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A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 January 2022) | Viewed by 10332

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Prof. Dr. Xiaodong Xia

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Guest Editor

School of Food Science and Technology, National Engineering Research Center of Seafood, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116304, China
Interests: foodborne pathogens; biofilm; stress resistance; pathogenicity; natural antimicrobials; food preservation; microbiota; functional foods
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Chunbao Li

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Guest Editor

College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
Interests: meat; tenderization; protein phosphorylation; protein acetylation; nutrigenomics; gut microbiota; diet–gut–liver axis; diet–gut–brain axis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Although not well-defined in the scientific literature, gut health has been increasingly recognized as a significant contributor to overall health. A healthy gut is generally conceived as being free of gastrointestinal symptoms and diseases, as well as the absence of risks of bowel disease. Among different factors contributing to gut health, diet has a significant influence in either a positive or a negative way, since our intestinal tract is continually exposed to a variety of dietary components every day. Even though terms such as “gut health food” have been coined in the commercial food market, how different foods and food components affect gut health remains largely unexplored. Recent research has indicated that diet could influence gastrointestinal health through modulating gut microbiota and intestinal barrier function, but the underlying mechanism is still largely uncharted territory for researchers.

In this Special Issue of Foods, we encourage manuscripts that explore the influences of various types of foods (e.g., fermented foods) or food components on various aspects of gut health, including but not limited to gut microbiota, enteric infection, intestinal epithelial function, etc. The food components examined could range from nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals, to other substances in food such as bioactive substances, food additives and food contaminants. In addition, the impact of different dietary patterns (such as the ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting, etc.) is also worthy of more attention. This Special Issue welcomes all original research and review articles which focus on the interaction between diet and gut health.

Prof. Xiaodong Xia
Prof. Dr. Chunbao Li
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

gut microbiota
intestinal barrier
colitis
enteric infection
dietary components
dietary pattern
functional foods
food additives
food contaminants

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 4530 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Meroterpenoid-Rich Ethanoic Extract of Sargassum macrocarpum Ameliorates Dextran Sulfate Sodium-Induced Colitis in Mice

by Eun-Ji Joung, Lei Cao, Wi-Gyeong Gwon, Mi-Sung Kwon, Kwon Taek Lim and Hyeung-Rak Kim

Foods 2022, 11(3), 329; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/foods11030329 - 25 Jan 2022

Viewed by 2365

Abstract

Colitis is a colon mucosal disorder characterized by intestinal damage and inflammation. This current study aimed to evaluate the effect of meroterpenoid-rich ethanoic extract of a brown algae, Sargassum macrocarpum (MES) on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice and explore the possible mechanisms. Mice were given 4% DSS in drinking water for 7 days to induce colitis, followed by 3 days of regular water. MES (12 mg/kg body weight) or celecoxib (10 mg/kg body weight) was administrated orally to mice on a daily basis during these 10 days. Both MES and celecoxib supplementations significantly attenuated DSS-induced weight loss, shortening of colon length, elevated myeloperoxidase activity as well as histomorphological changes of colon. MES and celecoxib reduced the inflammation level of colon tissue, as indicated by its suppression on a panel of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-17, tumor necrosis factor α, and interferon γ, and a group of inflammatory proteins, including intracellular adhesion molecule 1, vascular adhesion molecule 1, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-9, MMP-13, and inducible nitric oxidase. In addition, their administration down-regulated pro-inflammatory cytokines in serum. Moreover, the supplementation of MES suppressed the DSS-induced hyperactivation of Akt, JNK, and NF-κB signaling pathways. Taken together, our results demonstrate that MES ameliorates DSS-induced colitis in mice, suggesting that MES may have therapeutic implications for the treatment of colitis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diet and Gut Health)

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14 pages, 19928 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Antigenicity and Safety Evaluation of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 7-2 Screened to Reduce α-Casein Antigen

by Guangqing Mu, Zhao Zhang, Jiayi Wang, Shujuan Jiang, Hongxin Wang, Yunpeng Xu, Xinling Li, Lei Chi, Yue Li, Yanfeng Tuo and Xuemei Zhu

Foods 2022, 11(1), 88; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/foods11010088 - 29 Dec 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1656

Abstract

α-Casein (α-CN) is considered the main allergen in bovine milk. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) fermentation can hydrolyze milk protein and therefore reduce the antigenicity. In this paper, a LAB reducing the antigenicity of casein, identified as LactiplantibacillusPlantarum 7-2 (L. plantarum 7-2), was primarily identified by screening for protein hydrolysis ability using a method involving the determination of released free amino acid with further selection for the ideal antigenicity-reducing capability by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In order to verify the capability of L. plantarum 7-2 in inhibiting antigenicity, the standard milk proteins α-LA, β-LG, α-CN, β-CN and κ-CN were cultured with L. plantarum 7-2 for 18 h; The results of SDS-PAGE show that all the bands corresponding to the full length tested proteins became unclear or completely disappeared indicating that these proteins were hydrolyzed by L. plantarum 7-2. Correspondingly, the antigenicities of α-CN and β-LG were significantly reduced. L. plantarum 7-2 demonstrated negative hemolysis and nitrate reductase capabilities and was sensitive to the commonly used antibiotics ampicillin clindamycin tetracycline chloramphenicol, and erythromycin, demonstrating that L. plantarum 7-2 could be used in dairy product fermentation to reduce the antigenicity of milk protein. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diet and Gut Health)

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15 pages, 3196 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Dietary Acrylamide Intake Alters Gut Microbiota in Mice and Increases Its Susceptibility to Salmonella Typhimurium Infection

by Zhen Wang, Hongxu Liu, Jiaxiu Liu, Xiaomeng Ren, Guoku Song, Xiaodong Xia and Ningbo Qin

Foods 2021, 10(12), 2990; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/foods10122990 - 03 Dec 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1846

Abstract

Acrylamide (AA) has been extensively examined for its potential toxicological effects on humans and animals, but its impacts on gut microbiota and effects on hosts’ susceptibility to enteric infection remain elusive. The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of AA on gut microbiota of mice and susceptibility of mice to S. Typhimurium infection. After four weeks’ intervention, mice fed with AA exhibited significantly decreased body weight. Meanwhile, 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed reduced relative abundance of Firmicutes and increased abundance of Bacteroidetes in AA-treated mice prior to infection. In addition, we observed high relative abundance of Burkholderiales and Erysipelotrichales, more specifically the genus Sutterella and Allobaculum, respectively, in AA-treated mice before infection. Subsequently, the mice were orally infected with S. Typhimurium. The histological changes, systemic dissemination of S. Typhimurium, and inflammatory responses were examined. Compared to mice fed with normal diet, mice fed AA exhibited higher level of bacterial counts in liver, spleen, and ileum, which was consistent with exacerbated tissue damage determined by histological analyses. In addition, higher expression of pro-inflammaroty cytokines, p-IκBα, and p-P65 and lower mRNA expressions of mucin2, occludin, zo-1, claudin-1, and E-cadherin were detected in AA-treated mice. These findings provide novel insights into the potential health impact of AA consumption and the detailed mechanism for its effect on S. Typhimurium infection merit further exploration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diet and Gut Health)

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20 pages, 6014 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Auricularia auricula Melanin Protects against Alcoholic Liver Injury and Modulates Intestinal Microbiota Composition in Mice Exposed to Alcohol Intake

by Yichen Lin, Hua Chen, Yingjia Cao, Yuanhui Zhang, Wenfeng Li, Weiling Guo, Xucong Lv, Pingfan Rao, Li Ni and Penghu Liu

Foods 2021, 10(10), 2436; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/foods10102436 - 14 Oct 2021

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3394

Abstract

The potential effects of Auricularia auricula melanin (AAM) on the intestinal flora and liver metabolome in mice exposed to alcohol intake were investigated for the first time. The results showed that oral administration of AAM significantly reduced the abnormal elevation of serum total triglyceride (TG), cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and significantly inhibited hepatic lipid accumulation and steatosis in mice exposed to alcohol intake. Besides, the abnormally high levels of bile acids (BAs) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the liver of mice with alcohol intake were significantly decreased by AAM intervention, while the hepatic levels of glutathione (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were appreciably increased. Compared with the model group, AAM supplementation significantly changed the composition of intestinal flora and up-regulated the levels of Akkermansia, Bifidobacterium, Romboutsia, Muribaculaceae, Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group, etc. Furthermore, liver metabolomics demonstrated that AAM had a significant regulatory effect on the composition of liver metabolites in mice with alcohol intake, especially the metabolites involved in phosphatidylinositol signaling system, ascorbate and aldarate metabolism, starch and sucrose metabolism, galactose metabolism, alpha-linolenic acid metabolism, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, and biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids. At the gene level, AAM treatment regulated the mRNA levels of lipid metabolism and inflammatory response related genes in liver, including ACC-1, FASn, CPT-1, CD36, IFN-γ, LDLr and TNF-α. Conclusively, these findings suggest that AAM has potential beneficial effects on alleviating alcohol-induced liver injury and is expected to become a new functional food ingredient. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diet and Gut Health)

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