High-methoxyl pectin has greater enhancing effect on glucose uptake in intestinal perfused rats

Effects of dietary citrus pulp level on the growth and intestinal health of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)

BACKGROUND

Citrus pulp (CP) is rich in pectin, and studies have shown that pectin possesses antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and gut microbiota-regulating properties. However, the application of CP in aquafeed is limited. In this study, the effect of dietary inclusion of CP on the intestinal health of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) was investigated. Juveniles of similar size (6.95 ± 0.07 g) were fed isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets containing different levels of CP (0%, 3%, 6%, 9%, 12%, or 15%) for 58 days.

RESULTS

As the level of CP in the feed for largemouth bass increased, the fish's growth performance and intestinal health initially improved and then declined. Adding low doses of CP (≤9%) to the feed had no significant impact on the growth performance of large-mouth black bass, whereas high doses of CP (>9%) significantly reduced their growth performance. Adding 6%, 9%, or 12% of CP to that feed enhanced the expression of genes related to tight junctions, anti-inflammatory activity, anti-apoptotic activity, and antioxidant activity in the intestines of largemouth bass. It reduced intestinal inflammation and improved intestinal nutrient absorption, intestinal mucosal barrier function, and intestinal antioxidant capacity. Moreover, it improved the α-diversity, structure, and function of the intestinal flora. The addition of 6% CP had the most beneficial effect on the intestinal health of largemouth bass. On the other hand, the addition of 15% CP had adverse effects on the intestinal antioxidant capacity and intestinal mucosal barrier function of largemouth bass.

CONCLUSION

Adding 6-9% CP to the feed for largemouth bass can improve their intestinal health without having a significant impact on their growth performance. CP could serve as a novel prebiotic and immunostimulant ingredient in aquafeed. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Natural Functional Beverages as an Approach to Manage Diabetes

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease, commonly associated with unhealthy habits and obesity, and it is becoming a serious health issue worldwide. As a result, new approaches to treat diabetes are required, and a movement towards more natural approaches is emerging. Consuming fruit and vegetables is advised to prevent diabetes since they contain several bioactive compounds. A simple and effective strategy to include them in the diets of diabetic and obese people is through beverages. This review aims to report the anti-diabetic potentials of different vegetable and fruit beverages. These functional beverages demonstrated in vitro potential to inhibit α-glucosidase and α-amylase enzymes and to improve glucose uptake. In vivo, beverage consumption showed a reduction of blood glucose, increase of insulin tolerance, improvement of lipid profile, control of obesity, and reduction of oxidative stress. This suggests the potential of vegetable- and fruit-based functional beverages to be used as a natural innovative therapy for the management of diabetes.

Mechanistic Understanding of the Effects of Pectin on In Vivo Starch Digestion: A Review

Obesity and type II diabetes are closely related to the rapid digestion of starch. Starch is the major food-energy source for most humans, and thus knowledge about the regulation of starch digestion can contribute to prevention and improved treatment of carbohydrate metabolic disorders such as diabetes. Pectins are plant polysaccharides with complex molecular structures and ubiquitous presence in food, and have diverse effects on starch digestion. Pectins can favorably regulate in vivo starch digestion and blood glucose level responses, and these effects are attributed to several reasons: increasing the viscosity of digesta, inhibiting amylase activity, and regulating some in vivo physiological responses. Pectins can influence starch digestion via multiple mechanisms simultaneously, in ways that are highly structure-dependent. Utilizing the multi-functionalities of pectin could provide more ways to design low glycemic-response food and while avoiding the unpalatable high viscosity in food by which is commonly caused by many other dietary fibers.

Insights into the constellating drivers of satiety impacting dietary patterns and lifestyle

Food intake and body weight regulation are of special interest for meeting today's lifestyle essential requirements. Since balanced energy intake and expenditure are crucial for healthy living, high levels of energy intake are associated with obesity. Hence, regulation of energy intake occurs through short- and long-term signals as complex central and peripheral physiological signals control food intake. This work aims to explore and compile the main factors influencing satiating efficiency of foods by updating recent knowledge to point out new perspectives on the potential drivers of satiety interfering with food intake regulation. Human internal factors such as genetics, gender, age, nutritional status, gastrointestinal satiety signals, gut enzymes, gastric emptying rate, gut microbiota, individual behavioral response to foods, sleep and circadian rhythms are likely to be important in determining satiety. Besides, the external factors (environmental and behavioral) impacting satiety efficiency are highlighted. Based on mechanisms related to food consumption and dietary patterns several physical, physiological, and psychological factors affect satiety or satiation. A complex network of endocrine and neuroendocrine mechanisms controls the satiety pathways. In response to food intake and other behavioral cues, gut signals enable endocrine systems to target the brain. Intestinal and gastric signals interact with neural pathways in the central nervous system to halt eating or induce satiety. Moreover, complex food composition and structures result in considerable variation in satiety responses for different food groups. A better understanding of foods and factors impacting the efficiency of satiety could be helpful in making smart food choices and dietary recommendations for a healthy lifestyle based on updated scientific evidence.

Antidiabetic Activity of Widely Used Medicinal Plants in the Sri Lankan Traditional Healthcare System: New Insight to Medicinal Flora in Sri Lanka

The use of medicinal plant extracts and their isolated bioactive compounds for the management of diabetes mellitus has been tremendously increased in recent decades. The present study aimed at providing in-depth information on medicinal flora that has been widely used in the Sri Lankan traditional healthcare system for the management of diabetes mellitus. The data of this review article were obtained from published articles from January 2000 to September 2020 in scientific databases of PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. In this review, a total number of 18 medicinal plants with the antidiabetic activity were expressed, and their isolated antidiabetic active compounds were highlighted as new drug leads. Results of the reported studies revealed that medicinal plants exert a potent antidiabetic activity via both in vitro and in vivo study settings. However, bioactive compounds and antidiabetic mechanism (s) of action of many of the reported medicinal plants have not been isolated/elucidated the structure in detail, to date. Reported antidiabetic medicinal plants with other properties such as antioxidant and antihyperlipidemic activities deliver new entities for the development of antidiabetic agents with multiple therapeutic targets. This is a comprehensive review on potential antidiabetic activities of the Sri Lankan medicinal plants that have been widely used in the traditional healthcare system. The information presented here would fill the gap between the use of them by traditional healers in the traditional medicine healthcare system in Sri Lanka and their potency for development of new drug entities in future.

Antihyperglycemic, Vasodilator, and Diuretic Activities of Microencapsulated Bioactive Product from Moringa stenopetala Leaves Extract

Moringa stenopetala has nutritional and medicinal values, which is widely used by the local communities. The study aimed to evaluate the antihyperglycemic, vasodilator, and diuretic activities of the microencapsulated bioactive product from M. stenopetala leaves extract. Microencapsulation of the extract was done by spray drying technique using maltodextrin and pectin as coating materials with the core: coating ratio of 1 : 6. Then, the antihyperglycemic, diuretic, and vasodilator activities were evaluated after the product was administered to experimental animals at different doses and compared with the control groups. There were no observed physical, behavioral, and physiological changes on the mice during the acute toxicity test. The results also indicated no toxicity signs and death occurrence in the experimental animals up to 5000 mg/kg administered dose. Therefore, microencapsulated M. stenopetala leaves extract does not produce adverse effects in experimental mice. The study also showed that the microencapsulated bioactive product exhibited significant antihyperglycemic, vasodilator, and diuretic activities as the doses increase. Therefore, the study showed that microencapsulated bioactive product has significant medicinal values. Further detailed studies are recommended on chronic toxicity tests and to understand the possible mechanism of actions on the antihyperglycemic, vasodilator, and diuretic activities of the microencapsulated product.

High-Esterified Pectin Reverses Metabolic Malprogramming, Improving Sensitivity to Adipostatic/Adipokine Hormones

Detrimental metabolic programming has become a determinant factor in obesity propensity and the development of metabolic disorders; therefore, the search of nutritional strategies to reverse it is very relevant. Pectin is a prebiotic with health-promoting effects, such as control of glucose homeostasis and lipid metabolism, although other possible health effects and the prevention of obesity have been poorly studied. We studied the effects of chronic physiological supplementation with high-esterified pectin (HEP) in the reversion of metabolic nutrition-sensitive malprogramming associated with gestational undernutrition. As a model of nutrition-sensitive malprogramming, we used the progeny of rats with mild calorie restriction (CR) during pregnancy and analyzed their performance under metabolic stress (high-sucrose diet). We focused on the study of the sensitivity to the main adipostatic/adipokine hormones, i.e., leptin, insulin, and adiponectin, at both peripheral (liver and circulating parameters) and central (hypothalamus) levels. Our main findings suggest that chronic HEP supplementation is able to prevent weight/fat gain, to substantially reverse the detrimental malprogramming caused by the CR condition, to improve general health circulating markers, to modulate oxidative/lipogenic balance in the liver and energy metabolism regulators in the hypothalamus, and to restore/improve adipostatic/adipokine sensitivity affected by maternal calorie restriction, both peripherally and centrally. HEP stands out as a food component potentially useful against the development of metabolic disorders and obesity.

Effect of Phenolic Compounds from Elderflowers on Glucose- and Fatty Acid Uptake in Human Myotubes and HepG2-Cells

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is manifested by progressive metabolic impairments in tissues such as skeletal muscle and liver, and these tissues become less responsive to insulin, leading to hyperglycemia. In the present study, stimulation of glucose and oleic acid uptake by elderflower extracts, constituents and metabolites were tested in vitro using the HepG2 hepatocellular liver carcinoma cell line and human skeletal muscle cells. Among the crude extracts, the 96% EtOH extract showed the highest increase in glucose and oleic acid uptake in human skeletal muscle cells and HepG2-cells. The flavonoids and phenolic acids contained therein were potent stimulators of glucose and fatty acid uptake in a dose-dependent manner. Most of the phenolic constituents and several of the metabolites showed high antioxidant activity and showed considerably higher α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition than acarbose. Elderflower might therefore be valuable as a functional food against diabetes.

Fluorescence imaging in vivo visualizes delayed gastric emptying of liquid enteral nutrition containing pectin

BACKGROUND

Semi-solidification by gelation or increased viscosity could slow the influx of liquid enteral nutrition (EN) into the small intestine. A liquid EN formula containing pectin that gels under acidic conditions such as those found in the stomach has been developed. A new near-infrared fluorescent imaging reagent was used to non-invasively acquire real time images of gastric emptying in a murine model in vivo. We postulated that the EN formula delays gastric emptying and tested this hypothesis using imaging in vivo.

METHODS

Male BALB/c mice were given an oral bolus injection of a liquid EN containing the fluorescence reagent GastroSense750 with or without pectin. The EN in the stomach was visualized in vivo at various intervals using a non-invasive live imaging system and fluorescent signals were monitored from the stomach, which was removed at 60 min after EN ingestion.

RESULTS

The fluorescence intensity of signals in stomachs in vivo and in resected stomachs was lower and attenuated over time in mice given EN without, than with pectin.

CONCLUSIONS

Adding a gelling agent such as pectin delayed the transit of liquid EN from the stomach. Fluorescence imaging can visualize the delayed gastric emptying of EN containing pectin.

High-viscosity dietary fibers reduce adiposity and decrease hepatic steatosis in rats fed a high-fat diet

Viscous dietary fiber consumption lowers the postprandial glucose curve and may decrease obesity and associated comorbidities such as insulin resistance and fatty liver. We determined the effect of 2 viscous fibers, one fermentable and one not, on the development of adiposity, fatty liver, and metabolic flexibility in a model of diet-induced obesity. Rats were fed a normal-fat (NF) diet (26% energy from fat), a high-fat diet (60% energy from fat), each containing 5% fiber as cellulose (CL; nonviscous and nonfermentable), or 5% of 1 of 2 highly viscous fibers-hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC; nonfermentable) or guar gum (GG; fermentable). After 10 wk, fat mass percentage in the NF (18.0%; P = 0.03) and GG groups (17.0%; P < 0.01) was lower than the CL group (20.7%). The epididymal fat pad weight of the NF (3.9 g; P = 0.04), HPMC (3.9 g; P = 0.03), and GG groups (3.6 g; P < 0.01) was also lower than the CL group (5.0 g). The HPMC (0.11 g/g liver) and GG (0.092 g/g liver) groups had lower liver lipid concentrations compared with the CL group (0.14 g/g liver). Fat mass percentage, epididymal fat pad weight, and liver lipid concentration were not different among the NF, HPMC, and GG groups. The respiratory quotient was higher during the transition from the diet-deprived to fed state in the GG group (P = 0.002) and tended to be higher in the HPMC group (P = 0.06) compared with the CL group, suggesting a quicker shift from fatty acid (FA) to carbohydrate oxidation. The HPMC group [15.1 nmol/(mg ⋅ h)] had higher ex vivo palmitate oxidation in muscle compared with the GG [11.7 nmol/(mg ⋅ h); P = 0.04] and CL groups [10.8 nmol/(mg ⋅ h); P < 0.01], implying a higher capacity to oxidize FAs. Viscous fibers can reduce the adiposity and hepatic steatosis that accompany a high-fat diet, and increase metabolic flexibility, regardless of fermentability.

Oral calcium pectinate-insulin nanoparticles: influences of alginate, sodium chloride and Tween 80 on their blood glucose lowering performance

Objective

Examine the formation of pectin-insulin nanoparticles and their blood glucose lowering properties.

Methods

The calcium pectinate nanoparticles were prepared by ionotropic gelation method, with alginate, sodium chloride or Tween 80 as additive. Their in vitro physicochemical, drug release and in vivo blood glucose lowering characteristics were evaluated.

Key findings

Spherical calcium pectinate-insulin nanoparticles were characterized by size, zeta potential, insulin content and insulin association efficiency of 348.4 ± 12.9 nm, −17.9 ± 0.8 mV, 8.4 ± 1.0% and 63.8 ± 7.4%, respectively. They released less than 25% insulin following 24 h in simulated intestinal medium and exhibited delayed blood glucose lowering effect in rats. Incorporation of solubilizer sodium chloride or Tween 80 into nanoparticles did not enhance blood glucose lowering capacity owing to sodium chloride reduced matrix insulin content and Tween 80 interacted with water and had its blood glucose dilution effect negated. Combination of nanoparticles with alginate gel to allow prolonged intestinal residence and more insulin release did not enhance their blood glucose lowering capacity because of calcium alginate-cross-linked gel formation that could retard insulin release and migration into systemic circulation.

Conclusion

Physicochemical responses of additives in vivo affected blood glucose regulation property of pectin-insulin nanoparticles.

Highly methoxylated pectin improves insulin resistance and other cardiometabolic risk factors in Zucker fatty rats

In this study, we evaluated the effect of a highly methoxylated apple pectin (HMAP) on cardiometabolic risk factors in Zucker fatty rats. beta-Glucan, a fiber known for its hypocholesterolemic properties, also was used. The rats fed both fiber-enriched diets exhibited a reduction in body weight and in total cholesterol and triglycerides when compared to the Zucker fatty rats fed the standard diet. The effect on the lipid profile was more remarkable in the HMAP group. A decrease in blood glucose was only noticed in this group. Moreover, a decrease in plasma insulin, HOMA-IR, and HOMA-beta was noticed in the fiber groups, and in particular in the HMAP group, these variables being similar to the lean rats. Blood pressure and endothelial function were similar in all the Zucker fatty rats. These results warrant evaluation in humans to determine if HMAP could be used as a functional ingredient to reduce lipid profile, insulin resistance, and other cardiometabolic risk factors.

Comparison of Prussian blue and apple-pectin efficacy on 137Cs decorporation in rats

Cesium-137 (137Cs) is one of the most important nuclear fission elements that contaminated the environment after the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine (1986). The aim of the study was to compare the efficacy of two chelating agent, Prussian blue and apple-pectin on 137cesium decorporation in rats. Rats were intravenously injected with a solution of 137cesium (5 kBq per rat). Chelating agents, Prussian blue or apple-pectin were given immediately after Cs contamination and during 11 days by addition of each chelating agent in drinking water at a concentration corresponding to 400 mg kg(-1) day(-1). Efficiency was evaluated 11 days after contamination (at the end of treatment) through their ability to promote Cs excretion and to reduce the radionuclide accumulation in some retention compartments (blood, liver, kidneys, spleen, skeleton and in the remaining carcass). In these conditions after treatment with Prussian blue a fivefold increase in fecal excretion of Cs was observed and was associated with a reduction in the radionuclide retention in the main organs measured. In contrast, no significant differences were observed between untreated rats and rats treated with apple-pectin. These observations were discussed in terms of ability of pectins to bind Cs and compared to recently published results obtained after treatment of Cs-contaminated children with this chelate.