Nutrition
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Depletion of plasma antioxidants in surgical intensive care unit patients requiring parenteral feeding: effects of parenteral nutrition with or without alanyl-glutamine dipeptide supplementation.
Antioxidant depletion is common in critically ill patients. This study was designed to determine the effects of parenteral nutrition (PN), with or without glutamine (Gln) supplementation, on systemic antioxidant status in adult patients after major surgery who required PN in the surgical intensive care unit (SICU) setting. ⋯ Low plasma levels of key antioxidants were common in this group of patients in the SICU despite administration of PN containing conventional micronutrients. Compared with standard PN, Gln-supplemented PN improved plasma GSH levels in patients in the SICU after cardiac, vascular, or colonic operations.
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We investigated the effect of nutritional recovery with a soybean flour diet on glucose tolerance, insulin response to a glucose load, and the action of insulin in adult rats exposed to a protein deficiency during intrauterine life and lactation. ⋯ These results indicate that nutritional recovery with a soybean flour diet improved the insulin response to a glucose load and decreased the sensitivity to insulin, at least in hepatic tissue.
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Stress is thought to influence human eating behavior and has been examined in animal and human studies. Our understanding of the stress-eating relation is confounded by limitations inherent in the study designs; however, we can make some tentative conclusions that support the notion that stress can influence eating patterns in humans. Stress appears to alter overall food intake in two ways, resulting in under- or overeating, which may be influenced by stressor severity. ⋯ Evidence from longitudinal studies suggests that chronic life stress may be causally linked to weight gain, with a greater effect seen in men. Stress-induced eating may be one factor contributing to the development of obesity. Future studies that measure biological markers of stress will assist our understanding of the physiologic mechanism underlying the stress-eating relation and how stress might be linked to neurotransmitters and hormones that control appetite.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Increased probiotic yogurt or resistant starch intake does not affect isoflavone bioavailability in subjects consuming a high soy diet.
Probiotics and prebiotics that affect gut microflora balance and its associated enzyme activity may contribute to interindividual variation in isoflavone absorption after soy intake, possibly enhancing isoflavone bioavailability. This study examined the effects of the consumption of bioactive yogurt (a probiotic) or resistant starch (a known prebiotic) in combination with high soy intake on soy isoflavone bioavailability. ⋯ The weak or absence of effects of probiotic yogurt or resistant starch supplement to a chronic soy diet suggests that gut microflora were not modified in a manner that significantly affected isoflavone bioavailability or metabolism.