The medical counterculture
Lois N. Magner, Oliver J. Kim in A History of Medicine, 2017
Like earlier generations of health reformers, twenty-first century health seekers have focused on the relationship between diet and health. But physicians and nutritionists have dismissed certain popular new diets as quasi-religious superstitions masquerading as science. Whereas Kellogg saw meat as the greatest danger to human health, some health reformers have awarded that title to components of modern wheat, especially gluten. In people with celiac disease, a fairly rare genetic condition, gluten triggers an autoimmune response that damages the small intestine. According to surveys conducted in 2014, more than 10 million American households were gluten-free and millions of Americans were trying to reduce the amount of gluten in their diet. Other disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), are said to be triggered by fructans and related carbohydrates called FODMAPs (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols). Fructans and other FODMAPs are found in some fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. Many gastrointestinal and digestive disorders are not well characterized, but they may share a broad spectrum of non-specific symptoms, as well as the problem of misdiagnosis.
Phytonutrients
Parimelazhagan Thangaraj in Medicinal Plants, 2018
NDOs occur naturally in food raw materials and food products. The most well-known example are fructans (e.g. inulin), which occur in the edible parts of various plant foods like onions, artichokes, bananas, rye, chicory, leek, garlic, barley and yacon (Voragen 1998). Galactosyl sucroses (raffinose and stachyose) are present in soybeans and other leguminous seeds, while xylooligosaccharides occur in bamboo shoots. NDOs are generated during processing in some foods. The NDOs have been described as prebiotics (Crittenden and Playne 1996). Prebiotics are nondigestible food ingredients which positively affect the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a few number of beneficial bacterial species already resident in the colon (Gibson and Roberfroid 1995). This is why, the resistant starches, although considered as fibre, are not necessarily prebiotics.
Inhibiting the Absorption of Dietary Carbohydrates and Fats with Natural Products
Christophe Wiart in Medicinal Plants in Asia for Metabolic Syndrome, 2017
Root powder of Chlorophytum borivilianum Santapau & R.R. Fern. given to Wistar rats on high-fat diet at a dose of 1.5 g/rat/day for 4 weeks decreased plasma cholesterol from 363.1 to 265 mg/dL (normal: 119.9 mg/dL) and triglycerides from 55.9 to 44.7 mg/dL (normal: 43.5 mg/dL).226 At the hepatic level, the supplementation decreased cholesterol, triglycerides, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase activity, and increased bile acids from 6.5 to 8.7 mg/g.226 The root powder increased fecal cholesterol, neutral fecal sterol, and fecal bile acids suggesting a decrease of intestinal cholesterol absorption. Root powder of Chlorophytum borivilianum Santapau & R.R. Fern. contains inulin-type fructans and saponins.227 In rats, a decrease in plasma triglycerides and cholesterol have been reported after oral administration of fructans.150,151
Restoring an adequate dietary fiber intake by inulin supplementation: a pilot study showing an impact on gut microbiota and sociability in alcohol use disorder patients
Published in Gut Microbes, 2022
Camille Amadieu, Valentin Coste, Audrey M. Neyrinck, Victoria Thijssen, Quentin Leyrolle, Laure B. Bindels, Hubert Piessevaux, Peter Stärkel, Philippe de Timary, Nathalie M. Delzenne, Sophie Leclercq
Diet is one of the main modulators of the gut microbiota composition and function.17 AUD patients have reduced carbohydrate, protein and fat intakes, and their dietary fiber (DF) intake is also well below the recommended value.18–20 Among DF, inulin-type fructans are interesting as they go along with the definition of prebiotics: “substrates that are selectively used by host microorganisms conferring a health benefit” meaning that they promote the growth of some specific bacteria.21 Inulin-type fructans are natural components present in several fruits and vegetables including wheat, onion, banana, garlic, jerusalem artichoke, chirory and leek.22 Inulin is fermented in the colon and has been shown to promote the growth of Bifidobacterium and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii.23,24 The effects of inulin on gut health and metabolism have been widely studied in the context of obesity and metabolic disorders. For instance, fructan supplementation improves gut barrier function, decreases serum lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and inflammatory cytokines in preclinical and clinical studies.23,25,26 We have also shown that DF deficiency in AUD patients is associated with gastrointestinal discomfort and psychological alterations.18 Therefore, inulin supplementation could be an interesting approach to increase dietary fiber intake and to modulate the gut microbiota in order to improve psychological symptoms of AUD patients.
Inulin-type fructans improve active ulcerative colitis associated with microbiota changes and increased short-chain fatty acids levels
Published in Gut Microbes, 2019
Rosica Valcheva, Petya Koleva, Inés Martínez, Jens Walter, Michael G. Gänzle, Levinus A. Dieleman
In contrast, our study established an induction of butyrate production by β-fructans as well as significantly higher butyrate production in responding patients versus non-responders with strong negative correlations between butyrate levels and clinical symptoms (Mayo score). These findings suggest that an induction of the anti-inflammatory butyrate is the likely mechanism for the benefits of β-fructans in UC. Overall, butyrate synthesis (in combination with acetate) was increased in the high dose treatment group, hence supporting the hypothesis that β-fructans reduce colonic inflammation possibly through the stimulation of butyrate-producing bacteria and their activity, as recently documented in other inflammatory conditions.49 A significant reduction of the branched-chain fatty acids isobutyrate and isovalerate was also noticed in those patients who had improvement in disease, however further correlation analysis did not support a direct association with inflammation. The biological function of isobutyrate and isovalerate in the gut is not well studied. Some studies showed a direct association with colonic inflammation in a rat colitis model,50 or an increase during pregnancy and lactation with no association to colonic health,51 but also protective function acting as an inhibitor to human monocarboxylate transporter 4 expressed in cancerous tissue.52 The detected reduction of isovalerate and isobutyrate was a result of a redirection in the bacterial metabolism towards more saccharolytic fermentation. Overall, our correlation analysis suggests that the beneficial effects of β-fructans are caused by an increase in butyrate formation but not a reduction of branched-chain fatty acids. Therefore improvement of butyrate production by colonic microbiota should be regarded as a potential target for treatment of immune dysfunction in patients.
Enzymatically synthesized exopolysaccharide of a probiotic strain Leuconostoc mesenteroides NTM048 shows adjuvant activity to promote IgA antibody responses
Published in Gut Microbes, 2021
Chiaki Matsuzaki, Yukari Nakashima, Ikuto Endo, Yusuke Tomabechi, Yasuki Higashimura, Saki Itonori, Koji Hosomi, Jun Kunisawa, Kenji Yamamoto, Keiko Hisa
Fructan, a component of NTM048 EPS, was synthesized by recombinant enzyme LvnS expressed in E. coli as described in our earlier study.27 The reaction was conducted in 50 mM sucrose, 1 mM CaCl2, and 100 mM sodium acetate (pH 5.0) using the recombinant LvnS at 28°C for 24 h. The fructan produced was purified using Sepharose CL6B (Sigma–Aldrich Corp.), and freeze-dried. The absence of proteins in the fructan sample was confirmed by measuring the absorbance at 280 nm.