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1.
Action and Function of Vitamin D in Digestive Tract Physiology and Pathology.
Peppelenbosch, MP, Fuhler, GM, Verhaar, AP, van der Laan, LJW
Current medicinal chemistry. 2017;(9):928-936
Abstract
BACKGROUND The body of biomedical literature on Vitamin D effector mechanisms in gastrointestinal biology and pathophysiology is rapidly expanding. Accordingly, new possibilities of vitamin D biology-based therapeutical intervention in gastroenterological disease are being identified. However, the literature lacks a concise review on these developments, hampering comprehension of the possibilities involved for many in the community. RESULTS Genetic vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms and other VDR biology regulation are involved in predisposition to gastrointestinal cancers and might allow tailored strategies for managing those individuals especially at risk, e.g. through vitamin D supplementation. Likewise, modulation of Hedgehog signaling by vitamin D analogues may have promise in combating gastrointestinal cancers or improving barrier function in IBD, but shortage in vitamin D levels may also influence inflammatory conditions of the gut through direct interaction with the mucosal immune system. Evidence justifying population-wide monitoring for vitamin D status is accumulating. CONCLUSION There is kaleidoscopic interaction of vitamin D biology with many aspects of gastrointestinal tract biology. Vitamin D appears an attractive target for personalized approaches like precision and P4 medicine.
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2.
Gastrointestinal digestion of food allergens: effect on their allergenicity.
Moreno, FJ
Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie. 2007;(1):50-60
Abstract
This paper reviews the in vitro digestion models developed to assess the stability digestion of food allergens, as well as the factors derived from the methodology and food structure that may affect the assay results. The adequacy of using the digestion stability of food allergens as a criterion for assessing potential allergenicity is also discussed. Data based on the traditional pepsin digestibility test in simulated gastric fluid are discussed in detail, with special attention to the influence of the pH and pepsin: allergen ratio in the pepsinolysis rate. This review points out the importance of using physiologically relevant in vitro digestion systems for evaluating digestibility of allergens. This would imply the sequential use of digestive enzymes in physiological concentrations, simulation of the stomach/small intestine environment (multi-phase models) with addition of surfactants such as phospholipids or bile salts, as well as the consideration of the gastrointestinal transit and the effect of the food matrices on the allergen digestion and subsequent absorption through the intestinal mucosa. In vitro gastrointestinal digestion protocols should be preferably combined with immunological assays in order to elucidate the role of large digestion-resistant fragments and the influence of the food matrix on the stimulation of the immune system.
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3.
Probiotics: a critical review of their potential role as antihypertensives, immune modulators, hypocholesterolemics, and perimenopausal treatments.
Liong, MT
Nutrition reviews. 2007;(7):316-28
Abstract
The conventional use of probiotics to modulate gastrointestinal health, such as in improving lactose intolerance, increasing natural resistance to infectious diseases in the gastrointestinal tract, suppressing traveler's diarrhea, and reducing bloating, has been well investigated and documented. Most of the mechanisms reported to date are mainly caused by the suppression of pathogenic bacteria. Currently, the potential applications of probiotics are being expanded beyond alleviating gastrointestinal disorders to include benefits involving antihypertension, immunomodulation, improving serum lipid profiles, and the alleviation of postmenopausal disorders. Although they seem promising, most of these postulated benefits are based on in vitro evaluations, and the lack of in vivo evidence and/or incompatible outcomes between in vitro experiments and in vivo trials has led to inconclusive claims. This present review highlights some of the previous roles of probiotics on gut health and addresses several potential roles currently being investigated.
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4.
L-ornithine alpha-ketoglutarate in HIV infection: effects on muscle, gastrointestinal, and immune functions.
Karsegard, VL, Raguso, CA, Genton, L, Hirschel, B, Pichard, C
Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif.). 2004;(6):515-20
Abstract
OBJECTIVES There have been claims that l-ornithine alpha-ketoglutarate (OKG) exerts anticatabolic, anabolic, and immunomodulating properties. This study aimed at quantifying the effects of OKG on muscle force, body composition, and immune function in outpatients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and presenting weight loss. METHODS Forty-six HIV(+) patients were included in a double-blind, prospective, randomized, controlled trial for 12 wk (10 g/d of OKG or isonitrogenous placebo and nutritional counseling). Podometry, handgrip strength, step test, triceps skinfold thickness, 50-kHz bioelectrical impedance, 3-d diet record, CD4 cell count, HIV-1 RNA concentration (viral load), and gastrointestinal symptoms were assessed at 0, 4, 8, and 12 wk. RESULTS At baseline, patients (OKG, n = 22; placebo, n = 24) has similar CD4 counts (338 +/- 172 and 310 +/- 136 cells/mL), viral load (3.6 +/- 1.3 and 3.5 +/- 1.3 log(10) copies/mL), body mass index (20.0 +/- 2.4 and 20.6 +/- 3.0 kg/m(2)), weight loss (9.0 +/- 3.12 and 9.4 +/- 3.0 kg), and food intake (2509 +/- 962 and 2610 +/- 808 kcal/d). Twenty-nine patients completed the protocol. Both groups increased their body mass index (P = 0.02 versus baseline) and triceps skinfold thickness (P < 0.01 versus baseline). They showed a similar positive correlation between handgrip strength and fat-free mass. Frequency of gastrointestinal symptoms increased in the OKG group (86% versus 54% in the placebo group, P = 0.025). No other differences were observed between groups. CONCLUSIONS All patients increased their body mass index and triceps skinfold thickness due to food supplementation and diet counseling. Oral OKG failed to improve nutritional, functional, or immunologic status in these weight-losing HIV(+) patients and had important gastrointestinal side effects.
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5.
Probiotics in health maintenance and disease prevention.
Drisko, JA, Giles, CK, Bischoff, BJ
Alternative medicine review : a journal of clinical therapeutic. 2003;(2):143-55
Abstract
Probiotic microflora display numerous health benefits beyond providing basic nutritional value. They cooperatively maintain a delicate balance between the gastrointestinal tract and immune system. When this balance is disrupted, disease and inflammation result. Inflammation and over stimulation of the immune system by pathogenic bacteria are competitively inhibited by mucosal adherence of normal beneficial microflora. A healthy gastrointestinal tract with adequate mucus production and appropriate bacterial colonization prevents the overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria, modulates disease processes, and prevents widespread inflammatory disorders. The understanding of the function of probiotics in the maintenance of health and their importance in preventing disease serves to enhance the overall health of patients. With increasing understanding that beneficial microbes are required for health maintenance and disease prevention, probiotics may be commonly used as a therapeutic tool by health care practitioners in the not-too-distant future. This review presents a review of probiotics in health maintenance and disease prevention.
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6.
Health aspects of probiotics.
Ouwehand, A, Vesterlund, S
IDrugs : the investigational drugs journal. 2003;(6):573-80
Abstract
Intestinal microbiota contribute in many different ways to our health; disturbances in the activity and/or composition of these microbiota may negatively influence health. In order to maintain a healthy intestinal microbiota, prebiotics and probiotics can be used. Selected probiotic strains safely shorten the duration of rotavirus diarrhea, relieve symptoms of lactose maldigestion and elicit beneficial immune-modulating effects. Other beneficial health effects have also been attributed to probiotics; however, these have not been sufficiently substantiated. Additional research into the mechanisms of probiotics is required.
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7.
Modulation by enteral nutrition of the acute phase response and immune functions.
Bengmark, S
Nutricion hospitalaria. 2003;(1):1-5
Abstract
To use nutrition in order to limit the negative consequences of physical and mental stress is not new. Recent advances in immunology and particularly in the understanding of the chemical language used to communicate both by eukarytic and prokarotic cells has made it easier to objectively evaluate effects of various immunomodulating efforts including the use of nutrients, vitamins and antioxidants in preventing or limiting the development of disease and its late consequences.
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8.
Immunonutrients and neonates.
Huang, Y, Shao, XM, Neu, J
European journal of pediatrics. 2003;(3):122-128
Abstract
UNLABELLED The gastrointestinal tract is the largest surface area of the body and the primary site for microorganisms, foreign antigens and toxins to gain entry to the host's internal milieu. The use of enteral feedings enriched with immune-enhancing ingredients is attracting considerable interest because there is increasing application of enteral feeding and appreciation of the role of the gut in the development of infection and of multiple organ failure in critically ill patients. CONCLUSION in this review, we will discuss nutrients, such as glutamine, arginine, omega 3 fatty acids, nucleotides, probiotics, and lactoferrin, and how they might be used as immunonutrients in neonatal clinics.
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9.
Effect of route and type of nutrition on intestine-derived inflammatory responses.
Kudsk, KA
American journal of surgery. 2003;(1):16-21
Abstract
BACKGROUND Immunological links between the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and respiratory tract has been postulated in the development and maintenance of mucosal immunity. Route and type of nutrition affects mucosal immunity by reducing cell populations within the Peyer's patches of the small intestine and lamina propria as well as altering cytokine profiles within these sites. In addition to the mucosal affects, these alternations in cytokines (decreases in interleukin-4 and interleukin-10) also appear to influence the vascular endothelium of the GI tract. DATA SOURCES This review examines the laboratory data regarding cytokine profile within the gut, endothelial adhesion molecule expression within the intestinal and extraintestinal organs, and the effect of these alterations on neutrophil accumulation and organ responses to gut ischemia/reperfusion. It also describes the effect of a specific nutrient, glutamine, on the starved gut. CONCLUSIONS Changes induced by failure to feed the GI tract affects GI vascularity increasing expression of proinflammatory adhesion molecules. These adhesion molecules attract neutrophils and prime them for subsequent ischemic events. Lack of feeding the gastrointestinal tract acts as a "first hit" and increases the inflammatory response to a secondary insult in the lungs, liver, and GI tract. The addition of the specific nutrient, glutamine, reverses many of these defects and favorably influences the proinflammatory effects of gut starvation.
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10.
Neural-immune gut-brain communication in the anorexia of disease.
Schwartz, GJ
Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif.). 2002;(6):528-33
Abstract
Peripheral administration of toxic bacterial products and cytokines have been used to model the immunological, physiological, and behavioral responses to infection, including the anorexia of disease. The vagus nerve is the major neuroanatomic linkage between gut sites exposed to peripheral endotoxins and cytokines and the central nervous system regions that mediate the control of food intake, and thus has been a major research focus of the neurobiological approach to understanding cytokine-induced anorexia. Molecular biological and neurophysiologic evidence demonstrates that peripheral anorectic doses of cytokines and endotoxins elicit significant increases in neural activation at multiple peripheral and central levels of the gut-brain axis and in some cases may modify the neural processing of meal-related gastrointestinal signals that contribute to the negative feedback control of ingestion. However, behavioral studies of the anorectic effects of peripheral cytokines and endotoxins have shown that neither vagal nor splanchnic visceral afferent fibers supplying the gut are necessary for the reduction of food intake in these models. These data do not rule out 1) the potential contribution of supradiaphragmatic vagal afferents or 2) a modulatory role for immune-stimulated gut vagal afferent signals in the expression of cytokine and endotoxin-induced anorexia in the intact organism.