Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) is a cytokine that reduces food intake through activation of hindbrain GFRAL-RET receptors and has become a keen target of interest for anti-obesity therapies. Elevated endogenous GDF15 is associated with energy balance disturbances, cancer progression, chemotherapy-induced anorexia, and morning sickness. We hypothesized that GDF15 causes emesis and that its anorectic effects are related to this function. Here, we examined feeding

Magnesium is a critical mineral in the human body and is involved in ~80% of known metabolic functions. It is currently estimated that 60% of adults do not achieve the average dietary intake (ADI) and 45% of Americans are magnesium deficient, a condition associated with disease states like hypertension, diabetes, and neurological disorders, to name a few. Magnesium deficiency can be attributed to common dietary practices, medications, and farming techniques, along with estimates that the mineral content of vegetables has declined by as much as 80–90% in the last 100 years. However, despite this mineral’s importance, it is poorly understood from several standpoints, not the least of which is its unique mechanism of absorption and sensitive compartmental handling in the body, making the determination of magnesium status difficult. The reliance on several popular sample assays has contributed to a great deal of confusion in the literature. This review will discuss causes of magnesium deficiency, absorption, handling, and compartmentalization in the body, highlighting the challenges this creates in determining magnesium status in both clinical and research settings.

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Oral routes of administration for therapeutic peptides and proteins face two major barriers: proteolytic degradation in the stomach and an inadequate absorption mechanism for polypeptides within the intestinal lumen. As a result, peptide-based therapeutics are administered by injection, a painful process associated with lower patient compliance. The development of a means of overcoming these two major obstacles and enabling the successful delivery of peptide therapeutics by the oral route of administration has therefore been the target of extensive scientific endeavor. This Minireview focuses on oral peptide/protein delivery by the dietary uptake pathway for vitamin B(12). Recent progress in this field includes the delivery of erythropoietin, granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor, luteinizing-hormone-releasing hormone, and insulin.