Vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency are a growing concern in the reasonably sunny Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). Variances in the metabolism of vitamin D across populations were observed and several biological and environmental factors are reported to affect its pathways and regulatory mechanisms. Methodologies for the assessment of vitamin D indicator metabolite and threshold levels for inadequacy remain evidently controversial. This review was conducted to appraise how vitamin D status is evaluated in populations of EMR. Online databases including PubMed and Google Scholar, and websites of UN agencies and ministries of health were searched thoroughly. Surveys and cross-sectional studies conducted between 2009 and 2019 which are reporting vitamin D levels in countries of EMR were retrieved and included in this review. Surveys from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, were included in this review. The indicator mostly reported for vitamin D status assessment was 25-hydroxyvitamin D in serum samples. Differences between countries in the cut-off levels used for assessment of vitamin D status were observed. Mostly the surveys adopted either the Institute of Medicine (IOM) or the Endocrine Society (ES) guidance, but even those showed overlap in defining insufficiency and deficiency. This discordance in cut-offs jeopardizes the credibility of results and regional and global comparability. We concluded that there is a lack of consensus on the methodologies used to assess vitamin D levels across EMR. There is an urgent need for guidance on clinical and public health practices on the assessment of vitamin D status.

Vitamin D deficiency may play an important role in obesity. The aim of the study was to explore the relationship between vitamin D status and visceral fat accumulation in males with type 2 diabetes. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 128 adult males with type 2 diabetes in Qinhuangdao. The nutritional status of vitamin D was assessed by circulating levels of 25(OH)D, vitamin D deficiency <30 nmol/L, vitamin D insufficiency 30-50 nmol/L and vitamin D sufficiency >50 nmol/L. Accumulation of visceral fat was defined as visceral fat area ≥100 cm². The prevalence of visceral fat accumulation was 35.9%. The prevalence of visceral fat accumulation was 14.6%, 45.1% and 50.0% in type 2 diabetes with vitamin D sufficiency, vitamin D insufficiency and vitamin D deficiency, respectively. In multiple logistic regression analysis, subjects with vitamin D insufficiency [OR=4.255, p=0.012] and vitamin D deficiency [OR=6.122, p=0.022] were more likely to have visceral fat accumulation compared with subjects with vitamin D sufficiency. Visceral fat accumulation linked to the cluster of cardiometabolic risk factor in males with type 2 diabetes. There was a significant correlation between vitamin D status and visceral fat accumulation in males with type 2 diabetes.

This aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the association between risk of childhood type 1 diabetes and maternal 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels during pregnancy. A literature search on databases including PubMed and Embase was conducted up to December 2018. The pooled odds radio weighted mean difference (WMD) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using the RevMan 5.3 software. A total of 4 studies were included in this meta-analysis. The overall analysis indicated that the maternal 25(OH)D levels during pregnancy was significantly associated with the risk of type 1 diabetes in offspring (WMD=−2.54, 95% CI=−4.65 to −0.44, p=0.02). The subgroup analyses showed that sample for detection vitamin D (serum/plasma) may not a factor influencing the results of this meta-analysis. However, gestational trimester may be a factor affecting the results. The results showed that no significant association was observed between risk of type 1 diabetes in offspring and 25(OH)D level during first or second gestational trimester (p>0.05). Lower maternal 25(OH)D levels during pregnancy is associated with higher risk of type 1 diabetes in offspring. Gestational trimester may be a factor influencing the results of this meta-analysis.

The Musca domestica larvae are well known for its multifunctions and great nutritional value. The present study aimed at investigating the beneficial effect of Musca domestica larvae extract (Mde) against memory impairment, structural damage and oxidative stress in aged rats. Twenty-month-old rats were gavaged with Mde for 2 mo. Morris Water Maze test indicated Mde prevented aging-induced spatial learning and memory dysfunction in the aged rats. Mde supply was also found to attenuate age-associated changes of brain histology that observed by light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Moreover, the increase of antioxidant capacity, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, as well as the decreased methane dicarboxylic aldehyde (MDA) levels, were consistent with these results. Hence, we propose that oral administration of Mde could improve memory impairment via antioxidant action, and Mde has the potential to act as an excellent food supplement or medicine for the attenuation of brain aging.

Obesity is regarded as a global concern with increasing prevalence, most notably in developed countries. Metabolic syndrome is a predictor of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus and is defined as the accumulation of multiple risk factors caused by abdominal visceral obesity. Resistant maltodextrin (RMD) is a soluble dietary fiber that has been shown to reduce visceral fat in long-term clinical trials when continuously administered at 10 g, three times daily. Herein, we evaluated the effects of long-term consumption of 5 g RMD three times daily. A total of 140 healthy adults were randomly assigned to two intervention groups for a 12-wk randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial. Participants ingested a test beverage containing 5 g RMD or a placebo beverage without RMD. Interviews, anthropometric measurements, physiological examination, blood tests, and urinalyses were conducted at baseline and every 4 wk during the trial. Computed tomography scans were performed at baseline and at the end of week 8 and 12. Results showed that abdominal visceral fat area (VFA) significantly decreased in the test group from 105.33±26.83 cm² at baseline to 101.15±24.33 cm² at week 12. Further, a significant difference was observed in the VFA between the test and control groups (p<0.05), confirming the function of continuous RMD consumption in reducing abdominal visceral fat. Furthermore, neither serious adverse events nor adverse clinical findings were observed in the blood or urine tests following consumption of RMD, suggesting that continuous consumption of RMD containing beverages is safe.

Recently, it has been reported that dietary supplementation with grape seed extract (GSE) ameliorates endothelial function and increase nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability. Thus, we investigated if elevated blood pressure and aortic stiffness (AoS) characterized in obese individuals are attenuated following acute GSE supplementation. Twenty men (obese=10; normal body weight (NBW)=10) participated in this study. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO), total peripheral resistance (TPR), and AoS were compared 2 h after ingestion of GSE or placebo (PL) on different days, 1 wk apart. Compared with the PL, GSE supplementation significantly decreased SBP (NBW: 103±4 vs. 99±3 mmHg; obese: 118±3 vs. 112±5 mmHg) and MAP (NBW: 75±2 vs. 72±2 mmHg; obese: 86±3 vs. 84±3 mmHg) in both groups, while there were no differences in HR, SV, DBP, TPR, and AoS. GSE supplementation significantly decreased CO in only obese group. In NBW group, TPR tended to be decreased, but there was no significant difference. Our study suggests that acute supplementation with GSE reduced both SBP and MAP via a reduction in CO in obese individuals and decreased peripheral vasoconstriction in NBW group.

For the evaluation of iron nutrition status, the measurement of serum ferritin levels is the most convenient and widely used technique for estimating stored iron. However, the cut-off value of serum ferritin for iron deficiency in athletes has not yet established. This study aimed to determine the cut-off value of serum ferritin to define iron deficiency in male college student runners. This study included 37–43 Japanese male college student runners for each month. Anthropometric measurements and blood collection were conducted from March to December 2018. In all months except May, significant negative correlations were observed between serum ferritin and transferrin levels, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), and unsaturated iron binding capacity. Furthermore, a significant association between serum ferritin levels and TIBC was observed by nonlinear regression analysis. The curvature radius and curvature were calculated using the data from 9 mo, and serum ferritin levels with the smallest curvature radius and the highest curvature in each month were identified. The serum ferritin levels were as follows: 35.0 ng/mL in March, 45.0 ng/mL in April, 40.0 ng/mL in June, 35.0 ng/mL in July, 35.0 ng/mL in August, 35.0 ng/mL in September, 35.0 ng/mL in October, 35.0 ng/mL in November, and 40.0 ng/mL in December. The average value was 37.2 ng/mL. In conclusion, the cut-off value of serum ferritin for defining iron deficiency in runners was determined to be 40.0 ng/mL in this study. This value (40.0 ng/mL) may be useful for iron deficiency screening in runners.

The official testing methods for establishing nutritive values are accurate but relatively costly and time-consuming. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is potentially an alternative method that can analyze several components in a few minutes using an exclusively electronic instrument with no need for a laboratory expert. However, the accuracy of commercial NIRS spectroscopic food analyzers is not sufficient for Japanese food labeling, because of interference from moisture contained in the foods. This study aims to assess the effect of a freeze-drying pretreatment on the accuracy of NIRS food analysis. Thirty-four samples, consisting of six food items habitually consumed in Japan and cooked by different cooking methods were treated by milling then freeze-drying. They were analyzed by a commercial NIRS instrument (Calorie Answer^TM) with calibration curves developed based on other freeze-dried samples. The obtained nutritive values (energy, protein, lipid, carbohydrate and moisture) were corrected to the values before freeze-drying using the vaporized moisture content. The same samples before freeze-drying were also analyzed using the official testing methods to assess the analytical accuracy using NIRS after freeze-drying, and further analyzed using the same NIRS with the commercial calibration curves to assess the effect of freeze-drying. The accuracies were better for the freeze-dried samples than for the wet samples. The magnitude of the error in energy and carbohydrate was significantly associated with the retained moisture content in the freeze-dried sample. In conclusion, freeze-drying was an effective pretreatment for improving the accuracy of NIRS analyses of Japanese cooked foods, although it is still time-consuming and needs additional investment.

Although muscle atrophy can be caused by disuse and lifestyle-related syndromes, it may be possible to prevent this condition through dietary intervention. We hypothesized that a diet including red bell pepper juice (RBPJ) and soy protein isolate (SPI) would prevent muscle atrophy. Accordingly, an experimental diet containing RBPJ and/or SPI was administered for 18 d to normal C57BL/6J mice. The control group was administered a casein diet. Four days before the end of the test period, denervation-induced muscle atrophy and/or sham operation were performed. Anterior tibialis muscle samples were then obtained to assess muscle degradation and perform metabolome analysis. Under the denervation condition, the 20% SPI diet did not alter the mRNA expression levels of muscle atrophy marker genes compared with the 20% casein group. Although the diet comprising RBPJ and 20% casein did not prevent muscle atrophy compared with the control group, the diet containing RBPJ and 20% SPI did. Metabolome analysis revealed that a diet including RBPJ and SPI induced a greater than 1.5-fold change in the levels of 20 muscle atrophy-related metabolites. In particular, the level of S-adenosylmethionine, which concerned with energy metabolism and lifespan, showed a strong positive correlation with the muscle atrophy marker. These findings suggest that a diet including RBPJ and soy protein suppress gene expressions related with muscle atrophy. Further research in humans is needed to confirm whether a combination of RBPJ and SPI can indeed prevent muscle atrophy.

Selenium has been associated with many malignant tumors including esophagus cancer (EC). In current study, we examined the effects of three types of selenium, sodium selenite (SSE), methylseleninic acid (MSA) and methylselenocysteine (MSC) on EC cell line Eca109. Here, selenium attenuated cell viability and increased cell apoptosis, especially in MSC, when compared with control group (p<0.05). Meanwhile, MSC and MSA, but no SSE, arrested cell cycle in G0/G1 phase (p<0.05). Mechanistically, FAL1 and PTEN were found to participate in regulating cell cycle and cell apoptosis process by decreasing cyclinD1, CDK2, and promoting caspase-3, caspase-8. In addition, we found that cyclinD1, CDK2 were significantly downregulated by MSA and MSC, while caspase-3, caspase-8 were dramatically upregulated by SSE (p<0.05). Based on these results, we concluded that MSC and MSA inhibit the viability of Eca109 mainly through reducing cell proliferation, while SSE by promoting apoptosis.

Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A1 (ALDH1A1) in intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) plays a critical role in regulating immune responses through the production of retinoic acid (RA). However, little is known about its regulation by dietary components. We previously demonstrated that kakkonto, a Japanese traditional herbal medicine, and its constituent puerarin induce the expression of ALDH1A1 mRNA in colonic IECs and thereby attenuate food allergy symptoms in mice. This study aims to investigate the cellular responses of IECs to ALDH1A1 expression as a result of natural food components. The seven medicinal herbs that compose kakkonto were used to treat cultured an IEC line: Caco-2 cells. Expressions levels of ALDH1A1 were analyzed in Caco-2 cells by quantitative RT-PCR, immunocytochemistry and western blotting. Ginger increased the expression levels of ALDH1A1 mRNA and protein in Caco-2 cells. In addition, ginger significantly upregulated the gene expression of retinoic acid receptor (RAR) alpha (RARA), thereby enhancing RA signaling. Furthermore, ginger downregulated the expression of histone deacetylase (HDAC)2 (HDAC2) and HDAC3 in Caco-2 cells. The present study suggests the possibility that food ingredients such as a ginger modulate vitamin A metabolism in the gut through the regulation of RA synthesis, which may contribute to RA-mediated regulation of immune responses and the regulation of allergic inflammation.

Coriandrum sativum (coriander) is an annual herb in the Apiaceae family. Its leaves and seeds are used for cooking. Coriander has several beneficial functions such as anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anti-cancer effects. Although anti-carcinogenic potential of coriander has been known well, the effects of coriander on cancer metastasis have not yet been fully elucidated. In the present study, the effects of coriander on migration and invasion were investigated in vitro and in vivo by using human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (HepG2) and mouse melanoma cell line (B16F10). The migration and invasion abilities of cancer cells had been evaluated by trans-well double chamber and these abilities were significantly impaired by treatment of cancer cells with coriander extract whose concentration did not affect proliferation. The treatment of cancer cells with coriander extract significantly reduced both matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) and urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) activities, which were involved in cell migration and invasion, in their conditioned media. Furthermore, coriander extract suppressed the phosphorylation of Erk 1 or IkB in B16F10 cells, and inhibited the expression of MMP-2 or u-PA mRNA. After injection of B16F10 cells into the tail vein of C57BL/6J mice, the number of metastatic regions in lungs were counted. Mice fed with diet containing coriander possessed a smaller number of metastatic regions than those fed with control diet. It was suggested that coriander extract might have the abilities to suppress cancer cell migration and invasion, indicating that coriander provides the improvement of cancer prognosis.

Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) is induced by various stresses. Since HSP70 has a protein refolding activity and an anti-inflammatory activity, the HSP70 induction will help cells from harmful acute stresses. Feeding a diet containing concentrated brewed rice vinegar Kurozu (CK) diet for 5 wk resulted in an increase of HSP70 in the brains of mice. In the present study, we evaluated whether oral feeding of 25 μL CK induces HSP70 mRNA in brain and other tissues. HSP70 mRNA was significantly increased in the esophagus, small intestine, liver, and brown adipose tissue within 1 h after the oral administration of CK. A weaker induction of HSP70 mRNA was demonstrated in the stomach, large intestine, and brain. HSP70 mRNA induction returned to basal levels within 3 h after feeding. We doubted that the induction of HSP70 mRNA was caused by manual restraint of the mice during CK administration. Manual restraint of the mice did not influence HSP70 mRNA expression in intestine 1 h after these treatments. Our results suggest that transient HSP70 mRNA induction by oral feeding of CK was not caused by retention stress. There are some compounds in CK that increase HSP70 mRNA in various tissues.

We determined the physiological effects of glucotropaeolin-rich lyophilized garden cress sprout powder (GC) administered to fasting and nonfasting mice. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis revealed glucotropaeolin (57.4±1.1 mg/g dry weight) as a major phytochemical constituent of GC. Decreasing tendency in body weight and feeding efficiency ratio were detected in the group of mice fed 0.05% (w/w) GC (GC0.05). Nonfasting mice exhibited significantly lower liver weights that were unchanged after fasting. Decreased total lipid (TL) and triglyceride (TG) levels in the liver were detected in the nonfasted GC0.01 and GC0.05 groups, but only in TLs of the fasted groups. The levels of plasma TGs and nonesterified fatty acids of the GC0.05 group, which remained unchanged during nonfasting, decreased after fasting. To determine its effects on the accumulation of lipids in the liver, the glucotropaeolin aglycone, benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC), was added to the liver-derived HepG2 human cell line cultured in a medium containing a high concentration of D-glucose (4,500 mg/L D-glucose) (HG group) or 1 mM oleic acid (SO group). Toxicity was not detected when cells were treated with as much as 5 μM BITC; however, lipid accumulation was inhibited by BITC in a concentration-dependent manner in the HG groups. The same effect was observed when 2 μM BITC was added to the diet of the SO groups. These results suggest that moderate levels of GC or BITC are useful for reducing liver and plasma TGs.

Astaxanthin, which has been shown to have significant antioxidant activity, is rapidly spreading as a health functioning ingredient in the health food and cosmetics sectors worldwide. It is well known that astaxanthin acts on the brain; however, there is little evidence of brain translocation due to the difficulty in identifying astaxanthin in tissues. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the concentrations of astaxanthin and adonixanthin, the latter being a biosynthetic intermediate from β-carotene to astaxanthin, in the brain after oral administration in primates. Cynomolgus monkeys were orally administered astaxanthin or adonixanthin at a dose of 50 mg/kg for 10 d, through a disposable catheter inserted into the stomach via the nasal passage. Following euthanization, the monkeys’ brains and various other organs were collected. The carotenoid content in serum and individual organs was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Adonixanthin was found to accumulate at a higher concentration than astaxanthin in monkey brain tissues. Also, both astaxanthin and adonixanthin were found to be distributed in the heart, spleen, liver, and kidneys. These findings indicate that astaxanthin and adonixanthin can enter the central nervous system of primates following their oral administration. This provides important evidence for the activity of astaxanthin and adonixanthin on the central nervous system.