Evaluation of Saccharin and Resveratrol as Extrinsic Markers of Small-Quantity Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplement Consumption in Healthy Women

BACKGROUND

Dietary supplements, like small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS), are used in intervention programs to prevent undernutrition among women and young children in low-income countries. An objective marker is needed to track consumption of supplements to evaluate the effectiveness of these programs.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate saccharin and resveratrol as potential adherence markers for tracking recent consumption of a single serving of SQ-LNS in women.

METHODS

Forty-seven healthy nonpregnant women 18-45 y of age were assigned to consume a single dose of SQ-LNS (20 g) containing either 10 mg sodium saccharin or 5 mg trans-resveratrol, under supervision. On the day before and for 2 d following SQ-LNS consumption, urine samples were collected each day for 24 h as 3 consecutive 4-h collections and one 12-h overnight collection. Urinary concentrations of saccharin and trans-resveratrol-3-O-sulfate, a resveratrol metabolite, were measured by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography interfaced to a mass spectrometer with electrospray ionization [UHPLC-(ESI-)MS/MS]. Urinary concentrations (μmol/L urine) of saccharin and trans-resveratrol-3-O-sulfate were plotted against time, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to determine the discriminative capacity of each compound, at each post-consumption time point compared with baseline, to detect recent consumption of SQ-LNS. Cutoff values to differentiate supplement consumption from nonconsumption of each marker were developed using the closest-to-(0,1)-corner cut-point approach.

RESULTS

Forty-five participants were included in the analysis. Urinary concentrations of saccharin and trans-resveratrol-3-O-sulfate increased within 4 h of SQ-LNS consumption. Urinary concentration cutoff values for saccharin (13.4 µmol/L) and trans-resveratrol-3-O-sulfate (0.7 µmol/L) allowed for 78% and 89% sensitivity, respectively, and 100% specificity in detecting consumption of SQ-LNS within the first 12 h after consumption.

CONCLUSIONS

Urinary concentrations of saccharin and trans-resveratrol-3-O-sulfate reflect consumption of SQ-LNS containing those compounds during the first 12 h post-consumption with high sensitivity and specificity in healthy women and may be useful objective adherence markers for tracking consumption of SQ-LNS.

Resveratrol and Saccharin As Adherence Markers Discriminate Between Daily, Intermittent, or Non-consumption of Small-Quantity Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements

Objectives

An objective adherence marker is needed to track consumption of nutrient supplements in nutrition intervention trials and programs targeted to young children and women of reproductive age in low-income countries. Here, resveratrol and saccharin are evaluated as adherence markers for tracking short-term intermittent or daily consumption of a small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplement (SQ-LNS) in US women in a ten-day controlled feeding study.

Methods

Sixty-three women were randomly assigned to receive daily for 10 d either: SQ-LNS containing trans-resveratrol (10 mg) and sodium saccharin (10 mg) (SQ-LNS/RS); 2) control SQ-LNS without the markers (SQ-LNS/C); or 3) alternating SQ-LNS/RS or SQ-LNS/C to simulate intermittent consumption. Urine concentrations of saccharin and trans-resveratrol-3-O-sulfate were measured in pooled urine samples collected 0–4 h post-consumption of the assigned SQ-LNS product on study days 4, 5, 9 and 10. Cutoff values were determined for urinary concentrations of each compound for classifying participants as consumers or non-consumers of SQ-LNS/RS. Then, participants were classified as daily, intermittent or non-consumers of SQ-LNS/RS based on their overall consumption pattern (number of days classified as a consumer during the 10-d period).

Results

The cutoff value for urinary trans-resveratrol-3-O-sulfate (0.80 µmol/L) classified participants correctly as consumers or non-consumers in 97% of samples; the cutoff value for urinary saccharin (6.92 µmol/L) classified participants correctly in 93% of samples. Overall, 95% of daily, 95% of intermittent, and 100% of control group participants were classified correctly into their consumption pattern based on urinary trans-resveratrol-3-O-sulfate concentrations during the 10-d period; and 75% of daily, 95% of intermittent, and 100% of control participants were classified correctly based on urinary saccharin concentrations.

Conclusions

The results suggest that urinary concentrations of saccharin and trans-resveratrol-3-O-sulfate may be useful for qualitative assessment of daily vs. intermittent vs. non-consumption of SQ-LNS; further work is needed to assess the usefulness of the markers in the intended target populations.

Funding Sources

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Measurement of Saccharin and trans-Resveratrol Metabolites in Urine as Adherence Markers for Small Quantity Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplement Consumption

Saccharin and trans-resveratrol were incorporated into small quantity lipid-based nutritional supplements (SQ-LNS) to be evaluated as the markers of consumption for nutritional intervention studies. Forty-seven healthy women consumed a single supplement with either 8.6 mg of saccharin or 5 mg of trans-resveratrol, and urine was collected for 4 h. A rapid 11 min method employing multiple reaction monitoring and ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography coupled to a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer was developed to measure saccharin and resveratrol metabolites in urine simultaneously. The linear dynamic range of the method was from 3 to 1000 ng mL^-1, with the correlation coefficient of 0.999 and limits of quantification from 15.28 to 53.03 ng mL^-1. Sample preparation was simple dilution with an average recovery of 97.8%. Ion suppression was observed with urine concentrations >10%. Mean levels of saccharin and resveratrol-3-O-sulfate in urine were 5.481 ± 4.359 and 3.440 ± 4.160 nmol L^-1, respectively. We developed and validated a method to measure saccharin and trans-resveratrol metabolites in urine to objectively corroborate the consumption of SQ-LNS for the first time in nutrition intervention studies.

Production of functional mimics of human milk oligosaccharides by enzymatic glycosylation of bovine milk oligosaccharides

Consumption of mothers' milk is associated with reduced incidence and severity of enteric infections, leading to reduced morbidity in breastfed infants. Fucosylated and sialylated human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) are important for both direct antimicrobial action - likely via a decoy effect - and indirect antimicrobial action through commensal growth enhancement. Bovine milk oligosaccharides (BMO) are a potential source of HMO-mimics as BMO resemble HMO; however, they have simpler and less fucosylated structures. BMO isolated at large scales from bovine whey permeate were modified by the addition of fucose and/or sialic acid to generate HMO-like glycans using high-yield and cost-effective one-pot multienzyme approaches. Quadrupole time-of-flight LC/MS analysis revealed that 22 oligosaccharides were synthesized and 9 had identical composition to known HMO. Preliminary anti-adherence activity assays indicated that fucosylated BMO decreased the uptake of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 by human intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells more effectively than native BMO.

Understanding the Effects of Lactose Hydrolysis Modeling on the Main Oligosaccharides in Goat Milk Whey Permeate

Enzymatic hydrolysis of lactose is a crucial step to improve the efficiency and selectivity of membrane-based separations toward the recovery of milk oligosaccharides free from simple sugars. Response surface methodology was used to investigate the effects temperature (25.9 to 54.1 °C) and amount of enzyme (0.17 to 0.32% w/w) at 1, 2, and 4 h of reaction on the efficiency of lactose hydrolysis by Aspergillus oryzae β-galactosidase, preservation of major goat whey oligosaccharides, and on the de-novo formation of oligosaccharides. Lactose hydrolysis above 99% was achieved at 1, 2, and 4 h, not being significantly affected by temperature and amount of enzyme within the tested conditions. Formation of 4 Hexose (Hex) and 4 Hex 1 Hex and an increased de-novo formation of 2 Hex 1 N-Acetyl-Neuraminic Acid (NeuAc) and 2 Hex 1 N-Glycolylneuraminic acid (NeuGc) was observed in all treatments. Overall, processing conditions using temperatures ≤40 °C and enzyme concentration ≤0.25% resulted in higher preservation/formation of goat whey oligosaccharides.

Prebiotics increase heme iron bioavailability and do not affect non-heme iron bioavailability in humans

The aim of this study was to establish the effect of a prebiotic mix on heme and non-heme iron (Fe) bioavailability in humans. To this purpose, twenty-four healthy women were randomized into one of two study groups. One group ate one yogurt per day for 12 days with a prebiotic mix (prebiotic group) and the other group received the same yogurt but without the prebiotic mix (control group). Before and after the intake period, the subjects participated in Fe absorption studies. These studies used ⁵⁵Fe and ⁵⁹Fe radioactive isotopes as markers of heme Fe and non-heme Fe, respectively, and Fe absorption was measured by the incorporation of radioactive Fe into erythrocytes. The results showed that there were no significant differences in heme and non-heme Fe bioavailability in the control group. Heme Fe bioavailability of the prebiotic group increased significantly by 56% post-prebiotic intake. There were no significant differences in non-heme Fe bioavailability in this group. We concluded that daily consumption of a prebiotic mix increases heme Fe bioavailability and does not affect non-heme iron bioavailability.

The Effect of Plant Proteins Derived from Cereals and Legumes on Heme Iron Absorption

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of proteins from cereals and legumes on heme iron (Fe) absorption. The absorption of heme Fe without its native globin was measured. Thirty adult females participated in two experimental studies (15 per study). Study I focused on the effects of cereal proteins (zein, gliadin and glutelin) and study II on the effects of legume proteins (soy, pea and lentil) on heme Fe absorption. When heme was given alone (as a control), study I and II yielded 6.2% and 11.0% heme absorption (p > 0.05). In study I, heme Fe absorption was 7.2%, 7.5% and 5.9% when zein, gliadin and glutelin were added, respectively. From this, it was concluded that cereal proteins did not affect heme Fe absorption. In study II, heme Fe absorption was 7.3%, 8.1% and 9.1% with the addition of soy, pea and lentil proteins, respectively. Only soy proteins decreased heme Fe absorption (p < 0.05). These results suggest that with the exception of soy proteins, which decreased absorption, proteins derived from cereals and legumes do not affect heme Fe absorption.

Comprehensive peptidomic and glycomic evaluation reveals that sweet whey permeate from colostrum is a source of milk protein-derived peptides and oligosaccharides

Whey permeate is a co-product obtained when cheese whey is passed through an ultrafiltration membrane to concentrate whey proteins. Whey proteins are retained by the membrane, whereas the low-molecular weight compounds such as lactose, salts, oligosaccharides and peptides pass through the membrane yielding whey permeate. Research shows that bovine milk from healthy cows contains hundreds of naturally occurring peptides - many of which are homologous with known antimicrobial and immunomodulatory peptides - and nearly 50 oligosaccharide compositions (not including structural isomers). As these endogenous peptides and oligosaccharides have low-molecular weight and whey permeate is currently an under-utilized product stream of the dairy industry, we hypothesized that whey permeate may serve as an inexpensive source of naturally occurring functional peptides and oligosaccharides. Laboratory fractionation of endogenous peptides and oligosaccharides from bovine colostrum sweet whey was expanded to pilot-scale. The membrane fractionation methodology used was similar to the methods commonly used industrially to produce whey protein concentrate and whey permeate. Pilot-scale fractionation was compared to laboratory-scale fractionation with regard to the identified peptides and oligosaccharide compositions. Results were interpreted on the basis of whether industrial whey permeate could eventually serve as a source of functional peptides and oligosaccharides. The majority (96%) of peptide sequences and the majority (96%) of oligosaccharide compositions found in the laboratory-scale process were mirrored in the pilot-scale process. Moreover, the pilot-scale process recovered an additional 33 peptides and 1 oligosaccharide not identified from the laboratory-scale extraction. Both laboratory- and pilot-scale processes yielded peptides deriving primarily from the protein β-casein. The similarity of the laboratory-and pilot-scale's resulting peptide and oligosaccharide profiles demonstrates that whey permeate can serve as an industrial-scale source of bovine milk peptides and oligosaccharides.