Environmental factors associated with biological use and surgery in inflammatory bowel disease.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: While major efforts were made studying the complex etiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) including environmental factors, less is known about underlying causes leading to the heterogeneous and highly variable course of disease. As cigarette smoking cessation is the best-known environmental factor with beneficial effect in Crohn's disease (CD), more exposome factors are likely involved. Further insights into the role of the exposome in heterogeneity of disease might not only further knowledge of underlying pathways, but also allow for better risk stratification. METHODS: Seven hundred twenty-eight IBD patients completed the validated Groningen IBD Environmental Questionnaire, collecting exposome data for 93 exposome factors. Associations with disease course, that is, for need for surgery or biological therapy, were evaluated using univariate and multivariate-adjusted logistic regression modeling. RESULTS: No significant associations were seen after Bonferroni correction. However, 11 novel exposome factors were identified with P < 0.05. Two factors were associated with course of CD and ulcerative colitis (UC): beer (CD OR0.3/UC OR0.3) and cannabis (0.5/2.2). While in CD, carpet flooring (0.5) was associated with biological use, and four factors were associated with surgery: working shifts (1.8), appendectomy (2.4), frequent tooth brushing (2.8), and large household size (0.1). For UC, migrants more often required biologicals (10.2). Childhood underweight (3.4), amphetamine use (6.2), and cocaine use (4.8) were associated with surgery. Five factors were replicated. CONCLUSIONS: We identified 16 environmental factors nominally associated with biological use and surgery in established IBD. These new insights form an important stepping stone to guide research on biological pathways involved, risk stratification, tailor-made interventions, and preventive strategies in IBD.

Effects of the Non-Alcoholic Fraction of Beer on Abdominal Fat, Osteoporosis, and Body Hydration in Women.

Several studies have shown that binge drinking of alcoholic beverages leads to non-desirable outcomes, which have become a serious threat to public health. However, the bioactive compounds in some alcohol-containing beverages might mitigate the negative effects of alcohol. In beer, the variety and concentration of bioactive compounds in the non-alcoholic fraction suggests that its consumption at moderate levels may not only be harmless but could also positively contribute to an improvement of certain physiological states and be also useful in the prevention of different chronic diseases. The present review focuses on the effects of non-alcoholic components of beer on abdominal fat, osteoporosis, and body hydration in women, conditions selected for their relevance to health and aging. Although beer drinking is commonly believed to cause abdominal fat deposition, the available literature indicates this outcome is inconsistent in women. Additionally, the non-alcoholic beer fraction might improve bone health in postmenopausal women, and the effects of beer on body hydration, although still unconfirmed seem promising. Most of the health benefits of beer are due to its bioactive compounds, mainly polyphenols, which are the most studied. As alcohol-free beer also contains these compounds, it may well offer a healthy alternative to beer consumers.

Antiproliferative Effects of Hop-derived Prenylflavonoids and Their Influence on the Efficacy of Oxaliplatine, 5-fluorouracil and Irinotecan in Human ColorectalC Cells.

Beer, the most popular beverage containing hops, is also frequently consumed by cancer patients. Moreover, non-alcoholic beer, owing to its nutritional value and high content of biological active compounds, is sometimes recommended to patients by oncologists. However, the potential benefits and negatives have to date not been sufficiently evaluated. The present study was designed to examine the effects of four main hop-derived prenylflavonoids on the viability, reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, activity of caspases, and efficiency of the chemotherapeutics 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), oxaliplatin (OxPt) and irinotecan (IRI) in colorectal cancer cell lines SW480, SW620 and CaCo-2. All the prenylflavonoids exerted substantial antiproliferative effects in all cell lines, with xanthohumol being the most effective (IC50 ranging from 3.6 to 7.3 µM). Isoxanthohumol increased ROS formation and the activity of caspases-3/7, but 6-prenylnaringenin and 8-prenylnaringenin exerted antioxidant properties. As 6-prenylnaringenin acted synergistically with IRI, its potential in combination therapy deserves further study. However, other prenylflavonoids acted antagonistically with all chemotherapeutics at least in one cell line. Therefore, consumption of beer during chemotherapy with 5-FU, OxPt and IRI should be avoided, as the prenylflavonoids in beer could decrease the efficacy of the treatment.

Natural Products for the Prevention and Treatment of Hangover and Alcohol Use Disorder.

Alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine and spirits are widely consumed around the world. However, alcohol and its metabolite acetaldehyde are toxic and harmful to human beings. Chronic alcohol use disorder or occasional binge drinking can cause a wide range of health problems, such as hangover, liver damage and cancer. Some natural products such as traditional herbs, fruits, and vegetables might be potential dietary supplements or medicinal products for the prevention and treatment of the problems caused by excessive alcohol consumption. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of effective natural products for the prevention and treatment of hangover and alcohol use disorder, and special emphasis is paid to the possible functional component(s) and related mechanism(s) of action.

[Benefits of moderate beer consumption at different stages of life of women]. / BENEFICIOS DEL CONSUMO MODERADO DE CERVEZA EN LAS DIFERENTES ETAPAS DE LA VIDA DE LA MUJER.

Beer is a natural beverage low calorie, low degree of alcohol, no fats or sugars and a significant amount of carbohydrates, vitamins, and proteins. Beneficial health qualities are based on the presence in the beer of antioxidant compounds (polyphenols), which reduce the presence of free radicals in the organism, and phytoestrogens, elements biosimilars to natural estrogens. In pregnant women, beer, obviously alcohol-free, presents elements in its composition that differ it from other fermented beverages as it is the folic acid, vitamin necessary to prevent defects of the neural tube in the fetus or regulate homocysteine. With regard to breastfeeding, beer alcohol-free supplementation increases the antioxidant activity in breast milk and therefore reduces the oxidative stress of the newborn after birth In menopause, the presence of antioxidants, vitamins, nutrients, and dietetic fiber, as well as phytoestrogens, is highly beneficial in the prevention of pathologies arising from the decline in estrogens. Osteoporosis also is effectively combated by the beer. The intake of beer, favors a greater bone mass in women, irrespective of their gonadal status.

La cerveza es una bebida natural con bajo contenido en calorías, bajo grado de alcohol, sin grasas ni azúcares y con una cantidad importante de hidratos de carbono, vitaminas y proteínas. Sus cualidades beneficiosas para la salud se basan en la presencia en la cerveza de compuestos antioxidantes (polifenoles), que reducen la presencia de radicales libres en el organismo, y de fitoestrógenos, elementos biosimilares a los estrógenos naturales. En las mujeres gestantes, la cerveza, obviamente sin alcohol, presenta elementos en su composición que la diferencian de otras bebidas fermentadas como es el ácido fólico, vitamina necesaria para prevenir los defectos del tubo neural en el nacimiento o para regular la homocisteína. Con respecto a la lactancia, la suplementación con cerveza sin alcohol, merced a sus polifenoles, aumenta la actividad antioxidante en la leche materna y, por tanto, reduce el estrés oxidativo del neonato tras el nacimiento. En la menopausia, son de especial relevancia sus propiedades antioxidantes, de aporte de vitaminas y nutrientes, por su contenido en fibra y la repercusión de la ingesta de fibra en la salud, así como por su contenido en fitoestrógenos, altamente beneficiosos en la prevención de patologías derivadas del descenso de estrógenos propio de esta etapa de la vida. La osteoporosis, igualmente, es eficazmente combatida por la cerveza. La ingesta de cerveza favorece una mayor masa ósea en las mujeres, independientemente de su estado gonadal.

The effects of inhibitory control training on alcohol consumption, implicit alcohol-related cognitions and brain electrical activity.

This study aimed to replicate findings that alcohol consumption and positive implicit beer-related cognitions can be reduced using inhibitory control (IC) training, with the addition of an active training control. Frontal EEG asymmetry, an objective psychophysiological index of approach motivation, was used as a dependent measure to examine training outcomes. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two IC training conditions (Beer NoGo or Beer Go) or a Brief Alcohol Intervention (BAI) (i.e. the active training control). The IC training tasks consistently paired a stimulus that required a response with images of water (Beer NoGo) or images of beer (Beer Go). Alcohol consumption and implicit beer-related cognitions were measured at pre-training, post-training and at one week follow-up. Frontal EEG asymmetry was recorded during a passive image viewing task that presented neutral, healthy, and beer stimuli - at pre-training, post-training and follow-up. Participants in the Beer NoGo and BAI conditions consumed less beer in a taste test immediately after training than Beer Go participants, suggesting that IC training may be as effective as the already established BAI. The taste test findings were in line with the frontal EEG asymmetry data, which indicated that approach motivation for beer stimuli was altered in the expected directions. However, the positive correlation between post-training frontal EEG asymmetry data and taste test consumption was not significant. While there were no significant changes in implicit beer-related cognitions following training, a trending positive relationship between implicit beer-related cognitions at post-training and taste test consumption was reported. Further exploration addressing the limitations of the current study is required in order to clarify the implications of these findings.

Plant and fungal food components with potential activity on the development of microbial oral diseases.

This paper reports the content in macronutrients, free sugars, polyphenols, and inorganic ions, known to exert any positive or negative action on microbial oral disease such as caries and gingivitis, of seven food/beverages (red chicory, mushroom, raspberry, green and black tea, cranberry juice, dark beer). Tea leaves resulted the richest material in all the detected ions, anyway tea beverages resulted the richest just in fluoride. The highest content in zinc was in chicory, raspberry and mushroom. Raspberry is the richest food in strontium and boron, beer in selenium, raspberry and mushroom in copper. Beer, cranberry juice and, especially green and black tea are very rich in polyphenols, confirming these beverages as important sources of such healthy substances. The fractionation, carried out on the basis of the molecular mass (MM), of the water soluble components occurring in raspberry, chicory, and mushroom extracts (which in microbiological assays revealed the highest potential action against oral pathogens), showed that both the high and low MM fractions are active, with the low MM fractions displaying the highest potential action for all the fractionated extracts. Our findings show that more compounds that can play a different active role occur in these foods.

Serum ferritin concentrations in Africans with low dietary iron.

In the setting of high dietary, several studies have provided evidence for a strong effect of both high dietary iron and an unidentified genetic locus on iron stores in Africans. To investigate whether these effects are discernible in the setting of low dietary iron, serum ferritin concentrations were measured in 194 Zimbabwean men >30 years of age and 299 postmenopausal women who consumed a non-iron-fortified diet and who did not drink iron-rich traditional beer or other alcoholic beverages. Comparisons were made with non-alcohol drinking African-Americans studied in the third National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES III) who consume an iron-fortified diet. As stratified by age and sex, serum ferritin concentrations were significantly lower in the 493 Zimbabweans studied than in 1,380 comparable African-Americans (P < 0.0005). Nevertheless, nine Zimbabwean subjects (1.8% of all cases) had modestly elevated serum ferritin concentrations not associated with evidence of inflammation or hepatic dysfunction. These data suggest that mild serum ferritin concentration elevations may occur among Zimbabweans not exposed to high dietary iron and that iron fortification of the diet may have substantial effects on serum ferritin concentration.

Beer and breastfeeding.

Traditional wisdom claims that moderate beer consumption may be beneficial for initiation of breastfeeding and enhancement of breastfeeding success. Here we review the question whether or not there is any scientific basis for this popular belief. There are clear indications that beer can stimulate prolactin secretion which may enhance lactogenesis both in non-lactating humans and in experimental animals. The component in beer responsible for the effect on prolactin secretion is not the alcohol content but apparently a polysaccharide from barley, which explains that the effect on prolactin can also be induced by non-alcoholic beer. No systematic studies are available to evaluate the clinical effects of beer on induction of lactogenesis, and short term studies have shown a reduced breast milk intake by infants after moderate alcohol consumption of their mothers. It is conceivable that relaxing effects of both alcohol and components of hop might also have beneficial effects on lactogenesis is some women, but there is no hard evidence for causal effects. It appears prudent not to generally advocate the regular use of alcoholic drinks during lactation but to rather refer mothers to non-alcoholic beer, even though no adverse effects of an occasional alcoholic drink during lactation have been documented.

Caffeine, moderate alcohol intake, and risk of fractures of the hip and forearm in middle-aged women.

In 1980, 84,484 US women aged 34-59 y completed an independently validated dietary questionnaire. During the ensuing 6 y, 593 forearm and 65 hip fractures occurred in association with mild to moderate trauma. We observed a positive relation between caffeine intake and risk of hip but not forearm fracture. After potential risk factors were controlled for the relative risk (RR) of hip fracture for women in the top quintile of caffeine consumption was 2.95 (95% CI = 1.18-7.38, P, trend = 0.003). Alcohol intake was independently associated with increased risk of both hip and forearm fractures and with a dose-response relation. Compared with nondrinkers, women consuming greater than or equal to 25 g alcohol/d had an RR of 2.33 (95% CI = 1.18-4.57) for hip fractures and an RR of 1.38 (95% CI = 1.09-1.74) for forearm fractures. These prospective data suggest that caffeine and alcohol consumption both increase the risk of osteoporotic fractures in middle-aged women.

Cigarettes and alcohol as independent risk factors for colonic adenomas.

Healthy adults completed smoking and alcohol consumption questionnaires before colonoscopies, which were performed because of occult blood in the stool or prior barium enema suggesting polyps. Subjects with adenomas at colonoscopy (n = 102) were compared with colonoscopy-negative controls (n = 89). In univariate analyses, age (p less than 0.05), male sex (p less than 0.005), cumulative smoking (p less than 0.0001), and cumulative beer consumption (p less than 0.005) were associated with adenomas. The association of smoking with adenomas was stronger in younger subjects. The association of beer with adenomas was stronger in older subjects. Logistic regression confirmed statistically significant associations of smoking (odds ratio for greater than 40 pack-years = 3.31; confidence intervals 1.41, 7.81) and beer consumption (odds ratio for greater than 40 beer-years = 2.64; confidence intervals 1.10, 6.32) with adenomas. These results suggest that smoking and beer consumption are independent risk factors for colonic adenomas.

The nutritional causes of colorectal cancer: an introduction to the Melbourne study.

The Melbourne study has shown that dietary factors and alcohol are important in the cause and prevention of colorectal cancer (CRC). A high intake of fat and beef probably causes CRC, and a high intake of beer possibly causes rectal cancer. The beef and beer effects were both independent of other dietary variables, but further research is indicated to explore the mechanisms of their actions. Foods of plant origin protected against CRC, and the "plant food hypothesis" now replaces the dietary fiber hypothesis. Further study is needed on the interrelationships between various foods of plant origin. Vitamin supplements were protective, and again clarification is needed on the mechanism of action. In high-risk populations, nutritional risk and causal factors are likely to be difficult to find, whereas protective factors are likely to be found with greater ease. Further analysis of the Melbourne data will reveal the importance of diet in CRC causation, relative to the other hypothesized causal and protective factors.

Life-style and occupational risk factors in cancer of the lower urinary tract.

In a matched case-control study of cancer of the lower urinary tract in northern Germany in which 340 male and 91 female case-control pairs were interviewed between 1977 and 1982, cigarette smokers were found to have an odds ratio of 2.3 for males and 2.9 for females compared with nonsmokers. A significant dose-response relation was observed for increasing cigarette consumption, and a significant decrease in risk was shown for ex-smokers. Employment in rubber, plastics, dye, textiles, and mining industries was associated with a higher risk, and increased odds ratios were also observed for exposure to spray painting, coal pitch, chromium, and zinc. Controlling for smoking, an elevated risk of 2.3 for drinking more than four cups of coffee per day and significant odds ratios of 2.1 and 2.8 for a daily consumption of 0.5-1.0 liter and above 1.0 liter of beer, respectively, were noted among men. A highly significant odds ratio of 4.0 was found for a daily fluid intake of more than 2 liters. Dietary habits such as the frequent consumption of canned food and fatty meals were associated with a higher risk, whereas a regular consumption of fruits and vegetables was associated with a lower risk. Fourteen determinants found to be important in this case-control series were analyzed by using multiple logistic regression.

[Effect of a ration containing an elevated amount of aluminum on the levels of sugar, inorganic phosphorus and calcium in the periferal blood]. / Deistvie ratsiona s povyshennym kolichestvom aliuminiia na soderzhanie sakhara, neorganicheskogo fosfora i kal'tsiia v perifericheskoi krovi

The study was made in connection with wide utilization of aluminum kitchen-ware, the effect of aluminium on the human blood sugar and phosphorus level not being known well enough. The calcium metabolism has not been investigated earlier in this aspect. The basic group included 62 male- and female-workers of a brewery, the control one being made up of 51 male and female-workers of a dairy. The former consumed almost daily together with beer and food 200-300 mg of aluminium, inasmuch as beer is brewed in vessels made of realively little resistant chemically iron-containing aluminium. The food ration of the examined from the control grop contained up to 70 mg of aluminium which is quite common when food is cooked in vessels made of aluminium A 99.50. Otherwise, the dietary of both groups had practically no difference. The blood was analyzed by following generally accepted procedures (A. A. Pokrovsky, 1969). The blood of the male- and female-workers of the brewery and dairy showed no statistically significant difference in the sugar, inorganic phosphorus and calcium content, nor the results of the investigations and the analysis of the pertinent figures varied from those adopted as normal for healthy individuals. This implies that considerable quantities of aluminum oxide and hydroxide, found chiefly in beer and food, do not affect adversely the glycolysis, phosphorylation and the calcium metabolism, contingent upon the latter.