Why do some polyphenols reduce atherosclerosis but others not? (KROON_F17DTP)

Lead Research Organisation: University of East Anglia
Department Name: Graduate Office

Abstract

Regular consumption of certain polyphenols which are found in plant foods have been shown to cause beneficial changes in biomarkers of health, particularly cardiovascular health. We recently have shown that feeding tomatoes expressing polyphenols such as resveratrol or anthocyanins to mice which had ApoE knocked out (to mimic high circulating cholesterol phenotype) for 17 weeks significantly reduced plaque size while other polyphenols such as flavonols or isoflavones had no effect on plaque size. We therefore aim to investigate the effects of the different polyphenols on lipid and lipoprotein metabolism and gene expression profiles and attempt to associate these changes with the polyphenol metabolites generated from each diet.

Publications

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Jokioja J (2021) Phenolic Metabolites in the Urine and Plasma of Healthy Men After Acute Intake of Purple Potato Extract Rich in Methoxysubstituted Monoacylated Anthocyanins. in Molecular nutrition & food research

Studentship Projects

Project Reference Relationship Related To Start End Student Name
BB/M011216/1 01/10/2015 31/03/2024
1937498 Studentship BB/M011216/1 01/10/2017 30/09/2021 Jasmine Percival
 
Description As part of this research I have worked collaboratively to develop a comprehensive method to extract and analyse anthocyanins and their metabolites in human plasma and urine samples, using solid-phase extraction and LC-MS/MS. As a result of this method development, I have been able to perform an in depth metabolite analysis of a large quantity of human plasma and urine samples pre- and post- anthocyanin consumption. Through this analysis I have been able to identify novel metabolites in a subset of participants, as well as identify the main human metabolites resulting from anthocyanin consumption. We have also done shotgun metagenomic sequencing which we will be looking at in relation to the data we have already collected on plasma and urinary metabolites to see if we can deduce any relationships between the gut microbiota and anthocyanin metabolism.

To investigate the precise gut microbial metabolite pathways I have completed a large series of in vitro colon model experiments where I have treated preserved faecal samples with the same anthocyanin treatment as given in the human study. This has shown a number interesting correlations between in vitro and in vivo anthocyanin metabolism, whilst also facilitating the identification of low level gut microbial derived metabolites that were not present in urine or plasma samples from the human intervention study. This data will be analysed in relation to the metagenomics data to establish whether metagenomic profiles are associated with particular anthocyanin metabolites.
Exploitation Route Through extensive metabolite analysis we have managed to identify novel anthocyanin metabolites, to date there is no published work (to the best of my knowledge),on the bioactivity of these novel metabolites, this is something that could be investigated by others. As we have seen these metabolites present in human samples investigating any bioactivity would be of relevance to human health and nutrition.
Sectors Agriculture, Food and Drink,Healthcare
 
Description I have worked with school children in a number or workshops and a public engagement events to educate them on nutrition, specifically anthocyanin rich foods and their various health benefits. This has helped provide children with mixed abilities of more varied and in depth information than may usually be delivered in the class room and has helped with projects set by the school.
First Year Of Impact 2019
Sector Education
Impact Types Societal
 
Description 'Heroes of Food Research' Public Engagement activity 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The purpose of the set of activities was to engage in a dialogue with members of the public in the region where we recruit participants to partake in dietary intervention studies. The activities included two sessions in Norwich's Forum Library public space where visitors could read about the types of studies that were going on, discuss what was involved when volunteering to participate in a study, ask questions of study PIs and study managers, taste intervention foods, complete a short questionnaire, and sign up for future activities which included an evening session with audience participation and voting and a workshop to gather feedback from potential volunteers. As a result of the activities and the significant feedback from the general public and those who had previously participated in human studies, we completely revamped our institute's Human Studies internet pages, recorded feedback and subsequently changed various features of our adverts that invited people to participate in specific studies, and recruited a significant number of new people to our database of interested volunteers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015,2016
URL https://quadram.ac.uk/volunteer/
 
Description Bioavailability Conference Poster 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact I presented a poster on my findings on the urinary metabolites of anthocyanins post dietary intervention. This was seen by numerous different researchers from all over the world.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Norwich Science Festival Nutrition Workshop with School Children 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Ran a workshop on nutrition with school children aged 10 looking at what foods are health and what food groups they fall into.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Research Presentation- Knowledge Exchange (Munich) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Presented an overview of my research to students and academics at the university of Munich, this sparked questions and ideas on what I could next and other avenues to explore within my project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description School Visit (Hethersett) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Myself along with other PhD students visited Hethersett primary school to run an activity with 60 year 2 pupils to educate them on the 'eat well plate', this involved the children going to different stations and discussing all the different food groups and why they're important as well as coming up with a balanced meal.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Women Of The Future- Women in STEM 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact A webcast was delivered to schools across the local area, where a number of women in science including myself spoke briefly about our work and how we got here. Students then had a chance to ask questions about how to get into STEM and various aspects of working in science. The event had excellent student participation and wonderful feedback was received after the event.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020