A prospective cohort study of dietary patterns of non-western migrants in the Netherlands in relation to risk factors for cardiovascular diseases: HELIUS-Dietary Patterns

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In Western countries the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is often higher in non-Western migrants as compared to the host population. Diet is an important modifiable determinant of CVD. Increasingly, dietary patterns rather than single nutrients are the focus of research in an attempt to account for the complexity of nutrient interactions in foods. Research on dietary patterns in non-Western migrants is limited and may be hampered by a lack of validated instruments that can be used to assess the habitual diet of non-western migrants in large scale epidemiological studies. The ultimate aims of this study are to (1) understand whether differences in dietary patterns explain differences in CVD risk between ethnic groups, by developing and validating ethnic-specific Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQs), and (2) to investigate the determinants of these dietary patterns. This paper outlines the design and methods used in the HELIUS-Dietary Patterns study and describes a systematic approach to overcome difficulties in the assessment and analysis of dietary intake data in ethnically diverse populations.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>The HELIUS-Dietary Patterns study is embedded in the HELIUS study, a Dutch multi-ethnic cohort study. After developing ethnic-specific FFQs, we will gather data on the habitual intake of 5000 participants (18-70 years old) of ethnic Dutch, Surinamese of African and of South Asian origin, Turkish or Moroccan origin. Dietary patterns will be derived using factor analysis, but we will also evaluate diet quality using hypothesis-driven approaches. The relation between dietary patterns and CVD risk factors will be analysed using multiple linear regression analysis. Potential underlying determinants of dietary patterns like migration history, acculturation, socio-economic factors and lifestyle, will be considered.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This study will allow us to investigate the contribution of the dietary patterns on CVD risk factors in a multi-ethnic population. Inclusion of five ethnic groups residing in one setting makes this study highly innovative as confounding by local environment characteristics is limited. Heterogeneity in the study population will provide variance in dietary patterns which is a great advantage when studying the link between diet and disease.</p

Fine-structural distribution of MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities in the rat skeletal muscle upon training: a study by high-resolution in situ zymography

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are key regulators of extracellular matrix remodeling, but have also important intracellular targets. The purpose of this study was to examine the activity and subcellular localization of the gelatinases MMP-2 and MMP-9 in skeletal muscle of control and physically trained rats. In control hind limb muscle, the activity of the gelatinases was barely detectable. In contrast, after 5 days of intense exercise, in Soleus (Sol), but not Extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle, significant upregulation of gelatinolytic activity in myofibers was observed mainly in the nuclei, as assessed by high resolution in situ zymography. The nuclei of quiescent satellite cells did not contain the activity. Within the myonuclei, the gelatinolytic activity colocalized with an activated RNA Polymerase II. Also in Sol, but not in EDL, there were few foci of mononuclear cells with strongly positive cytoplasm, associated with apparent necrotic myofibers. These cells were identified as activated satellite cells/myoblasts. No extracellular gelatinase activity was observed. Gel zymography combined with subcellular fractionation revealed training-related upregulation of active MMP-2 in the nuclear fraction, and increase of active MMP-9 in the cytoplasmic fraction of Sol. Using RT-PCR, selective increase in MMP-9 mRNA was observed. We conclude that training activates nuclear MMP-2, and increases expression and activity of cytoplasmic MMP-9 in Sol, but not in EDL. Our results suggest that the gelatinases are involved in muscle adaptation to training, and that MMP-2 may play a novel role in myonuclear functions

Dietary vitamin E (alpha-tocopheryl acetate) and organic selenium supplementation: performance and antioxidant status of broilers fed n-3 PUFA-enriched feeds

WOS: 000275211300004The experiment was conducted to study the effects of organic selenium (Se-enriched yeast) and vitamin E (alpha-tocopheryl acetate) supplementation, alone or together, on the performance and antioxidant status of broilers fed diets enriched in n-3 PUFAs using fish oil. Day-old Hubbard-JV strain broiler chicks allocated to one of the following treatments: (1) a commercial basal diet containing 0.15 mg inorganic Se/kg as sodium selenite and 50 mg alpha-tocopheryl acetate (alpha-TA)/kg feed acted as the control; (2) VE200: Control diet supplemented with 200 mg alpha-TA/kg feed; (3) OrgSe0.15: Control with inorganic Se replaced with 0.15 mg organic Se/kg; (4) OrgSe0.30: Control with inorganic Se replaced with 0.30 mg organic Se/kg feed; (5) VE200+OrgSe0.15, (6) VE200+OrgSe0.30. Body weight (BW) and body weight gain (BWG) to 42 d were significantly improved with vitamin E or organic Se at 0.20 mg/kg (but not at 0.15 mg/kg) when supplemented individually, but not in combination, except that VE200+OrgSe0.15 improved 28 and 35-d body weights significantly compared with the control. Feed intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), mortality, carcass characteristics and relative organ weights, except for the spleen, were unaffected by any of the supplementation treatments. The significant positive effect of VE200 on BWG was observed after 21 d. Relative spleen weight was significantly higher in broilers fed VE200 compared to the other treatments. The antioxidative effects of organic Se and vitamin E, alone or together, were not evident in diets enriched in n-3 PUFAs using 1.5% fish oil.Scientific Research Projects Committee at Ege UniversityEge University [2003-ZRF-021]This study was funded by the Scientific Research Projects Committee at Ege University (Project number 2003-ZRF-021). We wish to thank Alltech Turkey for supplying Sel-Plex and Eryas firm, Turkey for preparing mineral-vitamin premixes used in the study