Nutrition & Food Technology Research
Volume:6 Issue: 4, Oct-Dec 2019

Up to date, several pathophysiological mechanisms are suggested for evolution of depression, including inflammation, neurotransmitter and vitamin D pathways. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of vitamin D supplementation on serum 25-hydroxycalciferol [25(OH) D], intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), some pro-inflammatory biomarkers and neurotransmitters supposedly involved in depression. Furthermore, effects of the vitamin D are studied on depression status in affected patients.

Patients with mild to moderate depression, aged 18–60 y, are  participated in the study and randomly assigned into intervention (50,000 IU of cholecalciferol per two weeks) or control (placebo) groups. Duration of the intervention is eight weeks. Demographic and anthropometric parameters, blood pressure, biochemical values and depression status are recorded before and after intervention. Biochemical tests include serum 25(OH)D, iPTH, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and also neurotransmitters involved in depression include platelet serotonin and serum oxytocin.

Several parameters are linked to vitamin D and depression status. Findings of this study can help clarify roles of these parameters, which may further be used in depression preventive and therapeutic strategies.

Muscular atrophy is one of the indicators of uncontrolled diabetes. The aim of the current study was to investigate effects of eight weeks of resistance training (RT) on myostatin gene expression in soleus muscles and insulin resistance in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats.

In general, 14 Wistar male rats weighing 200–250 g and aging 8–10 weeks were selected for the study. Then, a newly prepared diabetic STZ solution was intraperitoneally injected to the rats. Animals were randomly divided into two groups of controls and resistance training diabetes. The resistance training protocol was carried out at ten repetitions as climbing up the ladder with 100% of the body weight for eight weeks, five days a week. Nearly 48 h after the last training session, soleus muscles of the rats were removed and the myostatin gene expression was assessed. Statistical data analysis was carried out using independent t-test at a significance level of P <0.05.

Results of the independent t-test showed that the mean expression rate of myostatin protein genes in rat soleus muscles of the resistance training group was significantly lower than that of the control group (P = 0.013). Furthermore, levels of glucose, insulin and insulin resistance were significantly lower in resistance training group, compared to those in control group (P-values of 0.001, 0.005 and 0.001, respectively). A significantly positive correlation was seen between the mean expression of myostatin protein gene and the blood glucose (P = 0.012, r = 0.539), as well as the expression of myostatin protein gene and the insulin resistance (P = 0.015, r = 0.525).

Results of this study indicated that resistance training decreased myostatin expression and could improve insulin resistance in rats with type 2 diabetes. Hence, targeting myostatin might be a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of metabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

High fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption has been shown to protect humans against chronic diseases in elderly people. As several factors can affect FV consumption, the aim of this study was to investigate associations between the socioeconomic status and FV consumption in elderly people.

This population-based cross-sectional study was carried out on 238 elderly people, aged over 65 years and living in Marand, northwest of Iran. Consumption of FV was assessed using validated 110-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The participants were selected from seven health care centers.

The mean age of the participants was 71.7 ±4.1 years with 65.5% were males. The adequate daily consumption of FVs (totally 400g or more) was reported in 58% of the participants. Old ages and low educational levels were associated to low consumption of FVs (P < 0.05). High incomes and marriage statuses were significantly associated to high consumption of fruits (P < 0.001). High consumption of vegetables was seen in people with lower economic status. The logistic regression analysis showed that the chance of FV consumption in participants who owned a house, got married or had a high income was 3.05, 2.02 and 2.39 times greater, respectively.

This study has demonstrated important roles of the socioeconomic factors such as household income level, gender and marital and educational statuses on consumption of FVs. Therefore, our results suggest that, the future policies and interventions to improve the consumption of FVs in elderly people should consider socioeconomic inequalities.

Considering importance of food habits and possible roles of obesity in tooth decay, the present study was carried out to investigate relationships between dietary habits and body mass index (BMI) withtooth decay in 4–6 years old kindergartenchildrenin Ahwaz, Iran.

In this descriptive-analytical study, 359 children were selected randomly from 4–6 year-old children of both sexes from variousregions of Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, Iran. The project questionnaire includedgeneral and individual information such as gender, age, education and occupation of the parents, economic condition,informationon children andfrequency of feeds of 59 food itemsThe BMIcalculatedandDMFT(decayed, missing, filled surfaces teeth)and erosion were measured. The SPSS Software was used o analyze data.

Frequency and percentage of BMI were differentiated by lean children (37, 10%), normal weight children (269 children, 75%) and children with overweight and obesity (53 children, 15%).Dental caries werefound in 87.3 and erosions in 23.7%of the children.A significantlypositive correlation was seen between the dental caries index and the BMI (r=0.512, P<0.001) and dental erosion (r = 0.141, P = 0.007). Another significantlypositive correlation was observed between the erosion index and the dental caries index r = 0.367, P<0.001). However, a significantly negative correlation was reported between the erosion index and the serving sizes of meat and egg per month (r=-0.112, P = 0.034). A significantly positive correlation was seen between the erosionandconsumption of chips and puffs (r=0.151, P =0.004).

Findings of this study have shown that the BMI increases dental caries and erosions.Dental erosion also relationship with increasing consumption of meat and eggs, and increased with the consumption of chips and puff. Dental erosion decreased with increasing mother’s age index. According to regression test, BMI had the highest correlation with DMFT index and according to the regression test; the variable DMFT had the highest correlation with the erosion index. With increasing BMI, the amount of dental erosion and dental caries index would increase. There was a significant relationship between the increase in consumption of Chocolatemilk, flavored milk and fats with increased risk of dental caries.

Oils used in frying should include special characteristics such as high oxidative stability, prolonged shelf life, low price, abundance and availability and desirable flavors. Nowadays, consumers are further interested in low saturated frying oils.  Recently, manufacturers focus on eliminating palm oil derivatives (as a major vegetable source of saturation) from frying oil formulations. Therefore, achievement of balances between nutritional, technological and economic aspects is a big challenge for the oil industries.

The aim of this study was to design and develop a palm-free frying oil formulation based on oils of sunflower (10–30%), canola (10–70%), corn (10–30%) and sesame (10–30%) using D-optimal mixture design. Linolenic acid (Ln) content, trans fatty acids (TFA), saturated fatty acids (SFA), oxidative stability index (OSI) and smoke point (SP) were considered as the response variables. To evaluate performances of these blends during deep frying processes (180 °C for 200 min), total polar compound (TPC) content, peroxide value (PV) and free fatty acid (FFA) content of the blends were assessed.

In summary, the total polar compound content, PV and FFA content of the blends included 15.87–19.41%, 16.41–20.58 meq O2/kg oil and 0.55–0.77%, respectively; fitted in published recommending ranges. All responses were fitted in the best way (R2 > 0.91) to the linear model used for optimization. The optimal formulation included canola (40.675%), sesame (26.015%), sunflower (23.310%) and corn (10.000%) oils and all experimental values of this formulation were in the confidence interval. This indicated the high accuracy of designation and optimization of the formulas.

In general, the present frying oil formulation can be considered a successful transparent and palm-free formulation in terms of economy, quality and technology considerations, particularly for household uses.

Increased environmental concerns about synthetic packaging have promoted developments of novel, environmentally-friendly edible films. In the present study, the quality parameters of chicken egg coated with pectin or pectin incorporated cinnamon hydrosol was assessed.

Egg chicken were coated with pectin and pectin prepared with cinnamon hydrosol and quality indicators (weight loss, yolk index, albumen pH and Haugh unit were assessed during storage at 30 ºC. Microbiological analysis of Salmonella, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus and the total microbial count were carried out.

Results showed that coating eggs with both pectin and cinnamon hydrosol included pectin caused lower weight loss during storage, compared to control eggs (P 0.01). A Higher Haugh unit and yolk index were observed in coated eggs compared to control eggs. Scanning electron microscopy exhibited structural homogeneity of hydrosol included pectin coat. The microbiological analysis showed that the total plate count of all samples at Week 1 of storage was zero. In uncoated eggs, the total plate count reached to 3 CFU ml-1 at Week 6 of storage. The total plate count of two coated eggs was zero all over the storage time period. Three bacterial (Salmonella, E. coil and S. aureus) count included zero values from Week 1 to Week 6 of storage for all samples.

Coating of eggs with pectin especially pectin included cinnamon hydrosol resulted in better shelf life of eggs during 6 weeks of storage.