Good adherence to mediterranean diet can prevent gastrointestinal symptoms: A survey from Southern Italy.

AIM: To evaluate how different levels of adherence to a mediterranean diet (MD) correlate with the onset of functional gastrointestinal disorders. METHODS: As many as 1134 subjects (598 M and 536 F; age range 17-83 years) were prospectively investigated in relation to their dietary habits and the presence of functional gastrointestinal symptoms. Patients with relevant chronic organic disease were excluded from the study. The Mediterranean Diet Quality index for children and adolescents (KIDMED) and the Short Mediterranean Diet Questionnaire were administered. All subjects were grouped into five categories according to their ages: 17-24 years; 25-34; 35-49; 50-64; above 64. RESULTS: On the basis of the Rome III criteria, our population consisted of 719 (63.4%) individuals who did not meet the criteria for any functional disorder and were classified as controls (CNT), 172 (13.3%) patients meeting criteria for prevalent irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and 243 (23.3%) meeting criteria for prevalent functional dyspepsia (FD). A significantly lower adherence score in IBS (0.57 ± 0.23, P < 0.001) and FD (0.56 ± 0.24, P < 0.05) was found compared to CNT (0.62 ± 0.21). Females with FD and IBS exhibited significantly lower adherence scores (respectively 0.58 ± 0.24, P < 0.05 and 0.56 ± 0.22, P < 0.05) whereas males were significantly lower only for FD (0.53 ± 0.25, P < 0.05). Age cluster analyses showed a significantly lower score in the 17-24 years and 25-34 year categories for FD (17-24 years: 0.44 ± 0.21, P < 0.001; 25-34 years: 0.48 ± 0.22, P < 0.05) and IBS (17-24 years: 0.45 ± 0.20, P < 0.05; 24-34 years: 0.44 ± 0.21, P < 0.001) compared to CNT (17-24 years: 0.56 ± 0.21; 25-34 years: 0.69 ± 0.20). CONCLUSION: Low adherence to MD may trigger functional gastrointestinal symptoms, mainly in younger subjects. Moreover, with increasing age, patients tend to adopt dietary regimens closer to MD

Cortical representation of different taste modalities on the gustatory cortex: A pilot study

Background Right insular cortex is involved in taste discrimination, but its functional organization is still poorly known. In general, sensory cortices represent the spatial prevalence of relevant features for each sensory modality (visual, auditory, somatosensory) in an ordered way across the cortical space. Following this analogy, we hypothesized that primary taste cortex is organized in similar ordered way in response to six tastes with known receptorial mechanisms (sweet, bitter, sour, salt, umami, CO2) Design Ten normal subjects were enrolled in a pilot study. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a high resolution cortical registration method, and specialized procedures of feature prevalence localization, to map fMRI responses within the right insular cortex, to water solutions of quinine hydrochloride (bitter), Acesulfamate K (sweet), sodium chloride (salt), mono potassium glutamate + inosine 5â\u80\u99 mono phosphate (Umami), citric acid (sour) and carbonated water (CO2). During an fMRI scan delivery of the solutions was applied in pseudo-random order interleaved with cleaning water. Results Two subjects were discarded due to excessive head movements. In the remaining subjects, statistically significant activations were detected in the fMRI responses to all tastes in the right insular cortex (p<0.05, family-wise corrected for multiple comparisons). Cortical representation of taste prevalence highlighted two spatially segregated clusters, processing two and three tastes coupled together (sweet-bitter and salt-umami-sour), with CO2in between. Conclusions Cortical representation of taste prevalence within the right primary taste cortex appears to follow the ecological purpose of enhancing the discrimination between safe nutrients and harmful substances

The Bitter Taste Receptor Agonist Quinine Reduces Calorie Intake and Increases the Postprandial Release of Cholecystokinin in Healthy Subjects

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Bitter taste receptors are expressed throughout the digestive tract. Data on animals have suggested these receptors are involved in the gut hormone release, but no data are available in humans. Our aim is to assess whether bitter agonists influence food intake and gut hormone release in healthy subjects. METHODS: Twenty healthy volunteers were enrolled in a double-blind cross-over study. On 2 different days, each subject randomly received an acid-resistant capsule containing either placebo or 18 mg of hydrochloride (HCl) quinine. After 60 minutes, all subjects were allowed to eat an ad libitum meal until satiated. Plasma samples were obtained during the experiment in order to evaluate cholecystokinin (CCK) and ghrelin levels. Each subject was screened to determine phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) tasting status. RESULTS: Calorie intake was significantly lower when subjects received HCl quinine than placebo (514 ± 248 vs 596 ± 286 kcal; P = 0.007). Significantly higher CCK ΔT(90) vs T(0) and ΔT(90) vs T(60) were found when subjects received HCl quinine than placebo (0.70 ± 0.69 vs 0.10 ± 0.86 ng/mL, P = 0.026; 0.92 ± 0.75 vs 0.50 ± 0.55 ng/mL, P = 0.033, respectively). PTC tasters ingested a significantly lower amount of calories when they received HCl quinine compared to placebo (526 ± 275 vs 659 ± 320 kcal; P = 0.005), whereas no significant differences were found for PTC non-tasters (499 ± 227 vs 519 ± 231 kcal; P = 0.525). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that intra-duodenal release of a bitter compound is able to significantly affect calorie intake and CCK release after a standardized meal. Our results suggest that bitter taste receptor signaling may have a crucial role in the control of food intake

The bitter taste receptor agonist quinine reduces calorie intake and increases the postprandial release of cholecystokinin in healthy subjects

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Bitter taste receptors are expressed throughout the digestive tract. Data on animals have suggested these receptors are involved in the gut hormone release, but no data are available in humans. Our aim is to assess whether bitter agonists influence food intake and gut hormone release in healthy subjects. METHODS: Twenty healthy volunteers were enrolled in a double-blind cross-over study. On 2 different days, each subject randomly received an acid-resistant capsule containing either placebo or 18 mg of hydrochloride (HCl) quinine. After 60 minutes, all subjects were allowed to eat an ad libitum meal until satiated. Plasma samples were obtained during the experiment in order to evaluate cholecystokinin (CCK) and ghrelin levels. Each subject was screened to determine phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) tasting status. RESULTS: Calorie intake was significantly lower when subjects received HCl quinine than placebo (514 ± 248 vs 596 ± 286 kcal; P = 0.007). Significantly higher CCK ΔT(90) vs T(0) and ΔT(90) vs T(60) were found when subjects received HCl quinine than placebo (0.70 ± 0.69 vs 0.10 ± 0.86 ng/mL, P = 0.026; 0.92 ± 0.75 vs 0.50 ± 0.55 ng/mL, P = 0.033, respectively). PTC tasters ingested a significantly lower amount of calories when they received HCl quinine compared to placebo (526 ± 275 vs 659 ± 320 kcal; P = 0.005), whereas no significant differences were found for PTC non-tasters (499 ± 227 vs 519 ± 231 kcal; P = 0.525). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that intra-duodenal release of a bitter compound is able to significantly affect calorie intake and CCK release after a standardized meal. Our results suggest that bitter taste receptor signaling may have a crucial role in the control of food intake

Map of the main effects of tastes in the right insular cortex.

<p>Color coded clusters of the within group Random Effect analysis for the different tastants overlapped to a high resolution T1 image after the inclusion of a mask of the right insular cortex (p<0.05 FWE corrected at cluster level). Evidence of a spatial distribution of the six principal tastes is clearly shown even with the overlap of some tastants.</p

Bar graphs of the similarity of each individual subject to each and any specific tastant.

<p>In the map results of the correlation analysis of the prevalence maps of each subject vs mean prevalence maps (Spearman correlation coefficient p<0.0001) is depicted in the first bar while the other bars show the correlation of the beta maps of all the subjects for each tastant (Pearson correlation coefficient p<0.0001).</p

Results of the VAS questionnaire analysis.

<p>The average taste perception is reported for all tastes with the significant differences between them at ANOVA (p<0.05).</p

Scheme of alternation among tastes.

<p>Scheme of alternation among tastes.</p

Solutions administration protocol.

<p>Taste event consisted of the delivery of 5ml of one solution over 2 sec (2,5 ml/sec injection speed) announced by an auditory cue and followed by a gustatory period of 10 sec. Another auditory cue announced the swallowing of the solution (3 sec) and was followed by a rest period of 15 seconds before the administration of rinse water with the same modality.</p