Search results

This study aims to evaluate the immunomodulatory effect of traditional drink of black cincau-based wedang uwuh (WUB) on alloxan-induced diabetic rats.

WUB consists of dried herbs such as black cincau leaves (Mesona palustris BL), red ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc), cloves (Syzgium aromaticum), sappan wood (Caesalpinia sappan Lin) and soursop leaves (Annona muricata). In this study, the rats were divided into five groups: normal control, diabetic control and three groups of WUB (WUB 13.5 mL/kg and WUB 27 mL/kg) or wedang uwuh commercial (WUC) treated diabetic groups. WUB or WUC was administered by gavage for three days after rats were confirmed diabetic induced by alloxan; these injections were continued for 28 days. At the end of the experiment, the spleen of rats was analyzed using flow cytometry. Data were analyzed by ANOVA followed by Tukey test using Minitab version 16.0.

This study showed that WUB significantly inhibited the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (interferon-Y [IFN-ɣ] and tumor necrosis factor-α [TNF-a]) and anti-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin 10 [IL-10] and transforming growth factor-β [TGF-ß]), and achieved a balance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines that were not significantly different from normal controls. WUB 27 was able to regulate the production of relative average cytokines IFN-ɣ (7.6 ± 3.5; p = 0.010), TNF-a (8.7 ± 2.4; p = 0.018), IL-10 (6.3 ± 2.4; p = 0.001) and TGF-ß (7.4 ± 2.1; p = 0.004) that was significantly different from diabetic control. This study’s results validate that the use of WUB can result in immunomodulatory activity in diabetic rats.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study on the immunomodulatory effect of WUB which is developed based on WUC; WUB has been used by Indonesian people as a functional beverage which acts as an immune booster and body warmer.

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is becoming a crucial health problem worldwide. Continued and high-speed mutations of this virus result in the appearance of new manifestations, making the control of this disease difficult. It has been shown that well-nourished patients have strong immune systems who mostly have short-term hospitalization compared to others. The purpose of this study is to review the major nutrients involved in the immune system reinforcement and to explain nutritional aspects during the recovery of COVID-19.

In this review paper, the mechanistic role of nutrients in boosting the immune system and the nutritional aspects during the recovery of COVID-19 patients were discussed. Papers indexed in scientific databases were searched using antioxidants, COVID-19, inflammation, immune system, macronutrient, micronutrient and probiotic as keywords from 2000 to 2022.

Because of the adverse effects of drugs like thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and hypercholesterolemia, a balanced diet with enough concentrations of energy and macronutrients could increase the patient's durability. The inflammatory cytokines in a vicious cycle delay patients’ rehabilitation. The main mechanistic roles of micronutrients are attributed to the downregulation of virus replication and are involved in energy homeostasis. Dysbiosis is defined as another disturbance among COVID-19 patients, and supplementation with beneficial strains of probiotics helps to exert anti-inflammatory effects in this regard. Being on a well-planned diet with anti-inflammatory properties could reverse cytokine storms as the major feature of COVID-19. Future studies are needed to determine the safe and effective dose of dietary factors to control the COVID-19 patients.

Being on a well-planned diet with anti-inflammatory properties could reverse cytokine storms as the major feature of COVID-19. Future studies are needed to determine the safe and effective dose of dietary factors to control the COVID-19 patients.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of acai pulp consumption on biometric parameters and inflammatory biomarkers (sCD40L, CCL5, TNF-a and CRP) in apparently healthy women.

Nutritional intervention was performed with women who consumed 200 g of acai pulp daily during 30 consecutive days. Firstly, they were divided into two groups: normal weight and overweight related to BMI. Then, such volunteers were subdivided into other two groups according to values below or above the median of sCD40L.

sCD40L (ρg/mL) concentrations increased in overweight volunteers post-consumption of acai (964 ± 542) compared with the same volunteers pre-consumption of acai (633 ± 187, p = 0.03), and the CCL5 concentrations (ρg/mL) decreased in volunteers with sCD40L concentrations below median after the treatment (4.1 ± 1.5) when compared in same volunteers before the treatment (5.8 ± 1.8, p = 0.02). Protein consumption (g) reduced in volunteers with sCD40L concentrations below median after the intervention (96.6 ± 44.5), when compared before the intervention (96.7 ± 33.8, p = 0.03).

This paper concluded that the acai consumption can modulate the inflammatory profile in both stratified volunteers according to the BMI and the sCD40L marker median.

This paper aims to study the effect of the flavonoid fraction of chayote (Sechium edule (Jacq.) Sw) leaves (FFCL) on uric acid (UA) levels, oxidative stress and inflammatory markers in hyperuricemia rats.

In total, 30 Sprague–Dawley rats were divided randomly into 5 groups. A healthy control group was established. Hyperuricemia was induced by the administration of block broth and potassium oxonate for three weeks. FFCL at dosages of 50 and 100 mg/200 g BW/d or allopurinol at a dosage of 1.8 mg/200 g BW/d was given orally for 2 weeks. Statistical analysis was conducted to evaluate differences among groups before and after the intervention.

Treatment with two different doses FFCL (50 and 100 mg/200 g BW/d) and one dose of allopurinol (1.8 mg/200 g BW/d) for 2 weeks significantly reduced UA from 8.04 ± 0.23 to 3.88 ± 0.10; 8.03 ± 0.18 to 2.87 ± 0.10; 8.23 ± 0.21 to 2.53 ± 0.19 (p < 0.05), respectively. The oxidative stress marker malondialdehyde levels were reduced (p = 0.001) from 9.68 ± 0.28 to 4.06 ± 0.58; 10.01 ± 0.23 to 2.12 ± 0.09; 9.88 ± 0.21 to 2.02 ± 0.17 (p = 0.001). The inflammatory marker tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels were also reduced from 26.43 ± 0.87 to 12.20 ± 0.32; 27.38 ± 0.53 to 9.60 ± 0.53; 27.55 ± 0.68 to 8.83 ± 0.21 with p = 0.001. The 100 mg/200 g BW/d FFCL decreased UA levels, oxidative stress and inflammatory markers more extensively compared to 50 mg/200 g BW/d FFCL.

This study includes some limitations that may affect the generalizability of its findings. First, the flavonoid levels of FFCL were not measured. Second, other oxidative stress biomarkers (e.g. superoxide dismutase) and inflammatory biomarkers (e.g. IL-6) were not investigated. Finally, the experiments were conducted on the model animals over a relatively short period of time. Further research is needed to evaluate the effect in humans at chronic use.

Chayote (Sechium edule (Jacq.) Sw) leaves are rich in flavonoids, especially apigenin and luteolin, which can improve oxidative stress and inflammation conditions caused by hyperuricemia.

Hyperuricemia is a risk factor for non-communicable diseases, mostly caused by oxidative stress and inflammation in the body due to high levels of UA, one of the treatment strategies is through diet modification.

The results of this investigation imply that the administration of the flavonoid fraction of chayote leaves has significant effects on UA and oxidative stress and inflammatory markers. Further research is necessary to confirm the results.

Titanium is a naturally occurring mineral in the form of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and is one of the most widely used food additives. The purpose of this review article is to show the importance of the accumulation of this mineral in the gut and its relation with inflammatory processes.

This is a literature review study from 2002 to 2016, focusing on studies with TiO₂ and its relation with inflammatory bowel diseases.

Articles describe that TiO₂ is resistant to gastrointestinal degradation, as it has high stability, and that its particles, ingested daily, may bind to biomolecules in the lumen or be absorbed by the intestinal mucosa, accumulating in the macrophages of lymphoid tissue in the gut, thus causing or aggravating the inflammatory response in the inflamed bowel.

There is a limited number of studies on the long-term impact of dietary microparticles in animal models, in healthy subjects and in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases.

It is necessary to regulate the amount of TiO₂ used in industrialized products.

The high consumption of processed foods, as opposed to a healthy diet based on the balanced consumption of nutrients, is relevant, as it may lead to or exacerbate intestinal inflammation.

This review indicates that titanium particles may mediate toxicological processes leading to an abnormal increase in intestinal permeability, which may be particularly aggravating in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases.

While several studies have reported a relationship between chronic daily headache (CDH) and different dietary patterns, no study has investigated the association between CDH and the dietary inflammatory index (DII). This study aims to hypothesize that a higher DII score (proinflammatory diets) is associated with higher odds of CDH.

This cross-sectional study was performed using the baseline data of the Dena PERSIAN cohort study, including demographic information, body mass index, medical history, laboratory tests, sleep duration and blood pressure. The DII was computed based on the data collected by a valid 113-item food frequency questionnaire and a 127-item indigenous food questionnaire. The association between CDH and DII score was analyzed by simple and multiple logistic regression.

Out of 3,626 people included in the study, 23.1% had CDH. The median DII was −0.08 (interquartile range = 0.18). People in the third and fourth quartiles of DII (proinflammatory diet) had a 20% (odds ratio: 0.80; 95% confidence interval: 0.65–1) and a 25% (odds ratio: 0.75; 95% confidence interval: 0.61–0.94) lower chance of having CHD than those in the first quartile, respectively. After adjustment for confounding variables, this association did not remain statistically significant (p > 0.05).

Although the analysis conducted without adjustment for medical history showed a significant association between proinflammatory diet and reduced CDH, considering the diverse etiology of different types of headaches and the paucity of studies in this area, further studies are needed to investigate the DII score of patients by the type of headache, its severity and duration.

Polyphenols possess anti-allergic activities. Catechin is one of the polyphenols that are abundantly present in the Acacia catechu. In this study, the authors investigated the effect of catechin isolated from A. catechu in an experimental mouse model of ovalbumin (OVA)-induced allergic asthma.

Catechin was isolated from A. catechu, and phytochemical analysis was carried out by ultraviolet visible and thin-layer chromatography (TLC), high pressure thin-layer chromatography was used for the determination of an amount of catechin present. In a first set of an experiment, the authors have carried out dose-dependent evaluation of catechin on histamine synthesis in normal rats. In another study, allergic asthma was induced in BALB/c mice by intraperitoneal injection of 50 mg OVA dissolved in 4 mg aluminum hydroxide dissolved in 0.2 ml saline on Days 0 and 14. Catechin was given orally at the dose of 100 mg/kg, once a day from Day 1 to Day 35 and after which various respiratory parameters such as tidal volume, respiratory rate and airflow rate, biochemical parameters such as histamine release from mast cells, bronchoalveolar (BAL) lavage fluid analysis and histopathology of lungs were carried out.

Catechin showed significant (p < 0.05) improvement in respiratory parameters such as tidal volume, respiratory rate and airflow rate, as well as biochemical and hematological parameters such as blood histamine, serum bicarbonate and nitric oxide levels as compared to the disease control group. The treatment also showed inhibitory effects on histamine synthesis in rat peritoneal as well as BAL mast cells. Also, a significant (p < 0.05) improvement in lung histopathology was observed with catechin.

From the present study, the authors can conclude that catechin exhibited potent anti-allergic activity by inhibition of histamine synthesis by inhibition of histidine decarboxylase enzyme. The study suggests that catechin has therapeutic potential for the treatment of allergic inflammatory disease in humans.

The purpose of this paper is to verify the possible associations between dietary components and the intestinal microbiota in clinical parameters of inflammatory bowel disease.

In this review, a search in PubMed and Bireme databases was performed. The authors included randomized clinical trials published between 2005 and 2017, only in adult humans with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis.

Six articles were included by the end of the search. The most widely used intervention was the use of prebiotics, including fructooligosaccharides or fructooligosaccharides with inulin, followed by probiotics. The main findings regarding the microbiota were the increase in the total amount of bacteria and variability (phyla). Clinically, there was improvement in inflammation seen in parameters such as C-reactive protein, interleukins and tumor necrosis factor alpha.

Dietary interventions, especially from symbiotics, can modulate the microbiota, mainly in relation to time, when compared pre- and post-supplementation, and this positively interferes with clinical parameters of inflammatory bowel diseases. However, the studies were quite heterogeneous in population, methodology, intervention, mycobiota analysis and inflammatory markers.

Diet is recognized as a possible potential factor in migraine pathogenesis. Limited evidence exists on the effect of diet on pediatric migraine, so this paper aims to investigate the association between fruit and vegetable consumption and odds of migraine in children.

The authors conducted a case-control study in tertiary Sina hospital, Tehran, Iran. A hundred children with migraine as case group and 190 sex-matched healthy controls were included in this study. Definite diagnosis of migraine was based on 2018 international classification of headache disorder 3 (ICHD3) criteria. Demographic and anthropometric characteristics were collected. Common dietary intake of participants was obtained using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire.

Children in the migraine group had significantly higher BMI and age compared with the control group (p-value = <0.01). After adjustment for age, gender, BMI and total energy intake, a significant association between higher intake of vegetables in second tertile (OR: 0.47; CI: 0.24-0.92), fruits in third tertile (OR: 0.31; CI:0.14-0.69) and fiber in fourth quartile (OR:0.28; CI:0.095-0.85) was obtained. Controlling for all confounders in Model 3, the odds of migraine, decreased by 50 per cent and 70 per cent as the consumption of vegetables and fruits increased, in the second tertile of vegetables (p-value = 0.04) and the third tertile of fruits (p-value = <0.01).

The findings confirm a plausible protective role of dietary fruits and vegetables against the risk of migraine in children, which can be attributed to the probable effect of dietary fiber.

Clinical evidence has suggested that alpha-lipoic acid (ALA), a potent antioxidant, seems to have some effects on inflammatory process. However, these results are equivocal. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of association between ALA and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level by pooling the results from clinical trial studies.

Relevant studies were identified by systematic literature search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Sciences and Cochrane library up to September 2016 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the impact of ALA supplementation on CRP. The pooled data were summarized as weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95 per cent confidence interval (CI). Effect sizes of eligible studies were pooled using random- or fixed-effects (the DerSimonian–Laird estimator) depending on the results of heterogeneity tests.

Of 212 papers, 15 were eligible RCTs according to inclusion criteria. The selected studies comprised 1,408 cases and 457 controls. The dose of ALA supplement ranged from 300 to 1,200 mg, and the duration of follow-up was from 1 to 48 weeks. ALA supplementation significantly reduced the levels of circulating CRP (WMD: −0.088, 95 per cent CI: −0.131, −0.045, p < 0.001) with significant heterogeneity (I² = 73.4 per cent, p < 0.001). Populations with age younger than 50 years (PMD: −0.060 mg/dl), receiving doses less than 600 mg/day (PMD: −0.057 mg/dl), having cardiovascular disease (PMD: −0.105 mg/dl), hemodialysis (PMD: −0.209 mg/dl), diabetes (PMD: −0.021 mg/dl) and otherwise healthy subjects (PMD: −0.045 mg/dl) were sources of heterogeneity.

This meta-analysis of RCTs suggests that ALA supplementation seems to significantly reduce circulating CRP level.