Relationship between Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension score and Alternative Healthy Eating Index score with plasma asymmetrical dimethylarginine levels in patients referring for coronary angiography.

BACKGROUND: Asymmetrical dimethyl arginine (ADMA) is a competitive inhibitor in the production of nitric oxide (NO) from arginine and NO plays an important role in the preservation of vascular dilation. Elevated ADMA is a strong predictive factor for coronary artery disease (CAD). Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) patterns contain factors that may influence plasma ADMA levels. The present study examined the association between the DASH score and AHEI score with plasma ADMA concentration in people with suspected heart disease selected for coronary angiography. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 148 people aged 40-80 years who were referred for coronary angiography. The DASH diet score and AHEI score were calculated for each individual based on food groups. Plasma ADMA levels were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. RESULTS: ADMA concentrations were higher in the CAD group compared to the non-CAD group [0.98 (0.37) µmol L(-1) compared to 0.84 (0.42) µmol L(-1) ; P = 0.02]. There was a significant negative association between the quartile DASH score and ADMA concentration (standardised ß = -0.172, P = 0.038). The ADMA concentration was lower in patients who were at the highest quartile of DASH score compared to patients with the lowest quintile score. The ADMA concentration and quartiles of AHEI score were not significantly associated. CONCLUSIONS: Higher scores of the DASH diet are associated with lower plasma ADMA levels and with reduced coronary artery stenosis.

Calcium-vitamin D-fortified milk is as effective on circulating bone biomarkers as fortified juice and supplement but has less acceptance: a randomised controlled school-based trial.

BACKGROUND: Hypovitaminosis D, especially during cold seasons, is quite prevalent among primary school children in Tehran. The present study aimed to compare the efficacy of calcium-vitamin D-fortified-milk, -orange juice and supplement in primary school children. METHODS: Children aged 9-12 years from both sexes were randomly assigned to one of six groups to receive plain milk, fortified milk, plain orange juice, fortified orange juice, supplement or placebo. Both fortified-milk and -juice contained 100 IU of vitamin D and 500 mg of calcium per 200 mL package, whereas supplement contained 200 IU of vitamin D and 500 mg of calcium. The duration of intervention was 12 weeks, from November 2008 to March 2009. RESULTS: A total of 410 children completed the study. Regression analysis with adjustment for both sex and initial values of 25(OH)D revealed that consumption of either supplement, fortified orange juice or fortified milk resulted in a 20.8 nm [confidence interval (CI) = 17.4-23.9], 9.9 nm (CI = 7.4-12.3) or 6.9 nm (CI = 3.3-10.5) increase in circulating 25(OH)D compared to the related control groups. However, changes in serum osteocalcin and intact parathyroid hormone in the supplement group did not differ from those of fortified milk or plain milk. The increment of osteocalcin in both plain milk and fortified milk was more than in fortified orange juice, although the difference was statistically insignificant. CONCLUSIONS: Despite having double amount of vitamin D and being more effective in raising serum 25(OH)D, supplementation did not confer additional benefit in terms of osteocalcin and intact parathyroid hormone compared to either fortified or plain milk.

Daily intake of vitamin D- or calcium-vitamin D-fortified Persian yogurt drink (doogh) attenuates diabetes-induced oxidative stress: evidence for antioxidative properties of vitamin D.

BACKGROUND: Both poor vitamin D status and oxidative stress (OS) have been independently associated with late diabetic complications, including cardiovascular disease (CVD). The present study aimed to examine the effect of daily intake of vitamin D alone or in combination with calcium as a fortified Persian yogurt drink (doogh) on OS over 12 weeks. METHODS: Ninety patients with type 2 diabetes aged 30-50 years from both sexes were randomly allocated to one of the three groups to receive two 250-mL bottles of doogh a day, which was either plain (PD; containing 150 mg per 250 mL of calcium and no detectable vitamin D), vitamin D-fortified (DD; containing 150 mg of calcium + 500 IU vitamin D per 250 mL) or calcium-vitamin D-fortified (CDD; 250 mg od calcium + 500 IU vitamin D per 250 mL). RESULTS: Although mean (SD) serum concentrations of protein carbonyl significantly decreased in both DD and CDD groups [-2.07 (4.39) nm, P = 0.015 and -4.4 (7.64) nm, P = 0.003, respectively], the change in PD group was not significant [-0.54 (6.96) nm, P = 0.674]. A similar pattern was observed for cardiac myeloperoxidase [PD: -19.4 (75.9) µg L(-1) , P = 0.173; DD: -21.8 (54.2) µg L(-1) , P = 0.035, CDD: -48.5 (76.9) µg L(-1) , P = 0.002]. Superoxide dismutase increased significantly only in DD and CDD [56.9 (74.0) U L(-1) , P < 0.001 and 51.6 (119.9) U L(-1) , P = 0.025, respectively]. Changes of serum advanced glycation end-products showed a significant between-group difference among PD, DD and CDD [239.4 (388.4) U L(-1) , -58.1 (147.6) U L(-1) and -143.7 (475.9) U L(-1)  × 10(3) , respectively, P = 0.003], which remained significant after controlling for changes of fasting serum glucose (P = 0.013) and glycated haemoglobin (P = 0.015). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present study demonstrated an OS attenuating effect of vitamin D. However, extra calcium did not convey additional benefit.