Roger Clemens

• DrPH, CFS, CNS, FACN, FIFT, FIAFST
• Adj Professor, Pharmacology & Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of Southern California

SARS‐CoV‐2, the etiological agent of COVID-19, is devoid of any metabolic capacity; therefore, it is criticalfor the viral pathogen to hijack host cellular metabolic machinery for its replication and propagation. Thissingle-stranded RNA virus with a 29.9 kb genome encodes 14 open reading frames (ORFs) and initiates aplethora of virus–host protein–p...

SARS‐CoV‐2, the etiological agent of COVID-19, is devoid of any metabolic capacity; therefore, it is critical for the viral pathogen to hijack host cellular metabolic machinery for its replication and propagation. This single-stranded RNA virus with a 29.9 kb genome encodes 14 open reading frames (ORFs) and initiates a plethora of virus–host protei...

The IUFoST Scientific Roundtable celebrated the International Year of Millets 2023 by convening an international team of experts to discuss the value of millets relative to agri-economy, nutrition, bioactives, environmental and our delivery on the global development agenda and its sustainable development goals (SDGs). The experts advanced critical...

Aloe has a long history of topical and systemic use with testimonials of countless health benefits and is one of the most popular botanical medicines in the world for the management of a wide variety both of benign and serious ailments including irritable bowel syndromes, osteoarthritis, Type II diabetes mellitus, and viral respiratory illness. The...

Providing the global consumer with safe foods is the priority of professionals in agriculture, food technology, nutrition, and regulatory agencies. The pioneering and initially criticized food safety efforts by German Chemist Friedrich Christian Accum (1769–1838) in London and Harvey Wiley (1844–1930) in the United States triggered significant adva...

The SARS-CoV-2 infection alters smell and taste sensations in many patients. These 2 neurosensory impairments, namely, (1) the loss of smell, an olfactory dysfunction (OD) or anosmia, and (2) the loss of taste, a gustatory dysfunction (GD) or ageusia, are often the earliest and, sometimes, the only signs in otherwise asymptomatic individuals. Both...

The ever-expanding prevalence of adverse neurotoxic reactions of the brain in response to therapeutic and recreational drugs, dietary supplements, environmental hazards, cosmetic ingredients, a spectrum of herbals, health status, and environmental stressors continues to prompt the development of novel cell-based assays to better determine neurotoxi...

Severe imbalance in iron metabolism among SARS-CoV-2 infected patients is prominent in every symptomatic (mild, moderate to severe) clinical phase of COVID-19. Phase-I - Hypoxia correlates with reduced O2 transport by erythrocytes, overexpression of HIF-1α, altered mitochondrial bioenergetics with host metabolic reprogramming (HMR). Phase-II - Hype...

A scientific round table was held on March 16, 2022 to discuss the role of food science, nutrition and bioactive compounds on upregulating the body's immune system against SARS-CoV-2. The panel from an international group of experts in food science, nutrition, microbiology and medicine provided the latest scientific information associated with the...

In 2009, Marcia Angell, the former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, wrote that it was simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgement of trusted physicians or scientific authorities both to develop and to interpret data. We are concerned that this rather stunni...

Aloe products are increasingly valued as ingredients in food supplements and as flavoring agents. The global Aloe vera market is varied, large, growing, and increasingly important in food, cosmetics, and medicines. Aloin, an anthraquinone glycoside, is one of the major components by weight of the anthraquinone derivatives of Aloe vera gel. Principa...

The emergence of fast-spreading SARS-CoV-2 mutants has sparked a new phase of COVID-19 pandemic. There is a dire necessity for antivirals targeting highly conserved genomic domains on SARS-CoV-2 that are less prone to mutation. The nsp12, also known as the RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase (RdRp), the core component of ‘SARS-CoV-2 replication-transcript...

The genomic reshuffling, mutagenicity, and high transmission rate of the SARS-Cov-2 pathogen highlights an urgent need for effective antiviral interventions for COviD-19 control. Targeting the highly conserved viral genes and/or gene-encoded viral proteins such as main proteinase (M pro), RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and heli-cases are plaus...

The fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) inhibitors likely represent a novel therapeutic yet complex target with the potential to impact various disease processes that present significant unmet medical needs. Despite a history of significant adverse events and still ill-defined risks associated with FAAH inactivation, potential clinical results of FAA...

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, globalmedical research has undertaken a relentless quest to unravel the virulence mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2, the innate barriers of host defense, the surveillance of progress toward herd immunity, and the attempts to quickly identify and evaluate novel or alternative coronavirus interventions. This nutrition upd...

Glutathione (GSH) is a tripeptide that is readily synthesized intracellularly in humans and other mammals. More than a century of research suggests that GSH has numerous biological functions, including protection from the potential adverse events associated with reactive oxygen species (ROS) and related redox reactions that may induce oxidative str...

Dr. Bruce Ames turned 92 on December 16, 2020. He considers his most recent work linking adequate consumption of 30 known vitamins and minerals with successful aging to be his most important contribution. With the passage of time, it is not uncommon for the accomplishments of a well-known scientist to undergo a parsimonious reductionism in the publ...

Although dietary guidance recommends increasing consumption of whole grains and concurrently limiting consumption of refined and/or enriched grain foods, emerging research suggests that certain refined grains may be part of a healthy dietary pattern. A scientific expert panel was convened to review published data since the release of 2015 dietary g...

As the COVID-19 pandemic intensified the global health crisis, the containment of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancies, and the inherent risk of vertical transmission of virus from mother-to-fetus (or neonate) poses a major concern. Most COVID-19-Pregnancy patients showed mild to moderate COVID-19 pneumonia with no pregnancy loss and no congenital t...

Although dietary guidance recommends increasing consumption of whole grains and concurrently limiting consumption of refined and/or enriched grain foods, emerging research suggests that certain refined grains may be part of a healthy dietary pattern. A scientific expert panel was convened to review published data since the release of 2015 dietary g...

The complex cellular mechanisms and inter-related pathways of cancer proliferation, evasion, and metastasis remain an emerging field of research. Over the last several decades, nutritional research has prominent role in identifying emerging adjuvant therapies in our fight against cancer. Nutritional and dietary interventions are being explored to i...

At first blush, methanol poisoning may be seen as an arcane problem generally associated with rapid ocular neuropathy. The emerging clinical reality is that methanol poisoning around the globe has claimed increasingly large numbers of deaths largely due to the press of poverty and the delay in suspecting and diagnosing methanol toxicity. With the o...

COVID-19, also known as the “novel coronavirus disease 2019,” is a respiratory illness, and the causative pathogen is officially named as “SARS-CoV-2.” Infections with SARS-CoV-2 have now been amplified to a global pandemic—as of April 3, 2020, nearly 1 018 000 cases have been confirmed in more than 195 countries, including more than 300 000 cases...

We conducted this cross-sectional population study with a healthy multi-ethnic urban population (n = 577) in Malaysia, combining nutritional assessments with cardiometabolic biomarkers defined by lipid, atherogenic lipoproteins, inflammation and insulin resistance. We found diametrically opposing associations of carbohydrate (246·6 ± 57·7 g, 54·3 ±...

Aloe vera plant extracts are ubiquitous in foods, cosmetics, and medicine. Like all plants, these extracts contain an array of potential bioactives or glycans, which may contribute to health when applied or consumed. In the Aloe vera plant, these bioactives are dominated by acemannan, a type of carbohydrate, and related complexes of saccharides, pr...

This article discusses human brain development and what is known about the effects of exposure to cannabis to it. It summarizes the differences between traditional uses of cannabis and more recent uses as a drug rather than in a social context and their possible health implications. It discusses the Farm Bill's provisions on hemp. The next article...

This introductory review discusses the history, chemistry, and metabolism of Cannabis sativa, commonly referred to as marijuana. Whether the science is there for its use in foods and dietary supplements depends on evidence that the required production and safety standards have been met and clinical evidence of benefit of food applications for canna...

Food coloring additives are widely utilized, have important functions, and are generally poorly understood in terms of their chemistry, health impact, and regulation. The following review summarizes which coloring additives are required for certification by the Food and Drug Administration and which are exempt from certification. The chemical struc...

Federal Government management of health risks associated with the use of therapeutics and unintended environmental chemical exposures must be expedited to meet public health needs. Although US agencies initiated the Tox21 strategy over a decade ago to expedite toxicity testing and improve the reliability of risk assessments, recent status reports i...

As participants at the Ecosystem Inception Meeting convened by the Global Dairy Platform and held in Chicago in June 2016, we have identified some concepts as central to the study of food systems science. Following the definition developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization for sustainable diets, the food supply needs to provide foods that ar...

Food is a very common source of toxicant exposure to humans. An unknown number of naturally occurring contaminants find their way into food. The most ominous are products of mold growth called mycotoxins, which include the carcinogenic aflatoxins. On the other hand, more than 2500 chemical substances are added to foods to modify or impart flavor, c...

Food scientists use hundreds of ingredients to assure the safety, stability, and nutritional quality of the food supply. Many of these ingredients with a rich history of safe use and consumption are now the target of consumer skepticism. Among those ingredients is carrageenan, the safety of which has been supported by numerous global regulatory age...

The oil palm, an ancient tropical tree species that originated in West Africa, has a history of centuries-long use both as a food and a medicine. Based on its higher saturated fatty acid composition, primarily palmitic acid, concerns have been flagged about its nutritional attributes. Elevation of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol effects of the...

Nutritional status is an important determinant of quality of life, morbidity, and mortality. This review is a survey of one of the least appreciated and understood factors that contributes significantly to nutritional health: that of bioavailability. As the economic importance of nutritional supplements and foods carrying claims of health promotion...

Gums and hydrocolloids represent a unique category of food additives. The various types of carbohydrates represented in this category provide many desirable functional properties and important characteristics in foods. Some of those properties include smooth textures, consistent rheological features, finished product stability, and possibly caloric...

Dramatic increases in obesity and diabetes have occurred worldwide over the past 30 years. Some investigators have suggested that these increases may be due, in part, to increased added sugars consumption. Several scientific organizations, including the World Health Organization, the Scientific Advisory Council on Nutrition, the Dietary Guidelines...

Overweight and obesity are global health problems that affect more than 1.9 billion adults who are overweight, and of these 600 million are obese. In the United States, these problems affect 60% of the population. Critical to these statistics is the association with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome a...

Total fruit intake in the United States is ~1 cup equivalent per day, or one-half of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendation for adults. Two-thirds of the fruit consumed is whole fruit and one-third is 100% juice. The nutritional value of whole fruit, with the exception of fiber and vitamin C, may be retained with appropriate juice...

At least 50% of the American public consumes at least one dietary supplement daily. The dietary supplements market continues to grow by more than 4.5% annually as the general public considers these products essential for better health. Importantly, these products are formally regulated under the Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act of 1994 (...

A large body of clinical evidence suggests that the consumption of 3 g or more per d of β-glucan from oats or barley, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of CHD. The unique chemical and physical properties of oats and physiological responses to oat consumption contribute to their demonstrated health benefits;...

In May 2012, an oats workshop was held in New York to convene a group of international experts to discuss the implications and applications of oats relative to human health. These diverse experts represented disciplines including, but not limited to, epidemiology, food regulation, nutrition and food science, grain breeding and plant genetics, food...

The Mushroom Council convened the Mushrooms and Health Summit in Washington, DC, on 9-10 September 2013. The proceedings are synthesized in this article. Although mushrooms have long been regarded as health-promoting foods, research specific to their role in a healthful diet and in health promotion has advanced in the past decade. The earliest mush...

To the Editor The article by Neltner et al1 raises concerns about the integrity of the “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) process.The United States has the most robust assessment of food ingredient safety in the world. The current GRAS process relies on scientific expert consensus, publicly available information, and clinical data. GRAS ingredie...

The prevalence of obesity is a global public health burden. There are global efforts to reduce the prevalence of obesity and overweight through changes in dietary guidelines and nutrition policy, to levy some form of tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), and to ban or restrict access to these products. Assessment of dietary intake patterns indic...