Dietary Intake, Serum Hormone Concentrations, Amenorrhea and Bone Mineral Density of Physique Athletes and Active Gym Enthusiasts

As the diet, hormones, amenorrhea, and bone mineral density (BMD) of physique athletes (PA) and gym enthusiasts (GE) are little-explored, we studied those in 69 females (50 PA, 19 GE) and 20 males (11 PA, 9 GE). Energy availability (EA, kcal·kgFFM−1·d−1 in DXA) in female and male PA was ~41.3 and ~37.2, and in GE ~39.4 and ~35.3, respectively. Low EA (LEA) was found in 10% and 26% of female PA and GE, respectively, and in 11% of male GE. In PA, daily protein intake (g/kg body mass) was ~2.9–3.0, whereas carbohydrate and fat intakes were ~3.6–4.3 and ~0.8–1.0, respectively. PA had higher protein and carbohydrate and lower fat intakes than GE (p < 0.05). Estradiol, testosterone, IGF-1, insulin, leptin, TSH, T4, T3, cortisol, or BMD did not differ between PA and GE. Serum IGF-1 and leptin were explained 6% and 7%, respectively, by EA. In non-users of hormonal contraceptives, amenorrhea was found only in PA (27%) and was associated with lower fat percentage, but not EA, BMD, or hormones. In conclusion, off-season dietary intakes, hormone levels, and BMD meet the recommendations in most of the PA and GE. Maintaining too-low body fat during the off-season may predispose to menstrual disturbances

Dietary Intake, Serum Hormone Concentrations, Amenorrhea and Bone Mineral Density of Physique Athletes and Active Gym Enthusiasts

As the diet, hormones, amenorrhea, and bone mineral density (BMD) of physique athletes (PA) and gym enthusiasts (GE) are little-explored, we studied those in 69 females (50 PA, 19 GE) and 20 males (11 PA, 9 GE). Energy availability (EA, kcal·kgFFM−1·d−1 in DXA) in female and male PA was ~41.3 and ~37.2, and in GE ~39.4 and ~35.3, respectively. Low EA (LEA) was found in 10% and 26% of female PA and GE, respectively, and in 11% of male GE. In PA, daily protein intake (g/kg body mass) was ~2.9–3.0, whereas carbohydrate and fat intakes were ~3.6–4.3 and ~0.8–1.0, respectively. PA had higher protein and carbohydrate and lower fat intakes than GE (p < 0.05). Estradiol, testosterone, IGF-1, insulin, leptin, TSH, T4, T3, cortisol, or BMD did not differ between PA and GE. Serum IGF-1 and leptin were explained 6% and 7%, respectively, by EA. In non-users of hormonal contraceptives, amenorrhea was found only in PA (27%) and was associated with lower fat percentage, but not EA, BMD, or hormones. In conclusion, off-season dietary intakes, hormone levels, and BMD meet the recommendations in most of the PA and GE. Maintaining too-low body fat during the off-season may predispose to menstrual disturbances

Dietary fat quality and serum androgen concentrations in middle-aged men

Average testosterone concentrations in men have declined over the last few decades. The reasons for this are not fully known, but changes in dietary fat quality have been suggested to have a role. This study aimed to investigate the associations of different dietary fatty acids with serum androgen concentrations

Cocoa flavanols: effects on vascular nitric oxide and blood pressure

Diets rich in fruits and vegetables have been associated with benefits for human health. Those effects have been partially ascribed to their content in flavonoids, compounds that are present in many edible plants and its derived foods. In humans, a significant number of studies has been developed analyzing the effect of foods and beverages rich in flavonoids on the presence and progression of risk factors associated to cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension. Cocoa derived products, rich in flavanols, have been thoroughly studied and demonstrated to be efficient improving endothelial function and decreasing blood pressure in humans and animals. However, the final chemical species and the mechanism/s responsible for these effects have not been completely defined. In this paper we present data supporting the hypothesis that flavanols could define superoxide anion production and then, establish optimal nitric oxide levels and blood pressure

Changes in LDL Fatty Acid Composition as a Response to Olive Oil Treatment Are Inversely Related to Lipid Oxidative Damage: The EUROLIVE Study

Objective: The aim of our study was to assess the changes in the fatty acid composition of low density lipoproteins (LDL) after sustained consumption of olive oil at real-life doses (25 mL/day) and their relationship with lipid oxidative damage. Methods: A multi-center randomized, cross-over, clinical trial with 3 similar types of olive oils, but with differences in the phenolic content, was conducted on 200 healthy European subjects. Intervention periods were of 3 weeks separated by 2-week washout periods. The LDL fatty acid content was measured in samples drawn at baseline and after the last intervention period. Results: After olive oil ingestion oleic acid concentration in LDL increased (1.9%; p Ͻ 0.001) and those of linoleic (1.1%; p Ͻ 0.002) and arachidonic acid (0.5%; p Ͻ 0.001) decreased. Monounsaturated/polyunsaturated fatty acid and oleic/linoleic acid ratios in LDL increased after olive oil consumption. An inverse relationship between the oleic/linoleic acid ratio and biomarkers of oxidative stress was observed. One unit increase in the oleic/linoleic acid ratio was associated with a decrease of 4.2 g/L in plasma isoprostanes. Conclusion: Consumption of olive oil at real-life doses improved the fatty acid profile in LDL, the changes being associated with a reduction of the oxidative damage to lipids

Functional COMT Val158Met Polymorphism, Risk of Acute Coronary Events and Serum Homocysteine: The Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55410/1/Voutilainen S, Functional COMT Val158Met polymorphism, 2007.pd

Biomarkers of Dietary Omega-6 Fatty Acids and Incident Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality: An Individual-Level Pooled Analysis of 30 Cohort Studies

BACKGROUND: Global dietary recommendations for and cardiovascular effects of linoleic acid, the major dietary omega-6 fatty acid, and its major metabolite, arachidonic acid, remain controversial. To address this uncertainty and inform international recommendations, we evaluated how in vivo circulating and tissue levels of linoleic acid (LA) and arachidonic acid (AA) relate to incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) across multiple international studies. METHODS: We performed harmonized, de novo, individual-level analyses in a global consortium of 30 prospective observational studies from 13 countries. Multivariable-adjusted associations of circulating and adipose tissue LA and AA biomarkers with incident total CVD and subtypes (coronary heart disease, ischemic stroke, cardiovascular mortality) were investigated according to a prespecified analytic plan. Levels of LA and AA, measured as the percentage of total fatty acids, were evaluated linearly according to their interquintile range (ie, the range between the midpoint of the first and fifth quintiles), and categorically by quintiles. Study-specific results were pooled using inverse-variance–weighted meta-analysis. Heterogeneity was explored by age, sex, race, diabetes mellitus, statin use, aspirin use, omega-3 levels, and fatty acid desaturase 1 genotype (when available). RESULTS: In 30 prospective studies with medians of follow-up ranging 2.5 to 31.9 years, 15 198 incident cardiovascular events occurred among 68 659 participants. Higher levels of LA were significantly associated with lower risks of total CVD, cardiovascular mortality, and ischemic stroke, with hazard ratios per interquintile range of 0.93 (95% CI, 0.88–0.99), 0.78 (0.70–0.85), and 0.88 (0.79–0.98), respectively, and nonsignificantly with lower coronary heart disease risk (0.94; 0.88–1.00). Relationships were similar for LA evaluated across quintiles. AA levels were not associated with higher risk of cardiovascular outcomes; in a comparison of extreme quintiles, higher levels were associated with lower risk of total CVD (0.92; 0.86–0.99). No consistent heterogeneity by population subgroups was identified in the observed relationships. CONCLUSIONS: In pooled global analyses, higher in vivo circulating and tissue levels of LA and possibly AA were associated with lower risk of major cardiovascular events. These results support a favorable role for LA in CVD prevention

National trends in total cholesterol obscure heterogeneous changes in HDL and non-HDL cholesterol and total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio : a pooled analysis of 458 population-based studies in Asian and Western countries

Background: Although high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and non-HDL cholesterol have opposite associations with coronary heart disease, multi-country reports of lipid trends only use total cholesterol (TC). Our aim was to compare trends in total, HDL and nonHDL cholesterol and the total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio in Asian and Western countries. Methods: We pooled 458 population-based studies with 82.1 million participants in 23 Asian and Western countries. We estimated changes in mean total, HDL and non-HDL cholesterol and mean total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio by country, sex and age group. Results: Since similar to 1980, mean TC increased in Asian countries. In Japan and South Korea, the TC rise was due to rising HDL cholesterol, which increased by up to 0.17 mmol/L per decade in Japanese women; in China, it was due to rising non-HDL cholesterol. TC declined in Western countries, except in Polish men. The decline was largest in Finland and Norway, at similar to 0.4 mmol/L per decade. The decline in TC in most Western countries was the net effect of an increase in HDL cholesterol and a decline in non-HDL cholesterol, with the HDL cholesterol increase largest in New Zealand and Switzerland. Mean total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio declined in Japan, South Korea and most Western countries, by as much as similar to 0.7 per decade in Swiss men (equivalent to similar to 26% decline in coronary heart disease risk per decade). The ratio increased in China. Conclusions: HDL cholesterol has risen and the total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio has declined in many Western countries, Japan and South Korea, with only a weak correlation with changes in TC or non-HDL cholesterol.Peer reviewe

Contributions of mean and shape of blood pressure distribution to worldwide trends and variations in raised blood pressure: A pooled analysis of 1018 population-based measurement studies with 88.6 million participants

© The Author(s) 2018. Background: Change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure could be due to both shifts in the entire distribution of blood pressure (representing the combined effects of public health interventions and secular trends) and changes in its high-blood-pressure tail (representing successful clinical interventions to control blood pressure in the hypertensive population). Our aim was to quantify the contributions of these two phenomena to the worldwide trends in the prevalence of raised blood pressure. Methods: We pooled 1018 population-based studies with blood pressure measurements on 88.6 million participants from 1985 to 2016. We first calculated mean systolic blood pressure (SBP), mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and prevalence of raised blood pressure by sex and 10-year age group from 20-29 years to 70-79 years in each study, taking into account complex survey design and survey sample weights, where relevant. We used a linear mixed effect model to quantify the association between (probittransformed) prevalence of raised blood pressure and age-group- and sex-specific mean blood pressure. We calculated the contributions of change in mean SBP and DBP, and of change in the prevalence-mean association, to the change in prevalence of raised blood pressure. Results: In 2005-16, at the same level of population mean SBP and DBP, men and women in South Asia and in Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa would have the highest prevalence of raised blood pressure, and men and women in the highincome Asia Pacific and high-income Western regions would have the lowest. In most region-sex-age groups where the prevalence of raised blood pressure declined, one half or more of the decline was due to the decline in mean blood pressure. Where prevalence of raised blood pressure has increased, the change was entirely driven by increasing mean blood pressure, offset partly by the change in the prevalence-mean association. Conclusions: Change in mean blood pressure is the main driver of the worldwide change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure, but change in the high-blood-pressure tail of the distribution has also contributed to the change in prevalence, especially in older age groups

Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol

High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries(1,2). However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world(3) and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health(4,5). However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterol-which is a marker of cardiovascular riskchanged from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95% credible interval 3.7 million-4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world.Peer reviewe