The sophisticated relationship between the intake of dietary carbohydrates and host immunity is mediated in large part by the gut microbiota. This comprehensive review explores the multifaceted connections linking human gut microbiota with nondigestible carbohydrate metabolism and immune responses, highlighting the critical importance of this symbiotic relationship in maintaining overall host health. Understanding the mechanisms by which gut microbiota act as a bridge between carbohydrate intake and host immunity has significant implications for precision nutrition strategies and the development of therapeutic interventions.

We aimed to investigate the intricate interplay between genetic predisposition and lifestyle factors on stroke. We conducted a comprehensive genome-wide association study to identify the genetic variants linked to stroke in the participants who experienced a stroke event (cases; n 672) and those with no stroke history (non-stroke; n 58 029) in a large hospital-based cohort. Using generalised multifactor dimensionality reduction, we identified genetic variants with interactive effects and constructed polygenic risk scores (PRS) by summing up the risk alleles from the genetic variants. Food intake was measured with a validated semi-quantitative FFQ. No significant differences in stroke incidence were seen in demographic variables between the two groups. Among the metabolic indicators, only serum TAG levels were higher in males with stroke than those without stroke. The daily nutrient intake, dietary inflammation index, glycaemic index, dietary patterns, alcohol consumption, exercise and smoking did not display associations with the OR for stroke. The stroke-linked genetic variants were related to the IL-18 pathway. After accounting for covariates, the PRS derived from the 5-, 6- and 7-SNP models were positively associated with stroke chance with 2·5-, 2·9- and 2·8-fold. Furthermore, interactions between genetic predisposition and dietary components, including energy, carbohydrates, n-3 fatty acids and branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), that affected OR for stroke were observed. A high intake of energy, carbohydrates and BCAA and a low intake of n-3 fatty acids were positively associated with the chances of stroke occurrence. In conclusion, understanding the interaction between genetic variants and lifestyle factors can assist in developing stroke prevention and management strategies.

The main cause of mortality in great apes in zoological settings is cardiovascular disease (CVD), affecting all four taxa: chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), bonobo (Pan paniscus), gorilla (Gorilla spp.) and orangutan (Pongo spp.). Myocardial fibrosis, the most typical histological characterisation of CVD in great apes, is non-specific, making it challenging to understand the aetiopathogenesis. A multifactorial origin of disease is assumed whereby many potential causative factors are directly or indirectly related to the diet, which in wild-living great apes mainly consists of high-fibre, low-carbohydrate and very low-sodium components. Diets of great apes housed in zoological settings are often different compared with the situation in the wild. Moreover, low circulating vitamin D levels have recently been recognised in great apes housed in more northern regions. Evaluation of current supplementation guidelines shows that, despite implementation of different dietary strategies, animals stay vitamin D insufficient. Therefore, recent hypotheses designate vitamin D deficiency as a potential underlying factor in the pathogenesis of myocardial fibrosis. The aim of this literature review is to: (i) examine important differences in nutritional factors between zoological and wild great ape populations; (ii) explain the potential detrimental effects of the highlighted dietary discrepancies on cardiovascular function in great apes; and (iii) elucidate specific nutrition-related pathophysiological mechanisms that may underlie the development of myocardial fibrosis. This information may contribute to understanding the aetiopathogenesis of myocardial fibrosis in great apes and pave the way for future clinical studies and a more preventive approach to great ape CVD management.

The objective of this study was to determine whether smectites abiotically catalyze transformation of glucose under conditions relevant to soil organic matter (SOM) formation. Four smectites saturated with Na, Ca, Fe and Al were incubated under abiotic conditions with glucose solutions for 21 days at 37°C. After the incubations, soluble organic C recoveries ranged from 95 to 109.3%, relative to the amount of C added as glucose; however, glucose recoveries in the solutions ranged from 18.3 to 98.3%. The results indicate that a significant amount of the added glucose was abiotically transformed to soluble organic compounds other than glucose during the incubations. In general, glucose recoveries decreased with the acidic character of smectites: SWa-1 > Panther > Otay. Also, within clays, glucose recoveries decreased as the exchangeable cation became more acidic: Na > Ca > Al. Higher glucose recoveries were obtained for ‘Fe-rich’ smectites relative to ‘Fe-poor’ smectites, suggesting that Fe-oxyhydroxy coatings on smectite surfaces inhibit the transformation of glucose. High-pressure liquid chromatography analysis of the incubation solutions revealed small peaks for 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furaldehyde along with peaks for other unknown compounds. The results suggest that under conditions similar to those found in soils, smectites catalyze glucose dehydration to form furfural compounds. Polymerization of furfural compounds may be a major pathway leading to the formation of new humic materials in soils.

The present study elucidates the association of intrinsic sugars and free sugars (FS) from all relevant sources with all-cause mortality in the prospective UK Biobank cohort. Sugar intake was assessed in 186 811 UK Biobank participants who completed at least one web-based 24-h dietary recall (Oxford WebQ). Cox proportional hazard regression models for all-cause mortality were used with sugar intake from different sources included as penalised cubic splines to allow non-linear predictor effects. Over a mean follow-up of 12·3 years, 8576 (4·6 %) deaths occurred. FS but not intrinsic sugars were significantly and dose-dependently associated with hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality. The association with all-cause mortality was significant and dose dependent for FS in beverages, but not in solids with the mean (CI) HR at 50 g/d v. 0 g/d consumption at 1·10, 95 % CI (1·07, 1·14) and 1·01, 95 % CI (0·98, 1·03), respectively. Within the beverages subcategories, a significant dose-dependent association with mortality was detected for FS in soda/fruit drinks and milk-based drinks whereas this relation was NS for FS in pure juice and tea/coffee. FS in four different subtypes of solids, i.e. treats, cereals, toppings and sauces, were not positively associated with all-cause mortality. Major findings were robust in sensitivity analyses. In conclusion, only some FS sources were associated with all-cause mortality. Interventions targeting FS subtypes might be most effective concerning mortality if focused on the reduction of soda/fruit drinks and milk-based sugary drinks; however, the present results need to be confirmed by independent studies.

Changes in body composition and dietary intake occur following spinal cord injury (SCI). The Geometric Framework for Nutrition (GFN) is a tool that allows the examination of the complex relationships between multiple nutrition factors and health parameters within a single model. This study aimed to utilize the GFN to examine the associations between self-reported macronutrient intakes and body composition in persons with chronic SCI. Forty-eight individuals with chronic SCI were recruited. Participants completed and returned 3- or 5-day self-reported dietary recall sheets. Dietary intake of macronutrients (fats, proteins, and carbohydrates) were analysed. Anthropometric measures (circumferences), dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were used to assess whlole-body composition. Associations between all circumference measures and carbohydrates were observed. Among MRI measures, only significant associations between subcutaneous adipose tissue and protein x carbohydrate as well as carbohydrates alone were identified. Carbohydrates were negatively associated with several measures of fat mass as measured by DXA. Overall, carbohydrates appear to play an important role in body composition among individuals with SCI. Higher carbohydrate intake was associated with lower fat mass. Additional research is needed to determine how carbohydrate intake influences body composition and cardiometabolic health after SCI.

Low-grade subclinical inflammation is interrelated with metabolic diseases, and its susceptibility interacts with genetic and environmental factors. We aimed to examine genetic variants related to a high risk for inflammation using serum C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration, interactions among the genetic variants and the genetic variant interaction with dietary and lifestyle factors in adults. The participants were divided into case and control by serum CRP concentrations: ≥ 0·5 mg/dl (case; n 2018) and < 0·5 mg/dl (control; n 47 185). Genetic variants contributing to high inflammation risk were selected using GWAS after adjusting covariates to influence inflammation, and genetic variant–genetic variant interactions were identified by generalised multifactor dimensionality reduction analysis. Polygenetic-risk scores (PRS) were constructed from the selected genetic variants, and PRS–nutrient interactions for the high inflammation risk were determined. The PRS included CRP_rs1205, OASL_rs3213545, APOE_rs429358, HNF1A_rs1169286, APOC1_rs7256200 and SLC13A3_rs424697. The PRS was positively associated with serum CRP concentration by 2·0 times after adjusting for covariates. The PRS interacted with age: older participants with High-PRS had much higher serum CRP concentrations than those with Low-PRS. Intake of carbohydrates, MUFA and vitamin D exhibited an interaction with PRS for inflammation risk (P < 0·05). In participants with high-carbohydrate/low-fat diets and low vitamin D intakes, those with High-PRS had a higher risk of serum CRP concentrations than those with Low-PRS. In conclusion, the participants with inflammation-related PRS potentially worsened inflammation status, especially in diets with high carbohydrates, low fat (especially MUFA) and low vitamin D. These results can be applied to personalised nutrition to reduce inflammation risk.

In a recent issue of American Antiquity, two articles (Gill et al. 2021; Lyons et al. 2021) perpetuate the common misconception that dietary carbohydrates are an essential component of the human diet and that plants—the main source of dietary carbohydrates—must be consumed to promote health. In fact, carbohydrate is a nonessential macronutrient with adequate amounts of energy—the sole function of carbohydrates in the human diet—being produced via gluconeogenesis and ketogenesis in the absence of dietary carbohydrate. Additionally, both articles erroneously employ the term “dietary staple” in reference to geophyte consumption.

Legumes are a staple of diets all around the world. In some least developed countries, they are the primary source of protein; however, their beneficial properties go beyond their nutritional value. Recent research has shown that legumes have bioactive compounds like peptides, polyphenols and saponins, which exhibit antioxidant, antihypertensive, anti-inflammatory and other biological activities. Thus, these compounds could be an alternative treatment for inflammatory diseases, in particular, chronic inflammation such as arthritis, obesity and cancer. Nowadays, there is a growing interest in alternative therapies derived from natural products; accordingly, the present review has compiled the bioactive compounds found in legumes that have demonstrated an anti-inflammatory effect in non-clinical studies.

Many persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) have one or more preventable chronic diseases related to excessive energetic intake and poor eating patterns. Appropriate nutrient consumption relative to need becomes a concern despite authoritative dietary recommendations from around the world. These recommendations were developed for the non-disabled population and do not account for the injury-induced changes in body composition, hypometabolic rate, hormonal dysregulation and nutrition status after SCI. Because evidence-based dietary reference intake values for SCI do not exist, ensuring appropriate consumption of macronutrient and micronutrients for their energy requirements becomes a challenge. In this compressive review, we briefly evaluate aspects of energy balance and appetite control relative to SCI. We report on the evidence regarding energy expenditure, nutrient intake and their relationship after SCI. We compare these data with several established nutritional guidelines from American Heart Association, Australian Dietary Guidelines, Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Institute of Medicine Dietary Reference Intake, Public Health England Government Dietary Recommendations, WHO Healthy Diet and the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) Clinical Practice Guidelines. We also provide practical assessment and nutritional recommendations to facilitate a healthy dietary pattern after SCI. Because of a lack of strong SCI research, there are currently limited dietary recommendations outside of the PVA guidelines that capture the unique nutrient needs after SCI. Future multicentre clinical trials are needed to develop comprehensive, evidence-based dietary reference values specific for persons with SCI across the care continuum that rely on accurate, individual assessment of energy need.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) was defined in 1980 and has the same histological characteristics as alcoholic liver disease except for alcohol consumption. After 40 years, the understanding of this disease is still imperfect. Without specific drugs available for treatment, the number of patients with NAFLD is increasing rapidly, and NAFLD currently affects more than one-quarter of the global population. NAFLD is mostly caused by a sedentary lifestyle and excessive energy intake of fat and sugar. To ameliorate or avoid NAFLD, people commonly replace high-fat foods with high-carbohydrate foods (especially starchy carbohydrates) as a way to reduce caloric intake and reach satiety. However, there are few studies that concentrate on the effect of carbohydrate intake on liver metabolism in patients with NAFLD, much fewer than the studies on fat intake. Besides, most of these studies are not systematic, which has made identification of the mechanism difficult. In this review, we collected and analysed data from studies on human and animal models and, surprisingly, found that carbohydrates and liver steatosis could be linked by inflammation. This review not only describes the effects of carbohydrates on NAFLD and body lipid metabolism but also analyses and predicts possible molecular pathways of carbohydrates in liver lipid synthesis that involve inflammation. Furthermore, the limitations of recent research and possible targets for regulating inflammation and lipogenesis are discussed. This review describes the effects of starchy carbohydrates, a nutrient signal, on NAFLD from the perspective of inflammation.

A12-week experiment was conducted to evaluate the influences of thiamine ongrowth performance, and intestinal mitochondrial biogenesis and function of Megalobramaamblycephala fed a high-carbohydrate (HC) diet. Fish (24·73 (sem 0·45) g) were randomly assigned to one of four diets: two carbohydrate (CHO) levels (30 and 45 %) and two thiamine levels (0 and 1·5 mg/kg). HC diets significantly decreased DGC, GRMBW, FIMBW, intestinal activities of amylase, lipase, Na+, K+-ATPase, CK, complexes I, III and IV, intestinal ML, number of mitochondrial per field, ΔΨm, the P-AMPK: T-AMPK ratio, PGC-1β protein expression as well as the transcriptions of AMPKα1, AMPKα2, PGC-1β, mitochondrial transcription factor A, Opa-1, ND-1 and COX-1 and 2, while the opposite was true for ATP, AMP and reactive oxygen species, and the transcriptions of dynamin-related protein-1, fission-1 and mitochondrial fission factor. Dietarythiamine concentrations significantly increased DGC, GRMBW, intestinal activities of amylase, Na+, K+-ATPase, CK, complexes I and IV, intestinal ML, number of mitochondrial per field, ΔΨm, the P-AMPK:T-AMPK ratio, PGC-1β protein expression as well as the transcriptions of AMPKα1, AMPKα2, PGC-1β, Opa-1, ND-1, COX-1 and 2, SGLT-1 and GLUT-2. Furthermore, a significant interaction between dietary CHO and thiamine was observed in DGC, GRMBW, intestinal activities of amylase, CK, complexes I and IV, ΔΨm, the AMP:ATP ratio, the P-AMPK:T-AMPK ratio, PGC-1β protein expression as well as the transcriptions of AMPKα1, AMPKα2, PGC-1β, Opa-1, COX-1 and 2, SGLT-1 and GLUT-2. Overall, thiamine supplementation improved growth performance, and intestinal mitochondrial biogenesis and function of M. amblycephala fed HC diets.

Dietary carbohydrates have long been expected to be associated with risk of type 2 diabetes; however, the associations for many carbohydrates and carbohydrate-rich foods remain inconclusive. This study analysed associations between intakes of six types of carbohydrates and thirteen carbohydrate-rich foods with incident type 2 diabetes in 26 622 participants (61 % women) in the Malmö Diet and Cancer Study in southern Sweden. Dietary intake was assessed at baseline (1991–1996) by using a modified diet history method. During mean follow-up of 18 years, 4046 cases were identified. Adjusting for potential confounders (including lifestyle, BMI and dietary factors), comparing highest v. lowest quintile of intake, monosaccharides (hazard ratio (HR) 0·88; 95 % CI 0·79, 0·98; Ptrend = 0·02) and fruits (HR 0·91; 95 % CI 0·82, 1·01; Ptrend = 0·03) were inversely associated with incident type 2 diabetes, while disaccharides (HR 1·17; 95 % CI 1·04, 1·30; Ptrend = 0·002) and sweets (HR 1·09; 95 % CI 1·00, 1·19; Ptrend = 0·02) were positively associated. After stratification by sex, marmalade/honey/jam (HR 0·82; 95 % CI 0·72, 0·94; Ptrend < 0·001) and vegetables (HR 0·85; 95 % CI 0·73, 0·98; Ptrend = 0·06) were inversely associated with incident type 2 diabetes in men and chocolate (HR 1·26; 95 % CI 1·09, 1·46; Ptrend < 0·001) was positively associated in women. In conclusion, we identified inverse associations for intake of monosaccharides and fruits with type 2 diabetes risk, and positive associations for disaccharides and sweets. Additional sex-specific associations were also identified. Future studies are needed to explore these associations further.

The composition and metabolic activity of the bacteria that inhabit the large intestine can have a major impact on health. Despite considerable inter-individual variation across bacterial species, the dominant phyla are generally highly conserved. There are several exogenous and gut environmental factors that play a role in modulating the composition and activities of colonic bacteria including diet with intakes of different macronutrients, including protein, accounting for approximately 20% of the microbial variation. Certain bacterial species tend to be considered as generalists and can metabolise a broad range of substrates, including both carbohydrate- and protein-derived substrates, whilst other species are specialists with a rather limited metabolic capacity. Metabolism of peptides and amino acids by gut bacteria can result in the formation of a wide range of metabolites several of which are considered deleterious to health including nitrosamines, heterocyclic amines and hydrogen sulphide as some of these products are genotoxic and have been linked to colonic disease. Beneficial metabolites however include SCFA and certain species can use amino acids to form butyrate which is the major energy source for colonocytes. The impact on health may however depend on the source of these products. In this review, we consider the impact of diet, particularly protein diets, on modulating the composition of the gut microbiota and likely health consequences and the potential impact of climate change and food security.

FFQ are one of the most widely used tools of research into nutritional epidemiology, and many studies have been conducted in several countries using this dietary assessment method. The present study aimed to evaluate the relative validity of FFQ, in comparison with other methods, in assessing dietary intake of children and adolescents, through a systematic review. Four electronic databases (Embase, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science) found sixty-seven articles, which met the inclusion criteria (healthy children and adolescents from 3 to 18 years of age; journal articles written in English, Spanish and Portuguese between 1988 and March 2019; results showing the comparison between the FFQ with other methods of assessment of dietary intake). The articles were analysed by two independent reviewers. A meta-analysis was conducted using correlation coefficients as estimate effects between the FFQ and the reference standard method. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression were performed to identify the probable source of heterogeneity. In fifty-five of the sixty-seven studies, a single dietary assessment method was used to evaluate the FFQ; nine combined the two methods and three used three reference methods. The most widely used reference method was the 24-h recall, followed by the food record. The overall relative validity of the FFQ to estimate energy, macronutrient, certain micronutrient and certain food item intakes in children and adolescents may be considered weak. The study protocol was registered in PROSPERO under number CRD42016038706.