Evaluation of 12-Week Standardized Beetroot Extract Supplementation in Older Participants: A Preliminary Study of Human Health Safety.

In recent years, there has been a notable surge in the popularity of beetroot-based dietary supplements, driven by their rich nitrate composition. Several types of beetroot-based dietary supplements can be found in markets worldwide; however, ensuring the safety of dietary supplements is a crucial consideration, as there is limited evidence on their safety, especially for older populations. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to evaluate the safety and tolerability of a nitrate-rich beetroot extract in older participants taking supplements over 12 weeks. The participants were randomly assigned to receive 20 g daily of beetroot extract or a matching placebo. The safety and tolerability of the supplementation were evaluated as the occurrence of adverse events and anthropometric, biochemical, and hemodynamic parameters were measured. No serious adverse events were reported in any group. Anthropometric, biochemical, and hemodynamic parameter changes between the baseline and the end of the study were not statistically significant in either group. However, interestingly, the group receiving beetroot extract supplementation exhibited a notable increase in plasma nitrate levels (p = 0.076, f = 0.50) and showed a decrease in insulin levels (p = 0.026, f = 0.59). In conclusion, we found that 20 g of beetroot extract supplementation for 12 weeks was safe and well tolerated in older participants.

Physicochemical and protein profile of goat whey powder / Perfil físico-químico e proteico do soro de leite de cabra

The cheese after processing, generates whey, which is a residue that has potential benefit to human health. However, there are still few studies that seek to evaluate the composition and potential benefits of goat milk whey, even though it is a promising dairy source. Despite this, the large-scale generation of this waste can favor the environmental impact when improperly disposed of. Given this, the use of all content of dairy production can reverse this impact and increase the income of the dairy industry. Thus, this research prepared a powdered product based on goat's milk whey from the spray drying technique and evaluate its physicochemical composition by chemical analytical methods and protein profile through polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The elaborated product had a higher carbohydrate content than protein, and the identification of protein fractions showed that the most expressive bands represented beta-lactoglobulin and alpha-lactoalbumin. Therefore, the elaborated product has the potential to generate novel products for human consumption and with potential health benefits.

O queijo após processado gera o soro de leite, sendo este um resíduo que possui potencial benefício à saúde humana. No entanto, ainda são poucos os estudos que buscam avaliar a composição e os potenciais benefícios do soro de leite de cabra, mesmo esta sendo uma fonte láctea promissora. Apesar disso, a geração em larga escala deste resíduo pode favorecer o impacto ambiental quando descartado inadequadamente. Em vista disso, a utilização de todo conteúdo gerado na produção de lácteos pode reverter este impacto e aumentar o rendimento da indústria de laticínios. Diante disso, é importante buscar o desenvolvimento de novos produtos para favorecer a redução do impacto gerado. Assim, este trabalho teve como objetivo elaborar um produto em pó, à base de soro de leite de cabra a partir da secagem pela técnica de spray drying e avaliar sua composição físico-química por métodos químicos analíticos e perfil proteico através da eletroforese em gel de poliacrilamida. O produto elaborado apresentou maior teor de carboidratos do que proteína, e a identificação das frações proteicas mostrou que as bandas mais expressivas representavam beta-lactoglobulina e alfa-lactoalbumina. Portanto, o produto elaborado apresenta potencial para geração de novos produtos para consumo humano e com prováveis benefícios à saúde.

Association between Femoral Artery Flow-Mediated Dilation and Muscle Oxygen Saturation Parameters in Healthy, Young Individuals.

Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and muscle oxygen saturation (StO2) are measurements utilized to assess macro- and microvascular function, respectively. Macro- and microvascular dysfunction may occur differently depending on the clinical condition. Since microvascular responsiveness can influence upstream conduit artery hemodynamics, the present study aimed to investigate whether a correlation between FMD and muscle StO2 parameters exists. Sixteen healthy, young individuals were enrolled in this study. Femoral artery FMD and tibial anterior muscle StO2 were evaluated by ultrasound and near-infrared spectroscopy, respectively. The FMD and muscle StO2 parameters were assessed by employing a vascular occlusion test (VOT). The oxygen resaturation rate was determined by calculating the upslope of StO2 immediately after occlusion and the magnitude of reperfusion as the difference between the highest and lowest StO2 value achieved during the reperfusion phase. The oxygen desaturation rate and the magnitude of desaturation during the VOT were also evaluated. A significant correlation between the FMD and oxygen resaturation rate (r = 0.628; p = 0.009), magnitude of reperfusion (r = 0.568; p = 0.022), oxygen desaturation rate (r = -0.509; p = 0.044), and magnitude of desaturation (r = 0.644; p = 0.007) was observed. This study demonstrated a moderate association between the femoral artery FMD and tibial anterior StO2 parameters in young individuals.

The Role of By-Products of Fruit and Vegetable Processing for the Dietary Treatment of Cardiovascular Risk Factors: A Narrative Review.

Polyphenols-rich food has been utilized to induce a positive effect on human health. Considering that fruit and vegetable by-products (seeds, pomace, and peels) are sources of polyphenols, previous studies have investigated the effect of dietary supplementation with food by-products on cardiometabolic disorders, such as high fasting blood glucose, dyslipidemia, and obesity. Endothelial dysfunction has also been considered a cardiometabolic parameter, given that it precedes cardiovascular disease. However, there is a scarcity of narrative reviews reporting the effect of food by-product supplementation on cardiometabolic disorders in animal and human clinical trials. In this sense, the present narrative review aims to investigate the impact of fruit and vegetable by-product supplementation on cardiometabolic disorders in humans and animals, exploring the possible mechanisms whenever possible. Research articles were retrieved based on a search of the following databases: PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar using the following keywords and synonyms combined: ("fruit by-products" or "food waste" or "pomace" or "bagasse" or "seeds" or "waste products") AND ("heart disease risk factors" or "endothelial dysfunction" or "atherosclerosis"). It was shown that fruit and vegetable by-products could efficiently improve cardiometabolic disorders in patients with chronic diseases, including hypertension, type II diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia. Such effects can be induced by the polyphenols present in food by-products. In conclusion, food by-product supplementation has a positive effect on cardiometabolic disorders. However, further studies investigating the effect of food by-products on cardiometabolic disorders in humans are still necessary so that solid conclusions can be drawn.

The effect of dietary nitrate on macro- and microvascular function: A systematic review.

Previous studies have investigated the impact of dietary nitrate on vascular function due to the association between dietary nitrate ingestion and improvement in nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability. Considering that NO can present different effects through vascular beds (macro- vs. microvasculature) due to the specific characteristic (function and morphology) that each vessel exhibits, it is crucial to investigate the effect of dietary nitrate ingestion on the macro- and microvascular function to understand the effect of nitrate on vascular function. For this reason, this review aimed to evaluate the impact of dietary nitrate on macro- and microvascular function in humans. A total of 29 studies were included in the systematic review, of which 19 studies evaluated the effect of nitrate supplementation on macrovascular function, eight studies evaluated the effect on microvascular function, and two studies evaluated the impact on both macro- and microvascular function. The literature suggests that dietary nitrate ingestion seems to improve the vascular function in macrovasculature, whereas microvascular function appears to be modest. Future studies investigating the effect of nitrate ingestion on vascular function should focus on measuring macro- and microvascular function whenever possible so that the impact of nitrate-rich foods on vascular segments could be better understood.