Background and aims: Observational data indicate that diets rich in fruits and vegetables have a positive effect on inflammatory status, improve metabolic resilience and may protect against the development of non-communicable diseases. Nevertheless, experimental evidence demonstrating a causal relationship between nutrient intake (especially whole foods) and changes in metabolic health is scarce. This study investigated the pleiotropic effects of sulforaphane from broccoli sprouts, compared to pea sprouts, on biomarkers of endothelial function, inflammation and metabolic stress in healthy participants subjected to a standardized caloric challenge.Methods: In this double-blind, crossover, randomized, placebo-controlled trial 12 healthy participants were administered 16 g broccoli sprouts, or pea sprouts (placebo) followed by the standardized high-caloric drink PhenFlex given to disturb healthy homeostasis. Levels of inflammatory biomarkers and metabolic parameters were measured in plasma before and 2 h after the caloric overload.Results: Administration of broccoli sprouts promoted an increase in levels of CCL-2 induced by caloric load (p = 0.017). Other biomarkers (sICAM-1, sVCAM-1, hs-CRP, and IL-10) individually showed insignificant tendencies toward increase with administration of sulforaphane. Combining all studied biomarkers into the systemic low-grade inflammation score further confirmed upregulation of the inflammatory activity (p = 0.087) after sulforaphane. No significant effects on biomarkers of metabolic stress were detected.Conclusion: This study has demonstrated that sulforaphane facilitated development of a mild pro-inflammatory state during the caloric challenge, which could be suggestive of the onset of the hormetic response induced by this phytonutrient. The use of integrative outcomes measures such as the systemic low-grade inflammation score can be viewed as a more robust approach to study the subtle and pleiotropic effects of phytonutrients.Clinical trial registration:www.clinicaltrials.gov, identifier NCT05146804.Keywords: biomarkers; diet; glucoraphanin; hormesis; inflammation; nutrients; phenotypic flexibility; sulforaphane.
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From the article: Abstract Sub-chronic toxicity studies of 163 non-genotoxic chemicals were evaluated in order to predict the tumour outcome of 24-month rat carcinogenicity studies obtained from the EFSA and ToxRef databases. Hundred eleven of the 148 chemicals that did not induce putative preneoplastic lesions in the sub-chronic study also did not induce tumours in the carcinogenicity study (True Negatives). Cellular hypertrophy appeared to be an unreliable predictor of carcinogenicity. The negative predictivity, the measure of the compounds evaluated that did not show any putative preneoplastic lesion in de sub-chronic studies and were negative in the carcinogenicity studies, was 75%, whereas the sensitivity, a measure of the sub-chronic study to predict a positive carcinogenicity outcome was only 5%. The specificity, the accuracy of the sub-chronic study to correctly identify non-carcinogens was 90%. When the chemicals which induced tumours generally considered not relevant for humans (33 out of 37 False Negatives) are classified as True Negatives, the negative predictivity amounts to 97%. Overall, the results of this retrospective study support the concept that chemicals showing no histopathological risk factors for neoplasia in a sub-chronic study in rats may be considered non-carcinogenic and do not require further testing in a carcinogenicity study.
Background: Although diagnosing and treating malnutrition, sarcopenia and underweight are recommended to be embedded and sustained within nutritional care, it is unknown if that is facilitated in geriatric rehabilitation. This study determined the proportion of geriatric rehabilitation inpatients with malnutrition, sarcopenia or underweight receiving dietetic interventions as part of routine clinical care and if these patients have greater improvements in body weight and composition compared to patients not receiving dietetic interventions.Methods: Geriatric rehabilitation inpatients from the observational REStORing health of acutely unwell adulTs (RESORT) cohort were included (n=971, median age 83.2 [77.7-88.8] years, 58.5% (n=568) females). Malnutrition, sarcopenia and underweight were defined by the Global Leadership Initiative of Malnutrition, European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People 2 and age-specific body mass index cut-offs. Data on dietetic interventions initiated by dietitians as part of clinical care was extracted from the centralised hospital database. Changes in body weight (kg), skeletal muscle mass (kg, %), and fat mass (kg, %) from admission to discharge were determined using linear mixed models.Results: Dietetic interventions were received by 306 (62.0%), 138 (71.5%) and 153 (76.9%) of patients with malnutrition (n=493), sarcopenia (n=193) and underweight (n=199). Duration and frequency of dietetic interventions were higher in patients with malnutrition, sarcopenia or underweight compared to patients without those conditions. There were no differences in body weight/composition changes in patients with malnutrition, sarcopenia or underweight receiving dietetic interventions compared to those not receiving interventions.Conclusions: One-third of geriatric rehabilitation inpatients with malnutrition, sarcopenia or underweight are not receiving dietetic interventions and therefore the referral and diagnostic process require improvements. Patients with malnutrition, sarcopenia or underweight receiving dietetic interventions had no greater improvements in body weight/composition compared to those who did not receive interventions. Tailoring dietetic interventions for malnutrition, sarcopenia and underweight diagnosis may improve patient outcomes.
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