Publications by authors named "Angela Rowan"

Article Synopsis
  • Milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) is important for infant development but is not present in standard infant formulas; this study aimed to assess the safety of adding MFGM to formula for infants aged 0 to 12 months.
  • In a trial involving 375 infants, those on MFGM-enriched formula experienced fewer instances of diarrhea and soft stools compared to those on standard formula, indicating better digestive tolerance.
  • Overall, MFGM-enriched formula was found to be safe and well-tolerated, although breast-fed infants showed better growth and health outcomes compared to both formula-fed groups.
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Background: Gangliosides are a class of sphingolipids that are present in the cell membranes of vertebrates. Gangliosides influence a broad range of cellular processes through effects on signal transduction, being found abundantly in the brain, and having a role in neurodevelopment.

Objective: We aimed to assess the effects of maternal daily consumption of ganglioside-enriched milk vs non-enriched milk and a non-supplemented group of pregnant women on maternal ganglioside levels and pregnancy outcomes.

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Background: Gangliosides (GAs) are important for neuronal function and development of the brain, accumulating rapidly in the fetal brain during the last trimester of pregnancy. No study in humans has investigated whether maternal supplementation of GAs during pregnancy has an effect on fetal growth, particularly of the head circumference.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of maternal dietary supplementation of complex milk lipids (CML; gangliosides and phospholipids) from the milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) during pregnancy on fetal growth.

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This study aimed at testing whether arm-to-leg ratios of extracellular water (ECW) and ECW normalized to intracellular water (ICW), measured by bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS), can accurately detect bilateral, lower-limb lymphedema, and whether accounting for sex, age, and body mass index (BMI) improves the diagnostic performance of cut-offs. We conducted a dual-approach, case-control study consisting of cases of bilateral, lower-limb lymphedema and healthy controls who self-reported absence of lymphedema. The diagnostic performance using normative data-derived cut-offs (i.

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Bioimpedance spectroscopy detects unilateral lymphedema if the ratio of extracellular fluid (ECF) between arms or between legs is outside three standard deviations (SDs) of the normative mean. Detection of bilateral lymphedema, common after bilateral breast or gynecological cancer, is complicated by the unavailability of an unaffected contralateral limb. The objectives of this work were to (1) present normative values for interarm, interleg, and arm-to-leg impedance ratios of ECF and ECF normalized to intracellular fluid (ECF/ICF); (2) evaluate the influence of sex, age, and body mass index on ratios; and (3) describe the normal change in ratios within healthy individuals over time.

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Article Synopsis
  • GM3 synthase is essential for producing gangliosides, and its deficiency (GM3D) leads to severe symptoms like irritability, seizures, and intellectual disabilities in affected individuals.
  • A study involving 13 young children with GM3D tested the effects of an oral ganglioside supplement, revealing improvements in growth metrics and some cognitive scores, particularly in communication and socialization areas.
  • However, the positive effects were mostly temporary and diminished after 12 months, prompting the idea that more effective therapies might focus on restoring natural ganglioside levels in these patients.
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Introduction: Complex lipids are important constituents of the central nervous system. Studies have shown that supplementation with complex milk lipids (CML) in pregnancy may increase the level of fetal gangliosides (GA), with the potential to improve cognitive outcomes.

Methods And Analysis: We aim to recruit approximately 1500 pregnant women in the first trimester (11-14 weeks) and randomise them into one of the three treatment groups: standard maternal milk formulation, CML-enhanced maternal milk formulation or no maternal milk intervention with standard pregnancy advice (ie, the standard care).

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Background: The milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) is primarily composed of polar phospho- and sphingolipids, which have established biological effects on neuroplasticity. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of dietary MFGM supplementation on the neuromuscular system during post-natal development.

Methods: Growing rats received dietary supplementation with bovine-derived MFGM mixtures consisting of complex milk lipids (CML), beta serum concentrate (BSC) or a complex milk lipid concentrate (CMLc) (which lacks MFGM proteins) from post-natal day 10 to day 70.

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Gangliosides (GA) are found in animal tissues and fluids, such as blood and milk. These sialo-glycosphingolipids have bioactivities in neural development, the gastrointestinal tract, and the immune system. In this study, a high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) method was validated to characterize and quantitate the GA in beef, chicken, pork, and fish species (turbot, snapper, king salmon, and island mackerel).

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Proteins are a key nutritional component of both powdered milk and infant formula types of product, and reliable methods for their determination are important for manufacturing and international trade. In this review, we distinguish between methods used for determining protein quality for nutrition purposes and those used for determining chemically defined protein. The former methods cover the ability of a dietary protein source to meet human nutritional requirements for the indispensable amino acids.

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Article Synopsis
  • Gangliosides are essential for brain development and are provided through human breast milk, which is crucial for infants.
  • A study measured ganglioside concentrations in the breast milk of Chinese mothers over 8 months, finding an increase from 13.1 mg/l in the first month to 20.9 mg/l by the eighth month.
  • This research is significant as it is the first to detail the distribution of individual ganglioside species in breast milk through lactation, highlighting changes in concentrations of specific molecular species, particularly GM(3) and GD(3).
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We have previously reported that the supplementation of ganglioside-enriched complex-milk-lipids improves cognitive function and that a phospholipid-enriched complex-milk-lipid prevents age-related cognitive decline in rats. This current study evaluated the effects of post-natal supplementation of ganglioside- and phospholipid-enriched complex-milk-lipids beta serum concentrate (BSC) on cognitive function in young rats. The diet of male rats was supplemented with either gels formulated BSC (n = 16) or blank gels (n = 16) from post-natal day 10 to day 70.

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Gangliosides are important components of neuronal cell membranes and it is widely accepted that they play a critical role in neuronal and brain development. They are functionally involved in neurotransmission and are thought to support the formation and stabilization of functional synapses and neural circuits required as the structural basis of memory and learning. Available evidence, as reviewed herein, suggests that dietary gangliosides may impact positively on cognitive functions, particularly in the early postnatal period when the brain is still growing.

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Background: Vitamin D deficiency has become a global health issue in pregnant women. This study aimed to assess the adequacy of maternal vitamin D status by measuring maternal serum and breast milk 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels and to determine the association between maternal serum and milk 25(OH)D levels.

Methods: Data was obtained from the Universiti Sains Malaysia Pregnancy Cohort Study.

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Powdered milk products for children (Growing Up Milk Powders or GUMPs) containing added carbohydrates such as glucose and sucrose are now well established in parts of Asia. We surveyed GUMPs in Malaysia and Indonesia to determine the content of added carbohydrates. The ingredient lists and nutrition information panels were used to calculate the percentage of declared carbohydrates contributed by added carbohydrates and a subset of seven products was tested for their glycemic index (GI) and insulin responses in healthy adults.

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Background: Human breastmilk contains gangliosides which may play an important role in infant neurodevelopment.

Aim: A pilot study was conducted to assess the impact of infant formula supplemented with gangliosides from complex milk lipid on cognitive functions of normal healthy infants.

Study Design: The study was a double-blind, randomized, controlled, parallel group clinical trial in which infants received the treatment or control product from 2 to 8 weeks of age until 24 weeks of age.

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Bovine lactoferrin (bLf), an iron-containing natural defence protein found in bodily secretions, has been reported to inhibit carcinogenesis and the growth of tumours. Here, we investigated whether natural bLf and iron-saturated forms of bLf differ in their ability to augment cancer chemotherapy. bLf was supplemented into the diet of C57BL/6 mice that were subsequently challenged subcutaneously with tumour cells, and treated by chemotherapy.

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The potential detrimental effects of two different oral doses of bovine colostrum were assessed in young rats according to OECD guidelines. Colostrum was supplemented at 3% and 10% into a normal rat chow. A control group received the rat chow with no supplementation.

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Background: Accurate estimates of endogenous ileal total nitrogen and amino acid flows are necessary to ascertain true dietary amino acid digestibility coefficients and for the factorial estimation of dietary amino acid requirements.

Objective: The objective was to ascertain endogenous amino acid losses from the small bowel in human subjects consuming a protein-free diet or a diet with enzyme-hydrolyzed casein (EHC; MW <5000) as the sole source of nitrogen.

Design: The subjects were 8 men and women with terminal ileum ileostomies after ulcerative colitis who consumed the protein-free and EHC-based diets in a crossover design.

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Article Synopsis
  • An acute feeding procedure was tested on growing pigs to evaluate how effectively different dietary protein sources are digested.
  • The method showed similar results for nitrogen digestibility compared to a conventional long-term approach, confirming its validity.
  • In a human study, the true ileal amino acid digestibilities of four protein sources were measured, revealing high digestibility rates, especially for sodium caseinate, indicating they are nearly fully absorbed in the small intestine.
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