Assessment of Nutritional and Depression Status in Free-Living Elderly in Tabriz, Northwest Iran

Background: Malnutrition and depression are the common health problems in elderly population. Poor nutrition might have a strong effect on the incidence of depression. The aims of this study were to assess the nutritional and depression status and the possibly relationship between these variables in the urban freeliving elderly in Tabriz, northwestern Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 184 elderly people (male=97; female=87) with age 60 years or elder in 2012. All subjects entered to the study voluntarily from those attending to daily care centers for elderly people. Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) tool and Geriatric Depression Score (GDS) were used to evaluate nutritional status and depression scores, respectively. Continuous variables were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD) and qualitative data were presented as frequency (percent). Spearman’s correlation was employed to determine the relationship between variables. Results: Up to 50% of subjects had poor nutrition status. About 14% of elderly people had serve depression and 28.3% had mild depression. There was a positive significant correlation between MNA and GDS tests in both gender (r=0.416; P<0.001). Conclusion: There was no acceptable level of nutritional status and mental health in the elderly people. Further studies are needed to evaluate the other factors that can effect on the quality of life in this population

Effects of Zinc Supplementation on the Anthropometric Measurements, Lipid Profiles and Fasting Blood Glucose in the Healthy Obese Adults

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the effects of zinc supplementation on anthropometric measures, improving lipid profile biomarkers, and fasting blood glucose level in obese people. Methods: This randomized, double- blind clinical trial was carried out on 60 obese participants in the 18-45 age range for one month. The participants were randomly divided into the intervention group, who received 30 mg/d zinc gluconate, and the placebo group who received 30mg/d starch. Anthropometric measurements (body mass index (BMI), weight and waist circumference) were recorded before and at the end of study. Lipid profile biomarkers and fasting blood glucose were determined using enzymatic procedure. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) test was run to compare the post-treatment values of the two groups, and t-test was conducted to compare within group changes. Results: Serum zinc concentration was increased significantly in intervention group (p=0.024). BMI and body weight was significantly decreased (p=0.030 and p=0.020, respectively). Lipid profile biomarkers and fating blood glucose did not change significantly but triglyceride level was significantly decreased (p=0.006) in the intervention group. Conclusion: The obtained results indicate that zinc supplementation improves BMI, body weight, and triglyceride concentration without considerable effects on lipid profile and glucose level. Zinc can be suggested as a suitable supplementation therapy for obese people, but more studies are needed to verify the results

Perceptions of Medical Sciences Students Towards Probiotics

Background: Regarding the importance of probiotics in prevention of different diseases, the knowledge ofpeople particularly health-related professionals about the beneficial effects and availability of probiotic productsis important. Considering the limited studies, the present study was conducted to assess the knowledge ofmedical sciences students as future provider of health information about probiotics in Tabriz, Iran.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 296 medical sciences students from different facultymajors with mean age of 22 ± 4 years. The students completed two self-administered questionnaires; the onewas about the demographic characteristics and the other one with nine closed questions as for knowledge aswell as probiotics and their health effects and 2 questions related to availability of probiotic products. Scoringof 9 knowledge questions was divided to three sections 0-3, 4-6, 7-9 and classified as poor, acceptable andgood, respectively. The Chi-square test was used to examine the differences in knowledge of the studentsacross different gender, major and degree groups.Results: Six percent of students had poor, 43% acceptable, and 51% good knowledge. Total mean±(SD) ofknowledge was 6.25 ±1.6 . Answers of students about the availability of probiotic products were 36.9% low,48.1% moderate, and 15% high. Comparison of knowledge result between different major and degree groupswas statistically significant (P<0.05).Conclusion: Although students had approximately acceptable level of knowledge about probiotics and theirhealth effects, their awareness about common available form of probiotic products was low. The use ofefficient co-educational materials such as teaching new findings for students may be beneficial

Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Zingiber Officinale in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Purpose: Low-grade inflammation, a common feature in type 2 diabetes (DM2), causes some chronic complications in these patients. The present study was aimed to evaluate the effects of ginger (Zingiber officinale) on pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and TNF-α) and the acute phase protein hs-CRP in DM2 patients as a randomized double-blind placebo controlled trial. Methods: A total of 64 DM2 patients randomly were assigned to ginger or placebo groups and received 2 tablets/day of each for 2 months. The concentrations of IL-6, TNF-α and hs-CRP in blood samples were analyzed before and after the intervention. Results: Ginger supplementation significantly reduced the levels of TNF-α (P = 0.006), IL-6 (P = 0.02) and hs-CRP (P = 0.012) in ginger group in comparison to baseline. Moreover, the analysis of covariance showed that the group received ginger supplementation significantly lowered TNF- α (15.3 ± 4.6 vs. 19.6 ± 5.2; P = 0.005) and hs-CRP (2.42 ± 1.7 vs. 2.56 ± 2.18; P = .016) concentrations in comparison to control group. While there were no significant changes in IL-6 (7.9 ± 2.1 vs. 7.8 ± 2.9; P > .05). Conclusion: In conclusion, ginger supplementation in oral administration reduced inflammation in type 2 diabetic patients. So it may be a good remedy to diminish the risk of some chronic complications of diabetes