Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a condition characterized by abdominal pain, bloating, flatus, and altered bowel habits. The role of dietary components in inducing IBS symptoms is difficult to explore. To date, foods are not considered a cause but rather symptom-triggering factors. Particular interest has been given to the so-called FODMAPs (fermentable oligo-, di-, and monosaccharides and po...

Nutritional assessment and dietary advice are fundamental to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patient management and all patients should have access to a dietitian. Newly diagnosed patients often think that their pre-illness diet has contributed to the development of their IBD. However, epidemiological evidence to support diet as a risk factor is lacking. How the diet contributes to the gastroi...

Demethylation of softwood kraft lignin from woody biomass to improve the hydroxyl number in modified demethylated lignin and to produce lignin-based polyols was investigated using several biophysical techniques. Lignin is a tremendously under-developed natural polymer co-generated through papermaking and biomass fractionation. Molecular weights of lignins were analyzed by high-performance size-...

The mitogen-activated protein kinase HOG1 (high-osmolarity glycerol response pathway) plays a crucial role in the response of yeast to hyperosmotic shock. Trichosporonoides oedocephalis produces large amounts of polyols (,e.g., erythritol and glycerol) in a culture medium. However, the effects of HOG1 gene knockout and environmental stress on the production of these polyols have not yet been st...

Studies in ovine fetus and placenta have pointed to an interaction between the fetal liver and the placenta. The supply of amino acids and carbohydrates depends on this interaction. These studies have led to clinical studies in normal and high-risk pregnancies. The objective of the present review was to compare changes in fetal circulation, in terms of both velocimetry and actual blood flow mea...

Susceptibility to the development of Crohn's disease involves a combination of genetic and environmental factors. The association of Crohn's disease with westernization has implicated lifestyle factors in pathogenesis. While diet is a likely candidate, evidence for specific changes in dietary habits and/or intake has been lacking. A new hypothesis is proposed, by which excessive delivery of hig...

BACKGROUND Recently, several patients with abnormal polyol profiles in body fluids have been reported, but the origins of these polyols are unknown. We hypothesized that they are derived from sugar phosphate intermediates of the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), and we developed a semiquantitative method for profiling of pentose phosphate pathway intermediates. METHODS Sugar phosphates in bloo...

The cold stress biology of psychrotrophic Pseudomonas strains isolated from the rhizosphere of Himalayan plants have been explored to evaluate their cryotolerance characteristcs. Pseudomonas strains were examined for stress metabolites, viz., exopolysaccharide (EPS) production, intracellular sugar, polyols and amino acid content, ice nucleation activity, and their freezing survival at -10 and -...

The accumulation of polyols has been previously found in renal glomeruli isolated from streptozocin-induced diabetic (STZ-D) rats, although the intraglomerular polyol pathway has not been exactly localized. Because we have previously observed mesangial cell dysfunction in STZ-D rats, we examined whether the polyol pathway exists in mesangial cells as a possible candidate of the cause of cellula...