Mediterranean Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism

Many people in the UAE eat out frequently, but there is limited knowledge about the nutritional quality of the consumed meals.

The aim of this study was to assess the nutritional quality of children’s meals in Abu Dhabi restaurants, considering deep-frying and food group content.

In this cross-sectional pilot study, popular food outlets were identified using an online customer rating application. Children menus were collected and the meal quality was assessed. A healthy meal should not be deep-fried and contain at least 2 of the following food groups: low-fat dairy/lean protein/whole grain/fruits/vegetables (criteria adapted from the “Kids Live Well Nutritional Criteria” by the National Restaurant Association, US).

58 restaurants were included, of which 29 had children menus, offering a total of 209 meals. 60% of the meals had beverages included in the price: 13% being water or milk. Overall, 78.9% of the assessed meals did not meet the cut-offs for healthy meals.

In this pilot study, a majority of children’s meals in Abu Dhabi’s food outlets had poor nutritional quality. The findings suggest a need for more extensive studies around meal offerings at restaurants.

In 2014, around 1.9 billion adults over the age of 18 were overweight. In the United States and Europe obesity has become a primary public health problem.

Many people who go often to SPAs to perform mud therapy are overweight. The possibility of a dietetic evaluation to follow a dietetic program could be an occasion for both slimming and food education.

We have look for a possible cooperation between Mediterranean diet and mudpack treatment in losing weight.

A 1 week/2 week follow up intervention with a low calories Mediterranean diet combined or not with mudpack treatment. The main outcome measures are weight, BIA (Body Impedence Assessment), waist-hip ratio, abdominal circumference.

The thermal spas are an opportunity to regain a good state of health, undergoing to traditional mudpack treatments, a balanced and low calories diet, physical activity under strict control of a personal Trainer, and relaxing and draining treatments.

Most overweight and obese patients have lost weight and fat, and this seems to be due not only to low caloric regimen, but also to the mudpack therapy itself. It will be very important to carry out studies with larger statistical relevance in the future.

The role of lipid-lowering and hypoglycemic nutraceuticals in cardiovascular disease prevention is the focus in recent years. The most studied compounds and plants are sterols, soy, red fermented rice, policosanols, artichoke, berberine. Epidemiological and experimental evidences suggest that dietary polyphenols, especially flavonoids, might play a role in preventing atherosclerosis, owing to their pleiotropic metabolic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. Recent studies have shown that bergamot juice and albedo (Citrus Bergamia Risso et Poiteau), an endemic plant growing in a limited part of the Ionian coast of Calabria (Italy) has a unique content of flavonoids and glycosides, such as neoeriocytrine, neoesperidine, naringenine, routine, neodesmine, polyphenol and poncirine.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a phytocomplex from bergamot fruit (EP3116520A1) as dietary supplement to a Mediterranean diet on body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, plasmatic lipid fractions, glucose and C – reactive protein (CRP) in subjects with the metabolic syndrome (MetS; according to NCEP-ATP III criteria) without pharmacological treatment, exept for basic treatment.

80 overweight adults (54% females, 46% males) with the diagnosis of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS), aged 45 ± 5 years, were enrolled and randomized to 2 groups: group A) followed a personalized low calorie Mediterranean diet (control group) and group B) enriched the same diet therapy with 1 tablet of a phytocomplex from bergamot fruit per day for 6 months (intervention group).

After 6 months patients in the intervention group showed a significant reduction of total cholesterol (–15% ), LDL-Cholesterol (–22% ), triglycerides (–23% ), blood glucose (–15% ), CRP (–40% ) and a significant increase in the HDL-Cholesterol (+ 14% ) levels compared to the control group (diet alone) where the changes were not significant, with not much significance in reduced body weight.

Our findings suggest that bergamot supplementation improves significantly all aspects of metabolic profile in patients with MetS and is superior to diet alone.

Ramadan fasting has been associated with a significant body weight, fat mass and waist-hip circumference reduction. However, this is mostly followed by weight regain in 2 weeks after the fasting is stopped. Currently there is no explanation on how this rebound phenomena occurred.

The aim of this study was to examine the role of lifestyle and hormonal background on weight regain after Ramadan fasting in overweight individuals.

This was an observational study with prospective cohort design. Subjects were overweight/obese men and women adults with age between 21 and 56 years old. Body weight, percent fat, fat free mass and hip-waist circumference were measured before (week 0), 28 days after Ramadan fasting (week 4) and 2 weeks after the end of Ramadan (week 6). In addition, data on lifestyle factors such as dietary intake and physical activity were collected in those time points. Leptin was measured before and at the end of Ramadan fasting period.

Body weight was significantly reduced at the end of Ramadan (week 4, p < 0,0001) and increased after Ramadan (week 6, p < 0,0001). Leptin was significantly reduced after Ramadan (p = 0,018) and we found that leptin level at the end of Ramadan was associated with percent body weight reduction (p = 0,011).

We conducted a study to understand Ramadan fasting yo-yo effect in overweight and obese individuals and this study showed that dietary factor prior to the fasting has a significant impact on overweight/obese individual.

Teucrium polium L. aerial parts are traditionally used in Algerian folk medicine due to its therapeutic properties.

The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of different extracting solvents (methanol, ethanol, ethyl acetate, chloroform, hexane and water) on antioxidant capacity and total phenol and flavonoid contents of Algerian Teucrium polium aerial parts.

The antioxidant capacity of Teucrium polium extracts was assessed by DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS (2, 2’-azino-bis 3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) free radicals scavenging and reducing power assays. For each extract, the total phenol and flavonoid contents were investigated by the Folin-Ciocalteu and aluminium trichloride methods, respectively.

All the tested extracts showed an appreciable total phenolic and total flavonoid contents and strong antioxidant capacity. Among the different extracts, the methanolic extract was found to be containing the highest amount of total phenols (206.95±1.82 mg of gallic acid equivalent per gram of extract) and flavonoids (42.16±0.61 mg of quercetin equivalent per gram of extract). The same extract also exhibited a much better reducing power and scavenging capacity against DPPH (IC₅₀ = 6.77±0.15 mg/l) and ABTS (IC₅₀ = 2.79±0.07 mg/l).

These findings suggest that aerial parts of Teucrium polium methanolic extract could be used as natural source of antioxidants in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry.

The Béni Guil sheep is the main ovine breed that dominates livestock farming in the semi-arid region of eastern Morocco. No previous data is available on the quality of Béni Guil PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) lamb meat raised on the natural pasture of this area.

This study aims to provide the physicochemical and nutritional characteristics of Béni Guil PGI lamb meat.

Béni Guil PGI lamb meat was analysed for its quality parameters, fatty acid composition and amino acid profile.

Results show that the Béni Guil PGI lamb meat has a significant juiciness (high water holding capacity), a marked tenderness (low collagen content) and a bright red colour. Longissimus lumborum muscle from Béni Guil PGI lambs contains 25.72% dry matter, including 19.43% protein, 5.14% fat, and 0.94% minerals. Gas chromatography-flame ionisation detection, for fatty acid analysis, revealed 49.45% saturated fatty acids (SFA), 38.48% monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and 12.4% polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The UFA:SFA and n-6:n-3 PUFA ratios were 1.04 and 3.78, respectively, and were comparable to those recommended for a balanced diet. The amino acid analysis, allowed the identification of eight essential amino acids. The chemical index and the protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score values were 132 and 124, respectively.

The results of this study indicate that the Beni Guil PGI meat has nutritional values in accordance with the nutritional recommendations and specific to the feeding system based mainly on grazing.

Oxidation products generated during repeated heating of cooking oils can participate in the development of cardiovascular diseases.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of administration of high fat diet with and without cholesterol and to compare the effects of fresh and repeatedly heated coconut oil in rats. The effects of various diets containing coconut oil on lipid levels in serum and tissues, oxidative damage and antioxidant status in tissues were studied.

Coconut oil was heated at 210 ± 10°C for fifteen hours. Male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into four groups of six animals each and were fed the experimental diet for sixty days.

Results revealed that rats fed high fat – cholesterol enriched diet significantly influenced the lipid levels and antioxidant status in experimental animals. The results indicate that repeated heating of coconut oil increased the lipid levels and oxidative stress in cholesterol fed rats.

Study demonstrates that thermally stressed dietary oil increases the atherosclerotic tendency in experimental animals by inducing oxidative stress in addition to those induced by dietary cholesterol.

One of the objectives of food industry is to seek new resources of oil that preferably presents nutritional values. For human health, fats and particularly vegetable oils are considered as an important source of energy when glucose is not available. In addition, the search for effective, natural compounds with antioxidant activity has been intensified in recent years to replace the synthetic products.

The aim of the present work was to determine the fatty acids profile (and variability) of the lipid fractions extracted from five different populations of the leaves of Pistacia lentiscus L. growing in Algeria. In addition, the antioxidant activities of the lipidic fractions were also determined.

The chemical compositions of tocopherols were also analyzed by HPLC for the first time for this plant part. The chemical percentage variability (presence of two main distinguished clusters) of the fatty acids was discussed using statistical analysis methods (Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering “AHC” and principal component analysis “PCA”). The antioxidant activity of the dewaxed lipid fractions were investigated in vitro using two different assays: DPPH (1,1-diphenyl, 2-picrylhydrazyl) free radicals scavenging activity and β-carotene bleaching test.

For the overall samples, the main saturated fatty acids components were capric acid (C10:0 = 2.49–13.88%), myristic acid (C14:0 = 4.71–9.12%) and palmitic acid (C16:0 = 5.31–9.03%). Alternatively, the main unsaturated fatty acids were oleic acid (C18:1w9 = 3.42–4.85%), linoleic acid (C18:2w6 = 10.94–16.99%) and most importantly α-linolenic acid (C18:3w3 = 20.92–48.92%), which is known for its multiple dietary, pharmaceutical and clinical benefits.

The results of fatty acids methyl esters identification using GC and GC-MS showed a clear variability in the composition of fatty acids. The main result of this study illustrate the nutritional potential (richness in MUFA such as C18:1w9, presence of essential fatty acids such as C18:2w6 at all the stages of maturation, richness in omega-3 fatty acids such as C18:3w3. of the oil of P. lentiscus leaves, which can provide opportunities for rational exploitation for medicinal purposes and in the food industries. Regarding tocopherols HPLC analysis, the samples were rich in α-tocopherol (58.51–89.17% of the total tocopherols identified). Finally, and for antioxidant activity measured by β-carotene assay, the obtained values suggested good antioxidant activities when compared with antioxidants of reference.