Growth of Bifidobacterium species is inhibited by free fatty acids and bile salts but not by glycerides

S.P.B. was supported by the University of Granada grant "Perfeccionamiento de Doctores".High-fat diets have been associated with lower gut and fecal abundances of genus Bifidobacterium. Here, we investigated whether commonly consumed dietary free fatty acids have any detrimental effect on the growth of B. adolescentis, B. bifidum, and B. longum. We found that the presence of free fatty acids in the medium inhibits the growth of Bifidobacterium species to a varying degree, with capric (C10:0), oleic (C18:1), and linoleic (C18:2) acids displaying the largest effect. In comparison, free fatty acids did not affect the growth of Escherichia coli. When fats were added as a mixture of mono- and diacylglycerols, the inhibitory effect on Bifidobacterium growth was abolished.University of Granada grant "Perfeccionamiento de Doctores

Dietary Melanoidins from Biscuits and Bread Crust Alter the Structure and Short-Chain Fatty Acid Production of Human Gut Microbiota

Melanoidins are the products of the Maillard reaction between carbonyl and amino groups of macromolecules and are readily formed in foods, especially during heat treatment. In this study we utilized the three-stage Human Gut Simulator system to assess the effect of providing melanoidins extracted from either biscuits or bread crust to the human gut microbiota. Addition of melanoidins to the growth medium led to statistically significant alterations in the microbial community composition, and it increased short-chain fatty acid and antioxidant production by the microbiota. The magnitude of these changes was much higher for cultures grown with biscuit melanoidins. Several lines of evidence indicate that such differences between these melanoidin sources might be due to the presence of lipid components in biscuit melanoidin structures. Because melanoidins are largely not degraded by human gastrointestinal enzymes, they provide an additional source of microbiota-accessible nutrients to our gut microbes.award "Perfeccionamiento de Doctores" - University of Granada, SpainPlan Propio de Investigacion y Transferencia of the University of GranadaNational Science Foundation (NSF) DBI-1335772Uprising Foods, Inc

Prediction of degradation pathways of phenolic compounds in the human gut microbiota through enzyme promiscuity methods

The relevance of phenolic compounds in the human diet has increased in recent years, particularly due to their role as natural antioxidants and chemopreventive agents in different diseases. In the human body, phenolic compounds are mainly metabolized by the gut microbiota; however, their metabolism is not well represented in public databases and existing reconstructions. In a previous work, using different sources of knowledge, bioinformatic and modelling tools, we developed AGREDA, an extended metabolic network more amenable to analyze the interaction of the human gut microbiota with diet. Despite the substantial improvement achieved by AGREDA, it was not sufficient to represent the diverse metabolic space of phenolic compounds. In this article, we make use of an enzyme promiscuity approach to complete further the metabolism of phenolic compounds in the human gut microbiota. In particular, we apply RetroPath RL, a previously developed approach based on Monte Carlo Tree Search strategy reinforcement learning, in order to predict the degradation pathways of compounds present in Phenol-Explorer, the largest database of phenolic compounds in the literature. Reactions predicted by RetroPath RL were integrated with AGREDA, leading to a more complete version of the human gut microbiota metabolic network. We assess the impact of our improvements in the metabolic processing of various foods, finding previously undetected connections with output microbial metabolites. By means of untargeted metabolomics data, we present in vitro experimental validation for output microbial metabolites released in the fermentation of lentils with feces of children representing different clinical conditions

Relationship of Thermal Treatment and Antioxidant Capacity in Cooked Foods

Most of the foods we eat undergo a cooking process before they are eaten. During such a process, the non-enzymatic browning occurs, which generates compounds such as furosine, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural. These are considered markers of cookedness and can therefore be used as quality indicators. In this work, we study the production of these compounds in different foods (both of plant and animal origin) that are cooked with different techniques. Additionally, we investigate correlations between the production of these markers of cookedness and the antioxidant capacity produced after in vitro digestion and fermentation. We observe that, in general, cereals and vegetables are more thermally damaged. Toasting and frying produce the highest concentrations of Maillard compounds whereas boiling the lowest. Furosine content shows a significant positive correlation with in vitro digestion data in fried foods, and with fermentation in roasted foods. Furfural content shows a significant positive correlation with in vitro digestion results in roasted foods, specifically in the Folin–Ciocalteu method

Green and white teas as health-promoting foods

This work is part of the doctoral thesis of Daniel Hinojosa- Nogueira conducted within the context of the “Program of Nutrition and Food Sciences” at the University of Granada. This work was supported by the “Plan propio de Investigación y Transferencia” of the University of Granada under the program “Intensificación de la Investigación, modalidad B” granted to José A. Rufián-Henares.Tea is one of the most consumed beverages around the world and as such, it is constantly the object of novel research. This review focuses on the research performed during the last five years to provide an updated view of the current position of tea regarding human health. According to most authors, tea health benefits can be traced back to its bioactive components, mostly phenolic compounds. Among them, catechins are the most abundant. Tea has an important antioxidant capacity and anti-inflammatory properties, which make this beverage (or its extracts) a potential aid in the fight against several chronic diseases. On the other hand, some studies report the possibility of toxic effects and it is advisable to reduce tea consumption, such as in the last trimester of pregnancy. Additionally, new technologies are increasing researchers' possibilities to study the effect of tea on human gut microbiota and even against SARS CoV-2. This beverage favours some beneficial gut microbes, which could have important repercussions due to the influence of gut microbiota on human health."Plan propio de Investigacion y Transferencia" of the University of Granada under the program "Intensificacion de la Investigacion, modalidad B

An extended reconstruction of human gut microbiota metabolism of dietary compounds

This work was funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program through the STANCE4HEALTH project (Grant No. 816303).Understanding how diet and gut microbiota interact in the context of human health is a key question in personalized nutrition. Genome-scale metabolic networks and constraint-based modeling approaches are promising to systematically address this complex problem. However, when applied to nutritional questions, a major issue in existing reconstructions is the limited information about compounds in the diet that are metabolized by the gut microbiota. Here, we present AGREDA, an extended reconstruction of diet metabolism in the human gut microbiota. AGREDA adds the degradation pathways of 209 compounds present in the human diet, mainly phenolic compounds, a family of metabolites highly relevant for human health and nutrition. We show that AGREDA outperforms existing reconstructions in predicting diet-specific output metabolites from the gut microbiota. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing data of faecal samples from Spanish children representing different clinical conditions, we illustrate the potential of AGREDA to establish relevant metabolic interactions between diet and gut microbiota.European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program through the STANCE4HEALTH project 81630

Potential probiotic salami with dietary fiber modulates metabolism and gut microbiota in a human intervention study

A human intervention in 24 healthy volunteers was performed to test the potential health benefits of a fermented salami with a probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001 and added citrus fiber. Anthropometric measurements and blood biochemistry did not show any significant differences between pre- and post-intervention during 4 weeks with a daily intake of 30 g of salami, neither with regular salami (control group) nor with reformulated salami (intervention group). However, the inflammatory markers CRP and TNFα decreased significantly after intervention, suggesting a less inflammatory environment after reformulated salami consumption. Antioxidant plasmatic markers also improved within the intervention group. Butyrate production was significantly increased after reformulated salami consumption. Gut microbiota community structure, however, was not significantly shaped by neither regular nor reformulated salami. After the intervention with probiotic salami, L. rhamnosus was detected by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) in all samples of the intervention group but not in the control group, showing probiotic effect.This trial was supported by project AVANZA-S from the Spanish Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI). It was also supported by a Spanish predoctoral fellowship F.P.U. (ref.: FPU14/ 01192) for S. Perez-Burillo from the Spanish Governmen

A useful and simple tool to evaluate and compare the intake of total dietary polyphenols in different populations

This work was supported by the European Research Commission (Research Executive Agency) under the research project Stance4Health under Grant (Contract No 816303) and by the 'Plan propio de Investigacion y Transferencia' of the University of Granada under the programme 'Intensificacion de la Investigacion, modalidad B' granted to Jose A. Rufian-Henares.Objective: Polyphenols are antioxidant compounds with an impact on different health factors. Thus, it is important to have precise tools to estimate the intake of polyphenols. This study focuses on the development of an intuitive tool to estimating the intake of dietary total polyphenols. Design: The tool was developed in a spreadsheet to improve accessibility and use. It is divided into six different meals for each of the 7 d with a similar format to 24-h diet recalls. The total polyphenol values of 302 foods were included and the possibility of own values. Setting: Framework of the European project Stance4Health, Granada, Spain. Participants: This tool was tested on 90 participants in different stages of life (girls, women and pregnant women). Ages ranged from 10 to 35 years. Results: The total polyphenol intake obtained was of 1790 629 mg polyphenols/d. The highest consumption of polyphenols was observed in pregnant women (2064 mg/d). Polyphenols intake during the weekend was lower for the three groups compared to the days of the week. The results were comparable with those of other studies. Conclusions: The current tool allows the estimation of the total intake of polyphenols in the diet in a fast and easy way. The tool will be used as a basis for a future mobile application.European Research Commission (Research Executive Agency) under the research project Stance4Health 81630

The Stance4Health Project: Evaluating a Smart Personalised Nutrition Service for Gut Microbiota Modulation in Normal and Overweight Adults and Children with Obesity, Gluten-Related Disorders or Allergy/Intolerance to Cow’s Milk

Unhealthy diets represent a major risk for the pathogenesis of metabolic and chronic inflammatory diseases. Improving the quality of diet is important to prevent chronic diseases, and diet-induced modifications of the gut microbiota (GM) community likely play an important role. The EU-funded Stance4Health project aims at performing a randomized clinical trial based on a nutritional intervention program in the context of normal weight and overweight adults as well as children with obesity and gluten-related disorders or allergy/intolerance to cow’s milk. The trial will evaluate the efficacy of a Smart Personalised Nutrition (SPN) service in modifying GM composition and metabolic function and improving consumer empowerment through technology adoption.European Commission 81630

Why Should We Be Concerned with the Use of Spent Coffee Grounds as an Organic Amendment of Soils? A Narrative Review

Spent coffee grounds (SCG) are produced in massive amounts throughout the world as a bio-residue from coffee brewing. However, SCG are rich in carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, bioactive compounds and melanoidins, which are macromolecules with chelating properties. Additionally, SCG have showed potential applications in several fields such as biotechnology (bioethanol, volatile aromatic compounds, carotenoids, fungi and enzymes), energy production (combustion, pyrolysis, torrefaction, gasification, hydrothermal carbonization) and environmental sciences (composting). This review will focus on the last of these applications. SCG improve soil quality by increasing their chemical, physicochemical, physical properties and biological fertility. However, SCG inhibit plant growth at very low concentrations (1%) due to i. the stimulation of microbial growth and consequent competition for soil nitrogen between soil microorganisms and plant roots; ii. the presence of phytotoxic compounds in SCG, such as polyphenols. The SCG transformations that have proven to eliminate these compounds are vermicomposting and pyrolysis at 400 degrees C. However, it has been pointed out by some studies that these compounds are responsible for the chelating properties of SCG, which makes their elimination not recommended. The use of SCG as biochelates has also been studied, generating a residue-micronutrient mixture for the biofortification of edible plants.Andalusian Ministry of Economic Transformation, Knowledge Industry and Universities PY20_00585Plan Propio de Investigacion y Transferencia of the University of Granada under the program "Intensificacion de la Investigacion, modalidad B