Food, Dietary Patterns, or Is Eating Behavior to Blame? Analyzing the Nutritional Aspects of Functional Dyspepsia.

Functional dyspepsia is a gastrointestinal disorder characterized by postprandial fullness, early satiation, epigastric pain, and epigastric burning. The pathophysiology of the disease is not fully elucidated and there is no permanent cure, although some therapies (drugs or herbal remedies) try to reduce the symptoms. Diet plays a critical role in either the reduction or the exacerbation of functional dyspepsia symptoms; therefore dietary management is considered to be of high importance. Several foods have been suggested to be associated with worsening functional dyspepsia, such as fatty and spicy foods, soft drinks, and others, and other foods are thought to alleviate symptoms, such as apples, rice, bread, olive oil, yogurt, and others. Although an association between functional dyspepsia and irregular eating habits (abnormal meal frequency, skipping meals, late-night snacking, dining out, etc.) has been established, not many dietary patterns have been reported as potential factors that influence the severity of functional dyspepsia. A higher adherence to Western diets and a lower adherence to FODMAPs diets and healthy patterns, such as the Mediterranean diet, can contribute to the worsening of symptoms. More research is needed on the role of specific foods, dietary patterns, or specific eating habits in the management of functional dyspepsia.

Validity of abbreviated oral fat tolerance tests for assessing postprandial lipemia.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Postprandial lipemia is assessed using the oral fat tolerance test (OFTT), a six-hour procedure requiring hourly blood sampling. In order to simplify the test, we investigated whether a) a single postprandial triacylglycerol concentration, b) an OFTT lasting less than six hours or c) an OFTT requiring fewer blood samples, may accurately assess postprandial lipemia under various conditions. METHODS: Seventy-two subjects underwent a conventional OFTT. Predictability of single-point concentrations and time-shortened tests was assessed using linear regression and re-sampling analysis. Validity of reduced-sampling tests was assessed using Pearson's correlation coefficients and Bland-Altman analysis. RESULTS: a) A single-point triacylglycerol concentration (3 or 4h postprandially) did not present significant correlation with postprandial lipemia in the hypetriacylglycerolemic, exercise and energy restriction groups (P>0.05), b) Time-shortened OFTT (4h) was able to predict postprandial lipemia in every group studied (R(2)=0.707-0.970, P<0.01), except the hypertriacylglycerolemics (P=0.338), c) Reduced-sampling OFTT (3 or 4 samples) was able to assess postprandial lipemia in every group as well as in the overall sample (r=0.874-0.997, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: A more convenient, reduced-sampling OFTT may be used alternatively to the conventional OFTT, whereas a time-shortened OFTT may be appropriate only for healthy people.

Impact of a jelly containing short-chain fructo-oligosaccharides and Sideritis euboea extract on human faecal microbiota.

In this randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical study we aimed to evaluate the in vivo prebiotic effects of a functional food containing short-chain fructo-oligosaccharides (sc-FOS) and Sideritis euboea extract on human faecal microflora. Sixty-four healthy volunteers 26 men and 38 women (age range: 22-51) were assigned to consume daily a jelly containing 5 g sc-FOS and 0.3 g S.euboea extract or a placebo for 30 d. Stool samples were collected prior to the study on day 15 and 30 of intervention and 2 weeks after. Enumeration of faecal bacteria was performed by plate count techniques. Gastrointestinal side effects were recorded during the treatment period. Data demonstrated a significant bifidogenic effect of the experimental jelly compared to the placebo after 15 [9.54+/-0.83 vs. 8.57+/-1.91 log(10)CFU (colony forming units)/g faeces P=0.001] and 30 d of consumption (9.34+/-1.04 vs. 8.57+/-1.98 log(10)CFU/g faeces P=0.027) and significant higher bifidobacterial levels in the sc-FOS+extract group 2 weeks after the end of intervention (9.33+/-0.61 vs. 8.79+/-0.93 log(10)CFU/g faeces P=0.015). A trend for greater flatulence was detected after 15 d of functional food ingestion with no further differences in gastrointestinal symptoms. In conclusion the daily intake of a jelly containing sc-FOS and S.euboea extract is well-tolerated and demonstrated significant bifidogenic properties in healthy volunteers consuming their usual diets.