Not all individuals respond identically, or at times in the same direction, to dietary interventions. These inconsistencies likely arise because of diet and genomic interactions (nutrigenomics effects). A host of factors may influence the response to bioactive food components including specific polymorphisms (nutrigenetic effect), DNA methylation patterns and other epigenomic factors (nutritional epigenomic effects), capacity to induce anuo. suppress specific mRNA expression and patterns (nutritional transcriptomics), the occurrence and activity of proteins (proteomic effects), and/or the dose and temporal changes in cellular small molecular weight compounds will not only provide clues about specificity in response to food components, but assist in the identification of surrogate tissues and biomarkers that can predict a response. While this 'discovery' phase is critical for defining mechanisms and targets, and thus those who will benefit most from intervention, its true usefulness depends on moving this understanding into 'development' (interventions for better prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment) and a 'delivery' phase where information is provided to those most in need. It is incumbent on those involved with food and nutrition to embrace the 'omics' that relate to nutrition when considering not only the nutritional value of foods and their food components, but also when addressing acceptability and safety. The future of 'Nutrigenomics and Health Promotion' depends on the ability of the scientific community to identity appropriate biomarkers and susceptibility variants, effective communications about the merits of such undertakings with the health care community and with consumers, and doing all of this within a responsible bioethical framework.

Polyphenolic flavonoids are among a wide variety of phytochemicals present in the human diet. Basic research, animal model, and human studies suggest flavonoid intake may reduce the risk of several age-related chronic diseases. The vast number of flavonoids and mixtures of their subclasses, including flavonols, flavones and flavanones, and the variety of agricultural practices that affect their concentration in foods have presented a challenge to the development of adequate food composition databases for these com-pounds. Nonetheless, dietary assessments have been applied to cohort and case-control epidemiological studies and several reveal an inverse association with risk of some forms of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic conditions. Those observational studies that have examined these relationships with regard to flavonols, flavones, and flavanones are reviewed. The requirement for caution in interpreting these studies is discussed with regard to the limited information available on the bioavailability and biotransformation of these flavonoids. As the totality of the available evidence on these flavonoids suggests a role in the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease, further research is warranted, particularly in controlled clinical trials.

The relatively new concept of functional foods is supportive of sales of food products that deliver isolated 'nutrient' or 'food compound' substances, much as is done by dietary supplements. Whether such isolated substances have benefit must be investigated in each instance; such investigations can be complex. At the same time, simply prepared natural plant foods contain a myriad of substances that, in accord with the concept of food synergy, are beneficial for health. Whole grain foods are an example of such healthy fare, based on strong epidemiologic and experimental evidence. If the concept of functional foods is to be of use for the public health, it should support the consumption of healthy traditional foods as well as promoting 'novel' foods; in this sense, whole grain foods, which have great functionality, should be regarded as functional foods.

The use of medicinal food, food supplements and nutraceuticals is steadily increasing worldwide. These products are derived from a variety of sources of ethnic traditions and new research findings. They are being utilised in a diverse range of preventive and therapeutic situations. Because of this increased interest there is greater use of multiple natural products simultaneously. The use of combinations needs to be treated with circumspection. Mixing may have no unexpected consequences or it may have rather unanticipated beneficial outcomes. Just as likely are deleterious effects from combining the intake of natural products. Recent research has been quite useful in the characterisation of the consequences of some of these combinations and examples will be presented.

This study was conducted to determine the effects of egg phospholipids [(Phosphatidylcholine (PC) and sphingomyelin (SM)] on intestinal absorption of cholesterol and other lipids. Each rat with Iymph cannula was infused via a duodenal catheter at 3.0 mL/h for 8 h with a lipid emulsion containing triolein, cholesterol and PC in 24 mL PBS. The PC in the lipid emulsion was egg PC (EPC), hydrogenated egg PC (HPC), or soy PC (SPC). The EPC in the lipid emulsion markedly lowered the Iymphatic absorption of cholesterol, compared with SPC and a lipid emulsion containing no PC. The HPC further lowered the absorption of cholesterol. The phospholipid output was not affected by the source of PC infused. The total Iymphatic output of oleic acid (18: 1), the major fatty acid infused in the form of triolein, did not differ among the NPC, SPC and EPC groups, but was significantly lower in the HPC group. The findings provide the first evidence that EPC markedly lowers the Iymphatic absorption of cholesterol under in vivo conditions. The inhibitory effect of EPC appears to be due to the higher degree of saturation of its acyl groups relative to SPC, suggesting that the intestinal absorption of egg cholesterol may be reduced by the presence of PC in e99 yolk. Experiment 2 was designed to determine whether egg SM, structurally similar to PC, also inhibits the Iymphatic absorption of cholesterol. Egg SM lowered the Lymphatic absorption of cholesterol in a dose dependent manner. Likewise, SM lowered the Iymphatic absorption of oleic acid, whereas it had no effect on retinol absorption. SM at a high dose lowered the Iymphatic outputs of both PC and SM, whereas there was no such effect at a lower dose. These results also indicate that luminal egg SM has an inhibitory effect on the intestinal absorption of cholesterol and other lipids of relatively high hydrophobicity.

The pro-apoptotic effect of phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) and the role of glutathione (GSH) in sulforaphane (SFN)-induced antioxidant response element-dependent gene expression were investigated. The caspase-3 and caspase-9 activities were stimulated by PEITC. The release of cytochrome c was time- and dose- dependent. SP600125 suppressed apoptosis induced by PEITC. Similarly, this JNK inhibitor attenuated both cytochrome c release and caspase-3 activation induced by PEITC. SFN is converted to the glutathione conjugate by glutathione S-transferases (GSTs). It was accumulated in mammalian cells by up to several hundred-fold over the extracellular concentration, by conjugation with intracellular GSH. The induction of ARE by SFN was 8.6-fold higher than by SFN-NAC. The decrease in ARE expression at higher concentrations of SFN and SFN-NAC was correlated with the accelerated apoptotic cell death, with a dose-dependent activation of caspase 3 activity by SFN. Upon addition of extracellular GSH within 6 hr of treatment with SFN, the effect on ARE expression was blocked almost completely.

Modulation of biotransformation enzymes is one mechanism by which a diet high in fruits and vegetable may influence cancer risk. Inhibition of cytochrome P450s (CYP) and concomitant induction of conjugating enzymes are hypothesized to reduce the impact of carcinogens in humans. Thus, exposure to types and amounts of phytochemicals may influence disease risk. Like other xenobiotics, many classes of phytochemicals are rapodly conjugated with glutathione, glucuronide, and sulfate moieties and excreted in urine and bile. In humans, circulating phytochemical levels very widely among individuals even in response to controlled dietary interventions. Polymorphisms in biotransformation enzymes, such as the glutathione S-transferases (GST), UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGT), and sulfotransferases (SULT), may ocntribute to the variability in phytochemical clearance and efficacy; polymorphic enzymes with lower enzyme activity prolong the half-lives of phytochmicals in vivo. Isothiocyanates (ITC) in cruciferous vegetables are catalyzed by the four major human GSTs: however reaction velocities of the enzymes differ greatly. In some observational studies of cancer, polymorphisms in the GSTMI and GSTTI genes that result in complete lack of GSTM1-1 protein, respectively, confer greater protection from cruciferous vegetable in individuals with these genotypes. Similarly, we have shown in a controlled dietary trial that levels of GST-alpha-induced by ITC-are higher in GSTMI-null individuals exposed to cruciferous vegetablse. The selectivity of glucuronosyl conjugation of flavonoids is dependent both on flavonoid structure as well as on the UGI isozyme involved in its conjuagtion. The effects of UGI polymorphisms on flavonoid clearnace have not been examind; but polymorphisms affect glucuronidation of several drugs. Given the strong interest in the chemopreventive effects of flavonoids, systematic evaluation of these polymorphic UGTs and flavonoid pharmacokinetics are warranted. Overall, these studies suggest that for phytochemicals that are metabolized by, and affect activity of, biotransformation enzymes, interactions between genetic polymorphisms in the enzymes and intake of the compounds should be considered in studies of cancer risk. Genetic polymorphisms in biotransformation enzymes may account in prat for individual variation in metabolism of a wide range of phytochemicals and their ultimate impact on health.

The large-scale preparation method for black soybean peptide (BSP; about 70% less than 10,000 Da; highly enriched with glutamic acid, aspartic acid, and arginine) was developed, and its effect on weight reduction and lipid profiles in rats was investigated. Sprague-Dawleymale rats were assigned to four dietary groups (high-fat diets containing 0, 2, 6, and 10% BSP) and fed four weeks to examine the effects of BSP. During the experiment, food intake was measured every two days and body weight was monitored two times a week. After the supplementation of BSP, liver and adipose tissues (epididymal, retroperitoneal and perirenal adipose tissue) in the rats were weighted and the lipid profiles in serum, liver, and feces were analyzed. At the results of body weight gain, liver and epididymal adipose tissue weight, BSP groups were more decreased than HF group (0% BSP), with greater decreases at higher BSP levels. The same patterns were shown in lipid profiles of serum, as BSP was increased, triglyceride and total cholesterol concentration decreased. The serum HDL-cholesterol level was increased with increasing at BSP levels. Total cholesterol concentration of liver and feces were decreased and increased, respectively, as BSP increased. The results confirm that BSP is involved in reducing the body weight and the improvement of lipid composition in serum and liver of rats and that BSP can be applied in weight reduction in the food products industry.

An important aspect of indigenous medicine is the ability of traditional societis to manipulate the environment for their own benefit, for example for their health care. In Indonesia, this indigenous medicine is called Jamu. Jamu mostly consists of a mixture of herbals of the genus Curcuma, Zingiberaceae. There are 19 species of curcuma grown in Indonesia. Eleven of them are popular in the jamu preparations. Ethnopharma-cological surveys have shown that 50% of these species are used for post partum protection, dismenorrhea, 30% are used for the treatment of stomache and as cosmetics, 20% for the treatment of various diseases such as fever, worms, asthma, etc. Chemical studies show that they contain curcuminoids, volatile oils, flavonoids, starch, and resinous substance. Pharmacological studies of extracts and isolated bioactive compounds have shown that they have a broad pharmacological activity such as antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, choleretic, antihepatotoxic, antitumor, antioxidant, and antihyperlipidemic activity.

The obese population has been increasing over the world wide and obesity became a socioeconomic problems. It is become more serious by the accumulation of the knowledge that the obesity is related directly or indirectly with several diseases like, diabetes, hypertension, etc. With these reasons, many functional food or agents for the purpose of weight loss have been developed. However, most of these remedies are unproven and some have produced even dangerous side effects due to the ephedrine alkaloids contained in Ma-Hang. Because of these reasons, they banned using of these agents in US and regards the antiobesity functional agents as drugs in Europe. Several functional agents are known for weight loss activities like, HCA, L-canitine, CLA, chitosan, calcium supplements and capsaicin containing red pepper, kimchi and kochujang. We describe here about the function, efficacy and mechanism of these antiobesity functional agents. Furthermore, the trial of the mixture of weight loss related herbal ingredients for safe multifunctional antiobesity functional agents are discussed here, as well.

The immature fruits of Poncirus trifoliata L. or Ponciri fructus (PF), well known as 'Jisil' in Korea, have been used against allergic diseases for generations, and still occupy an important place in traditional Oriental medicine. Anti-allergic effects of this fruit have been investigated in a few experimental models. Immunoglobulin E (IgE) is the principal immunoglobulin involved in immediate hypersensitivities and chronic allergic diseases. The effect of an aqueous extract of PF on in vivo and in vitro IgE production was investigated. PF dose-dependently inhibited the active systemic anaphylaxis and serum IgE production induced by immunization with ovalbumin, Bordetelia pertussis toxin and aluminum hydroxide gel. PF strongly inhibited interleukin 4 (IL-4)-dependent IgE production by lipopolysaccharide-stimulated murine whole spleen cells. In the case of U266 human IgE-bearing B cells, Ponciri fructus also showed an inhibitory effect on the IgE production. On the other hand, mast cell hyperplasia can be causally related with chronic inflammation. Stem cell factor (SCF), the ligand of the c-kit protooncogene product, is a major regulator and ohernoattractant of mast cells. Ponciri fiuctus (1 mg/mL) significantly inhibited the SCF-induced migration of rat peritoneal mast cells (RPMCs). RPMCs exposed to SCF (50 ng/mL) resulted in a drastic shape change with a polarized morphology while the cells exposed to Ponciri fructus (1 mg/mL) remained resting, with little or no shape alteration. The drastic morphological alteration and distribution of polymerized actin were blocked by pretreatment with Ponciri fructus. In addition, Ponciri fructus inhibited both TNF-alpha and IL-6 secretion from RPMCs stimulated with SCF. These results suggest that Ponciri fructus has an anti-allergic activity by inhibition of IgE production from B cells. These findings also provide evidence that Ponciri fructu inhibits chemotactic response and inflammatory cytokines secretion to SCF in mast cells.

To observe the intervening effect of resveratrol on coxsackie virus B3m-induced myocarditis in Balb/c mice and explore the mechanism of intervening effect. Using an animal model of viral myocarditis induced by coxsackie virus B3m (CVB3m), with Ribavirin and Astragalan as comparison, to examine the changes of general condition, mortality, the weights of heart, liver and spleen, serum MDA and NO levels, and cardiac histology in Balb/c mice. By comparison with Ribavirin and Astragalan, it was found that in the mice model of viral myocarditis induced by coxsackie virus B3m resveratrol significantly improved the changes of general condition, mortality, the weights of heart, liver and spleen, serum MDA and NO levels, and cardiac histology. It suggested that resveratrol may have some chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic effects in the treatment of viral myocarditis.

Cruciferous vegetables are rich in organosulfur compounds such as isothiocyanates and sulfides. While the isothiocyanates, corresponding to pungent principle, are generated from myrosinase-catalyzed hydrolysis of glucosinolates, the sulfides can be generated non-enzymatically. Recent studies provide evidences that some sulfur compounds in these vegetables show a chemopreventive action against carcinogenesis; while isothiocyanates such as sulforaphane induce phase 2 enzymes (glutathione S-transferase/quinone reductase), disulfides tends to elevate the level of phase 1 and 2 enzymes. Especially, sulforaphane rich in Cruciferae vegetables has been reported to express anticarcinogenic effect in some organs such as liver, kidney or intestine. When the level of sulfur compounds in Cruciferous and Alliaceous vegetables was determined by GC/MS (SIM), the richest in sulforaphane is broccoli followed by turnip, cabbage, radish, kale, cauliflower and Chinese cabbage. Meanwhile, the sulfides are predominant in Alliaceous vegetables such as onion. In related study, the administration of vegetable extract elevated the GST level by 1.5 fold for broccoli, 1.4 fold for radish, and 1.3 for onion. Thus, the vegetables frequently used in Korean dish contain relatively high amount of anticarcinogenic sulfur compounds. Moreover, the combination of broccoli and radish extracts elevated the GST induction up to 1.84 folds of control. In addition, the Kakdugi, fermented radish Kimchi was observed to show a comparable GST induction despite the decomposition of methylthio-3-butenylisothiocyanate (MTBI). Therefore, the combination of vegetables including broccoli, and fermented radish Kimchi would be useful as a functional food for chemoprevention.

The silk amino acid supplementation is unknown to affect the release of several hormones related to energy production and metabolism during prolonged exercise. This study examined the effects of silk amino acid supplementation on the level of blood amino acid, energy substrates and hormones level during prolonged treadmill exercise in college taekwondo player. A prolonged treadmill test was carried out 60 min at 65% of maximal heart rate on 8 athletics. Blood samples were obtained form antecubital vein of subjects at rest bed 30 minute before test, after exercise and rest 1 hour. The subjects were supplemented silk amino acid (6,390 mg/day) fur 4 week. The silk amino acid supplementation did not produce significant changes on the levels of blood lactate, ammonia, amino acid, glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, seratonin and leptin at rest bed 30 minute before test, after exercise and rest 30 minute. The silk amino acid 4 week supplementation did not affect the levels of blood amino acid, energy substrates and hormones during prolonged treadmill exercise.

Type 2 diabetes is characterized by hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia, features of insulin resistance. In vivo treatment of ob/ob mice with hydrolyzed fibroin reverses these pathological attributes (6). To explore the mechanism underlying this effect, we have used the 3T3-Ll adipocytes as a cell type which would represent the periphery, in vivo. Exposure of 3T3-Ll adipocytes to chronic insulin leads to the a 50% loss of insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. Chronic exposure to fibroin blocked, in part, the response to chronic insulin but also increased the sensitivity of control cells to the acute action of insulin. The later effect was most robust at physiological concentrations of insulin. Fibroin did not prevent the insulin-induced down-regulation of the insulin receptor or the tyrosine kinase activity associated with the receptor. Further, fibroin had no affect on the loss in activity of the insulin-sensitive down-stream kinase, Akt. Interestingly, fibroin accelerated glucose metabolism and glycogen turnover independent of insulin action. In addition, fibroin up-regulated GLUT1 which increased its expression at the cell surface and caused the redistribution of GLUT4 to the plasma membrane. Together, these later effects would lead to an improvement in hyperglycemia in vivo which would in turn reduce the need for insulin.

The Family of Man was a 1955 photographic exhibition that depicted normal people in all walks of life from around the world. The viewer was visually confronted with the similarity of all people. The people of the world are now facing common health challenges as a result of changing lifestyles and increasing healthcare costs. Dietary supplements have the potential to be part of the solution. Dietary supplementation with antioxidant vitamins may be the most effective intervention for preventing the onset of Alzheimer's disease in the rapidly expanding elderly population - and at a very low cost. AIDS is devastating much of the developing world, where few resources are available to treat it victims. Inexpensive multivitamin sup-plements have been demonstrated to slow the progression of AIDS, reduce the death rate, reduce AIDS-related morbidity, improve T cell counts, and reduce viral loads. Careful economic analysis demonstrate that calcium and folic acid supplementation could reduce healthcare costs in the USA by $13.9 billion and $1.3 billion, respectively. Most supplements with therapeutic potential have not been subjected to sufficiently rigorous research to permit unqualified public health recommendations. Carefully directed research is needed to identify the supplements with the greatest potential and to verify their safety and efficacy.

Vitamin U levels in 26 kinds of food plants are well known to healthy vegetables in Asian or Western countries were determined. Spinach showed the highest level of 452.04 mg/kg and in order Pack-choi (343.18 mg/kg) > Kale (234.18 mg/kg) > Somssukbujaengi (197.66 mg/kg) > leaf mustard (196.21 mg/kg) > aralia bud (192.50 mg/kg)> broccoli (189.03 mg/kg) >Asparagus (187.35 mg/kg). Among Korean wild medicinal plants, Sumssukbujaengi showed the highest value followed by Sanmanul (a kind of wild garlic) level of 143.46 mg/kg. For Chinese cabbages and cabbages, vitamin U showed different levels according to the parts of plant such as core, middle, outward leaves. In both samples, middle parts of leaves including midribs contained the highest level of vitamin U. The level of vitamin U was dependent on the part of the plant sample and cultivars. Leaf parts of turnip and white radish showed higher value of 84.82 mg/kg and 124.62 mg/kg than those of roots which were in order of middle (112.39 mg/kg), top (84.84 mg/kg) and bottom (84.61 mg/kg) portions in the white radish. In the analysis of amino acids, we didn't find either distinctive relationship between methionine and vitamin U synthesis or significant connection various free amino acids and vitamin U level in food plants.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) has been the number one killer in western society for a long time, and CHD in most instances is due to atherosclerosis. One of the earliest events in atherogenesis is the intracellular accumulation of lipids, particularly cholesterol esters, in the aortic intima. The lipids presumably came from the uptake of plasma lipoproteins, particularly from LDL. These foam cells were identified as being predominantly as macrophages. Currently, it is believed that oxidation of low density lipoprotein (LDL) might contribute to the generation of foam cells. An outcome of the oxidation hypothesis is that the consumption of antioxidants would be beneficial. In this study, Boldine, an alkaloid of Peumus boldus was tested for their antioxidant potency both in, in vitro oxidation system and in mouse models. Boldine decreased the ex-vivo oxidation of Low-density lipoprotein (LDL). In vivo studies were performed to study the effect of these compounds on the atherosclerotic lesion formation in LDL r-/- mice. Three groups of LDL r-/- mice (N=12 each) were fed an atherogenic diet. Group 1 was given vehicle and group 2 and 3 were given 1 and 5 mg of Boldine/day in addition to the atherogenic diet. The results indicated that there was a decrease in lesion formation reaching a 40% reduction due to Boldine compared to controls. The in vivo tolerance of Boldine in humans (has been used as an herbal medicine in other diseases) should make it an attractive alternative to vitamin E.

Nutritional genomics is a new field of study of how nutrition interacts with an individual's genome or individual responds to individual diets. Systematic approach of nutritional genomics will likely provide important clues about responders and non-responders. The current interest in personalizing health stems from the breakthroughs emerging in integrative technologies of genomics and epigenomics and the identification of genetic and epigentic diversity in individual's genetic make-up that are associated with variations in many aspects of health, including diet-related diseases. Microarray is a powerful screen system that is being also currently employed in nutritional research. Monitoring of gene expression at genome level is now possible with this technology, which allows the simultaneous assessment of the transcription of tens of thousands of genes and of their relative expression of pathological cells such tumor cells compared with that of normal cells. Epigenetic events such as DNA methylation can result in change of gene expression without involving changes in gene sequence. Recent developed technology of DNAarray-based methylation assay will facilitate wide study of epigenetic process in nutrigenomics. Some of the areas that would benefitfrom these technologies include identifying molecular targets (Biomarkers) for the risk and benefit assessment. These characterized biomarkers can reflect expose, response, and susceptibility to foods and their components. Furthermore the identified new biomarker perhaps can be utilized as a indicator of delivery system fur optimizing health.