An Examination of Diet for the Maintenance of Remission in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Effect of cowpea flour processing on the chemical properties and acceptability of a novel cowpea blended maize porridge

Childhood growth stunting is a pervasive problem in Malawi and is in large part due to low quality complementary foods and chronic gut inflammation. Introducing legumes such as cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) into the complementary diet has the potential to improve childhood growth by improving diet quality through improvements in macro- and micronutrients and also by reducing gut inflammation. However, cowpea is relatively underutilized in complementary feeding in Malawi due to its strong taste, long processing time, and high energy requirements for processing. Effective utilization of cowpea in complementary feeding requires processing which may affect chemical composition as well as sensory quality. The present study evaluated the effect of processing on the retention of zinc, crude fibre, and flavonoid in roasted, boiled, and dehulled cowpea flours, and assessed the acceptability of maize porridge (70%) enriched with one of the three cowpea flours (30%). Roasting, dehulling, and boiling did not have any effect on zinc content. Crude fibre content increased after processing by all methods. Processing had no effect on measurable flavonoids. Roasted, boiled, and dehulled cowpea blended maize porridges were acceptable to children with mean quantities of leftover food of less than 3g from the given 100g. Caregivers also rated the blended flours to be highly acceptable to them as well, with maize porridge blended with dehulled cowpea flour the most acceptable to both children and caregivers. These results demonstrate that cowpea flour, processed by any of these three different methods, could serve as a useful addition to maize porridge for complementary feeding of children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Gelatin versus its two major degradation products, prolyl-hydroxyproline and glycine, as supportive therapy in experimental colitis in mice

Gelatin is an anti-inflammatory dietary component, and its predominant metabolites entering circulation are prolyl-hydroxyproline (Pro-Hyp) and glycine. We evaluated the protective effects of orally administered gelatin, glycine, and Pro-Hyp 10:3:0.8 (w/w/w) against dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis in mice. According to clinical, histological, and biochemical parameters, they exhibited significant activities in the order of gelatin < glycine < Pro-Hyp. Gelatin prevented the DSS-induced increase in interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the colon, rather than in peripheral blood. Glycine and Pro-Hyp attenuated the DSS-induced rise in colonic IL-6 and TNF-α, as well as peripheral IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α. Hematologic results show the attenuation of DSS-induced leukocytosis and lymphocytosis by glycine and Pro-Hyp, rather than gelatin. These findings suggest that glycine and Pro-Hyp constitute the material basis for gelatin's anticolitis efficacy, and they have better anticolitis activities and distinct mechanisms of action when ingested as free compounds than as part of gelatin.

Persistent Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium Infection Increases the Susceptibility of Mice to Develop Intestinal Inflammation

Chronic intestinal inflammations are triggered by genetic and environmental components. However, it remains unclear how specific changes in the microbiota, host immunity, or pathogen exposure could promote the onset and exacerbation of these diseases. Here, we evaluated whether Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) infection increases the susceptibility to develop intestinal inflammation in mice. Two mouse models were used to evaluate the impact of S. Typhimurium infection: the chemical induction of colitis by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) and interleukin (IL)-10^−/− mice, which develop spontaneous intestinal inflammation. We observed that S. Typhimurium infection makes DSS-treated and IL-10^−/− mice more susceptible to develop intestinal inflammation. Importantly, this increased susceptibility is associated to the ability of S. Typhimurium to persist in liver and spleen of infected mice, which depends on the virulence proteins secreted by Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 2-encoded type three secretion system (TTSS-2). Although immunization with a live attenuated vaccine resulted in a moderate reduction of the IL-10^−/− mice susceptibility to develop intestinal inflammation due to previous S. Typhimurium infection, it did not prevent bacterial persistence. Our results suggest that persistent S. Typhimurium infection may increase the susceptibility of mice to develop inflammation in the intestine, which could be associated with virulence proteins secreted by TTSS-2.

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols: An Overview

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are mainly represented by ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, and the increase in the incidence tends to follow the rapid industrialization and lifestyle of modern societies. FODMAP (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols) consist of molecules that are poorly absorbed in the small intestine and are fermented by bacteria in the colon leading to symptoms such as bloating, flatulence, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Reduction of the ingestion of FODMAP could reduce the symptoms and improve the quality of life. This review aimed to summarize some important aspects of IBD and evaluate the effects of this diet on this inflammatory condition. Studies including the term FODMAP (and similar terms) and IBD were selected for this review (MEDLINE database was used PubMed/PMC). A low FODMAP diet may be an effective tool to the management of the common abdominal symptoms in patients with functional gastrointestinal symptoms once these molecules trigger these symptoms. This diet may also reduce the expression of pro-inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein and fecal calprotectin and may interfere with the microbiome and its metabolites. The use of a low FODMAP diet can bring benefits to the IBD patients, but may also modify their nutritional status. Thus it should be utilized in appropriated conditions, and dietary supplements should be necessary to avoid deficiencies that could be caused by a low FODMAP diet over long periods. We suggest that further investigations are required to elucidate when and how to apply the FODMAP diet in IBD patients.

Diet and microbiota linked in health and disease

Diet has shaped microbiota profiles through human evolution.

Microbiota dysbiosis in inflammatory bowel diseases: in silico investigation of the oxygen hypothesis

BACKGROUND

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), which include ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, cause chronic inflammation of the digestive tract in approximately 1.6 million Americans. A signature of IBD is dysbiosis of the gut microbiota marked by a significant reduction of obligate anaerobes and a sharp increase in facultative anaerobes. Numerous experimental studies have shown that IBD is strongly correlated with a decrease of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and an increase of Escherichia coli. One hypothesis is that chronic inflammation induces increased oxygen levels in the gut, which in turn causes an imbalance between obligate and facultative anaerobes.

RESULTS

To computationally investigate the oxygen hypothesis, we developed a multispecies biofilm model based on genome-scale metabolic reconstructions of F. prausnitzii, E. coli and the common gut anaerobe Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. Application of low bulk oxygen concentrations at the biofilm boundary reproduced experimentally observed behavior characterized by a sharp decrease of F. prausnitzii and a large increase of E. coli, demonstrating that dysbiosis consistent with IBD disease progression could be qualitatively predicted solely based on metabolic differences between the species. A diet with balanced carbohydrate and protein content was predicted to represent a metabolic "sweet spot" that increased the oxygen range over which F. prausnitzii could remain competitive and IBD could be sublimated. Host-microbiota feedback incorporated via a simple linear feedback between the average F. prausnitzii concentration and the bulk oxygen concentration did not substantially change the range of oxygen concentrations where dysbiosis was predicted, but the transition from normal species abundances to severe dysbiosis was much more dramatic and occurred over a much longer timescale. Similar predictions were obtained with sustained antibiotic treatment replacing a sustained oxygen perturbation, demonstrating how IBD might progress over several years with few noticeable effects and then suddenly produce severe disease symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

The multispecies biofilm metabolic model predicted that oxygen concentrations of ∼1 micromolar within the gut could cause microbiota dysbiosis consistent with those observed experimentally for inflammatory bowel diseases. Our model predictions could be tested directly through the development of an appropriate in vitro system of the three species community and testing of microbiota-host interactions in gnotobiotic mice.