82 research outputs found
The Intake of Antioxidant Capacity of Children Depends on Their Health Status
The gastrointestinal digestion of food and further gut microbial activity render a myriad of
different molecules that could be responsible for the biological activities that are classically assigned to
their parent compounds. This has been previously shown for some phytochemicals whose antioxidant
capacity was either increased or decreased after being metabolized by gut microbes. Whether a
global antioxidant capacity that is extracted from food is determined by the gut microbial community
structure is still not well described. In the present study, we in vitro digested and fermented 48
different foods that were submitted to different culinary treatments using the stools of lean children,
obese children, celiac children and children with an allergy to cow’s milk proteins. Their antioxidant
capacities were assessed with the DPPH and FRAP assays, and the percentage that each food
contributed to their daily antioxidant intake as well as their antioxidant capacity by portion size
was inferred. Overall, cereals, fruits and vegetables displayed a higher contribution to their daily
antioxidant intake, while tubers, fish and meat exhibited a higher antioxidant capacity by serving
size. The food that was fermented in the lean children’s and those children that were allergic to cow’s
milk protein’s fecal material, showed a higher antioxidant capacity, which could imply that there is a
larger role of the gut microbiota in this area
Why is it important to understand the nature and chemistry of tannins to exploit their potential as nutraceuticals?
Tannins comprise a large group of polyphenols that can differ widely in chemical composition and molecular
weight. The use of tannins dates back to antiquity, but it is only in recent years that their potential use as
nutraceuticals associated with the human diet is beginning to be exploited. Although the biological effects of
these phytocomplexes have been studied for many years, there are still several open questions regarding their
chemistry and biotransformation. The vastness of the molecules that make up the class of tannins has made their
characterisation, as well as their nomenclature and classification, a daunting task.
This review has been written with the aim of bringing order to the chemistry of tannins by including aspects
that are sometimes still overlooked or should be updated with new research in order to understand the potential
of these phytocomplexes as active ingredients or technological components for nutraceutical products. Future
trends in tannin research should address many questions that are still open, such as determining the exact
biosynthetic pathways of all classes of tannins, the actual biological effects determined by the interaction of
tannins with other molecules, their metabolization, and the best extraction methods, but with a view to market
requirements
The Role of the Gut Microbiome in Cow’s Milk Allergy: A Clinical Approach
Cow’s milk allergy (CMA) is the most prevalent food allergy (FA) in infancy and early childhood and can be present with various clinical phenotypes. The significant increase in FA rates recorded in recent decades has been associated with environmental and lifestyle changes that limit microbial exposure in early life and induce changes in gut microbiome composition. Gut microbiome is a diverse community of microbes that colonize the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and perform beneficial functions for the host. This complex ecosystem interacts with the immune system and has a pivotal role in the development of oral tolerance to food antigens. Emerging evidence indicates that alterations of the gut microbiome (dysbiosis) in early life cause immune dysregulation and render the host susceptible to immune-mediated diseases later in life. Therefore, the colonization of the gut by “healthy” microbes that occurs in the first years of life determines the lifelong health of the host. Here, we present current data on the possible role of the gut microbiome in the development of CMA. Furthermore, we discuss how gut microbiome modification might be a potential strategy for CMA prevention and treatment.European Research Commission (Research Executive
Agency) under the research project Stance4Health under Grant (Contract No 816303
Impact of gelatine coating on the performance of tannin-loaded pectin microbeads obtained through external gelation
One of the limitations of external gelation for microencapsulation is that small water-soluble compounds tend to
diffuse out of the microbeads, resulting in low encapsulation efficiencies. In this work we propose a one-step
approach for hydrogel microbead formation and simultaneous coating using external gelation. We explored
amidated pectin as the encapsulation matrix for two different tannin-rich extracts (from chestnut and
quebracho). The inclusion of tannin extracts contributed to the improvement of the structure of the microbeads
through their interactions with pectin. By adding gelatine to the gelling bath, the microbeads were coated with
the protein. This led to a significant increase in microencapsulation efficiency, which in some cases almost
doubled compared to non-coated microbeads. Thanks to the binding of tannins with gelatine, coated microbeads
loaded with the greatest amount of tannin extracts (20% w/w) presented the best retention of the bioactive
compounds. A 14-days storage release study showed that these microencapsulation systems only experienced a
slight loss of tannins during this period, with quebracho extract exhibiting greater retention than chestnut
extract. Overall, by exploiting interactions in the pectin/tannins/gelatine ternary system, the proposed strategy
for microbead production and coating in a single step allowed the development of a simple and more efficient
microencapsulation approach for tannin extracts through external gelation
Evaluation of Tannin-Delivery Approaches for Gut Microbiota Modulation: Comparison of Pectin-Based Microcapsules and Unencapsulated Extracts
The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of tannins on gut microbiota composition and activity, and to
evaluate the use of pectin-microencapsulation of tannins as a potential mode of tannin delivery. Thus, pectin-tannin microcapsules
and unencapsulated tannin extracts were in vitro digested and fermented, and polyphenol content, antioxidant capacity, microbiota
modulation, and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production were analyzed. Pectin microcapsules were not able to release their tannin
content, keeping it trapped after the digestive process, and are therefore not recommended for tannin delivery. Unencapsulated
tannin extracts were found to exert a positive effect on the human gut microbiota. The digestion step resulted to be a fundamental
requirement in order to maximize tannin bioactive effects, especially with regard to condensed tannins, as the antioxidant capacity
exerted and the SCFAs produced were greater when tannins were submitted to digestion prior to fermentation. Moreover, tannins
interacted differently with the intestinal microbiota depending on whether they underwent prior digestion or not. Polyphenol
content and antioxidant capacity correlated with SCFA production and with the abundance of several bacterial taxaThe Irish Agricultural and
Food Development Authority (Fermoy, Ireland),Plan
propio de Investigación y Transferencia” of the University of
Granada under program “Intensificación de la Investigación,
modalidad BUniversidad de Granada/
CBUAEuropean Union’s Horizon 2020 research
and innovation programme under grant agreement No 81630
Evaluation of the Effects of a Short Supplementation With Tannins on the Gut Microbiota of Healthy Subjects
This work was supported by the research project Stance4Health (Contract No. 816303) from the European Commission (Research Executive Agency).Western diet, high in fats and sugars and low in greens, contributes to dysbiosis of the
gut microbiota, which can lead to a variety of chronic diseases related with inflammation.
Supplementation with bioactive compounds can help to maintain a healthy eubiotic
state. Thus, we performed a 4-weeks nutritional intervention on healthy volunteers to
investigate whether a blend of natural tannin extracts could induce healthy changes
in the microbial intestinal ecosystem. Changes in the composition and functionality
of the microbiota could be observed from the first two weeks onward. 16S rRNA
amplicon next-generation sequencing (NGS) revealed a significant increase in microbial
diversity at the end of the intervention, as well as trends toward increases in the
relative abundances of several beneficial taxa, such as Ruminococcus bicirculans,
Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Lachnospiraceae UCG 010, Lachnospiraceae NK4A136,
Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron and B. uniformis. Remarkably, some of the identified taxa
were also identified as responsible for an increase in the production of short-chain fatty
acids (SCFAs), microbial metabolites that contribute to the modulation of the immune
system and have various other anti-inflammatory functions in the gut. Taken together,
these results suggest that the tannin supplementation could exert a prebiotic effect by
selectively stimulating the growth and the activity of bacteria that are advantageous for
the host.research project Stance4Health from the European Commission (Research Executive Agency) 81630
Enrichment of Food With Tannin Extracts Promotes Healthy Changes in the Human Gut Microbiota
This work was supported by the research project Stance4Health
(contract no. 816303) from the European Commission (Research
Executive Agency).The sequence data are available in the European Nucleotide
Archive (ENA) under accession number PRJEB14013 (https://
www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/view/PRJEB41013).This paper will form part of the doctoral thesis of SM, conducted
within the context of the “Nutrition and Food Sciences
Programme” at the University of GranadaThe Supplementary Material for this article can be found online
at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.625782/
full#supplementary-materialFood and food bioactive components are major drivers of modulation of the human gut microbiota. Tannin extracts consist of a mix of bioactive compounds, which are already exploited in the food industry for their chemical and sensorial properties. The aim of our study was to explore the viability of associations between tannin wood extracts of different origin and food as gut microbiota modulators. 16S rRNA amplicon next-generation sequencing (NGS) was used to test the effects on the gut microbiota of tannin extracts from quebracho, chestnut, and tara associated with commercial food products with different composition in macronutrients. The different tannin-enriched and non-enriched foods were submitted to in vitro digestion and fermentation by the gut microbiota of healthy subjects. The profile of the short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) produced by the microbiota was also investigated. The presence of tannin extracts in food promoted an increase of the relative abundance of the genus Akkermansia, recognized as a marker of a healthy gut, and of various members of the Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae families, involved in SCFA production. The enrichment of foods with tannin extracts had a booster effect on the production of SCFAs, without altering the profile given by the foods alone. These preliminary results suggest a positive modulation of the gut microbiota with potential benefits for human health through the enrichment of foods with tannin extracts.European Commission
European Commission Joint Research Centre
81630
The Expansion of the Hellenic Food Thesaurus; Allergens Labelling and Allergens-Free Claims on Greek Branded Food Products
Branded food composition databases (BFCDs) are valuable information tools that meet multiple user needs. Recently, recognising allergies and intolerances as an emerging concern for various stakeholders, BFCDs evolve to embed information on allergens. This study aims to expand the Greek BFCD, HelTH, to include allergen information for its 4002 products. A new file was added to the structure of HelTH, and data were curated to record label information. In 68.4% of products, at least one allergen was present in the ingredient list and in 38.9% at least one allergen in a precau- tionary statement. Milk (38.8%), gluten (32.7%), and soybeans (17.4%) were most commonly de- clared in the ingredient list; nuts (18.3%), eggs (13.1%), and milk (12.2%) were most commonly de- clared in precautionary statements. Allergen-free claims were present in 5.3% of the products and referred mostly on gluten and milk. In general, no statistically significant differences were identified between the nutritional composition of allergen-free claimed products and their equivalents. This study delivers an expanded BFCD that provides organised and detailed allergen information; new insights on the presence of food allergens in branded foods and issues of concern regarding allergen declaration that need to be addressed in order to improve label information.e Special Account for Research Grants of the
National and Kapodistrian University of Athense European Research
Commission (Research Executive Agency)Stance4Health under Grant
(Contract N° 816303
Comparative Analysis of Traditional Oriental Herbal Fruits as Potential Sources of Polyphenols and Minerals for Nutritional Supplements
There are a plethora of plant species in India, which have been widely used in vegetable
dishes, soups, desserts and herbal medicine. In addition to these traditional uses, today there is
the extra possibility of also being able to use these plants in the nutritional supplements industry
due to their favorable antioxidant and mineral composition. In this sense, thirteen vegetable
species—Chanania lanzan, Ziziphus mauritiana, Nilumbo nucifera, Terminalia catappa, Terminalia arjuna,
Terminalia bellirica, Terminalia chebula, Lagenaria siceraria, Luffa aegyptiaca, Praecitrullus fistulosus, Benincasa
hispida, Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus and Cucurbita maxima—have been analyzed. In this paper
we discuss the distribution of polyphenols and minerals (Na, K, Mg, Ca, Al, P, S, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn,
Mo, As and Pb) in different seed parts (the rhizome, pericarp, carpel, seed coat and kernel) of the
above species and their possible use in the nutritional supplements industry. The concentrations of
total polyphenols, flavonoids and minerals ranged from 407 to 3144 mg rutin hydrate/100 g, 24 to
3070 mg quercetin/100 g and 1433 to 7928 mg/100 g, respectively. K, Ca, P and S were abundant in
these herbal fruits. In two species of herbal fruits, Terminalia arjuna and Terminalia chebula, only part
of the seed structure was suitable for use in nutritional supplements.The University Grant Commission (New Delhi) through grant
No. F.18-1/2011(BSR)2016 under a basic science research (BCR) fellowship awarded to K.S.P
Pectin-Based Formulations for Controlled Release of an Ellagic Acid Salt with High Solubility Profile in Physiological Media
Among bioactive phytochemicals, ellagic acid (EA) is one of the most controversial because
its high antioxidant and cancer-preventing effects are strongly inhibited by low gastrointestinal
absorption and rapid excretion. Strategies toward an increase of solubility in water and bioavailability,
while preserving its structural integrity and warranting its controlled release at the physiological
targets, are therefore largely pursued. In this work, EA lysine salt at 1:4 molar ratio (EALYS),
exhibiting a more than 400 times increase of water solubility with respect to literature reports, was
incorporated at 10% in low methoxylated (LM) and high methoxylated (HM) pectin films. The release
of EA in PBS at pH 7.4 from both film preparations was comparable and reached 15% of the loaded
compound over 2 h. Under simulated gastric conditions, release of EA from HM and LM pectin films
was minimal at gastric pH, whereas higher concentrations—up to 300 µM, corresponding to ca. 50% of
the overall content—were obtained in the case of the HM pectin film after 2 h incubation at the slightly
alkaline pH of small intestine environment, with the enzyme and bile salt components enhancing
the release. EALYS pectin films showed a good prebiotic activity as evaluated by determination of
short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) levels following microbial fermentation, with a low but significant
increase of the effects produced by the pectins themselves. Overall, these results highlight pectin
films loaded with EALYS salt as a promising formulation to improve administration and controlled
release of the compound.European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
program through the Stance4Health project (Grant No. 816303
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