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OBJECTIVE: Safety concerns or contraindications in the use of hormones have resulted in a rise in the use of nutritional medicinal products for the management of menopausal symptoms. The aim of the present study was to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of Exelvit Menopause®. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A prospective, open, observational, and multicentre study was performed, including 156 menopausal women. The patients received the nutritional product containing evening primrose oil 50 mg; hop extract 0.127-0.212 mg; saffron Stigmas Extract 0.6 mg; tryptophan 71.25 mg, vitamins B6, D3, K2, B12, and B9 once per day for 12 weeks. The validated menopausal rating score (MRS) was used for recording symptoms. RESULTS: A decrease in the MRS of all menopausal symptoms was observed after 12 weeks compared to baseline (p < 0. 0001). Overall, hot flashes were reduced by 48.15%, heart discomfort by 33.3%, sleep disturbance by 46.2%, joint and muscular discomfort by 27.8%, depressive mood by 45.0%, irritability by 47.6%, anxiety by 44.4%, physical problems by 36.4%, sexual problems by 30.0%, bladder problems 31.3%, and vaginal dryness by 33.3%. CONCLUSIONS: The nutritional product Exelvit Menopause® significantly reduced menopausal symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goat milk, like cow milk, needs some modifications to be used as the sole source of nutrition during early infancy. For goat milk to be more like human milk and more nutritionally complete, sugar, vitamins and minerals need to be added to it and for reduction of renal solute load, it needs to be diluted. To prevent megaloblastic anemia in infants fed exclusively on goat milk, folic acid should be supplied either by adding it to goat milk or by an oral folic acid supplement. In fortification of milk products, thermal processing, fermentation, and species differences in milk folate bioavailability are three additional factors that should be considered besides absolute difference in folate concentration between goat and human milk. Whether different feeding regimes (e.g., iron and folate content of diets) influence milk folate content needs to be elucidated by more research. Our findings showed that fermented goat milk during anemia recovery can be improve antioxidant status, protection from oxidative damage to biomolecules, protective effects on testis, improve Fe and skeletal muscle homeostasis as well as improve cardiovascular health. Practical applications: To be used as part of a postweaning nutritionally well‐balanced diet, fermented goat milk is most likely an excellent source of nutrition for the human. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glutamine and asparagine in enteral therapeutic nutritional products, and in the milk, casein, soy, and whey protein ingredients with which they were formulated, have been estimated by an indirect approach: from published amino acid sequence and individual protein distribution data. A second set of estimates, based on experimental GLX and ASX determinations, differed by ≤ 10% from the sequence-based estimates. Further corroboration was obtained by determinations of amide nitrogen, which also differed by ≤ 10% from the sum of the estimated glutamine + asparagine. Determinations of GLX, ASX, and amide nitrogen were also used to estimate glutamine and asparagine in wheat protein ingredients and in wheat protein–fortified nutritional products. The resistance of protein-bound glutamine and asparagine to deamidation during nutritional product processing was verified. Free ammonia in protein hydrolysates was correlated with degree of hydrolysis, suggesting that glutamine content decreases as the degree of hydrolysis increases. The study indicates that, pending comparison and verification by direct enzymatic hydrolysis methods of glutamine and asparagine determination, the concentrations in common protein ingredients and in many commercial nutritional products may be reliably estimated from published data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chicken essence (CE) is a popular traditional remedy in Asia, which is believed to improve cognitive functions. CE company claimed that the health benefits were proven with research studies. A systematic review was conducted to determine the cognitive-enhancing effects of CE. We systematically searched a number of databases for randomized controlled trials with human subjects consuming CE and cognitive tests involved. Cochrane's Risk of Bias (ROB) tool was used to assess the quality of trials and meta-analysis was performed. Seven trials were included, where six healthy subjects and one subject with poorer cognitive functions were recruited. One trial had unclear ROB while the rest had high ROB. For executive function tests, there was a significant difference favoring CE (pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) of -0.55 (-1.04, -0.06)) and another with no significant difference (pooled SMD of 0.70 (-0.001, 1.40)). For short-term memory tests, no significant difference was found (pooled SMD of 0.63 (-0.16, 1.42)). Currently, there is a lack of convincing evidence to show a cognitive enhancing effect of CE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A quantitative method for the direct LC/UV determination of octenylsuccinic acid (OSAc) in nutritional products formulated with octenylsuccinic anhydride-modified starch (MS) is described. The cis-2-OSAc and trans-2-OSAc released from the MS by a mild alkaline hydrolysis are separated by reversed phase chromatography and are detected by UV at 192 nm. Method suitability has been defined by assessments of linearity ( R average = 0.99991 ± 0.00008, n = 12, and the relative calibration error average <1 % at each OSAc concentration level), intermediate precision (RSD values [each of four batches tested on each of 3 days] ranged from 1.1 to 2.5 % for total OSAc concentrations at 235 to 266 mg per kg in a hydrolyzed protein-based nutritional product [HP]), accuracy (spike recovery average = 97.9 ± 0.7 %, for four batches of HP spiked with MS at the 100 % MS level), selectivity (peak purity verification as HP analyte 192 nm/200 nm peak area ratio vs the corresponding ratio for the OSAc reference solutions), and the limits of quantification and detection (30 and 10 mg, respectively, per kg of nutritional product). The method provides for a simple and reliable quantification of free and/or total OSAc in nutritional products formulated with MS and is suitable for the routine verification of proper MS fortification of nutritional products and for the verification of MS stability during nutritional product processing and over shelf life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: High performance size exclusion chromatography with UV detection (HPSEC/UV) was evaluated for the routine characterisation of peptide molecular mass distributions in commercial protein hydrolysates and in protein hydrolysate-based liquid nutritional products. Several known sources of quantitative error were examined, as were additional sources potentially introduced by the complex matrices of liquid nutritional products. Although it is clear that these sources may compromise the accuracy of the molecular mass distribution estimates, the magnitude was typically small, and did not detract appreciably from method applicability. Method capability for reliably discriminating different lots of the same hydrolysate commodity was established via median molecular mass determinations. The molecular mass profiles of liquid nutritional products (median molecular mass range=300–3610Da) agreed well with those of their protein hydrolysate ingredient: the median molecular mass ratios for nutritional product to hydrolysate ingredient averaged 0.984±0.091 (n =5). The study demonstrated the considerable utility of the HPSEC/UV method as a direct, informative, simple, precise, rugged, and relatively inexpensive means for the routine characterisation of peptide molecular mass distributions in commercial protein hydrolysates and in hydrolysate-based liquid nutritional products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chicken essence (CE) is a popular traditional remedy in Asia, which is believed to improve cognitive functions. CE company claimed that the health benefits were proven with research studies. A systematic review was conducted to determine the cognitive-enhancing effects of CE. We systematically searched a number of databases for randomized controlled trials with human subjects consuming CE and cognitive tests involved. Cochrane's Risk of Bias (ROB) tool was used to assess the quality of trials and meta-analysis was performed. Seven trials were included, where six healthy subjects and one subject with poorer cognitive functions were recruited. One trial had unclear ROB while the rest had high ROB. For executive function tests, there was a significant difference favoring CE (pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) of -0.55 (-1.04, -0.06)) and another with no significant difference (pooled SMD of 0.70 (-0.001, 1.40)). For short-term memory tests, no significant difference was found (pooled SMD of 0.63 (-0.16, 1.42)). Currently, there is a lack of convincing evidence to show a cognitive enhancing effect of CE.