Chia ( Salvia hispanica L.) flour promotes beneficial effects on adipose tissue but not on glycaemic profile of diet-induced obesity in mice: Chia on adipose tissue and glycaemia in obese mice

The use of alternative food sources to improve health and guarantee access and food intake

To feed and provide Food Security to all people in the world is a big challenge to be achieved with the 2030 Agenda. Undernutrition and obesity are to the opposite of a healthy nutritional status. Both conditions are associated with unbalanced nutrition, absence of food or excess of non-nutritive foods intake. These two nutritional conditions associated with food production are closely related to some goals highlighted by the United Nations in the 2030 Agenda to achieve sustainable world development. In this context, the search for alternative foods whose sustainable production and high nutritional quality guarantee regular access to food for the population must be encouraged. Alternative foods can contribute to Food Security in many ways as they contribute to the local economy and income generation. Popularizing and demystifying the uses of unconventional food plants, ancestral grains, flowers, meliponiculture products, and edible insects as sources of nutrients and non-nutrients is another challenge. Herein, we present an overview of alternative foods - some of them cultivated mostly in Brazil - that can be explored as sources of nutrients to fight hunger and malnutrition, improve food production and the economic growth of nations.

Microstructural features of lyophilized adipose - A new concept to estimate the metabolic symptoms for obese patients

The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of different morphological features in different layers of lyophilized adipose tissue. In this work the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was adopted for investigation of lyophilized adipose tissue taken from obese patients. The adipose tissue was taken from subcutaneous (SAT), preperitoneal (PAT) and visceral (VAT) layers of adipose tissue. The obtained results of the main microstructural features provided information about morphological features of subcutaneous, preperitoneal and visceral layers in obese people. The obtained SEM results possibly could be used for the estimation of metabolic symptoms and prediction different diseases. The SEM method was never used before to investigate morphology of SAT, PAT and VAT layers of lyophilized human adipose tissue.

Chia flour (Salvia hispanica L.) did not improve the deleterious aspects of hyperlipidic diet ingestion on glucose metabolism, but worsened glycaemia in mice

Obesity is mainly caused by intake of a high-fat diet and sedentarism, and is considered a public health issue worldwide. Increased intestinal permeability may favour endotoxaemia generated by lipopolysaccharides, a substance present in the cell membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, and, consequently, an increase in systemic inflammation and metabolic diseases. In contrast (On the other hand), consumption of a healthy diet can help in the prevention and treatment of metabolic syndrome. In this way, chia seeds (Salvia hispanica L.), rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, may present an anti-inflammatory role. In addition, chia is rich in antioxidants like caffeic and gallic acid and fiber. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between chia seeds, inflammatory mechanisms and intestinal permeability. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyse the effects of chia administration on metabolism in obese mice. Swiss mice were fed a hyperlipidic diet either supplemented with or without 3% chia flour for 16 weeks. The results showed that supplementation could not reduce the deleterious effects of the lipid-rich diet in terms of body composition, glucose intolerance and activity of antioxidants enzymes in the liver. In addition, supplementation with chia in the control diet decreased the amount of occludin in the intestinal colon. In conclusion, although chia did not improve metabolic parameters it seemed to restore the intestinal barriers integrity. The beneficial effects of chia seem to be dependent of the quantity used, since our data conflict with those in the literature; however, it is important to note that other studies, unlike our protocol, used chia in the form of seeds or oil, and not flour.