PLoS medicine
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Smokers have lower risk of obesity, which some consider a "beneficial" side effect of smoking. However, some studies suggest that smoking is simultaneously associated with higher central adiposity and, more specifically, ectopic adipose deposition. Little is known about the association of smoking with intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT), an ectopic adipose depot associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and a key determinant of muscle quality and function. We tested the hypothesis that smokers have higher abdominal IMAT and lower lean muscle quality than never smokers. ⋯ We found that, compared to those who never smoked, current and former smokers had abdominal muscle composition that was higher in adipose tissue volume, a finding consistent with higher CVD risk and age-related physical deconditioning. These findings challenge the belief that smoking-associated weight loss or maintenance confers a health benefit.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A simplified, combined protocol versus standard treatment for acute malnutrition in children 6-59 months (ComPAS trial): A cluster-randomized controlled non-inferiority trial in Kenya and South Sudan.
Malnutrition underlies 3 million child deaths worldwide. Current treatments differentiate severe acute malnutrition (SAM) from moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) with different products and programs. This differentiation is complex and costly. The Combined Protocol for Acute Malnutrition Study (ComPAS) assessed the effectiveness of a simplified, unified SAM/MAM protocol for children aged 6-59 months. Eliminating the need for separate products and protocols could improve the impact of programs by treating children more easily and cost-effectively, reaching more children globally. ⋯ Combined treatment for SAM and MAM is non-inferior to standard care. Further research should focus on operational implications, cost-effectiveness, and context (Asia versus Africa; emergency versus food-secure settings). This trial is complete and registered at ISRCTN (ISRCTN30393230).
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Polygenic risk score for obesity and the quality, quantity, and timing of workplace food purchases: A secondary analysis from the ChooseWell 365 randomized trial.
The influence of genetic risk for obesity on food choice behaviors is unknown and may be in the causal pathway between genetic risk and weight gain. The aim of this study was to examine associations between genetic risk for obesity and food choice behaviors using objectively assessed workplace food purchases. ⋯ In this study, genetic risk for obesity was associated with the quality, quantity, and timing of objectively measured workplace food purchases. These findings suggest that genetic risk for obesity may influence eating behaviors that contribute to weight and could be targeted in personalized workplace wellness programs in the future.
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Controlled Clinical Trial
Effect of supplemental nutrition in pregnancy on offspring's risk of cardiovascular disease in young adulthood: Long-term follow-up of a cluster trial from India.
Undernutrition during intrauterine life and early childhood is hypothesised to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (Developmental Origins of Health and Disease Hypothesis), but experimental evidence from humans is limited. This hypothesis has major implications for control of the cardiovascular disease epidemic in South Asia (home to a quarter of world's population), where a quarter of newborns have low birth weight. We investigated whether, in an area with prevalent undernutrition, supplemental nutrition offered to pregnant women and their offspring below the age of 6 years was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease in the offspring when they were young adults. ⋯ Our results showed that in an area with prevalent undernutrition, protein-calorie food supplements offered to pregnant women and their offspring below the age of 6 years were not associated with lower levels of cardiovascular risk factors among offspring when they were young adults. Our findings, coupled with evidence from other intervention studies to date, suggest that policy makers should attach limited value to cardiovascular health benefits of maternal and child protein-calorie food supplementation programmes.
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The current organized screening program for colorectal cancer in Germany offers both sexes 5 annual fecal immunochemical tests (FITs) between ages 50 and 54 years, followed by a first screening colonoscopy at age 55 years if all of these FITs were negative. We sought to assess the implications of this approach for key parameters of diagnostic performance. ⋯ Screening colonoscopy at age 55 after 5 consecutive negative FITs at ages 50-54, as currently offered in the German cancer early detection program, is expected to have very low positive predictive value. Our results may inform efforts to enhance the design of screening programs.