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Hypertriglyceridemia: Evaluation and Treatment Guideline
Reporter and Curator: Dr. Sudipta Saha, Ph.D.
Severe and very severe hypertriglyceridemia increase the risk for pancreatitis, whereas mild or moderate hypertriglyceridemia may be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Individuals found to have any elevation of fasting triglycerides should be evaluated for secondary causes of hyperlipidemia including endocrine conditions and medications. Patients with primary hypertriglyceridemia must be assessed for other cardiovascular risk factors, such as central obesity, hypertension, abnormalities of glucose metabolism, and liver dysfunction. The aim of this study was to develop clinical practice guidelines on hypertriglyceridemia.
The diagnosis of hypertriglyceridemia should be based on fasting levels, that mild and moderate hypertriglyceridemia (triglycerides of 150–999 mg/dl) be diagnosed to aid in the evaluation of cardiovascular risk, and that severe and very severe hypertriglyceridemia (triglycerides of >1000 mg/dl) be considered a risk for pancreatitis. The patients with hypertriglyceridemia must be evaluated for secondary causes of hyperlipidemia and that subjects with primary hypertriglyceridemia be evaluated for family history of dyslipidemia and cardiovascular disease.
The treatment goal in patients with moderate hypertriglyceridemia should be a non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level in agreement with National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel guidelines. The initial treatment should be lifestyle therapy; a combination of diet modification, physical activity and drug therapy may also be considered. In patients with severe or very severe hypertriglyceridemia, a fibrate can be used as a first-line agent for reduction of triglycerides in patients at risk for triglyceride-induced pancreatitis.
Three drug classes (fibrates, niacin, n-3 fatty acids) alone or in combination with statins may be considered as treatment options in patients with moderate to severe triglyceride levels. Statins are not be used as monotherapy for severe or very severe hypertriglyceridemia. However, statins may be useful for the treatment of moderate hypertriglyceridemia when indicated to modify cardiovascular risk.
Live 12:00 – 1:00 P.M Mediterranean Diet and Lifestyle: A Symposium on Diet and Human Health : October 19, 2018
Reporter: Stephen J. Williams, Ph.D.
12.00 The Italian Mediterranean Diet as a Model of Identity of a People with a Universal Good to Safeguard Health?
Prof. Antonino De Lorenzo, MD, PhD.
Director of the School of Specialization in Clinical Nutrition, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”
It is important to determine how our bodies interacts with the environment, such as absorption of nutrients.
Studies shown here show decrease in life expectancy of a high sugar diet, but the quality of the diet, not just the type of diet is important, especially the role of natural probiotics and phenolic compounds found in the Mediterranean diet.
The WHO report in 2005 discusses the unsustainability of nutrition deficiencies and suggest a proactive personalized and preventative/predictive approach of diet and health.
Most of the noncommunicable diseases like CV (46%) cancer 21% and 11% respiratory and 4% diabetes could be prevented and or cured with proper dietary approaches
Italy vs. the US diseases: in Italy most disease due to environmental contamination while US diet plays a major role
The issue we are facing in less than 10% of the Italian population (fruit, fibers, oils) are not getting the proper foods, diet and contributing to as we suggest 46% of the disease
The Food Paradox: 1.5 billion are obese; we notice we are eating less products of quality and most quality produce is going to waste;
growing BMI and junk food: our studies are correlating the junk food (pre-prepared) and global BMI
modern diet and impact of human health (junk food high in additives, salt) has impact on microflora
Western Diet and Addiction: We show a link (using brain scans) showing correlation of junk food, sugar cravings, and other addictive behaviors by affecting the dopamine signaling in the substantia nigra
developed a junk food calculator and a Mediterranean diet calculator
the intersection of culture, food is embedded in the Mediterranean diet; this is supported by dietary studies of two distinct rural Italian populations (one of these in the US) show decrease in diet
Impact of diet: have model in Germany how this diet can increase health and life expectancy
from 1950 to present day 2.7 unit increase in the diet index can increase life expectancy by 26%
so there is an inverse relationship with our index and breast cancer
Environment and metal contamination and glyphosate: contribution to disease and impact of maintaining the healthy diet
huge problem with use of pesticides and increase in celiac disease
Cancer as a disease of the environment. Weinberg’s hallmarks of Cancer reveal how environment and epigenetics can impact any of these hallmarks.
Epigenetic effects
gene gatekeepers (Rb and P53)
DNA repair and damage stabilization
Heavy Metals and Dioxins:( alterations of the immune system as well as epigenetic regulations)
Asbestos and Mesothelioma: they have demonstrated that p53 can be involved in development of mesothelioma as reactivating p53 may be a suitable strategy for therapy
Diet, Tomato and Cancer
looked at tomato extract on p53 function in gastric cancer: tomato extract had a growth reduction effect and altered cell cycle regulation and results in apoptosis
RBL2 levels are increased in extract amount dependent manner so data shows effect of certain tomato extracts of the southern italian tomato ( )
Antonio Giordano: we tested whole extracts of almost 30 different varieties of tomato. The tomato variety with highest activity was near Ravela however black tomatoes have shown high antitumor activity. We have done a followup studies showing that these varieties, if grow elsewhere lose their antitumor activity after two or three generations of breeding, even though there genetics are similar. We are also studying the effects of different styles of cooking of these tomatoes and if it reduces antitumor effect
Announcement 11AM- 5PM: Live Conference Coverage from Mediterranean Diet and Lifestyle: A Symposium on Diet and Human Health @S.H.R.O. and Temple University October 19, 2018
Reporter: Stephen J. Williams, Ph.D.
The Sbarro Health Research Organization, in collaboration with the Consulate General of Italy in Philadelphia will sponsor a symposium on the Mediterranean Diet and Human Health on October 19, 2018 at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. This symposium will discuss recent finding concerning the health benefits derived from a Mediterranean-style diet discussed by the leaders in this field of research.
Mediterranean Diet
The description of the Mediterranean Diet stems from the nutritionist Ancel Keys, who in 1945, in the wake of the US Fifth Army, landed in Southern Italy, where he observed one of the highest concentrations of centenarians in the world. He also noticed that cardiovascular diseases, widespread in the USA, were less frequent there. In particular, among the Southern Italians, the prevalence of “wellness” diseases such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus, was particularly associated with fat consumption, suggesting that the main factor responsible for the observations was the type of diet traditionally consumed among people facing the Mediterranean Sea, which is low in animal fat, as opposed to the Anglo-Saxon diet. The link between serum cholesterol and coronary heart disease mortality was subsequently demonstrated by the Seven Countries Study. Later, the concept of Mediterranean Diet was extended to a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, fish and olive oil as the main source of lipid, shared among people living in Spain, Greece, Southern Italy and other countries facing the Mediterranean basin …
Prof. Antonino De Lorenzo, MD, PhD.
The Symposium will be held at:
Biolife Science Building, Room 234
Temple University, 1900 North 12th street
Philadelphia, PA 19122
For further information, please contact:
Ms. Marinela Dedaj – Sbarro Institute, Office #: 215-204-9521
11:00Welcome
Prof. Antonio Giordano, MD, PhD.
Director and President of the Sbarro Health Research Organization, College of Science and Technology, Temple University
Greetings
Fucsia Nissoli Fitzgerald
Deputy elected in the Foreign Circumscription – North and Central America Division
Consul General, Honorable Pier Attinio Forlano
General Consul of Italy in Philadelphia
11:30The Impact of Environment and Life Style in Human Disease
Prof. Antonio Giordano MD, PhD.
12.00 The Italian Mediterranean Diet as a Model of Identity of a People with a Universal Good to Safeguard Health?
Prof. Antonino De Lorenzo, MD, PhD.
Director of the School of Specialization in Clinical Nutrition, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”
Professor of Molecular Biology at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA where he is also Director of the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine. He is also Professor of Pathology at the University of Siena, Italy. He has published over 500 articles, received over 40 awards for his contributions to cancer research and is the holder of 17 patents.
Full Professor of Human Nutrition and Director of the Specialization School in Food Science at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. He is the Coordinator of the Specialization Schools in Food Science at the National University Council and Coordinator of the PhD. School of “Applied Medical-Surgical Sciences” Director of UOSD “Service of Clinical Nutrition, Parenteral Therapy and Anorexia”. He also serves as President of “Istituto Nazionale per la Dieta Mediterranea e la Nutrigenomica”.
Iris Maria Forte is an oncology researcher of INT G. Pascale Foundation of Naples, Italy. She majored in Medical Biotechnology at the “Federico II” University of Naples, earned a PhD. in “Oncology and Genetics” at the University of Siena in 2012 and a Master of II level in “Environment and Cancer” in 2014. Iris Maria Forte has worked with Antonio Giordano’s group since 2008 and her research interests include both molecular and translational cancer research. She published 21 articles mostly focused in understanding the molecular basis of human cancer. She worked on different kinds of human solid tumors but her research principally focused on pleural mesothelioma and on cell cycle deregulation in cancer.
Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies. He has a Doctorate in Agricultural Sciences (Dr.sc.agr.) from Hohenheim University, Stuttgart (Germany), MA in Political Sciences from the Istituto Universitario Orientale, Naples (Italy), BA/MA in Modern Foreign Languages and Literature from the Università La Sapienza, Rome (Italy). His research explores the intersections among food, media, and politics. His most recent projects focus on Food Design and the synergies between Food Studies and design.
Prof. Lisa Sasson, MS
Dietetic Internship Director and a Clinical Associate Professor in the department. She has interests in dietetic education, weight and behavior management, and problem-based learning. She also is a private practice nutritionist with a focus on weight management. She serves as co-director of the Food, Nutrition and Culture program in Florence Italy, the New York State Dietetic Association and the Greater New York Dietetic Association (past president and treasurer).
Director of Demographic Studies for The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College, City University of New York. He has conducted social science research on Italian Americans. His research has included the educational and occupational achievements; Italian language studies at the elementary and secondary levels, high school non-completion rates; negative media portrayals of ethnic populations including migration studies and global diaspora.
Agricultural entrepreneur, Manager of the Italian Consortium for Biogas (CIB) and delegate for the Bioeconomy National Department of Confagricoltura. He developed A.R.T.E based on a model of agricultural circular economy, beginning and ending in the ground. He constructed the first biogas plant in the territory creating a new way to make agriculture, investing in research and development, experimentation and most of all, in people. In a few short years, he succeeded to close the production chain producing goods characterized by their high quality and usage of renewable energy.
Vice-President for Institutional and International Relations of the Istituto Nazionale per la Dieta Mediterranea e la Nutrigenomica (I.N.D.I.M.). Has managed relations with the academic institutions to increase awareness and develops projects for the diffusion of the Mediterranean Diet. She served as Director of Finance for the National Institute of Nutrition, for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
About the Sbarro Health Research Organization
The Sbarro Health Research Organization (SHRO) is non-profit charity committed to funding excellence in basic genetic research to cure and diagnose cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and other chronic illnesses and to foster the training of young doctors in a spirit of professionalism and humanism. To learn more about the SHRO please visit www.shro.org
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The myth that diabetes is caused by overeating also hurts the one out of five people who are not overweight when they contract Type 2 Diabetes. Because doctors only think “Diabetes” when they see a patient who fits the stereotype–the grossly obese inactive patient–they often neglect to check people of normal weight for blood sugar disorders even when they show up with classic symptoms of high blood sugar such as recurrent urinary tract infections or neuropathy.
Where Did This Toxic Myth Come From?
The way this myth originated is this: Because people with Type 2 Diabetes are often overweight and because many people who are overweight have a syndrome called “insulin resistance” in which their cells do not respond properly to insulin so that they require larger than normal amounts of insulin to lower their blood sugar, the conclusion was drawn years ago that insulin resistance was the cause of Type 2 Diabetes.
It made sense. Something was burning out the beta cells in these people, and it seemed logical that the something must be the stress of pumping out huge amounts of insulin, day after day. This idea was so compelling that it was widely believed by medical professionals, though few realized it had never been subjected to careful investigation by large-scale research.
That is why any time there is an article in the news about Type 2 Diabetes you are likely to read something that says, “While Type 1 diabetes (sometimes called Juvenile Diabetes) is a condition where the body does not produce insulin, Type 2 Diabetes is the opposite: a condition where the body produces far too much insulin because of insulin resistance caused by obesity.”
When your doctor tells you the same thing, the conclusion is inescapable: your overeating caused you to put on excess fat and that your excess fat is what made you diabetic.
Blaming the Victim
This line of reasoning leads to subtle, often unexpressed, judgmental decisions on the part of your doctor, who is likely to believe that had you not been such a pig, you would not have given yourself this unnecessary disease.
And because of this unspoken bias, unless you are able to “please” your doctor by losing a great deal of weight after your diagnosis you may find yourself treated with a subtle but callous disregard because of the doctor’s feeling that you brought this condition down on yourself. This bias is similar to that held by doctors who face patients who smoke a pack a day and get lung cancer and still refuse to stop smoking.
You also see this bias frequently expressed in the media. Articles on the “obesity epidemic” blame overeating for a huge increase in the number of people with diabetes, including children and teenagers who are pictured greedily gorging on supersized fast foods while doing no exercise more strenuous than channel surfing. In a society where the concepts “thin” and “healthy” have taken on the overtones of moral virtue and where the only one of the seven deadly sins that still inspires horror and condemnation is gluttony, being fat is considered by many as sure proof of moral weakness. So it is not surprising that the subtext of media coverage of obesity and diabetes is that diabetes is nothing less than the just punishment you deserve for being such a glutton.
Except that it’s not true.
Obesity Has Risen Dramatically While Diabetes Rates Have Not
The rate of obesity has grown alarmingly over the past decades, especially in certain regions of the U.S. The NIH reports that “From 1960-2 to 2005-6, the prevalence of obesity increased from 13.4 to 35.1 percent in U.S. adults age 20 to 74.7.”
If obesity was causing diabetes, you’d exect to see a similar rise in the diabetes rate. But this has not happened. The CDC reports that “From 1980 through 2010, the crude prevalence of diagnosed diabetes increased …from 2.5% to 6.9%.” However, if you look at the graph that accompanies this statement, you see that the rate of diabetes diagnoses rose only gradually through this period–to about 3.5% until it suddenly sped upward in the late 1990s. This sudden increase largely due to the fact that in 1998 the American Diabetes Association changed the criteria by which diabetes was to be diagnosed, lowering the fasting blood sugar level used to diagnose diabetes from 141 mg/dl to 126 mg/dl. (Details HERE)
Analyzing these statistics, it becomes clear that though roughtly 65 million more Americans became fat over this period, only 13 million more Americans became diabetic.
And to further confuse the matter, several factors other than the rise in obesity and the ADA’s lowering of the diagnostic cutoff also came into play during this period which also raised the rate of diabetes diagnoses:
Diabetes becomes more common as people age as the pancreas like other organs, becames less efficient. In 1950 only 12% of the U.S. population was over 65. By 2010 40% was, and of those 40%, 19% were over 75.(Details HERE.)
At the same time, the period during which the rate of diabetes rose was also the period in which doctors began to heavily prescribe statins, a class of drugs we now know raises the risk of developing diabetes. (Details HERE.)
Why Obesity Doesn’t Cause Diabetes: The Genetic Basis of Diabetes
While people who have diabetes are often heavy, one out of five people diagnosed with diabetes are thin or normal weight. And though heavy people with diabetes are, indeed, likely to be insulin resistant, the majority of people who are overweight will never develop diabetes. In fact, they will not develop diabetes though they are likely to be just as insulin resistant as those who do–or even more so.
The message that diabetes researchers in academic laboratories are coming up with about what really causes diabetes is quite different from what you read in the media. What they are finding is that to get Type 2 Diabetes you need to have some combination of a variety of already-identified genetic flaws which produce the syndrome that we call Type 2 Diabetes. This means that unless you have inherited abnormal genes or had your genes damaged by exposure to pesticides, plastics and other environmental toxins known to cause genetic damage, you can eat until you drop and never develop diabetes.
Now let’s look in more depth at what peer reviewed research has found about the true causes of diabetes
Twin Studies Back up a Genetic Cause for Diabetes
Studies of identical twins showed that twins have an 80% concordance for Type 2 Diabetes. In other words, if one twin has Type 2 Diabetes, the chance that the other will have it two are 4 out of 5. While you might assume that this might simply point to the fact that twins are raised in the same home by mothers who feed them the same unhealthy diets, studies of non-identical twins found NO such correlation. The chances that one non-identical twin might have Type 2 Diabetes if the other had it were much lower, though these non-identical twins, born at the same time and raised by the same caregivers were presumably also exposed to the same unhealthy diets.
This kind of finding begins to hint that there is more than just bad habits to blame for diabetes. A high concordance between identical twins which is not shared by non-identical twins is usually advanced as an argument for a genetic cause, though because one in five identical twins did not become diabetic, it is assumed that some additional factors beyond the inherited genome must come into play to cause the disease to appear. Often this factor is an exposure to an environmental toxin which knocks out some other, protective genetic factor.
The List of Genes Associated with Type 2 Keeps Growing
Here is a brief list of some of the abnormal genes that have been found to be associated with Type 2 Diabetes in people of European extraction: TCF7L2, HNF4-a, PTPN, SHIP2, ENPP1, PPARG, FTO, KCNJ11, NOTCh3, WFS1, CDKAL1, IGF2BP2, SLC30A8, JAZF1, and HHEX.
People from non-European ethnic groups have been found to have entirely different sets of diabetic genes than do Western Europeans, like the UCP2 polymorphism found in Pima Indians and the three Calpain-10 gene polymorphisms that have been found to be associated with diabetes in Mexicans. The presence of a variation in yet another gene, SLC16A11, was recently found to be associated with a 25% higher risk of a Mexican developing Type 2 diabetes.
The More Diabetes Genes You Have The Worse Your Beta Cells Perform
A study published in the Journal Diabetologia in November 2008 studied how well the beta cells secreted insulin in 1,211 non-diabetic individuals. They then screened these people for abnormalities in seven genes that have been found associated with Type 2 Diabetes.
They found that with each abnormal gene found in a person’s genome, there was an additive effect on that person’s beta cell dysfunction with each additional gene causing poorer beta cell function.
The impact of these genetic flaws becomes clear when we learn that in these people who were believed to be normal, beta cell glucose sensitivity and insulin production at meal times was decreased by 39% in people who had abnormalities in five genes. That’s almost half. And if your beta cells are only putting out half as much insulin as a normal person’s it takes a lot less stress on those cells to push you into becoming diabetic.
Gene Tests Predict Diabetes Independent of Conventional “Risk Factors”
A study of 16,061 Swedish and 2770 Finnish subjects found that
Variants in 11 genes (TCF7L2, PPARG, FTO, KCNJ11, NOTCh3, WFS1, CDKAL1, IGF2BP2, SLC30A8, JAZF1, and HHEX) were significantly associated with the risk of Type 2 Diabetes independently of clinical risk factors [i.e. family history, obesity etc.]; variants in 8 of these genes were associated with impaired beta-cell function.
Note that though the subjects here were being screened for Type 2 Diabetes, the defect found here was NOT insulin resistance, but rather deficient insulin secretion. This study also found that:
The discriminative power of genetic risk factors improved with an increasing duration of follow-up, whereas that of clinical risk factors decreased.
In short, the longer these people were studied, the more likely the people with these gene defects were to develop diabetes.
A study published in July of 2009 sheds light on what exactly it is that an allele (gene variant) often found associated with diabetes does. The allele in question is one of TCF7L2 transcription factor gene. The study involved 81 normal healthy young Danish men whose genes were tested. They were then given a battery of tests to examine their glucose metabolisms. The researchers found that:
Carriers of the T allele were characterised by reduced 24 h insulin concentrations … and reduced insulin secretion relative to glucose during a mixed meal test … but not during an IVGTT [intravenous glucose tolerance test].
This is an interesting finding, because what damages our bodies is the blood sugar we experience after eating “a mixed meal” but so much research uses the artificial glucose tolerance (GTT) test to assess blood sugar health. This result suggests that the GTT may be missing important signs of early blood sugar dysfunction and that the mixed meal test may be a better diagnostic test than the GTT. I have long believed this to be true, since so many people experience reactive lows when they take the GTT which produces a seemingly “normal reading” though they routinely experience highs after eating meals. These highs are what damage our organs.
Young men with the TCF7L2 allele also responded with weak insulin secretion in response to the incretin hormone GLP-1 and “Despite elevated hepatic [liver] glucose production, carriers of the T allele had significantly reduced 24 h glucagon concentrations … suggesting altered alpha cell function.”
Here again we see evidence that long before obesity develops, people with this common diabetes gene variant show highly abnormal blood sugar behavior. Abnormal production of glucose by the liver may also contribute to obesity as metformin, a drug that that blocks the liver’s production of glucose blocks weight gain and often causes weight loss.
Genes Linked to African Heritage Linked to Poor Carbohydrate Metabolism
It has long been known that African-Americans have a much higher rate of diabetes and metabolic syndrome than the American population as a whole. This has been blamed on lifestyle, but a 2009 genetic study finds strong evidence that the problem is genetic.
The study reports,
Using genetic samples obtained from a cohort of subjects undergoing cardiac-related evaluation, a strict algorithm that filtered for genomic features at multiple levels identified 151 differentially-expressed genes between Americans of African ancestry and those of European ancestry. Many of the genes identified were associated with glucose and simple sugar metabolism, suggestive of a model whereby selective adaptation to the nutritional environment differs between populations of humans separated geographically over time.
In the full text discussion the authors state,
These results suggest that differences in glucose metabolism between Americans of African and European may reside at the transcriptional level. The down-regulation of these genes in the AA cohorts argues against these changes being a compensatory response to hyperglycemia and suggests instead a genetic adaptation to changes in the availability of dietary sugars that may no longer be appropriate to a Western Diet.
In conclusion the authors note that the vegetarian diet of the Seventh Day Adventists, often touted as proof of the usefulness of the “Diet Pyramid” doesn’t provide the touted health benefits to people of African American Heritage. Obviously, when hundreds of carbohydrate metabolizing genes aren’t working properly the diet needed is a low carbohydrate diet.
Gene that Disrupts Circadian Clock Associated with Type 2 Diabetes
It has been known for a while that people who suffer from sleep disturbances often suffer raised insulin resistance. In December of 2008, researchers identified a gene, “rs1387153, near MTNR1B (which encodes the melatonin receptor 2 (MT2)), as a modulator of fasting plasma glucose.” They conclude,
Our data suggest a possible link between circadian rhythm regulation and glucose homeostasis through the melatonin signaling pathway.
Melatonin levels appear to control the body clock which, in turn, regulates the secretion of substances that modify blood pressure, hormone levels, insulin secretion and many other processes throughout the body.
The Environmental Factors That Push Borderline Genes into Full-fledged Diabetes
We’ve seen so far that to get Type 2 Diabetes you seem to need to have some diabetes gene or genes, but that not everyone with these genes develops diabetes. There are what scientists call environmental factors that can push a borderline genetic case into full fledged diabetes. Let’s look now at what the research has found about what some of these environmental factors might be.
Your Mother’s Diet During Pregnancy May Have Caused Your Diabetes
Many “environmental factors” that scientists explore occur in the environment of the womb. Diabetes is no different, and the conditions you experienced when you were a fetus can have life-long impact on your blood sugar control.
Researchers following the children of mothers who had experienced a Dutch famine during World War II found that children of mothers who had experienced famine were far more likely to develop diabetes in later life than a control group from the same population whose mothers had been adequately fed.
A study of a Chinese population found a link between low birth weight and the development of both diabetes and impaired glucose regulation (i.e. prediabetes) that was independent of “sex, age, central obesity, smoking status, alcohol consumption, dyslipidemia, family history of diabetes, and occupational status.” Low birth weight in this population may well be due to less than optimal maternal nutrition during pregnancy.
This may not seem all that relevant to Americans whose mothers have not been exposed to famine conditions. But to conclude this is to forget how many American teens and young women suffer from eating disorders and how prevalent crash dieting is in the group of women most likely to get pregnant.
It is also true that until the 1980s obstetricians routinely warned pregnant women against gaining what is now understood to be a healthy amount of weight. When pregnant women started to gain weight, doctors often put them on highly restrictive diets which resulted in many case in the birth of underweight babies.
Your Mother’s Gestational Diabetes May Have Caused Your Diabetes
Maternal starvation is not the only pre-birth factor associated with an increased risk of diabetes. Having a well-fed mother who suffered gestational diabetes also increases a child’s risk both of obesity and of developing diabetes.
Pesticides and PCBs in Blood Stream Correlate with Incidence of Diabetes
A study conducted among members of New York State’s Mohawk tribe found that the odds of being diagnosed with diabetes in this population was almost 4 times higher in members who had high concentrations of PCBs in their blood serum. It was even higher for those with high concentrations of pesticides in their blood.
It is very important to note that there is no reason to believe this phenomenon is limited to people of Native American heritage. Upstate NY has a well-known and very serious PCB problem–remember Love Canal? And the entire population of the U.S. has been overexposed to powerful pesticides for a generation.
More evidence that obesity may be caused by exposure to toxic pollutants which damage genes comes in a study published January of 2009. This study tracked the exposure of a group of pregnant Belgian woman to several common pollutants: hexachlorobenzene, dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) , dioxin-like compounds, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). It found a correlation between exposure to PCBs and DDE and obesity by age 3, especially in children of mothers who smoked.
These studies, which garnered no press attention at all, probably have more to tell us about the reason for the so-called “diabetes epidemic” than any other published over the last decade.
BPA and Plasticizers from Packaging Are Strongly Linked to Obesity and Insulin Resistance
BPA, the plastic used to line most metal cans has long been suspected of causing obesity. Now we know why. A study published in 2008 reported that BPA suppresses a key hormone, adiponectin, which is responsible for regulating insulin sensitivity in the body and puts people at a substantially higher risk for metabolic syndrome.
The impact of BPA on children is dramatic. Analysis of 7 years of NHANES epidemiological data found that having a high urine level of BPA doubles a child’s risk of being obese.
You, and your children are getting far more BPA from canned foods than what health authorities assumed they were getting. A research report published in 2011 reported that the level of BPA actually measured in people’s bodies after they consumed canned soup turned out to be extremely high. People who ate a serving of canned soup every day for five days had BPA levels of 20.8 micrograms per liter of urine, whereas people who instead ate fresh soup had levels of 1.1 micrograms per liter.
Nevertheless, the FDA caved in to industry pressure in 2012 and refused to regulate BPA claiming that, as usual, more study was needed. (FDA: BPA)
BPA is not the only toxic chemical associated with plastics that may be promoting insulin resistance. . Phthalates are compounds added to plastic to make it flexible. They rub off on our food and are found in our blood and urine. A study of 387 Hispanic and Black, New York City children who were between six and eight years old measured the phthalates in their urine and found that the more phthalates in their urine, the fatter the child was a year later.
And phthalates are everywhere. A study of 1,016 Swedes aged 70 years and older found that four phthalate metabolites were detected in the blood serum of almost all the participants. High levels of three of these were associated with the prevalence of diabetes. The researchers explain that one metabolite was mainly related to poor insulin secretion, whereas two others were related to insulin resistance. The researchers didn’t check to see whether this relationship held for prediabetes.
Chances are very good that these same omnipresent phthalates are also causing insulin resistance and damaging insulin secretion in people whose ages fall between those of the two groups studied here.
Use of Herbicide Atrazine Maps to Obesity, Causes Insulin Resistance
A study published in April of 2009 mentions that “There is an apparent overlap between areas in the USA where the herbicide, atrazine (ATZ), is heavily used and obesity-prevalence maps of people with a BMI over 30.”
It found that when rats were given low doses of this pesticide in thier water, “Chronic administration of ATZ decreased basal metabolic rate, and increased body weight, intra-abdominal fat and insulin resistance without changing food intake or physical activity level.” In short the animals got fat even without changing their food intake. When the animals were fed a high fat,high carb diet, the weight gain was even greater.
Insulin resistance was increased too, which if it happens in people, means that people who have genetically-caused borderline capacity to secrete insulin are more likely to become diabetic when they are exposed to this chemical via food or their drinking water.
2,4-D A Common Herbicide Blocks Secretion of GLP-1–A Blood Sugar Lowering Gastric Peptide
In 2007 scientists at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital discovered that the intestine has receptors for sugar identical to those found on the tongue and that these receptors regulate secretion of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). GLP-1 is the peptide that is mimicked by the diabetes drug Byetta and which is kept elevated by Januvia and Onglyza. You can read about that finding in this Science Daily report:
In November 2009, these same scientists reported that a very common herbicide 2,4 D blocked this taste receptor, effectively turning off its ability to stimulate the production GLP-1. The fibrate drugs used to lower cholesterol were also found to block the receptor.
What was even more of concern was the discovery that the ability of these compounds to block this gut receptor “did not generalize across species to the rodent form of the receptor.” The lead researcher was quoted as saying,
…most safety tests were done using animals, which have T1R3 receptors that are insensitive to these compounds,
This takes on additional meaning when you realize that most compounds released into the environment are tested only on animals, not humans. It may help explain why so many supposedly “safe” chemicals are damaging human glucose metabolisms.
Trace Amounts of Arsenic in Urine Correlate with Dramatic Rise in Diabetes
A study published in JAMA in August of 2008 found of 788 adults who had participated in the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) found those who had the most arsenic in their urine, were nearly four times more likely to have diabetes than those who had the least amount.
The New York Times report about this study (no longer online) added this illuminating bit of information to the story:
Arsenic can get into drinking water naturally when minerals dissolve. It is also an industrial pollutant from coal burning and copper smelting. Utilities use filtration systems to get it out of drinking water.
Seafood also contains nontoxic organic arsenic. The researchers adjusted their analysis for signs of seafood intake and found that people with Type 2 Diabetes had 26 percent higher inorganic arsenic levels than people without Type 2 Diabetes.
How arsenic could contribute to diabetes is unknown, but prior studies have found impaired insulin secretion in pancreas cells treated with an arsenic compound.
Prescription Drugs, Especially SSRI Antidepressants Cause Obesity and Possibly Diabetes
Another important environmental factor is this: Type 2 Diabetes can be caused by some commonly prescribed drugs. Beta blockers and atypical antipsychotics like Zyprexa have been shown to cause diabetes in people who would not otherwise get it. This is discussed here.
There is some research that suggests that SSRI antidepressants may also promote diabetes. It is well known that antidepressants cause weight gain.
Spin doctors in the employ of the drug companies who sell these high-profit antidepressants have long tried to attribute the relationship between depression and obesity to depression, rather than the drugs used to treat the condition.
However, a new study published in June 2009 used data from the Canadian National Population Health Survey (NPHS), a longitudinal study of a representative cohort of household residents in Canada and tracked the incidence of obesity over ten years.
The study found that, “MDE [Major Depressive Episode] does not appear to increase the risk of obesity. …Pharmacologic treatment with antidepressants may be associated with an increased risk of obesity. [emphasis mine]. The study concluded,
Unexpectedly, significant effects were seen for serotonin-reuptake-inhibiting antidepressants [Prozac,Celexa, Lovox, Paxil, Zoloft] and venlafaxine [Effexor], but neither for tricyclic antidepressants nor antipsychotic medications.
Here is an article posted by the Mayo Clinic that includes the statement “weight gain is a reported side effect of nearly all antidepressant medications currently available.
Here is a report about a paper presented at the 2006 ADA Conference that analyzed the Antidepressant-Diabetes connection in a major Diabetes prevention study:
Treatment for Cancer, Especially Radiation, Greatly Increases Diabetes Risk Independent of Obesity or Exercise Level
A study published in August 2009 analyzed data for 8599 survivors in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. It found that after adjusting for body mass and exercise levels, survivors of childhood cancer were 1.8 times more likely than the siblings to report that they had diabetes.
Even more significantly, those who had had full body radiation were 7.2 times more likely to have diabetes.
This raises the question of whether exposure to radiation in other contexts also causes Type 2 diabetes.
Now that we have a better idea of some of the underlying physiological causes of diabetes, lets look more closely at the physiological processes that takes place as these genetic flaws push the body towards diabetes.
Insulin Resistance Develops in Thin Children of People with Type 2 Diabetes
Lab research has come up with some other intriguing findings that challenge the idea that obesity causes insulin resistance which causes diabetes. Instead, it looks like the opposite happens: Insulin resistance precedes the development of obesity.
One of these studies took two groups of thin subjects with normal blood sugar who were evenly matched for height and weight. The two groups differed only in that one group had close relatives who had developed Type 2 Diabetes, and hence, if there were a genetic component to the disorder, they were more likely to have it. The other group had no relatives with Type 2 Diabetes. The researchers then and examined the subjects’ glucose and insulin levels during a glucose tolerance test and calculated their insulin resistance. They found that the thin relatives of the people with Type 2 Diabetes already had much more insulin resistance than did the thin people with no relatives with diabetes.
This result was echoed by a second study published in November of 2009.
That study compared detailed measurements of insulin secretion and resistance in 187 offspring of people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes against 509 controls. Subjects were matched with controls for age, gender and BMI. It concluded:
The first-degree offspring of type 2 diabetic patients show insulin resistance and beta cell dysfunction in response to oral glucose challenge. Beta cell impairment exists in insulin-sensitive offspring of patients with type 2 diabetes, suggesting beta cell dysfunction to be a major defect determining diabetes development in diabetic offspring.
Mitochondrial Dysfunction is Found in Lean Relatives of People with Type 2 Diabetes
One reason insulin resistance might precede obesity was explained by a landmark 2004 study which looked at the cells of the “healthy, young, lean” but insulin-resistant relatives of people with Type 2 Diabetes and found that their mitochondria, the “power plant of the cells” that is the part of the cell that burns glucose, appeared to have a defect. While the mitochondria of people with no relatives with diabetes burned glucose well, the mitochondria of the people with an inherited genetic predisposition to diabetes were not able to burn off glucose as efficiently, but instead caused the glucose they could not burn and to be stored in the cells as fat.
More Evidence that Abnormal Insulin Resistance Precedes Weight Gain and Probably Causes It
A study done by the same researchers at Yale University School of Medicine who discovered the mitochondrial problem we just discussed was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) in July 2007. It reports on a study that compared energy usage by lean people who were insulin resistant and lean people who were insulin sensitive.
Using new imaging technologies, the researchers found that lean but insulin resistant subjects converted glucose from high carbohydrate meals into triglycerides–i.e. fat. Lean insulin-sensitive subjects, in contrast, stored the same glucose in the form of muscle and liver glycogen.
The researchers conclude that:
the insulin resistance, in these young, lean, insulin resistant individuals, was independent of abdominal obesity and circulating plasma adipocytokines, suggesting that these abnormalities develop later in the development of the metabolic syndrome.”
In short, obesity looked to be a result, not a cause of the metabolic flaw that led these people to store carbohydrate they ate in the form of fat rather than burn it for energy.
The researchers suggested controlling insulin resistance with exercise. It would also be a good idea for people who are insulin resistant, or have a family history of Type 2 Diabetes to cut back on their carb intake, knowing that the glucose from the carbs they eat is more likely to turn into fat.
Beta Cells Fail to Reproduce in People with Diabetes
A study of pancreas autopsies that compared the pancreases of thin and fat people with diabetes with those of thin and fat normal people found that fat, insulin-resistant people who did not develop diabetes apparently were able to grow new beta-cells to produce the extra insulin they needed. In contrast, the beta cells of people who developed diabetes were unable to reproduce. This failure was independent of their weight.
As reported in Diabetes in Control (which had access to the full text of the study)
The research team identified a “fat-burning” gene, the products of which are required to maintain the cells insulin sensitivity. They also discovered that this gene is reduced in muscle tissue from people with high blood sugar and type 2-diabetes. In the absence of the enzyme that is made by this gene, muscles have reduced insulin sensitivity, impaired fat burning ability, which leads to an increased risk of developing obesity.
“The expression of this gene is reduced when blood sugar rises, but activity can be restored if blood sugar is controlled by pharmacological treatment or exercise”, says Professor Juleen Zierath. “Our results underscore the importance of tight regulation of blood sugar for people with diabetes.”
In short, once your blood sugar rises past a certain point, you become much more insulin resistant. This, in turn, pushes up your blood sugar more.
A New Model For How Diabetes Develops
These research findings open up a new way of understanding the relationship between obesity and diabetes.
Perhaps people with the genetic condition underlying Type 2 Diabetes inherit a defect in the beta cells that make those cells unable to reproduce normally to replace cells damaged by the normal wear and tear of life.Or perhaps exposure to an environmental toxin damages the related genes.
Perhaps, too, a defect in the way that their cells burn glucose inclines them to turn excess blood sugar into fat rather than burning it off as a person with normal mitochondria might do.
Put these facts together and you suddenly get a fatal combination that is almost guaranteed to make a person fat.
Studies have shown that blood sugars only slightly over 100 mg/dl are high enough to render beta cells dysfunctional.
In a normal person who had the ability to grow new beta cells, any damaged beta cells would be replaced by new ones, which would keep the blood sugar at levels low enough to avoid further damage. But the beta cells of a person with a genetic heritage of diabetes are unable to reproduce So once blood sugars started to rise, more beta cells would succumb to the resulting glucose toxicity, and that would, in turn raise blood sugar higher.
As the concentration of glucose in their blood rose, these people would not be able to do what a normal person does with excess blood sugar–which is to burn it for energy. Instead their defective mitochondria will cause the excess glucose to be stored as fat. As this fat gets stored in the muscles it causes the insulin resistance so often observed in people with diabetes–long before the individual begins to gain visible weight. This insulin resistance puts a further strain on the remaining beta cells by making the person’s cells less sensitive to insulin. Since the person with an inherited tendency to diabetes’ pancreas can’t grow the extra beta cells that a normal person could grow when their cells become insulin resistant this leads to ever escalating blood sugars which further damage the insulin-producing cells, and end up in the inevitable decline into diabetes.
Low Fat Diets Promote the Deterioration that Leads to Diabetes in People with the Genetic Predisposition
In the past two decades, when people who were headed towards diabetes begin to gain weight, they were advised to eat a low fat diet. Unfortunately, this low fat diet is also a high carbohydrate diet–one that exacerbates blood sugar problems by raising blood sugars dangerously high, destroying more insulin-producing beta-cells, and catalyzing the storage of more fat in the muscles of people with dysfunctional mitochondria. Though they may have stuck to diets to low fat for weeks or even months these people were tormented by relentless hunger and when they finally went off their ineffective diets, they got fatter. Unfortunately, when they reported these experiences to their doctors, they were almost universally accused of lying about their eating habits.
It has only been documented in medical research during the past two years that that many patients who have found it impossible to lose weight on the low fat high carbohydrate can lose weight–often dramatically–on a low carbohydrate diet while improving rather than harming their blood lipids.
The low carb diet does two things. By limiting carbohydrate, it limits the concentration of blood glucose which often is enough to bring moderately elevated blood sugars down to normal or near normal levels. This means that there will be little excess glucose left to be converted to fat and stored.
It also gets around the mitochondrial defect in processing glucose by keeping blood sugars low so that the body switches into a mode where it burns ketones rather than glucose for muscle fuel.
Relentless Hunger Results from Roller Coaster Blood Sugars
There is one last reason why you may believe that obesity caused your diabetes, when, in fact, it was undiagnosed diabetes that caused your obesity.
Long before a person develops diabetes, they go through a phase where they have what doctors called “impaired glucose tolerance.” This means that after they eat a meal containing carbohydrates, their blood sugar rockets up and may stay high for an hour or two before dropping back to a normal level.
What most people don’t know is that when blood sugar moves swiftly up or down most people will experience intense hunger. The reasons for this are not completely clear. But what is certain is that this intense hunger caused by blood sugar swings can develop years before a person’s blood sugar reaches the level where they’ll be diagnosed as diabetic.
This relentless hunger, in fact, is often the very first diabetic symptom a person will experience, though most doctors do not recognize this hunger as a symptom. Instead, if you complain of experiencing intense hunger doctors may suggest you need an antidepressant or blame your weight gain, if you are female, on menopausal changes.
This relentless hunger caused by impaired glucose tolerance almost always leads to significant weight gain and an increase in insulin resistance. However, because it can take ten years between the time your blood sugar begins to rise steeply after meals and the time when your fasting blood sugar is abnormal enough for you to be diagnosed with diabetes, most people are, indeed, very fat at the time of diagnosis.
With better diagnosis of diabetes (discussed here) we would be able to catch early diabetes before people gained the enormous amounts of weight now believed to cause the syndrome. But at least now people with diabetic relatives who are at risk for developing diabetes can go a long way towards preventing the development of obesity by controlling their carbohydrate intake long before they begin to put on weight.
You CAN Undo the Damage
No matter what your genetic heritage or the environmental insults your genes have survived, you can take steps right now to lower your blood sugar, eliminate the secondary insulin resistance caused by high blood sugars, and start the process that leads back to health. The pages linked here will show you how.
In the last several decades there has been a transformation in the diet of Americans, and much debate about obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, and the transformation of medical practice to a greater emphasis on preventive medicine. This occurs at a time that the Western countries are experiencing a large portion of the obesity epidemic, which actually diverts attention from a larger share of malnutrition in parts of Africa, Asia, and to a greater extent in India. This does not mean that obesity or malnutrition is exclusively in any parts of the world. But there is a factor at play that involves social factors, poverty, education, cognition, anxiety, and eating behaviors, food preferences and food balance, and activities of daily living. The epidemic of obesity also involves the development of serious long term health problems, such as, type 2 diabetes mellitus, sarcopenia, fracture risk, pulmonary disease, sleep apnea in particular, and cardiovascular and stroke risk. Nevertheless, this generation of Western society is also experiencing a longer life span than its predecessors. In this article I shall explore the published work on diet and exercise.
‘‘Go4Life’’ exercise counseling, accelerometer feedback, and activity levels in older people
Older people are more sedentary than other age groups. We sought to determine if providing an accelerometer with feedback about activity and counseling older subjects using Go4Life educational material would increase activity levels. Participants were recruited from independent living areas within assisted living facilities and the general public in the Rochester, MN area. 49 persons aged 65–95(79.5 + 7.0 years) who were ambulatory but sedentary and overweight participated in this randomized controlled crossover trial for one year. After a baseline period of 2 weeks, group 1 received an accelerometer and counseling using Go4Life educational material (www.Go4Life.nia.nih.gov) for 24 weeks and accelerometer alone for the next 24 weeks. Group 2 had no intervention for the first 24 weeks and then received an accelerometer and Go4Life based counseling for 24 weeks. There were no significant baseline differences between the two groups. The intervention was not associated with a significant change inactivity, body weight, % body fat, or blood parameters (p > 0.05). Older (80–93) subjects were less active than younger (65–79) subjects (p = 0.003). Over the course of the 48 week study, an increase in activity level was associated with a decline in % body fat (p = 0.008). Increasing activity levels benefits older patients. However, providing an accelerometer and a Go4Life based exercise counseling program did not result in a 15% improvement in activity levels in this elderly population. Alternate approaches to exercise counseling may be needed in elderly people of this age range.
It is generally recommended that older adults be moderately or vigorously active for 150 min each week. A systematic review demonstrated that only 20–60% of older people are achieving this goal. These studies determined adherence to physical activity recommendations by questionnaire. Using NHANES data, it has been demonstrated that older people meet activity recommendations 62% of the time using a self-report questionnaire compared to 9.6% of the time when measured by accelerometry. Thus, objective measures suggest that older people are falling even more short of the goal than previously thought. Most studies have measured moderate and vigorous activity. However, light activity or NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) also has an important effect on health. For example, increased energy expenditure was associated with lower mortality in community-dwelling older adults. More than half of the extra energy expenditure in the high energy expenditure group came from non-exercise (light) activity. In addition to reduced total mortality, increased light and moderate activity has been associated with better cognitive function, reduced fracture rate (Gregg et al., 1998), less cardiovascular disease, and weight loss in older people. A meta-analysis of middle-aged and older adults has demonstrated greater all-cause mortality with increased sitting time. Thus, any strategy which can increase activity (whether light or more vigorous) has the potential to save lives and improve quality of life for older adults. A variety of devices have been used to measure physical activity.
A tri-axial accelerometer measures movement in three dimensions. Studies comparing tri-axial accelerometers with uniaxial accelerometers and pedometers demonstrate that only certain tri-axial accelerometers provide a reliable assessment of energy expenditure. This is usually due to failure to detect light activity. Since light activity accounts for a substantial portion of older people’s energy expenditure, measuring activity with a questionnaire or measuring steps with a pedometer do not provide an accurate reflection of activity in older people.
A recent review concluded that there is only weak evidence that physical activity can be improved. Since increasing both light and moderate activity benefit older people, studies demonstrating that physical activity can be improved are urgently needed. Since accelerometry is the best way to accurately assess light activity, we performed a study to determine if an activity counseling program and using an accelerometer which gives feedback on physical activity, can result in an increase in light and moderate activity in older people. We also sought to determine whether counseling and accelerometer feedback would result in weight loss, change in % body fat, glucose, hemoglobin A1c, insulin, and fasting lipid profile.
The main results of the study are both the experimental and control group lost weight (about 1 kg) at 6months (p = 0.04 and 0.02, respectively). The experimental group was less active at 6 months but not significantly while the control group was significantly less active at 6 months (p = 0.006) than at baseline. The experimental group had a modest decline in cholesterol (p = 0.03) and an improvement in Get Up & go time (p = 0.03) while the control group had a slight improvement in HgbA1c (p = 0.01). However, the main finding of the study was that there were no differences between the two groups on any of these variables. Thus, providing this group of older participants with an accelerometer and Go4Life based counseling resulted in no increase in physical activity, weight loss or change in glucose, lipids, blood pressure, or body fat. There were no differences within either group or between groups from 6 to 12 months on any of the variables (data not shown). While age was correlated with baseline activity, it did not affect activity change indicating that younger participants did not respond to the program better than older participants. Performance on the Get Up and Go test and season of the year did not influence the change in activity. There were no differences in physical activity levels at 3 or 9 months.
There was a significant correlation (r = -0.38, p = 0.006) between change in activity and change in body fat over the course of the study. Those subjects (whether in the experimental or control group) who increased their activity over the course of the year were likely to have a decline in % body fat over the year while those whose activity declined were likely to have increased %body fat. There was no correlation between change in activity and any of the other parameters including weight and waist circumference (data not shown).
Older adults are the fastest growing segment of the population in the US, but few meet the minimum recommended 30 min of moderate activity on 5 days or more per week (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2002). Our study found that within the geriatric population, activity declines as people age. We saw a 2.4% decline per year cross-sectionally. This finding agrees with a recent cohort study (Bachman et al., 2014). In that study, the annual decline accelerated with increasing age. Thus, there is a need to increase activity particularly in the oldest age groups. The United States Preventive Services Task Force concluded that the evidence that counseling improves physical activity is weak (Moyer and US Preventive Services Task Force, 2012). The American Heart Association reached similar conclusions (Artinian et al., 2010). Thus, new ways of counseling older patients to counter the natural decline in activity with age are urgently needed.
Applying health behavior theory to multiple behavior change: Considerations and approaches
Background.There has been a dearth of theorizing in the area of multiple behavior change. The purpose of the current article was to examine how health behavior theory might be applied to the growing research terrain of multiple behavior change. Methods. Three approaches to applying health behavior theory to multiple behavior change are advanced, including searching the literature for potential examples of such applications. Results. These three approaches to multiple behavior change include
(1) a behavior change principles approach;
(2) a global health/behavioral category approach, and
(3) a multiple behavioral approach.
Each approach is discussed and explicated and examples from this emerging literature are provided. Conclusions. Further study in this area has the potential to broaden our understanding of multiple behaviors and multiple behavior change. Implications for additional theory-testing and application of theory to interventions are discussed.
Many of the leading causes of death in the United States are behavior-related and thus preventable. While a number of health behaviors are a concern individually, increasingly the impact of multiple behavioral risks is being appreciated. As newer initiatives funded by the National Institutes of Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation begin to stimulate research in this important area, a critical question emerges: How can we understand multiple health behavior change from a theoretical standpoint? While multiple behavior change interventions are beginning to be developed and evaluated, to date there have been few efforts to garner a theory-based understanding of the process of multiple health behavior change. Given that so little theoretical work currently exists in this area, our main purpose is to advance the conversation on how health behavior theory can help us to achieve a greater understanding of multiple behavior change. The approaches discussed have implications for both theory-testing as well as intervention design.
A critical question that must be asked, is whether there is a common set of principles of health behavior change that transcend individual health behaviors. This is an area where much data already exists, as health behavior theories have been tested across numerous health behaviors.The integration of findings from studies across diverse behavioral areas, is not what it could be. Godin and Kok (1996) reviewed studies of the TPB applied to numerous health-related behaviors. Across seven categories of health behaviors, they found TPB components to offer similar prediction of intention but inconsistent prediction of behavior.They concluded that the nature of differing health behaviors may require additional constructs to be added to the TPB, such as actual (versus perceived) behavioral control. Prochaska et al. (1994) examined decisional balance across stages of change for 12 health-related behaviors. Similar patterns were found across nearly all of these health behaviors, with the “pros” of changing generally increasing across the stages, the “cons” decreasing, and a pro/con crossover occurring in the contemplation or preparation stages of change. Prochaska et al. (1994) concluded that clear commonalties exist across these differing health behaviors which were examined in differing samples. Finally, Rosen (2000) examined change processes from the TTM across six behavioral categories, examining whether the trajectory of change processes is similar or different across stages of change in those health areas. He found that for smoking cessation, cognitive change processes were used more in earlier stages of change than behavioral processes, while for physical activity and dietary change, both categories of change processes increased together.
A second approach is the following: Rather than applying theoretical concepts to specific behaviors, such concepts might be applied at the general or global level. A general orientation toward health may not lead directly to specific health behaviors, but it may increase the chances of particular health-related attitudes, which may in turn lead to specific health behaviors. In fact, although Ajzen and Timko (1986) found general health attitudes to be poor predictors of behavior, such attitudes were significantly related to specific health attitudes and perceived behavioral control over specific behaviors. It is likely that when we consider multiple behaviors that we may discover an entire network of health attitudes and beliefs that are interrelated. In fact, studies of single behaviors essentially take those behaviors out of the multi-attitude and multi-behavioral context in which they are embedded. For instance, although attitudes toward walking may be a better predictor of walking behavior than attitudes toward physical activity, walking behavior is part of a larger “physical activity” behavioral category. While predicting that particular behavior may be best served by the specific measure, the larger category is both relevant and of interest. Thus, it may be that there are higher order constructs to be understood here.
A third approach is a multiple behavioral approach, or one which focuses on the linkages among health behaviors. It shares some similarities to the approach just described. Here the focus is more strictly on how particular interventions were superior to comparison groups for 21 of 41 (51%) studies (3 physical activity, 7 diet, 11 weight loss/physical activity and diet). Twenty-four studies had indeterminate results, and in four studies the comparison conditions outperformed eHealth interventions. Conclusions: Published studies of eHealth interventions for physical activity and dietary behavior change are in their infancy. Results indicated mixed findings related to the effectiveness of eHealth interventions. Interventions that feature interactive technologies need to be refined and more rigorously evaluated to fully determine their potential as tools to facilitate health behavior change.
A prospective evaluation of the Transtheoretical Model of Change applied to exercise in young people
Objectives:To investigate the utility of the Transtheoretical Model of Change in predicting exercise in young people. Design: A prospective study: assessments were done at baseline and follow-up 6 months later. Method: Using stratified random sampling 1055 Chinese high school pupils living in Hong Kong, 533 of who were followed up at 6 months, completed measures of stage of change (SCQ), self-efficacy (SEQ), perceptions of the pros and cons of exercising (DBQ) and processes of change (PCQ). Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, repeated measures ANOVA and independent sample t tests. Results:The utility of the TTM to predict exercise in this population is not strong; increases in self-efficacy and decisional balance discriminated between those remaining active at baseline and follow-up, but not in changing from an inactive (e.g.,Precontemplation or Contemplation) to an active state (e.g.,Maintenance) as one would anticipate given the staging algorithm of the TTM. Conclusion:The TTM is a modest predictor of future stage of change for exercise in young Chinese people. Where there is evidence that TTM variables may shape movement over time, self-efficacy, pros and behavioral processes of change appear to be the strongest predictors
A retrospective study on changes in residents’ physical activities, social interactions, and neighborhood cohesion after moving to a walkable community
Objective. This study is to examine changes in residents’ physical activities, social interactions, andneighbor-hood cohesion after they moved to a walkable community in Austin, Texas. Methods. Retrospective surveys (N=449) were administered in 2013–2014 to collect pre-and post-move data about the outcome variables and relevant personal, social, and physical environmental factors. Walkability of each resident’s pre-move community was measured using the Walk Score. T tests were used to examine the pre–post move differences in the outcomes in the whole sample and across subgroups with different physical activity levels, neighborhood conditions, and neighborhood preferences before the move. Results. After the move, total physical activity increased significantly in the whole sample and all subgroups except those who were previously sufficiently active; lived in communities with high walkability, social interactions, or neighborhood cohesion; or had moderate preference for walkable neighborhoods. Walking in the community increased in the whole sample and all subgroups except those who were previously sufficiently active, moved from high-walkability communities, or had little to no preference for walkable neighborhoods. Social interactions and neighborhood cohesion increased significantly after the move in the whole sample and all subgroups. Conclusion.This study explored potential health benefits of a walkable community in promoting physically and socially active lifestyles, especially for populations at higher risk of obesity. The initial result is promising, suggesting the need for more work to further examine the relationships between health and community design using pre–post assessments.
Application of the transtheoretical model to identify psychological constructs influencing exercise behavior: A questionnaire survey
Background: Current research on exercise behavior has largely been attempted to identify the relationship between psychological attributes and the initiation or adherence of exercise behavior based on psychological theories. A limited data are available on the psychological predictors of exercise behavior in public health. Objectives: The present study examined the theorized association of TTM of behavior change constructs by stage of change for exercise behavior. Methods: A total of 228 college students selected from 2 universities in Seoul were surveyed. Four Korean-version questionnaires were used to identify the stage of exercise behavior and psychological attributes of adolescents. Data were analyzed by frequency analysis, MANOVA, correlation analysis, and discriminant function analysis. Results: Multivariate F-test indicated that behavioral and cognitive processes of change, exercise efficacy, and pros differentiated participants across the stages of exercise behavior. Furthermore, exercise behavior was significantly correlated with the TTM constructs, and that overall classification accuracy across the stages of change was 61.0%. Conclusions:The present study supports the internal and external validity of the Transtheoretical Model for explaining exercise behavior. As this study highlights, dissemination must increase awareness but also influences perceptions regarding theoretically based and practically important exercise strategies for public health professionals.
Does more education lead to better health habits? Evidence from the school reforms in Australia?
The current study provides new empirical evidence on the causal effect of education on health-related behaviors by exploiting historical changes in the compulsory schooling laws in Australia. Since World War II, Australian states increased the minimum school leaving age from 14 to 15 in different years. Using differences in the laws regarding minimum school leaving age across different cohorts and across different states as a source of exogenous variation in education, we show that more education improves people’s diets and their tendency to engage in more regular exercise and drinking moderately, but not necessarily their tendency to avoid smoking and to engage in more preventive health checks. The improvements in health behaviors are also reflected in the estimated positive effect of education on some health outcomes. Our results are robust to alternative measures of education and different estimation methods.
We are all familiar with the conundrum of diet and cholesterol. As previously described, cholesterol is made by the liver. It is the backbone for the synthesis of sex hormones, corticosteroids, bile, and vitamin D. It is also under regulatory control, and that is not fully worked out, but it has health consequences. The liver is a synthetic organ that is involved with glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, cholesterol synthesis, and unlike the heart and skeletal muscles – which are energy transducers – the liver is anabolic, largely dependent on NADPH. The mitochondria, which are associated with aerobic metabolism, respiration, are also rich in the liver. The other part of this story is the utilization of lipids synthesized by the liver in the vascular endothelium. The vascular endothelium takes up and utilizes/transforms cholesterol, which is involved in the degenerative development of pathogenic plaque. Plaque is associated with vascular rigidity, rupture and hemorrhage, essential in myocardial inmfarction. What about steroid hormones? There is some evidence that sex hormone differences may be a factor in coronary vascular disease and cardiac dysfunction. The evidence that exercise is beneficial is well established, but acute coronary events can occur during exercise. WE need food, and food is at the center of the discussion – diet and cholesterol. The utilization of food varies regionally, and is dependent on habitat. But it is also strongly influence by culture. We explore this further in what follows.
A high fat, high cholesterol diet leads to changes in metabolite patterns in pigs – A metabolomic study
Non-targeted metabolite profiling can identify biological markers of dietary exposure that lead to a better understanding of interactions between diet and health. In this study, pigs were used as an animal model to discover changes in metabolic profiles between regular basal and high fat/high cholesterol diets. Extracts of plasma, fecal and urine samples from pigs fed high fat or basal regular diets for 11 weeks were analysed using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC–HRMS) and chemometric analysis. Cloud plots from XCMS online were used for class separation of the most discriminatory metabolites. The major metabolites contributing to the discrimination were identified as bile acids (BAs), lipid metabolites, fatty acids, amino acids and phosphatidic acid (PAs), phosphatidylglycerol (PGs), glycerophospholipids (PI), phosphatidylcholines (PCs) and tripeptides. These results suggest the developed approach can be used to identify biomarkers associated with specific feeding diets and possible metabolic disorders related to diet.
Nutritional metabolomics is a rapidly developing sub-branch of metabolomics, used to profile small-molecules to support integration of diet and nutrition in complex bio-systems research. Recently, the concept of ‘‘food metabolome’’ was introduced and defined as all metabolites derived from food products. Chemical components in foods are absorbed either directly or after digestion, undergo extensive metabolic modification in the gastrointestinal tract and liver and then appear in the urine and feces as final metabolic products. It is well known that diet has a close relationship with the long-term health and well-being of individuals. Hence, investigation of the ‘‘food metabolome’’ in biological samples, after feeding specific diets, has the potential to give objective information about the short- and long-term dietary intake of individuals, and to identify potential biomarkers of certain dietary patterns. Previous studies have identified potential biomarkers after consumption of specific fruits, vegetables, cocoa, and juices. More metabolites were revealed by using metabolomic approaches compared with the detection of pre-defined chemicals found in those foods.
Eating a high-fat and high cholesterol diet is strongly associated with conditions of obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, that are increasingly recognized as worldwide health concerns. For example, a high fat diet is a major risk factor for childhood obesity, cardiovascular diseases and hyperlipidemia. Little is known on the extent to which changes in nutrient content of the human diet elicit changes in metabolic profiles. There are several reports of metabolomic profiling studies on plasma, serum, urine and liver from high fat-diet induced obese mice, rats and humans. Several potential biomarkers of obesity and related diseases, including lysophosphatidylcholines (lysoPCs), fatty acids and branched-amino acids (BCAAs) have been reported.
To model the metabolite response to diet in humans, pigs were fed a high fat diet for 11 weeks and the metabolite profiles in plasma, urine and feces were analyzed. Non-targeted ultra high performance liquid chromatography tandem with high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC–MS) was utilized for metabolomics profiling. Bile acids (BAs), lipid metabolites, fatty acids, amino acids and phosphatidic acid (PAs), phosphatidylglycerol (PGs), glycerophospholipids (PI), phosphatidylcholines (PCs), tripeptides and isoflavone conjugates were found to be the final dietary metabolites that differentiated pigs fed a high-fat and high cholesterol diet versus a basal diet. The results of this study illustrate the capacity of this metabolomic profiling approach to identify new metabolites and to recognize different metabolic patterns associated with diet.
Body weight, cholesterol and triglycerides were measured for all the pigs studied. There was no significant body weight gain between pigs fed diet A and diet B after 11 weeks of treatment. The serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels were significantly higher in pigs fed with diet B compared with the control group at the end of experiment.
Plasma, urine and fecal samples were analyzed in both positive and negative ionization mode. To obtain reliable and high-quality metabolomic data, a pooled sample was used as a quality control (QC) sample to monitor the run. The QC sample (a composite of equal volume from 10 real samples) was processed as real samples and placed in the sample queue to monitor the stability of the system. All the samples were submitted in random for analysis. The quantitative variation of the ion features across the QC samples was less than 15%. The ion features from each possible metabolite were annotated by XCMS online to confirm the possible fragment ions, isotopic ions and possible adduct ions. The reproducibility of the chromatography was determined by the retention time variation profiles that were generated by XCMS. The retention time deviation was less than 0.3 min for plasma samples, less than 0.3 min for fecal samples, and less than 0.2 min for urine samples, respectively. On the basis of these results of data quality assessment, the differences between the test samples from different pigs proved more likely to reflect varied metabolite profiles rather than analytical variation. The multivariate analysis results from the QC sample showed the deviation of the analytical system was acceptable.
Good separation can be observed between pigs on the two diets, which is also reflected in the goodness of prediction (Q2), of 0.64 using data from the positive ionization mode. For negative ionization mode data, better separation appears with a Q2of 0.73.
Cloud plot is a new multidimensional data visualization method for global metabolomic data (Patti et al., 2013). Data characteristics, such as the p-value, fold change, retention time, mass-to-charge ratio and signal intensity of features, can be presented simultaneously using the cloud plot. In this study, the cloud plot was used to illustrate the ion features causing the group separation. In Fig. 2 and 82 features with p < 0.05 and fold change >2, including visualisation of the p-value, the directional fold change, the retention time and the mass to charge ratio of features, are shown. Also, the total ion chromato-grams for each sample were shown. The upper panel in (2A) shows the chromatograms of plasma samples from pigs fed the high fat diet, while the lower panel shows the chromatograms of samples from pigs fed the regular diet. Features whose intensity is increased are shown in green, whereas features whose intensity is decreased are shown in pink (2A). The size of each bubble corresponds to the log fold change of the feature: the larger the bubble, the larger the fold changes. The statistical significance of the fold change, as calculated by a Welch t-test with unequal variances, is represented by the intensity of the feature’s color where features with low p-values are brighter compared to features with high p-values. The Y coordinate for each feature corresponds to the mass-to-charge ratio of the compound, as determined by mass spectrometry. Each feature is also color coded, such as features that are shown with a black outline have database hits in METLIN, whereas features shown without a black outline do not have any database hits.
From the cloud plot (Fig. 2A), 82 discriminating ion features from positive data and 48 discriminating ions features from negative data were considered as of great importance for class separation. After filtering out the fragment ions, isotope annotations, and adduct ions, thirty-one metabolites were tentatively assigned using a Metlin library search (Table S4).
Among the assigned metabolites detected, five of the highest abundant metabolites were identified as bile acid and bile acid conjugates (Fig. 2B). This series of compounds shared the following characteristics; the unconjugated bile acids showed [M-H]– ion as base peak in the negative mode.
The characteristic consistent with bile acid hyodeoxycholic acid (HDCA) was confirmed with a reference standard. For the conjugated bile acids (usually with glycine and taurine), the [M-H]– and [M+H]+ are always observed as the base peaks. For example, the ion feature m/z 448.3065 at 21.18 min was identified as chenodeoxycholic acid glycine conjugate. The neutral loss of 62 amu (H2O + CO2) was considered as a characteristic fragmentation pathway for bile acid glycine conjugates. This above mentioned characteristic can easily identify a series of bile acids compounds. The five metabolite ions detected in plasma were significantly different between pigs fed the high fat diet (Fig. 2B, red bars) and regular diet (Fig. 2B, blue bars) for 11 weeks, and were identified as chenodeoxycholic acid glycine conjugate, tauroursodeoxycholic acid, hyodeoxycholic acid, deoxycholic acid glycine conjugate and glycocholic acid; chenodeoxycholic acid glycine and hyodeoxycholic acid.
Figures 1-4 , not shown.
Fig 1. The PCA score plot of plasma (A) (+)ESI data with all the ion features; (B) (+)ESI data with selected ion features; (C) (-)ESI data with all ion features; (D) (-)ESI data with selected ion features. Samples were taken from pigs fed diet A (BS, blue) and diet B (HF, red). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
Fig 2. Cloud plot showing 82 discriminatory ion features (negative ion data) in plasma, and (B) box-plot of data set of the five most abundant bile acids identified in plasma (negative ion data) samples.
Fig. 3. PCA score plot of fecal samples from pigs fed diet A (BS, blue) and diet B (HF, red) (A) week 0, (B) week 2, (C) week 4 (D) week 6, (E) week 11 for distal samples (F) week 11 for proximal colon samples. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
Fig. 4. PCA and PLS-DA score plot of urine samples from (+)ESI-data (A and C) and (-)ESI-data (B and D) taken at the end of the study (week 11) from pigs fed diet A (BS, blue) and diet B (HF, red). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
Plasma, fecal and urine metabolites from pigs fed either a high fat or regular diet were investigated using a UHPLC–HRMS based metabolomic approach. Their metabolic profiles were compared by multivariate statistical analysis.
Diet is logically believed to have a close relationship with metabolic profiles. Feeding a high fat and high cholesterol diet to pigs for 11 weeks resulted in
an increase in bile acids and their derivatives in plasma, fecal and urine samples, though at this stage, there was no significant weight gain observed.
In a previous study, a significantly higher level of muricholic acid, but not cholic acid, was found in pigs fed a high fat diet. The gut microbiota of these pigs were altered by diet and considered to regulate bile acid metabolism by reducing the levels of tauro-beta-muricholic acid. In our study, the unconjugated bile acids, hyodeoxycholic acid and deoxycholic acid were found to be significantly higher in the fecal samples of pigs fed a high-fat diet.
Chenodeoxycholic acid glycine was 8.6 times higher in pigs fed a high fat and high cholesterol diet compared to those fed a regular diet. These results confirm that feeding a high fat and high cholesterol diet leads to a changing metabolomic pattern over time, represented by excretion of certain bile acids in the feces. We also found that several metabolites associated with lipid metabolism were increased in the feces of pigs fed the high-fat diet. Feeding the high fat diet to pigs for 11 weeks did not induce any overt expression of disease, except for significantly higher levels of circulating cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood. It is likely, however, that longer periods of feeding would increase expression of metabolic syndrome disorders and features of cardiovascular disease in pigs, as have been previously demonstrated. Products of lipid metabolism that changed early in the dietary treatment could be useful as biomarkers. This may be important because the composition of the fats in the diet, used in this study, was complex and from multiple sources including lard, soybean oil and coconut oil.
In summary, a number of metabolite differences were detected in the plasma, urine and feces of pigs fed a high fat and high cholesterol diet versus a regular diet that significantly increased over time. PCA showed a clear separation of metabolites in all biological samples tested from pigs fed the different diets. This methodology could be used to associate metabolic profiles with early markers of disease expression or the responsiveness of metabolic profiles to alterations in the diet. The ability to identify metabolites from bio-fluids, feces, and tissues that change with alterations in the diet has the potential to identify new biomarkers and to better understand mechanisms related to diet and health.
Amino acid, mineral, and polyphenolic profiles of black vinegar, and its lipid lowering and antioxidant effects in vivo
Black vinegar (BV) contains abundant essential and hydrophobic amino acids, and polyphenolic contents, especially catechin and chlorogenic acid via chemical analyses. K and Mg are the major minerals in BV, and Ca, Fe, Mn, and Se are also measured. After a 9-week experiment, high-fat/cholesterol-diet (HFCD) fed hamsters had higher (p < 0.05) weight gains, relative visceral-fat sizes, serum/liver lipids, and serum cardiac indices than low-fat/cholesterol diet (LFCD) fed ones, but BV supplementation decreased (p < 0.05) them which may resulted from the higher (p < 0.05) fecal TAG and TC contents. Serum ALT value, and hepatic thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and hepatic TNF-α and IL-1β contents in HFCD-fed hamsters were reduced (p < 0.05) by supplementing BV due to increased (p < 0.05) hepatic glutathione (GSH) and trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) levels, and catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities. Taken together, the component profiles of BV contributed the lipid lowering and antioxidant effects on HFCD fed hamsters.
World Health Organization (WHO) reported that more than 1.4 billion adults were overweight (WHO, 2013). As we know, imbalanced fat or excess energy intake is one of the most important environmental factors resulted in not only increased serum/liver lipids but also oxidative stress, further leading cardiovascular disorders and inflammatory responses. Food scientists strive to improve serum lipid profile and increase serum antioxidant capacity via medical foods or functional supplementation.
Vinegar is not only used as an acidic seasoning but also is shown to have some beneficial effects, such as digestive, appetite stimulation, antioxidant, exhaustion recovering effects, lipid lowering effects, and regulations of blood pressure. Polyphenols exist in several food categories, such as vegetable, fruits, tea, wine, juice, and vinegar that have effects against lipid peroxidation, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, inflammation, DNA damage, and. Black vinegar (BV) (Kurosu) is produced from unpolished rice with rice germ and bran through a stationary surface fermentation and contains higher amounts of amino acids and organic acids than other vinegars. Black vinegar is also characterised as a health food rather than only an acidic seasoning because it was reported to own a DPPH radical scavenging ability and decrease the adipocyte size in rat models. Moreover, the extract of BV shows the highest radical scavenging activity in a DPPH radical system than rice, grain, apple, and wine vinegars. The extract suppresses increased lipid peroxidation in mouse skin treated with 12-o-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate.
This study focused on the nutritional compositions in BV, and the in-vivo lipid lowering and antioxidant effects. First, the amino acid, mineral, and polyphenolic profile of BV were identified. Hypolipidemic hamsters induced by a high-fat/cholesterol diet (HFCD) were orally administered with different doses of BV. Serum lipid profile and liver damage indices liver and fecal lipid contents, as well as hepatic antioxidant capacities [thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), glutathione (GSH), trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx)] and hepatic cytokine levels were assayed to demonstrated physiological functions of BV.
Higher serum AST, ALT, and free fatty acids, as well as hepatic cholesterol, triacylglycerol, MDA, hydroperoxide, and cytokine (IL-1β and TNF-α) levels were easily observed in a high-fat-consumption rodent. Several reports indicated some amino acids antioxidant activities in vitro and in vivo. Acidic amino acids, such as Asp and Glu and hydrophobic amino acids, such as Ile, Leu, and Val display high antioxidant properties. Recently, an in vivo study indicated that a pepsin hydrolyzation significantly enhanced Asp, Glu, Leu, and Val contents in chicken livers; meanwhile, chicken-liver hydrolysates showed an antioxidant capacity in brain and liver of D-galactose treated mice. In addition, it was also reported that Mg and Se play important roles in SOD and GPx activities, respectively. Uzun and Kalender (2013) used chlorpyrifos, an organophosphorus insecticide, to induce hepatotoxic and hematologic changes in rats, but they observed that catechin can attenuate the chlorpyrifos-induced hepatotoxicity by increasing GPx and glutathione-S-transferase activities and decreasing MDA contents. Meanwhile, chlorogenic acid elevated SOD, CAT, and GPx activities with concomitantly decreased lipid peroxidation of liver and kidney in streptozotocin-nicotinamide induced type-2 diabetic rats. Hence, it is reasonable to assume that increased antioxidant capacities and decreased damage in livers of HFCD fed hamsters supplemented with BV should be highly related to the components, i.e. amino acid profile, mineral profile, and polyphenol contents, as well as the lowered liver lipid accumulations.
In analyses of amino acids, minerals and polyphenols, BV contained abundant essential amino acids and hydrophobic amino acids. Mg, K, Ca, Fe, Mn, and Se were measured in BV where K and Mg were major. Gallic acid, catechin, chlorogenic acid, p-hydroxybezoic acid, p-cumeric acid, ferulic acid, and sinapic acid were also identified in BV where catechin and chlorogenic acid were the majorities. Meanwhile, the lipid-lowering and antioxidant effects of BV were also investigated via a hamster model. BV supplementation apparently decreased weight gain (g and %), relative size of visceral fat, serum/liver TC levels, serum cardiac index, and hepatic TBARS values and damage indices (serum ALT and hepatic TNF-α and IL-1β) but increased fecal lipid contents and hepatic antioxidant capacities (GSH level, TEAC level, CAT activity, and GPx activity) in HFCD fed hamsters. To sum up, those benefits could be attributed to a synergetic effect of compounds in BV.
Analysis of pecan nut (Carya illinoinensis) unsaponifiable fraction – Effect of ripening stage on phytosterols and phytostanols composition
Changes in 4-desmethylsterol, 4-monomethylsterol, 4,4-dimethylsterol and phytostanol composition were quantitatively and qualitatively investigated during the ripening of three varieties of Tunisian grown pecan nuts. These components have many health benefits, especially in lowering LDL-cholesterol and preventing heart disease. The phytosterol composition of whole pecan kernel was quantified by Gas Chromatography–Flame Ionization Detection (GC–FID) and identified by Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS). Fifteen phytosterols and one phytostanol were quantified. The greatest amount of phytosterols (2852.5 mg/100 g of oil) was detected in Mahan variety at 20 weeks after the flowering date (WAFD). Moore had the highest level of phytostanols (7.3 mg/100 g of oil) at 20 WAFD. Phytosterol and phytostanol contents showed a steep decrease during pecan nut development. Results from the quantitative characterization of pecan nut oils revealed that β-sitosterol, D5-avenasterol, and campesterol were the most abundant phytosterol compounds at all ripening stages.
Association between HMW adiponectin, HMW-total adiponectin ratio and early-onset coronary artery disease in Chinese population
Objective: Adiponectin is an adipose-secreting protein that shows atheroprotective property and has inverse relation with coronary artery disease (CAD). High-molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin is reported as the active form of adiponectin. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the association between total adiponectin, HMW adiponectin, HMW-total adiponectin ratio and the severity of coronary atherosclerosis, and to compare their evaluative power for the risk of CAD. Methods: Serum levels of total and HMW adiponectin were measured in 382 early-onset CAD (EOCAD) patients and 305 matched controls undergoing coronary angiography by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Gensini score was used to evaluate the severity of coronary atherosclerosis. Results: CAD onset age was positively correlated with HMW adiponectin (r = 0.383, P < 0.001) and HMW-total adiponectin ratio (r = 0.429, P < 0.001) in EOCAD patients. Total and HMW adiponectin and HMW-total adiponectin ratio were all inversely correlated with Gensini score (r=0.417, r=0.637, r=0.578, respectively; all P < 0.001). Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis demonstrated that HMW adiponectin and HMW-total adiponectin ratio were both inversely correlated with the risk of CAD (P < 0.05). ROC analysis indicated that areas under the ROC curves of HMW adiponectin and HMW-total adiponectin ratio were larger than that of total adiponectin (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Adiponectin is cardioprotective against coronary atherosclerosis onset in EOCAD patients. HMW adiponectin and HMW-total adiponectin ratio show stronger negative associations with the severity of coronary atherosclerosis than total adiponectin does. HMW adiponectin and HMW-total adiponectin ratio are effective biomarkers for the risk of CAD in Chinese population.
Gender and age were well matched between patients and controls. EOCAD patients were tended to have a history of diabetes or hypertension, more current smoking, and more use of lipid lowering drugs. Levels of total cholesterol, LDL-c, FPG, HbA1c and triglycerides were significantly higher in the patients than in controls, while HDL-cholesterol, total adiponectin, HMW adiponectin, and HMW-total adiponectin ratio were significantly lower in the patients. EOCAD patients developed different degrees of coronary atherosclerosis, and had significantly higher levels of high-sensitivity CRP and larger circumferences of waist and hip than controls.
Spearman correlation coefficients between selected cardiovascular risk factors, Gensini score and adiponectin were significant. Total and HMW adiponectin and HMW-total adiponectin ratio were all inversely correlated with Gensini score, BMI and pack years of cigarette smoking. Total and HMW adiponectin were negatively associated with triglycerides and circumference of waist and hip. LDL-cholesterol and high-sensitivity CRP were inversely correlated with HMW adiponectin and HMW-total adiponectin ratio, while HDL-cholesterol and age were positively correlated with them. FPG was only inversely associated with HMW-total adiponectin ratio.
All participants were divided into four groups according to their Gensini score, group A (control, n = 305), group B (<20, n = 154), group C (20-40, n = 121) and group D (>40, n = 105). With the increasing of Gensini score, a stepwise downward trend was observed in levels of total and HMW adiponectin and HMW-total adiponectin ratio (P < 0.001). Specifically, total adiponectin of four groups were 1.58 (0.61-4.36) mg/ml, 1.21 (0.70-2.83) mg/ml, 1.00 (0.73-1.88) mg/ml, and 0.76 (0.37-1.19) mg/ml, respectively. Except group A with B and group B with C, the differences of pairwise comparisons among all the other groups were statistically significant (all P < 0.05). HMW adiponectin of four groups were 0.91 (0.39-3.26) mg/ml, 0.55 (0.32-1.49) mg/ml, 0.46 (0.21-0.876) mg/ml, and 0.23 (0.14-0.39) mg/ml, respectively. The differences of pairwise comparisons among all the other groups were statistically significant (all P < 0.05) except group B with C. HMW-total adiponectin ratio of four groups were 0.58 (0.31-0.81), 0.47 (0.26-0.69), 0.41 (0.24-0.57), and 0.36 (0.21-0.42), respectively. The differences of pairwise comparisons among all the other groups were statistically significant (all P < 0.05) except group B with C. In the model of multivariate binary logistic regression analysis, after adjustment for conventional cardiovascular risk factors, HMW adiponectin (OR = 0.234, P < 0.011) and HMW-total adiponectin ratio (OR = 0.138, P < 0.005) remained inversely correlated with the risk of CAD, while no significant association was observed between total adiponectin and CAD
Areas under the ROC curves were compared pairwise to identify the diagnostic power for CAD among total adiponectin, HMW adiponectin, and HMW-total adiponectin ratio. HMW adiponectin and HMW-total adiponectin ratio showed greater capability for identifying CAD than total adiponectin did (0.797 vs. 0.674, 0.806 vs. 0.674; respectively, all P < 0.05); however, no significant difference was observed between HMW and HMW-total ratio (P > 0.05).
Associations between total adiponectin, HMW adiponectin, HMW-total adiponectin ratio and the severity of coronary atherosclerosis in EOCAD patients (evaluated by Gensini score). *P < 0.05; **P < 0.001; ***P < 0.005 by Mann-Whitney U test.
Compares diagnostic power
Fig. Compares diagnostic power among total adiponectin, HMW adiponectin and HMW-total adiponectin ratio for CAD by ROC curves. Diagnostic power for CAD was based on discriminating patients with or without coronary atherosclerosis. The area under the curve for HMW-total adiponectin ratio (dotted black line) was larger than that for total adiponectin (fine black line) (0.806 [95%CI 0.708-0.903] vs. 0.674 [95%CI 0.552-0.797], P < 0.05) and HMW adiponectin (bold black line) (0.806 [95%CI 0.708-0.903] vs. 0.797 [95%CI 0.706-0.888], no statistically difference). Sensitivity, specificity and optimal cut off value for them were total adiponectin (57.38%, 75.86%, 1.11 mg/ml), HMW (55.74%, 93.1%, 0.49 mg/ml) and H/T (78.69%, 75.86%, 0.52), respectively.
There are two strengths in our study. One is the precise Gensini scoring system to carefully evaluate stenosis of coronary artery or branches > 0% diameter as coronary lesion, another is the specific study subjects of EOCAD in a Chinese Han population that is particularly genetically determined and not influenced by racial/ethnic disparities. The limitations of our study lie in the interference of medications such as the effect of lipid lowering drugs on the levels of adiponectin, and cardiovascular risk factors. Smoking is a conventional cardiovascular risk factor, whose interaction with HMW adiponectin level is rarely investigated, but it has been revealed to be associated with HMW adiponectin level in men according to the study from Kawamoto R et al. We did not adjust the result for the pack/year variable in the multivariate logistic regression analysis for the limitation of small sample size of male subjects in our study. The relatively small study sample also restrained our conclusion generalizable to all populations. Future researches in larger study samples and different populations are in need to validate our findings, and to explore the association of smoking with adiponectin in male subgroup analysis, and to investigate the potential mechanisms by which adiponectin affects the progression of coronary atherosclerosis.
In summary, the present study has demonstrated that adiponectin is protective against coronary atherosclerosis onset in EOCAD patients. HMW adiponectin and HMW-total adiponectin ratio show stronger negative associations with the severity of coronary atherosclerosis than total adiponectin does. HMW adiponectin and HMW-total adiponectin ratio are more effective biomarkers for the risk of CAD than total adiponectin.
Berberis aristata combined with Silybum marianum on lipid profile in patients not tolerating statins at high doses
Aim: To evaluate the effects of Berberis aristata combined with Silybum marianum in dyslipidemic patients intolerant to statins at high doses. Methods: 137 euglycemic, dyslipidemic subjects, with previous adverse events to statins at high doses, were enrolled. Statins were stopped for 1 month (run-in), then they were re-introduced at the half of the previously taken dose. At randomization, patients tolerating the half dose of statin, were assigned to
add placebo or B. aristata/S. marianum 588/105 mg, 1 tablet during the lunch and 1 tablet during the dinner, for six months. We evaluated lipid profile and safety parameters variation at randomization, and after 3, and 6 months. Results: B. aristata/S. marianum reduced fasting plasma glucose (-9 mg/dl), insulin (-0.7 mU/ml), and HOMA-index (-0.35) levels compared to baseline and also to placebo. Lipid profile did not significantly change after 6 months since the reduction of statin dosage and the introduction of B. aristata/S. marianum, while it worsened in the placebo group both compared to placebo and with active treatment (+23.4 mg/dl for total cholesterol, +19.6 mg/dl for LDL-cholesterol, +23.1 mg/dl for triglycerides with placebo compared to B. aristata/S. marianum). We did not record any variations of safety parameters
in either group. Conclusions: B. aristata/S. marianum can be considered as addition to statins in patients not tolerating high dose of these drugs.
Statins, also known as 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors, are effective medications for reducing the risk of death and future cardiovascular disease. In the latest years, however, statin intolerance (including adverse effects related to quality of life, leading to decisions to decrease or stop the use of an otherwise-beneficial drug) has come to the forefront of clinical concern, whereas the safety of statins has come to be regarded as largely favorable. Statin intolerance is defined as any adverse symptoms, signs, or laboratory abnormalities attributed by the patient or physician to the statin and in most cases perceived by the patient to interfere unacceptably with activities of daily living, leading to a decision to stop or reduce statin therapy. The physician might also decide to stop or reduce statin therapy on the basis of clinical/laboratory assessment [abnormal liver function tests, creatine phosphokinase values (CPK)] suggesting undue risk. Adverse events are more common at higher doses of statins, and often contribute to patients low adherence to treatment. For this reason, researchers are testing alternative strategies for lipid treatment when statin intolerance is recognized. One strategy to reduce the risk of statin-induced adverse events includes using a low-dose of statin combined with nonstatin drugs in order to achieve the goals of therapy. Nonstatin drugs include nutraceuticals; in the latest years relatively large number of dietary supplements and nutraceuticals have been studied for their supposed or demonstrated ability to reduce cholesterolemia in humans, in particular Berberis Aristata, has been studied in randomized clinical trials and proved to be effective in improving lipid profile. In particular, B. aristata acts up-regulating LDL-receptor (LDL-R) expression independent of sterol regulatory element binding proteins, but dependent on extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) activation leading to total cholesterol (TC) and LDL-C reduction of about 30 and 25%, respectively. Hwever, B. aristata is a problem in terms of oral bioavailability, affected by a P-glycoprotein (P-gp) mediated gut extrusion process. P-gp seems to reduce by about 90% the amount of B. aristata able to cross the enterocytes, but the use of a potential P-gp inhibitor could ameliorate its oral poor bioavailability improving its effectiveness. Among the potential Pgp inhibitors, silymarin from S. marianum, an herbal drug used as liver protectant, could be considered a good candidate due to its high safety profile.
Analyzing the results of our study, it can appear, at a first glance, that B. aristata/S. marianum has a neutral effect of lipid profile that did not change during the study after the addition of the nutraceutical combination. This lack of effect, however, is only apparent, because, when we analyzed what happens in placebo group, we observed a worsening of lipid profile after statin dose reduction. In other words, the addition of B. aristata/S. marianum neutralized the worsening of lipid profile observed with placebo after statins dose reduction. These results are in line with what was reported by Kong et al., who evaluated the effects of a combination of berberine and simvastatin in sixty-three outpatients diagnosed with hypercholesterolemia. As compared with monotherapies, the combination showed an improved lipid lowering effect with 31.8% reduction of serum LDL-C, and similar efficacies were observed in the reduction of TC as well as Tg in patients. Considering the results of this study, B. aristata/S. marianum can be considered as addition to statins in patients not tolerating high dose of these drugs.
CETP inhibitors downregulate hepatic LDL receptor and PCSK9 expression in vitro and in vivo through a SREBP2 dependent mechanism
Background: CETP inhibitors block the transfer of cholesteryl ester from HDL-C to VLDL-C and LDL-C, thereby raising HDL-C and lowering LDL-C. In this study, we explored the effect of CETP inhibitors on hepatic LDL receptor (LDLR) and PCSK9 expression and further elucidated the underlying regulatory mechanism. Results: We first examined the effect of anacetrapib (ANA) and dalcetrapib (DAL) on LDLR and PCSK9 expression in hepatic cells in vitro. ANA exhibited a dose-dependent inhibition on both LDLR and PCSK9 expression in CETP-positive HepG2 cells and human primary hepatocytes as well as CETP-negative mouse primary hepatocytes (MPH). Moreover, the induction of LDLR protein expression by rosuvastatin in MPH was blunted by cotreatment with ANA. In both HepG2 and MPH ANA treatment reduced the amount of mature form of SREBP2 (SREBP2-M). In vivo, oral administration of ANA to dyslipidemic C57BL/6J mice at a daily dose of 50 mg/kg for 1 week elevated serum total cholesterol by approximately 24.5% (p < 0.05%) and VLDL-C by 70% (p < 0.05%) with concomitant reductions of serum PCSK9 and liver LDLR/SREBP2-M protein. Finally, we examined the in vitro effect of two other strong CETP inhibitors evacetrapib and torcetrapib on LDLR/PCSK9 expression and observed a similar inhibitory effect as ANA in a concentration range of 1-10 µM. Conclusion: Our study revealed an unexpected off-target effect of CETP inhibitors that reduce the mature form of SREBP2, leading to attenuated transcription of hepatic LDLR and PCSK9. This negative regulation of SREBP pathway by ANA manifested in mice where CETP activity was absent and affected serum cholesterol metabolism.
Effect of Eclipta prostrata on lipid metabolism in hyperlipidemic animals
Eclipta prostrata (Linn.) Linn. is a traditional Chinese medicine and has previously been reported to have hypolipidemic effects. However, its mechanism of action is not well understood. This study was conducted to identify the active fraction of Eclipta, its toxicity, its effect on hyperlipidemia, and its mechanism of action. The ethanol extract (EP) of Eclipta and fractions EPF1–EPF4, obtained by eluting with different concentrations of ethanol from a HPD-450 macroporous resin column chromatography of the EP, were screened in hyperlipidemic mice for lipid lowering activity, and EPF3 was the most active fraction. The LD50 of EPF3 was undetectable because no mice died with administration of EPF3 at 10.4 g/kg. Then, 48 male hamsters were used and randomly assigned to normal chow diet, high-fat diet, high-fat diet with Xuezhikang (positive control) or EPF3 (75, 150 and 250 mg/kg) groups. We evaluated the effects of EPF3 on body weight gain, liver weight gain, serum lipid concentration, antioxidant enzyme activity, and the expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism in hyperlipidemic hamsters. The results showed that EPF3 significantly decreased body-weight gain and liver-weight gain and reduced the serum lipid levels in hyperlipidemic hamsters. EPF3 also increased the activities of antioxidant enzymes; upregulated the mRNA expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα), low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), lecithin-cholesterol transferase (LCAT) and scavenger receptor class B type Ι receptor (SR-BI); and down-regulated the mRNA expression of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR) in the liver. These results indicate that EPF3 ameliorates hyperlipidemia, in part, by reducing oxidative stress and modulating the transcription of genes involved in lipid metabolism.
Although Eclipta has long been used as a food additive, no studies or reports have clearly shown any liver or kidney toxicity from its use. Therefore, E. prostrata is safe and beneficial for preventing hyperlipidemia in experimental animals and can be used as an alternative medicine for the regulation of dyslipidemia.
Effect of high fiber products on blood lipids and lipoproteins in hamsters
Serum and liver lipidemic responses in hamsters fed diets containing 2% cholesterol and different dietary fiber sources were studied. The following diets were made from: a) the control diet made from extruded cassava starch (CSH) contained 9.3% cellulose, b) cassava starch extruded with 9.7% resistant starch (CS-RS), c) cassava starch extruded with 9.9% oat fiber (CS-OF), d) the reference diet contained 9.5% cellulose, and no cholesterol was added. Total cholesterol, LDLVLDL-cholesterol and triglycerides were significantly lower (P < 0.05) in serum of hamsters fed on the CS-RS (17.87%, 62.92% and 9.17%, respectively) and CS-OF (15.12%, 67.41% and 18.35%, respectively) diets, as compared to hamster fed with the CSH diet. Similar results were found in the livers of hamsters fed on the CS-RS and CS-OF diets, as compared to hamsters fed with the CSH diet. The diets containing these fibers could be used as active ingredients in human diets to improve the human health.
A new piece in the puzzling effect of n-3 fatty acids on atherosclerosis?
Omega-3 fatty acids (ω-3) FA are reported to be protective against cardiovascular disease (CVD), notably through their beneficial action on atherosclerosis development. In this context dietary intake of long chain marine eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is recommended and randomised trials largely support that EPA and DHA intake is associated with a reduction of CVD. However, mechanisms governing the atheroprotective action of ω-3 FA are still unclear and numerous studies using mouse models conducted so far do not allow to reach a precise view of the cellular and molecular effects of ω-3 FA on atherosclerosis. In the current issue of Atherosclerosis, Chang et al. provide important new information on the anti-atherogenic properties of ω-3 FA by analyzing the incremental replacement of saturated FA by pure fish oil as a source of EPA and DHA in Ldlr -/- mice fed a high fat/high cholesterol diet.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading causes of death in the world and is frequently associated with atherosclerosis, a pathology characterized by the accumulation of lipids, mainly cholesterol in the arterial wall. Among major risk factors for CVD, circulating levels of lipids and more especially those originating from diets are closely linked to development of atherosclerosis. In this context, not only cholesterol, but also dietary fatty acids (FA) may appear particularly deleterious in regards to atherosclerosis and associated CVD. However, although saturated fats are proatherogenic, omega-3 fatty acids (ω-3 FA), and more especially long-chain marine eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), exert atheroprotective properties through several potential underlying mechanisms. Therefore, the intake of EPA and DHA is recommended around the world and randomised trials with ω-3 FA confirmed that EPA and DHA intake reduced risk for CVD events. However benefits of ω-3 FA intake were challenged by recent clinical trials that failed to replicate protective effects of EPA + DHA on CVD, raising the controversy on the healthy side of marine ω-3 FA.
Animal models are commonly employed in order to decipher mechanisms by which ω-3 FA exert their beneficial actions regarding lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis. Since the last past 20 years, mouse models, and more especially genetically modified mouse models, became the reference model to evaluate the effects of dietary fatty acids, especially ω-3 FA, on atherosclerosis development [7-20]. However, the use of different mouse models of atherosclerosis (Apoe-/-, Ldlr-/-, double Apoe-/- x Ldlr-/- , Ldlr-/- x hApoB mice), as well as diet composition (chow, high cholesterol, high fat, high cholesterol/high fat), source of ω-3 FA supplementation (fish oil, perilla seed oil, flaxseed, pure ALA, EPA or DHA), duration of the diet (from 4 to 32 weeks), size of atherosclerotic lesions in control animals (from 51 to 700.103 mm2) in
those studies led to heterogeneous results and therefore to a partial understanding of the effects of ω-3 FA on atherosclerosis.
Contrary to what observed in Apoe-/- mice, dietary supplementation of Ldlr-/- mice with ω-3 FA led to a reproducible reduction of aortic atherosclerosis, although to various degrees, confirming that Ldlr-/- mice constitute the most appropriate model for studying the atheroprotective effects of ω-3 FA. When evaluated, the decrease of atherosclerosis upon ω-3 FA-rich diet was accompanied by a reduction in the macrophage content as well as inflammation in aortic lesions highlighting the major impact of ω-3 FA on monocyte recruitment and subsequent macrophage accumulation in the arterial wall. However, although supplementation with ω-3 FA allows an efficacious lowering of plasma lipid levels in humans, studies in mouse models suggest that the antiatherogenic action of ω-3 FA is independent of any effects on plasma cholesterol or triglyceride levels. However, that must be asserted with caution as lipid metabolism is quite different in mouse in comparison to humans, highlighting the need to study in the future the effects of ω-3 FA on atherosclerosis in a mouse model exhibiting a more “humanized” lipid metabolism as achieved in hApoB/CETP mice.
In a previous issue of Atherosclerosis, Chang et al. reevaluate the impact of fish oil ω-3 FA on atherosclerosis development by operating an incremental replacement of saturated fats (SAT) by ω-3 FA (pure fish oil, EPA- and DHA-rich) in Ldlr-/- mice fed a high-fat (21%, w/w)/high-cholesterol (0.2%, w/w) diet for a 12-week period. This experimental approach is quite pertinent as dietary fat intake in developed countries, as in United States, derived mostly from saturated FA and is poor in ω-3 FA. Then, using this strategy the authors were able to evaluate the potential beneficial effects of a supplementation with fish oil ω-3 FA in a dietary context for which ω-3 FA intake is relevant.
Here, Chang et al. demonstrated that the progressive increase of dietary intake of fish oil ω-3 FA (EPA and DHA) abrogated the deleterious effects of a SAT diet, thereby suggesting that a dietary ω-3 FA intake on a SAT background is potentially efficient to decrease CVD in humans. Indeed, replacement of SAT by fish oil ω-3 FA markedly reduced plasma cholesterol and triglycerides levels and abolished diet-induced atherosclerosis mediated by SAT in Ldlr-/-mice. To note that in the present study, Ldlr-/- mice only developed small atherosclerosic lesions (~100.103 mm2) after 12 weeks of diet with SAT.
As previously reported, decreased atherosclerotic lesions were accompanied by a reduced content of aortic macrophages and inflammation. Based on their previous works, the authors proposed that the reduction of atherosclerosis upon ω-3 FA resulted from an impairment of cholesterol uptake by arterial macrophages consecutive to the decrease of Lipoprotein Lipase (LPL) expression in those cells. Indeed, beyond its lipolysis action on triglycerides, LPL was reported to promote lipid accumulation, in particular in macrophages, by binding to lipoproteins and cell surface proteoglycans and then acting as a bridging molecule that facilitates cellular lipid uptake. Coherent with this mechanism, macrophage LPL expression was reported to promote foam cell formation and atherosclerosis. In the present study, replacement of SAT by ω-3 FA both decreased expression and altered distribution of arterial LPL. Such a mechanism for ω-3 FA (EPA and DHA) was proposed by this group in earlier studies to favor reduction of arterial LDL-cholesterol. It is noteworthy that lipid rafts alter distribution of LPL at the cell surface and subsequently the LPL dependent accumulation of lipids in macrophages and foam cell formation. As incorporation of ω-3 FA, such as DHA, into cell membrane phospholipids disrupts lipid rafts organization, it cannot be exclude that reduction of lipid accumulation in arterial macrophages upon addition of ω-3 FA results in part from an impairment of the localization and of the anchoring function of LPL at the cell surface of macrophages. Indeed Chang et al. observed that progressive replacement of SAT by ω-3 FA affected aortic FA composition leading to a pronounced increase of arterial EPA and DHA, then suggesting that content of ω-3 FA in macrophage membrane may be equally altered. However, the implication of LPL in the atheroprotective effects of ω-3 FA need to be validated using an appropriate mouse model for which LPL expression may be controlled.
Among the various mechanisms by which ω-3 FA exert anti-inflammatory properties, EPA and DHA repressed inflammation by shutting down NF-kB activation in macrophages. Since expression of TLR-4 and NF-kB target genes, IL-6 and TNFα, in aorta from mice fed diets containing ω-3 FA were decreased when compared to SAT, those results strongly support the contention that ω-3 FA repress inflammation by inhibiting the TLR4/NF-kB signaling cascade likely through the macrophage ω-3 FA receptor GPR120.
Although further studies are needed to explore the complete spectrum of actions of ω-3 FA on atherosclerosis development and CVD, this study provides important information that supports that ω-3 FA intake is a pertinent strategy to reduce risk of CVD.
Effects of dietary hull-less barley β-glucan on the cholesterol metabolism of hypercholesterolemic hamsters
The aim of the present study is to investigate the hypocholesterolemic effects of dietary hull-less barley β-glucan (HBG) on cholesterol metabolism in hamsters which were fed a hypercholesterolemic diet. The hamsters were divided into 3 groups and fed experimental diets, containing 5‰ HBG or 5‰ oat β-glucan (OG), for 30 days. The HBG, as well as OG, lowered the concentration of plasma LDL-cholesterol significantly. The excretion of total lipids and cholesterol in feces were increased in HBG and OG groups compared with the control group. The activity of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl glutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase in liver was reduced significantly in the HBG group compared with the control and OG groups. The activity of cholesterol 7-α hydroxylase (CYP7A1) in the liver, in the HBG and OG groups, was significantly increased compared with the control group. The concentrations of acetate, propionate and total short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were not significantly different between the HBG and control groups. These results indicate that dietary HBG reduces the concentration of plasma LDL cholesterol by promoting the excretion of fecal lipids, and regulating the activities of HMG-CoA reductase and CYP7A1 in hypercholesterolemic hamsters.
Effects of dietary wheat bran arabinoxylans on cholesterolmetabolism of hypercholesterolemic hamsters
The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of dietary wheat bran arabinoxylans (AXs) on cholesterol metabolism in hypercholesterolemic hamsters. The hamsters were divided into 3 groups and fed the experimental diets containing AXs or oat β-glucan at a dose of 5 g/kg for 30 days. As the results,the AXs lowered plasma total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol concentrations, and increased excretions of total lipids, cholesterol and bile acids, as well as oat β-glucan. The AXs reduced the activity of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl glutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, and increased the activity of cholesterol 7-α hydroxylase (CYP7A1) in liver. Moreover, the AXs increased propionate and the total short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) concentrations. These results indicated that dietary AXs reduced the plasma total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol concentrations by promoting the excretion of fecal lipids, regulating the activities of HMG-CoA reductase and CYP7A1, and increasing colonic SCFAs in hamsters.
High-fructose feeding promotes accelerated degradation of hepatic LDL receptor and hypercholesterolemia in hamsters via elevated circulating PCSK9 levels
Background: High fructose diet (HFD) induces dyslipidemia and insulin resistance in experimental animals and humans with incomplete mechanistic understanding. By utilizing mice and hamsters as in vivo models, we investigated whether high fructose consumption affects serum PCSK9 and liver LDL receptor (LDLR) protein levels. Results: Feeding mice with an HFD increased serum cholesterol and reduced serum PCSK9 levels as compared with the mice fed a normal chow diet (NCD). In contrast to the inverse relationship in mice, serum PCSK9 and cholesterol levels were co-elevated in HFD-fed hamsters. Liver tissue analysis revealed that PCSK9 mRNA and protein levels were both reduced in mice and hamsters by HFD feeding, however, liver LDLR protein levels were markedly reduced by HFD in hamsters but not in mice. We further showed that circulating PCSK9 clearance rates were significantly lower in hamsters fed an HFD as compared with the hamsters fed NCD, providing additional evidence for the reduced hepatic LDLR function by HFD consumption. The majority of PCSK9 in hamster serum was detected as a 53 kDa N-terminus cleaved protein. By conducting in vitro studies, we demonstrate that this 53 kDa truncated hamster PCSK9 is functionally active in promoting hepatic LDLR degradation. Conclusion: Our studies for the first time demonstrate that high fructose consumption increases serum PCSK9 concentrations and reduces liver LDLR protein levels in hyper-lipidemic hamsters. The positive correlation between circulating cholesterol and PCSK9 and the reduction of liver LDLR protein in HFD-fed hamsters suggest that hamster is a better animal model than mouse to study the modulation of PCSK9/LDLR pathway by atherogenic diets.
High-oleic canola oil consumption enriches LDL particle cholesteryl oleate content and reduces LDL proteoglycan binding in humans
Oleic acid consumption is considered cardio-protective according to studies conducted examining effects of the Mediterranean diet. However, animal models have shown that oleic acid consumption increases LDL particle cholesteryl oleate content which is associated with increased LDL-proteoglycan binding and atherosclerosis. The objective was to examine effects of varying oleic, linoleic and docosahexaenoic acid consumption on human LDL-proteoglycan binding in a non-random subset of the Canola Oil Multi-center Intervention Trial (COMIT) participants. COMIT employed a randomized, double-blind, five-period, crossover trial design. Three of the treatment oil diets: 1) a blend of corn/safflower oil (25:75); 2) high oleic canola oil; and 3) DHA-enriched high oleic canola oil were selected for analysis of LDL-proteoglycan binding in 50 participants exhibiting good compliance. LDL particles were isolated from frozen plasma by gel filtration chromatography and LDL cholesteryl esters quantified by mass-spectrometry. LDL-proteoglycan binding was assessed using surface plasmon resonance. LDL particle cholesterol ester fatty acid composition was sensitive to the treatment fatty acid compositions, with the main fatty acids in the treatments increasing in the LDL cholesterol esters. The corn/safflower oil and high-oleic canola oil diets lowered LDL-proteoglycan binding relative to their baseline values (p < 0.0005 and p < 0.0012, respectively). At endpoint, high-oleic canola oil feeding resulted in lower LDL-proteoglycan binding than corn/safflower oil (p < 0.0243) and DHA-enriched high oleic canola oil (p < 0.0249), although high-oleic canola oil had the lowest binding at baseline (p < 0.0344). Our findings suggest that high-oleic canola oil consumption in humans increases cholesteryl oleate percentage in LDL, but in a manner not associated with a rise in LDL-proteoglycan binding.
Vegan Diet is Sulfur Deficient and Heart Unhealthy
Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Curator
The following is a reblog of “Heart of the Matter: Plant-Based Diets Lead to High Homocysteine, Low Sulfur and Marginal B12 Status” Posted on September 26, 2011 by Dr Kaayla Daniel in WAPF Blog and tagged B12, Forks over Knives, Kaayla T. Daniel, Kilmer S. McCully, Yves Ingenbleek
It is a report of a scientific study carried out by Kilmer S. Cully and Yves Ingenbleek, Harvard Pathology and Univ Louis Pasteur. I have previously written about the conundrum of transthyretin as an accurate marker of malnutrition, but also being lowered by the septic state. This is accounted for by the catabolic state that sets off autocannabalization of skeletal muscle and lean body mass to provide gluconeogenic precursors to sustain life. While serum albumin and transthyretin both decline, the former has a half-life of 20 days, while the latter is 48 hours. Much work has been done to gain a better understand this rapid turnover protein that transports thyroxine, and the immediate result of the decline in concentration is a shift the the hormone protein binding equilibrium increasing the free thyroxine, a euthyroid hyperthyroid effect. However, much work by Prof. Inglenbleek, some ion collaboration with Vernon Young, at MIT, showed that transthyretin reflects the sulfur stores of animals. The sulfur to nitrogen ratio of plants is 1:20, but it is 1:12 in man, so the dietary intake would affect an omnivorous animal. Recall that S is carried on amino acids that take part in disulfide linkage. A deficiency in S containing amino acids would have a negative health effect. The story is presented here.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 16.7 million deaths occur worldwide each year due to cardiovascular disease, and more than half of those deaths occur in developing countries where plant-based diets high in legumes and starches are eaten by the vast majority of the people.
Yet “everyone knows” plant-based diets prevent heart disease. Indeed this myth is repeated so often that massive numbers of educated, health-conscious individuals in first world countries are consciously adopting third world style diets in the hope of preventing disease, optimizing health and maximizing longevity. But if the WHO statistics are correct, plant-based diets might not be protective at all. And today’s fashionable experiment in veganism could end very badly indeed.
A study out August 26 in the journal Nutrition makes a strong case against plant-based diets for prevention of heart disease. The title alone – “Vegetarianism produces subclinical malnutrition, hyperhomocysteinemia and atherogenesis” — sounds a significant warning. The article establishes why subjects who eat mostly vegetarian diets develop morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease unrelated to vitamin B status and Framingham criteria.
Co-author Kilmer S. McCully, MD, “Father of the Homocysteine Theory of Heart Disease,” is familiar to WAPF members as winner of the Linus Pauling Award, WAPF’s Integrity in Science Award, and author of numerous articles published in peer-reviewed journals as well as the popular books The Homocysteine Revolution and The Heart Revolution. In 2009 Dr. McCully was one of the signers of the Weston A. Price Foundation’s petition to the FDA in which we asked the agency to retract its unwarranted 1999 soy/heart disease health claim. (http://www.westonaprice.org/soy-alert/soy-heart-health-claim)
Dr. McCully teamed up with Yves Ingenbleek, MD, of the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France, which funded the research. Dr. Ingenbleek is well known for his work on malnutrition, the essential role of sulfur to nitrogen, and sulfur deficiency as a cause of hyperhomocysteinemia.
The study took place in Chad, and involved 24 rural male subjects age 18 to 30, and 15 urban male controls, age 18-29. (Women in this region of Chad could not be studied because of their animistic beliefs and proscriptions against collecting their urine.)
The rural men were apparently healthy, physically active farmers with good lipid profiles. Their staple foods included cassava, sweet potatoes, beans, millet and ground nuts. Cassava leaves, cabbages and carrots provided good levels of carotenes, folates and pyridoxine (B6). The diet is plant-based there because of a shortage of grazing lands and livestock, but subjects occasionally consume some B12-containing foods, mostly poultry and eggs, though very little dairy or meat. Their diet could be described as high carb, high fiber, low in both protein and fat, and low in the sulfur containing amino acids. In brief, the very diet recommended by many of today’s nutritional “experts” for overall good health and heart disease prevention.
The urban controls were likewise healthy and ate a similar diet, but with beef, smoked fish and canned or powdered milk regularly on the menus. Their diet was thus higher in protein, fat and the sulfur-containing amino acids though roughly equivalent in calories.
Dr. McCully’s research over the past 40 years on the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis has shown the role of homocysteine in free radical damage and the protective effect of vitamins B6, B12 and folate. Indeed, many doctors today recommend taking this trio of B vitamins as an inexpensive heart disease “insurance policy.”
In Chad, both groups showed adequate levels of B6 and folate. The B12 levels of the vegetarian group were lower, but the difference was only of “borderline significance.” However, as the researchers point out, ”A previous study undertaken in the same Chadian area in a larger group of 60 rural participants did demonstrate a weak inverse correlation between B12 and homocysteine concentrations in the 20 subjects most severely protein depleted . . . It is therefore likely that the hyperhomocysteinemia status of some of our rural subjects in the present survey might have resulted from combined B12 and protein deficiencies. The correlation of B12 deficiency with hyperhomocysteinemia could well reach statistical significance if a larger groups of subjects were studied.”
Clearly it’s wise for people on plant-based diets to supplement their diets with B12, but protein malnutrition must also be addressed. And the issue is not just getting enough protein to eat, but the right kind. Quality, not just quantity. The bottom line is we must eat protein rich in bioavailable, sulfur-containing amino acids — and that means animal products. (Vegans at this point will surely claim the issue is insufficient protein and trot out soy as the solution. Soy is indeed a complete plant based protein, but notoriously low in methionine. It does contain decent levels of cysteine, but the cysteine is bound up in protease inhibitors, making it largely biounavailable. (For more information, read my book The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, endorsed by Dr. McCully, as well as our petition to the FDA noted above.)
So what did Drs. Ingenbleek and McCully find among the study group of protein-deficient people? Higher levels of homocysteine, of course. Also significant alterations in body composition, lean body mass, body mass index and plasma transthyretin levels. In plain English, the near-vegetarian subjects were thinner, with poorer muscle tone and showed subclinical signs of protein malnutrition. (So much for popular ideas of extreme thinness being healthy. )
The plant-based diet of the study group was low in all of the sulfur-containing amino acids. As would be expected, labwork on these men showed lower plasma cysteine and glutathione levels compared to the controls. Methionine levels, however, tested comparably. The explanation for this is “adaptive response.” In brief, mammals trying to function with insufficient sulfur-containing amino acids will do whatever’s necessary to survive. Given the essential role of methionine in metabolic processes, that means deregulating the transsulfuration pathway, increasing homocysteine levels, and methylating homocysteine to make methionine.
Ultimately, it all boils down to our need for sulfur. As Stephanie Seneff, PhD, and many others have written in Wise Traditions and on this website, sulfur is vital for disease prevention and maintenance of good health. In terms of heart disease, Drs. Ingenbleek and McCully have shown sulfur deficiency not only leads to high homocysteine levels, but is the likeliest reason some clinical trials using B6, B12 and folate interventions have proved ineffective for the prevention of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Over the past few years, headlines from such studies have led to widespread dismissal of Dr. McCully’s “Homocysteine Theory of Heart Disease” and renewed media focus on cholesterol, c-reactive protein and other possible culprits that can be treated by statins and other profitable drugs. In contrast, Drs. McCully and Ingenbleek research suggests we can better prevent heart disease with three inexpensive B vitamins and traditional diets rich in the sulfur-containing amino acids found in animal foods.
In the blaze of publicity surrounding Forks Over Knives and other blasts of vegan propaganda, few people are likely to hear about this study. That’s sad, for it provides an important missing piece in our knowledge of heart disease development, a strong argument against the plant-based fad, and a bright new chapter in what the New York Times has called “The Fall and Rise of Kilmer McCully.”
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Thanks to Sylvia Onusic PhD who was able to access a full text copy of this article to share with me.
This entry was posted in WAPF Blog and tagged B12, Forks over Knives, Kaayla T. Daniel, Kilmer S. McCully, Naughty Nutritionist, soy, sulfur, Yves Ingenbleek. Bookmark the permalink.
Sylvia says:
September 26, 2011 at 5:32 pm
Kaayla, I found the article but you brought it to life- what a great explanation backed by high levels of knowledge and analysis. We are grateful for your numerous contributions to the field of health!
Thanks so much.
Cancer is one of the most devastating and widespread diseases today. The development of cancer is a multi-step process involving genetic or epigenetic changes often occurring over a longer period of time. Moreover, cancer occurs in more or less all organs and tissues and is characterized by extensive heterogeneity both concerning the type and aggressiveness of the disease. Although some substantial progress in some areas has been made, there are still huge unmet needs in treatment methods and the efficacy of currently available drugs. The pharmaceutical industry has struggled with the ever increasing costs in drug development and unfortunately novel drugs have not seldom demonstrated only marginal improvement in efficacy often at the cost of quality of life of the patients. For these reasons, new approaches are focusing on disease prevention instead of only treating the symptoms. Recently, much attention has been paid to prevention of the disease in parallel to continuous drug discovery.
Intervention in food intake has been demonstrated to play an enormous role in both prevention as well as treatment of diseases. Numerous studies indicate a clear link between cancer and diet. The substantial development of sequencing technologies has resulted in access to enormous amounts of genomics information, which resulted in the establishment of nutrigenomics as an emerging approach to link genomics research to studies on nutrition. Increased understanding has demonstrated how nutrition can influence human health both at genetic and epigenetic levels. It investigates the effects of nutrition and bioactive food compounds on gene expression. This approach has allowed the investigation of the effect on nutrition on individuals with specific genetic features. Moreover, it has provided the basis for nutritional intervention in prevention and treatment of disease and the inauguration of personalized nutrition. However, differences in types of cancer, the level of aggressiveness, and their occurrence at different stages of life have seriously complicated the understanding of the effect of nutrition on cancer prevention and treatment. Other individual variations such as the amounts of food consumed, digestion, metabolism and other factors like geographical, ethnic and sociological diversity has hampered the identification of which food components are most important for human health. Dramatic dietary modifications have proven essential in reducing risk and even prevention of cancer. Moreover, intense revision of diet in cancer patients has revealed significant changes in gene expression and also has provided therapeutic efficacy even after short-term application.
Obviously, a multitude of diets have been evaluated, but probably the common factor for achieving both prophylactic and therapeutic responses is to consume predominantly diets rich in fruits, vegetables, fish and fibers and reduced quantities of especially red meat. There are numerous examples of how dietary intake can promote health on both a preventive as well as therapeutic level. Radical change in diet has resulted in dramatic changes in gene expression in prostate cancer patients revealing that many of those genes involved in cancer development were down-regulated. The importance of nutrigenomics as a multi-task approach involving genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, et cetera has further provided novel possibilities to address the effect of nutrition on human health. Despite encouraging findings on how dietary modifications can prevent disease and restore health, there are a number of factors which complicate the outcome. There are variations in response to dietary changes depending on age and gender. However, the vast amount of accumulated nutrigenomics data should not overshadow the needs to take into account other important factors such as lifestyle, social, geographical and economic factors affecting diet and health.
Benefits of Functional Foods in Nutrient Imbalance of Vulnerable Populations
Reporter and Curator: Dr. Sudipta Saha, Ph.D.
There are clear distinctions between a food and a drug. Nutraceuticals, however, occupy a place between the two. Nutraceuticals are naturally derived phytochemicals with potential health benefits and without the characteristics of being essential nutrients. Foods that contain these non-essential substances with potential health benefits may qualify as “functional foods.” As defined by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, the term functional food refers to foods that provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition. Examples of these are
may be increased in or added to traditional foods. An example is a genetically modified tomato high in lycopene, which has potent antioxidant capabilities.
The risk of nutrient imbalance is highest in vulnerable populations unable to access essential or conditionally essential nutrients. To a large extent, the
very young and the
frail elderly
are the select groups who might benefit most from alleviating this risk. The lack of adequate nutrition may be due to seasonal and unexpected losses of agricultural produce; however, poverty is a factor on a global scale as a result of growing economic disparities. The question then becomes what role functional foods offer to improve recognized population nutritional deficiencies. The range of work being done on functional foods is impressive, from
modified oils that contain heart-healthy ω-3 fatty acids to
cassava plants developed with an increased protein content to help counter malnutrition in developing nations.
However, the nutraceutical industry has responded to and relies on the untested expectations of the healthiest members of the world’s population rather than its more vulnerable ones. Due largely to economic causes, those in need are less likely to receive the benefits of nutraceuticals from whole foods or from manufactured foods or supplements. This is particularly striking where the source is locally available and extracted for commerce but is unaffordable or unavailable to the native population.
The rapid advances in biotechnology and functional foods confront us with a need to address the benefits of these with regard to improving health and managing or decreasing disease risks.Conventional dietary recommendations have focused on the consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains, a decreased sugar intake, and an emphasis on plant oils, recommendations that have unproved benefits for the prevention of chronic diseases and that have complexities involving individual, environmental, and genetic influences.
Although the potential benefits of phytochemicals could have an impact on health status for vulnerable populations, the recommendations focused on plant foods do not address the primary concerns of the undernutrition associated with a poor quality of protein intake. Taken individually, plant sources do not provide a balanced amino acid profile necessary for protein synthesis, being deficient in lysine and/or methionine. Animal sources of protein, specifically meat and fish, also provide essential fatty acids not found in plant sources of protein and that may be otherwise limited. In addition, plants may contain antinutritional factors (wheat, cassava roots, cabbages, soy beans), and plant-based diets may be deficient in important essential nutrients.
Programs must focus on the sustainable production and local processing of indigenous products that can be used by needy populations to improve their nutritional intake and enhance economic stability. In addition, dietary recommendations must not exclude important sources of nutrition for more vulnerable populations by focusing primarily on plant-based sources of food, decreasing saturated fat, and de-emphasizing the importance of high-value biologic protein. The global economic crisis has touched the lives of 80% of the population in most developing countries with a threat to the development of a generation of children (approximately 250 million) who are most vulnerable in the first 2 years of life. An investment in nutrition in this circumstance has a high value, and the use of complementary food supplements to increase a meal’s nutrient content is warranted.
A recent proposal has concluded there are health benefits for foods and food constituents put together in a synergic diet pattern, suggesting that the interrelation between constituents within whole foods is significant, and has recommended dietary variety and the selection of nutrient-rich foods. Providing vulnerable populations with an adequate supply of whole foods should take precedence over the recommendation of food products in supplying not only essential macro- and micronutrients and energy but also phytochemicals whose value to the human diet is still to be determined.
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