Impact of Nutrient Intake on Hydration Biomarkers Following Exercise and Rehydration Using a Clustering-Based Approach

Effectiveness of a Single Prolonged Aerobic Exercise Session on Executive Function Task Performance in Physically Active Adults (21-70 Years of Age)

We sought to examine the effectiveness of an acute prolonged exercise session on post-exercise executive function in physically active adults and to assess if age or pre-exercise cognitive performance was predictive of the magnitude of change in executive task performance. Self-registered cyclists were recruited prior to participating in a 161-km mass-participation cycling event. Cyclists were excluded if they had not previously participated in a similar endurance event, were young (<18 y), or were cognitively impaired (Mini CogTM < 3 units). Immediately after completing the exercise session, the time taken to complete Trail Making Test Part A and Part B (TMT A + B) was assessed. A faster time to complete the TMT A + B was observed after exercise (+8.5%; p = 0.0003; n = 62; age range = 21-70 y). The magnitude of change in TMT A + B performance (pre vs. post) was influenced by pre-exercise TMT A + B performance (r2 = 0.23, p < 0.0001), not age (r2 =0.002; p = 0.75). Prolonged exercise had a small-to-moderate effect on post-exercise compared to pre-exercise executive function task performance (Cohen's d = 0.38-0.49). These results support the effectiveness of a single prolonged exercise bout to augment executive function in physically active adults, irrespective of age.

D-Pinitol-Active Natural Product from Carob with Notable Insulin Regulation

Carob is one of the major food trees for peoples of the Mediterranean basin, but it has also been traditionally used for medicinal purposes. Carob contains many nutrients and active natural products, and D-Pinitol is clearly one of the most important of these. D-Pinitol has been reported in dozens of scientific publications and its very diverse medicinal properties are still being studied. Presently, more than thirty medicinal activities of D-Pinitol have been reported. Among these, many publications have reported the strong activities of D-Pinitol as a natural antidiabetic and insulin regulator, but also as an active anti-Alzheimer, anticancer, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory, and is also immune- and hepato-protective. In this review, we will present a brief introduction of the nutritional and medicinal importance of Carob, both traditionally and as found by modern research. In the introduction, we will present Carob’s major active natural products. The structures of inositols will be presented with a brief literature summary of their medicinal activities, with special attention to those inositols in Carob, as well as D-Pinitol’s chemical structure and its medicinal and other properties. D-Pinitol antidiabetic and insulin regulation activities will be extensively presented, including its proposed mechanism of action. Finally, a discussion followed by the conclusions and future vision will summarize this article.

Artificial intelligence in nutrition research: perspectives on current and future applications

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a rapidly evolving area that offers unparalleled opportunities of progress and applications in many healthcare fields. In this review, we provide an overview of the main and latest applications of AI in nutrition research and identify gaps to address to potentialize this emerging field. AI algorithms may help better understand and predict the complex and non-linear interactions between nutrition-related data and health outcomes, particularly when large amounts of data need to be structured and integrated, such as in metabolomics. AI-based approaches, including image recognition, may also improve dietary assessment by maximizing efficiency and addressing systematic and random errors associated with self-reported measurements of dietary intakes. Finally, AI applications can extract, structure and analyze large amounts of data from social media platforms to better understand dietary behaviours and perceptions among the population. In summary, AI-based approaches will likely improve and advance nutrition research as well as help explore new applications. However, further research is needed to identify areas where AI does deliver added value compared with traditional approaches, and other areas where AI is simply not likely to advance the field. Novelty: Artificial intelligence offers unparalleled opportunities of progress and applications in nutrition. There remain gaps to address to potentialize this emerging field.

Influence of Nutrient Intake on 24 Hour Urinary Hydration Biomarkers Using a Clustering-Based Approach

Previous work focusing on understanding nutrient intake and its association with total body water homeostasis neglects to consider the collinearity of types of nutrients consumed and subsequent associations with hydration biomarkers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze consumption patterns of 23 a priori selected nutrients involved in osmotic homeostasis, as well as their association with 24 h urinary hydration markers among fifty African–American first-year college students through a repeated measures observation in a daily living setting. Through application of hierarchical clustering, we were able to identity four clusters of nutrients based on 24 h dietary recalls: (1) alcohol + pinitol, (2) water + calcium + magnesium + erythritol + inositol + sorbitol + xylitol, (3) total calories + total fat + total protein + potassium + sodium + zinc + phosphorous + arginine, and (4) total carbohydrates + total fiber + soluble fiber + insoluble fiber + mannitol + betaine. Furthermore, we found that consumption of nutrients in Cluster #2 was significantly predictive of urine osmolality (p = 0.004); no other clusters showed statistically significant associations with 24 h urinary hydration biomarkers. We conclude that there may be some nutrients that are commonly consumed concomitantly (at the day level), across a variety of settings and populations, and that a limited subset of the clustering of these nutrients may associate with body water status.