Rocio Campos-Vega

Spent coffee grounds, an innovative source of colonic fermentable compounds, inhibit inflammatory mediators in vitro

Spent coffee grounds (SCG), rich in dietary fiber can be fermented by colon microbiota producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) with the ability to prevent inflammation. We investigated SCG anti-inflammatory effects by evaluating its composition, phenolic compounds, and fermentability by the human gut flora, SCFAs production, nitric oxide and cytokine expression of the human gut fermented-unabsorbed-SCG (hgf-NDSCG) fraction in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. SCG had higher total fiber content compared with coffee beans. Roasting level/intensity reduced total phenolic contents of SCG that influenced its colonic fermentation. Medium roasted hgf-NDSCG produced elevated SCFAs (61:22:17, acetate, propionate and butyrate) after prolonged (24h) fermentation, suppressed NO production (55%) in macrophages primarily by modulating IL-10, CCL-17, CXCL9, IL-1β, and IL-5 cytokines. SCG exerts anti-inflammatory activity, mediated by SCFAs production from its dietary fiber, by reducing the release of inflammatory mediators, providing the basis for SCG use in the control/regulation of inflammatory disorders. The results support the use of SGC in the food industry as dietary fiber source with health benefits.

Human Gut Flora-Fermented Nondigestible Fraction from Cooked Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Modifies Protein Expression Associated with Apoptosis, Cell Cycle Arrest, and Proliferation in Human Adenocarcinoma Colon Cancer Cells

Metabolism of the nondigested fraction (NDF) from common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.) by the human gut flora (hgf) produces short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that may benefit cancer by reducing colorectal tumor risks. This paper reports the effect of fermentation products (FP) by hgf (FP-hgf) from NDF of cooked beans on survival and protein expression associated with apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and proliferation in human adenocarcinoma colon cancer cells. FP-hgf was the only inoculum eliciting butyrate production after 24 h of NDF fermentation using different bacterial sources. FP-hgf inhibited HT-29 cell growth and modulated protein expression associated with apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and proliferation, as well as morphological changes linked to apoptosis evaluated by TUNEL and hematoxylin and eosin stains, confirming previous results on gene expression. The current results suggest that fermentation of NDF from common beans can elicit beneficial chemoprotective effects in colon cancer by modulating protein expression in HT-29 cells.

Common Beans and Their Non-Digestible Fraction: Cancer Inhibitory Activity—An Overview

The US Department of Agriculture’s MyPyramid guidelines introduced a near doubling of the dietary recommendations for vegetables including dry beans—an important food staple in many traditional diets that can improve public health and nutrition. Populations with high legume (peas, beans, lentils) consumption have a low risk of cancer and chronic degenerative diseases. Common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are known as a rich, reliable source of non-digested compounds like fiber, phenolics, peptides and phytochemicals that are associated with health benefits. Emerging evidence indicates that common bean consumption is associated with reduced cancer risk in human populations, inhibiting carcinogenesis in animal models and inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in cell cultures. Fiber may reduce the risk of premature death from all causes, whereas the whole non-digestible fraction from common beans exhibits anti-proliferative activity and induces apoptosis in vitro and in vivo colon cancer. The mechanisms responsible for this apparently protective role may include gene-nutrient interactions and modulation of proteins’ expression. This review investigates the potential health benefits and bioactivity of beans on tumor inhibition, highlighting studies involving functional compounds, mainly non-digestible fractions that modulate genes and proteins, thereby, unraveling their preventive role against the development of cancer.

Bean seeds: leading nutraceutical source for human health

Phaseolus is the most important food legume for human consumption in the world. Its seeds consist mainly of carbohydrates and are a good source of nitrogen and protein. It also contains calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, copper, iron, zinc, manganese and sulfur. This legume is rich in bioactive components such as enzyme inhibitors, lectins, phytates, oligosaccharides and phenolics, which exhibit metabolic roles in humans and animals. Among the observed biological activities are the antioxidant capacity, the reduction of cholesterol and reduction of low-density lipoproteins, thus Phaseolus has a protective effect against cardiovascular diseases. Also it has shown favourable effects against cancer because of the antimutagenic and antiproliferative properties of their phenolics, lectins and protease inhibitors. Additionally, it has showed effects on obesity and diabetes due to its content of resistant starch and α-amylase inhibitor. Here we present a review of the beneficial properties of beans as a nutraceutical food.

The fermented non-digestible fraction of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) triggers cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human colon adenocarcinoma cells

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide with colorectal cancer (CRC) ranking as the third contributing to overall cancer mortality. Non-digestible compounds such as dietary fiber have been inversely associated with CRC in epidemiological in vivo and in vitro studies. In order to investigate the effect of fermentation products from a whole non-digestible fraction of common bean versus the short-chain fatty acid (SCFAs) on colon cancer cells, we evaluated the human gut microbiota fermented non-digestible fraction (hgm-FNDF) of cooked common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cultivar Negro 8025 and a synthetic mixture SCFAs, mimicking their concentration in the lethal concentration 50 (SCFA-LC50) of FNDF (hgm-FNDF-LC50), on the molecular changes in human colon adenocarcinoma cells (HT-29). Total mRNA from hgm-FNDF-LC50 and SCFA-LC50 treated HT-29 cells were used to perform qPCR arrays to determine the effect of the treatments on the transcriptional expression of 84 genes related to the p53-pathway. This study showed that both treatments inhibited cell proliferation in accordance with modulating RB1, CDC2, CDC25A, NFKB and E2F genes. Furthermore, we found an association between the induction of apoptosis and the modulation of APAF1, BID, CASP9, FASLG, TNFR10B and BCL2A genes. The results suggest a mechanism of action by which the fermentation of non-digestible compounds of common bean exert a beneficial effect better than the SCFA mixture by modulating the expression of antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic genes in HT-29 cells to a greater extent, supporting previous results on cell behavior, probably due to the participation of other compounds, such as phenolic fatty acids derivatives and biopetides.

The Extrusion Process as an Alternative for Improving the Biological Potential of Sorghum Bran: Phenolic Compounds and Antiradical and Anti-Inflammatory Capacity

Approximately 80% of sorghum phenolic compounds are linked to arabinoxylans by ester bonds, which are capable of resisting the digestion process in the upper gastrointestinal tract, compromising their bioaccessibility and biological potential. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the extrusion process on the content of phenolic compounds in sorghum bran and its impact on phenolic compounds and antiradical and anti-inflammatory capacity. Results revealed that the extrusion process increased total phenol content in sorghum bran compared to nonextruded sorghum, particularly for extrusion at 180°C with 20% moisture content (2.0222 ± 0.0157 versus 3.0729 ± 0.0187 mg GAE/g +52%), which positively affected antiradical capacity measured by the DPPH and TEAC assays. The percentage of inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) production by RAW cells due to the presence of extruded sorghum bran extract was significantly higher than that of nonextruded sorghum bran extract (90.2 ± 1.9% versus 76.2 ± 1.3%). The results suggest that extruded sorghum bran could be used as a functional ingredient and provide advantages to consumers by reducing diseases related to oxidative stress and inflammation.

Bioaccessibility and antioxidant activity of free phenolic compounds and oligosaccharides from corn (Zea mays L.) and common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) chips during in vitro gastrointestinal digestion and simulated colonic fermentation

Corn (Zea mays L.) and common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are alternative suitable ingredients for snacks, because of their content of bioactive compounds such as phenolic compounds (PC) and oligosaccharides (OS). However, there is no information about the transformation of these compounds associated with food matrix during gastrointestinal digestion. Therefore, the objective of this work was to simulate the whole digestion process (mouth to colon) to estimate bioaccessibility and small intestine permeability of free PC and OS, and the antioxidant capacity of free PC. Digested nixtamalized corn-cooked common bean chips exhibited significant different quantities of free PC and OS, and higher antioxidant activity compared to methanolic extract. The free PC showed high values of apparent permeability coefficients (0.023-0.729×10-3), related with their absorption in the small intestine. Both free PC and OS were retained in the non-digestible fraction of chips (10.24-64.4%) and were able to reach the colon. Our results suggest the digestion potential to increase chip bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity. Additional studies are required to evaluate their in vivo effects.

Physicochemical and nutraceutical properties of moringa (Moringa oleifera) leaves and their effects in an in vivo AOM/DSS-induced colorectal carcinogenesis model

Moringa (Moringa oleifera) is a plant that has generated great interest in recent years because of its attributed medicinal properties. The aim of this study was to characterize the bioactive compounds of moringa leaves (MO) and evaluate their effect on a colorectal carcinogenesis model. Twenty-four male CD-1 mice were divided into 4 groups: Group 1 fed with basal diet (negative control/NC); Group 2 received AOM/DSS (positive control); Groups 3 and 4 were fed with basal diet supplemented with moringa leaves (2.5% w/w and 5% w/w, respectively) for 12weeks. Moringa leaves exhibited a high content of dietary fiber (~18.75%) and insoluble dietary fiber (2.29%). There were identified 9 phenolic compounds whereas the chlorogenic and ρ-coumaric acid showed the higher contents (44.23-63.34μg/g and 180.45-707.42μg/g, respectively). Moringa leaves decreased the activity of harmful fecal enzymes (β-glucosidase, β-glucuronidase, tryptophanase and urease up to 40%, 43%, 103% and 266%, respectively) as well tumors incidence in male CD1-mice (~50% with 5% w/v of moringa dose). These findings suggest that the bioactive compounds of moringa such as total dietary fiber and phenolic compounds may have chemopreventive capacity. This is the first study of the suppressive effect of moringa leaves in an in vivo model of AOM/DSS-induced colorectal carcinogenesis.

Microbiota source impact in vitro metabolite colonic production and anti-proliferative effect of spent coffee grounds on human colon cancer cells (HT-29)

Human gut flora-mediated non-digestible fraction of spent coffee grounds (hgf-NDSCG) was evaluated for its chemopreventive effect and molecular mechanisms involved on human colon adenocarcinoma HT-29 cell survival using two different microbiota source [lean (L) and overweight (OW)]. The source of human gut flora (hgf) (L or OW) affected the pH of hgf-NDSCG only minimally, but linearly reduced those of hgf-inulin. The variability between lean and overweight microbiota was characterized by the metabolism and/or bioaccessibility of different phenolic metabolites, their intermediate and end products as well as by variable time courses. Apoptosis of colon cancer HT-29 cells depended on the microbiota source with the lean microbiota expressing a low lethal concentration 50 (LC50/L-hgf-NDSCG=13.5%). We demonstrate that NDSCG and its colonic metabolite from lean microbiota induced HT-29 cell apoptosis by reducing catalase and 8-iso-prostaglandin F2α as biomarkers of in vivo oxidative stress as the primary mechanism underlying its overall chemoprotection against colon cancer.

Fermented non-digestible fraction from combined nixtamalized corn (Zea mays L.)/cooked common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) chips modulate anti-inflammatory markers on RAW 264.7 macrophages

Chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are low-level inflammation processes affected by several factors including diet. It has been reported that mixed whole grain and legume consumption, e.g. corn and common bean, might be a beneficial combination due to its content of bioactive compounds. A considerable amount would be retained in the non-digestible fraction (NDF), reaching the colon, where microbiota produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and phenolic compounds (PC) with known anti-inflammatory effect. The aim of this study was to estimate the anti-inflammatory potential of fermented-NDF of corn-bean chips (FNDFC) in RAW 264.7 macrophages. After 24 h, FNDFC produced SCFAs (0.156-0.222 mmol/l), inhibited nitric oxide production > 80% and H2O2 > 30%, up-regulated anti-inflammatory cytokines (I-TAC, TIMP-1) > 2-fold, and produced angiostatic and protective factors against vascular/tissue damage, and amelioration of tumor necrosis factor signalling and inflammatory bowel disease. These results confirm the anti-inflammatory potential derived from healthy corn-bean chips.