A Systematic Review of the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed: Tendencies in Illegal Food Supplements for Weight Loss

Popularity of Surgical and Pharmacological Obesity Treatment Methods Searched by Google Users: the Retrospective Analysis of Google Trends Statistics in 2004-2022

PURPOSE

Many individuals search for obesity treatment options on the Internet. We aimed to analyze the popularity of pharmacological and surgical obesity treatment methods searched by Google users.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We used Google Trends to identify topics representing the following: recommended surgical methods (n = 9), recommended pharmacological methods (n = 10), and not recommended pharmacological methods (n = 34). The data was generated for 2004-2022 and 2020-2022. Relative search volume (RSV) was adjusted using "Gastric bypass surgery" as a benchmark. We analyzed the geographical and temporal trends of the topics.

RESULTS

In 2004-2022, the topics representing recommended surgical methods numerically gained the most popularity among Google users, but in 2020-2022 the recommended drugs exceeded other obesity treatment methods. The most popular individual topics since 2004 were "flaxseed," "Spirulina," "Carnitine," "Bariatric surgery," and "Orlistat." The most dynamic increases of searches since 2004 were observed for "Sleeve gastrectomy," "Curcumin," "Psyllium," and "Bupropion/Naltrexon." Since 2018, topics representing GLP-1 analogs such as "Semaglutide" and "Saxenda" revealed exponential increases in RSV, causing that "Semaglutide" to become the fourth most popular topic in 2020-2022.

CONCLUSIONS

Google users across the world were the most interested in topics representing bariatric surgery, but recently recommended drugs for the treatment of obesity gained the most attention. The most popular individual topics were dietary supplements with uncertain effects on weight loss.

The presence of doping agents in dietary supplements: A glimpse into the Brazilian situation

Dietary supplements (DS) are intended for healthy people to maintain or improve their overall health. Its consumption is widespread in large part of the general population and at all levels of athletes. Nevertheless, DS use can also pose health risks to individuals and, in the case of athletes, may lead to adverse analytical findings (AAFs) due to the possibility of DS contamination or adulteration with doping agents banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Although educational initiatives are being performed in Brazil to warn the sports community about inadvertent doping cases, AAFs connected to the DS administration have been increasingly growing. The findings of DS analyzed by the Brazilian Doping Control Laboratory (LBCD), between 2017 and 2022, after Testing Authorities (TAs) analysis requests, showed an alarming number of tainted samples. Diuretics were the most common adulterants found in all supplement types. However, the profile of prohibited substances in manufactured and compounded dietary supplements (MDS and CDS, respectively) were distinct, with stimulants being most prevalent in MDS and anabolic agents in CDS products. Additionally, MDS samples generally presented higher estimated concentrations of banned substances (mg/g) than CDS samples (μg/g). The common practice of DS intake by athletes continues to be of great concern for a doping-free sport, given the high prevalence of prohibited substances detected in the analyzed samples by the LBCD. The current Brazilian scenario reinforces the importance of raising awareness in the sports community of the possible consequences of an unintentional doping case linked to DS use.

A Comprehensive Review of Phytonutrients as a Dietary Therapy for Obesity

Obesity is a complex medical condition mainly caused by eating habits, genetics, lifestyle, and medicine. The present study deals with traditional diets like the Mediterranean diet, Nordic diet, African Heritage diet, Asian diet, and DASH, as these are considered to be sustainable diets for curing obesity. However, the bioavailability of phytonutrients consumed in the diet may vary, depending on several factors such as digestion and absorption of phytonutrients, interaction with other substances, cooking processes, and individual differences. Hence, several phytochemicals, like polyphenols, alkaloids, saponins, terpenoids, etc., have been investigated to assess their efficiencies and safety in the prevention and treatment of obesity. These phytochemicals have anti-obesity effects, mediated via modulation of many pathways, such as decreased lipogenesis, lipid absorption, accelerated lipolysis, energy intake, expenditure, and preadipocyte differentiation and proliferation. Owing to these anti-obesity effects, new food formulations incorporating these phytonutrients were introduced that can be beneficial in reducing the prevalence of obesity and promoting public health.

Notifications and Health Consequences of Unauthorized Pharmaceuticals in Food Supplements

Health concerns associated with the consumption of food supplements rise in parallel with the rise in the popularity and market availability of these products. In pursuit of data related to the unauthorized presence of pharmaceuticals in food supplements, the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) database was searched for the 2011-2022 period. The most "popular" pharmaceuticals for the adulteration of food supplements were phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (235 records); anorexics and laxatives (76), including sibutramine and its active metabolite N-didesmethyl sibutramine, phenolphthalein and 2,4-dinitrophenol; stimulants, among which 1,3-dimethylamine (97), and synephrine (53) were the most numerous; nootropic drugs (24); anabolics and prohormones (16); and cannabinoid cannabidiol (14) (pending authorization as a novel food ingredient). Over 65% of notifications of interest were classified as serious risks, and over 80% of these were alert or border rejection notifications, mainly generated as a result of official control on the market. The alarming number of RASFF notifications should be considered a public health issue, demanding clear and targeted recommendation for action for the legislature and authorities. A harmonized nutrivigilance system should be considered as a tool to detect and scrutinize the adverse health effects of food supplements, along with measures to improve their safety, quality, and testing.

Weak regulations threaten the safety of consumers from harmful weight-loss supplements globally: results from a pilot global policy scan

OBJECTIVE

To pilot a global policy scan assessing how governments worldwide regulate weight-loss supplements (WLS).

DESIGN

Experts on WLS policies from thirty countries that varied by World Bank income classification, with five from each of the six WHO regions, completed an online survey on WLS regulation in their country. The survey covered six domains: legal frameworks; pre-market requirements; claims, labelling, and advertisements; product availability; adverse events reporting; and monitoring and enforcement. Percentages were calculated for presence or absence of a type of regulation.

SETTING

Experts were recruited through websites of regulatory bodies and professional LinkedIn networks and scientific article searches on Google Scholar.

PARTICIPANTS

Thirty experts, one from each country (i.e. researchers, regulators, other experts in food and drug regulation).

RESULTS

WLS regulations varied widely across countries, and a number of gaps were identified. One country (Nigeria) has a minimum legal age to purchase WLS. Thirteen countries reported independently evaluating the safety of a new WLS product sample. Two countries have limitations on where WLS can be sold. In eleven countries, reports on adverse events related to WLS are publicly available. In eighteen countries, safety of new WLS is to be established through scientific criteria. Penalties for WLS non-compliance with pre-market regulations exist in twelve countries and labelling requirements in sixteen countries.

CONCLUSIONS

Results of this pilot study document wide variability in national WLS regulations globally, exposing many gaps in important components of consumer protection regulatory frameworks for WLS, which likely put consumer health at risk.

Multidimensional Chromatographic Fingerprinting Combined with Chemometrics for the Identification of Regulated Plants in Suspicious Plant Food Supplements

The popularity of plant food supplements has seen explosive growth all over the world, making them susceptible to adulteration and fraud. This necessitates a screening approach for the detection of regulated plants in plant food supplements, which are usually composed of complex plant mixtures, thus making the approach not so straightforward. This paper aims to tackle this problem by developing a multidimensional chromatographic fingerprinting method aided by chemometrics. To render more specificity to the chromatogram, a multidimensional fingerprint (absorbance × wavelength × retention time) was considered. This was achieved by selecting several wavelengths through a correlation analysis. The data were recorded using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with diode array detection (DAD). Chemometric modelling was performed by partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) through (a) binary modelling and (b) multiclass modelling. The correct classification rates (ccr%) by cross-validation, modelling, and external test set validation were satisfactory for both approaches, but upon further comparison, binary models were preferred. As a proof of concept, the models were applied to twelve samples for the detection of four regulated plants. Overall, it was revealed that the combination of multidimensional fingerprinting data with chemometrics was feasible for the identification of regulated plants in complex botanical matrices.

Development of a multianalytical strategy for detection of frauds in Coleus forskohlii supplements

A new multianalytical methodology based on gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) has been proposed to evaluate frauds affecting the composition of Coleus forskohlii root supplements (FKS). After optimization and validation of chromatographic methods, 24 FKS were analyzed. Forskolin, their main bioactive component, was only found in 50% of the FKS evaluated (in the 0.032-17.1% range), with 27% of these supplements showing concentrations of this bioactive lower than those declared in their labels. Application of this methodology also proved to be successful for the detection of frauds regarding the replacement of C. forskohlii by other vegetable sources (green tea, soy leaves and a plant of the Berberidaceae family) in 17% of supplements analyzed. A study on stability of forskolin under accelerated conditions allowed to rule out its degradation as responsible for the lack of this bioactive or other natural constituents in 25% of FKS evaluated. It can be concluded that the multianalytical methodology here developed is an advantageous alternative to address the wide diversity of frauds affecting these supplements.

Mitochondrial Uncoupling Proteins (UCP1-UCP3) and Adenine Nucleotide Translocase (ANT1) Enhance the Protonophoric Action of 2,4-Dinitrophenol in Mitochondria and Planar Bilayer Membranes

2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP) is a classic uncoupler of oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria which is still used in “diet pills”, despite its high toxicity and lack of antidotes. DNP increases the proton current through pure lipid membranes, similar to other chemical uncouplers. However, the molecular mechanism of its action in the mitochondria is far from being understood. The sensitivity of DNP’s uncoupling action in mitochondria to carboxyatractyloside, a specific inhibitor of adenine nucleotide translocase (ANT), suggests the involvement of ANT and probably other mitochondrial proton-transporting proteins in the DNP’s protonophoric activity. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the contribution of recombinant ANT1 and the uncoupling proteins UCP1-UCP3 to DNP-mediated proton leakage using the well-defined model of planar bilayer lipid membranes. All four proteins significantly enhanced the protonophoric effect of DNP. Notably, only long-chain free fatty acids were previously shown to be co-factors of UCPs and ANT1. Using site-directed mutagenesis and molecular dynamics simulations, we showed that arginine 79 of ANT1 is crucial for the DNP-mediated increase of membrane conductance, implying that this amino acid participates in DNP binding to ANT1.

Real-Time Intraoperative Assessment of Microcirculation in Living-Donor Small Bowel Transplant: A Case Report

Living-donor small bowel transplant has emerged as a modality to transplant patients with short bowel syndrome without prolonged wait time, albeit at the cost of technical challenges associated with vascular anastomosis due to the small size of vessels. Suboptimal perfusion in a transplanted bowel can lead to a devastating outcome, and clinical judgment alone is not completely reliable for assessment of bowel microcirculation. Here, we report a 55-year-old female patient who underwent flow cytometric cross-match-positive living-donor bowel transplant from her daughter. Initial suboptimal perfusion prompted a revision of the arterial anastomoses. Despite normal Doppler signals over the mesenteric vessels, the bowel had a variegated appearance. The microcirculation of the bowel wall was subsequently assessed in a real-time fashion by indocyanine green fluorescence angiography, which showed improved perfusion indices with time. Hence, this simple test helped us to avoid another unnecessary exploration and revision of the anastomoses. At present, the patient is thriving on an enteral diet. This case underpins the importance of real-time intraoperative assessment of bowel per-fusion and microcirculation in difficult cases. These assessments are needed to help surgeons identify tissues at risk for ischemia and necrosis, thereby allowing for maneuvers to improve intestinal viability.