The intestinal epithelial barrier is the primary and most significant defense barrier against ingested toxins and pathogenic bacteria. When the intestinal epithelium barrier is breached, inflammatory response is triggered. GWAS data showed that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress markers are elevated in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) patients, which suggests ER stress regulation might alleviate IBD symptoms. Ferulic acid (FA) is a polyphenol that is abundant in plants and has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, although it is unclear whether FA has these effects on the intestine. Therefore, we investigated the effect of FA in vitro and in vivo. It was found that FA suppressed ER stress, nitric oxide (NO) generation, and inflammation in polarized Caco-2 and T84 cells, indicating that the ER stress pathway was implicated in its anti-inflammatory activities. The permeability of polarized Caco-2 cells in the presence and absence of proinflammatory cytokines were decreased by FA, and MUC2 mRNA was overexpressed in the intestines of mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) supplemented with FA. These results suggest that FA has a protective effect on intestinal tight junctions. In addition, mouse intestine organoids proliferated significantly more in the presence of FA. Our findings shed light on the molecular mechanism responsible for the antioxidant effects of FA and its protective benefits on the health of the digestive system.
Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in Korea and an insufficient vitamin D status increases the risk of various chronic diseases including metabolic syndrome (MetS). We examined the relationship between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels, dietary vitamin D intake, and MetS. The 2013–2014 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey’s (KNHANES) included participants (n = 4.541; 1145 men; 1368 women) who were aged ≥19. In men, higher serum 25(OH)D levels were correlated with significantly increased protein intake (p = 0.032) and saturated fatty acid intake (p = 0.006), but significantly decreased fat intake (p = 0.027), monounsaturated fatty acid intake (p = 0.005), and polyunsaturated fatty acid intake (p = 0.003), and significantly decreased serum triglycerides levels (p = 0.002), whereas women had no association with any dietary intake or biochemical markers. Furthermore, our study found a significant negative correlation between abdominal obesity (OR, 0.970; CI, 0.946, 0.994) and hypertriglyceridemia (OR, 0.974; CI, 0.950, 0.998) and serum 25(OH)D levels in men, as well as a significant decrease in hypertriglyceridemia (OR, 0.980; CI, 0.961, 0.999) with vitamin D intake. However, women had a significantly negative correlation between serum LDL cholesterol (β, −1.751; p = 0.018) and vitamin D intake. By increasing the vitamin D intake and serum 25(OH)D levels, Korean adults could reduce their risk of MetS-related factors.
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