Altered antioxidant and trace-element status in adolescent female gymnasts

Physical activity is associated with the generation of reactive oxygen species and may lead to decreased levels of plasma antioxidants and increased oxidant stress. Some studies have reported that antioxidant supplements can reduce the consequences of oxidative stress during exercise. In this study the authors aimed to assess the chronic effects of exercise on endogenous serum antioxidant enzyme concentrations. Glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were measured in adolescent girls who were either competitive gymnasts or sedentary controls. The relationship between age, body-mass index, dietary intake, trace-element status, and serum GPx and SOD was determined. The participants in the study were part of a 3-yr longitudinal investigation of exercise and peak bone-mass development in 38 competitive gymnasts and 40 healthy sedentary adolescent females 8-17 yr of age. Serum GPx and SOD were measured using colorimetric assays, and trace elements were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The mean serum GPx concentrations were significantly higher in the gymnasts than in the sedentary females (157 ± 11.1 vs. 126 ± 8.8 U/ml, p < .05). In contrast, serum SOD concentrations were significantly lower in the gymnasts than in the sedentary group (7.24 ± 2.6 vs. 8.57 ± 2.3 U/ml, p < .05). Serum selenium, zinc, and copper were higher in the physically active group than in the inactive group (0.89 ± 0.03, 10.86 ± 0.39, 14.50 ± 0.50 vs. 0.81 ± 0.03, 10.32 ± 0.28, and 14.38 ± 0.42 µmol/L, respectively), although only serum selenium reached statistical significance (p < .05). The findings show that young female gymnasts have an altered antioxidant enzyme profile compared with their less physically active peer

Very high prevalence of 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency in 6433 UK South Asian adults : Analysis of the UK Biobank Cohort

Acknowledgements This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank Resource under application number 15168. This work was supported by in-house funds from the University of Surrey for payment of the UK Biobank access fee. The UK Biobank was established by the Wellcome Trust medical charity, Medical Research Council, Department of Health, Scottish Government and the Northwest Regional Development Agency. It has also had funding from the Welsh Assembly Government and the British Heart Foundation. UK Biobank is hosted by the University of Manchester and supported by the National Health Service (NHS). All the above funders had no role in the design, analysis or writing of the present study. Author contributions were as follows: Formulating the research question(s) (A. L. D., D. J. B., K. R. A., S. L. N.), designing the study (A. L. D., D. J. B., K. R. A., S. A. L.-N.), data collection (not applicable), analysing the data (A. L. D., D. J. B., K. R. A., S. A. L.-N.) and writing the article (A. L. D., D. J. B., K. R. A., S. L. N.). S. A. L.-N. discloses that she is Research Director of D3-TEX limited which holds the UK and Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) patents for the use of UVB transparent clothing to prevent vitamin D deficiency. S. A. L.-N.’s husband William Lanham-New is Managing Director of D3-TEX limited. S. A. L.-N. has received grants from (1) The UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) (project: Ergocalciferol (D2) v. Cholecalciferol (D3) Food Fortification: Comparative Efficiency in Raising 25OHD Status & Mechanisms of Action (D2–D3 Study), BB/I006192/1, £516 823); (2) The UK Food Standards Agency (Project: Vitamin D, Food Intake, Nutrition and Exposure to Sunlight in Southern England (D-FINES) Study, N05064, £600 000); (3) The European Union (Project: Food Based Solutions for optimal vitamin D nutrition and health through the life cycle, Lead Work Package; (4) nutritional requirements for vitamin D during pregnancy, childhood and adolescence using RCTs, FP7-613977-ODIN, Euro 6·2 million) and (5) The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD, £2·4 million). S. L. N. is a current member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for Nutrition (SACN) and a member of the panel who was responsible for the most recent revision of vitamin D recommended nutritional intake guidelines in the UK. She is a board member for the UK Royal Osteoporosis Society and the British Nutrition Foundation. She is Secretary of the Nutrition Society as well as Editor in Chief of the Nutrition Society textbook series. All other authors have no conflict of interest.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Dietary Protein and Bone Health Across the Life-Course : an updated systematic review and meta-analysis over 40 years

Abstract Purpose: This systematic review and meta-analysis analysed the relationship between dietary protein and bone health across the life-course. Methods: The PubMed database was searched for all relevant human studies from the 1st 4 January 1976 to 22nd January 2016, including all bone outcomes except calcium metabolism. Results: The searches identified 127 papers for inclusion, including 74 correlational studies, 23 fracture or osteoporosis risk studies and 30 supplementation trials. Protein intake accounted for 0 - 4% of areal BMC and areal BMD variance in adults and 0-14% of areal BMC variance in children and adolescents. However, when confounder adjusted (5 studies) adult lumbar spine and femoral neck BMD associations were not statistically significant. There was no association between protein intake and relative risk (RR) of osteoporotic fractures for total (RR(random) = 0.94; 0.72 to 1.23, I2=32%), animal (RR (random) = 0.98; 0.76 to 1.27, I2 = 46%) or vegetable protein (RR (fixed)= 0.97 (0.89 to 1.09, I2 = 15%). In total protein supplementation studies, pooled effect sizes were not statistically significant for LSBMD (total n=255, MD(fixed)=0.04 g/cm2 (0.00 to 0.08, P=0.07), I2=0%) or FNBMD (total n=435, MD(random)=0.01 g/cm2 (-0.03 to 0.05, P=0.59), I2=68%). Conclusions: There appears to be little benefit of increasing protein intake for bone health in healthy adults but there is also clearly no indication of any detrimental effect, at least within the protein intakes of the populations studied (around 0.8-1.3 g/Kg/day). More studies are urgently required on the association between protein intake and bone health in children and adolescents. Key Words: Aging, Epidemiology, IGF-1, Nutrition, Osteoporosis, Die

Association between maternal vitamin D status in pregnancy and neurodevelopmental outcomes in childhood:results from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)

Seafood intake in pregnancy has been positively associated with childhood cognitive outcomes which could potentially relate to the high vitamin-D content of oily fish. However, whether higher maternal vitamin D status [serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D, 25(OH)D] in pregnancy is associated with a reduced risk of offspring suboptimal neurodevelopmental outcomes is unclear. A total of 7065 mother-child pairs were studied from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort who had data for both serum total 25(OH)D concentration in pregnancy and at least one measure of offspring neurodevelopment (pre-school development at 6–42 months; “Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire” scores at 7 years; IQ at 8 years; reading ability at 9 years). After adjustment for confounders, children of vitamin-D deficient mothers (< 50.0 nmol/L) were more likely to have scores in the lowest quartile for gross motor development at 30 months (OR 1.20 95% CI 1.03, 1.40), fine motor development at 30 months (OR 1.23 95% CI 1.05, 1.44), and social development at 42 months (OR 1.20 95% CI 1.01, 1.41) than vitamin-D sufficient mothers (≥ 50.0 nmol/L). No associations were found with neurodevelopmental outcomes, including IQ, measured at older ages. However, our results suggest that deficient maternal vitamin D status in pregnancy may have adverse effects on some measures of motor and social development in children under 4 years. Prevention of vitamin D deficiency may be important for preventing suboptimal development in the first 4 years of life

Vitamin D Status of the British African-Caribbean Residents : Analysis of the UK Biobank Cohort

Funding: This work is part of the PhD of R.M.V., which is funded by the Universities Global Part‐ nership Network, co‐supervised by the Universities of Surrey and Wollongong. Funders did not have a role in the study. The researchers are independent to the funders. All authors take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Does Vitamin D play a role in the management of Covid-19 in Brazil?

The study discusses the possible role of adequate vitamin D status in plasma or serum for preventing acute respiratory infections during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our arguments respond to an article, published in Italy, that describes the high prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in older Italian women and raises the possible preventive and therapeutic role of optimal vitamin D levels. Based on literature review, we highlight the findings regarding the protective role of vitamin D for infectious diseases of the respiratory system. However, randomized controlled trials are currently lacking. Adequate vitamin D status is obtained from sun exposure and foods rich in vitamin D. Studies in Brazil have shown that hypovitaminosis D is quite common in spite of high insolation. Authors recommend ecological, epidemiological and randomized controlled trials studies to verify this hypothesis