Glutamine and Its Actions: A Bird’s Eye View

Glutamine (Gln) is the most abundant amino acid in the body, playing a versatile role in both maintaining homeostasis and contributing to various pathologies. This review explores the physiological functions of Gln, detailing its enzymatic synthesis and degradation, as well as its role across different organs, tissues and systems in both normal and pathological conditions. This review is a search of relevant topics related with Gln and its actions;its key areas discussed include the immune system, heat shock proteins, skeletal muscle, central nervous system, the intestinal mucosal barrier, liver, kidney, gluconeogenesis, types 1 and 2 diabetes, burns, cancer, and hepatic encephalopathy. While Gln demonstrates numerous beneficial effects, it can also contribute to adverse outcomes in specific diseases, such as cancer and hepatic encephalopathy. Despite these complexities, it is crucial to keep searching for glutamine’s role in health and disease. Understanding how Gln supplementation may support patients taking multidrug therapy to reduce the need for certain medications, and enhancing treatment adherence and disease management is particularly important.

Overweight/Obesity in University Students from Mexico: Comparison Using Different Indices

The goal was to compare body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist to height ratio (WHtR), and relative fat mas (RFM), to identify the best predictor of overweight and obesity in university students from Mexico. This is a cross-sectional survey with 697 university students from northern and central Mexico (448 women, and 249 men aged 18 - 19 years). Data was collected during 2018. Overweight and obesity were calculated from those indices and for both, female and male students, the order of correlation between a pair of indices were WHtR vs. RFM > WHtR vs. WC > RFM vs. WC > WHtR vs. BMI > BMI vs. WC > RFM vs. BMI. It is concluded to use the WHtR and the RFM to better predict overweight and obesity in young Mexican university students.

The Acute and Chronic Effects of Co-Administration of Turmeric and Black Pepper Extracts in Genetic Hypertension

High blood pressure is the main risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, it affects many people worldwide and is a public health problem. This study explored the acute and chronic actions of a mixture of turmeric (95% curcumin) plus black pepper (95% piperine) extracts, in the blood pressure pattern in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) along they age. For the acute study male adult (4 - 7 months old) SHR and their control Wistar Kyoto rats (WKY) were used. A single oral dose of the mixture of turmeric/black pepper extracts (200 mg/2mg, respectively) suspension was administered. Tail-cuff was used to determine blood pressure during 180 min. For the chronic study, young (1-month-old) male SHR and their control WKY rats were fed with standard chow, or standard chow combined with cocoa, or combined with cocoa plus the mixture of turmeric/black pepper extracts;tail-cuff was used to determine blood pressure once a week, along 12 weeks. In a second chronic assay adult (5 months old) male SHR and their control WKY rats were fed with standard chow, or standard chow combined with cocoa, or combined with cocoa plus the mixture of turmeric/black pepper extracts;tail-cuff was used to determine blood pressure once a week, along 12 weeks. In all three studies, a decrease in systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure was observed, being higher in SHR and negligible in WKY rats. The mixture of turmeric/black pepper extracts showed antihypertensive actions in SHR rats with no effect on WKY rats. The mixture delayed the onset of hypertension in young SHR rats.