Japanese, Mediterranean and Argentinean diets and their potential roles in neurodegenerative diseases

Environmental factors are responsible of cellular senescence and processes found in the development of cognitive disorders. The aim of this paper is to compare benefits of the Japanese, Mediterranean, and Argentinian Diet on the onset or prevention of senile dementia (SD) and Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Special focus was on the effects of specific compounds such as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), antioxidants, and saturated and trans fatty acids. A high adherence to diets rich in PUFAs, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and antioxidants may decrease the risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases; while the predominance of saturated and trans fatty acids possibly rises it.

Antioxidant activities of a peptide derived from chicken dark meat

Antioxidant activities against hypochlorite ions and peroxyl radicals of a chicken dark meat hydrolysate digested with pepsin were examined with the myoglobin method based on the structure change of myoglobin due to redox reaction with reactive oxygen species (ROS). A peptide that showed strong antioxidant activity against the peroxyl radical was isolated from the hydrolysate using HPLC equipped with a hydrophobic-interacting column. The sequence of the first five amino acid residues of the peptide was determined as YASGR (Tyr-Ala-Ser-Gly-Arg), and this sequence matched with the amino acid residues 143-147 of chicken β-actin (GenBank: CAA25004.1). The synthetic peptide YASGR showed very high antioxidant activity against the peroxyl radical. Antioxidant activities of the free amino acids, confirmed that the tyrosine residue of this peptide was possibly responsible for antioxidant activity.