An Essential Role for Diet in Exercise-Mediated Protection against Dyslipidemia, Inflammation and Atherosclerosis in ApoE-/- Mice

Diet and exercise promote cardiovascular health but their relative contributions to atherosclerosis are not fully known. The transition from a sedentary to active lifestyle requires increased caloric intake to achieve energy balance. Using atherosclerosis-prone ApoE-null mice we sought to determine whether the benefits of exercise for arterial disease are dependent on the food source of the additional calories.Mice were fed a high-fat diet (HF) for 4.5 months to initiate atherosclerosis after which time half were continued on HF while the other half were switched to a high protein/fish oil diet (HP). Half of each group underwent voluntary running. Food intake, running distance, body weight, lipids, inflammation markers, and atherosclerotic plaque were quantified. Two-way ANOVA tests were used to assess differences and interactions between groups. Exercised mice ran approximately 6-km per day with no difference between groups. Both groups increased food intake during exercise and there was a significant main effect of exercise F((1,44) = 9.86, p<0.01) without interaction. Diet or exercise produced significant independent effects on body weight (diet: F(1,52) = 6.85, p = 0.012; exercise: F(1,52) = 9.52, p<0.01) with no significant interaction. The combination of HP diet and exercise produced a greater decrease in total cholesterol (F(1, 46) = 7.9, p<0.01) and LDL (F(1, 46) = 7.33, p<0.01) with a large effect on the size of the interaction. HP diet and exercise independently reduced TGL and VLDL (p<0.05 and 0.001 respectively). Interleukin 6 and C-reactive protein were highest in the HF-sedentary group and were significantly reduced by exercise only in this group. Plaque accumulation in the aortic arch, a marker of cardiovascular events was reduced by the HP diet and the effect was significantly potentiated by exercise only in this group resulting in significant plaque regression (F1, 49 = 4.77, p<0.05).In this model exercise is beneficial to combat dyslipidemia and protect from atherosclerosis only when combined with diet

Twenty-four-year trends and determinants of change in compliance with Swiss dietary guidelines.

A healthy diet is the cornerstone of disease prevention, and dietary guidelines have been issued in most countries. We aimed to assess trends in compliance with dietary guidelines in the population of Geneva, Switzerland. Multiple cross-sectional, population-based surveys conducted between 1993 and 2016 in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland [20,310 participants (52.3% women, mean age 51.9 ± 10.7 years)]. Trends in compliance with the Swiss dietary guidelines regarding food intake were assessed using logistic regression (a) for each guideline and (b) for at least three guidelines. Compliance before and after the first and second issuing of the guidelines was assessed. After multivariable adjustment, compliance with fruits increased overall [odds ratio and (95% confidence interval) for 1-year increase: 1.007 (1.003-1.012), p &lt; 0.001], in men, participants aged over 45 and with low educational level. Compliance with vegetables increased overall [1.015 (1.008-1.022), p &lt; 0.001], in both genders, age groups [45-54 and 55-64] and participants with low educational level. Compliance with meat increased in women [1.007 (1.001-1.013), p = 0.021] and participants with a university degree. Compliance with fresh fish increased in age group [55-64] [1.009 (1.000-1.018), p = 0.041]. Compliance with dairy products decreased overall [0.979 (0.972-0.986), p &lt; 0.001] and in all groups studied, except for age group [65-74]. Compliance with at least three guidelines increased in age group [55-64] only [1.013 (1.002-1.024), p = 0.019]. No effect of the issuing of the guidelines was found. In the Geneva adult population, compliance with the Swiss dietary guidelines improved little. Issuing of dietary guidelines did not impact trends

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary students' experiences of racism

The issue of race and racism within varying Australian contexts is hotly contested politically and across a wide range of media narratives. These debates often center around questioning the very existence of racism, while simultaneously ignoring and denigrating the voices and lived experiences of minoritorized groups within Australia. This is particularly notable for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who have been continually forced to navigate the oppressive nature of systemic racism throughout Australia’s “colonial history.” Drawing from the theoretical and methodological foundations of Indigenist research (Rigney, Wicazo Sa Rev 14(2):109–121, 1999; Martin, J Aust Stud 27(76):203–214, 2003) and Indigenous and First Nations standpoints on Historical Trauma (Brave Heart and DeBruyn, Am Indian Alsk Native Ment Health Res 8(2):56, 1998; Pihama et al. 2014), this paper will commit to a parallel mixed-methods design to explore how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary school students both understand and are impacted by racism today. These findings will be extended through an Indigenous quantitative methodology that will fully articulate the impact of racism over Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ well-being. Themes emerging from the interviews (n = 17) suggested the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students understood racism to be much more systematic and endemic (e.g., individual, teacher, community, politics, epistemic) than has been portrayed within previous literature. The quantitative analyses (n = 49) also revealed that a more complex understanding of racism is necessary to understand how racism, in its many guises, can negatively impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students today

Famines, pregnancy and effect on the adults

Maternal malnutrition is deleterious for the health of offspring throughout their life. The pathological process is thought to involve foetal programming and includes adult manifestations of the metabolic syndrome. Although the mechanism for programming is not proven, it is thought to involve epigenetic change, possibly including imprinting. Effects of maternal starvation are thought to affect multiple generations. The thrifty genotype hypothesis, more recently supplanted by the Barker hypothesis, or foetal programming, or thrifty phenotype hypothesis, might still contribute to the process. Proof or disproof of this will be possible when databases for the whole genome sequence of single tissues or even single cells can be compared within tissues of interest of populations exposed to maternal starvation and controls

Birth weight, malnutrition and kidney-associated outcomes--a global concern

An adverse intrauterine environment is associated with an increased risk of elevated blood pressure and kidney disease in later life. Many studies have focused on low birth weight, prematurity and growth restriction as surrogate markers of an adverse intrauterine environment; however, high birth weight, exposure to maternal diabetes and rapid growth during early childhood are also emerging as developmental risk factors for chronic diseases. Altered programming of nephron number is an important link between exposure to developmental stressors and subsequent risk of hypertension and kidney disease. Maternal, fetal, and childhood nutrition are crucial contributors to these programming effects. Resource-poor countries experience the sequential burdens of fetal and childhood undernutrition and subsequent overnutrition, which synergistically act to augment the effects of developmental programming; this observation might explain in part the disproportionate burden of chronic disease in these regions. Numerous nutritional interventions have been effective in reducing the short-term risk of low birth weight and prematurity. Understanding the potential long-term benefits of such interventions is crucial to inform policy decisions to interrupt the developmental programming cycle and stem the growing epidemics of hypertension and kidney disease worldwide