Abstract
It has recently been proposed that glycans, being the third alphabet of life, interact intricately with endogenous biomolecules to modulate tolerance, immune and inflammatory responses. Specifically, food glycans could impact health and be a source of inflammation and age-related diseases. These special carbohydrates are present as glycoconjugates (glycoproteins or glycolipids) in and on the surface of all the cells (glycocalyx) of all organisms or are found in free form in biological fluids. Recent advances in glycobiology and glycochemistry have shown how glycans bind with naturally present human proteins (lectins), through protein-carbohydrate interactions (or PCI), but also how oligosaccharides can interact with other glycans, present throughout the human body (through carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions, or CCI). Oligosaccharides present in food sources, which go beyond the definition of normal fibers, once ingested are then either absorbed in the bloodstream, where they are recognized by the immune system, or interact with the surface of GI epithelial cells, thus generating appropriate biochemical cascades that induce a tolerance or immune/inflammatory response. Because the ABO epitopes have been encountered on all human cells, not just erythrocytes and based on the different biotypology (A, AB, B, and O) impose morphic changes in the distribution of the glycans on the glycocalyx (lipid rafts and clustered saccharide patches), their CCI with food and microbe glycans will be different, thus, eliciting contrasting responses. This can explain the epidemiological data for blood type diets (BTD). Through continuous consumption of the wrong types of glycans, processes of chronic inflammation could be initiated and progress to accelerated aging. Four basic modes of action have been identified showing how glycans can trigger inflamm-aging. Since glycobiology is a young science, further studies with newer technologies are warranted for advancement in this field.
Highlights
It is a well-established fact, that complex carbohydrates are ubiquitous in nature [1]
Given the recent advances in glycobiology and glycochemistry, it is about time that nutritional sciences incorporate such tiny sweet molecules as fundamental constituents of the nutritional environment [12]
The actions of glycan-binding proteins (GBPs) have been well studied and verified in the context of carbohydrate recognition for or a wide range of biological activities, This overview takes into account the number, structure, and function of glycans in cellular biology in sum it encompasses the multifaceted reality of glycan chemistry and the glycome [28,174,175]
Summary
It is a well-established fact, that complex carbohydrates are ubiquitous in nature [1]. Carbohydrates, due to their inherent higher complexity and non-genome origin, have only more recently received increased attention through the expanding field of glycobiology [4,5,6] Because of their unique chemical properties, glycans have unsurpassed structural variability, and enormous changeability beyond the simple sequence, as for proteins or nucleic acids [7]. It can be stated that the proteosome and the nucleosome are no match for the glycome, as the coding capacity of the oligosaccharide language is orders of magnitude higher [10] Recently these ubiquitous molecules have been considered in nutrition and have been associated with many factors linking food components to health or disease [11]. Given the recent advances in glycobiology and glycochemistry, it is about time that nutritional sciences incorporate such tiny sweet molecules as fundamental constituents of the nutritional environment [12]
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