Christine Morand

French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) | INRAE · Unité de Nutrition Humaine (UNH)

Recently, the development of functional beverages has been enhanced to promote health and nutritional well-being. Thus, the fermentation of plant foods with lactic acid bacteria can enhance their antioxidant capacity and others like anti-inflammatory activity, which may depend on the variations in the total content and profile of (poly)phenols. The...

Grapefruit is a rich source of flavanones, phytochemicals suggested excreting vasculoprotective effects. We previously showed that flavanones in grapefruit juice (GFJ) reduced postmenopausal women’s pulse-wave velocity (PWV), a measure of arterial stiffness. However, mechanisms of flavanone action in humans are largely unknown. This study aimed to...

Cardiovascular and metabolic disorders present major causes of mortality in the ageing population. Polyphenols present in human diets possess cardiometabolic protective properties, however their underlying molecular mechanisms in humans are still not well identified. Even though preclinical and in vitro studies advocate that these bioactives can mo...

Mate is a traditional drink obtained from the leaves of yerba mate and rich in a diversity of plant bioactive compounds including polyphenols, particularly chlorogenic acids. Studies, even though limited, suggest that consumption of mate is associated with health effects, including prevention of cardiometabolic disorders. Molecular mechanisms under...

Introduction Although epidemiological studies associate the consumption of sugary beverages with adverse health effects, human experimental studies have demonstrated substantially different metabolic responses when 100% fruit juices are compared with artificial beverages. Fruit juices do not just provide sugars and associated calories, but they are...

Dietary anthocyanins may slow cognitive decline, improve cognitive performance and exert neuroprotective effects against neurodegenerative disorders. However, the underlying mechanisms of their action are not fully understood. This study investigated the effects of 12-week anthocyanin-rich bilberry extract supplementation (0.02%) on global gene exp...

Cardiometabolic disorders are among the leading causes of mortality in the human population. Dietary polyphenols exert beneficial effects on cardiometabolic health in humans. Molecular mechanisms, however, are not completely understood. Aiming to conduct in-depth integrative bioinformatic analyses to elucidate molecular mechanisms underlying the pr...

Flavanols are important polyphenols of the human diet with extensive demonstrations of their beneficial effects on cardiometabolic health. They contribute to preserve health acting on a large range of cellular processes. The underlying mechanisms of action of flavanols are not fully understood but involve a nutrigenomic regulation. To further captu...

Cerebral blood vessels are lined with endothelial cells and form the blood-brain barrier. Their dysfunction constitutes a crucial event in the physiopathology of neurodegenerative disorders and cognitive impairment. Epicatechin can improve cognitive functions and lower the risk for Alzheimer’s disease or stroke. However, molecular mechanisms of epi...

Fibrin clot structure and function are major determinants of thromboembolic diseases. The study aim was to determine the impact of epicatechin (a flavonoid with cardiovascular protective effects) on fibrin clot structure and permeability. Plasma samples from 12 healthy subjects were incubated with increasing concentrations of epicatechin. Turbidity...

(1) Background: Due to its richness in chlorogenic acids (CGAs), Maté (Ilex paraguariensis A. St.-Hil.) could be of interest in the prevention of cardiometabolic diseases, however clinical evidence are lacking. This trial aimed to evaluate the impact of maté CGAs, consumed in a daily dose achievable through traditional maté beverages, on parameters...

Microparticles play a role in cardiovascular disease pathology. The flavanol-like epicatechin is increasingly considered due to its cardioprotective effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of epicatechin on microparticle generation, phenotype and procoagulant properties. Plasma samples from 15 healthy subjects were incubated wi...

Food matrix is known to interact with some dietary constituents and microconstituents during digestion. These interactions may potentially affect the metabolism and bioavailability of some compounds, and as a consequence modulate their biological effects. In this context, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of apple food matrix on the...

Food matrix interactions with polyphenols can affect their bioavailability and as a consequence may modulate their biological effects.

Flavanols intake positively influences several cardiometabolic risk factors in humans. However, the specific molecular mechanisms of action of flavanols, in terms of gene regulation, in the cell types relevant to cardiometabolic disease have never been systematically addressed. On this basis, we conducted a systematic literature review and a compre...

Background: Passiflora setacea (PS) is a passionfruit variety of the Brazilian savannah and is a rich source of plant food bioactives with potential anti-inflammatory activity. This study aimed to investigate the effect of an acute intake of PS juice upon inflammation, metabolic parameters, and gene expression on circulating immune cells in humans...

Food phytochemicals are increasingly considered to play a key role in the cardiometabolic health effects of plant foods. However, the heterogeneity in responsiveness to their intake frequently observed in clinical trials can hinder the beneficial effects of these compounds in specific subpopulations. A range of factors, including genetic background...

Purpose The quality of the study design and data reporting in human trials dealing with the inter-individual variability in response to the consumption of plant bioactives is, in general, low. There is a lack of recommendations supporting the scientific community on this topic. This study aimed at developing a quality index to assist the assessment...

Purpose Evidence exists regarding the beneficial effects of diets rich in plant-based foods regarding the prevention of cardiometabolic diseases. These plant-based foods are an exclusive and abundant source of a variety of biologically active phytochemicals, including polyphenols, carotenoids, glucosinolates and phytosterols, with known health-prom...

Purpose Research has identified plant-based diets as the most protective for our health; it is now essential to focus on good food associations and the beneficial constituents in plant foods. From a growing body of evidence, some categories of food phytochemicals are increasingly considered to play a crucial role in the cardiometabolic health effec...

Background A healthy diet and optimal lifestyle choices are amongst the most important actions for the prevention of cardiometabolic diseases. Despite this, it appears difficult to convince consumers to select more nutritious foods. Furthermore, the development and production of healthier foods do not always lead to economic profits for the agro-fo...

Purpose The health-promoting potential of food-derived plant bioactive compounds is evident but not always consistent across studies. Large inter-individual variability may originate from differences in digestion, absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME). ADME can be modulated by age, sex, dietary habits, microbiome composition, ge...

Ingestion of (-)-epicatechin flavanols reverses endothelial dysfunction by increasing flow mediated dilation and by reducing vascular inflammation and oxidative stress, monocyte-endothelial cell adhesion and transendothelial monocyte migration in vitro and in vivo. This involves multiple changes in gene expression and epigenetic DNA methylation by...

The different stages of hemostasis (i.e., primary hemostasis, coagulation and fibrinolysis) are involved in the early atherothrombosis steps. This study aimed to investigate the effect of epicatechin, one major flavonoids compound, on the hemostasic phenotype using in vitro global assays clinically relevant because mimicking the complex in vivo sys...

Plant-based diets rich in bioactive compounds such as polyphenols have been shown to positively modulate the risk of cardiometabolic (CM) diseases. The inter-individual variability in the response to these bioactives may affect the findings. This systematic review aimed to summarize findings from existing randomized clinical trials (RCTs) evaluatin...

Interindividual Variability in Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion of Food Phytochemicals Should Be Reported

Discipline Épidémiologie. Introduction et but de l’étude Notre alimentation se traduit au niveau plasmatique par la présence de divers métabolites exogènes et endogènes. L’identification de profils de métabolites plasmatiques liés à la nutrition permettrait d’améliorer les mesures d’exposition alimentaire en épidémiologie nutritionnelle et de mieu...

A primary goal of nutrition research is to provide science‐based knowledge to optimize health, prevent diseases and, importantly nowadays, slow down dysfunction associated with ageing to ensure well‐being throughout life. Alterations in vascular function and integrity are closely associated with the onset of cardiovascular disease development and a...

A primary goal of nutrition research is to provide science‐based knowledge to optimize health, prevent diseases and, importantly nowadays, slow down dysfunction associated with ageing to ensure well‐being throughout life. Alterations in vascular function and integrity are closely associated with the onset of cardiovascular disease development and a...

Introduction et but de l’étude Ce travail s’inscrit dans le cadre du projet Metabo-KS (2015-2017, INCa, PI : M Touvier), qui vise à : découvrir les biomarqueurs prédictifs du cancer du sein, de la qualité du régime alimentaire et d’aliments spécifiques en utilisant la métabolomique, puis à relier ces biomarqueurs pour améliorer la compréhension du...

Abstract Although vasculo-protective effects of flavan-3-ols are widely accepted today, their impact on endothelial cell functions and molecular mechanisms of action involved is not completely understood. The aim of this study was to characterize the potential endothelium-protective effects of circulating epicatechin metabolites and to define under...

Plant bioactive compounds consumed as part of our diet are able to influence human health. They include secondary metabolites like (poly)phenols, carotenoids, glucosinolates, alkaloids, and terpenes. Although much knowledge has been gained, there is still need for studies unravelling the effects of plant bioactives on cardiometabolic health at indi...

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials exploring the role of inter-individual variability on the effect of flavanols on insulin and HOMA-IR - Volume 77 Issue OCE2 - N. Alshammari, S.A. Palma-Duran, G. Jiang, A. González-Sarrías, P. Pinto, M. Garcia-Aloy, E. Gibney, MT. García-Conesa, P. Kroon, A. Konić Ristić, A. Kats...

Cardioprotective effects of dietary anthocyanins are partly attributed to their ability to maintain endothelial function. However, the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of action are not fully understood. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of anthocyanins and their gut metabolites, at physiologically-relevant conditions, on endothel...

Accumulating evidence suggests that anthocyanins play an important role in the cardioprotective effects associated with consumption of anthocyanin-rich foods. These benefits may partly be attributed to their effects on platelets, significant contributors to cardiovascular disease development. This study aimed to investigate the impact of physiologi...

Understanding interindividual variability in response to dietary polyphenols remains essential to elucidate their effects on cardiometabolic disease development. A meta-analysis of 128 randomized clinical trials was conducted to investigate the effects of berries and red grapes/wine as sources of anthocyanins and of nuts and pomegranate as sources...

Cardioprotective effects of dietary anthocyanins are partly attributed to their ability to maintain endothelial function. However, the underlying mechanisms of action are not fully understood. This study aimed to test the effect of anthocyanins and their gut metabolites, at physiologically-relevant conditions, on endothelial cell function and decip...

The main objective of the study was to investigate the daily intake of chlorogenic acids (CGAs) and methylxanthines by consumers of maté traditional beverages (MTB), terere and chimarrão (Ilex paraguariensis A.St.-Hill). In the studied population (450 citizens from Toledo/PR - Brazil) 63% consume the chimarrão and 37% terere, with weighted mean dai...

Scope: Curcumin exerts biological activities of interest in cardiovascular prevention. However, its vascular protective effect is still poorly investigated in humans. The present study aims to assess vasculat effect of an acute intake of curcumin and its nutrigenomic impact in circulating immune cells. Methods and results: In a randomised, doubl...

Several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses support the benefits of flavanols on cardiometabolic health, but the factors affecting variability in the responses to these compounds have not been properly assessed. The objectives of this meta-analysis were to systematically collect the RCTs-based-evidence of the effects of flavanol-c...

Cardiometabolic disease, comprising cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and their associated risk factors including metabolic syndrome and obesity, is the leading cause of death worldwide. Plant foods are rich sources of different groups of bioactive compounds, which might not be essential throughout life but promote health and well-being by...

Curcumin is a phenolic compound that exhibits beneficial properties for cardiometabolic health. We previously showed that curcumin reduced the infiltration of immune cells into the vascular wall and prevented atherosclerosis development in mice. This study aimed to investigate the effect of curcumin on monocyte adhesion and transendothelial migrati...

The main objective of this study was to investigate the daily intake of chlorogenic acids (CGAs) and methylxanthines by consumers of mate traditional beverages (MTBs), terere and chimarrao (Ilex paraguariensis A.St.-Hill). In the studied population (450 citizens from Toledo, PR, Brazil), 63% consume the chimarrao and 37% terere, with weighted mean...

Bioactive compounds in plant-based foods have health properties that contribute to the prevention of age-related chronic diseases, particularly cardiometabolic disorders. Conclusive proof and understanding of these benefits in humans is essential in order to provide effective dietary recommendations but, so far, the evidence obtained from human int...

PhytoHub V1.4: A new release for the online database dedicated to food phytochemicals and their human metabolites

Polyphenols are plant food microconstituents that are widely distributed in the human diet, with fruits and fruit-derived products as one of the main dietary sources. Epidemiological studies have shown an inverse relationship between the intake of different classes of polyphenols and the risk of myocardial infarction or cardiovascular disease (CVD)...

This Special Issue contains selected and peer-reviewed research presented at the 7th International Conference on Polyphenols and Health (ICPH) was held in Tours, France, October 25–27, 2015We thank the authors for submitting their workWe would like to express our thanks also to the authors of those manuscripts, several of which were found to be mor...

Mate or yerba-mate (Ilex paraguariensis A. St.-Hil.) is a native plant from South America regionally highly consumed. Different traditional products (mate, mate tea, chimarrao, tereré) are obtained from the yerba-mate leaves and consumed as herbal tea. Mate is a rich source of bioactive phenolic compounds, mainly caffeoylquinic acids. The wealth of...

An increasing number of evidence suggests a protective role of dietary anthocyanins against cardiovascular diseases. Anthocyanins' extensive metabolism indicates that their metabolites could be responsible for the protective effects associated with consumption of anthocyanin-rich foods. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of plasma a...

Introduction Cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of death worldwide. Among cardiovascular risk factors, some are linked to the stages of hemostasis : primary haemostasis, coagulation and fibrinolysis. There is a growing interest on the potential beneficial effects of some nutritional components on cardiovascular health, in particular in...

Nowadays, epigenetic mechanisms involving DNA methylation, histone modifications and microRNA regulation emerge as important players in cardiovascular disease (CVD). Epigenetics may provide the missing link between environment, genome and disease phenotype and be responsible for the strong interindividual variation in disease risk factors underlyin...

Background: The consumption of citrus fruits is associated with health benefits. However, clinical data regarding the effects of grapefruit flavanone consumption on vascular function are lacking. Objective: The objective of the present study was to address the role of flavanones in the long-term effects induced by grapefruit juice (GFJ) consumpt...

Fruit and vegetables have been consistently identified in epidemiological studies as key components of dietary patterns associated with cardiovascular health-protective effects. The vascular protective effects of fruits have been largely ascribed to their content in polyphenols. Current limited evidence from randomized controlled trials together wi...

Blond orange juice is the most consumed fruit juice in the world. It is a source of hesperidin, a bioavailable flavonoid reported to exhibit potential vascular protective actions. However, the specific impact on vascular function of Citrus phytomicronutrients, is unknown. For the first time, we investigated the effects of blond orange juice compare...

Cette revue rassemble les données épidémiologiques et cliniques récentes sur l’intérêt des flavonoïdes apportés par l’alimentation pour la prévention des maladies cardiovasculaires et du diabète de type 2. Les flavonoïdes constituent un grand groupe de composés bioactifs végétaux, très abondants dans nos aliments, et qui pourraient exercer au nivea...

The invention relates to the use of the compound hesperidin or of one of its derivatives for the manufacture of a composition designed to stimulate bone formation and/or inhibit bone resorption in man or animals.

Consumption of flavanol-rich foods is associated with an improvement in endothelial function. However, the specific biologically active flavanol metabolites involved in this benefit, as well as their molecular mechanisms of action have not been identified. The aim of this work was to examine the effect of plasma flavanol metabolites on adhesion of...

This review gathers the recent epidemiological and clinical data accounting for an interest in food flavonoids intake to prevent the development of cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. Flavonoids are a large group of plant bioactive compounds, abundant in our foods and that may exert in the body health effects, particularly regarding cardio...

Fruit and vegetables have been consistently identified in epidemiological studies as key components of dietary patterns associated with cardiovascular health-protective effects. The vascular protective effects of fruits have been largely ascribed to their content in polyphenols. Current limited evidence from randomized controlled trials together wi...

Recent clinical studies have shown that the consumption of polyphenols, like cocoa flavanols or orange hesperidin, presents beneficial effects on vascular function. Curcumin, a phenolic bioactive plant compound exhibiting pleiotropic effects, is until now poorly studied regarding cardiovascular health. The aim of this study was to determine the eff...

Polyphenols are the most abundant antioxidants in the human diet and are widespread constituents of fruits and beverages, such as tea, coffee or wine. Epidemiological, clinical and animal studies support a role of polyphenols in the prevention of various chronic diseases. For a long time, their direct anti-oxidant effect has been reported as the me...

L’étude du rôle des polyphénols alimentaires dans la protection des perturbations associées au développement des pathologies dégénératives a bénéficié à la fois des progrès récents des bases de données de composition des aliments pour les études épidémiologiques et du nombre croissant d’essais cliniques contrôlés et randomisés avec des aliments ric...

Background & aims: Polyphenols exert a variety of biological properties, including antioxidant, immunomodulatory and antigenotoxic effects. In a randomized crossover study in healthy men, we investigated the effects of orange juice and its major polyphenolic compound hesperidin on a panel of immune cell functions, including cytokine secretion by l...

Presenting author: Dragan Milenkovic The Second International Congress of Translational Research in Human Nutrition is organised by the Research Centre in Human Nutrition (CRNH) of Auvergne, of which INRA is a member, in collaboration with NuGO, European Association of universities and research institutes in the field of nutrigenomics

Elucidation of the relationships between genotype, diet, and health requires accurate dietary assessment. In intervention and epidemiological studies, dietary assessment usually relies on questionnaires, which are susceptible to recall bias. An alternative approach is to quantify biomarkers of intake in biofluids, but few such markers have been val...

Flavanones are found specifically and abundantly in citrus fruits. Their beneficial effect on vascular function is well documented. However, little is known about their cellular and molecular mechanisms of action in vascular cells. The goal of the present study was to identify the impact of flavanone metabolites on endothelial cells and decipher th...

Epidemiological and clinical studies a role for flavanones (predominately found in citrus fruits) in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Previously, we have shown that a nutritional dose of naringin exerts anti-atherogenic properties together with non HDL-cholesterol lowering effect in a murin model of dietary-induced hypercholesterolemia [1]...

The aim of the study was to examine the atheroprotective effect of dietary curcumin in a mouse model of atherosclerosis and to identify its cellular and molecular targets at the vascular level. ApoE(-/-) mice were fed with curcumin at 0.2% (wt/wt) in diet for 4 months. This supplementation reduced the extent of atherosclerotic lesion by 26% and ind...

Flavanones, including hesperidin and naringin, are polyphenolic compounds highly and almost exclusively present in citrus. Epidemiological studies reported an inverse relationship between their intake and the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Clinical and experimental data further showed their antihypertensive, lipid-lowering, insulin-sensitizing, a...