Nutritional Benchmarking: A Top Priority

Journal Title: Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research (BJSTR) - Year 2018, Vol 10, Issue 1

Abstract

In the world of nutritional science, more and more studies have been performing for the last years with interesting results; nevertheless, at the moment outcomes of these studies do not provide consistent benchmarks that may use to build a nutritional plan or to lead further researches. Contrasting evidence represents an important drawback in this field creating a confusing background; indeed, these conflictual aspects concern the majority of topics in nutritional science. When attention is focused on total daily caloric intake, protein daily intake and daily carbohydrate (CHO)/ fat ratio, it is possible to observe a great discordance of evidence. As regards total daily caloric intake, recent evidence shows that a daily reduction of 20-30% of caloric intake may significantly increase life span; in particular, this increased longevity seems to be confirmed in animal models whereas in humans long-term studies are not present at the moment to confirm this hypothesis [1-3]. Considering that actual dietary guidelines suggest approximately 2000 kcal/die diet for a man of ~70 kg, a reduction of 20-30% of daily caloric intake would be represented by a nutritional plan of ~1400 kcal/d for a man of ~70 kg [4-6]. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain this evidence, and the reduction of mitogen stimuli caused at least partly by decreased hormonal levels, such as insulin, insulin-growth factor 1 (IGF-1), and testosterone appears to play a pivotal role [78]. This decrease in hormonal production affects also negatively the activity of mitogen pathways, such as mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signalling pathway activated by insulin and FOXO a key checkpoint gene in the insulin-IGF-1 signaling pathway upregulated by CR[9]. Furthermore, caloric restriction (CR) seems to mimic physical exercise activating biological pathways which are stimulated by physical exercise, such as AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signalling pathways, and to increase sirtuin levels [10] . In particular, the ability of sirtuins to influence metabolism and potentially life span is believed to revolve around the ability of sirtuin family members to function as protein deacetylases. Evidence suggests that mitochondrial biogenesis is regulated at least in part by proliferator-activated receptor coactivator-1a (PGC-1a), a transcriptional coactivator of peroxisome proliferator- activated receptor-y (PPARy) as well as other transcription factors [11] . It was therefore of considerable interest when it was shown that PGC-1a was in fact a deacetylation target of Sirt1 and that mechanism regulated PGC-1a activity [12].

Authors and Affiliations

Massimiliano Sansone, Andrea Sansone, Elena Gangitano, Mariagrazia Romano, Silvia Seraceno, Francesco Romanelli

Keywords

Related Articles

Mona Lisa Gaze Principle

People looking at Mona Lisa, the famous artwork of Leonardo Da Vinci, believe that she looks at them from every direction they look at her. However in a survey the author has conducted, that has never been done before, 5...

A Novel Nonsense Mutation in the EDA Gene Causing X-Linked Hypohidrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia

X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (XLHED) can be characterized by hypohidrosis, sparse hair, hypodontia, and characteristic facial features and usually caused by mutations of ectodysplasin A (EDA) gene located o...

Evaluation of a protection system for livestock during transport: PROGATĀ® from the animal welfare point of view

Transport of livestock constitute a large welfare problem in most of South American countries. With the aim to provide a solution and applying the knowledge of the automotive and metal-mechanic industry, a device was des...

Rainy Days, Geographic Coordinates, Vitamin D, Silicon, Selenium and CHD in Finland in 1962-2014

Background: Higher cardiac as also general mortality in eastern regions of Finland than in the west, has been decades without satisfactory explanation. High number of annual rainy days (RD) and lower serum vitamin D valu...

Nucleotide Variations in microRNA-Binding Sites: The Need of Novel Tools for the Nucleic Acid Alignment

It has been proposed that naturally-occurring variations in microRNAs and their target sites on messenger RNAs may be linked with various human pathologies, including cancer. The growing number of reports clearly indicat...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP591849
  • DOI 10.26717/BJSTR.2018.10.001893
  • Views 175
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Massimiliano Sansone, Andrea Sansone, Elena Gangitano, Mariagrazia Romano, Silvia Seraceno, Francesco Romanelli (2018). Nutritional Benchmarking: A Top Priority. Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research (BJSTR), 10(1), 7553-7555. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-591849