Team Fortitech is taking off on yet another international adventure! This time, you’ll find us at Ingredients Middle East, which is part of GulFoods, in the United Arab Emirate of Dubai. 

GulFoods has the distinction of being the world’s largest tradeshow serving the food and beverage industries, and we are excited to be exhibiting (stand S2-B14).  If you happen to be attending, please stop by and introduce yourself.  We’ll have a fortified heart healthy salsa on hand and an all-in-one beverage stick pack that creates a flavored, on-the-go, health-promoting beverage when added to bottled water.

We’ll be tweeting from the show, so look for us on Twitter (@fortitech) to hear about nutrient and product trends, as well as overall impressions from the show floor.

Bioactive food components are gaining quite a bit of attention in scientific circles and among the lay population as more and more evidence supports a potentially important role for these compounds in disease prevention. For example, despite declining trends in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality over the past 20 years, CVD remains the leading cause of death for adults over the age of 65. A variety of approaches are in use to help reduce the burden of this chronic disease, including biomarker screening, diet and behavior modification, increases in physical activity and the development of new medications. Diet, physical activity and lifestyle changes (e.g., smoking cessation) are the mainstays of CVD prevention.

Epidemiologic studies have shown that higher dietary consumption of plant foods are associated with lower risk of developing CVD and hypertension, an important risk factor for CVD. The exact mechanism by which increased plant food consumption confers benefits in terms of reduced CVD risk are unknown, but it may relate to several factors, including increased consumption of dietary fiber and certain essential nutrients found in plant foods, such as potassium and magnesium.

In recent years, there has been increased attention paid to other non-essential plant components, such as flavonoids, that may be responsible for some of the noted health benefits associated with high-plant-food diets. Flavonoids are found in fruits, vegetables, nuts, cocoa and certain beverages like tea and wine. Flavonoids are non-caloric and are non-nutrient secondary metabolites produced in plants and can not be synthesized in humans. Chemically, flavonoids represent a large class of polyphenolic compounds, some of which are known to have beneficial bioactive properties in humans, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity.

A recently published study examined the association of dietary flavonoid intake (total and seven separate classes of flavonoids) with fatal CVD, ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke in a large prospective study of men and women in the United States. Conducted by the American Cancer Society (CPS-II Nutrition Cohort), the analysis used in this report included reported dietary intakes in 1999, based on food frequency questionnaire, in 98,469 healthy men and women and 2,771 deaths due to CVD that occurred during follow up through 2006.

Median energy-adjusted total flavonoid intake was 200 mg/day in both men and women. Individuals with higher flavonoid intake were more likely to be better educated, have a history of high blood cholesterol, exercise more, have a slightly lower BMI and use vitamin supplements. They were less likely to have a history of hypertension or to have smoked.  Compared to individuals within the lowest quintile (bottom 20 percent) of total dietary flavonoid intake, those in the highest quintile (top 20 percent) had an 18 percent lower risk of fatal CVD. These inverse associations with fatal CVD were also observed with the individual flavonoid classes: anthocyanidins, flavan-3-ols, flavones, flavonols and proanthocyanidins. There was a 37 percent reduction in the risk of fatal stroke, in men only, with higher compared to lower total flavonoid intake. There was a lower risk of death due to IHD (25 percent in men and 60 percent in women), but this was associated only with higher intakes of the flavone class of dietary flavonoids.

These findings are of considerable interest in that they support the beneficial effects of bioactive dietary flavonoids in the reduction of deaths from CVD and stroke, important sources of mortality in the U.S. and elsewhere. Future replication of these findings in other studies would suggest that recommendation of foods rich in specific flavonoids would be warranted and beneficial in combating CVD and stroke.

Source from: McCullough ML et al. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2012;95:454-464.

Maintaining weight loss is by no means easy.  A study from the British Journal of Nutrition a few years ago reported that only one out of five people, who successfully achieved their weight loss goal using a popular weight loss program, were able to remain at or below their goal weight after two years (Lowe, Kral et al. 2008).  Thus, in addition to adopting dietary and life style changes, such as reduced caloric intake and increased regular exercise that initially help to promote weight loss, it is also important to consider what you can do to maintain weight loss and prevent a constant cycle of yo-yo dieting.

In this regard, it is important to remember that following weight loss there is a natural reduction of basal energy expenditure (BEE), because the body is now doing less metabolic work to maintain its new, sleeker self.  This phenomenon of reduced BEE, at the same usual level of daily voluntary activity often puts on the brakes to further weight loss. In fact, it can promote weight regain when there is a loosening of dietary energy restrictions or exercise level following a period of active weight loss. BEE is the major component of total energy expenditure accounting for up to 70 percent, with 20 percent normally contributed by physical activity and another 10 percent by thermogenesis, which is necessary to maintain a constant body temperature.

Energy restriction, associated with losing weight, may increase the drive to eat more. To combat this phenomenon and maintain body weight, look to foods that have high satiety value to curb your feelings of hunger between meals.

Many people kick start a weight loss program with detoxification, which in many cases, is referred to as a ‘cleanse.’  As they progress, they may look to fortified foods or beverages, such as bars or meal replacement shakes that incorporate fat burning nutrients. Later, to help them progress or maintain their weight management regime, they may look for products that create a feeling of satiety or “fullness.” Each of these components — detoxification/cleansing, thermogenesis/fat burning and satiety – contribute to a successful weight loss/management program.

Our latest technical paper, entitled “Transform: In-Demand Nutrients Targeting Weight Management,” is available as free download in Fortitech’s tech library.

Overview

Until the late 1950s, selenium was thought to be toxic. Although it can be toxic at high doses, it is now recognized as an important nutritional trace mineral. Selenium plays important roles in detoxification and antioxidant defense mechanisms in the body.  The active forms of selenium are Sodium selenite, selenomethioine, and high-selenium yeast.

Absorption
Both inorganic selenium salts and organic selenium compounds appear to be readily absorbed in the small intestine but the mechanism(s) of absorption are still under investigation.

Toxicities & Precautions

General
Selenium is a trace mineral that could be toxic if excessive amounts were ingested on a regular basis. Symptoms of selenium toxicity include loss of hair and nails, skin lesions, nervous system abnormalities, digestive dysfunction, and a garlicky breath odor. Although deaths from selenium toxicity have been reported in livestock, no deaths have occurred in humans.

Functions In The Body

Anti-cancer Benefits
Epidemiological studies have correlated low dietary selenium intakes with higher rates of cancer.

Detoxification
Selenium helps detoxify heavy metal toxins such as mercury and cadmium.

Heart Disease
Selenium’s anti-oxidant activities are reported to enable it to protect against heart attacks and strokes.

Immune System
Selenium has reported anti-viral activity, may increase T-lymphocytes, and enhances natural killer cell activity

Immune System
Selenium is a co-factor for glutathione peroxidase, which is an important antioxidant enzyme in the immune system.

Thyroid
It’s been recently discovered that the deiodinase enzyme that converts thyroid hormone (T₄) to triiodothyronine (T₃, the active form) is a selenium-dependent enzyme.

Clinical Applications 

Anti-Inflammatory
Selenium has displayed anti-inflammatory properties and has been shown to be a modulator of the inflammatory response in some immune system disorders.

Atherosclerosis
Erythrocyte selenium-glutathione peroxidase activity has been found to be lower in patients with coronary atherosclerosis.  There is a decrease in both selenium content and glutathione peroxidase activity that is parallel to the increase in the severity of coronary artery disease.

Bronchial Asthma
Patients were found to have decreased selenium concentrations in both plasma and erythrocytes, as well as reduced glutathione peroxidase enzyme activity.

Cardiomyopathy
Selenium deficiency is a recognized cause of cardiac abnormalities.

Cataracts
Selenium is necessary for proper glutathione peroxidase activity in the eyes. Decreased selenium in aqueous humor and serum of patients with senile cataracts may reflect defective antioxidant defense, which leads to the formation of cataracts.

Several B-vitamins (vitamin B6, vitamin B12, folate and riboflavin) are involved with one-carbon metabolism: complex, metabolic pathways that provide methyl groups (1-carbon molecules) to many different substrates, some of which are very important in DNA replication and repair, as well as in the regulation of gene expression.  Thus, intake of B-vitamins may play an important role in the development of various cancers. 

In a recently published study, researchers from Australia determined the association of B-vitamin intake with the development of lung cancer.  The investigators used the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study, which recruited 41,514 men and women aged 40-69 years old in 1990 to 1994, to ascertain the relationship between B-vitamin intake and the development of lung cancer in a follow up cohort of approximately 37,000 people over an average of 15 years.  Forty-one percent of these subjects were former or current smokers, although only 11 percent were current smokers.  During this follow up period, there were 348 new cases of lung cancer that developed in the entire cohort.

There was no relationship between the intake of any B-vitamin and overall risk of developing lung cancer.  However, within the group of current smokers, there was a significant reduction in lung cancer risk with higher intakes of riboflavin intake.  For example, the risk of developing lung cancer during the follow up period in current smokers was reduced by 47 percent in those with the highest riboflavin intake. These observations are noteworthy because they may suggest that higher riboflavin intake might protect against the risk of lung cancer in current smokers.

Source from: Bassett JK et al. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 31 August 2011; doi:10.1038/ejcn.2011.157 (advanced online publication)