Publication informationproline betaine was quantified and normalized to osmolality. Calibration curves were 8 developed and used to predict citrus intake in an independent cohort; the Irish National Adult 9

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Scope The Mediterranean (MED) diet has been associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular diseases. It is unclear whether this health effect can be mainly contributed to high intakes of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), characteristic for the MED diet, or whether other components of a MED diet also play an important role. Methods and Results A randomized fully controlled parallel trial is performed to examine the effects of the consumption of a saturated fatty acid rich diet, a MUFA‐rich diet, or a MED diet for 8 weeks on metabolite profiles, in 47 subjects at risk of the metabolic syndrome. A total of 162 serum metabolites are assessed before and after the intervention by using a targeted NMR platform. Fifty‐two metabolites are changed during the intervention (false discovery rate [FDR] p < 0.05). Both the MUFA and MED diet decrease exactly the same fractions of LDL, including particle number, lipid, phospholipid, and free cholesterol fraction (FDR p < 0.05). The MED diet additionally decreases the larger subclasses of very‐low‐density lipoprotein (VLDL), related VLDL fractions, VLDL‐triglycerides, and serum‐triglycerides (FDR p < 0.05). Conclusion The findings clearly demonstrate that the MUFA component is responsible for reducing LDL subclasses and fractions, and therefore causes an antiatherogenic lipid profile. Interestingly, consumption of the other components in the MED diet show additional health effects.

Background Despite the established relation between energy restriction and metabolic health, the most beneficial nutrient composition of a weight-loss diet is still subject of debate. Objectives The aim of the study was to examine the additional effects of nutrient quality on top of energy restriction(ER). Methods A parallel-designed 12-week 25%ER dietary intervention study was conducted. Participants aged 40–70 years with abdominal obesity were randomized over three groups: a 25%ER high nutrient quality diet (n = 40); a 25%ER low nutrient quality diet (n = 40); or a habitual diet (n = 30). Both ER diets were nutritionally adequate, the high nutrient quality ER diet was enriched in monounsaturated and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, fiber, and plant protein and reduced in fructose. Before and after the intervention intra-hepatic lipids, body fat distribution, fasting and postprandial responses to a mixed meal shake challenge test of cardio-metabolic risk factors, lipoproteins, vascular measurements, and adipose tissue transcriptome were assessed. Results The high quality ER diet (–8.4 ± 3.2) induced 2.1 kg more weight loss (P = 0.007) than the low quality ER diet (–6.3 ± 3.9), reduced fasting serum total cholesterol (P = 0.014) and plasma triglycerides (P &lt; 0.001), promoted an anti-atherogenic lipoprotein profile and induced a more pronounced decrease in adipose tissue gene expression of energy metabolism pathways than the low quality ER diet. Explorative analyses showed that the difference in weight loss between both ER diets were specifically present in insulin sensitive subjects (HOMA-IR ≤ 2.5), in whom the high nutrient quality diet induced 3.9 kg more weight loss than the low nutrient quality diet. Conclusion A high nutrient quality 25%ER diet is more beneficial for cardiometabolic health than a low nutrient quality 25%ER diet. Overweight insulin sensitive subjects may benefit more from a high than a low nutrient quality ER diet with respect to weight loss, due to potential attenuation of glucose-induced lipid synthesis in adipose tissue. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02194504.

BackgroundTo unravel true links between diet and health, it is important that dietary exposure is accurately measured. Currently, mainly self-reporting methods (e.g. food frequency questionnaires and 24-h recalls) are used to assess food intake in epidemiological studies. However, these traditional instruments are subjective measures and contain well-known biases. Especially, estimating the intake of the group of confectionary products, such as products containing cocoa and liquorice, remains a challenge. The use biomarkers of food intake (BFIs) may provide a more objective measurement. However, an overview of current candidate biomarkers and their validity is missing for both cocoa- and liquorice-containing foods.ObjectiveThe purpose of the current study was to (1) identify currently described candidate BFIs for cocoa (products) and liquorice, (2) to evaluate the validity of these identified candidate BFIs and (3) to address further validation and/or identification work to be done.MethodsThis systematic review was based on a comprehensive literature search of three databases (PubMed, Scopus and ISI web of Science), to identify candidate BFIs. Via a second search step in the Human Metabolome Database (HMDB), the Food Database (FooDB) and Phenol-Explorer, the specificity of the candidate BFIs was evaluated, followed by an evaluation of the validity of the specific candidate BFIs, via pre-defined criteria.ResultsIn total, 37 papers were included for cocoa and 8 papers for liquorice. For cocoa, 164 unique candidate BFIs were obtained, and for liquorice, four were identified in total. Despite the high number of identified BFIs for cocoa, none of the metabolites was specific. Therefore, the validity of these compounds was not further examined. For liquorice intake, 18-glycyrrhetinic acid (18-GA) was found to have the highest assumed validity.ConclusionsFor cocoa, specific BFIs were missing, mainly because the individual BFIs were also found in foods having a similar composition, such as tea (polyphenols) or coffee (caffeine). However, a combination of individual BFIs might lead to discriminating profiles between cocoa (products) and foods with a similar composition. Therefore, studies directly comparing the consumption of cocoa to these similar products are needed, enabling efforts to find a unique profile per product. For liquorice, we identified 18-GA as a promising BFI; however, important information on its validity is missing; thus, more research is necessary. Our findings indicate a need for more studies to determine acceptable BFIs for both cocoa and liquorice.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12263-018-0610-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.