Chrononutrition and Cardiometabolic Health: An Overview of Epidemiological Evidence and Key Future Research Directions.

Chrononutrition is a rapidly evolving field of nutritional epidemiology that addresses the complex relationship between temporal eating patterns, circadian rhythms, and metabolic health, but most prior research has focused on the cardiometabolic consequences of time-restricted feeding and intermittent fasting. The purpose of this topical review is to summarize epidemiological evidence from observational and intervention studies regarding the role of chrononutrition metrics related to eating timing and regularity in cardiometabolic health preservation and cardiovascular disease prevention. Observational studies are limited due to the lack of time-stamped diet data in most population-based studies. Findings from cohort studies generally indicate that breakfast skipping or the later timing of the first eating occasion, a later lunch and dinner, and a greater proportion of caloric intake consumed in the evening are associated with adverse cardiometabolic outcomes, including higher risk for coronary heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, obesity, dyslipidemia, and systemic inflammation. Randomized controlled trials are also limited, as most in the field of chrononutrition focus on the cardiometabolic consequences of time-restricted feeding. Overall, interventions that shift eating timing patterns to earlier in the day and that restrict evening caloric intake tend to have protective effects on cardiometabolic health, but small sample sizes and short follow-up are notable limitations. Innovation in dietary assessment approaches, to develop low-cost validated tools with acceptable participant burden that reliably capture chrononutrition metrics, is needed for advancing observational evidence. Culturally responsive pragmatic intervention studies with sufficiently large and representative samples are needed to understand the impact of fixed and earlier eating timing schedules on cardiometabolic health. Additional research is warranted to understand the modifiable determinants of temporal eating patterns, to investigate the role of chrononutrition in the context of other dimensions of diet (quantity, quality, and food and nutrition security) in achieving cardiometabolic health equity, and to elucidate underlying physiological mechanisms.

Do SGLT2 Inhibitors Improve Cardio-Renal Outcomes in Patients With Type II Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with dreadful changes in the cardiovascular and renal systems, causing increased morbidity and mortality. Sodium-glucose cotransport-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors belong to the oral hypoglycemic group of drugs believed to reduce these events by various mechanisms in DM. We performed a systematic review to determine the effectiveness of SGLT2 inhibitors in reducing cardiovascular and renal complications and address safety concerns in participants with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We explored PubMed, PubMed Central, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), Cochrane library, and ResearchGate for randomized controlled trials and observational studies done on the advantages of SGLT2 inhibitors in the prevention or reduction of worsening cardiovascular and renal changes in T2DM. Studies were screened for the quality assessment using the Cochrane risk-of-bias assessment tool and Newcastle-Ottawa scale. We screened 5615 articles, out of which 22 articles with 7,02,977 diabetes mellitus patients treated with SGLT2 inhibitors were used for the systematic review after meticulously filtering articles based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The trials included one of the following drugs - empagliflozin, dapagliflozin, canagliflozin, and luseogliflozin. SGLT2 inhibitors significantly reduced the risk of heart failure (HF), frequency of hospitalizations due to HF, all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and nonfatal myocardial infarction. Renal outcomes showed a significant lowering of risk of acute kidney failure, progression of chronic kidney disease, renal mortality, and improvement in urinary albumin creatinine ratio. We noticed an initial worsening of the estimated glomerular filtration rate followed by stabilizing and reaching the baseline on long-term treatment, especially in end-stage renal failure patients. The review showed that SGLT2 inhibitors have adverse reactions similar to that of a placebo, with a slight increase in treatable genital mycotic and urinary tract infections but no evidence of diabetic ketoacidosis, fractures, and amputations. According to the available data, SGLT2 inhibitors can significantly prevent or reduce cardiovascular diseases and kidney abnormalities in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with tolerable safety outcomes.

The Outcomes of Acute Coronary Syndrome in Patients Suffering From Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review.

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a principal cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Recent studies have suggested poorer outcomes in ACS patients who have a concurrent diagnosis of schizophrenia as compared with those without. However, the degree of interplay between schizophrenia and ACS remains poorly understood. For this reason, we conducted a systematic review on ACS outcomes in patients with schizophrenia by following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We collected relevant data from PubMed, Cochrane Library, PubMed central, Jisc Library Hub Discover, and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and performed a thorough quality appraisal. Fourteen shortlisted, relevant studies were meticulously reviewed. Mortality and major adverse cardiac events (MACE), bleeding, and stroke were more prevalent in patients with a schizophrenia diagnosis compared to those without. Additionally, schizophrenia patients received suboptimal care and follow-up when compared to patients without a psychiatric diagnosis. Clinicians need to be aware that patients with schizophrenia have worse outcomes following ACS which may relate to biological, health care, or patient-related factors.

Relationship and Effects of Vitamin D on Metabolic Syndrome: A Systematic Review.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a persistent public health problem in the United States (U.S.) due to its increasing prevalence and its positive correlation with type-2 diabetes (T2DM) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). According to National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III) criteria, MetS has six main components, which are obesity, dyslipidemia, raised blood pressure (BP), insulin resistance (IR) or glucose intolerance, pro-inflammatory state, and prothrombotic state. Vitamin D (Vit D) regulates the absorption of calcium and phosphorus and thus, is universally accepted as an essential vitamin for bone strength as well as a facilitator of immune system function. Vit D was also shown to reduce the risks of CVD, multiple sclerosis, and developing seasonal flu. We conducted a systematic review to identify the general association between Vit D level and MetS, to highlight specific associations between Vit D level and individual components of MetS, and finally, to explore the effects of Vit D supplementation on each component of MetS. In this paper, we reviewed 14 recent studies investigating the relationships between Vit D, MetS, and components of MetS. From the review of seven studies, we confirmed a significant association between Vit D and MetS as a whole. Four out of the five observational studies we reviewed support that Vit D level is significantly associated with the following components of MetS: obesity and BMI, dyslipidemia, BP, and insulin and glucose metabolism. We did not discover any significant relationship between Vit D level and other MetS components. The review of seven additional randomized clinical trials (RCT)-based studies suggest that Vit D supplementation has significant effects on BP, abdominal obesity, and insulin and glucose metabolism.