Recent insights into the influence of nutrition on immune system components have driven the development of dietary strategies targeting the prevention and management of major metabolic-inflammatory diseases. This review summarizes the bidirectional relationship between nutrition and immunocompetence, beginning with an overview of immune system components and their functions. It examines the effects of nutritional status, dietary patterns, and food bioactives on systemic inflammation, immune cell populations, and lymphoid tissues, as well as their associations with infectious and chronic disease pathogenesis. The mechanisms by which key nutrients influence immune constituents are delineated, focusing on vitamins A, D, E, C, and B, as well as minerals including zinc, iron, and selenium. Also highlighted are the immunomodulatory effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids as well as bioactive phenolic compounds and probiotics, given their expanding relevance. Each section addresses the implications of nutritional and nutraceutical interventions involving these nutrients within the broader context of major infectious, metabolic, and inflammatory diseases. This review further underscores that, while targeted nutrient supplementation can effectively restore immune function to optimal levels, caution is necessary in certain cases, as it may increase morbidity in specific diseases. In other instances, dietary counseling should be integrated to ensure that therapeutic goals are achieved safely and effectively.

The evidence shows that probiotics can reduce cardiovascular diseases associated to high cholesterol levels, but it occurs just when they survive gastrointestinal conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of reference strains (RS) and food isolates strains (FIS) to survive acid and bile and to determine in-vitro cholesterol assimilation. FIS were more tolerant to acid than RS, showing significantly different growth response. FIS were more resistant to the presence of bile, in order descendent to oxgall, taurocholic acid, and cholic acid. The survival percentages ranged from 0% to 100%, presenting strain dependence. The most tolerant strains were tested for cholesterol test, showing RS lower percentages than FIS. In FIS, the percentage was negatively affected when the concentration of bile salt was increased. Therefore, to study the viability of different strains in gastrointestinal conditions is crucial because of the strain-dependence nature.

Legumes are associated with gut health benefits, and increasing evidence indicates that their consumption reduces the risk of chronic diseases that include autoimmunity. Beans are rich sources of compounds with health-promoting effects, and recent metabolomic approaches have enabled the comprehensive characterization of the chemical composition of Vicia faba L. This article reviewed whether the phytocompounds in broad beans might modulate the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), which plays an essential role in autoantigen tolerance as a potential dietary strategy for autoimmune disease management. Therefore, thirty molecules present in Vicia faba of the chemical classes of flavonoids, chalcones, stilbenes, jasmonates, alkaloids, and amino acids, and either a human- or microbiome-derived product of biotransformation, retrieved from the literature or predicted in silico were evaluated by docking for affinity against the ligand-binding domain of AhR. Most analyzed compounds showed high affinity even after their metabolism which indicate that some AhR modulators remain active despite several steps in their biotransformation. Hence, our results suggest that in similitude with the gut metabolism of the tryptophan, phytocompounds mainly polyphenols also lead to metabolites that induce the AhR pathway. Furthermore, wyerone acid, wyerone epoxide, jasmonic acid, stizolamine, vicine, and convicine and their metabolite derivatives are reported for the first time as potential AhR ligands. Overall, chronic consumption of phytochemicals in Vicia faba L. and their gut biotransformation may protect against autoimmune disease pathogenesis by AhR modulation.

Nutritional and technological properties of Tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius) cultivated in Mexican Northeast | Laura Heredia-Rodríguez, Marcela Gaytán-Martínez, Eduardo Morales-Sánchez, Aurora de Jesús Garza-Juárez, Vania Urias-Orona, Jesús Alberto Vázquez-Rodríguez, Blanca Edelia González-Martínez, Manuel López-Cabanillas Lomelí | Agricultural Journals

At least half the population in industrialized countries suffers from obesity due to excessive accumulation of adipose tissue. Recently, rice (Oryza sativa) proteins have been considered valuable sources of bioactive peptides with antiadipogenic potential. In this study, the digestibility and bioaccessibility in vitro of a novel protein concentrate (NPC) from rice were determined through INFOGEST protocols. Furthermore, the presence of prolamin and glutelin was evaluated via SDS-PAGE, and their potential digestibility and the bioactivity of ligands against peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) were explored by BIOPEP UWM and HPEPDOCK. For the top candidates, molecular simulations were conducted using Autodock Vina to evaluate their binding affinity against the antiadipogenic region of PPARγ and their pharmacokinetics and drug-likeness using SwissADME. Simulating gastrointestinal digestion showed a recovery of 43.07% and 35.92% bioaccessibility. The protein banding patterns showed the presence of prolamin (57 kDa) and glutelin (12 kDa) as the predominant proteins in the NPC. The in silico hydrolysis predicts the presence of three and two peptide ligands in glutelin and prolamin fraction, respectively, with high affinity for PPARγ (≤160). Finally, the docking studies suggest that the prolamin-derived peptides QSPVF and QPY (−6.38 & −5.61 kcal/mol, respectively) have expected affinity and pharmacokinetic properties to act as potential PPARγ antagonists. Hence, according to our results, bioactive peptides resulting from NPC rice consumption might have an antiadipogenic effect via PPARγ interactions, but further experimentation and validation in suitable biological model systems are necessary to gain more insight and to provide evidence to support our in silico findings.