Tammy L. Wagner

Copper supplementation of adult men: Effects on blood copper enzyme activities and indicators of cardiovascular disease risk

In rats, copper deficiency leads to low copper metalloenzyme activity, high serum cholesterol, and cardiovascular lesions. In humans, moderately low copper intake may be common, but the consequences remain largely uncertain. The present study examined the effects of copper supplementation (2 mg/d for 4 weeks in a copper/placebo crossover design) in 20 adult men with moderately high plasma cholesterol. End-point measurements were three copper enzyme activities, erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD), plasma ceruloplasmin (Cp), and plasma diamine oxidase (DAO), and three parameters related to the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), plasma cholesterol, plasma lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)], and lag times for very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation in vitro. Although copper had no significant effects on any parameter for the entire study group, it did significantly increase two enzyme activities (SOD and DAO), as well as lipoprotein oxidation lag times, in 10 subjects in the lower half of a median split for precopper values. Thus, copper supplementation appeared to influence some types of measurements in subjects beginning with less than median values.

Activation of the neutrophil and loss of plasma glutathione during Mg-deficiency — modulation by nitric oxide synthase inhibition

Sprague-Dawley rats (200 g) were fed either a Mg-deficient or Mg-sufficient diet for 3 weeks. An enriched neutrophil fraction (>85%) was isolated from the blood by sodium metrizoate/dextran gradient centrifugation. Using the superoxide dismutase (SOD)-inhibitable cytochrome c reduction assay, the basal activity of neutrophils isolated from the Mg-deficient rats were found elevated 5 fold after two weeks, and up to ∼7 fold after three weeks on the diet. Upon challenge by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), unlike the Mg-sufficient cells, the Mg-deficient cells exhibited no significant activation. Treatment of the Mg-deficient rats with the nitric oxide (NO)-synthase inhibitor, NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) in the drinking water, significantly attenuated the basal superoxide producing activity of the neutrophils and partially restored its response to PMA challenge. In association with the neutrophil activation. Mg-deficiency resulted in 70% decrease in plasma glutathione and 220% increase in Fe-promoted, thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) levels; both changes were significantly attenuated by L-NAME treatment. The results suggest that neutrophils from Mg-deficient rats are activated endogenously to generate oxy-radicals which might directly mediate the in vivo peroxidative indices during Mg-deficiency. Furthermore, the neutrophil activity was lowered by NO-synthase inhibition suggesting that NO overproduction during Mg-deficiency participates in the neutrophil activation process.

Dietary oxygen radical absorbance capacity as a predictor of bone mineral density

Bone mineral density (BMD) was measured at the middle phalange of the non-dominant hand by dual x-ray absorptiometry in a random sample of 123 women aged 19 to 63 years. Monthly intake of foods with high Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) was obtained using a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), ORAC scores were calculated, and lifestyle factors were used as confounding variables. After adjusting for age, supplement use, HRT status, physical activity, calcium intake, and ORAC intake, BMD was not predicted by ORAC. We conclude that more research is needed to measure ORAC for all free radicals in all commonly consumed fruits, vegetables, and teas in order to improve the usefulness of the FFQ in calculating approximate dietary ORAC. At this time, the potential of ORAC as a reliable predictor of health remains largely unknown, however, using currently available ORAC information, it cannot be considered a predictor of BMD.

Link between diet and cardiovascular disease in Latin America and the Caribbean using geographic information systems

OBJECTIVE To determine the visual, spatial, and/or statistical relationships between food availability/dietary patterns and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). METHODS CVD mortality rates and diet information (the number of kilocalories and amount of alcohol, fats, fish, fruits, meats, sugars, and vegetables available per person daily) were obtained from internationally available databases. The analyses included 32 LAC countries with sufficient data (15 of 47 had been excluded for incomplete data). Pearsons correlations (r) were used to determine relationships between diet and CVD mortality, and multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to identify predictors of mortality. ArcGIS version 9.2 (Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., Redlands, California, United States) was used to construct maps to explore visual relationships between CVD and diet. RESULTS No relationships were found between CVD and alcohol, fruit, meat, sugar, or vegetable intake. Statistically significant, positive correlations were found between oil-crops (r = 0.680, P = 0.000) and fish and seafood (r = 0.411, P = 0.019) and CVD mortality. Regression analysis revealed that high kilocalorie availability was a predictor of low CVD mortality (P = 0.020). High oil-crop availability was a predictor of high CVD mortality (P = 0.000). Maps constructed show visual relationships between availability of fish and seafood, kilocalories, and oil-crops, and CVD mortality. CONCLUSIONS Fish and seafood, kilocalorie, and oil-crop availability appear to be related to CVD mortality, but further investigation is needed. Associations between diet and CVD mortality create the opportunity to target specific countries for nutrition education and CVD prevention programs.

Carrageenan-induced acute inflammation in magnesium deficient rats

Magnesium (Mg) deficient rats show biochemical signs of mild inflammation. Conceivably, this could prime rats for enhanced stress-induced inflammation, or inhibit such injury by raising body contents of protective proteins such as the acute phase reactants. Mg deficient rats showed normal acute paw inflammation due to carrageenan treatment, despite high levels of ceruloplasmin, an acute phase protein. Thus, Mg deficiency, though it produced a moderate acute phase response, did not exert a general effect on susceptibility to inflammation.