Microalgal Derivatives as Potential Nutraceutical and Food Supplements for Human Health: A Focus on Cancer Prevention and Interception

Epidemiological studies are providing strong evidence on beneficial health effects from dietary measures, leading scientists to actively investigate which foods and which specific agents in the diet can prevent diseases. Public health officers and medical experts should collaborate toward the design of disease prevention diets for nutritional intervention. Functional foods are emerging as an instrument for dietary intervention in disease prevention. Functional food products are technologically developed ingredients with specific health benefits. Among promising sources of functional foods and chemopreventive diets of interest, microalgae are gaining worldwide attention, based on their richness in high-value products, including carotenoids, proteins, vitamins, essential amino acids, omega-rich oils and, in general, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds. Beneficial effects of microalgae on human health and/or wellness could in the future be useful in preventing or delaying the onset of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. During the past decades, microalgal biomass was predominately used in the health food market, with more than 75% of the annual microalgal biomass production being employed for the manufacture of powders, tablets, capsules or pastilles. In this review, we report and discuss the present and future role of microalgae as marine sources of functional foods/beverages for human wellbeing, focusing on perspectives in chemoprevention. We dissected this topic by analyzing the different classes of microalgal compounds with health outputs (based on their potential chemoprevention activities), the biodiversity of microalgal species and how to improve their cultivation, exploring the perspective of sustainable food from the sea.

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Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals as Dietary Intervention in Chronic Diseases; Novel Perspectives for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Journal of Dietary Supplements ◽

10.1080/19390211.2017.1401573 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 15 (6) ◽

pp. 977-1009 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Stephen Adeniyi Adefegha

Keyword(s):

Health Promotion ◽

Disease Prevention ◽

Chronic Diseases ◽

Functional Foods ◽

Dietary Intervention

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How to protect both health and food system sustainability? A holistic ‘global health’-based approach via the 3V rule proposal

Public Health Nutrition ◽

10.1017/s136898002000227x ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 23 (16) ◽

pp. 3028-3044 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

A Fardet ◽

E Rock

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Food System ◽

Energy Content ◽

Essential Amino Acids ◽

Epidemiological Studies ◽

Three Dimensions ◽

Standard Diet ◽

Food Diversity ◽

Nutritional Needs ◽

System Sustainability

AbstractObjective:To define a generic diet to protect human health and food system sustainability based on three dimensions: animal:plant ratio, degree of food processing and food diversity.Design/setting:The percentages of maximum animal and ultra-processed energy content were evaluated from scientific papers (Web of Science database) and reports from international scientific institutions. Then, a weekly French standard diet, including these percentages and food diversity (≥42 different foods), was designed to calculate adequacy to nutritional needs.Results:Based on traditional and scientifically based healthy diets, and on foresight scenarios for sustainable diets at horizon 2050, a median daily animal energy content intake of 15 % was found to be protective towards both human health and environment. Based on epidemiological studies associating ultra-processed energy consumption with increased overweight/obesity risk, a precautionary threshold of approximately 15 % ultra-processed energy content was observed. The French diet allows addressing all nutritional needs and other nutritional indicators such as maximum salt and simple sugar consumption, α-linolenic acid:linoleic acid ratio and essential amino acids. This diet was named the ‘3V rule’ for Végétal (plant), Vrai (real) and Varié (varied, if possible organic, local and seasonal). This generic diet can be adapted according to regional traditions and environmental characteristics. Excluding only one dimension of it would threaten both health and food system sustainability.Conclusions:Tending towards a 3V-based diet, while respecting local constraints, should allow preserving human health, environment (greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, deforestation, etc.), small farmers, animal welfare and biodiversity, culinary traditions and socioeconomics (including an alleviation of public health cost).

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Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods in Human Health and Disease Prevention

10.1201/b19308 ◽

2015 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Keyword(s):

Disease Prevention ◽

Human Health ◽

Functional Foods ◽

Health And Disease

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Role of Nutraceuticals in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention: A Review in the Indian Context

Current Topics in Nutraceutical Research ◽

10.37290/ctnr2641-452x.19:139-145 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 139-145

Author(s):

Sheena Chhabra ◽

Apurva Bakshi ◽

Ravineet Kaur

Keyword(s):

Health Promotion ◽

Disease Prevention ◽

Human Health ◽

Health Issues ◽

Scholarly Literature ◽

Indian Context ◽

The Impact ◽

Immense Potential ◽

Specific Health

Nutraceuticals have been around for quite some time. As the nomenclature suggests, they are placed somewhere between food (nutra-) and medicine (-ceuticals) in terms of their impact on human health. Researches have focused on the impact of various types of nutraceuticals on health, their efficacy in health promotion and disease prevention, and often on suitable uses of certain categories of nutraceuticals for specific health issues. However, we are still far from utilizing the immense potential of nutraceuticals for benefiting human health in a substantial manner. We review the available scholarly literature regarding the role of nutraceuticals in health promotion, their efficacy in disease prevention and the perception of nutraceuticals' health benefits by consumers. Thereafter we analyze the need for regulation of nutraceuticals and various provisions regarding the same.

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Different Blood Metabolomics Profiles in Infants Consuming a Meat- or Dairy-Based Complementary Diet

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu13020388 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 388

Author(s):

Minghua Tang ◽

Nicholas E. Weaver ◽

Lillian M. Berman ◽

Laura D. Brown ◽

Audrey E. Hendricks ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Amino Acids ◽

Dietary Intervention ◽

Principal Component ◽

Essential Amino Acids ◽

Infant Growth ◽

Serum Samples ◽

Z Scores ◽

Protein Rich ◽

Over Time ◽

Complementary Diet

Background: Research is limited in evaluating the mechanisms responsible for infant growth in response to different protein-rich foods; Methods: Targeted and untargeted metabolomics analysis were conducted on serum samples collected from an infant controlled-feeding trial that participants consumed a meat- vs. dairy-based complementary diet from 5 to 12 months of age, and followed up at 24 months. Results: Isoleucine, valine, phenylalanine increased and threonine decreased over time among all participants; Although none of the individual essential amino acids had a significant impact on changes in growth Z scores from 5 to 12 months, principal component heavily weighted by BCAAs (leucine, isoleucine, valine) and phenylalanine had a positive association with changes in length-for-age Z score from 5 to 12 months. Concentrations of acylcarnitine-C4, acylcarnitine-C5 and acylcarnitine-C5:1 significantly increased over time with the dietary intervention, but none of the acylcarnitines were associated with infant growth Z scores. Quantitative trimethylamine N-oxide increased in the meat group from 5 to 12 months; Conclusions: Our findings suggest that increasing total protein intake by providing protein-rich complementary foods was associated with increased concentrations of certain essential amino acids and short-chain acyl-carnitines. The sources of protein-rich foods (e.g., meat vs. dairy) did not appear to differentially impact serum metabolites, and comprehensive mechanistic investigations are needed to identify other contributors or mediators of the diet-induced infant growth trajectories.

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The Role of High-Resolution Analytical Techniques in the Development of Functional Foods

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms22063220 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (6) ◽

pp. 3220

Author(s):

Álvaro Fernández-Ochoa ◽

Francisco Javier Leyva-Jiménez ◽

María De la Luz Cádiz-Gurrea ◽

Sandra Pimentel-Moral ◽

Antonio Segura-Carretero

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

Functional Foods ◽

Intervention Studies ◽

Analytical Techniques ◽

Nutritional Intervention ◽

Bioactive Properties ◽

Metabolic Reactions ◽

Bioactive Potential ◽

Endogenous Metabolites

The approaches based on high-resolution analytical techniques, such as nuclear magnetic resonance or mass spectrometry coupled to chromatographic techniques, have a determining role in several of the stages necessary for the development of functional foods. The analyses of botanical extracts rich in bioactive compounds is one of the fundamental steps in order to identify and quantify their phytochemical composition. However, the compounds characterized in the extracts are not always responsible for the bioactive properties because they generally undergo metabolic reactions before reaching the therapeutic targets. For this reason, analytical techniques are also applied to analyze biological samples to know the bioavailability, pharmacokinetics and/or metabolism of the compounds ingested by animal or human models in nutritional intervention studies. In addition, these studies have also been applied to determine changes of endogenous metabolites caused by prolonged intake of compounds with bioactive potential. This review aims to describe the main types and modes of application of high-resolution analytical techniques in all these steps for functional food development.

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Grapes and Their Derivatives in Functional Foods

Foods ◽

10.3390/foods10030672 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 672

Author(s):

Panagiotis Kandylis

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Functional Foods ◽

Consumer Interest ◽

Health Promoting

Consumer interest in the consumption of health promoting foods is growing worldwide due to the realization of the link between diet and human health [...]

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Draft Genome Sequence of White Spot Syndrome Virus Isolated from Cultured Litopenaeus vannamei in Mexico

Genome Announcements ◽

10.1128/genomea.01674-15 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Libia Zulema Rodriguez-Anaya ◽

Jose Reyes Gonzalez-Galaviz ◽

Ramón Casillas-Hernandez ◽

Fernando Lares-Villa ◽

Karel Estrada ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Disease Prevention ◽

Genome Sequence ◽

Litopenaeus Vannamei ◽

White Spot Syndrome Virus ◽

Draft Genome ◽

Epidemiological Studies ◽

Shrimp Farming ◽

White Spot ◽

Molecular Diagnostic ◽

White Spot Syndrome

The first genome sequence of a Mexican white spot syndrome virus is presented here. White spot syndrome is a shrimp pandemic virus that has devastated production in Mexico for more than 10 years. The availability of this genome will greatly aid epidemiological studies worldwide, contributing to the molecular diagnostic and disease prevention in shrimp farming.

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