Chenopodium quinoa's Ingredients Improve Control of the Hepatic Lipid Disturbances Derived from a High-Fat Diet

Chenopodium Quinoa's Ingredients Contribute to the Gut Microbiota's Metabolic Adaptations on Carbohydrate Metabolism

Gut microbiota dysbiosis significantly contributes either to metabolic or immune diseases. Modulating the gut microbiome is the subject of intense research, but how immunonutritional ingredients from Chenopodium quinoa contribute to shaping the commensal microbiome and its metabolic capacities has not been determined. Sixty healthy volunteers participated in a double-blind, randomized parallel pilot study with two study arms: high fat-containing cookie and a C. quinoa-based cookie. The composition of the colonic microbiota was quantified by real time qPCR and bacterial metabolism to use carbohydrates was monitored using metabolic strips. Regardless of the order in which the volunteers receive the cookies, the administration of the C. quinoa-based cookie allows establishing and maintaining significant differences in the diversity of the microbiota. C. quinoa-based cookie prevented imbalances in the gut microbiota composition derived from the administration of the high fat-containing cookie. These findings provide new insights into how immunonutritional foods can help to establish steady-state commensalism.

Revisiting the Immunometabolic Basis for the Metabolic Syndrome from an Immunonutritional View

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) implies different conditions where insulin resistance constitutes a major hallmark of the disease. The disease incurs a high risk for the development of cardiovascular complications, and takes its toll in regard to the gut-liver axis (pancreas, primary liver and colorectal)-associated immunity. The modulation of immunometabolic responses by immunonutritional factors (IFs) has emerged as a key determinant of the gut-liver axis' metabolic and immune health. IFs from plant seeds have shown in vitro and pre-clinical effectiveness primarily in dealing with various immunometabolic and inflammatory diseases. Only recently have immunonutritional studies established the engagement of innate intestinal immunity to effectively control immune alterations in inflamed livers preceding the major features of the MetS. However, integrative analyses and the demonstration of causality between IFs and specific gut-liver axis-associated immunometabolic imbalances for the MetS remain ill-defined in the field. Herein, a better understanding of the IFs with a significant role in the MetS, as well as within the dynamic interplay in the functional differentiation of innate immune key effectors (i.e., monocytes/macrophages), worsening or improving the disease, could be of crucial relevance. The development of an adequate intermediary phenotype of these cells can significantly contribute to maintaining the function of Tregs and innate lymphoid cells for the prevention and treatment of MetS and associated comorbidities.

Contribution of Nucleotide-Binding Oligomerization Domain-like (NOD) Receptors to the Immune and Metabolic Health

Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like (NOD) receptors rely on the interface between immunity and metabolism. Dietary factors constitute critical players in the activation of innate immunity and modulation of the gut microbiota. The latter have been involved in worsening or improving the control and promotion of diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, diseases known as non-communicable metabolic diseases (NCDs), and the risk of developing cancer. Intracellular NODs play key coordinated actions with innate immune 'Toll-like' receptors leading to a diverse array of gene expressions that initiate inflammatory and immune responses. There has been an improvement in the understanding of the molecular and genetic implications of these receptors in, among others, such aspects as resting energy expenditure, insulin resistance, and cell proliferation. Genetic factors and polymorphisms of the receptors are determinants of the risk and severity of NCDs and cancer, and it is conceivable that dietary factors may have significant differential consequences depending on them. Host factors are difficult to influence, while environmental factors are predominant and approachable with a preventive and/or therapeutic intention in obesity, T2D, and cancer. However, beyond the recognition of the activation of NODs by peptidoglycan as its prototypical agonist, the underlying molecular response(s) and its consequences on these diseases remain ill-defined. Metabolic (re)programming is a hallmark of NCDs and cancer in which nutritional strategies might play a key role in preventing the unprecedented expansion of these diseases. A better understanding of the participation and effects of immunonutritional dietary ingredients can boost integrative knowledge fostering interdisciplinary science between nutritional precision and personalized medicine against cancer. This review summarizes the current evidence concerning the relationship(s) and consequences of NODs on immune and metabolic health.