The human gastrointestinal microbiota functions as an important mediator of diet for host metabolism. To evaluate how consumed diets influence the gut environment, we carried out simultaneous interrogations of distal gut microbiota and metabolites in samples from healthy children in Egypt and the United States. While Egyptian children consumed a Mediterranean diet rich in plant foods, U.S. children consumed a Western diet high in animal protein, fats, and highly processed carbohydrates. Consistent with the consumed diets, Egyptian gut samples were enriched in polysaccharide-degrading microbes and end products of polysaccharide fermentation, and U.S. gut samples were enriched in proteolytic microbes and end products of protein and fat metabolism. Thus, the intestinal microbiota might be selected on the basis of the diets that we consume, which can open opportunities to affect gut health through modulation of gut microbiota with dietary supplementations.

Highlights Ultrasound enhances the phenolic compounds in extracted herbal oils by 44%. US (25–50 kHz) increases the yields of polyphenols, carotenoids, and flavonoids. Radicals generated by US have positive and negative effects on enzymes. US improves the efficiency of herbal extracts in Nanotechnology applications. Acoustic-based biosensors could be used for chemical imaging of herbal tissues.

Antioxidant activity, lipid oxidation, fatty acid composition and volatile compounds of duck eggs supplemented with clove extract were monitored over the salting period. The results indicated that application of clove extracts significantly reduced 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and anisidine values as well as the conjugated dienes levels during curing. Clove extracts along with salting time had significant effects on the fatty acid composition. The predominant fatty acid in salted duck eggs supplemented with clove extracts for 14 day of the salting process was oleic acid, followed by palmitic acid and arachidonic acid. Additionally, treated eggs exhibited a higher docosahexaenoic acid content than that of control. The results of SPME GC-MS showed the presence of 46 and 37 volatiles in the treated eggs. Eugenol, as the primary bioactive component of clove, was detected in salted eggs supplemented with clove extracts. In addition, analyzing the results obtained through electronic nose showed that clove extract brought significant changes in salted eggs flavor components.

BackgroundThe beneficial effects of the polyphenol (PP) rich fruits and Lactic acid bacteria fermented foods had been reported as cost-effective strategies for health promotion. Randomized controlled trial was designed to test the hypothesis that daily intake of polyphenol rich pomegranate juice (PGJ) or/ and lactic acid bacteria fermented sobya (FS) improved selected biomarkers of relevance to heath status.MethodsThe design of the human trial consisted of 35 healthy adults, who were distributed to 5 equal groups; The first group served as control and received no supplements; the second group received fresh apricot fruits (200 g); the third (PGJ) (250 g), the fourth a mixture of PGJ (150 g) and FS (140 g) and the fifth group received (FS) (170 g). The supplements were served daily between 5 – 6 pm for 21 days. Blood and urine samples were collected at days zero and 22 of the dietary intervention. The supplements were analyzed chemically for (PP) contents and total antioxidative activities and microbiologically for selected bacteria and yeast counts. The blood samples were assayed for plasma antioxidative activities and for erythrocytic glutathione transferase activity (E-GST). Urine samples were analyzed for the excretions of total PP, antioxidative activity and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). Statistical analysis: Two way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted and included the main effects of treatment, time and treatment x time interaction.ResultsDaily intake of (PGJ) for 3 weeks significantly increased the plasma and urinary anti-oxidative activities and reduced the urinary excretion of (TBARS). Daily intake of (FS) for 3 weeks increased only (E-GST) activity. Daily intake of a mixture of PGJ and (FS) was also effective.ConclusionsThe daily intakes of PGJ and/ or (FS) affected positively selected biomarkers of relevance to health status. These functional foods have potential implication for use as bio-therapeutic foods.Trial registrationThe study was approved by the research ethical committee of the Ministry of Health & population, Egypt. The trial registration - the unique identifying number. (REC) decision No 12-2013-9, which complied with the Declaration of Helsinki guidelines (2004). The protocol was fully explained to all subjects and written informed consent was obtained before their participation in the trial.