The health benefits of bean consumption are widely recognized and are largely attributed to the dietary fiber content. This study investigated and compared the effects of whole brown beans and an isolated bean dietary fiber fraction on the plasma lipid profile, atherosclerotic plaque amount, gut microbiota, and microbiota-dependent metabolites (cecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and plasma methylamines) in Apoe−/− mice fed high fat diets for 10.5 weeks. The results showed that both whole bean and the isolated fiber fraction had a tendency to lower atherosclerotic plaque amount, but not plasma lipid concentration. The whole bean diet led to a significantly higher diversity of gut microbiota compared with the high fat diet. Both bean diets resulted in a lower Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio, higher relative abundance of unclassified S24-7, Prevotella, Bifidobacterium, and unclassified Clostridiales, and lower abundance of Lactobacillus. Both bean diets resulted in higher formation of all cecal SCFAs (higher proportion of propionic acid and lower proportion of acetic acid) and higher plasma trimethylamine N-oxide concentrations compared with the high fat diet. Whole beans and the isolated fiber fraction exerted similar positive effects on atherosclerotic plaque amount, gut microbiota, and cecal SCFAs in Apoe−/− mice compared with the control diets.

It has not been clarified whether the anti-atherosclerotic effect of lingonberry can be ascribed to its content of flavonoids or dietary fibre or both. The aim of this study was to evaluate the metabolic effects of whole lingonberries compared with isolated flavonoid and fibre fractions on atherosclerotic plaques, plasma lipid profiles, gut microbiota and microbiota-dependent metabolites in an Apoe(-/-) mouse model. Mice fed whole lingonberries showed the lowest amount of atherosclerotic plaques, while mice fed the fibre fraction had the highest formation of caecal butyric acid. Flavonoids, rather than dietary fibre, were suggested to be the components that favour proliferation of Akkermansia, as judged by the lowest abundance of this bacterium in mice fed the fibre fraction. All groups fed lingonberry diets had both, lower Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratios and creatinine concentrations, compared with the control. To conclude, different components in lingonberries are associated with different physiological effects in Apoe(-/-) mice.

Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), a microbiome-derived metabolite from the metabolism of choline, betaine, and carnitines, is associated to adverse cardiovascular outcomes. A method suitable for routine quantification of TMAO and its precursors (trimethylamine (TMA), choline, betaine, creatinine, and propionyl-, acetyl-, and l-carnitine) in clinical and food samples has been developed based on LC-MS. TMA was successfully derivatized using iodoacetonitrile, and no cross-reactions with TMAO or the other methylamines were detected. Extraction from clinical samples (plasma and urine) was performed after protein precipitation using acetonitrile:methanol. For food samples (meatballs and eggs), water extraction was shown to be sufficient, but acid hydrolysis was required to release bound choline before extraction. Baseline separation of the methylamines was achieved using a neutral HILIC column and a mobile phase consisting of 25 mmol/L ammonium formate in water:ACN (30:70). Quantification was performed by MS using external calibration and isotopic labelled internal standards. The assay proved suitable for both clinical and food samples and was linear from approximate to 0.1 up to 200 mu mol/L for all methylamines except for TMA and TMAO, which were linear up to 100 mu mol/L. Recoveries were 91-107% in clinical samples and 76-98% in food samples. The interday (n=8, four duplicate analysis) CVs were below 9% for all metabolites in clinical and food samples. The method was applied successfully to determine the methylamine concentrations in plasma and urine from the subjects participating in an intervention trial (n=10) to determine the effect of animal food ingestion on methylamine concentrations.

There is a growing demand for alternative protein‐source ingredients from domestically cultivated pulses in Europe, including Sweden. However, the use of legumes as a food ingredient is limited by the presence of a distinct beany flavor. Mapping the volatile compounds composition in a standardized approach will aid in comparing different legume varieties and processing treatments. The composition of volatile compounds in flour from yellow and gray peas (raw and boiled) was investigated and compared. Volatile compounds were isolated by headspace solid‐phase microextraction (HS‐SPME) and analyzed using gas chromatography‐mass spectrophotometry (GC‐MS). A total of 43 volatiles were identified, consisting mostly of aldehydes, followed by alkanes, alcohols, ketones, alkenes, furans, terpenes, aromatics, and sulfur‐containing compounds. Boiling led to a marked reduction in alcohols and an increase in aldehydes. Several markers of beany flavor, such as 1‐octen‐3‐ol, 2‐pentylfuran, and 3,5‐octadien‐2‐one, were significantly decreased after boiling. The composition of volatiles collected from yellow and gray peas was comparable, but boiled yellow pea had a higher abundance of beany flavor as compared to gray pea. Gray pea is an interesting variety to be explored further as a potential alternative to the well‐known yellow pea.

Ligand-based NMR techniques to study protein-ligand interactions are potent tools in drug design. Saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR spectroscopy stands out as one of the most versatile techniques, allowing screening of fragments libraries and providing structural information on binding modes. Recently, it has been shown that a multi-frequency STD NMR approach, differential epitope mapping (DEEP)-STD NMR, can provide additional information on the orientation of small ligands within the binding pocket. Here, the approach is extended to a so-called DEEP-STD NMR fingerprinting technique to explore the binding subsites of cholera toxin subunit B (CTB). To that aim, the synthesis of a set of new ligands is presented, which have been subject to a thorough study of their interactions with CTB by weak affinity chromatography (WAC) and NMR spectroscopy. Remarkably, the combination of DEEP-STD NMR fingerprinting and Hamiltonian replica exchange molecular dynamics has proved to be an excellent approach to explore the geometry, flexibility, and ligand occupancy of multi-subsite binding pockets. In the particular case of CTB, it allowed the existence of a hitherto unknown binding subsite adjacent to the GM1 binding pocket to be revealed, paving the way to the design of novel leads for inhibition of this relevant toxin.

Earlier studies have implied a change in dietary habits of the Swedish population towards a low carbohydrate, high fat diet. Questions have been raised about the development in recent years and potential health effects. We have investigated the dietary intake of Swedish female students enrolled in a university nutrition course between 2002 and 2017. The students carried out self-reporting of all food and drink intake over one weekday and one weekend day. Intake of macronutrients (E%) and micronutrients were calculated for the whole period while statistical analysis was performed for changes between 2009 and 2017 (729 women). Results showed significant changes in carbohydrate intake (from 47.0 to 41.4 E%) and fat intake (from 31.7 to 37.5 E%). Carbohydrate intake was significantly lower than the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (45-60 E%). However, daily fiber intake remains high (3.0 g/MJ) in a national context, and intake of vitamin D and folate appears to increase during the period. The results suggest that the observed national transition from carbohydrate to fat intake persists, and that it might be especially evident among individuals interested in food and nutrition. Considering the fiber and micronutrient intake, the change is not necessarily unfavorable for this particular group.

N-Iodosuccinimide (NIS) in pure trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) offers a time-efficient and general method for the iodination of a wide range of mono-and disubstituted benzenes at room temperature, as demonstrated in this paper. The starting materials were generally converted into mono-iodinated products in less than 16 hours at room temperature, without byproducts. A few deactivated substrates needed addition of sulfuric acid to increase the reaction rate. Another exception was methoxybenzenes that preferentially were iodinated by NIS in acetonitrile with only catalytic amounts of TFA.

While the Swedish nutrition recommendations have been kept relatively constant in recent years, public attitudes to different diets have been swinging faster. The National food survey (Riksmaten), being performed in Sweden only once per decade, cannot identify any corresponding rapid changes in diets. Hence, our understanding of potential fluctuations is limited. During the last 15 years, nutrition students at the Linnaeus University (formerly University of Kalmar) have reported their food intake in the context of the course Diet, Nutrition and Health 7,5 hp. The result is an extensive data set comprising more than 1100 individuals and over 2500 days of food intake reports, and although not originally intended or designed as a study, it became apparent that these data could be of interest as an indicator for national dietary trends. Food intake was reported (by weighing or estimating the amounts) for two weekdays and one weekend day per student, along with age, length, sex and weight. Food intake was translated to nutrient intake using Dietist Net software (Kost & Näringsdata).  Admittedly, the data set has some validity problems: the students differ from the Riksmaten study groups in mean age and geographical distribution, and all data was collected during March-April. As students in a nutrition course, they can also be expected to be more interested and more knowledgeable in the nutrition subject than the average person. Nevertheless, the results clearly demonstrate a substantial change in nutrient intake from 2006 and onwards, where the energy from carbohydrates decreased from above 50% to below 40%, and where the energy intake from fat increased from about 25% to 36%. Further details, such as the effects on the intake of selected micronutrients, will be presented.

Membrane proteins constitute the largest class of drug targets but they present many challenges in drug discovery. Importantly, the discovery of potential drug candidates is hampered by the limited availability of efficient methods for screening drug-protein interactions. In this work we present a novel strategy for rapid identification of molecules capable of binding to a selected membrane protein. An integral membrane protein (human aquaporin-1) was incorporated into planar lipid bilayer disks (lipodisks), which were subsequently covalently coupled to porous derivatized silica and packed into HPLC columns. The obtained affinity columns were used in a typical protocol for fragment screening by weak affinity chromatography (WAC), in which one hit was identified out of a 200 compound collection. The lipodisk-based strategy, which ensures a stable and native-like lipid environment for the protein, is expected to work also with other membrane proteins and screening procedures.