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Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are a significant and growing burden on global\ud health services, and it is now accepted that impairment of vascular function represents\ud a major preliminary step in the development of CVD. There is considerable\ud interest in identifying both causal factors of impaired vascular function, as\ud well as related nutritional factors that may lower the risk of developing CVD, and\ud food-derived\ud bioactive peptides and amino acids have emerged as one such\ud area. Dairy foods contain two groups of proteins, whey proteins and caseins,\ud which represent a rich source of bioactive peptides that are released during food\ud processing and/or digestion. These peptides have a number of physiological\ud activities including the potential to reduce blood pressure. Research, including\ud acute and longer-term\ud randomised controlled trials, animal models and in\ud vitro models has demonstrated the potential impact of dairy proteins on vascular\ud function. The purpose of this paper is to narratively review the evidence, primarily\ud from randomised controlled trials, examining the effects of whey proteins,\ud their peptides and amino acids on vascular function and related issues including\ud blood pressure. In addition, it will explore the potential underlying mechanisms\ud responsible for these effects. It concludes that there is increasing evidence that\ud whey proteins, and notably the bioactive peptides and amino acids released during\ud their digestion, can have beneficial effects on aspects of vascular function\ud and thus contribute to CVD risk reduction. It also highlights a number of beneficial\ud effects of whey proteins including those

Undernutrition, such as stunting and underweight, is a major public health concern, which\ud requires multi-sectoral attention. Diet plays a key role in growth and should optimally supply all\ud required nutrients to support the growth. While millets (defined broadly to include sorghum) are\ud traditional foods, and climate smart nutritious crops, which are grown across Africa and Asia, they\ud have not been mainstreamed like rice, wheat, and maize. Diversifying staples with millets can\ud potentially provide more macro and micro nutrients, compared to the mainstream crops. However,\ud there is little known scientific evidence to prove millets’ efficacy on growth. Therefore, a systematic\ud review and meta-analysis was conducted to collate evidence of the benefits of millets in improving\ud the growth of children. Eight eligible randomized feeding trials were included in the meta-analysis.\ud Results from the randomized effect model showed a significant effect (p < 0.05) of millet-based diets\ud on mean height (+28.2%) (n = 8), weight (n = 9) (+26%), mid upper arm circumference (n = 5) (+39%)\ud and chest circumference (n = 5) (+37%) in comparison to regular rice-based diets over for the period of\ud 3 months to 4.5 years, which was based on largely substituting rice with millets. When an enhanced\ud and diverse diet was served, replacing rice with millet had only minimal growth improvement on\ud chest circumference (p < 0.05). The quality assessment using GRADE shows that the evidence used\ud for this systematic review and meta-analysis had moderate quality, based on eight scoring criteria.\ud These results demonstrate the value of adding millet as the staple for undernourished communities.\ud Further understanding of the efficacy of millets on growth in a wider range of diets is important\ud to develop appropriate dietary programs and improve the nutritional status of various age groups\ud across Africa and Asia.

Iodine is an important nutrient for human health and development, with seafood widely\ud acknowledged as a rich source. Demand from the increasing global population has resulted in the\ud availability of a wider range of wild and farmed seafood. Increased aquaculture production, however,\ud has resulted in changes to feed ingredients that affect the nutritional quality of the final product. The\ud present study assessed the iodine contents of wild and farmed seafood available to UK consumers and\ud evaluated its contribution to current dietary iodine intake. Ninety-five seafood types, encompassing\ud marine and freshwater fish and shellfish, of wild and farmed origins, were purchased from UK\ud retailers and analysed. Iodine contents ranged from 427.4 ± 316.1 to 3.0 ± 1.6 µg·100 g−1 flesh wet weight (mean ± SD) in haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio), respectively, being in the order shellfish > marine fish > freshwater fish, with crustaceans, whitefish (Gadiformes) and bivalves contributing the greatest levels. Overall, wild fish tended to exhibit higher iodine concentrations than farmed fish, with the exception of non-fed aquaculture species (bivalves). However, no significant differences were observed between wild and farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and turbot (Psetta maxima). In contrast, farmed European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and seabream (Sparus aurata) presented lower, and Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) higher, iodine levels than their wild counterparts, most likely due to the type and inclusion level of feed ingredients used. By following UK dietary guidelines for fish consumption, a portion of the highest oily (Atlantic mackerel, Scomber scombrus) and lean (haddock) fish species would provide two-thirds of the weekly recommended iodine intake (980 µg). In contrast, actual iodine intake from seafood consumption is estimated at only 9.4–18.0% of the UK reference nutrient intake (140 µg·day−1) across different age groups and genders, with females obtaining less than their male equivalents.

Plant proteins contain bioactive peptides with functional properties and physiological activities.\ud In the present work, the bioactive peptides produced during in vitro gastrointestinal digestion\ud of soya protein isolate were investigated. Protein samples were subjected to simulated gastrointestinal\ud digestion with a generation of permeate (3 kDa) fractions.\ud The permeate was analysed by nano-liquid chromatography electrospray ionisation tandem\ud mass spectrometry (LC-nano ESI MS/MS) using a shotgun peptidomic approach, and the retentate\ud was further digested with trypsin and analysed using a shotgun proteomic approach. Based\ud on protein profile observed, the retentate was further tested for its potential antimicrobial activity\ud by evaluating the inhibitory effect on E. coli growth. In the present study the peptidomic/\ud proteomic characterisation of permeate and retentate fractions revealed the presence of bioactive\ud peptides and proteins associated with antioxidant, ACE-inhibitory, anti-hypertensive and\ud antimicrobial activities. The presence of potentially antimicrobial proteins in the retentate fraction\ud is supported by a marked E. coli F18þ growth inhibitory activity of the same fraction. In\ud particular, the growth inhibitory effect was significant from one until six hours of incubation\ud with 0.65–2.6 mg/ml of in vitro digested soya. The obtained data confirmed that soya-based supplements\ud may have potential beneficial effects after human consumption, and they may be recycled\ud for animal nutrition in line with the circular economy concept.

Calcium deficiency during child growth leads to osteoporosis in later stages of life. Finger\ud millet is one of the calcium dense foods, with three times the level of calcium than milk, and\ud the only cereal that contains high calcium content which is consistent across different varieties\ud (364 � 58 mg/100 g). Thus, finger millet has potential for addressing calcium deficiency naturally.\ud This study aimed to determine the retention and impact of finger millet calcium on bone turnover\ud through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Three human studies were eligible for systematic\ud review. Of these, only two were eligible for meta-analysis to assess the retention of calcium in\ud children of 9 to 12 years. One study on bone turnover markers was not used in the meta-analysis\ud as at least two studies are required to conduct meta-analysis. Due to the lack of complete data\ud only four studies were eligible for meta-analysis to assess the in vitro bioavailability of calcium\ud from unprocessed and a range of different types of processed finger millet. The result shows that\ud there was significant retention (p < 0.05) of 23.4 � 2.9% calcium from finger-millet-based diet which\ud could help bone accretion during child growth if finger-millet-based diet is consumed. The bone\ud turnover marker study shows that the resorption of calcium reduced by 28% and 47% among peri\ud and post-menopausal women respectively after feeding the nutria mixed grain ball. However, there\ud is no significant change in bone formation marker. Depending on the type of processing, calcium\ud bioavailability either increased or decreased. One in vitro study showed that calcium bioavailability\ud from finger millet was 28.6% when boiled, whereas three studies on processing show that certain\ud processing can double the calcium bioavailability to 61.4%. Irrespective of the type of processing,\ud finger millets contribute to high calcium retention and extremely high bioavailable calcium and could\ud be useful for healthy growth and in dealing with complications related to calcium deficiency.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remain a major cause of death and morbidity\ud worldwide and dietary guidelines aim to restrict the intake of saturated fatty\ud acids (SFA) as they have been regarded as an important risk factor for CVD\ud due to of their association with increased blood cholesterol. Since dairy foods\ud are often the major contributors of dietary SFA, there have been guidelines to\ud reduce consumption of these foods. However it is now generally accepted that\ud the effects of dietary SFA are not simple and can be influenced by their source\ud and food matrices. Also the effect of reducing SFA intake is best interpreted\ud by a knowledge of what replaces them. Reduced CVD risk has been associated\ud with replacement of SFA with cis-polyunsaturated fatty acids (cis-PUFA)\ud and/or cis-monounsaturated fatty acids (cis-MUFA), with replacement by\ud carbohydrate leading to no reduction or even increased CVD risk. Most studies\ud on the effect of diet/food on CVD risk have used total cholesterol (TC) and/\ud or low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in blood as the marker(s) of\ud risk. However, because of potentially attenuating effects of dairy foods (e.g.\ud effect of protein on blood lipids and blood pressure; food matrix effects on\ud fat bioavailability) a wider range of markers is needed to more fully evaluate\ud disease risk. Nevertheless, whilst prospective evidence shows no increase in\ud CVD risk from high dairy consumption, it is still uncertain whether replacing a\ud proportion of SFA in dairy fat with cis-MUFA will consistently lead to reduced\ud CVD risk. The relatively few randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that have\ud examined this using TC and/or LDL-C as risk markers give an indications of\ud benefit and the results of a recent RCT give stronger support to this.

In recent years, vitamin D deficiency has attracted attention worldwide. Especially many\ud ethnic minority populations are considered at high-risk of vitamin D deficiency, owing to a lesser\ud ability to synthesis vitamin D from sunlight (ultraviolet B), due to the skin pigment melanin and/or\ud reduced skin exposure due to coverage required by religious and cultural restrictions. Therefore,\ud vitamin D intake from dietary sources has become increasingly important for many ethnic minority\ud populations to achieve adequate vitamin D status compared with the majority of the population.\ud The aim of the study was critically evaluate the vitamin D intake and vitamin D status of the\ud ethnic minority populations with darker skin, and also vitamin D absorption from supplements\ud and ultraviolet B. Pubmed, Embaase and Scopus were searched for articles published up to October\ud 2018. The available evidence showed ethnic minority populations generally have a lower vitamin\ud D status than the majority populations. The main contributory food sources for dietary vitamin D\ud intake were different for ethnic minority populations and majority populations, due to vary dietary\ud patterns. Future strategies to increase dietary vitamin D intake by food fortification or biofortification\ud needs to be explored, not only for the majority population but more specifically for ethnic minority\ud populations who are generally of lower vitamin D status.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remain a major cause of death and morbidity worldwide. Dietary guidelines aim to restrict the intake of saturated fatty acids (SFA) as they are regarded as an important risk factor for CVD due to their association with increased blood cholesterol. As dairy foods are major contributors of dietary SFA, there have been guidelines to reduce consumption of these foods. However, it is now generally accepted that the effects of reducing intake of SFA are dependent on what replaces them in the diet. Reduced CVD risk has been associated with replacement of SFA with cis-polyunsaturated fatty acids (cis-PUFA) and/or cis-monounsaturated fatty acids (cis-MUFA), with replacement by carbohydrate leading to no reduction or even increased CVD risk. Most studies on the effect of diet/food on CVD risk have used total cholesterol (TC) and/or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in blood as the marker(s) of risk. However, because of potentially attenuating effects of dairy foods (e.g. effect of protein on blood lipids and blood pressure; food matrix effects on fat bioavailability), a wider range of markers is needed to more fully evaluate disease risk. Nevertheless, whilst prospective evidence shows no increase in CVD risk from high dairy consumption, it is still unclear whether replacing a proportion of SFA in dairy fat with cis-MUFA will lead to reduced CVD risk. The relatively few randomised controlled trials that have examined this using TC/LDL-C as risk markers give some indications of reduced CVD risk from consumption of milk and dairy products with modified fatty acid composition, compared with those of normal milk fat composition. The results of ongoing studies will add valuable new evidence on this issue.

Factor loadings identified by orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis of plasma phospholipid fatty acid profiles at baseline (week 0) and following diets that incorporated the control and modified dairy products (week 12) in adults at moderate cardiovascular disease risk. (DOC 73Â kb)

Baseline characteristics for participantsâ based on the order of allocation to the control and modified dietary exchange periods. (DOC 36Â kb)