggering of the systemic inflammatory process

Harnessing Infrared Photons for Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Generation. A PbS Quantum Dot Based "Quasi-Artificial Leaf"

[EN] Hydrogen generation by using quantum dot (QD) based heterostructures has emerged as a promising strategy to develop artificial photosynthesis devices. In the present study, we sensitize mesoporous TiO2 electrodes with in-situ-deposited PbS/CdS QDs, aiming at harvesting light in both the visible and the near-infrared for hydrogen generation. This heterostructure exhibits a remarkable photocurrent of 6 mA.cm(-2), leading to 60 mL.cm(-2).day(-1) hydrogen generation. Most importantly, confirmation of the contribution of infrared photons to H-2 generation was provided by the incident-photon-to-current-efficiency (IPCE), and the integrated current was in excellent agreement with that obtained through cyclic voltammetry. The main electronic processes (accumulation, transport, and recombination) were identified by impedance spectroscopy, which appears as a simple and reliable methodology to evaluate the limiting factors of these photoelectrodes. On the basis of this TiO2/PbS/CdS heterostructrure, a "quasi-artificial leaf' has been developed, which has proven to produce hydrogen under simulated solar illumination at (4.30 +/- 0.25) mL.cm(-2).day(-1).We acknowledge support by projects from Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain (Consolider HOPE CSD2007-00007, MAT2010-19827), Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2009/058 and Project ISIC/2012/008 "Institute of Nanotechnologies for Clean Energies"), and Fundacio Bancaixa (P1.1B2011-50). S.G. acknowledges support by MINECO of Spain under the Ramon y Cajal programme. The SCIC of the University Jaume I de Castello is also acknowledged for the gas analysis measurements. C.S. acknowledges the POSDRU/89/1.5/S/58852 Project "Postdoctoral programme for training scientific researchers", co-financed by the European Social Fund within the Sectorial Operational Program Human Resources Development 2007-2013. We want to acknowledge Prof. J. Bisquert for the fruitful discussions related to this manuscript.Trevisan, R.; Rodenas, P.; González-Pedro, V.; Sima, C.; Sánchez, RS.; Barea, EM.; Mora-Sero, I.... (2013). Harnessing Infrared Photons for Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Generation. A PbS Quantum Dot Based "Quasi-Artificial Leaf". Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 4(1):141-146. https://doi.org/10.1021/jz301890mS1411464

Theoretical and experimental infrared spectra of hydrated and dehydrated sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone)

Time-dependent FT-IR spectra of sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) during dehydration show diminishing 1081 cm-1 and 1023 cm-1 band intensities concurrent with the emergence and shifting of bands at 1362 cm -1 and 898 cm-1. Animations of density functional theory calculated normal modes enable assignment of the 1081 cm-1 and 1023 cm-1 bands as group modes that include a sulfonate exchange site with C3v local symmetry, while the 1362 cm-1 and 898 cm -1 bands are assigned as group modes that include an associated sulfonic acid with no local symmetry (C1). In contrast to analogously assigned Nafion group mode bands, the SPEEK C3v and C1 bands coexist throughout the entire dehydration-hydration cycle, suggesting the presence of associated and dissociated exchange sites in SPEEK at all states-of-hydration. This supports a morphological model for SPEEK featuring branched hydrophilic domains and dead-end aqueous confines