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Food Structure and Human Health – Need for a New Approach to Dietary Guidelines

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutrition Methodology & Assessment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2022) | Viewed by 8236

Special Issue Editors

Macquarie Medical School, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, Sydney 2109, NSW, Australia
Interests: fatty acids; human nutrition; inflammation; antioxidants; dietary fiber; supplements; systematic reviews; meta-analyses; randomized controlled trials; clinical nutrition; dyslipidemias
Macquarie Medical School, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
Interests: insulin resistance; diabetes mellitus type 2; islet amyloid polypeptide; risk prediction; Alzheimer’s disease; biomarker analysis; fatty acids; omega-3; polyphenols

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Current food health guidelines are focused mainly on nutrient composition and backed by extensive longitudinal and mechanistic studies on nutrients and their effects on human health. Food format and food structure have a significant impact on the bioavailability of these nutrients. In contrast with individual nutrients, specific food groups and dietary patterns have been shown to substantially affect chronic disease risk in controlled trials and cohort studies involving non-communicable disease endpoints. The effects of foods likely reflect processing methods, complex and synergistic contributions, and interactions among food structures. The current focus on revisiting dietary guidelines has shifted away from the more traditional approach of simply examining the nutrient composition of foods. Increasing evidence supporting the influence of food structure on nutrient delivery, glycemic and lipid responses, and gut microbiome strengthens the idea of considering food structure in dietary guidelines. This Special Issue aims to provide evidence for taking account of food structure for future public health nutrition and clinical nutrition developments.

In this Special Issue, we invite papers from the below-mentioned topics, including but not limited to

  1. Evidence from clinical trials supporting food structure and its influence on health/biological outcomes;
  2. Clinical nutrition studies accounting for food structure in the outcome measures;
  3. Food structure, the release of nutrients, and their effects on physiological changes (e.g., appetite-stimulant and appetite-suppressant hormones);
  4. Food structure and bioavailability of bioactive compounds;
  5. Processing of foods and relationship with risk of metabolic diseases.

Prof. Dr. Manohar Garg
Dr. Rohith Thota
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • food structure
  • dietary guidelines
  • plant-based foods
  • bioactives
  • bioavailability
  • nutrients
  • clinical trials
  • epidemiological evidence
  • food matrix
  • bioaccessibility
  • absorption
  • digestion
  • kinetics
  • metabolism

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1145 KiB  
Article
Bioactive Yoghurt Containing Curcumin and Chlorogenic Acid Reduces Inflammation in Postmenopausal Women
by Noha Ahmed Nasef, Rohith N. Thota, Anthony N. Mutukumira, Kay Rutherfurd-Markwick, Martin Dickens, Pramod Gopal, Harjinder Singh and Manohar L. Garg
Nutrients 2022, 14(21), 4619; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14214619 - 02 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2710
Abstract
Menopause is marked by a gradual and permanent decrease of estrogen from the ovaries, leading to metabolic and physiological changes in the body. Combined with increased body mass index, postmenopausal women have elevated systemic inflammation and metabolic disturbances leading to increased risk of [...] Read more.
Menopause is marked by a gradual and permanent decrease of estrogen from the ovaries, leading to metabolic and physiological changes in the body. Combined with increased body mass index, postmenopausal women have elevated systemic inflammation and metabolic disturbances leading to increased risk of developing chronic diseases. A bioactive coconut yoghurt containing curcumin and chlorogenic acid was developed with the potential to target inflammatory processes. In this randomized crossover study, healthy postmenopausal women with a BMI of 25–40 were recruited to consume 125 g of either the bioactive or placebo yoghurt. Blood samples were collected at baseline, 30 min, and 1, 2, 3 and 4 h postprandially. Plasma inflammatory markers (TNFα and IL6) and metabolic markers (triglycerides, insulin and glucose) were measured. Participants had significantly lower plasma TNFα Cmax after consumption of the bioactive yoghurt compared to placebo (mean difference = 0.3 pg/mL; p = 0.04). Additionally, plasma TNFα was significantly lower postprandially compared to baseline after consumption of the bioactive yogurt but not the placebo. No differences were observed in the metabolic markers measured. Conclusions: The bioactive yoghurt fortified with curcumin and chlorogenic acid has the potential to reduce inflammatory mediators; however, a larger and longer-term study is required to confirm these findings. Full article
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15 pages, 716 KiB  
Article
Plant-Based Dietary Patterns versus Meat Consumption and Prevalence of Impaired Glucose Intolerance and Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Study in Australian Women
by Courtney L. Baleato, Jessica J. A. Ferguson, Christopher Oldmeadow, Gita D. Mishra and Manohar L. Garg
Nutrients 2022, 14(19), 4152; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14194152 - 06 Oct 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2846
Abstract
This study aimed to compare the prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and diabetes mellitus (DM) among Australian women following plant-based diets (PBD) compared to regular meat eaters. A cross sectional analysis of the mid-aged cohort (1946–1951) of the Australian Longitudinal Study on [...] Read more.
This study aimed to compare the prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and diabetes mellitus (DM) among Australian women following plant-based diets (PBD) compared to regular meat eaters. A cross sectional analysis of the mid-aged cohort (1946–1951) of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health was conducted on completers of Survey 7 in 2013 with complete FFQ data available (n = 9102). Dietary patterns were categorized as PBD (vegan, lacto-ovo vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian, semi-vegetarian) and regular meat eaters. Meat eaters were further categorized into high and low consumption and outcomes included self-reported prevalence of IGT and DM. Participants were identified as regular meat eaters (n = 8937) and PBD (n = 175). Prevalence of IGT was lower in PBD (0–1.2%) compared to regular meat eaters (9.1%). Consolidation of PBD to a single group (vegetarians) indicated a lower prevalence of DM in vegetarians compared to regular meat eaters (3.9% vs. 9.1%). Women consuming meat daily/multiple times per day had significantly higher odds of IGT (OR 1.5, 95%CI 1.1 to 2.1, p = 0.02). Individuals consuming processed meat daily/multiple times per day had significantly higher odds of DM compared to those consuming less than daily (Odds ratio (OR) 1.7, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3 to 2.3, p < 0.0001). After adjustment for covariates, statistical significance was lost largely due to the addition of BMI to the model. Prevalence of IGT and DM were lower in women following PBD and higher in high consumers of meat and processed meat. The relationship between meat consumption and IGT/diabetes status appears to be mediated, at least in part, by an increase in body mass index (BMI). Future studies are warranted to investigate the mechanisms and other lifestyle factors underpinning the association between high meat consumption and increased risk of IGT and DM. Full article
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21 pages, 4361 KiB  
Article
Phenolic Release during In Vitro Digestion of Cold and Hot Extruded Noodles Supplemented with Starch and Phenolic Extracts
by Ruibin Wang, Ming Li, Margaret Anne Brennan, Don Kulasiri, Boli Guo and Charles Stephen Brennan
Nutrients 2022, 14(18), 3864; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14183864 - 18 Sep 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1843
Abstract
Dietary phenolic compounds must be released from the food matrix in the gastrointestinal tract to play a bioactive role, the release of which is interfered with by food structure. The release of phenolics (unbound and bound) of cold and hot extruded noodles enriched [...] Read more.
Dietary phenolic compounds must be released from the food matrix in the gastrointestinal tract to play a bioactive role, the release of which is interfered with by food structure. The release of phenolics (unbound and bound) of cold and hot extruded noodles enriched with phenolics (2.0%) during simulated in vitro gastrointestinal digestion was investigated. Bound phenolic content and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis were utilized to characterize the intensity and manner of starch-phenolic complexation during the preparation of extruded noodles. Hot extrusion induced the formation of more complexes, especially the V-type inclusion complexes, with a higher proportion of bound phenolics than cold extrusion, contributing to a more controlled release of phenolics along with slower starch digestion. For instance, during simulated small intestinal digestion, less unbound phenolics (59.4%) were released from hot extruded phenolic-enhanced noodles than from the corresponding cold extruded noodles (68.2%). This is similar to the release behavior of bound phenolics, that cold extruded noodles released more bound phenolics (56.5%) than hot extruded noodles (41.9%). For noodles extruded with rutin, the release of unbound rutin from hot extruded noodles and cold extruded noodles was 63.6% and 79.0%, respectively, in the small intestine phase, and bound rutin was released at a much lower amount from the hot extruded noodles (55.8%) than from the cold extruded noodles (89.7%). Hot extrusion may allow more potential bioaccessible phenolics (such as rutin), further improving the development of starchy foods enriched with controlled phenolics. Full article
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