Final Report Summary - CHECKMATE-TO-HUNGER (Checking Melanoidins Satiating Efficiency Through Evaluation of Human Gut-Brain Response to Novel-Bread Ingestion)
The CHECKMATE-TO-HUNGER project was a timely project since there is an epidemic of overweight and obese people in society. A diet rich in energy-dense foods is one possible cause for the worldwide increase in overweight and obese individuals. Maillard reaction products are present in many energy-dense foods along with the non-digestible melanoidins, which are primarily found in coffee and bread crust. Melanoidins are structurally similar to dietary fiber from vegetables; both are non-digestible dietary components partially fermented in the large intestine. Dietary fiber from barley beta-glucans is able to trigger short-term satiety through the modulation of gut hormones and peptides controlling food intake. Two novel breads were developed that contained either 3% (g/g) coffee melanoidins or 3% (g/g) bread crust melanoidins, which were then compared to a 3% (g/g) barley beta-glucans bread and control bread. The four novel breads had similar characteristics including size, color, taste, and nutritional content. A human intervention trial protocol was then approved by the Ethics Committee of the hospital at the University of Naples to test these four novel breads. The four breads were served to fifteen fasted, healthy, normal-weight volunteers in a single blind, randomized order at breakfast over four visits. The short-term energy intake was monitored at an ad libitum lunch 3 h after breakfast and continuing through a 24 h period using a food diary. The feelings of hunger, fullness, and the amount one could eat were measured on a 100 mm visual analog scale at each time point. Blood samples were also collected at time points 0, 30 min, 60 min, 120 min, and 180 min after breakfast and biomarkers associated with the gastrointestinal tract, the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, and the endocannabinoid system were measured. Furthermore, a satiety gene expression microarray was utilized to measure the expression profile from 5 volunteers before and 1 hour after consumption of beta-glucans bread at breakfast. The results showed that the feeling of hunger was strongly reduced three hours after ingestion of coffee melanoidins-enriched bread or beta-glucans-enriched bread in comparison to the control bread. Although no effect was observed in the energy intake at the ad libitum lunch after the study session, there was a large decrease in energy intake over the half day following the study session for the coffee melanoidins-enriched bread, bread melanoidins-enriched bread, and the beta-glucans-enriched bread in comparison to the control bread. Postprandial blood glucose levels were significantly increased after consumption of the bread melanoidins-enriched bread in comparison to the beta-glucans-enriched bread 1 hour after breakfast. For the gastrointestinal peptides, peptide YY secretion decreased two hours after a breakfast consuming either coffee melanoidins-enriched bread or bread melanoidins-enriched bread in comparison to the beta-glucans-enriched bread. Insulin secretion decreased after ingestion of the bread melanoidins-enriched bread and coffee melanoidins-enriched bread in comparison to the control bread. No effects were observed between the four test breads for glucagon-like peptide 1, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide, pancreatic polypeptide, glucagon, total amylin or leptin. The measurement of the neuropeptides with the four test breads did not result in any significant changes in plasma biomarker levels. With the endocannabinoids, an increase in plasma linoleoylethanolamide was observed for the coffee melanoidins-enriched bread and the bread melanoidins-enriched bread in comparison the beta-glucans-enriched bread. An increase in plasma oleoylethanolamide was also observed with the bread melanoidins-enriched bread compared to the other three test breads. The plasma palmitoylethanolamide levels were signicantly decreased after ingestion of the control bread in comparison to the beta-glucans-enriched bread. Finally, a satiety gene expression microarray was utilized to monitor the expression levels in the blood from five volunteers before and after ingestion of beta-glucans-enriched bread. The CHECKMATE-TO-HUNGER project has the potential to affect the food industry and push it to produce healthier versions of tasty, processed foods. This project has shown that it is possible to take a well-known food product that has physiochemical properties similar to dietary fiber and add it to food to improve short-term satiety. Any method that can be used to decrease energy intake at the individual level would provide immense benefits to improve the health of people in society and decrease the cost to treat the diseases associated with overweight and obesity.