Mitochondrial impairment but not peripheral inflammation predicts greater Gulf War illness severity.

Gulf War illness (GWI) is an important exemplar of environmentally-triggered chronic multisymptom illness, and a potential model for accelerated aging. Inflammation is the main hypothesized mechanism for GWI, with mitochondrial impairment also proposed. No study has directly assessed mitochondrial respiratory chain function (MRCF) on muscle biopsy in veterans with GWI (VGWI). We recruited 42 participants, half VGWI, with biopsy material successfully secured in 36. Impaired MRCF indexed by complex I and II oxidative phosphorylation with glucose as a fuel source (CI&CIIOXPHOS) related significantly or borderline significantly in the predicted direction to 17 of 20 symptoms in the combined sample. Lower CI&CIIOXPHOS significantly predicted GWI severity in the combined sample and in VGWI separately, with or without adjustment for hsCRP. Higher-hsCRP (peripheral inflammation) related strongly to lower-MRCF (particularly fatty acid oxidation (FAO) indices) in VGWI, but not in controls. Despite this, whereas greater MRCF-impairment predicted greater GWI symptoms and severity, greater inflammation did not. Surprisingly, adjusted for MRCF, higher hsCRP significantly predicted lesser symptom severity in VGWI selectively. Findings comport with a hypothesis in which the increased inflammation observed in GWI is driven by FAO-defect-induced mitochondrial apoptosis. In conclusion, impaired mitochondrial function-but not peripheral inflammation-predicts greater GWI symptoms and severity.

Chocolate Consumption and Sex-Interest.

Media and popular literature link chocolate and sex-interest in women, but there is little research examining their association. This cross-sectional analysis sought to address this gap by assessing the relation of chocolate-consumption frequency to self-rated interest in sex. Seven-hundred twenty-three (723) Southern California men and women, age >20, completed surveys providing chocolate-consumption frequency (Choc0, x/week) and interest in sex (rated 0-10).  Regression (robust standard errors) examined the relationship of chocolate-consumption frequency (Choc0, x/week) to sex-interest, adjusted for potential confounders. Tests for gender and age interactions guided gender- and age-stratified analyses. The mean sex-interest was 7.0±3.0 overall; 5.7±3.1 in women and 7.4±2.8 in men. The reported chocolate frequency was 2.0±2.5x/week overall; 2.5±2.8x/week in women and 1.8±2.4x/week in men. Those who ate chocolate more frequently reported lower interest in sex. Significance was sustained with an adjustment: per-time-per-week chocolate was eaten, ß=-0.11(SE=0.050), p=0.02. The gender interaction was significant (p=0.03). The gender-stratified analysis showed the effect was driven by the much stronger relation in women: full model, per time-per-week chocolate consumed, ß=-0.26(SE=0.08), p=0.002. Chocolate-consumption frequency was the strongest assessed predictor of sex-interest in women. A relationship was not observed in men, though a trend was present in younger men. Women who ate chocolate more frequently reported less interest in sex, a finding not explained by assessed potential confounders. Popular portrayals in which chocolate is represented as substituting for sex and "satisfying" the need for sex in women represent one possible explanation for these findings.