Infants fed formula supplemented with a prebiotic mixture achieved normal growth and stool characteristics more similar to those of breast-fed infants in comparison with infants fed an unsupplemented formula. A pediatrician needs to consider the risk of possible intolerance against the benefits of prebiotics.
This review describes effective and ineffective immunonutrition support strategies for the athlete, with a focus on the benefits of carbohydrates and polyphenols as determined from metabolomics-based procedures. Athletes experience regular cycles of physiological stress accompanied by transient inflammation, oxidative stress, and immune perturbations, and there are increasing data indicating that these are sensitive to nutritional influences. The most effective nutritional countermeasures, especially when considered from a metabolomics perspective, include acute and chronic increases in dietary carbohydrate and polyphenols. Carbohydrate supplementation reduces post-exercise stress hormone levels, inflammation, and fatty acid mobilization and oxidation. Ingestion of fruits high in carbohydrates, polyphenols, and metabolites effectively supports performance, with added benefits including enhancement of oxidative and anti-viral capacity through fruit metabolites, and increased plasma levels of gut-derived phenolics. Metabolomics and lipidomics data indicate that intensive and prolonged exercise is associated with extensive lipid mobilization and oxidation, including many components of the linoleic acid conversion pathway and related oxidized derivatives called oxylipins. Many of the oxylipins are elevated with increased adiposity, and although low in resting athletes, rise to high levels during recovery. Future targeted lipidomics-based studies will help discover whether n-3-polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3-PUFA) supplementation enhances inflammation resolution in athletes post-exercise.
Background: The 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommend that the general population should consume about 8 ounces (oz.) per week of a variety of seafood, providing approximately 250 mg per day of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and that pregnant and lactating women should consume 8–12 oz. per week of seafood. Methods: We determined the usual intakes, percentage not meeting recommendations, and trends in EPA and DHA intakes among childbearing-age and pregnant women (15–44 years of age) using the NHANES cycles 2001–2002 through 2013–2014. Results: For the childbearing-age women, the mean usual intake of seafood was 0.44 ± 0.02 oz. equivalent per day and 100% of the population was below the DGA recommendation. Mean usual intakes of EPA, DHA, and combined EPA and DHA from foods and dietary supplements combined were 26.8 ± 1.4, 62.2 ± 1.9, and 88.1 ± 3.0 mg per day, respectively. Over 95% of the sample did not meet the daily intakes of 250 mg EPA and DHA. Similar results were observed for pregnant women. After controlling for covariates, there were slight but significant increases in EPA and DHA intakes from foods and dietary supplements over the 14-year span among childbearing-age (p = 0.005) and pregnant women (p = 0.002). Conclusions: It was estimated that a majority of U.S. childbearing-age and pregnant women consumed significantly lower amounts of seafood than what the DGA recommends, which subsequently leads to low intakes of EPA and DHA; in addition, dietary supplement use has not eliminated the nutrient shortfall.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.