Effect of a low sodium DASH diet, including red meat on blood pressure in post-menopausal women

Background &ndash; The DASH type dietary pattern which consists of high fruit, vegetable and dairy products and low saturated fat, is &ldquo;base-producing&rdquo; but restricts red meat with no clear justification.Objective &ndash; To compare the BP-lowering effect of Vitality diet (VD), a moderately low sodium, &ldquo;base&rdquo; producing modified DASH diet, containing 6 serves/week of lean red meat to a &ldquo; high carbohydrate, low fat diet (HCLF diet), with a higher dietary acid load in post-menopausal women.Design &ndash; Ninety-five hypertensive post-menopausal women (46 VD and 49 HCLF) completed a 14-wk randomised parallel study. Home BP was measured daily. Repeat 24-h dietary records and 24-h urine samples were collected fortnightly. Dietary acid load, expressed as potential renal acid load (PRAL), was calculated from nutrient intakes.Outcomes &ndash; During the intervention, the VD group had an average daily consumption of 85 g cooked red meat. They had a mean (&plusmn; SEM) reduction of 38 &plusmn; 7 mmol/d in urinary sodium excretion (P &lt;0.0001), and a 7 &plusmn; 4 mmol/d increase in urinary potassium (P = 0.0681), with an estimated 23.1&plusmn; 2.3 mEq/d lower PRAL than the HCLF group (P &lt;0.0001). The fall in systolic pressure in the VD group tended to be greater by 3 &plusmn; 2 mmHg (P = 0.08) than the fall in systolic pressure seen with the HCLF diet. A greater BP-lowering effect of VD was observed among those taking anti-hypertensive medication (n = 17) with a greater 5.5 &plusmn; 2.7 mm Hg (P = 0.0518) reduction of systolic BP and greater reduction in diastolic BP by 3.6 &plusmn; 1.7 mm Hg (P = 0.0388) compared to the HCLF diet. However, no relationship between BP and PRAL was observed.Conclusions &ndash; A low sodium DASH type dietary pattern with the inclusion of lean red meat was effective in reducing BP in post-menopausal women, particularly in those taking anti-hypertensive medication. This dietary pattern could be recommended for this group who are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease.This study was funded by Meat &amp; Livestock Australia.<br /

Beyond BMI for self-estimates of body size and shape: A new method for developing stimuli correctly calibrated for body composition

Accurate self-assessment of body shape and size plays a key role in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of both obesity and eating disorders. These chronic conditions cause significant health problems, reduced quality of life, and represent a major problem for health services. Variation in body shape depends on two aspects of composition: adiposity and muscularity. However, most self-assessment tools are unidimensional. They depict variation in adiposity only, typically quantified by the body mass index. This can lead to substantial, and clinically meaningful, errors in estimates of body shape and size. To solve this problem, we detail a method of creating biometrically valid body stimuli. We obtained high-resolution 3D body shape scans and composition measures from 397 volunteers (aged 18–45 years) and produced a statistical mapping between the two. This allowed us to create 3D computer-generated models of bodies, correctly calibrated for body composition (i.e., muscularity and adiposity). We show how these stimuli, whose shape changes are based on change in composition in two dimensions, can be used to match the body size and shape participants believe themselves to have, to the stimulus they see. We also show how multivariate multiple regression can be used to model shape change predicted by these 2D outcomes, so that participants’ choices can be explained by their measured body composition together with other psychometric variables. Together, this approach should substantially improve the accuracy and precision with which self-assessments of body size and shape can be made in obese individuals and those suffering from eating disorders

Differential transcriptomic profiles effected by oil palm phenolics indicate novel health outcomes

Abstract Background Plant phenolics are important nutritional antioxidants which could aid in overcoming chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, two leading causes of death in the world. The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is a rich source of water-soluble phenolics which have high antioxidant activities. This study aimed to identify the in vivo effects and molecular mechanisms involved in the biological activities of oil palm phenolics (OPP) during healthy states via microarray gene expression profiling, using mice supplemented with a normal diet as biological models. Results Having confirmed via histology, haematology and clinical biochemistry analyses that OPP is not toxic to mice, we further explored the gene expression changes caused by OPP through statistical and functional analyses using Illumina microarrays. OPP showed numerous biological activities in three major organs of mice, the liver, spleen and heart. In livers of mice given OPP, four lipid catabolism genes were up-regulated while five cholesterol biosynthesis genes were down-regulated, suggesting that OPP may play a role in reducing cardiovascular disease. OPP also up-regulated eighteen blood coagulation genes in spleens of mice. OPP elicited gene expression changes similar to the effects of caloric restriction in the hearts of mice supplemented with OPP. Microarray gene expression fold changes for six target genes in the three major organs tested were validated with real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and the correlation of fold changes obtained with these two techniques was high (R2 = 0.9653). Conclusions OPP showed non-toxicity and various pleiotropic effects in mice. This study implies the potential application of OPP as a valuable source of wellness nutraceuticals, and further suggests the molecular mechanisms as to how dietary phenolics work in vivo.</p

Low-sodium dietary approaches to stop hypertension-type diet including lean red meat lowers blood pressure in postmenopausal women

Low-sodium Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diets are base producing but restrict red meat without clear justification. We hypothesized that a vitality diet (VD), a low-sodium DASH-type diet with a low dietary acid load containing 6 servings of 100 g cooked lean red meat per week, would be more effective in reducing blood pressure (BP) compared with a higher acid load reference healthy diet (RHD) based on general dietary guidelines to reduce fat intake and increase intake of breads and cereals. A randomized, parallel dietary intervention study was conducted to compare the BP-lowering effect of these 2 diets in postmenopausal women with high/normal BP. Women were randomly assigned to follow either VD or RHD for 14 weeks. Home BP was measured daily with an automated BP monitor under standard conditions. Of 111 women commencing the study, 95 completed (46 VD, 49 RHD). Systolic BP (SBP) throughout the intervention was lower in the VD group compared to the RHD group (repeated-measures analysis of variance time by diet, P = .04), such that at the end of the study, the VD had a fall of SBP by 5.6 &plusmn; 1.3 mm Hg (mean &plusmn; SEM) compared with a fall of 2.7 &plusmn; 1.0 mm Hg in the RHD (group difference, P = .08). When only those taking antihypertensive medications were assessed, the VD (n = 17) had a significant fall of 6.5 &plusmn; 2.5 mm Hg SBP (P = .02) and 4.6 &plusmn; 1.4 mm Hg diastolic BP (P = .005) after 14 weeks, and their BP was lower than that of the RHD group (n = 18) throughout the study (P &lt; .05). We concluded that a low-sodium DASH diet with a low dietary acid load, which also included lean red meat on most days of the week, was effective in reducing BP in older women, particularly in those taking antihypertensive medications.<br /