Lucie Geurts

As we continue to elucidate the mechanisms underlying age-related brain diseases, the reductionist strategy in nutrition-brain function research has focused on establishing the impact of individual foods. However, the biological processes connecting diet and cognition are complex. Therefore, consideration of a combination of nutritional compounds m...

The EAT–Lancet Commission devised a sustainable reference diet with the aim of reducing the incidence of non-communicable diseases and mortality globally while improving food system sustainability. The extent to which the reference diet supports cognitive function across the life course, however, has not yet been evaluated. This Review assesses the...

Background Methods and approaches that can be used in food and nutrition research are changing at a faster pace than ever. Whereas animal methods are mostly known for their use in food safety analysis (see Part I), they also play in important role in proof-of-concept and mechanistic studies of products, as well as studying potency, efficacy, and to...

The gut and brain link via various metabolic and signalling pathways, each with the potential to influence mental, brain and cognitive health. Over the past decade, the involvement of the gut microbiota in gut–brain communication has become the focus of increased scientific interest, establishing the microbiota–gut–brain axis as a field of research...

This systematic review with meta‐analyses aimed to identify the sensory and physical characteristics of foods/beverages which increase satiation and/or decrease/delay subsequent consumption without affecting acceptability. Systematic searches were first undertaken to identify review articles investigating the effects of any sensory and physical foo...

Background Methods and approaches that can be used in toxicology and safety assessment are changing at a faster pace than ever. Members of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Europe have formed an expert group to review possibilities, opportunities and challenges for the potential use of non-animal testing strategies in food safety and...

The global increases in life expectancy and population have resulted in a growing ageing population and with it a growing number of people living with age-related neurodegenerative conditions and dementia, shifting focus towards methods of prevention, with lifestyle approaches such as nutrition representing a promising avenue for further developmen...

Some of the chemicals in materials used for packaging food may leak into the food, resulting in human exposure. These include so-called Non-intentionally Added Substances (NIAS), many of them being unidentified and toxicologically uncharacterized. This raises the question of how to address their safety. An approach consisting of identification and...

Variations in N-acylethanolamines (NAE) levels are associated with obesity and metabolic comorbidities. Their role in the gut remains unclear. Therefore, we generated a mouse model of inducible intestinal epithelial cell (IEC)-specific deletion of N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine phospholipase D (NAPE-PLD), a key enzyme involved in NAE biosynthesis (...

Introduction et but de l’étude Plusieurs études précliniques et cliniques ont montré les bénéfices de la consommation de polyphénols, notamment dans la prévention du syndrome métabolique et de ses facteurs de risques associés comme l’obésité et le diabète. Cependant, peu de données sont disponibles concernant l’impact des polyphénols sur le microbi...

Background: Ageing is a highly complex process marked by a temporal cascade of events, which promote alterations in the normal functioning of an individual organism. The triggers of normal brain ageing are not well understood, even less so the factors which initiate and steer the neuronal degeneration, which underpin disorders such as dementia. A...

This talk aims at evaluating the vulnerabilities associated with poor cognitive aging, highlighting potential protective mechanisms and evaluate dietary interventions as a strategy to promote these mechanisms, and addressing vulnerabilities which predispose towards accelerated or dysfunctional brain aging. This presentation will focus on some of th...

Increasing evidence suggests that polyphenols have a significant potential in the prevention and treatment of risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome. The objective of this study was to assess the metabolic outcomes of two polyphenol-containing extracts from cinnamon bark (CBE) and grape pomace (GPE) on C57BL/6J mice fed a high-fat diet (HF...

Fat browning has emerged as an attractive target for the treatment of obesity and related metabolic disorders. Its activation leads to increased energy expenditure and reduced adiposity, thus contributing to a better energy homeostasis. Green tea extracts (GTE) were shown to attenuate obesity and low-grade inflammation, and to induce the lipolytic...

Obesity and type 2 diabetes are associated with low-grade inflammation and specific changes in gut microbiota composition. We previously demonstrated that administration of Akkermansia muciniphila to mice prevents the development of obesity and associated complications. However, the underlying mechanisms of this protective effect remain unclear. Mo...

Objective To examine the role of hepatocyte myeloid differentiation primary-response gene 88 (MyD88) on glucose and lipid metabolism. Design To study the impact of the innate immune system at the level of the hepatocyte and metabolism, we generated mice harbouring hepatocyte-specific deletion of MyD88. We investigated the impact of the deletion on...

Various metabolic disorders are associated with changes in inflammatory tone. Among the latest advances in the metabolism field, the discovery that gut microorganisms have a major role in host metabolism has revealed the possibility of a plethora of associations between gut bacteria and numerous diseases. However, to date, few mechanisms have been...

Obesity is a pandemic disease associated with many metabolic alterations and involves several organs and systems. The endocannabinoid system (ECS) appears to be a key regulator of energy homeostasis and metabolism. Here we show that specific deletion of the endocannabinoid synthesizing enzyme, NAPE-PLD, in adipocytes induces obesity, glucose intole...

Obesity is associated with a cluster of metabolic disorders, low-grade inflammation and altered gut microbiota. Whether host metabolism is controlled by intestinal innate immune system and the gut microbiota is unknown. Here we report that inducible intestinal epithelial cell-specific deletion of MyD88 partially protects against diet-induced obesit...

The gut microbiota is now considered as a key factor in the regulation of numerous metabolic pathways. Growing evidence suggests that cross-talk between gut bacteria and host is achieved through specific metabolites (such as short-chain fatty acids) and molecular patterns of microbial membranes (lipopolysaccharides) that activate host cell receptor...

Unlabelled: Growing evidence shows that gut microbes are key factors involved in the regulation of energy homeostasis, metabolic inflammation, lipid metabolism, and glucose metabolism. Therefore, gut microbiota modulations caused by selectively fermented oligosaccharides or probiotic bacteria constitute an interesting target in the physiopathology...

Aims: We have previously demonstrated that central apelin is implicated in the control of peripheral glycemia, and its action depends on nutritional (fast versus fed) and physiological (normal versus diabetic) states. Intracerebroventricular (icv) injection of a high-dose of apelin, similar to that observed in obese/diabetic mice, increase fasted g...

Crosstalk between organs is crucial for controlling numerous homeostatic systems (e.g. energy balance, glucose metabolism and immunity). Several pathological conditions, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, are characterised by a loss of or excessive inter-organ communication that contributes to the development of disease. Recently, we and others h...

Aims: We have previously demonstrated that central apelin is implicated in the control of peripheral glycemia, and its action depends on nutritional (fast versus fed) and physiological (normal versus diabetic) states. An intracerebroventricular (icv) injection of a high dose of apelin, similar to that observed in obese/diabetic mice, increase fast...

Obesity and type 2 diabetes are characterized by altered gut microbiota, inflammation, and gut barrier disruption. Microbial composition and the mechanisms of interaction with the host that affect gut barrier function during obesity and type 2 diabetes have not been elucidated. We recently isolated Akkermansia muciniphila, which is a mucin-degradin...

Obesity is associated with numerous metabolic comorbidities. Weight loss is an effective measure for alleviating many of these metabolic abnormalities. However, considering the limited success of most medical weight-management approaches in producing a sustained weight loss, approaches that improve obesity-related metabolic abnormalities independen...

Introduction Le microbiote intestinal est impliqué dans le développement de l’obésité, de l’insulino-résistance et du diabète de type 2. Nos travaux précédents ont mis en évidence qu’une bactérie découverte récemment et vivant dans le mucus intestinal, Akkermansia muciniphila, était diminuée (100 à 1 000 fois) dans des modèles nutritionnel ou génét...

Introduction L’obésité et le diabète de type 2 sont caractérisés par une expansion massive du tissu adipeux, un microbiote intestinal altéré et un tonus endocannabinoïde (eCB) augmenté. Les eCB participent aux perturbations de l’intégrité intestinale et au processus d’adipogenèse. Néanmoins, la contribution du système-eCB dans l’initiation et le dé...

Obesity and type 2 diabetes are characterised by low-grade inflammation, metabolic endotoxaemia (i.e., increased plasma lipopolysaccharides [LPS] levels) and altered endocannabinoid (eCB)-system tone. The aim of this study was to decipher the specific role of eCB-system stimulation or metabolic endotoxaemia in the onset of glucose intolerance, meta...

Cannabinoid receptor mRNA levels. (A) PPARγ mRNA levels; (B) GPR55 mRNA levels in the tibialis anterior muscle. All the results are expressed as the means±SEM for 7–9 mice per group from the HU-treated group (HU) and the LPS-treated group (LPS) compared with the levels in the control group (CT). (C) PPARγ mRNA levels; (D) GPR55 mRNA levels; (E) CB1...

AEA and 2-AG levels in the cerebellum and the subcutaneous adipose tissue. (A) AEA levels and (B) 2-AG levels in the cerebella (CVL) and the subcutaneous adipose tissues (SATs) of the HU-treated group (HU) and the HF-and HU-treated group (HF-HU) compared with the levels in the control group (CT). All the results are expressed as the means±SEM for 5...

Validation of the HU210 stability and recovery in tissues after 6 weeks of administration. To confirm the stability of the compound and its accurate in vivo delivery after 6 weeks of osmotic-mini-pump usage, the cerebella of four representative mice per group were analysed by HPLC-HRMS for the presence of HU210. Displayed is the HPLC-MS2 trace for...

F4/80 mRNA expression in the subcutaneous adipose tissue. F4/80 mRNA levels in the subcutaneous adipose tissue. All results are expressed as the means±SEM for 7–9 mice per group from the HU-treated group (HU) and the LPS-treated group (LPS) compared with the levels in the control group (CT). The data with different superscripted letters are signifi...

GLUT-4, LPL and CD36 mRNA levels after chronic CB receptor agonist treatment or LPS treatment. (A) GLUT-4 mRNA levels; (B) LPL mRNA levels; and (C) CD36 mRNA levels in the tibialis anterior muscle. All results are expressed as the means±SEM for 7–9 mice per group from the HU-treated group (HU) and the LPS-treated group (LPS) compared with the level...

Obesity is associated with metabolic alterations related to glucose homeostasis and cardiovascular risk factors. These metabolic alterations are associated with low-grade inflammation that contributes to the onset of these diseases. We and others have provided evidence that gut microbiota participates in whole-body metabolism by affecting energy ba...

Obesity and related metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes are associated with a low-grade inflammatory state possibly through changes in gut microbiota composition and the development of higher plasma lipopolysaccharide (LPS) levels, i.e. metabolic endotoxemia. Various phytochemical compounds have been investigated as p...

Schematic view of the study design. This study was designed to analyse the effects of either a cannabinoid receptor agonist or LPS on glucose and lipid metabolism. To avoid interaction with dietary components (i.e. dietary lipids) and to decorticate whether these treatments induce metabolic alterations before the onset of obesity, mice were pre-tre...

Introduction L’obésité, l’insulinorésistance et le diabète de type 2 sont caractérisés par une expansion massive du tissu adipeux et un tonus endocannabinoïde (eCB) augmenté. Cependant, l’origine et les mécanismes impliqués dans ces phénomènes demeurent inconnus. Parmi les cibles potentielles, les lipides bioactifs du système-eCB joueraient un rôle...

L’obésité, l’insulino-résistance et le diabète de type 2 sont caractérisés par un état inflammatoire de faible intensité potentiellement causé une augmentation des taux de lipopolysaccharides (LPS) plasmatiques, appelée endotoxémie métabolique. De nombreuses démarches utilisant des composés phytochimiques ont été proposées comme outils potentiels p...

Growing evidence suggests that the consumption of dairy products may contribute to a reduced incidence of cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity, dyslipidemia, and type 2 diabetes. The fatty acid composition in milk fat, the duration of ripening, and the complexity of the food matrices are important factors that may interfere with the physiol...

Growing evidence supports the role of gut microbiota in the development of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and low-grade inflammation. The endocrine activity of adipose tissue has been found to contribute to the regulation of glucose homeostasis and low-grade inflammation. Among the key hormones produced by this tissue, apelin has been shown to regulate...

Introduction Récemment, nous avons démontré l’existence d’un lien entre le microbiote intestinal, l’augmentation de la perméabilité intestinale et le développement de l’inflammation associée à l’obésité et l’insulino-résistance. Cependant, les mécanismes moléculaires permettant d’expliquer le lien entre un microbiote intestinal particulier et la pe...

Obese and diabetic mice display enhanced intestinal permeability and metabolic endotoxaemia that participate in the occurrence of metabolic disorders. Our recent data support the idea that a selective increase of Bifidobacterium spp. reduces the impact of high-fat diet-induced metabolic endotoxaemia and inflammatory disorders. Here, we hypothesised...