Relationship between plasma fibrinogen and fiber intake in the EPIC-Norfolk cohort.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Fiber-rich diets have been proposed to lower circulating levels of inflammatory makers. Our objective was to investigate cross-sectional relationships between fiber intake and plasma fibrinogen. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We examined the relationship between plasma fibrinogen and dietary fiber in 20,960 men and women, aged 45-75 years old, living in Norfolk, U.K. Fiber intake was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire. RESULTS: Mean fibrinogen levels were lower across the increasing quartiles of the fiber intake after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, physical activity, smoking status and alcohol consumption, and total calories, percentage of energy intake from carbohydrate, protein and fat, with a difference of 0.08 g/l fibrinogen between first and fourth quartiles (P for trend <0.001) for the whole population. When categorized by sex, the results for men were the same and for women, the results failed to be significant. In linear regression models, fibrinogen levels were significantly related to fiber intake for the whole population (-0.056 g/l, s.e.=0.012 per 10 g increase in fiber intake, P<0.001), but although the relations were in the same direction after adjusting for the same covariates above, they failed to be significant when smokers or women not using post-menopause hormone therapy were separately considered. CONCLUSIONS: Plasma fibrinogen levels appear to be inversely related to dietary fiber intake in middle-aged and older men and women.

High salad consumption in association with a reduction in the risk of diabetes mellitus

Few studies have investigated the role of fruit and vegetable consumption in the aetiology of NIDDM. This study was underaken to investigate the association between salad and fruit consumption and glucose intolerance. 1122 subjects aged 40-60 years in a population-based cross-sectional study underwent an oral glucose tolerance test between 1990 amd 1992. Diet was assesses using the "Health and Lifestyle Survey" food frequency questionnaire. The crude prevalence of underdiagnosed diabetes mellitus was 4.5 percent and IGT 16.8 percent. Abnormal glucose tolerance was positively associated with age, obesity, family history of diabetes, and socioeconomic groups. High consumption of salads in winter (OR = 0.29, 95 percent CI=0.09-0.95) and summer (OR=0.40, 95 percent CI=0.22-0.74) was inversely associated with the risk of having NIDDM. This association was maintained after adjustment for age, sex and family history. A non-significant inverse association between high comsumption of fruit and NIDDM (summer OR=0.55, 95 percent CI=0.29-1.06); winter OR=0.56 95 percent CI=0.31-1.01) was observed. Whether the association between high frequency of consumption of salads ad NIDDM represents a causal relationship or if salad comsumption is a marker of a "health lifestyle" remains to be elucidated. (AU)

Early language and communicative abilities of children with periventricular leukomalacia.

Ten 2-year-old children with periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), a brain injury associated with prematurity, were evaluated using language samples. Five children scored less than 80 on cognitive testing (delayed). Five children with this disorder and normal cognitive scores were assessed at two ages, matched with the delayed group on CA and developmental level. The delayed group produced significantly fewer lexical tokens and spontaneous verbal utterances than did the CA-matched group. No significant differences were observed between the delayed group and either comparison group on other measures of lexicon, grammar, or communication. The data demonstrate a relation between cognitive abilities and measures of verbal productivity in children with PVL.