Limited effects of long-term daily cranberry consumption on the gut microbiome in a placebo-controlled study of women with recurrent urinary tract infections

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) affect 15 million women each year in the United States, with > 20% experiencing frequent recurrent UTIs. A recent placebo-controlled clinical trial found a 39% reduction in UTI symptoms among recurrent UTI sufferers who consumed a daily cranberry beverage for 24 weeks. Using metagenomic sequencing of stool from a subset of these trial participants, we assessed the impact of cranberry consumption on the gut microbiota, a reservoir for UTI-causing pathogens such as Escherichia coli, which causes > 80% of UTIs. Results: The overall taxonomic composition, community diversity, carriage of functional pathways and gene families, and relative abundances of the vast majority of observed bacterial taxa, including E. coli, were not changed significantly by cranberry consumption. However, one unnamed Flavonifractor species (OTU41), which represented ≤1% of the overall metagenome, was significantly less abundant in cranberry consumers compared to placebo at trial completion. Given Flavonifractor’s association with negative human health effects, we sought to determine OTU41 characteristic genes that may explain its differential abundance and/or relationship to key host functions. Using comparative genomic and metagenomic techniques, we identified genes in OTU41 related to transport and metabolism of various compounds, including tryptophan and cobalamin, which have been shown to play roles in host-microbe interactions. Conclusion: While our results indicated that cranberry juice consumption had little impact on global measures of the microbiome, we found one unnamed Flavonifractor species differed significantly between study arms. This suggests further studies are needed to assess the role of cranberry consumption and Flavonifractor in health and wellbeing in the context of recurrent UTI. Trial registration: Clinical trial registration number: ClinicalTrials.govNCT01776021

Identification and quantification of flavanols and methylxanthines in chocolates with different percentages of chocolate liquor

Includes bibliographical references

Functional foods: a comparison of blueberry muffin ingredients

Functional foods have increasingly gained attention regarding their ability to reduce the onset of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease. The objectives of this study were the following: 1) to evaluate blueberry muffins for protein, lipid, ash, moisture, and carbohydrate content differences when incorporating traditional ingredients compared to soymilk and flaxseed, and 2) to determine through sensory evaluation if untrained panelists could detect a difference among those blueberry muffins. Four muffins were prepared (control, soymilk, flaxseed, and soymilk/flaxseed) using a blueberry muffin mix. Sensory evaluation was performed by 107 untrained panelists among four different muffin batches. Sensory panelists were asked to rate the appearance, blueberry muffin flavor, sweetness, and the overall impression of each product on a 1 to 5 Hedonic scale rating, using 1 for dislike extremely and 5 for like extremely. Statistical analyses were determined using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at p<0.05. Quantitative measurements indicated that soymilk muffins had a higher moisture (34.0%) and protein (6.42%) content, flaxseed and soymilk muffins had a higher level of ash (1.65%) and lower lipid content of 10.7%. Sensory evaluation concluded that there was no significant difference for the appearance, blueberry muffin flavor, sweetness, or the overall impression among the four different muffin types. Soymilk muffin was rated highest in appearance (3.87) and blueberry muffin flavor (3.51). Compared to the other muffins types, flaxseed muffins were rated highest in moistness (4.02). This study showed that functional foods can be incorporated into traditional food products with no discernable loss in appearance,flavor, or sweetness and the additional soy protein and minerals may assist in the prevention of the onset of chronic diseases