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Andrée Sandoval Ramírez

PhD Programme: Nutrition and Metabolism
Supervisors: Rosa Maria Solà Alberich & Úrsula Catalán Santos

Bio

Andrée Sandoval graduated in Medicine and Surgery (bachelor degree) in 2013 at Universidad Rafael Landívar in Guatemala. After finishing his bachelor degree, he worked as a Resident Physician in different Guatemalan hospitals, and as an assistant researcher at University of Michigan, where he was involved in a project testing in indigenous women a new self-screening method for the detection of Human Papilloma Virus. Then he took different courses, amongst them are an online course on Diabetes from the University of Copenhagen, and a course in Familial Hypercholesterolemia offered by the Spanish Society of Arteriosclerosis. As a part of his training as a physician, Andrée is certified as a provider of Basic and Advanced Vital Support by the American Heart Association in 2015. Afterward, in 2016-2017, he performed his Master's Degree on Nutrition and Metabolism with a specialty in Clinical Nutrition at the UR). He conducted his master thesis entitled “Lp (a) concentrations affect lipoprotein patterns in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia as determined by 2D-1H-RMN profiling”. Moreover, Andrée is a medical advisor for the Guatemalan branch of the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations since 2015, and an active member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Guatemala since 2014.

Project: The tissue bioavailability, biomarkers, and effects of anthocyanins on human health. Studied through systematic reviews on anthocyanin-rich foods and a nutritional pre-clinical study with anthocyanin-rich red fleshed-apples

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are among the most prevalent diseases in the world and the sum of risk factors that increase the risk of having cardiovascular event or developing other metabolic abnormalities is named cardiometabolic risk (CMR). The high prevalence of CVD requires lifestyle changes and new dietary prevention strategies based on the increased intake of plant-based foods rich in bioactive compounds, as they are considered as key mediators in the improvement of CMR factors. However, the diet of the majority of people does not appear to be sufficient to guarantee an adequate intake of fruits and vegetables. In consequence, the habitual intake in Europe of flavonoids, including anthocyanins, is below the amounts found to have significant health effects. Our previous results have shown that enhancing the phenolic content in a food matrix such as olive oil is a good strategy to increase the efficiency of phenolic compounds in the improvement of certain CMR factors, such as endothelial function, HDL functionality and oxidative status. In this framework, the main aim of this project is to advance in the knowledge of the potential health effects and mechanism of action of anthocyanins in the improvement of the CMR factors focused on the reduction of LDLc as the main outcome. To achieve this aim, a new anthocyanin biofortified red-flesh apple produced by traditional breeding methods (no genetically modified) will be used as a source of anthocyanins. The present project will offer the great advantage of providing a suitable control (white-fleshed apple variety with similar content of other phytochemicals) being the anthocyanin supplementation the main variable to be considered.

Open Access publications

  • Berner Andrée Sandoval-Ramírez, Úrsula Catalán, Sara Fernández-Castillejo, Laura Rubió, Alba Macià, and Rosa Solà. Anthocyanin Tissue Bioavailability in Animals: Possible Implications for Human Health. A Systematic Review. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2018, 66(44). View full-text
  • Berner Andree Sandoval-Ramírez, Ursula Catalan, Sara Fernández-Castillejo, Anna Pedret, Elisabet Llauradó, and Rosa Solà. Cyanidin-3-glucoside as a possible biomarker of anthocyaninrich berry intake in body fluids of healthy humans: a systematic review of clinical trials. Nutrition Reviews, 2019. View full-text
  • Berner Andrée Sandoval-Ramírez, Úrsula Catalán, Lorena Calderón-Pérez, Judit Companys, Laura Pla-Pagà, Iziar A. Ludwig, Ma Paz Romero & Rosa Solà. The effects and associations of whole-apple intake on diverse cardiovascular risk factors. A narrative review. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 2020. View full-text
  • Murchland AR, Gottschlich A, Bevilacqua K, Pineda A, Sandoval-Ramírez BA, Alvarez CS, Ogilvie GS, Carey TE, Prince M, Dean M, Mendoza Montano C, Rivera-Andrade A, Meza R. HPV self-sampling acceptability in rural and indigenous communities in Guatemala: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open. 2019 Oct 28;9(10):e029158. View full-text
  • PHD THESIS: The tissue bioavailability, biomarkers, and effects of anthocyanins on human health. Studied through systematic reviews on anthocyanin-rich foods and a nutritional pre-clinical study with anthocyanin-rich red fleshed-apples

Outreach activities

  • European Researchers’ Night 2019: “Come frutas y verduras: tu abuela (y la ciencia) tienen la razón”.

International secondment

  • Instituto de investigacion y estudios superiores en Ciencias de la Salud, Guatemala. 6 months (2020).

Prizes & Awards

  • Second best poster, IV Conference of Health Sciences of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Guatemala (2018).

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