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academies
Nov 22-23, 2018 | Paris, France
Joint Event
Nutrition and Health
16
th
International Conference on
26
th
International Conference on
Diabetes and Endocrinology
&
Journal of Insights in Nutrition and Metabolism | Volume 2
Apples and cardiovascular health—Is the gut microbiota a core consideration?
Francesca Fava
1
, Koutsos A
2
and
Tuohy K M
1
1
Fondazione Edmund Mach, Italy
2
University of Reading, UK
T
here is considerable scientific evidence that a diet rich
in fruits and vegetables improves human health. Apples
are a good source of polyphenols and fiber and are widely
consumed worldwide. An important proportion of apple
bioactive compounds escape digestion in the upper intestinal
tract and reach the colon where they can be fermented by
the colonic microbiota. Results from our group have shown
that apples from different varieties can induce substantial
changes in microbiota composition and metabolic activity in
in vitro batch culture models. In particular one apple variety
significantly increased Bifidobacteria, Proteobacteria and
Faecalibacterium prausnitzii populations, as well as butyrate
levels and polyphenol microbial metabolites. In a human
nutrikinetic study we previously demonstrated the existing
correlation between faecal bacteria and specific microbial
plasma and urine catabolites derived from apple. Based on
these results we have performed a randomized, controlled,
crossover, dietary human intervention study (NCT01988389)
in 40 mild hypercholesterolaemic subjects, which showed
that a daily consumption of 2 apples for 8 weeks can
decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease by reducing total
and LDL-cholesterol, improving vascular function, reducing
circulating vascular cell adhesion molecule, beneficially
modulating gut microbiota and increasing microbially-
derived small phenolic compounds. Modulation of bile
acids profiles is one of the physiological processes linking
gut microbiota metabolism to the beneficial effect of whole
healthy foods, such as apples. We are currently investigating
the role of microbial modulation of bile acids in response to
a range of beneficial functional foods, through a specifically
designed mechanistic human dietary intervention, including
apples, within the CABALA_Diet&Health project framework
(JPI- HDHL-healthy diet for healthy life, grant n. 696295).
Speaker Biography
Francesca Fava has completed his/her PhD at the University of Reading in 2008. She
previously worked at the Istituto Clinico Humanitas, Rozzano (MI). She is a permanent
researcher at Fondazione Edmund Mach, Centro Ricerca ed Innovazione, Department
of Food Quality and Nutrition, Nutrition and Nutrigenomics Unit, since 2011. Her main
research interest is to study diet-microbe interactions through human studies and in vitro
models. She is author of 42 research publications, with H-index=15 and over 5000 citations;
she has been serving as an editorial board member of the International Journal of Food
Science and Nutrition.
e:
Francesca.fava@fmach.it