METHODOLOGY: Eight (8) urine and serum samples each obtained from consenting healthy controls (HC), twenty-five (25) urine and serum samples each from first episode treatment naïve MDD (TNMDD) patients, and twenty (22) urine and serum samples each s from treatment naïve MDD patients 2 weeks after SSRI treatment (TWMDD) were analysed for metabolites using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR) spectroscopy. The evaluation of patients' samples was carried out using Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) and Orthogonal Partial Least Square- Discriminant Analysis (OPLSDA) models.
RESULTS: In the serum, decreased levels of lactate, glucose, glutamine, creatinine, acetate, valine, alanine, and fatty acid and an increased level of acetone and choline in TNMDD or TWMDD irrespective of whether an OPLSDA or PLSDA evaluation was used were identified. A test for statistical validations of these models was successful.
CONCLUSION: Only some changes in serum metabolite levels between HC and TNMDD identified in this study have potential values in the diagnosis of MDD. These changes included decreased levels of lactate, glutamine, creatinine, valine, alanine, and fatty acid, as well as an increased level of acetone and choline in TNMDD. The diagnostic value of these changes in metabolites was maintained in samples from TWMDD patients, thus reaffirming the diagnostic nature of these metabolites for MDD.
RESULTS: Three days of incubation in darkness increased saturated fatty acid (SFA) content from 34.0 to 41.4% but decreased monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) content from 36.7 to 29.8%. Palmitic acid (C16:0) content was increased from 23.2 to 28.9%, whereas oleic acid (C18:1) content was reduced from 35.4 to 28.8%. Total oil content was slightly decreased from 20.4 to 18.7% after 3 days of darkness, without a significant reduction in biomass compared to 3 days of incubation in light. Biomass and oil content was highest in cultures incubated for 6 days in light, however the stimulatory and inhibitory effects of darkness (or light) on SFA and MUFA content was no longer present at 6 days of incubation.
CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study suggests that fatty acid composition in C. vulgaris could be modulated to favor either C16:0 or C18:1 by a brief period of either darkness or light incubation, prior to harvesting.
RESULTS: A combined process of microwave pretreatment and solvent extraction to mill crude palm oil, without introducing water or steam, is described. An excellent yield (up to 30%) of oil was obtained with pretreatment in a 42 L, 1000 W and 2450 MHz microwave oven followed by hexane extraction. The optimum conditions (10 min microwave pretreatment and 12 h solvent extraction) yielded an oil with a low free fatty acid content (<1.0%) and an acceptable anisidine value (<3.0 meq kg(-1) ). The oil had a fatty acid composition not resembling those of conventional crude palm oil and crude palm kernel oil. In the pretreatment, the leached oil had 6.3% lauric acid whereas the solvent extracted oil had only 1.5% lauric acid. Among the factors affecting the oil quality, microwave pretreatment affected the oil quality significantly; however, an optimised duration that would ensure high efficiency in solvent extraction also resulted in ruptured fruitlets, although not to the extent of causing excessive oxidation. In fact, microwave pretreatment should exceed 12 min; after only 15 min, the oil had 1-methylcyclopentanol (12.96%), 1-tetradecanol (9.44%), 1-nonadecene (7.22%), nonanal (7.13%) and 1-tridecene (5.09%), which probably arose from the degradation of fibres.
CONCLUSION: Microwave pretreatment represents an alternative milling process for crude palm oil compared with conventional processes in the omission of wet treatment with steam. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.
DESIGN: The NNPS is a category-specific system that calculates nutrient targets per serving as consumed, based on age-adjusted dietary guidelines. Products are aggregated into 32 food categories. The NNPS ensures that excessive amounts of nutrients to limit cannot be compensated for by adding nutrients to encourage. A study was conducted to measure changes in nutrient profiles of the most widely purchased Nestlé products from eight food categories (n = 99) in the USA and France. A comparison was made between the 2009-2010 and 2014-2015 products.
RESULTS: The application of the NNPS between 2009-2010 and 2014-2015 was associated with an overall downwards trend for all nutrients to limit. Sodium and total sugars contents were reduced by up to 22 and 31 %, respectively. Saturated Fatty Acids and total fat reductions were less homogeneous across categories, with children products having larger reductions. Energy per serving was reduced by <10 % in most categories, while serving sizes remained unchanged.
CONCLUSIONS: The NNPS sets feasible and yet challenging targets for public health-oriented reformulation of a varied product portfolio; its application was associated with improved nutrient density in eight major food categories in the USA and France. Confirmatory analyses are needed in other countries and food categories; the impact of such a large-scale reformulation on dietary intake and health remains to be investigated.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: We assessed the association between plasma phospholipid fatty acids and breast cancer risk in a case-control study nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study. Sixty fatty acids were measured by gas chromatography in pre-diagnostic plasma phospholipids from 2982 incident breast cancer cases matched to 2982 controls. Conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate relative risk of breast cancer by fatty acid level. The false discovery rate (q values) was computed to control for multiple comparisons. Subgroup analyses were carried out by estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor expression in the tumours.
RESULTS: A high level of palmitoleic acid [odds ratio (OR) for the highest quartile compared with the lowest OR (Q4-Q1) 1.37; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.14-1.64; P for trend = 0.0001, q value = 0.004] as well as a high desaturation index (DI16) (16:1n-7/16:0) [OR (Q4-Q1), 1.28; 95% C, 1.07-1.54; P for trend = 0.002, q value = 0.037], as biomarkers of de novo lipogenesis, were significantly associated with increased risk of breast cancer. Levels of industrial trans-fatty acids were positively associated with ER-negative tumours [OR for the highest tertile compared with the lowest (T3-T1)=2.01; 95% CI, 1.03-3.90; P for trend = 0.047], whereas no association was found for ER-positive tumours (P-heterogeneity =0.01). No significant association was found between n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and breast cancer risk, overall or by hormonal receptor.
CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that increased de novo lipogenesis, acting through increased synthesis of palmitoleic acid, could be a relevant metabolic pathway for breast tumourigenesis. Dietary trans-fatty acids derived from industrial processes may specifically increase ER-negative breast cancer risk.