Wayne R. Bidlack

Casarett & Doull’s Toxicology: The Basic Science of Poisons, 6th ed.

The use of nutrition as a medical therapy emerged in the last several hundred years to become both fact and fad of modern life. Improper nutritional status may be the last factor to which a disease state is attributed in the setting of plentiful and varied food supplies. Both overand under-nutrition are treatable with dietary intervention, although the desired response to overnutrition is vastly more difficult to evoke by managing diet alone. Much of the available information about nutrition is absorbed from questionable resources—word of mouth, popular media, the Internet—and makes outlandish performance claims for correcting the ills of modern life. Both health practitioners and their patients are equally susceptible to spurious health claims for nutritional supplements. Despite the continuing need for quick and accurate diagnosis and treatment of nutritionally-derived diseases, many health professionals lack appropriate exposure to the sound information about nutritional therapies that is contained within this comprehensive volume edited by Bendich and Deckelbaum. Primary and Secondary Preventive Nutrition should be required reading for researchers, faculty and students in the healing professions. The editors have done a first-rate job in amassing and coherently presenting a comprehensive collection of chapters on nutritional management and prevention of cancer, metabolic diseases and bone diseases. The book is constructed with good logical flow, but it also excels as a reference text. Although many chapters are closely related, they complement each other nicely rather than overlapping significantly. The information is densely packed, but also reads well, putting the text within the grasp of student and teacher, novice and experienced researcher. The issues of micronutrient supplementation and cancer risk are well covered in two separate chapters. The first summarizes the current data on the efficacy and drawbacks of supplementation, while the second gives insight into the mechanisms by which micronutrients may regulate cell proliferation and development. A third chapter focuses on the role of soy products in prevention of cancer. Future editions would benefit from the addition of a fourth chapter covering non-soy phytochemicals that may play critical anticancer roles. The metabolic syndrome, a constellation of findings including insulin resistance, central obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, has reached epidemic proportions according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (JAMA 287:356–359, 2002). An estimated 47 million Americans are affected, and the economic toll is greater than

Green Tea: Health Benefits and Applications.

100 billion annually. The metabolic syndrome can be managed by restoring normal energy balance. Nearly half of this text is devoted to addressing the critical role of nutrition in preventing and managing this obesity-related syndrome. Information on the role of nutrition in growth and development comprises a somewhat scant two chapters. What is truly lacking from this coverage is the gene-environment interaction. There are now many known nuclear receptors involved in gene expression during growth, differentiation and development whose ligands are derived from the diet. For example, the long chain polyunsaturated fats (PUFA) that are discussed in the context of infant growth and development may be important endogenous and exogenous activators of several nuclear receptors involved in energy homeostasis. Even the chapters on bone diseases would benefit from a brief discussion of the regulation of gene expression by dietary factors such as PUFA. Primary and Secondary Preventive Nutrition brings together current opinion on the application of nutritional therapy to a wide variety of diseases into one concise, meaty reference. This book is intended for a broad audience, including researchers, health care professionals, and students. The editors have managed to make it a good fit for all—understandable to the novice, yet sufficiently detailed as to provide a wealth of information for the more technically savvy reader. This handy volume, now part of the foundation of the present reviewer’s personal nutrition library, would serve equally well as either a reference or course text.

The effects of pH on the enzymatic formation of β-glucuronides of various retinoids by induced and noninduced microsomal UDPGA-glucuronosyltransferases of several rat tissues in vitro 1 ☆

Green Tea: Health Benefits and Applications. edited by Yukihiko Hara. New York: Marcel Dekker, 252 pp, 2001.Since the late 1980’s green tea, green tea extracts and tea flavonoids have been studied ...

Lactoferrin: Natural, Multifunctional, Antimicrobial.

Abstract All- trans retinoyl-β-glucuronide, a prominent water-soluble metabolite of all- trans retinoic acid (RA) in animals, is formed by the enzymic transfer of the glucuronyl moiety of uridine diphosphoglucuronic acid to RA. Uridine diphosphoglucuronic acid glucuronosyl transferases (UGTs) of microsomal preparations catalyze this reaction. In noninduced rat liver microsomes, maximal activity was observed in the physiologic range (pH 6.9–7.5) for all- trans -RA, 9- cis -RA, all- trans -4-oxo-RA, and the synthetic retinoid tetramethyl, tetrahydro-anthracenyl-benzoic acid. The activities toward 13- cis -RA and tetramethyl, tetrahydronaphthenyl-propenyl-benzoic acid were maximal between pH 5.4 and 6.9 and toward acitretin [9-(2′,3′,6′ trimethyl, 4′methoxybenzyl-1′) 3,7 dimethyl, nona-2,4,6,8 tetraenoic acid] at pH 8.4. Several organs catalyze this reaction, but the activities of noninduced microsomes from liver, kidney, and testes were higher than those from intestine and lung. Brain microsomes were inactive. During storage at –80°C, the stability of UGTs varied both with the tissue and the retinoid substrate. 3-Methylcholanthrene both induces UGTs and increases the permeability of microsomal preparations to its substrates. The rates of glucuronidation of the less biologically active retinoids all- trans -4-oxo RA and 13- cis -RA were increased relatively more (11-fold and 6-fold, respectively) than those of the natural ligands for nuclear transcription factors all- trans -RA and 9- cis -RA (threefold and twofold, respectively). We conclude that several microsomal UGTs, which are differentially regulated, act on retinoids.

Food Lipids: Chemistry, Nutrition and Biotechnology

This monograph of 86 pages is well written by one of the leading researchers in the field. He has contributed significantly to altering the perceived function of lactoferrin (LF) from that of an iron delivery protein for mammalian infants to that of a natural antimicrobial agent protecting the infant from pathogenic infections. This text reviews all aspects of LF: purification, characterization, antimicrobial effects and chemical modification in order to enhance its activity. Lactoferrin is an iron-binding glycoprotein found in milk, but also in a variety of exocine secretions such as saliva, tears, seminal fluid, mucins and granules of neutrophils. In addition, LF can bind other metals as well. LF can bind two ferrous ions with two carbonate ions, providing the major structure function relationship. Interaction of LF with specific targets on the microbial surface causes an array of outcomes either to the advantage of the host (microbial blocking effects) or the microorganism (iron-acquisition and pathogenesis). The most common methods for isolation and purification of LF include size exclusion chromatographic separation on CMSephadex columns and affinity chromatography on Cibachron Blue F3G-A-Sepharose columns, on Heparin agarosecross linked columns and on single stranded DNA-agarose columns. Iron saturation can be affected by dialysis against buffered acidic solutions. Apo-LF is prepared by dialysis against pH 4.0 acetate buffer, while holo-LF is prepared by dialysis against a large excess of citric acid, followed by raising the pH to 7.0 and addition of excess bicarbonate and iron. Human and bovine LF have specific differences in physico-chemical properties, such as IEP, absorption spectra, glycosylation, proteae sensitivity and iron-binding affinity. These characteristics are related to its varied biologic functions. LF may be expected to provide diverse antimicrobial functions in different biological fluids. Structural characteristics and spatial orientation of the molecule are critical in defining the functionality of an antimicrobial. The environmental characteristics of viscosity, pH and ionic strength and the changing presence of other physiologic proteins affect LF thereby causing a broad-spectrum of antimicrobial activities. Antimicrobial activities include stasis, cidal, adhesion-blockade, cationic, synergistic and opsonic mechanisms against different bacteria (gram-positive and Gram-negative, rods and cocci, and aerobes and anaerobes), DNA and RNA viruses, a variety of yeasts, fungi and parasites. In addition, LF expresses anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties that enhance effectiveness of its antimicrobial action. LF can interfere with microbial activity by binding to the surface via an array of specific and non-specific interactions, either promoting host defense (elimination) or microbial virulence (iron acquisition by pathogens). LF binding sites have been identified, including porins, lipopolysaccharides and DNA. In vivo LF exhibits multifunctional activities. It exhibits a regulatory role in various physiologic pathways. Although iron binding is an important molecular property, a number of cellular functions are independent of this metal binding property. LF has found its way into infant formula and health foods in SE Asia. It is used as a therapeutic and prophylactic agent for control of intestinal illnesses. Recent advances in LF research have elucidated structure-function relationships, antimicrobial mechanisms and cost effective technologies for large scale protein isolation and biotechnology. A number of efficacy studies and clinical trials are ongoing in various laboratories with over 100 patents filed on this molecule in the last ten years. LF is emerging as one of the leading natural microbial blocking agents in food safety and preservation. Everyone interested in natural antimicrobial agents will enjoy reading this treatise. It is thorough, well researched (over 370 references), well written and easily read. The style and format can serve as a model to evaluate other antimicrobials. Graduate students, researchers and teachers alike will benefit from reading this text.

Metal Ions in Biological Systems. Vol. 35: Iron Transport and Storage in Microorganisms, Plants and Animals

Find the secret to improve the quality of life by reading this food lipids chemistry nutrition and biotechnology. This is a kind of book that you need now. Besides, it can be your favorite book to read after having this book. Do you ask why? Well, this is a book that has different characteristic with others. You may not need to know who the author is, how well-known the work is. As wise word, never judge the words from who speaks, but make the words as your good value to your life.