Highlights d Human gut microbiome exhibits diurnal rhythmicity across populations and individuals d Obese and T2D individuals show disrupted circadian rhythms in the gut microbiome d Arrhytmic bacterial signatures contribute to risk classification and prediction of T2D d These risk signatures show regional differences in applicability across three cohorts

A continuous flow system was developed to evaluate the adhesion of Streptococcus mutans ATCC 25175 to filling materials (Ariston, Tetric, Dyract, Compoglass, Vitremer, Aqua Ionofil, Ketac Fil, amalgam, Galloy and ceramics as controls). Streptococcus mutans was added to saliva-coated test specimens, and a nutrient broth permanently supplied over a time period of 48 h and then the weight of plaque, the number and viability of the bacteria adhering to the materials were determined. The weights of artificial plaque on all filling materials tested were higher than those on ceramics, the highest values were measured on the glass-ionomers. The amount of plaque correlates with the surface roughness, whereas there was no correlation of the surface roughness with the number of colony-forming units (CFU) of S. mutans. The CFU of adhering S. mutans also depends on the viability of the bacteria. The plaque on Ketac Fil contained a high number of viable bacteria. The fluorides of glass-ionomers do not efficiently prevent the attachment and the viability of S. mutans.

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Introduction: Nutritional habits and requirements are changing over the lifespan, but the dynamics of nutritional issues and the diet-health relationship in the major stages of the human life cycle are not sufficiently understood. A human phenotyping research platform for nutrition studies was established to recruit and phenotype selected population groups across different stages of life. The project is the backbone of the highly interdisciplinary enable competence cluster of nutrition research aiming to identify dietary determinants of a healthy life throughout the lifespan and to develop healthier and tasty convenience foods with high consumer acceptance. Methods:The phenotyping program included anthropometry, body composition analysis, assessment of energy metabolism, health and functional status, multisensory perception, metabolic phenotyping, lifestyle, sociodemography, chronobiology, and assessment of dietary intake including food preferences and aversions.Results: In total, 503 healthy volunteers at four defined phases of life including 3-5-year old children (n = 44), young adults aged 18-25 years (n = 94), adults aged 40-65 years ("middle agers," n = 205), and older adults aged 75-85 years (n = 160) were recruited and comprehensively phenotyped. Plasma, serum, buffy coat, urine, feces and saliva samples were collected and stored at −80 • C. Significant differences in anthropometric Brandl et al.Phenotyping Platform Across Four Stages of Life and metabolic parameters between the four groups were found. A major finding was the decrease in fat-free mass and the concomitant increase in % body fat in both sexes across the adult lifespan. Conclusions:The dataset will provide novel information on differences in diet-related parameters over the lifespan and is available for targeted analyses. We expect that this novel platform approach will have implications for the development of innovative food products tailored to promote healthy eating throughout life.

IntroductionPrevious efforts to increase fiber intake in the general population were disappointing despite growing awareness of the multiple benefits of a high fiber intake. Aim of the study was to investigate the acceptance and consumption of fiber-enriched foods.MethodsOne hundred and fifteen middle-aged healthy individuals with and without elevated waist circumference (> 102 cm in males and > 88 cm in females) were recruited and randomized to an intervention or an age- and sex-matched control group. Subjects assigned to the intervention group were invited to select fiber-enriched foods from a broad portfolio of products to increase fiber intake by 10 g/day. Control subjects could choose items from the same food basket without fiber enrichment. The primary outcome was the increase in dietary fiber intake, and secondary outcomes were changes in cardiometabolic risk factors, microbiota composition, food choices, and consumer acceptance of the fiber-enriched foods.ResultsCompared to baseline, daily fiber intake increased from 22.5 ± 8.0 to 34.0 ± 9.6 g/day after 4 weeks (p < 0.001) and to 36.0 ± 8.9 g/day after 12 weeks (p < 0.001) in the intervention group, whereas fiber intake remained unchanged in the control group. Participants rated the taste of the food products as pleasant without group differences. In both groups, the most liked foods included popular convenience foods such as pretzel breadstick, pizza salami, and pizza vegetarian. After 12 weeks of intervention, there were minor improvements in plasma lipids and parameters of glucose metabolism in both the intervention and control group compared to baseline, but no differences between the two groups. Increased fiber consumption resulted in an increased (p < 0.001) relative abundance of Tannerellaceae.ConclusionsFiber-enrichment of popular foods increases fiber intake in a middle-aged population with and without cardiometabolic risk and may provide a simple, novel strategy to increase fiber intake in the population.

Context Cold exposure (CE) has been shown to enhance energy expenditure by activating brown adipose tissue thermogenesis and metabolism in humans. However, it remains to be elucidated if there are gender-specific differences in cold-induced thermogenesis and metabolism. Objective To study the impact of mild CE on resting energy expenditure (REE) and metabolism in males compared with females. Setting A cross-sectional study. Participants 117 healthy young Caucasians participated in this study (58 males). Mean age was 25.1 ± 3.6 years and mean body mass index 22.3 ± 1.7 kg/m2. Intervention Participants underwent a short-term CE using water perfused mattresses to activate nonshivering thermogenesis. Main Outcome Measures REE was assessed before and 2 hours after CE followed by blood sampling. Selected metabolites and hormones were measured. Skin temperatures were monitored at various sites throughout the experiment. Results Participants showed a significant increase in REE after CE (6.5%, P < .001). This increase did not differ between genders (P = .908). However, there were differences between males and females in changes of plasma glucose (–5.1% versus –7.4%, P = .024), leptin (–14.3% versus –30.1%, P < .001) and adiponectin (5.4% versus 12.8%, P = .018) after CE. We observed a significant decrease of the supraclavicular skin temperature in men (–0.3%, P = .034), but not in women (0.3%, P = .326)(P = .019 between genders). Conclusions We did not observe a difference in the thermogenic response, measured as change of REE, to CE in women compared with men. However, we found that some metabolic and hormonal changes were more pronounced in women than in men suggesting a gender-specific response to cold.

Purpose Vegetarianism and semi-vegetarianism (i.e., overly vegetarian diet with rare consumption of meat) have been repeatedly linked with depression. As the nature of this association is unclear, we explored whether orthorexic (i.e., pathologically healthful eating) tendencies and ecological/ethical motives to follow a vegetarian diet may moderate the relationship between (semi-)vegetarian diets and depressive symptoms. Methods Five-hundred eleven adults (63.4% females; 71.2% omnivores, 19.2% semi-vegetarians, 9.6% vegetarians) completed the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) questionnaire-measuring depressive symptoms-and the Düsseldorf Orthorexia Scale (DOS)-measuring orthorexic tendencies. Based on respective questions, participants were categorized as omnivores, semi-vegetarians, and vegetarians (including vegans) and were asked to indicate whether they chose their diet based on ecological/ethical motives. Moderation analyses were carried out with PROCESS. Results Adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index, there was a statistically significant interaction effect between diet (omnivore vs. semi-vegetarianism vs. vegetarianism) and DOS scores when predicting PHQ depression scores. At low or medium DOS scores, diets did not differ in PHQ depression scores (all ps > 0.05). At high DOS scores, however, semi-vegetarians had higher PHQ depression scores than both omnivores (p = 0.002) and vegetarians (p < 0.001). The interaction between diet and ecological/ethical eating motives when predicting PHQ depression scores was not statistically significant (p = 0.41). Conclusion Semi-vegetarians with strong orthorexic tendencies show more depressive symptoms than omnivores and vegetarians. The complex nature of the relationship between vegetarianism and depression requires further investigation. Level of evidence III, case-control analytic studies.