The aim of our study was to investigate a large cohort of overweight subjects consuming a homogeneous diet to identify the genetic factors associated with weight loss that could be used as predictive markers in weight loss interventions. We retrospectively recruited subjects (N = 788) aged over 18 years with a Body Mass Index (BMI) between 25 and 40 kg/m² who were treated at our lipid unit for at least one year from 2008 to 2016, and we also recruited a control group (168 patients) with normal BMIs. All participants received counselling from a nutritionist that included healthy diet and physical activity recommendations. We genotyped 25 single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in 25 genes that were previously associated with obesity and calculated genetic scores that were derived from 25 SNVs. The risk allele in CADM2 showed a higher frequency in overweight and obese subjects than in controls (p = 0.007). The mean follow-up duration was 5.58 ± 2.68 years. Subjects with lower genetic scores showed greater weight loss during the follow-up period. The genetic score was the variable that best explained the variations in weight from the baseline. The genetic score explained 2.4% of weight change variance at one year and 1.6% of weight change variance at the end of the follow-up period after adjusting for baseline weight, sex, age and years of follow-up.

Omega-3 poly-unsaturated fatty acids (ω-3 PUFAs) have demonstrated to be beneficial in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, however, the mechanisms by which they perform their cardiovascular protection have not been clarified. Intriguingly, some of these protective effects have also been linked to HDL. The hypothesis of this study was that ω-3 PUFAs could modify the protein cargo of HDL particle in a triglyceride non-dependent mode. The objective of the study was to compare the proteome of HDL before and after ω-3 PUFAs supplemented diet. A comparative proteomic analysis in 6 smoker subjects HDL before and after a 5 weeks ω-3 PUFAs enriched diet has been performed. Among the altered proteins, clusterin, paraoxonase, and apoAI were found to increase, while fibronectin, α-1-antitrypsin, complement C1r subcomponent and complement factor H decreased after diet supplementation with ω-3 PUFAs. Immunodetection assays confirmed these results. The up-regulated proteins are related to anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-atherosclerotic properties of HDL, while the down-regulated proteins are related to regulation of complement activation and acute phase response. Despite the low number of subjects included in the study, our findings demonstrate that ω-3 PUFAs supplementation modifies lipoprotein containing apoAI (LpAI) proteome and suggest that these protein changes improve the functionality of the particle.

Background: The Mediterranean Diet (MedDiet) is the dietary pattern par excellence for managing and preventing metabolic diseases, such as Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM). The MedDiet incorporates spices and aromatic herbs, which are abundant sources of bioactive compounds. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of all aromatic herbs and spices included in the MedDiet, such as black cumin, clove, parsley, saffron, thyme, ginger, black pepper, rosemary, turmeric, basil, oregano, and cinnamon, on the glycemic profile in T2DM subjects. Methods: PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched for interventional studies investigating the effect of these aromatic herbs and spices on the glycemic profile in T2DM subjects. Results: This systematic review retrieved 6958 studies, of which 77 were included in the qualitative synthesis and 45 were included in the meta-analysis. Our results showed that cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, black cumin, and saffron significantly improved the fasting glucose levels in T2DM subjects. The most significant decreases in fasting glucose were achieved after supplementation with black cumin, followed by cinnamon and ginger, which achieved a decrease of between 27 and 17 mg/dL. Conclusions: Only ginger and black cumin reported a significant improvement in glycated hemoglobin, and only cinnamon and ginger showed a significant decrease in insulin.

We aimed to study the effect of consuming an alcohol-free beer with modified carbohydrates composition (almost completely eliminating maltose and adding isomaltulose (16.5 g day⁻¹) and resistant maltodextrin (5.28 g day⁻¹)) in gut microbiome, compared to regular alcohol-free beer in subjects with T2DM or prediabetes and overweight/obesity. This is a pilot, randomized, double-blinded, crossover study including a sub-sample of a global study with 14 subjects: (a) consuming 66 cl day⁻¹ of regular alcohol-free beer for the first 10 weeks and 66 cl day⁻¹ of modified alcohol-free beer for the next 10 weeks; (b) the same described intervention in opposite order. BMI homogeneously decreased after both interventions. Glucose and HOMA-IR significantly decreased just after the participants consumed modified alcohol-free beer. These findings were in the same line as those reported in the global study. Dominant bacteria at baseline were Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Tenericutes. Parabacteroides, from the Porphymonadaceae family, resulted as the feature with the greatest difference between beers (ANCOM analysis, W = 15). Feature-volatility analysis confirmed the importance of Parabacteroides within the model. Alcohol-free beers consumption resulted in an enhancement of pathways related to metabolism according to PICRUSt analysis, including terpenoid-quinone, lipopolysaccharides and N-glycan biosynthesis. Thus, an alcohol-free beer including the substitution of regular carbohydrates for low doses of isomaltulose and the addition of maltodextrin within meals significantly impacts gut microbiota in diabetic subjects with overweight or obesity. This could, at least partially, explain the improvement in insulin resistance previously found after taking modified alcohol-free alcohol. Clinical Trial Registration: Registered under ClinicalTrials.gov identifier no. NCT03337828.