Gilberto Mercado

The rate of childhood obesity is a public health problem and has increased dramatically in recent decades in most Latin American countries, mainly in Mexico. The different causal factors of the disease are an unhealthy diet based on ultra-processed and easily consumed foods, the environment, socioeconomic status, culture, eating patterns, sedentary lifestyles, insufficient sleep, social prejudice, environmental chemical pollutants, reduced physical activity and the media. The latter exert great pressure to consume more and more industrial foods, which is contributing to aggravate the childhood obesity epidemic existing today in our society. This review presents an analysis of the effect of the different factors related to childhood obesity and shows an acceleration in its prevalence, which could reflect the result of the neglect of prevention programs and methodological deficiencies not yet identified by government authorities. This is important from the point of view of the challenges that Mexican health systems will face in the next generations. In conclusion, Mexico presents alarming obesity rates in children.

Background: Academic stress (AS) is a little studied topic and even less related to the eating habits (EH) and physical activity (PA) of college students when they are on exams. The university stage implies a greater degree of challenges that trigger a series of AS due to the overload of tasks or projects, which condition not only school performance, but also the quality of life and nutritional status of the university population. Objective: To analyze the relationship between stress and food consumption and physical activity in college students exposed in an academic testing period. Methods: The method was a descriptive, prospective, quantitative and observational study. 144 volunteer college students of bachelor degree of Physiotherapy, Nutrition, Psychology, Gastronomy, Business Administration, Educational Sciences and Architecture. The preference index (PI) was the method used to measure the frequency of EH, and Academic Stress Questionnaire by PA. Results: Physiotherapy and Nut...

espanolLa lumbalgia es un problema de salud publica y socio-economica a nivel mundial, debido que ocasiona incapacidad para ejercer las actividades laborales en las personas. El objetivo consistio en evaluar los factores del padecimiento lumbalgia en los estudiantes universitarios de Tepic, Nayarit (Mejico). Los estudiantes voluntarios realizaron un cuestionario evaluando los criterios para determinar la presencia de lumbalgia. La mayoria de los estudiantes se sientan de manera incorrecta durante la hora de clase. El 13.5 % y 12.6 % de los estudiantes de la Licenciatura en Fisioterapia y Nutricion, respectivamente, tuvieron una intensidad de dolor elevado. El 37.8% de los estudiantes de Fisioterapia mostraron una mayor frecuencia de dolor durante las horas de clases. El estudio refleja que los estudiantes tienen un alto riesgo de contraer lumbalgia y las actividades que realizan dentro y fuera de la institucion son factores que pueden alterar la zona baja de la espalda. Para disminu...

Las fosfatasas alcalinas (FAl; E.C.3.1.3.1) son una superfamilia de metaloenzimas homodimericas que hidrolizan mono esteres orto fosforicos unidos a nucleotidos, proteinas y muchos otros sustratos, a pH entre 8-11 y en presencia de iones Zn+2 y Mg+2. Se inhiben con Be++, Fe++, Cu++ y varios poli aniones. Varios estudios han confirmado su caracter pleiotropico, pero nuevos estudios estructurales, cineticos y geneticos revelan nuevos roles metabolicos y funcionales. La concentracion de FAl total y/ o isoenzimas, ha sido explotada como marcador de varios fenomenos biologicos en ciencias biomedicas (e.g. funcionalidad renal, hepatica y osea), ambientales (e.g. fosfatos en suelo marino y su remocion de aguas residuales), zoologia (e.g. ciclos de fertilidad en aves) y alimentos (e.g. pasteurizacion de la leche). Como herramienta analitica, seguiran dando pie al desarrollo de varias tecnicas inmuno enzimaticas, para beneficio de las ciencias biologicas

... Emilio Alvarez-Parrilla, Laura A. de la Rosa, Joaquín Rodrigo, Karla A. Salazar, Rene Escobedo González, Gilberto Mercado Mercado, Edgar Moyers Montoya y ... la PPO no es capaz de oxidarlo, con lo cual se observa una inhibición de la actividad de esta enzima (Fayad y col ...

Las salsas en la cocina mexicana son consideradas un complemento fundamental de todos los platillos. En este trabajo se prepararon cuatro tipos de salsas mexicanas (SM): salsa roja cruda (SRCr), salsa roja cocinada (SRC), salsa verde cruda (SVCr) y salsa verde cocinada (SVC), se evaluó el porcentaje de bioaccesibilidad (%BA) y la velocidad de liberación de los compuestos fenólicos (CF) presentes en las SM. Se identificaron y cuantificaron por HPLC-MS los CF liberados de las SM en las diferentes etapas de un modelo de digestión in vitro. El %BA fue del 50% para la SRCr y hasta 62% para la SRC, valores semejantes presentaron la SVC y la SVCr. En la fracción intestinal se identificaron compuestos como catequina y galocatequín galato en los cuatro tipos de SM. La velocidad de liberación de los CF más alta fue de 3.70 mg EAG/min en la SRC y 2.16 mg EAG/min en la SVC. Los resultados sugieren una rápida liberación de los CF en ambas salsas rojas, sin embargo, esto no afecta la liberación f...

: Functional foods have been used worldwide since ancient times, particularly, the prehispanic civilizations used several plants as medicinal foods. Nowadays many Mexicans populations preserve their traditions and dietary patterns based on corn, beans, besides other endemic vegetables, mainly diverse varieties of chili, tomatoes and other plant-foods. It is well known that each species has a special complex mixture of bioactive compounds (BC) in which each component contributes to its overall bioactivity. These BC are plant metabolites that benefit human health by means of anti-inflammatory, immune-modulatory, and antioxidant effects. However, its to become bioactive at human body when these BC must undergo diverse intestinal transformations, due to the action of digestive enzymes, but also by the action of microbiota metabolism. Thus, the intestinal microbiota is a key factor in the mediation of the physiological functions of dietary polyphenols. Really, limited information is available, especially on dietary phytochemicals and metabolism in the commonly available Mexican plant-foods. In this review, the bioaccesibility and bioavailability major BC from traditional Mexican plant-foods products and its potential health benefits will be discussed. Besides, we compile the scientific reports and the evidence of the impact of some Mexican plant-foods on the gut microbiota dynamic composition, specific microbial metabolites and its possible contributions to human health.

Spices are aromatic plants that have been widely used in Mexico to preserve or seasoning different foods, but have also been used as herbal remedies to cure some diseases. These culinary and medicinal properties of spices have been attributed to several food components, including phytochemicals. Among them, polyphenolic compounds have been extensively studied for their effect against several chronic and degenerative diseases, probably due to their antioxidant activity. The study of the antioxidant capacity of Mexican spices may lead to new research on the potential benefits of these spices on human health. This paper analyzes the main studies on the potential beneficial effects of traditional Mexican spices on human health.

Inhibition of red delicious apple polyphenol oxidase (PPO) by three non-related antibrowning agents has been studied at different substrate concentrations. The main apple polyphenol, cholorogenic acid (CA), has been used as a substrate. The three agents (β-cyclodextrin [β-CD], 4-hexylresorcinol [HR] and methyl jasmonate [MJ]) showed an inhibitory effect at every substrate concentration tested. From the inhibition constant (Ki) values, it

Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) was extracted from whole peaches and its catecholase activity was studied spectrophotometrically against three substrates: catechol (Cat), 4-methyl catechol (4MC), and chlorogenic acid (CA). Peach PPO specificity was: CA > 4MC ≈ Cat. 4-hexylresorcinol (4HR, 0.5 mM) inhibited oxidation of Cat and CA by 50% or more, at all substrate concentrations, but had no effect on the oxidation of 4MC, suggesting that laccase-like activity was present in the extract. β-cyclodextrin (β-CD, 10 mM) inhibited only CA oxidation and this effect was not abolished when free substrate concentrations were calculated suggesting a mechanism, additional to substrate complexation, in β-CD action. Combination of 4HR and β-CD had only a weak inhibitory effect on CA oxidation. In conclusion, β-CD and specially 4HR could be used as browning inhibitors in peach products and also as tools for studying different phenol oxidases. Combination of both compounds is not recommended for peaches.Se extrajo la enzima polifenoloxidasa (PPO) a partir de duraznos completos y se estudió su actividad catecolasa, espectrofotométricamente, frente a tres diferentes sustratos:catecol (Cat), 4-metilcatecol (4MC) y ácido clorogénico (CA). La especificidad de la PPO fue: CA > 4MC ≈ Cat. El 4-hexilresorcinol (4HR, 0,5 mM) inhibió, en un 50% o más, la oxidación de Cat y CA, pero no tuvo ningún efecto sobre la oxidación del 4MC, lo cual sugiere que el extracto posee actividad lacasa. La β-ciclodextrina (β-CD, 10 mM) inhibió únicamente la oxidación del CA, aún si se consideran las concentraciones libres del sustrato, lo cual sugiere que la acción de la β-CD depende de un mecanismo adicional a la complejación de sustrato. La combinación de ambos inhibidores tuvo un efecto débil sobre la oxidación del CA. Se concluye que la β-CD y especialmente el 4HR pueden ser usados como inhibidores del oscurecimiento enzimático en productos de durazno, así como para estudiar los diferentes tipos de fenoloxidasas. La combinación de ambos agentes no es recomendable en duraznos.