Search Results (2,178)

Obesity is a complex, multifactorial chronic disease characterized by excessive and/or aberrant adiposity that requires interventions beyond conventional calorie-restriction models. Current clinical guidelines converge on behavioral modification, encompassing nutritional therapy, physical activity, stress reduction, and sleep improvement, as the cornerstone of obesity management, with psychological therapy, pharmacotherapy, and bariatric procedures as adjunctive or escalating options. While traditional “one-size-fits-all” dietary approaches frequently yield suboptimal long-term outcomes, precision nutrition has emerged as a promising strategy for individualized obesity care. This review critically appraises the evidence underlying each pillar of precision nutrition: genetic profiling shows clear utility in monogenic obesity but variable benefit when diet is matched to common polygenic variants; microbiome-targeted studies reveal that the Bacillota to Bacteroidota ratio shows inconsistent associations with obesity across studies, with genus-level and functional alterations offering more reproducible targets; and metabolomic profiling of postprandial glycemic responses has progressed from foundational predictive algorithms to large-scale clinical validation. It also highlights chrono-nutrition, the alignment of food timing with individual chronotype, as an emerging pillar of personalization. Beyond dietary composition, the review addresses how personalized nutrition can mitigate the adverse effects of incretin-based pharmacotherapy and discusses how artificial intelligence can integrate multi-omics and behavioral data into real-time dietary guidance. Future clinical implementation will require overcoming challenges related to data integration, predictive accuracy, and accessibility, paving the way for more effective, evidence-based obesity management. Full article

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) account for a substantial proportion of energy intake and are commonly characterized by being low in protein. The growing availability of protein-fortified UPFs may contribute considerably to dietary protein intake. This study examined associations between UPF consumption and protein intake and evaluated the effects of UPF reduction on protein intake. Fifty-two healthy adults were randomized to either minimize UPF consumption (MPF; n = 25) or maintain typical dietary patterns (UPF; n = 27) for six months. Dietary intake was assessed using three-day diet records at baseline and post-intervention, and foods were classified by the Nova Food Classification System. At baseline, UPF consumption was positively associated with UPF-derived protein intake and the proportion of protein obtained from UPFs (p’s < 0.0001), while demonstrating inverse associations with protein intake relative to body mass and the percentage of calories derived from protein. The MPF group significantly reduced UPF consumption and UPF-derived protein intake (p’s < 0.0001). Despite this, total protein intake, protein intake relative to body mass, and percentage of calories derived from protein were maintained. These findings suggest that dietary protein adequacy can be preserved during UPF reduction while decreasing reliance on UPF-derived protein sources. Full article

Background: Gut microbiota plays a key role in the aging process, with age-related microbial shifts contributing to chronic inflammation, metabolic dysfunction, frailty, and cognitive decline. Despite growing interest, an integrated synthesis of how diet and lifestyle modifications influence gut microbiota remains limited. This overview of reviews summarizes the current evidence on how dietary and lifestyle interventions shape microbial composition and affect aging outcomes. Methods: Following the PRISMA guidelines, we searched PubMed and Scopus for English-language reviews (January 2023–October 2025) including human adults aged ≥ 18 years, evaluating dietary or lifestyle interventions, and reporting gut microbiota with healthy-aging outcomes. Quality of the reviews was appraised using the SANRA tool. Results: Mediterranean and plant-based diets, calorie restriction, and microbiota-targeted approaches such as probiotics, prebiotics, symbiotics, and fecal microbiota transplantation were associated with increases in short-chain fatty acid-producing bacteria, including Faecalibacterium, Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Akkermansia muciniphila, while reducing pro-inflammatory taxa. These changes were linked to improved metabolic and immune function, reduced inflammaging, lower frailty, and greater physical resilience. Cognitive benefits included decreased neuroinflammation and a lower risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Conclusions: Maintaining microbial balance through targeted dietary strategies may support healthier, more resilient aging, offering practical insights for public health and clinical nutrition planning. Full article

Background/Objectives: This study examines the effectiveness of calorie labeling on restaurant menus by investigating how visual attention is allocated between calorie information and food cues. Although calorie labeling policies are widely implemented, prior research suggests limited impact on reducing energy intake. Methods: Using eye-tracking technology, this study explored how menu design factors (specifically visual food cues) influence attention. Results: Results from a within-subject experiment (N = 82) indicated that calorie labels received significantly fewer visual fixations (in terms of frequency and duration) when food images were present. Conversely, calorie labels did not reduce attention to food cues, highlighting an asymmetry in attentional allocations. Interestingly, restricted eaters were associated with more frequent attention to calorie labels but not with longer sustained attention to those labels. Conclusions: Overall, findings suggest that the motivational responses elicited by food cues undermine the effectiveness of calorie labeling by diverting attention away from nutritional information, limiting its utility as a public health intervention. Full article

Background/Objectives: Zero-calorie beverages (ZCB) are increasingly consumed by adolescents, yet their relationship with mental health remains unclear, and whether any association differs by sex has not been established. We examined the association between ZCB consumption and depressive symptoms in a nationally representative sample of Korean adolescents, with sex as a prespecified effect modifier. Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed 50,972 adolescents aged 12–18 years (50.9% male; mean age, 15.0 years) from the 2025 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey. Self-reported ZCB consumption during the previous 7 days and depressive symptoms during the previous 12 months were assessed. ZCB consumption was categorized as none, ≤2/week, 3–6/week, or ≥1/day. Survey-weighted logistic regression estimated adjusted odds ratios (aORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), with non-consumers as the reference. Effect modification by sex was assessed using interaction terms. Results: Depressive symptoms were reported by 12,954 adolescents (25.4%). ZCB consumption was associated with higher odds of depressive symptoms across consumption categories (aOR for ≥1/day 1.76, 95% CI 1.45–2.13; p for trend < 0.001), after adjustment for sociodemographic and lifestyle covariates. The association appeared stronger among females than among males (aOR 1.14 [95% CI 1.11–1.18] vs. 1.05 [1.02–1.08]; p for interaction < 0.001), though significant in both sexes, and persisted after additional adjustment for co-consumed sugar-sweetened and high-caffeine beverages. Conclusions: In this nationally representative sample, daily ZCB consumption was associated with depressive symptoms, with a stronger association observed among females. Prospective studies are warranted to clarify temporality and underlying mechanisms. Full article

Obesity is currently recognized as a global epidemic and contributes to numerous health complications. It is strongly associated with poor dietary habits, including the widespread availability and consumption of high-calorie foods. We conducted a narrative review of publications from major biomedical databases addressing obesity treatment and public-health interventions. One of the strategies for managing obesity is lifestyle modification—balanced diet and regular physical activity—supported by pharmacological and psychological treatment, and, in selected patients, metabolic and bariatric surgery. Beyond patient-level care, public-health-oriented measures should be considered, including taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages, restriction on advertising of unhealthy foods, regulation of the school food environment, front-of-pack nutrition labelling, mandatory food reformulation, subsidies and incentives for healthy foods, urban-planning policies that promote physical activity, and policies that expand access to bariatric surgery. A comprehensive approach integrating clinical care with public-health policy is likely to yield more effective outcomes than either alone. Full article

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) affects nearly one billion adults worldwide and involves mechanical upper-airway obstruction alongside metabolic dysfunction, systemic inflammation, and gut–brain axis disruption. Despite the efficacy of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), suboptimal long-term adherence highlights the need for complementary pharmacological strategies. This narrative review synthesizes preclinical and clinical evidence on GLP-1-based therapies, encompassing selective GLP-1 receptor agonists and tirzepatide, a dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist, in obesity-associated OSA. Preclinical studies show that GLP-1 receptor activation can reduce visceral adiposity, attenuate pro-inflammatory signaling, improve glucose and lipid metabolism, and modulate hypothalamic appetite circuits. However, the only identified murine study evaluating liraglutide during intermittent hypoxia—an experimental model of one component of OSA rather than the complete disorder—did not reverse hypoxia-induced insulin resistance, indicating that persistent intermittent hypoxia may limit metabolic improvement in that model. Clinically, liraglutide and tirzepatide have reduced the apnea–hypopnea index (AHI) and improved several cardiometabolic outcomes. Numerically larger AHI reductions were reported in the tirzepatide trials, although no head-to-head comparison with selective GLP-1 receptor agonists is available. Tirzepatide is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for moderate-to-severe OSA in adults with obesity, together with a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity, and may be used without concomitant positive airway pressure in eligible patients or as an adjunct to ongoing therapy. The observed respiratory benefits appear to be mediated predominantly by weight loss and related reductions in mechanical and metabolic burden. Evidence supporting additional weight-independent mechanisms remains insufficient, and longer-term mechanistic studies in broader populations are required. Full article

D-tagatose, a low-calorie sugar substitute, widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries, can be produced from the substrate D-galactose using L-arabinose isomerase (L-AI). L-AI genes derived from Lactobacillus fermentum (LFAI), Lactobacillus brevis (LBAI), Lactobacillus plantarum (LPAI), and Lactobacillus sakei (LSAI) for the bioconversion of D-galactose into D-tagatose using whole Escherichia coli (E. coli) cells were investigated. The temperature, time, pH, whole-cell concentration, and metal ion concentration were optimized to enhance catalytic production. The results revealed that at the low substrate concentration of 10 g/L, LFAI, LBAI, LPAI, and LSAI exhibited considerable catalytic activity, with conversion rates of 55.31%, 68.17%, 61.45%, and 58.22%, respectively. In contrast, at the high substrate concentration of 250 g/L, their conversion rates were 19.78%, 18.47%, 20.26%, and 36.24%, respectively, with LSAI demonstrating superior catalytic performance. In order to facilitate the industrial production of D-tagatose, site-directed mutagenesis was performed on LSAI. Among the engineered LSAI variants, the P99H, K142R, and L465R mutants all showed increased catalytic rates for D-tagatose. Specifically, at the high substrate concentration of 250 g/L, the P99H mutant achieved a conversion rate of 45.73%, representing a 32.7% improvement compared to the optimized LSAI. These results indicate that the designed site-directed mutagenesis strategy effectively enhanced whole-cell bioconversion performance of LSAI toward D-galactose. Full article

Maternal obesity has been associated with offspring fetal programming, increasing the risk of developing chronic diseases in adulthood, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and behavioral disorders such as anxiety and depression. Milk whey (MW) peptides, administered as a supplement, reduce food intake and body weight in overweight rodents. The aim of this work was to study the possible metabolic and behavioral restorative effects of a bovine MW supplement against the negative fetal programming of juvenile offspring. Dam Wistar rats were fed during gestation and lactation with a standard (SD) or a hypercaloric diet (HD); after weaning, the male offspring were fed SD or SD and MW. HD dams showed increases in blood cholesterol, body weight, and calorie intake, while administering MW in offspring from HD mothers reduced these alterations. Serum corticosterone, LDL cholesterol, fasting blood glucose, and glucose intolerance were significantly higher in offspring from HD dams; however, MW did not affect these changes. Offspring from HD dams showed signs of anxiety that were not reversed by MW, as well as a reduction in hippocampal BDNF that was partially restored with MW. Maternal HD consumption during pregnancy and lactation elicited negative developmental programming of adult offspring metabolism, which was partially restored by bovine MW supplementation. Full article

Cancer remains a leading global cause of morbidity and mortality, with oxidative stress playing a central role in its pathogenesis, progression, and response to therapy. Nutrition has emerged as a modifiable factor capable of influencing redox homeostasis, thereby contributing to both cancer prevention and therapeutic outcomes. This narrative review summarizes current evidence on dietary patterns, specific nutrients, and bioactive compounds that modulate oxidative stress and are associated with reduced cancer risk and improved response to treatment. A literature search was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar, covering the period from 2002 to 2025 to capture contemporary dietary approaches and clinical evidence. Eligible studies addressed nutrient compounds, dietary strategies, obesity, gut microbiota, conventional cancer therapies, and clinical outcomes, with particular emphasis on mechanisms related to oxidative stress, inflammation, and immune modulation. Epidemiological evidence consistently supports the protective role of plant-based dietary patterns and reduced intake of red and processed meat, partly due to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Nutrients such as dietary fiber, polyphenols, and omega-3 fatty acids are associated with decreased oxidative damage, improved immune responses, and enhanced therapeutic efficacy across multiple tumor types, including colorectal, breast, lung, and ovarian cancers, as well as glioblastoma. Emerging data also suggest that dietary interventions, including ketogenic diets and fasting, may influence tumor metabolism and redox balance, potentially increasing sensitivity to conventional therapies. The gut microbiota has been identified as a key mediator linking diet, oxidative stress, and cancer-related pathways. Although current evidence supports the role of nutritional strategies in targeting oxidative stress for cancer prevention and treatment, further large-scale randomized clinical trials are required to clarify their impact on survival and treatment efficacy. The integration of nutritional counseling into oncology practice represents a cost-effective, accessible, and patient-centered approach with the potential to modulate oxidative stress and improve clinical outcomes. Full article

Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) is considered a healthy vegetable due to its chemical composition and high nutritional value, owing to its main constituents of carbohydrates and dietary fiber and the fact that it is also a source of ascorbic acid. The resulting product, sauerkraut, is low-calorie and has a long shelf life. Lactic acid bacteria play the most important role in cabbage fermentation, and their activity is influenced by physical factors such as temperature and chemical factors such as salt concentration and the addition of spices, which may inhibit undesirable microflora, in addition to their flavoring effect. This study explores the impact of incorporating essential oils into sauerkraut production on the lactic acid bacteria that drive cabbage fermentation. It also analyzes how these oils affect the primary chemical components of sauerkraut, including total soluble solids, total phenolics, and antioxidant activity. Essential oils from thyme, dill, wild thyme, laurel, and basil are tested. Incorporating essential oils into cabbage before fermentation may partially inhibit or slow the growth of bacteria involved in the fermentation process while also contributing to the improved flavor profile of the final product. Full article

Objectives: This study examined component-level relationships among mindful eating, disordered eating attitudes, and risk of exercise addiction (REA) in recreational exercisers. Using Bayesian Gaussian network analysis, the study aimed to identify conditional associations and central variables across these constructs. Methods: Data were collected from 303 regular exercisers in Türkiye aged 18–57 years (M = 24.42, SD = 7.10; 57.8% male, 42.2% female). Participants completed the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26), the Mindful Eating Questionnaire (MEQ), and the Expanded Exercise Addiction Inventory-3 (EAI-3), with all subscales entered as nodes in a 12-node Bayesian Gaussian network. The estimated network contained 22 nonzero edges among 66 possible connections (sparsity = 0.667), indicating a moderately sparse structure. The robustness of the recovered structure was examined against a regularized frequentist counterpart and against models adjusting for age, sex, and exercise frequency/duration. Results: The strongest conditional associations occurred within rather than between instruments: EAT-26 Restriction (Diet/Calorie Control) and EAT-26 Bulimia and Food Preoccupation, EAI-3 Healthy Relevance and EAI-3 Addiction Tendency, MEQ Eating without Thinking and MEQ Emotional Eating, and EAT-26 Bulimia and Food Preoccupation and EAT-26 Social Pressure. Cross-domain associations were present but consistently weaker, with the mindful-eating and exercise-addiction domains bridged principally by MEQ Eating Discipline–EAI-3 Healthy Relevance and MEQ Conscious Eating–EAI-3 Addiction Tendency. Two negative edges emerged, between EAT-26 Social Pressure and EAI-3 Healthy Relevance and between EAT-26 Bulimia and Food Preoccupation and MEQ External Influences. EAT-26 Bulimia and Food Preoccupation showed the highest standardized strength, whereas MEQ Conscious Eating showed the strongest expected influence, and MEQ External Influences showed the highest betweenness. Conclusions: Exercise-addiction risk was selectively and modestly linked to eating-related components rather than to global disordered eating or mindful eating, with each instrument retaining substantial internal cohesion. The findings highlight the value of component-level Bayesian Gaussian network analysis for identifying candidate components associated with REA, with implications for screening and the design of future prospective and intervention studies. Because the EAI-3 subscales differ in valence, the Healthy Relevance dimension is interpreted as reflecting health-oriented exercise involvement rather than pathology. Finally, since the network is cross-sectional and undirected, the associations are non-causal, and generalizability is limited to recreational exerciser populations in Türkiye. Full article

Rebaudioside M (RM), a steviol glycoside derived from Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, has emerged as a promising next-generation zero-calorie sweetener. However, its low natural abundance and poor aqueous solubility limit its practical application in beverage formulations. To address these limitations, two novel RM analogs, RMLC1 and RMLC2, were synthesized from stevioside (ST) through a two-step biocatalytic strategy. ST was first α-glucosylated by Leuconostoc kimchii dextransucrase to generate the α-glucosylated intermediate RD2, which was subsequently β-glucosylated by UGT76G1 to produce RMLC1 and RMLC2, with more than 95% conversion of RD2. RMLC1 and RMLC2 were stable at temperatures up to 120 °C and across a pH range of 2–10. RMLC1 and RMLC2 exhibited 139- and 127-fold higher aqueous solubility than RM, respectively, due to α-glucosylation-induced changes in molecular conformation. In a commercial low-pH beverage, both analogs showed approximately 3-fold greater storage stability than RM. In vitro digestion assays demonstrated that both analogs released less than half the glucose generated from enzymatically modified stevia. Electronic tongue analysis suggested that RMLC1 exhibited a balanced, blend-friendly taste profile, while RMLC2 displayed a sweetness-forward profile with minimal bitterness. Full article

Negative emotion and perceived food deliciousness are important factors contributing to unhealthy food choices, but their interaction during food decision-making remains unclear. This study examined how negative emotion and deliciousness congruency influence high-calorie food choices and related event-related potential (ERP) responses in overweight individuals (OWs) and normal-weight individuals (NWs). Fifty female college students, including 24 OWs and 26 NWs, completed a binary food choice task before and after negative and neutral emotion induction. Participants chose high-calorie foods more frequently and responded faster in the deliciousness-incongruent condition than in the deliciousness-congruent condition. Negative emotion increased high-calorie food choices among OWs but not among NWs. The deliciousness-incongruent condition elicited less negative N1 amplitudes and marginally less negative N2 amplitudes. P3 amplitudes were modulated by emotion, group, and deliciousness congruency, with negative emotion reducing P3 amplitudes in NWs but not in OWs. High-calorie food choices are jointly shaped by negative emotion, deliciousness congruency, and weight status. Deliciousness advantage facilitates high-calorie food choices, whereas negative emotion selectively increases such choices among OWs. ERP results suggest that these effects involve both early attentional processing and later evaluative processing. Full article

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) interpretation in people without diabetes is expanding beyond general glycemic control toward more dynamic metrics, such as Rate of Change (RoC). In this fixed-sequence pilot study conducted in 30 healthy adult females, we evaluated associations between two structured 14-day lifestyle interventions and free-living conditions using standard CGM-derived glycemic variability metrics and a novel framework based on the rate-of-change (RoC) metrics and data clarity using an unblinded Abbott FreeStyle Libre 2 monitoring. The dietary intervention (calorie-tailored low-glycemic index regular meals) were associated with lower time spent in rising (+1 to +2 mg/dL/min) and falling (−2 to −1 mg/dL/min) RoC bins by 4.76 ± 1.87% (complete-case delta, p ≤ 0.0071), whereas the 14-day physical activity intervention showed smaller and less consistent RoC changes (0.41 ± 2.20, p ≥ 0.3549). These findings, despite some major study design limitations, suggest that RoC may be more responsive and sensitive to short-term dietary pattern modifications in normoglycemic women. Full article