Sonia Gómez-Martínez

Effects of hydroxytyrosol-enriched sunflower oil consumption on CVD risk factors

Inclusion of biophenols in traditional foods transforms them into functional foods that may help to decrease CVD risk. The aim of the present study was to determine whether the consumption of hydroxytyrosol-enriched sunflower oil (HSO) improves certain CVD biomarker values. A total of twenty-two healthy volunteers participated in a cross-over study involving two 3-week periods, separated by a 2-week washout period, in which volunteers consumed 800-1275 μg/d [corrected] of either HSO (45-50 mg/d of hydroxytyrosol) or non-enriched (control) sunflower oil. Total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, arylesterase activity, oxidised LDL and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule (sVCAM-1) levels were measured in the plasma obtained at the beginning and at the end of each treatment period. The HSO group displayed a significantly higher level (P < 0·01) of arylesterase activity and significantly lower levels of oxidised LDL and sVCAM-1 (both P < 0·05) than the control group. These results suggest that HSO may help prevent CVD.

Malnutrition and Inflammation

The relationship between nutrition and immune function is being widely recognized, although its study is relatively recent. The 1968 World Health Organisation monograph about “Interactions between Nutrition and Infection” presented the mechanisms linking infection and poor nutritional status. Following the development of immunology as a science, increasing evidence was obtained as well to show how undernutrition impaired resistance to infections and the immune response. It was initially recognized that deficits in certain micronutrients (like vitamins and minerals) had a direct impact on immune function. But the relationship between immune function and nutrition extends far beyond that, and the term immunonutrition has been coined. We are now aware of many conditions of nutritional imbalance (not all necessarily linked to nutritional deficiencies) that lead to impaired immune response. For instance, it is currently believed that nutrition is a key factor in the onset and development of many types of cancer, or that the dietary component of atherosclerosis risk can directly influence immune cells and the inflammatory response; certain nutrients, like seed and fish oils have been shown to respectively induce the release of proand anti-inflammatory mediators. Accordingly, the idea of undernutrition has been replaced by that of malnutrition, meaning that inappropriate nutrition or nutritional imbalance per se, whether it implies a nutrient deficit or not, influences immune function. That is the reason why overnutrition, or an excessive energy intake, is also now considered as malnutrition. In this chapter we will discuss three paradigmatic cases of malnutrition that have a strong immune and inflammatory impact: anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN), as examples of severe undernutrition; obesity, also referred to as overnutrition; and celiac disease (CD), a pathological reaction of the body to a particular type of nutrients that leads to malnutrition. Although these nutrition-related diseases have different origins (psychological for eating disorders, modifiable lifestyle factors for obesity and autoimmune for CD), they all have in common to present an important inflammatory component and to have nutritional treatment as the main therapeutic approach.

White blood cell count is associated with features of the metabolic syndrome in European adolescents. The HELENA Study

The aim of the present work was to analyse the relationships between WBCC and obesity and features of the metabolic syndrome in a cohort of European adolescents participating in the HELENA-CSS (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence-CrossSectional Study). Blood samples were collected after an overnight fast from 1,089 participants aged 12.5‐17.5 years. After applying exclusion criteria (having fever and/or having received any medical treatment 24 hours prior to extraction), data were analysed from 952 adolescents (47.3% males). The sample was divided into four categories according to WBCC quartiles. Height, weight, body mass index (BMI), body fat mass and percentage, waist circumference, blood pressure (SBP and DBP), serum glucose, lipids, insulin, and indices of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and sensitivity (QUICKY-IS) were compared between groups by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), adjusting for country, gender and age. Non-normally distributed variables were previously log-transformed. According to our data, adolescents with higher WBCC presented significantly higher weight (P < 0.01), BMI, body fat, waist circumference (all P < 0.001), DBP (P < 0.01), serum triglycerides (P < 0.001), total cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol and LDL/HDL-cholesterol ratios (P < 0.01), serum insulin and HOMA-IR index (both P < 0.001), and significantly lower values of serum HDL-cholesterol and QUICKY-IS index (both P < 0.001). These results support a significant positive association between WBCC and obesity and metabolic syndrome, and suggest that WBCC can be a useful marker to assess cardio-metabolic risk in European adolescents.