Improving gut function in pigs to prevent pathogen colonization

Intestinal pathogens causing either clinical or sub-clinical infections increase pig morbidity and (or) mortality, resulting in economic losses and wider socio-economic impacts on pig production. An optimally functioning gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is fundamental to combatting intestinal pathogen colonisation at all the stages of life. This requires successful development and maintenance of key gut functions: digestive function; the gastro-intestinal cell line barrier; gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT); and gut-associated microbiota. This chapter first discusses research on genes associated with pathogen resistance and porcine immune response. It then reviews risk factors associated with gut mucosa impairment as well as dietary strategies to control risk factors and improve gut functionality in preventing intestinal pathogen colonisation.

Physiological Effects of Bioactive Compounds Derived from Whole Grains on Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases

Cardiovascular diseases are a global health burden with an increasing prevalence. In addition, various metabolic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension are associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases. Dietary strategies based on healthy foods have been suggested for the prevention or improvement of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Grains are the most widely consumed food worldwide, and the preventive effects of whole grains (e.g., oats, barley, and buckwheat) on metabolic diseases have been reported. The germ and bran of grains are rich in compounds, including phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber, and these compounds are effective in preventing and improving cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Thus, this review describes the characteristics and functions of bioactive ingredients in whole grains, focusing on mechanisms by which polyphenols, antioxidants, and dietary fiber contribute to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, based on preclinical and clinical studies. There is clear evidence for the broad preventive and therapeutic effects of whole grains, supporting the value of early dietary intervention.

Ontology-Based Nutritional Recommender System

Obesity is considered an epidemic that is continuously growing around the world. Heart diseases, diabetes, and bone and joint diseases are some of the diseases that people who are overweight or obese can develop. One of the vital causes of those disorders is poor nutrition education; there is no raising awareness about eating healthy food and practicing physical activities to burn off the excess energy. Therefore, it is necessary to use new technologies to build methods/tools that help people to overcome these avoidable nutrition disorders. For this reason, we implemented a recommendation engine capable of identifying the different levels of overweight and obesity in users and providing dietary strategies to mitigate them. To do so, we defined the Ontology of Dietary Recommendations (ODR) with axioms to model recipes, ingredients, and a set of diets to assist people who suffer from obesity. We validated the defined model by using a real set of individuals who were anonymized. A panel of advisors evaluated each individual record and suggested the most appropriate diets from those included in the ontology. Then, the proposed system was asked to also provide diet recommendations for each individual, which were compared with those proposed by the advisors (ground truth), reaching a mean accuracy of 87%.

The Roles of Carotenoid Consumption and Bioavailability in Cardiovascular Health

Carotenoids are natural pigments generally with a polyene chain consisting of 9–11 double bonds. In recent years, there has been increasing research interest in carotenoids because of their protective roles in cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). While the consumption of carotenoids may have a beneficial effect on CVDs, the literature shows inconsistencies between carotenoid consumption and reductions in the risk of CVDs. Therefore, this review aims to provide a summary of the association between dietary carotenoid intake and the risk of CVDs from published epidemiological studies. Meanwhile, to further elucidate the roles of carotenoid intake in CVD protection, this review outlines the evidence reporting the effects of carotenoids on cardiovascular health from randomized controlled trials by assessing classical CVD risk factors, oxidative stress, inflammatory markers and vascular health-related parameters, respectively. Given the considerable discrepancies among the published results, this review underlines the importance of bioavailability and summarizes the current dietary strategies for improving the bioavailability of carotenoids. In conclusion, this review supports the protective roles of carotenoids against CVDs, possibly by attenuating oxidative stress and mitigating inflammatory response. In addition, this review suggests that the bioavailability of carotenoids should be considered when evaluating the roles of carotenoids in CVD protection.

Caffeine increases performance and leads to a cardioprotective effect during intense exercise in cyclists

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of different caffeine dietary strategies to compare the impact on athletic performance and cardiac autonomic response. The order of the supplementation was randomly assigned: placebo(4-day)-placebo(acute)/PP, placebo(4-day)-caffeine(acute)/PC and caffeine(4-day)-caffeine(acute)/CC. Fourteen male recreationally-trained cyclists ingested capsules containing either placebo or caffeine (6 mg kg−1) for 4 days. On day 5 (acute), capsules containing placebo or caffeine (6 mg kg−1) were ingested 60 min before completing a 16 km time-trial (simulated cycling). CC and PC showed improvements in time (CC vs PP, Δ − 39.3 s and PC vs PP, Δ − 43.4 s; P = 0.00; ƞ2 = 0.33) and in output power (CC vs PP, Δ 5.55 w and PC vs PP, Δ 6.17 w; P = 0.00; ƞ2 = 0.30). At the final of the time-trial, CC and PC exhibited greater parasympathetic modulation (vagal tone) when compared to the PP condition (P < 0.00; ƞ2 = 0.92). Our study provided evidence that acute caffeine intake (6 mg∙kg−1) increased performance (time-trial) and demonstrated a relevant cardioprotective effect, through increased vagal tone.

518 Late-Breaking: Effect of Feedlot Diets on Environmental Emissions from Four Representative U.S. Feedlots and the Beef Production System

Our objective was to evaluate effects of feedlot dietary management strategies on environmental impacts and net returns of feedlot operations in the United States. Representative feedlots were simulated with the Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM 4.6; USDA-ARS, University Park, PA) to quantify baseline environmental impacts of feedlot production and full US beef cattle production systems. The simulated dietary strategies included: 10% increase in feed efficiency, use of less water intensive forages, 10% increase in byproduct inclusion, 10% improvement in water use efficiency of corn, and steam-flaking of corn. Days on feed and head finished per year were held constant for all strategies to have equal comparisons to baseline results. Dietary management strategies were individually modeled and simulated in IFSM for each feedlot operation to obtain intensities (expressed per kg gain) for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, fossil energy use, blue water consumption, and reactive nitrogen loss. Feedlot operations were then linked with cow-calf, stocker, and backgrounding operations to estimate environmental intensities (expressed per kg CW) for full cattle production systems. Improving feed efficiency had the greatest effect on reducing carbon emission intensities (6%), energy use intensity (8%), blue water use intensity (9%), and reactive N loss intensity (4%) for feedlot operations. Increasing corn byproduct inclusion resulted in 9% reduction in blue water use intensity. However, byproduct inclusion increased reactive N loss intensity by 11% as a result of greater protein concentrations in the diet. Switching from rolled corn to steam flaked corn increased energy use intensity by 9%, but little to no changes (1% increase to 3% reduction) were observed for other environmental intensities. Improved feed efficiency was the most effective strategy to reduce environmental footprints of beef cattle production (1 to 2% reductions). Overall, feedlot dietary strategies were less pronounced for the full beef production system compared with feedlot results.

PSIV-14 Evidence for functional G-coupled protein receptors 43 and 120 in subcutaneous and intramuscular adipose tissue of Angus crossbred steers

We conducted experiments to demonstrate functional G-coupled protein receptor 43 (GPR43) and GPR120 in bovine intramuscular (i.m.) and subcutaneous (s.c.) adipose tissues. We hypothesized that media volatile fatty acids and long-chain fatty acids would affect cAMP concentrations differently in i.m. and s.c. adipose tissue, which would be dependent on GPR receptor populations in the adipose tissue sites. Fresh s.c. and i.m. adipose tissue from the 5th-8th longissimus thoracic rib muscle section of Angus crossbred steers (approximately 20 mo of age) was transferred immediately to 6-well culture plates containing 3 mL of KHB/Hepes/5 mM glucose. Samples were pre-incubated with 0.5 mM theophylline plus 10 μM forskolin for 30 min, after which increasing concentrations of acetate or propionate (0, 10–3, 10–2.3, and 10–3 M) in the absence or presence of 100 μM oleic acid (18:1 n-9) or 100 µM palmitic acid (16:0) were added to the incubation media. Acetate had no effect on forskolin-stimulated cAMP production in s.c. adipose tissue but decreased cAMP in i.m. adipose tissue (P &lt; 0.05); this indicates a functional GPR43 receptor in i.m. adipose tissue. The combination of 10–2 M acetate and oleic acid decrease cAMP production in s.c. adipose tissue, consistent with GPR120 receptor activity, but oleic acid and palmitic acid attenuated the depression of cAMP production caused by acetate in i.m. adipose tissue. Palmitic acid depressed cAMP production in s.c. adipose tissue, and increased cAMP production in i.m. adipose tissue (P &lt; 0.05). Propionate had no effect on cAMP production in s.c. or i.m. adipose tissue. These results provide evidence for functional GPR43 receptors in i.m. adipose tissue and GPR120 receptors in s.c. adipose tissue, both of which would suppress lipolysis. Further research may allow producers to increase marbling with exacerbating carcass fatness through pharmacological or dietary strategies.