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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #306515
Title: Phytochemicals for personalized health

Author
item ZIRKLER, ESTELLE - Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging At Tufts University
item Parnell, Laurence
item SMITH, CAREN - Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging At Tufts University
item OBIN, MARTIN - Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging At Tufts University
item ORDOVAS, JOSE - Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging At Tufts University

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/13/2014
Publication Date: 9/8/2014
Citation: Zirkler, E., Parnell, L.D., Smith, C.E., Obin, M.S., Ordovas, J.M. 2014. Phytochemicals for personalized health. [Abstract]. 11th NuGO Week: Nutrigenomics of Foods p.142.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Chronic inflammation is often a major contributor to the onset and progression of cardiometabolic dysfunction. Whether through effects on the inflammatory response system or independent of inflammation, plant-derived polyphenols comprise a micro-nutrient class important in CVD and other cardiometabolic traits. Polyphenols and other phytochemicals produce effects that can be categorized into four types of interactions: physiological, polyphenolic-microbiotic, polyphenolic-epigenetic, and polyphenolic-genomic. Certainly, the best-known effects are physiological: reducing blood glucose, acting as a diuretic, or raising HDL cholesterol, for example. This is illustrated by the phytochemical cinnamic acid, which activates insulin-mediated glucose transport through SLC2A2 (GLUT4) and effectively lowers blood glucose. Polyphenolic-microbiotic interactions appear as recent emergences in the primary literature and are profoundly important in phytochemical metabolism. Metabolism of polyphenols by the gut microbiome contributes to absorption of phytochemicals. For example, the flavanol quercetin is degraded by Eubacterium ramulus to 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid. Variations in polyphenolic metabolism exist due to the composition of the gut microbiome, with different levels of metabolic enzymes that vary from person to person. Polyphenolic-epigenetic interactions produce their effects through an interaction with DNA: either by inhibiting or activating histone modification enzymes or by chromatin remodeling. Curcumin, for example, activates histone deacetylase and inhibits histone acetyltransferase. Both proteins are employed by curcumin in down-regulating inflammatory genes responsible for transcribing TNF and IL6. Polyphenolic-genomic effects are exemplified by variations in the apolipoprotein (apo) E genotype. Individuals with the APOE4 allele have been demonstrated to be at higher risk for coronary artery disease, where the beneficial effects of quercetin, a polyphenol found in onions and tea, were moderated by this genotype. It was found that quercetin exerted a greater effect on waist circumference and BMI reduction in individuals carrying the APOE3 genotype compared with the APOE4 genotype. These and other examples from the literature have been collected into a database for the purpose of constructing molecular networks that depict relationships between diet, cardiometabolic traits, aging and inflammation. The resulting nutrition-inflammation interactome is a repository for information pertinent to understanding the diet-disease-inflammation axis and a vehicle for generating testable hypotheses in the laboratory setting. In the case of polyphenols, this database on polyphenolic effects and the resulting networks provide a mechanism to begin to construct individualized recommendations for phytochemical intakes.