Investigacion industrial dirigida al desarrollo de conocimiento para avalar nuevos productos alimenticiosEnfoque en su aplicabilidad en funcion del genotipo, necesidades nutricionales especificas y poblaciones diana

Abstract

Dietary and supplementation strategies can significantly influence the phenotype of people. Inadequate and excessive nutrition are currently one of the main reasons for the high prevalence, in both developed and developing countries, of chronic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver, etc. Likewise, nutrition is also essential for optimal performance in sports. Personalized nutrition is a new holistic approach, for example including genetic characterization of individuals, enabling more individualized nutritional recommendations, and covering specific needs. For instance, in athletic populations, personalized nutrition could be applied to improve body composition and sports performance, while in sedentary individuals personalized recommendations could be focused on health promotion and on main functional targets, such as improvement of lipid profile to reduce cardiovascular risk, of body weight and composition to prevent or reduce the risk of obesity, etc. In relation to the new products, we have characterized the mechanisms by which a mango extract prevents the early metabolic alterations, associated with the metabolic syndrome, caused by the intake of a high-fat diet in mice. The results indicate that the tested extract protects against insulin resistance induced by the high-fat diet, as well as liver steatosis. These effects could be mediated by the activation of lipolytic genes in liver and muscle, in a mechanism regulated by AMPK/SIRT1. Furthermore, we analyzed the potential of new food matrices in a cocrystalline formulation to counteract hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia in Syrian hamsters. The results indicate that a single dose of the tested matrices shows beneficial effects against high-fat foods and are able to mitigate their impact on lipidemia. Concerning the population study, we have recruited and characterized a cohort of athletes from Mallorca (≈ 200). The genetic analysis showed that the allelic frequency of genes associated with body weight, fat mass and the perception of fat intake is different from the frequency observed in general Spanish and/or European populations, affecting 19% of the studied variants. Moreover, data highlighted that the presence of variants rs2016520 (PPARD) and rs17602729 (AMPD1) are associated with less muscle strength in hands and lumbar extensors. Thus, the anthropometry, nutritional status and physical fitness of the studied population showed potential for optimization under the application of a holistic nutrigenetic approach that also considers training guidelines adapted to the genotype. In addition, a nutrigenetic association was observed between the presence of rs174547 (FADS1) with the intake of fatty acids. Specifically, the minor genotype showed an association with a higher intake of polyunsaturated, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Molecular characterization reflected that these individuals showed a metabolic profile different from the other genotypes. This was observed in the expression of genes related to inflammation and lipid metabolism, as well as in the omega-3 index in erythrocytes. The results suggest that omega-3 personalized nutritional recommendations would be made taking into account levels of omega-3 intake, FADS1 expression, desaturase activity, as well as the rs174547 genotype. Together, the results obtained in this Thesis provide new knowledge with the potential to endorse novel food products aiming to improve health and focusing on a more personalized applicability based on genetics.