ABSTRACT
Aim: Women in the post-menopausal stage of life are susceptible to a number of chronic health conditions related to obesity and osteoporosis. The objective of this study was to assess the association between lipids and bone mineral density (BMD) in overweight/obese postmenopausal women placed on a dairy calcium weight-reduction diet. Methodology: A total of 56 overweight/obese postmenopausal women (mean age: 55.61±8.19; mean BMI: 32.95±6.12 kg/m2; mean weight: 86.88±17.25 kg; and mean BMD level: 1.05±0.17 g/cm2) were randomly assigned into a low dairy servings [DS-2] (800 mg/d of calcium or high diary servings [DS-4] (1400 mg/d of calcium) diet to evaluate differences in bone mineral density (BMD), body mass index (BMI) and lipid profiles (total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoproteins cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoproteins cholesterol (HDL-C), and triacylglycerol (TAG)) during a 3 month lifestyle education program. Results: For the high calcium group, the change “∆” in values at 3 months compared to baseline were: ∆BMD: 0.03 (p=0.31); ∆BMI: -0.69 (P=0.005); ∆LDL: -25.41 (p<0.001); ∆HDL: 3.49 (p=0.365); ∆TC: -22.14 (p=0.004) and ∆TAG: -1.97 (p=0.998). In the low calcium group, the 3 month – baseline changes were: ∆BMD: -0.04 (p=0.69); ∆BMI: -0.74 (P=0.002); ∆LDL: -10.86 (p=0.314); ∆HDL: 3.99 (p=0.269); ∆TC: -5.96 (p=0.769) and ∆TAG: 4.53 (p=0.97). ∆BMD was correlated with ∆LDL and ∆TC: r=-0.27 (p=0.052) and r=-0.27 (p=0.054), respectively. Conclusion: This study concludes that overweight/obese post-menopausal women who were placed on a dairy calcium weight-reduction diet during a 3 month educational program had lower in BMI, LDL, TC and higher HDL values.
ABSTRACT
The inclusion of low or non-fat dairy products which additional calcium in the diet may promote increased weight loss and improve insulin resistance. Therefore supplementing dairy products to obese subjects on a caloric restricted diet may be a useful strategy to enhance weight loss and improve insulin resistance. We therefore tested the short term effects of supplementing 56 overweight or obese (body mass index [BMI] >26 kg/m2) post menopausal women on a caloric restricted diet (1,400 kilocalories [kcal]) with two levels of dairy as yogurt on body composition, blood insulin, leptin and glucose concentration. The group consuming four supplemented dairy servings (DS-4) group were provided ~1400 mg Ca/day, and the group consuming two supplemented dairy servings (DS-2) were provided ~800 mg Ca/day. Over the 3-months daily energy intake averaged 51% carbohydrate, 20.7% of protein and 27.6% of fat for both groups. At 3 months, the DS-4 group demonstrated decreased weight (87.7 to 86.2 kg, P=0.001), BMI (33.5 to 32.8 kg/m2, P < 0.001), total fat (36.1 to 34.7 kg, P<0.001), trunk fat (18.3 to 17.6 kg, P < 0.001). There were non-significant decreases in plasma glucose (74.7 to 71.1 mg/dl, P=0.494), leptin (32.5 to 31.3 μg/L, P=0.231) and insulin. For the DS-2 group there was decreased weight (86.4 to 84.4 kg, p<0.02), BMI (32.5 to 31.8 kg/m2, P=0.002), total fat (37.3 to 35.4 kg, P=0.003), trunk fat (17.1 to 16.5 kg, P = 0.27) and plasma leptin (27.8 to 25.2 μg/L, P=0.114). The DS-2 group demonstrated a surprising and significant increase in the fasting blood glucose with a marginal significant increase in insulin resistance as measured by HOMA at 3 months. We observed a significant treatment effect between the DS-2 and DS-4 groups for: % energy from fat (P=0.025), % energy from protein (P=0.047) and leptin (P=0.044). Our study demonstrated the expected weight loss with caloric restriction but a paradoxical increase in blood glucose levels with dairy supplementation provided to maintain baseline calcium intake. Increasing dairy supplementation abrogated this small increase in fasting blood glucose and insulin resistance. The benefits of dairy calcium supplementation may be dependent on both the dose and the context of over all caloric intake.
ABSTRACT
Of the approximately 9 million children under the age of 5 yr that die annually in developing nations, about 5.1 million will die from preventable infectious diseases. This disastrous human and economic loss is caused in large part by three types of acute diarrhea and attendant respiratory tract infections that are responsible for approximately 2.6 million of these deaths. Thus, enteric pathogens remain a major factor contributing to persistent poverty and poor health in developing nations. Novel mucosal vaccination strategies are emerging that can protect epithelial surfaces and therefore promise a simple, effective and safe interventional therapy to overcome the mortality generated by these debilitating infectious diseases. Before the full potential for mucosal vaccination against enteric diseases can be realized, the innate immune system must be strengthen by addressing secondary problems such as malnutrition, malabsorption and gastrointestinal tract impairment. Here we describe the major enteric pathogens responsible for childhood morbidity and mortality in developing and resource-limited countries. We also discuss the development of mucosal vaccination strategies that when combined with modern principles of nutritional therapy may help improve the health and socio-economic status of developing nations.