Scientific research

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

by Katherine Gil-Cardoso, Guillermo Saldaña, Elisa Luengo, Jorge Pastor, Raquel Virto, Juan Maria Alcaide-Hidalgo, Josep M. del Bas, Lluís Arola, and Antoni Caimari

To evaluate responses to different sourdough breads, six groups of rats were fed a conventional refined wheat bread with no sourdough content (C_WhB); a leavened spelt bread baked with Rebola sourdough (Re_SpB); a durum wheat bread with Rebola sourdough (Re_DuB); or a multigrain bread leavened with Rebola (Re_MGB), Carla (Ca_MGB), or San Francisco sourdough (SF_MGB). Compared to C_WhB-fed rats, Re_SpB-, Re_DuB-, and Re_MGB-fed animals showed lower postprandial blood glucose levels, whereas SF_MGB-fed rats displayed a decreased postprandial blood insulin response and glucose and insulin
products. The 3 week intake of Ca_MGB decreased blood triacylglycerols and the relative apparent absorption (RAA) of Fe2+, Cu2+, and Zn2+, whereas Re_MGB-fed animals showed lower serum levels of the MCP-1 inflammatory marker and decreased the Fe RAA. The 3 week consumption of the multigrain bread produced sourdough-specific effects. Thus, Re_MGB-fed animals displayed higher insulin concentrations than Ca_MGB- and SF_MGB-fed rats and decreased blood MCP-1 levels compared to those of Ca_MGBfed animals. In addition, Ca_MGB-fed rats showed lower serum triacylglycerol concentrations than those of Re_MGB- and SF_MGB-fed animals, whereas SF_MGB-fed rats displayed higher RAA values of Ca2+, Cu2+, Fe2+, Mg2+, and Zn2+ than their Re_MGB and Ca_MGB counterparts. These sourdough-specific effects could be related to changes in the contents of sugars and organic acids, acidity, microbial composition, and proteolytic activity among sourdoughs. Hence, the consumption of sourdough breads improved postprandial blood glucose and insulin responses and produced sourdough-specific effects on RAA and serum insulin and triacylglycerol and MCP-1 levels in rats, showing that SF_MGB has the most promising beneficial effects.

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

by Noemi Boqué, Lucía Tarro,  Alice Rosi, Helena Torrell, Guillermo Saldaña, Elisa Luengo, Zeev Rachman, António Pires, Nuno Tiago Tavares, Ana Salomé Pires, Maria Filomena Botelho, Pedro Mena, Francesca Scazzina, Daniele Del Rio and Antoni Caimari.

Youth obesity is a strong predictor of adult obesity, which has well-known negative health consequences. Thus, addressing adult obesity requires tackling youth obesity. MEDYouth’s main objective is to strengthen the link between the Mediterranean Diet (MD) and the health benefits against youth obesity and associated cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, identifying positive effects exerted by an MD including sourdough bread and healthy products from the Mediterranean basis (chickpeas/hummus, nuts, and pomegranate juice). For this purpose, a multicenter randomized controlled trial in which an MD-based intervention will be compared to a traditional low-fat diet intervention will be carried out with 240 overweight and obese adolescents (13-17 years) from Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Both interventions will be combined with an educational web-application addressed to engage the adolescents through a learning-through-playing approach, using both educational materials and games. To assess the interventions, adherence to the MD, dietary records, physical activity, food frequency, sociodemographic, and quality of life questionnaires as well as classical anthropometric and biochemical parameters will be evaluated. Furthermore, an omics approach will be performed to elucidate whether the interventions can shape the gut microbiota and gut-derived metabolites to gain knowledge on the mechanisms through which the MD can exert its beneficial effects.