Muscle Strength Moderates the Relationship between Nutritional Health Risk and Depression in Korean Older Adults.

Background: Little is known about the relationships between muscle strength and nutritional health risk with late-in-life depression. This study aimed to investigate the moderating effect of lower-extremity muscle strength on the relationship between nutritional health risk and depression in Korean older adults. Methods: Data obtained from 5949 women and 3971 men aged ≥ 65 years in the 2020 Korea Longitudinal Study on Aging were used in this study. Exposures included lower-extremity muscle strength and nutritional health risk. Lower-extremity muscle strength was measured with a modified sit-to-stand test. The nutritional health risk was assessed using a screening tool. Depression was defined as a score ≥ 8 points on the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Results: Logistic regression analyses showed that depression was positively associated with nutritional health risk (p < 0.001) and inversely associated with lower-extremity muscle strength (p < 0.001). A moderation analysis with Andrew Hayes' PROCESS macro showed a significant moderating effect of lower-extremity muscle strength (ß = −0.119; 95% confidence interval, −0.172 to −0.066; p < 0.001) on the relationship between nutritional health risk and depression; the weaker was the muscle strength, the steeper was the slope of the GDS score for nutritional health risk. Conclusions: The current findings suggest the need for an intervention targeting both high nutritional risk and weak muscle strength as a therapeutic strategy against depression in Korean older adults.

Apolipoprotein C-III SstI genotypes modulate exercise-induced hypotriglyceridemia.

PURPOSE: To investigate whether the efficacy of exercise as an antitriglyceridemic treatment was dependent on the apolipoprotein (apo) C-III SstI gene polymorphism. METHODS: A subgroup of 100 Korean men, who were prescreened by genotypes (S1S1 = 40, S1S2 = 40, S2S2 = 20), participated in a 6-d moderate-exercise intervention using either a motor-driven treadmill or a cycle ergometer. Height and weight for body mass index and waist circumference were measured. Fasting total cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, glucose, and insulin were measured. Univariate analysis of variance and ANCOVA followed by Bonferroni post hoc tests were used to compare the preintervention values and the pre- to postexercise change (delta) scores in the measured variables across the genotypes, respectively. Multivariate linear regressions were carried out with age, smoking, waist circumference, body mass index, and genotype as independent variables and lipids, glucose, and insulin as dependent variables. RESULTS: Subjects with the S2S2 genotype had a significantly higher preintervention TG concentration than subjects with the S1S1 genotype (P = 0.022). Waist circumference and genotype were the only significant predictors for the preintervention TG (P < 0.001). With respect to the delta scores, the subjects with the S2S2 genotype had a greater reduction in TG than the subjects with the S1S1 genotype, adjusted for the preintervention difference (P = 0.047). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that the apo C-III SstI gene polymorphism might be useful for determining who is most susceptible to intervention by exercise in lowering fasting TG concentration.

Visceral adiposity and apolipoprotein C-III in apolipoprotein B-containing lipoproteins are independent predictors in determining atherogenic lipid profiles.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Little is known about how visceral adiposity and apolipoprotein CIII in apoB-containing lipoproteins influence atherogenic lipids profiles. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships of visceral adiposity and apoC-III in apoB-containing lipoproteins (LpB:C-III) with lipoprotein lipids in circulating plasma. METHODS: A subgroup of 46 men (n = 20, aged 29.1-33.4 years) and women (n = 26, aged 29.1-33.8 years) were recruited from an ongoing population study at our institution. Anthropometric variables including weight, height, and waist circumference were measured using standard procedures, and body mass index was calculated (kg/m(2)). Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) was measured with magnetic resonance imaging. Plasma apolipoproteins, lipids, glucose, and insulin were measured after an overnight fasting. RESULTS: The men had a significantly higher waist circumference, glucose, and TC/HDL-C ratio, while the women had a significantly higher HDL-C and apoA-I. In particular, this is the first study to report that VAT and LpB:C-III were independent predictors in determining plasma triglyceride concentrations. CONCLUSION: The relations of plasma triglyceride concentration with VAT and LpB:C-III suggest that information on VAT and apoC-III in apoB-containing lipoproteins may provide additional information on the atherogenic lipid profiles.

The apolipoprotein CIII T2854G variants are associated with postprandial triacylglycerol concentrations in normolipidemic Korean men.

This study investigated associations between the apolipoprotein (apo) CIII polymorphism and triacylglycerol (TAG) concentrations in fasting and postprandial plasma. Polymerase chain reaction followed by a restriction fragment length genotyping was conducted to assess the allele frequency of the apo CIII T2854G variants in healthy and normolipidemic Korean men ( n=262). Waist circumference, body mass index (kilograms per meter squared), fasting plasma concentrations of TAG, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC), glucose, and insulin were compared across the genotypes. Compared to TT homozygotes and TG heterozygotes, GG homozygotes had 22% higher fasting TAG concentrations, respectively ( p<0.05). A subgroup of 60 subjects (TT homozygotes=20, TG heterozygotes=22, GG homozygotes= 18) were further invited to participate in a high-fat meal test to assess postprandial TAG concentrations. During the high-fat meal test, the GG homozygotes had 21% higher TAG area under the curve (AUC) than the TT homozygotes ( p<0.05) and 22% higher TAG AUC than the TG heterozygotes ( p<0.05). In conclusion, this is the first study to show that the apo CIII T2854G variants are associated with elevated postprandial TAG concentrations in the study population of Korean men.