López Nicolás, Rubén

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López Nicolás, Rubén

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López Nicolás, Rubén

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Universidad de Murcia. Departamento de Tecnología de los Alimentos,Nutrición y Bromatología

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Effect of adding different thickening agents on the viscosity properties and in vitro mineral availability of infant formula
(Elsevier, 2014-03-12) González Bermúdez, Carlos Alberto; Frontela Saseta, María del Carmen; López Nicolás, Rubén; Ros Berruezo, Gaspar; Martínez Gracia, Carmen; Tecnología de Alimentos, Nutrición y Bromatología
The effect of adding different thickening agents (locust bean gum (LBG), modified corn and rice starches (MCS, MRS)) to an infant formula on both in vitro mineral availability (Ca, Fe and Zn), quantified by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS), and formula viscosity, after in vitro gastrointestinal digestion, was investigated. LBG was the most effective agent to increase formula thickness. However, it showed a negative effect on Ca, Fe and Zn in vitro solubility and dialysability. MCS and MRS only affected calcium solubility and dialysability when they were used at P50% of the maximum legal limit. No negative effect was observed for Fe and Zn when modified starches were added at the different concentrations assessed. The phytate content in the thickening ingredients was also analysed. Despite finding a considerable amount of phytic acid in the raw ingredients, its final concentration in the infant formula was insufficient to decrease in vitro mineral availability.
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In vitro effect of green tea and turmeric extracts on GLP-1 and CCK secretion: the effect of gastrointestinal digestion
(Royal Society of Chemistry, 2018-09-18) Planes Muñoz, David; López Nicolás, Rubén; González Bermúdez, Carlos Alberto; Ros Berruezo, Gaspar; Frontela Saseta, María del Carmen; Tecnología de Alimentos, Nutrición y Bromatología
Plant extract activity can be modified by the digestion process. In order to assess the satiety effect of green tea and turmeric extracts, an in vitro gastrointestinal digestion process was performed and the STC-1 cell line was used. The enteroendocrine cell line was incubated (for 30, 60 and 120 minutes) with the digested and non-digested extracts measuring the secretion of cholecystokinin (CCK) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The release of satiety hormones by the STC-1 cells showed similar or higher results for plant extracts compared to the positive controls reported as satiatogenic (proteins and short chain fatty acids). For the non-digested samples, the largest amount of CCK and GLP-1 was found for turmeric, with 379 ± 46 pg ml−1 (60 min) and 347 ± 125 pg ml−1 (120 min) respectively. For the digested samples, the highest level of CCK was found for turmeric at 30 minutes (43.3 ± 11) and for GLP-1 by green tea at 120 minutes (165.7 ± 52). The in vitro gastrointestinal digestion process affects the satiety of plant extracts, increasing for green tea and decreasing for turmeric. Green tea showed the most stable satiating capacity after the in vitro digestion process and this may be useful for using it as a stable food supplement to reduce hunger associated with overweight and obesity.
Open Access
Reliability Generalization of the School Attitude Assessment Survey‑Revised: A Meta‑Analytic Structural Equation Modeling Approach
(Sage Publications, 2025-06-09) López López, José Antonio; López Nicolás, Rubén; Sandoval Lentisco, Alejandro; Sánchez Meca, Julio; Veas Iniesta, Alejandro; Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación; Facultad de Psicología y Logopedia
The School Attitude Assessment Survey-Revised (SAAS-R) is a popular scale for assessing attitudinal and motivational aspects of students’ academic achievement. However, evidence on key psychometric properties of the SAAS-R such as reliability remains limited. We conducted a reliability generalization study of the SAAS-R using meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM). We included studies reporting an application of the SAAS-R and providing correlation coefficients between the SAAS-R subscales. We searched ERIC, PsycINFO, Academic Search Premier, Supplemental Index, and Web of Science from database inception to July 2023. Analyses were based on 18 independent matrices from 13 studies examining 8712 participants. Our main results, based on a one-stage, correlation-based MASEM approach and with omega total as the reliability measure, yielded an overall reliability estimate of 0.795 (95% CI 0.778–0.811). This suggests that the SAAS-R offers good score reliability for research and practice purposes. Applications using adapted versions obtained on average higher score reliabilities than the original ones. We discuss the implications of these results, which need to be interpreted with caution given the important reporting limitations of the primary studies included.
Open Access
Comparison of bioavailability and transporters gene expression of four iron fortificants added to infant cereals
(Elsevier, 2022-09-08) Caballero Valcárcel, Ana M.; López Nicolás, Rubén; Frontela Saseta, María del Carmen; Martínez Gracia, Carmen; Santaella-Pascual, Marina; González Bermúdez, Carlos Alberto; Tecnología de Alimentos, Nutrición y Bromatología
Iron deficiency is one of the most important nutritional disorders around the world. To reduce this health problem in infants, most countries have developed different iron fortification programs as a long-term strategy. However, it is necessary to select the best iron source to get the highest bioavailability with the lowest impact on the organoleptic properties of the foods. The aim of this research was to assess the in vitro bioavailability and intestinal cellular transport of four iron sources (electrolytic iron: EI, ferrous fumarate: FF, a micronized and dispersible ferric pyrophosphate: MDFP, and ferrous sulphate heptahydrated: FSH) used to fortify infant cereals. Fortified cereals were in vitro digested and soluble fractions were then incubated in Caco-2 cells to study iron retention, transport and uptake. Moreover, mRNA expression of iron transporters and ferritin formation were also measured in cells incubated with the iron standard salts. Iron solubility, uptake percentage, transport and uptake efficiencies by the Caco-2 cells were significantly higher in cereals fortified with FSH than with EI, obtaining intermediate values for the other two iron fortificants. MDFP induced higher expression of iron transporters Zip-14 and HEPH than other iron sources. FSH promoted the highest iron storage protein ferritin, followed by FF and MDFP, while EI presented the lowest in vitro bioavailability due to its low solubility. This work demonstrated that iron absorption, storage, and gene expression of transporters depend on the source of iron. These are important challenges to be taken into consideration when assessing the potential of iron fortificants.
Open Access
Folate fortification of white and whole-grain bread by adding Swiss chard and spinach. Acceptability by consumers
(Elsevier, 0016-05-14) López Nicolás, Rubén; Frontela Saseta, María del Carmen; González-Abellán, Raquel; Barado-Piqueras, Ana; Perez-Conesa, Darío; Ros Berruezo, Gaspar; Tecnología de Alimentos, Nutrición y Bromatología
The aim of this work was to study the effect of bread-making on the content of endogenous folate of white and whole-grain bread fortified with either Swiss chard or spinach at 20 g/100 g and 40 g/100 g measured by HPLC (H4-folate and 5-CH3-H4-folate); and to assess the sensory acceptability of folatefortified breads compared to non-fortified breads. The fortification of breads with 20 g/100 g and 40 g/100 g vegetables significantly (p < 0.001) increased the total folate content (from 19.9 to 57.9 mg/ 100 g in white bread and from 37.4 to 75.5 mg/100 g in whole-grain bread). Moreover, 40 g/100 g Swiss chard- and spinach-fortified breads obtained higher scores in overall acceptability than 20 g/100 g fortified or control bread for both white and whole-grain breads. The consumption of two servings (56 g each) per day of 40 g/100 g fortified bread would meet the daily folate requirements by 14.3e21.8% in adults and 9.6e14.5% in some special states like women of child-bearing age.
Open Access
Effect of gazpacho, hummus and ajoblanco on satiety and appetite in adult humans: a randomised crossover study
(MDPI, 2021-03-12) Gaspar Ros Berruezo; Rubén López Nicolás; Planes Muñoz, David; Frontela Saseta, María del Carmen; Ros Berruezo, Gaspar; López Nicolás, Rubén; Tecnología de Alimentos, Nutrición y Bromatología
Nowadays, overweight and obesity has reached an epidemic level around the world. With the aim to tackle them, an interesting strategy is the study of food and ingredients with satiety properties. In addition to reducing food and/or calorie intake, this type of foods must be included as part of a healthy diet. With regard to this, it is well known that the Mediterranean Diet (MD) is a feeding pattern that helps us to maintain good health, providing an adequate intake of micronutrients and active compounds. With this background, the main aim of this research was to identify MD foods with a high satiating potential capacity. For this purpose, three typical foods of the Mediterranean region, mainly based on vegetables, were selected: hummus, ajoblanco and gazpacho. As a control, white bread was used. Twenty-four human healthy volunteers consumed a standard breakfast followed by the different typical Mediterranean foods, and then the subjective sensation of hunger and satiety for each food was assessed by visual analogue scales (VAS) during 3 h. Subsequently, volunteers had ad libitum access to a standard meal. The results indicate that gazpacho showed the highest satiating scores, despite the fact that it was not the food that provided the highest protein or fibre amount. More studies of this type are needed to determine the proportion and/or combination of ingredients from these classical Mediterranean recipes that could enhance human satiety.
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Nondigestible carbohydrates affect metabolic health and gut microbiota in overweight adults after weight loss
(Elsevier, 2020-06-08) Johnstone, Alexandra M.; Kelly, Jennifer; Ryan, Sheila; Romero-Gonzalez, Reyna; McKinnon, Hannah; Fyfe, Claire; Naslund, Erik; López Nicolás, Rubén; Bosscher, Douwina; Bonnema; Frontela Saseta, María del Carmen; Ros Berruezo, Gaspar; Horgan, Graham; Ze, Xiaolei; Harrold, Jo; Halford, Jason; Gratz, Silvia W.; Duncan, Sylvia H.; Shirazi-Beechey, Soraya; Flint, Harry J.; Tecnología de Alimentos, Nutrición y Bromatología
Background: The composition of diets consumed following weight loss (WL) can have a significant impact on satiety and metabolic health. Objective: This study was designed to test the effects of including a nondigestible carbohydrate to achieve weightmaintenance (WM) following a period of WL. Methods: Nineteen volunteers [11 females and 8 males, aged 20–62 y; BMI (kg/m2): 27–42] consumed a 3-d maintenance diet (15%:30%:55%), followed by a 21-d WL diet (WL; 30%:30%:40%), followed by 2 randomized 10-d WM diets (20%:30%:50% of energy from protein:fat:carbohydrate) containing either resistant starch type 3 (RSWM; 22 or 26 g/d for females and males, respectively) or no RS (C-WM) in a within-subject crossover design without washout periods. The primary outcome, WM after WL, was analyzed by body weight. Secondary outcomes of fecal microbiota composition and microbial metabolite concentrations and gut hormones were analyzed in fecal samples and blood plasma, respectively. All outcomes were assessed at the end of each dietary period. Results: Body weight was similar after the RS-WM and C-WM diets (90.7 and 90.8 kg, respectively), with no difference in subjectively rated appetite. During the WLdiet period plasma ghrelin increased by 36% (P<0.001), glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) decreased by 33% (P < 0.001), and insulin decreased by 46% (P < 0.001), but no significant differences were observed during the RS-WM and C-WM diet periods. Fasting blood glucose was lower after the RS-WM diet (5.59 ± 0.31 mmol/L) than after the C-WM diet [5.75 ± 0.49 mmol/L; P = 0.015; standard error of the difference between themeans (SED): 0.09]. Dietary treatments influenced the fecal microbiota composition (R2 = 0.054, P = 0.031) but not diversity. Conclusions: The metabolic benefits, for overweight adults, from WL were maintained through a subsequent WM diet with higher total carbohydrate intake. Inclusion of resistant starch in theWMdiet altered gut microbiota composition positively and resulted in lower fasting glucose compared with the control, with no apparent change in appetite. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01724411.
Open Access
Reliability generalization meta‑analysis: comparing different statistical methods
(Springer, 2024-01-22) López‑Ibáñez, Carmen; López Nicolás, Rubén; Blázquez‑Rincón, Desirée M.; Sánchez Meca, Julio; Psicología Básica y Metodología; Facultad de Psicología y Logopedia
Reliability generalization (RG) is a kind of meta-analysis that aims to characterize how reliability varies from one test application to the next. A wide variety of statistical methods have typically been applied in RG meta-analyses, regarding statistical model (ordinary least squares, fixed-effect, random effects, varying-coefficient models), weighting scheme (inverse variance, sample size, not weighting), and transformation method (raw, Fisher’s Z, Hakstian and Whalen’s and Bonett’s transformation) of reliability coefficients. This variety of methods compromise the comparability of RG meta-analyses results and their reproducibility. With the purpose of examining the influence of the different statistical methods applied, a methodological review was conducted on 138 published RG meta-analyses of psychological tests, amounting to a total of 4,350 internal consistency coefficients. Among all combinations of procedures that made theoretical sense, we compared thirteen strategies for calculating the average coefficient, eighteen for calculating the confidence intervals of the average coefficient and calculated the heterogeneity indices for the different transformations of the coefficients. Our findings showed that transformation methods of the reliability coefficients improved the normality adjustment of the coefficient distribution. Regarding the average reliability coefficient and the width of confidence intervals, clear differences among methods were found. The largest discrepancies were found between the different strategies for calculating confidence intervals. Our findings point towards the need for the meta-analyst to justify the statistical model assumed, as well as the transformation method of the reliability coefficients and the weighting scheme.
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Influence of in vitro gastrointestinal digestion of fruit juices enriched with pine bark extract on intestinal microflora
(Elsevier, 2014-02-02) López Nicolás, Rubén; González Bermúdez, Carlos Alberto; Ros Berruezo, Gaspar; Frontela Saseta, María del Carmen; Tecnología de Alimentos, Nutrición y Bromatología
The selective antimicrobial effect of fruit juices enriched with pine bark extract (PBE) (0.5 g/L) has been studied before and after in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. PBE (a concentrate of water-soluble bioflavonoids, mainly including phenolic compounds) has been proven to have high stability to the digestion process. Pure phenolic compounds such as gallic acid had a high antimicrobial effect on Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, maintaining the lactic acid bacteria population ( 100%). Otherwise, E. coli O157:H7 only growth 50% when PBE was added to the culture media, while a slight increase on the growth of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria was observed after exposition to the bark extract. Fresh fruit juices enriched with PBE showed the highest inhibitory effect on pathogenic intestinal bacterial growth, mainly E. coli and Enterococcus faecalis. The in vitro digestion process reduced the antibacterial effect of juices against most pathogenic bacteria in approximately 10%. However, the beneficial effect of fruit juices enriched with PBE (0.5 g/L) on gut microbiota is still considerable after digestion.
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Supplementation of infant formulaswith recombinant human lactoferrin and/or galactooligosaccharides increases iron bioaccessibility as measured by ferritin formed in Caco-2 cell model
(Elsevier, 2016-08-24) Aly, Esmat; Darwish, Aliaa Ali; López Nicolás, Rubén; Frontela Saseta, María del Carmen; Ros Berruezo, Gaspar; Tecnología de Alimentos, Nutrición y Bromatología
Recently, lactoferrin (Lf), a glycoprotein belonging to transferrin family, has received more attention for the discovery of its wide spectrum of functionalities. Among its important functionalities is its ability to bind Fe and its high stability against in vitro digestion. Galactooligosaccharides (GOS) also has functionality related to Fe bioaccessibility and it also positively affect Lf stability. This study aimed to evaluate the functionality of recombinant human Lf (rhLf) and GOS as factors that improve iron bioaccessibility in human milk. In this study, rhLf and GOS were added to First Infant Formula (FIF) in three concentrations (0.10, 0.15 and 0.20 and 3.3, 5 and 10 g 100 mL−1 of the reconstituted formula, respectively), whether alone or in combination. In vitro digestion model was applied to different infant formulas to evaluate Fe solubility and the obtained digests were added to Caco-2 cell line to determine Fe bioaccessibility through themeasurement of synthesized ferritin. The obtained results revealed that supplementation of formulas with rhLf and GOS enhanced Fe solubility to 66–97% which turns in an improvement of Fe bioaccessibility. Caco-2 cell ferritin content ranged from6 to 46 ng per mgcell protein with 5–7.5 fold increases in cells incubated with digested samples containing both rhLF and GOS. Although mineral solubility is the most important factor, which affects on Fe bioaccessibility, other factorsmay also interfere with it, such as the expression of divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1). The findings also revealed that rhLf is a highly stable protein, especially in the presence of GOS and more researches are needed to clarify this hidden effect of GOS. Thus, rhLf and GOS together are prominent components of human milk could improve Fe bioaccessibility and it is noteworthy that these findingmust be taken into account during infant formula evolution to prevent some disease related to Fe deficiency.