scholarly journals Nutrition to Optimise Human Health—How to Obtain Physiological Substantiation?

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 2155
Author(s):  
Renger F. Witkamp

Demonstrating in an unambiguous manner that a diet, let alone a single product, ‘optimizes’ health, presents an enormous challenge. The least complicated is when the starting situation is clearly suboptimal, like with nutritional deficiencies, malnutrition, unfavourable lifestyle, or due to disease or ageing. Here, desired improvements and intervention strategies may to some extent be clear. However, even then situations require approaches that take into account interactions between nutrients and other factors, complex dose-effect relationships etc. More challenging is to substantiate that a diet or a specific product optimizes health in the general population, which comes down to achieve perceived, ‘non-medical’ or future health benefits in predominantly healthy persons. Presumed underlying mechanisms involve effects of non-nutritional components with subtle and slowly occurring physiological effects that may be difficult to translate into measurable outcomes. Most promising strategies combine classical physiological concepts with those of ‘multi-omics’ and systems biology. Resilience-the ability to maintain or regain homeostasis in response to stressors-is often used as proxy for a particular health domain. Next to this, quantifying health requires personalized strategies, measurements preferably carried out remotely, real-time and in a normal living environment, and experimental designs other than randomized controlled trials (RCTs), for example N-of-1 trials.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juyoen Hur ◽  
Melissa D. Stockbridge ◽  
Andrew S. Fox ◽  
Alexander J. Shackman

When extreme, anxiety can become debilitating. Anxiety disorders, which often first emerge early in development, are common and challenging to treat, yet the underlying mechanisms have only recently begun to come into focus. Here, we review new insights into the nature and biological bases of dispositional negativity, a fundamental dimension of childhood temperament and adult personality and a prominent risk factor for the development of pediatric and adult anxiety disorders. Converging lines of epidemiological, neurobiological, and mechanistic evidence suggest that dispositional negativity increases the likelihood of psychopathology via specific neurocognitive mechanisms, including attentional biases to threat and deficits in executive control. Collectively, these observations provide an integrative translational framework for understanding the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders in adults and youth and set the stage for developing improved intervention strategies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-161
Author(s):  
Rebecca Panconesi ◽  
Mauricio Flores Carvalho ◽  
Matteo Mueller ◽  
Philipp Dutkowski ◽  
Paolo Muiesan ◽  
...  

Although machine perfusion is a hot topic today, we are just at the beginning of understanding the underlying mechanisms of protection. Recently, the first randomized controlled trial reported a significant reduction of ischemic cholangiopathies after transplantation of livers donated after circulatory death, provided the grafts were treated with an endischemic hypothermic oxygenated perfusion (HOPE). This approach has been known for more than fifty years, and was initially mainly used to preserve kidneys before implantation. Today there is an increasing interest in this and other dynamic preservation technologies and various centers have tested different approaches in clinical trials and cohort studies. Based on this, there is a need for uniform perfusion settings (perfusion route and duration), and the development of general guidelines regarding the duration of cold storage in context of the overall donor risk is also required to better compare various trial results. This article will highlight how cold perfusion protects organs mechanistically, and target such technical challenges with the perfusion setting. Finally, the options for viability testing during hypothermic perfusion will be discussed.


2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (s1) ◽  
pp. S28-S34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mijna Hadders-Algra ◽  
Hylco Bouwstra ◽  
Saskia A. van Goor ◽  
D.A. Janneke Dijck-Brouwer ◽  
Frits A.J. Muskiet

AbstractThe present review addresses the effect of pre- and postnatal supplementation of nutrition with long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) on neurodevelopmental outcome. The few studies which addressed the effect of prenatal LCPUFA status or prenatal LCPUFA supplementation suggest that a better prenatal arachidonic acid (AA) and doxosahexaenoic acid (DHA) status might be related to a better neurodevelopmental outcome until at least 18 months of age. A review of the few randomized controlled trials on formula supplementation with LCPUFA in preterm infants did not provide evidence for a significant beneficial effect of LCPUFA on developmental outcome. A review of the trials on formula supplementation with LCPUFA in term infants revealed that supplementation with LCPUFA, in particularly supplementation with ≥0.30% DHA, has a beneficial effect on neurodevelopmental outcome until 4 months. The studies could not demonstrate a consistent positive effect beyond that age. It was concluded that the relatively subtle effects of LCPUFA supplementation on neurodevelopmental outcome do not only depend on dosage but also on the gestational period during which the nutritional components are supplied: supplementation prior to term seems to have more effect than that after term.


2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (2_suppl2) ◽  
pp. S372-S380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Paul Wild

Background Aflatoxins are common contaminants of staple foods in sub-Saharan Africa. These toxins are human liver carcinogens, especially in combination with chronic infection with hepatitis B virus. However, in an agricultural setting, the effects on growth, immune status, and susceptibility to infectious disease in farm animals are also well recognized. These latter effects have been far less explored in human populations. Objectives To review some of the more recent work on aflatoxins where the health outcomes seen in the agricultural setting, including growth impairment and immune suppression, have been investigated in human populations. The paper draws largely on examples from West Africa. The paper also sets out how knowledge gained about aflatoxins in the agricultural setting can be used to design intervention studies in human populations. Methods A review of the relevant literature. Results Human exposure to aflatoxins begins early in life, and recent studies in West Africa have demonstrated an association between exposure and growth faltering, particularly stunting, in young children. At present the underlying mechanisms for the latter effects are unknown but may include impairment of immunity and increased susceptibility to infections. Simple postharvest intervention strategies were successful in reducing aflatoxin exposure in a subsistence farm setting, providing a rationale for prevention of aflatoxin-related disease. Conclusions There are potential benefits to public health from intervention strategies combining expertise in the agricultural and health settings to address the aflatoxin problem.


1994 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 304-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
George T. Baker ◽  
George R. Martin

Aging is characterized by numerous physical, physiological, biochemical, and molecular changes. The rates at which aging processes occur are highly variable among individuals and are thought to be governed by both environmental and genetic factors. Lifestyle factors such as exercise, dietary, and smoking habits have been demonstrated to alter many of the changes usually associated with human aging. However, at present caloric restriction is the only experimental paradigm that has consistently been demonstrated in animal models to extend not only physiological vigor but also life span. The positive effects of exercise on physiological fitness and the reduction in the risks of certain diseases have been well documented. However, its effects on life span are not as clear. This article explores some of the basic mechanisms thought to be involved causally in the processes of aging, and outlines current and potential interventive strategies to retard or ameliorate the rates of decline in physiological function with advancing age.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Junren ◽  
Xie Xiaofang ◽  
Zhang Huiqiong ◽  
Li Gangmin ◽  
Yin Yanpeng ◽  
...  

Hirudin, an acidic polypeptide secreted by the salivary glands of Hirudo medicinalis (also known as “Shuizhi” in traditional Chinese medicine), is the strongest natural specific inhibitor of thrombin found so far. Hirudin has been demonstrated to possess potent anti-thrombotic effect in previous studies. Recently, increasing researches have focused on the anti-thrombotic activity of the derivatives of hirudin, mainly because these derivatives have stronger antithrombotic activity and lower bleeding risk. Additionally, various bioactivities of hirudin have been reported as well, including wound repair effect, anti-fibrosis effect, effect on diabetic complications, anti-tumor effect, anti-hyperuricemia effect, effect on cerebral hemorrhage, and others. Therefore, by collecting and summarizing publications from the recent two decades, the pharmacological activities, pharmacokinetics, novel preparations and derivatives, as well as toxicity of hirudin were systematically reviewed in this paper. In addition, the clinical application, the underlying mechanisms of pharmacological effects, the dose-effect relationship, and the development potential in new drug research of hirudin were discussed on the purpose of providing new ideas for application of hirudin in treating related diseases.


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