Nutrition
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Although it is known that high fructose intake causes salt-sensitive hypertension, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. The aim of this study was to determine whether chronic intake of high fructose coupled with salt (HFS) might alter the structure of the gut microbiota, which contributes to elevated blood pressure. ⋯ The present results demonstrated that gut dysbiosis develops after chronic fructose plus salt intake and contributes to the increase of blood pressure and the activation of the intrarenal renin-angiotensin system. Therefore, targeting gut microbiota provides a helpful therapy method to improve HFS-induced hypertension.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of genetic factors on the response to vitamin D3 supplementation in the VIDARIS randomized controlled trial.
Supplementation provides the best means of improving vitamin D status; however, individual responses vary partly owing to genetics. The aim of this study was to determine whether 28 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in six key vitamin D pathway genes (GC, DHCR7, CYP2 R1, CYP24 A1, CYP27 B1, VDR) were associated with differences in response to supplementation. ⋯ Only variants of GC were associated with 25(OH)D concentrations after supplementation. This effect was modest and disappeared after >2 mo of supplementation, suggesting it may be time/dose-dependent and saturable.
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Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common liver disease globally. It is caused by a complex network of factors, including diet. The hallmark of NAFLD is the benign accumulation of triacylglycerols, however, this condition may worsen into non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a more severe form associated with inflammation and fibrosis. Currently, no therapies are available, and diet modifications are the only strategy. Although there is increasing evidence emerging about how an abuse of carbohydrates could be involved in the progression of liver injury, a comprehensive understanding of the damage induced by an enriched carbohydrate diet is still far from complete. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the effects of a low-fat/high-carbohydrate diet (LF-HCD) with high-fat (HFD) and standard (SD) diets in a nutritional mouse model of NAFLD/NASH. ⋯ The present study highlighted that the simple substitution of fats with carbohydrates is not a proper strategy to prevent or mitigate the progression of NAFLD/NASH. Further studies are required to define the best nutritional strategy to prevent NAFLD and its related metabolic syndrome.
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The aims of this study were to assess the capacity of tri-ponderal mass index (TMI) to screen and predict insulin resistance (IR) in overweight Brazilian adolescents, comparing it with body mass index (BMI) predictive capacity; and to verify the IR predictive capacity of other assessment tools such as waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-height ratio (WHR). ⋯ TMI did not present a superior predictive accuracy for IR screening in overweight Brazilian adolescents when compared with BMI. TMI and BMI presented similar values of sensitivity and specificity for boys and WC a slightly superior IR predictive capacity for girls.