Nutrition
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Children under the age of 5 y constitute the most vulnerable group for iron and zinc deficiencies and their nutritional status is a sensitive indicator of community health and nutrition. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of zinc and iron deficiency among preschool children aged 3 to 5 y in Vhembe district, Limpopo province, South Africa. ⋯ Iron and zinc deficiencies as well as anemia, accompanied by high prevalence of stunting; and overweight and obesity, were common in preschool children. The results observed here call for interventions to combat the escalating problem of child malnutrition in the form of nutritional education for mothers and food handlers at preschools to ensure food diversification in these children.
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Comparative Study
Sex-related effects of nutritional supplementation of Escherichia coli: relevance to eating disorders.
The biological background of sex-related differences in the development of eating disorders (EDs) is unknown. Recent data showed that gut bacteria Escherichia coli induce autoantibodies against anorexigenic α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) associated with psychopathology in ED. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of E. coli on feeding and autoantibodies against α-MSH and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), between female and male rats. ⋯ Sex-related response to how E. coli affects feeding and anti-melanocortin hormone antibody production may depend on the presence of these bacteria in the gut before E. coli supplementation. These data suggest that sex-related presence of certain gut bacteria may represent a risk factor for ED development.
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Three separate studies were performed with the aim to 1) determine the effect of a single sodium pyruvate intake on the blood acid-base status in males and females; 2) compare the effect of sodium and calcium pyruvate salts and establish their role in the lipolysis rate; and 3) quantify the effect of single pyruvate intake on the resting energy metabolism. ⋯ Pyruvate intake induced mild alkalization in a sex-dependent fashion. Moreover, it accelerated carbohydrate metabolism and delayed the rate of glycerol appearance in the blood, but had no effect on the resting energy expenditure. Furthermore, sodium salt seems to have had a greater effect on the blood buffering level than calcium salt.
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To investigate the active factors and the intervention effect of ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) during intestinal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury, which causes the inflammation of monocytes-macrophages cultured in lymph fluid and stimulated with ω-3 PUFAs. ⋯ The factors induced in lymph during intestinal I/R injury can cause inflammation in vitro. These data provide in vitro evidence that ω-3 PUFAs provide a protective effect by reducing the inflammatory response caused by intestinal I/R lymph. Moreover, the synergism of EPA and DHA had the greatest effect, which is possibly mediated through Toll-like receptor 4 and nuclear factor-κB p65.
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Increasing evidence suggests that early nutrition has programming effects on adult health. Identifying mechanisms underlying nutritional programming would aid in the design of new disease prevention strategies. The intestinal microbiota could be a key player in this programming because it affects host metabolic homeostasis, postnatal gut colonization is sensitive to early nutrition, and initial microbial set-up is thought to shape microbiota composition for life. The aim of this study was to determine whether early manipulation of intestinal microbiota actually programs adult microbiota in rats. ⋯ As revealed by a targeted quantitative polymerase chain reaction approach, programming of adult intestinal microbiota seems to vary according to the nature of the preweaning microbiotal modulator. This suggests that intestinal microbiota may, only under specific circumstances, serve as a relay of neonatal nutrition and thus potentially contribute to nutritional programming of host physiology.