Gary Frost

Dietary interventions to combat non-communicable diseases focus on optimizing food intake but overlook the influence of food structure. Here, we investigate how food structure influences digestion. In a randomized crossover study, ten healthy participants were fitted with nasoenteric tubes that allow simultaneous gastric and duodenal sampling, before consuming iso-nutrient chickpea meals with contrasting cellular structures. The primary outcome is gut hormone response. Secondary outcomes are intestinal content analysis, blood glucose and insulin response, subjective appetite changes and ad libitum energy intake. We show that the 'Broken' and 'Intact' cell structures of meals result in different digestive and metabolomic profiles, leading to distinct postprandial gut hormones, glycaemia and satiety responses. 'Broken' meal structure elicits higher glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide, glucagon-like peptide-1 and blood glycaemia, driven by high starch digestibility and a sharp rise in gastric maltose within 30 min. 'Intact' meal structure produces a prolonged release of glucagon-like peptide-1 and peptide-YY, elevated duodenal amino acids and undigested starch at 120 min. This work highlights how food structure alters upper gastrointestinal nutrient-sensing hormones, providing insights into the adverse effects of modern diets on obesity and type 2 diabetes. ISRCTN registration: ISRCTN18097249.

The nutritional benefits of Extra Virgin Olive Oils (EVOOs) depend on their chemical composition. Currently, there is no simple way to compare the health benefits of different EVOOs. Samples from Australia, Greece, Italy, Spain and Tunisia (N = 423) were analyzed using proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to screen against six quality parameters (free acidity, peroxides, K270, K232, Delta K, wax) and measure fat compositions. These fat compositions were compared against healthy eating guidelines to produce five binary descriptors, which were weighted by evidence to create an accessible Nutritional Quality Index (NQI). EVOOs were differentiated by saturated fat and balance between monounsaturated (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fat (PUFA). Most samples (56.4 %) showed poor SFA, poor PUFA and good MUFA (NQI = 56), 21 % had good SFA, poor PUFA and good MUFA (NQI = 81), and 19.4 % exhibited poor SFA, good PUFA and poor MUFA (NQI = 64). The NQI identifies EVOOs with superior nutritional value, enabling informed consumer choices.

The Chief Editor has retracted this article. The London–Brent Research Ethics Committee has informed the Chief Editor that, contrary to the statement in the article, the semi-controlled four-day feeding study utilised in this research and presented in the supplementary information, did not have approval. The authors have been invited to submit a new manuscript without this sub-study for peer review. All authors agree with this retraction.

Rationale: Evidence suggests consumption of a Mediterranean diet (MD) can positively impact both maternal and offspring health, potentially mediated by a beneficial effect on inflammatory pathways. We aimed to apply metabolic profiling of serum and urine samples to assess differences between women who were stratified into high and low alignment to a MD throughout pregnancy and investigate the relationship of the diet to inflammatory markers.

Methods: From the ORIGINS cohort, 51 pregnant women were stratified for persistent high and low alignment to a MD, based on validated MD questionnaires. 1 H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was used to investigate the urine and serum metabolite profiles of these women at 36 weeks of pregnancy. The relationship between diet, metabolite profile and inflammatory status was investigated.

Results: There were clear differences in both the food choice and metabolic profiles of women who self-reported concordance to a high (HMDA) and low (LMDA) Mediterranean diet, indicating that alignment with the MD was associated with a specific metabolic phenotype during pregnancy. Reduced meat intake and higher vegetable intake in the HMDA group was supported by increased levels of urinary hippurate (p = 0.044) and lower creatine (p = 0.047) levels. Serum concentrations of the NMR spectroscopic inflammatory biomarkers GlycA (p = 0.020) and GlycB (p = 0.016) were significantly lower in the HDMA group and were negatively associated with serum acetate, histidine and isoleucine (p < 0.05) suggesting a greater level of plant-based nutrients in the diet. Serum branched chain and aromatic amino acids were positively associated with the HMDA group while both urinary and serum creatine, urine creatinine and dimethylamine were positively associated with the LMDA group.

Conclusion: Metabolic phenotypes of pregnant women who had a high alignment with the MD were significantly different from pregnant women who had a poor alignment with the MD. The metabolite profiles aligned with reported food intake. Differences were most significant biomarkers of systemic inflammation and selected gut-microbial metabolites. This research expands our understanding