Effects of Internet-Based Nutrition and Exercise Interventions on the Prevention and Treatment of Sarcopenia in the Elderly.

Effective nutrition and exercise interventions may improve sarcopenia in the elderly. The purpose of our study was to investigate the effectiveness of Internet-based nutrition and exercise interventions in the elderly with sarcopenia. Participants were divided into 4 groups: control, nutrition, exercise, and comprehensive (nutrition plus exercise) groups; there was at least 50 participants in each group. Our trial lasted 12 weeks. We conducted dietary and exercise interventions through an app and collected feedback from the participants every three weeks. Information on the diet, skeletal muscle mass, and muscle function was collected before and after the interventions. The comprehensive group had higher high-quality protein intake than the control (p = 0.017) and exercise (p = 0.012) groups. After the interventions, we obtained differences in skeletal muscle mass, skeletal muscle mass/height2, skeletal muscle mass/weight, muscle mass/BMI, and skeletal muscle mass/body fat percentage (p < 0.05). Changes in average daily energy and total daily protein intakes were not significantly different; however, there was an overall improvement in the intervention groups relative to baseline data. There were no changes in the average daily time of moderate physical activity. The Internet was an effective tool of nutrition intervention in the elderly with sarcopenia. The Internet-based nutrition intervention improved high-quality protein intake and skeletal muscle mass in the elderly with sarcopenia.

Iodine nutrition status and thyroid autoimmunity during pregnancy: a cross-sectional study of 4635 pregnant women.

BACKGROUND: Pregnant women in Shanghai have long been at risk for mild iodine deficiency. Because thyroid autoimmunity in pregnant women can lead to premature birth and miscarriage as well as neurodevelopmental deficits in the fetus, the aim of this study was to explore the association of iodine nutrition status with thyroid antibodies during pregnancy. METHODS: A pregnancy-birth cohort was conducted including 4635 pregnant women in Shanghai, China. The eligible participants underwent a face-to-face interview and completed questionnaire surveys to collect baseline information and diet intake. Spot urine samples were collected to test urine iodine. Thyroid antibodies including thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb), thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) and thyrotrophic antibodies (TRAb) were tested. Single-factor analysis and logistic regression were used to evaluate the association between iodine status and thyroid autoimmunity during pregnancy. RESULTS: The median urinary iodine excretion level in the sample was 138.14 µg/L (interquartile range [IQR] 80.90-219.00 µg/L). Among all the subjects, 25.9% consumed non-iodized salt, 54.5% had iodine deficiency, and 31.0% had thyroid autoimmunity. The proportion of patients with iodine deficiency was significantly higher among those who consumed non-iodized salt (36.9% vs. 33.1%; p = 0.04). After adjusting for age, educational status, former smoker status, former drinker status, first pregnancy, and previous thyroid disease, non-iodized salt (odds ratio [OR] = 1.394 [confidence interval, CI, 1.165-1.562]; p = 0.003), iodine-rich food (OR = 0.681 [CI 0.585-0.793]; p = 0.003), iodized nutritional supplements (OR = 0.427 [CI 0.347-0.526]; p = 0.003), were found to be individually associated with thyroid autoimmunity in all participants. The results of the multivariable restricted cubic spline regression analysis showed a non-linear relationship between the continuous change in iodine intake and thyroid autoimmunity (p = 0.019). Participants with iodine deficiency (urinary iodine concentration, UIC,< 100 µg/L) had an increased risk of testing positive for thyroid antibodies (TPOAb/TgAb/TRAb[+]; OR = 1.324 [CI 1.125-1.559]; p < 0.001). Moreover, this associated existed even after removing participants with previous thyroid disease. CONCLUSION: Inadequate iodine nutrition in pregnant women is an independent risk factor for thyroid autoimmunity in Shanghai. It's important to maintain the adequate iodine status in pregnant women.

Selenium status in the body and cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Both experimental and observational studies have provided conflicting evidence on the associations of selenium with incidence and mortality of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between selenium status in the body and incidence and mortality of CVD by performing a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies and randomized controlled trials. Methods: A systematic search for articles in MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase, Web of Science (Thomson Reuters) and Cochrane library (Wiley) was conducted. Thirteen of the 1811 articles obtained from the databases met our inclusion criteria and were considered in the final analysis. The effect sizes were presented as weighted relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using random-effects model. To detect dose-response relationships, we used meta-regression. Results: Overall, there was a reduced risk of CVD incidence (RR = 0.66; 95% CI: 0.40-1.09) and mortality (RR = 0.69; 95% CI: 0.57-0.84) in physiologically high selenium status compared to low selenium status in the body. There was a 15% (RR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.76-0.94) decreased risk of CVD incidence per 10 µg increment in blood selenium concentration. In addition, a statistically significantly nonlinear dose-response relationship was found between CVD mortality and increased blood selenium concentration with the lowest risk at the 30-35 µg increment in blood selenium. Conclusions: Physiologically high selenium levels in the body are associated with decreased risk for CVD incidence and mortality, however, people should be cautious about the potential harmful effects from excessive intake of selenium.

Iodine status of 8 to 10 years old children within 20 years following compulsory salt iodization policy in Shanghai, China.

BACKGROUND: In 1996, Shanghai implemented universal salt iodization and has became the last provincial unit in China to carry out this intervention. In this study, we summarized achievements in past 20 years, to provide suggestions and evidence for the next stage of iodine supplementation. METHODS: This study summarized and analyzed monitoring data of children from 1997, 1999, 2005, 2011, 2014, and 2017 in Shanghai. In each monitoring year, 30 streets or towns were selected using the probability-proportional-to-size sampling technique. One primary school was selected from each street or town by a simple random sampling technique. From each school, 40 children aged 8 to 10 years were randomly selected. The number of children was divided equally by sex and age. RESULTS: In 1997, 1999, 2005, 2011, 2014, and 2017, median urinary iodine (MUI) was 227.5 µg/L, 214.3 µg/L, 198.1 µg/L, 181.6 µg/L, 171.4 µg/L, and 183.0 µg/L, goiter rate was 3.07, 0.40, 0.08, 0.08, 0.86, and 1.90%, and median thyroid volume (MTvol) was 2.9 mL, 1.2 mL, 2.4 mL, 1.0 mL, 1.8 mL, and 2.8 mL, respectively. There was a linear correlation between goiter rate and median thyroid volume (MTvol) (r = 0.95, P = 0.014). Household salt iodine concentration (SIC) was dropping every monitoring (P < 0.05). There was a significant difference among different household SIC groups in MUI in 1999 and 2017, and in MTvol in 1999 (P < 0.05). No significant differences were detected in the other years. CONCLUSIONS: In Shanghai, the iodine status of 8 to 10 years old children is adequate. Household SIC have little effect on iodine status of children. Future studies should analyze the dietary sources of iodine, especially from pre-packaged and prepared-away-from-home foods or meals. The regular monitoring of iodine status is important to human health.

Development and validity of a 3-day smartphone assisted 24-hour recall to assess beverage consumption in a Chinese population: a randomized cross-over study.

This paper addresses the need for diet assessment methods that capture the rapidly changing beverage consumption patterns in China. The objective of this study was to develop a 3-day smartphone-assisted 24-hour recall to improve the quantification of beverage intake amongst young Chinese adults (n=110) and validate, in a small subset (n=34), the extent to which the written record and smartphone-assisted recalls adequately estimated total fluid intake, using 24-hour urine samples. The smartphone-assisted method showed improved validity compared with the written record-assisted method, when comparing reported total fluid intake to total urine volume. However, participants reported consuming fewer beverages on the smartphone-assisted method compared with the written record-assisted method, primarily due to decreased consumption of traditional zero-energy beverages (i.e. water, tea) in the smartphone-assisted method. It is unclear why participants reported fewer beverages in the smartphone-assisted method than the written record -assisted method. One possibility is that participants found the smartphone method too cumbersome, and responded by decreasing beverage intake. These results suggest that smartphone-assisted 24-hour recalls perform comparably but do not appear to substantially improve beverage quantification compared with the current written record-based approach. In addition, we piloted a beverage screener to identify consumers of episodically consumed SSBs. As expected, a substantially higher proportion of consumers reported consuming SSBs on the beverage screener compared with either recall type, suggesting that a beverage screener may be useful in characterizing consumption of episodically consumed beverages in China's dynamic food and beverage landscape.

[Effect of nano-TiO(2) intratracheal instillation on lipid metabolism of AopE gene-knockout mice].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of nano-TiO(2) intratracheal instillation on the progression of dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E-knockout mice. METHODS: The nano-TiO(2) was ultrasound with phosphate-buffered saline solutions (PBS) into its suspension for exposure. A total of 46 specific pathogen free (SPF) level of 11-week-old male apolipoprotein E-knockout mice were randomly divided into groups by their body weights: non-treatment group (8 mice), PBS control group (9 mice), high dose group (1.0 mg/ml, 10 mice), medium dose group (0.5 mg/ml, 10 mice), and low dose group (0.1 mg/ml, 9 mice). Except the non-treatment group, mice from other groups were intratracheally instilled with 0.05 ml each time, twice a week. After exposure of 6 weeks, viscera index, blood TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C, and organic lipid ratio were assessed as biomarkers. Artery and aortic root issues were assessed by histopathology. RESULTS: After 5 weeks exposure, mice body weights in high dose group ((29.7 ± 1.9) g) started to drop, compared to PBS control ((31.3 ± 1.9) g, t = -1.58, P < 0.05) and low dose group ((31.4 ± 1.4) g, t = -1.17, P < 0.05); after 6 weeks, high dose group ((28.8 ± 1.5) g) was lower than PBS control ((30.4 ± 1.9) g, t = -1.60, P < 0.05), non-treatment group ((30.2 ± 1.3) g, t = -1.43, P < 0.05) and low dose group ((30.6 ± 1.0) g, t = -1.83, P < 0.05). TC levels of non-treatment, PBS control, high dose group, medium dose group and low dose group were (2.92 ± 1.18), (3.12 ± 0.73), (4.19 ± 1.86), (3.46 ± 0.72) and (2.57 ± 0.64) mmol/L, respectively; TG levels were (0.39 ± 0.13), (0.39 ± 0.08), (0.60 ± 0.21), (0.55 ± 0.19) and (0.41 ± 0.11) mmol/L, respectively; HDL-C levels were (1.67 ± 0.45), (1.54 ± 0.67), (0.93 ± 0.50), (1.02 ± 0.48) and (1.31 ± 0.64) mmol/L; TG levels of high dose group were higher than that of non-treatment group (t = 1.27, P = 0.03) and low dose group (t = 1.62, P = 0.01); TG levels of medium dose group was higher than PBS control (t = 0.16, P = 0.04), and TC levels of high dose group were higher than PBS control (t = 0.22, P = 0.01), non-treatment group (t = 0.22, P = 0.04) and low dose group (t = 0.20, P = 0.03), and HDL-C levels of high dose group were lower than PBS control (t = -0.61, P = 0.04) and non-treatment group (t = -0.74, P = 0.04); organic lipid ratio of each group were (2.27 ± 0.51)%, (2.06 ± 0.53)%, (2.90 ± 0.50)%, (2.60 ± 0.23)%, (2.24 ± 0.45)%; high dose group were higher than PBS control (t = 0.85, P = 0.00), non-treatment group (t = 0.64, P = 0.03) and low dose group (t = 0.67, P = 0.01); medium dose group was higher than PBS control (t = 0.54, P = 0.02). The plaque lipid content and calcium content which showed the progression of atherosclerosis and plaque rupture were elevated in medium and high dose groups. CONCLUSION: Intratracheal instillation of nano-TiO(2) can induce dyslipidemia and accelerate the development of atherosclerosis and plaque rupture in ApoE-/-mice.