The Journal of nutrition
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The Journal of nutrition · Apr 1996
Feeding of potato, tomato and eggplant alkaloids affects food consumption and body and liver weights in mice.
Reduced liver weight was used to evaluate the potential toxicity in mice of four naturally occurring steroidal glycoalkaloids: alpha-chaconine and alpha-solanine, alpha-tomatine and solasonine. Increased liver weights was used to evaluate the three corresponding steroidal aglycones: solanidine, tomatidine, and solasodine and the non-alkaloid adrenal steroid dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Adult female Swiss-Webster mice were fed diets containing test compound concentrations of 0 (control), 1.2, 2.4 or 4.8 mmol/kg diet for 7, 14 or 28 d. ⋯ The increase in relative liver weight induced by solanidine and solasodine is a reversible adaptive response. These findings and the apparent effects of structure on biological activity should serve as a guide for the removal of the most toxic ++compounds from plant foods. The implications of the results for food safety and health are discussed.
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The Journal of nutrition · Feb 1996
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialVitamin A status of Indonesian children infected with Ascaris lumbricoides after dosing with vitamin A supplements and albendazole.
In developing countries, both marginal vitamin A status and intestinal helminths are common among children. Indonesian children (n = 309, 0.6-6.6 y), known to be infected with Ascaris lumbricoides, were randomized into six different treatment groups (A-F). The treatments included 210 mumol vitamin A supplement and a dose of 400 mg albendazole (5-propylthio-1H-benzimidazol-2-yl carbamic acid methyl ester) administered orally either at the same health visit (Groups B and F) or at different contact times during a 1-mo period (groups A, C, D and E). ⋯ Vitamin A supplementation was most important in improving the vitamin A status (P < 0.0001) of these children, whereas treatment for ascariasis alone (P = 0.370) and the statistical interaction between treatment for ascariasis and vitamin A (P = 0.752) were not. Serum retinol concentrations marginally improved (P = 0.051) in two of the groups that received vitamin A and albendazole but not in the third group that received vitamin A only. The MRDR test proved a better discriminator of the effects of these treatments on vitamin A status than changes in serum retinol concentrations.
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The Journal of nutrition · Jan 1996
Validity of single-weight measurements to predict current malnutrition and mortality in children.
In this cross-sectional study of a random cluster sample of 4238 rural Zairian children aged 0-5 y, we assessed underweight and wasting, defined as weight-for-age < 75%, and weight-for-height < 80% of the U. S. National Center for Health Statistics reference median, respectively. ⋯ Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that the diagnostic validity of weight-for-height can be improved by using a cutoff for wasting at Z-score -0.75 instead of Z-score -2 or 80% of reference median. ROC analysis of 30-mo mortality revealed a poor prognostic validity of weight-for-height and weight-for-age and better performances of arm circumference (cm) and of age. These data suggest that nutritional intervention programs targeted at wasted or underweight children can have only a limited effect on the prevalence of protein-energy malnutrition in the community or on the long-term mortality associated with it.
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The Journal of nutrition · Jul 1995
Quercetin metabolites in plasma of rats fed diets containing rutin or quercetin.
We studied the bioavailability and the plasma transport of flavonols in rats fed quercetin or rutin diets. Wistar rats were fed one of the following purified diets for 10 d: control; 16.4 or 8.2 mmol rutin/kg diet; or 16.4, 8.2 or 4.1 mmol quercetin/kg diet. Flavonol concentrations were determined in plasma, ileal and cecal contents, and feces. ⋯ With human albumin, the fluorescence intensity and the shift of quercetin absorbance increased in parallel to the albumin/quercetin molar ratio. Conjugated diene formation, resulting from Cu(2+)-catalyzed oxidation of human LDL or rat VLDL+LDL was effectively inhibited in vitro by 0.5 mumol/L quercetin. These results show that dietary flavonols are recovered in rat plasma as conjugated metabolites in non-negligible concentrations, and that these flavonols may be interesting antioxidant micronutrients with a variety of biological effects.
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The Journal of nutrition · Apr 1995
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialAge differences in the impact of nutritional supplementation on growth.
Supplementary feeding programs are common in developing countries. These programs often cannot demonstrate an impact on child growth, however, possibly because they tend to reach older children. This study examines the impact of nutritional supplementation on annual growth rates in length and weight from birth to 7 y of age in 1208 rural Guatemalan children. ⋯ There was no impact of nutritional supplementation on growth between 3 and 7 y of age. Patterns were the same if supplement intakes were expressed as a percent of recommended allowances or growth was expressed as a percent of the expected rate. These impacts of nutritional supplementation on growth coincide with the ages when growth velocities, as well as growth deficits, are greatest in this population.