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The WHO Global Action Plan on physical activity underlines the binomial "diet and physical activity" for the maintenance of well-being state. The adequate nutritional intake is required for sport and can be achieved by a well-adjusted diet without adding artificial food supplements, whose abuse can even represent a risk and appear as an antechamber of doping. Within a national doping prevention project, a peer education tool was realized in the form of a book and e-book, based on the principle of the Mediterranean Diet as an effective nutritional support in sport and physical activity. This health-literacy book contains recipes from all Italian regions revised for their capability to satisfy sport nutritional needs.

Presentation at the Conference on “Circolazione ed impatto dei patogeni enterici in Italia” organized by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, European Food Safety Autority (EFSA) focal point in Italy, and Directorate General of Collegiate Bodies for Health Protection, Office 3, Ministry of Health, held in Rome, Italy, on the 18th of October 2018, Awarded as second best poster presentation at the Conference

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, one of the most prevalent liver disorders in Western countries, is characterized by hepatic accumulation of triglycerides. Bile acids have long been known to affect triglyceride homeostasis through a not completely understood mechanism. Aim: To analyse the effects of two different manipulations of bile acid circulation on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Methods: Two animal models of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease were developed by either feeding rats with a choline deficient or with a high fat diet. After 4 weeks, rats were randomized to undergo either bile duct ligation, sham operation or cholic acid administration. Results: During cholestasis there was an increased CYP7A1 expression, the rate limiting enzyme in bile acid synthesis, and a reduction of hepatic concentration of oxysterols, ligands of the liver X receptors. Target genes of the liver X receptors, involved in fatty acid and triglyceride synthesis, were down-regulated in association with decreased hepatic triglyceride content and improvement of fatty liver. Administration of cholic acid, ligand of farnesoid X receptor, also had a beneficial effect on fatty liver in rats on choline deficient diet. Conclusion: These results indicate that pharmacological approaches increasing the expression of CYP7A1 or stimulating farnesoid X receptor pathway could represent a promising treatment for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. © 2012 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l

Background Recent data highlighted the role of nuclear receptors in the transcriptional regulation of the limiting enzyme of bile acid synthesis, cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase, in cellular and animal models. This study was designed to analyze the effects of age on cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase and related nuclear receptor expression in human livers. Design Surgical liver biopsies were obtained in 23 patients requiring operation on the gastrointestinal tract. mRNA levels of cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase and related nuclear receptors and co-activators were assayed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Serum levels of 7 alpha-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one, a marker of bile acid synthesis, were assayed by gas-liquid chromatography:mass spectrometry. Results Ageing was inversely correlated with serum 7 alpha-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one and with cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase mRNA levels (r = -0.44 and r = -0.45 on a semi-log scale, respectively, P < 0.05). Among different nuclear factors, cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase mRNA best correlated with hepatocyte nuclear factor-4 (r = 0.55 on a log scale, P < 0.05); hepatocyte nuclear factor-4 levels were also inversely correlated with age (r = -0.64 on a semi-log scale, P < 0.05). Age was inversely correlated with serum insulin-like growth factor-I levels, which were directly correlated with hepatocyte nuclear factor-4 and cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase expression. No suppressive effect of short heterodimer partner expression on cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase was observed. Conclusions Ageing associates with reduced bile acid synthesis, possibly related to decreased hepatic expression of hepatocyte nuclear factor-4 and consequently of cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase. Age-related modifications of the growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor axis might play a role. These findings may help to elucidate the pathophysiology of age-related modifications of cholesterol metabolism.