Use of T cell function to determine the effect of physiologically active food components.
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The interdependency between the disciplines of nutrition and immunology was recognized in the 1970s when immunologic measures were introduced as a component of assessing nutritional status. Today, the immune response is considered integral to the pathophysiology of many chronic diseases in which diet plays a major role in prevention or treatment. T lymphocytes are an important adaptive cellular component of the immune system. Because of the difficulty in quantifying and isolating T cell function through clinical measures and in vivo immune challenges, most assessments of the effect of nutrition on immunity have been performed in vitro. A frequently used in vitro method to assess the cell-mediated response to nutritional intervention is lymphocyte blastogenesis. During the past 20 y, many soluble factors (cytokines) that influence cells involved in the immune and inflammatory responses have been described. Changes in dietary fat can modulate cytokine production in the absence of disease. Apoptosis (programmed cell death) is an exciting new area; a decrease in the rate of apoptosis may play a role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease and age-related events such as tumorigenesis. Energy restriction increases apoptosis. The goal of studying biomarkers of immune function is to understand how specific nutrients or foods directly and indirectly affect immunity. Biomarkers must be identified that can predict with reasonable accuracy resistance to infection and other illnesses associated with poor immune function. (+info)
Functional foods: an ecologic perspective.
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A functional food is defined as any food or food ingredient that may provide a health benefit beyond that conferred by the nutrients the food contains. As nutrition scientists move into this arena, they must build on the wealth of information that already exists in plant biology. In particular, the evolutionary and physiologic bases for the production of secondary plant chemicals in plants must be considered in order to plan meaningful experiments for testing the functionality of these chemical compounds for humans. One problem that may arise is that in using the term functional food, the meaning may be lost in the continued proliferation of related terms used in product marketing. The new National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements addressed some of these issues as it developed the operating definitions described in this report. (+info)
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma target gene encoding a novel angiopoietin-related protein associated with adipose differentiation.
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The nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma regulates adipose differentiation and systemic insulin signaling via ligand-dependent transcriptional activation of target genes. However, the identities of the biologically relevant target genes are largely unknown. Here we describe the isolation and characterization of a novel target gene induced by PPARgamma ligands, termed PGAR (for PPARgamma angiopoietin related), which encodes a novel member of the angiopoietin family of secreted proteins. The transcriptional induction of PGAR follows a rapid time course typical of immediate-early genes and occurs in the absence of protein synthesis. The expression of PGAR is predominantly localized to adipose tissues and placenta and is consistently elevated in genetic models of obesity. Hormone-dependent adipocyte differentiation coincides with a dramatic early induction of the PGAR transcript. Alterations in nutrition and leptin administration are found to modulate the PGAR expression in vivo. Taken together, these data suggest a possible role for PGAR in the regulation of systemic lipid metabolism or glucose homeostasis. (+info)
Nutrition and obstructed labor.
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Obstructed labor is one of the most common preventable causes of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Among the common causes are cephalopelvic disproportion, malpresentation, and malposition. Recognizing the causes of obstructed labor is important if the complications are to be prevented. Adequate prevention, however, can be achieved only through a multidisciplinary approach aimed in the short term at identifying high-risk cases and in the long term at improving nutrition. Early motherhood should be discouraged, and efforts are needed to improve nutrition during infancy, childhood, early adulthood, and pregnancy. Improving the access to and promoting the use of reproductive and contraceptive services will help reduce the prevalence of this complication. (+info)
Role of nutrition in the prevention of toxemia.
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Toxemia of pregnancy is called the disease of theories because, over decades of research, numerous causes have been proposed but none proved. Although many nutritional factors have been suggested as playing a causal role in the etiology of toxemia, mortality from this disease has not varied over time or between circumstances as one would expect a nutritional disease to do. This does not mean that there is no nutritional influence, but it does mean that the available evidence does not show that nutrition makes a major difference in maternal mortality from toxemia of pregnancy. (+info)
The effect of nutritional status on immune capacity and immune responses in preschool children in a rural community in India.
(70/1547)
Cell-mediated immune response (CMI) and several aspects of humoral immune status and response were measured and related to nutritional status in preschool children in north India. CMI was measured by means of postvaccinal (BCG) tuberculin sensitivity and leucocytic blast cell transformation. Humoral immune response was measured by means of tetanus antibody production following vaccination with diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus vaccine. Immunoglobulins A, G, and M and complement (C(3)) were also determined. CMI, serum IgA, and C(3) were found to be directly correlated with weight-for-age status. (+info)
Effects of alpha-tocopherol acetate on the swimming endurance of trained swimmers.
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Well-trained, competitive swimmers were divided into two groups. Group A was given 900 IU alpha-tocopherol acetate daily for 6 months while group B was given placebos. A swimming endurance test was given before the start of supplementation and after 1, 2, 5 and 6 months. No difference in swimmers' endurance was observed between the two groups during the 6-month period. There was also no difference in postexercise serum lactic acid levels. Younger, less well-trained, competitive swimmers were also divided into two groups. Group A received 900 IU alpha-tocopherol acetate daily while group B received placebos. Swimming times for these swimmers were erratic, reflecting a lack of training. alpha-Tocopherol did not appear to have any effect on their swimming endurance. (+info)
Nutritional factors and infectious disease contribute to anemia among pregnant women with human immunodeficiency virus in Tanzania.
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The objective of this cross-sectional study was to identify risk factors for anemia among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive pregnant women in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Baseline data from 1064 women enrolled in a clinical trial on the effect of vitamin supplementation in HIV infection were examined to identify potential determinants of anemia. The mean hemoglobin (Hb) level was 94 g/L, and the prevalence of severe anemia (Hb < 85 g/L) was 28%; 83% of the women had Hb < 110 g/L. Iron deficiency and infectious disease appeared to be the predominant causes of anemia. Significant independent associations with severe anemia were observed for women with body mass index (BMI) < 19 kg/m(2) compared with women with BMI > 24 kg/m(2) [odds ratio (OR) 3.13, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1. 37-7.14); malaria parasite densities > 1000/mm(3) (OR 2.70, CI: 1. 58-4.61) compared with women with no parasites; eating soil during early pregnancy (OR 2.47, CI: 1.66-3.69); CD4+ cell count < 200/microL compared with CD4+ count > 500/microL (OR 2.70, CI: 1. 42-5.12); and serum retinol levels < 70 micromol/L (OR 2.45, CI: 1. 44-4.17) compared with women with retinol levels > 1.05 micromol/L. The most significant risk factors associated with severe anemia in this population are preventable. Public health recommendations include increasing the effectiveness of iron supplementation and malaria management during pregnancy, and providing health education messages that increase awareness of the potentially adverse nutritional consequences of eating soil during pregnancy. (+info)