Wheat is a vital and preferred energy source in many parts of the world. Its unique processing quality helps to prepare many products such as bread, biscuit, pasta, noodles, etc. In the world of rapid economic growth, food security in terms of nutritional profile began to receive more significant interest. The development of biofortified colored wheat (black, purple, and blue) adds nutritional and functional health benefits to the energy-rich wheat. Colored wheat exists in three forms, purple, blue, and black color, depending upon the types and position of the anthocyanins in wheat layers, regulated by the bHLH-MYC transcription factor. Colored wheat lines with high anthocyanin, iron, and zinc contents showed antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity and possessed desirable product-making and commercial utilization features. The anthocyanin in colored wheat also has a broad spectrum of health implications, such as protection against metabolic syndromes like obesity, diabetes, hyperten
The microbiota-gut-liver axis has emerged as an important player in developing non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a type of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Higher mushroom intake is negatively associated with the prevalence of NAFLD. This study examined whether lentinan, an active ingredient in mushroom, could improve NAFLD and gut microbiota dysbiosis in NAFLD mice induced by a high-fat (HF) diet. Dietary lentinan supplementation for 15 weeks significantly improved gut microbiota dysbiosis in HF mice, evidenced by increased the abundance of phylum Actinobacteria, and decreased phylum Proteobacteria and Epsilonbacteraeota. Moreover, lentinan improved intestinal barrier integrity, characterized by enhancing intestinal tight junction proteins, restoring intestinal redox balance, and reducing serum lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In the liver, lentinan attenuated HF diet-induced steatohepatitis, alteration of inflammation-insulin (NFκB-PTP1B-Akt-GSK3β) signaling molecules, and d
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A new study from the University of California, Irvine shows that compounds in both green and black tea relax blood vessels by activating ion channel proteins in the blood vessel wall. The discovery helps explain the antihypertensive properties of tea and could lead to the design of new blood pressure-lowering medications.
Published in
Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry, the discovery was made by the laboratory of Geoffrey Abbott, PhD, a professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the UCI School of Medicine. Kaitlyn Redford, a graduate student in the Abbott Lab, was first author of the study titled, KCNQ5 potassium channel activation underlies vasodilation by tea.