ABSTRACT
Background and Objectives: vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency is a global health problem. The importance of this problem is doubled in growing children because of their increased need for skeletal growth. This investigation was performed firstly to assess vitamin D status, and secondly to examine its possible relationship with sex, residing area and duration of sun exposure in 9-12 years old children of Tehran
Materials and Methods: we studied 257 randomly selected children out of 1111 children of a huge study, titled "Vitamin D and Calcium Deficiency Prevalence of Tehran's Elementary School Children [VDPT]", performed in fall and winter 2008 in Tehran. The children were without the history of diabetes, allergy or autoimmune disease, and any calcium, vitamin D and fish oil supplement use during the last three months. Venous blood samples were taken, and the sera were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography [HPLC] for measuring 25-hydroxycalciferol [25[OH] D]
Results: the participating children comprised of 53.7% girls and 46.3% boys from different economical areas of Tehran [40.5% poor, 26% middle and 33.5% rich]. Their mean age was 10.1+/-0.7 years, mean duration of sun exposure was 41.2+/-34.6 min/day, and mean serum 25[OH]D concentration was 21.9+/-15.6 nmol/L. Duration of sun exposure was not significantly different either between boys and girls [p=0.220], among different residing areas [p= 0.057], or between the girls and boys of different areas. The occurrence of vitamin D deficiency was 72.4% [n=186]. Vitamin D status was significantly different between boys and girls [p= 0.01] and among the areas [P= 0.004]. There was no significant relation between poor vitamin D status and duration of sun exposure [p=0.411]
Conclusions: the findings showed a noticeable occurrence of vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency among 9-12 years old children in Tehran. The data warrants urgent interventions
ABSTRACT
There is convincing evidence that subjects concomitantly affected by type 2 diabetes [T2D] and metabolic syndrome [MeS] are at greater risk for cardiovascular disease [CVD]. Many metabolic derangements in T2D might be attributed to poor vitamin D status. The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations among vitamin D status, MeS and glycemic status in subjects with T2D. A total of 101 known cases of T2D [39 males, 62 females] were enrolled in a cross-sectional study by convenient sampling. Serum 25[OH]D3, glycemic markers and lipid profile were assessed. Mean concentration of serum 25[OH]D3 was 42.2 +/- 33.8 nmol/L. Prevalence of undesirable vitamin D status [25[OH]D < 50nmol/L] was significantly higher among the subjects with MeS as compared to those without MeS [p=0.020]. The subjects with sufficient vitamin D status had 50% lower risk for MeS compared to those who had vitamin D deficiency, and this association remained significant even after additional adjustment for body mass index [BMI], percent of fat mass or waist circumference. Our data showed that firstly higher vitamin D status is inversely associated with fasting glycemia, and secondly serum 25[OH]D3 predicts MeS risk in the subjects with T2D. Demonstrating the association of hypovitaminosis D with disorders of glucose metabolism and higher risk for development of further complications, notably CVD, may lead to a new target for preventive efforts at the population level
ABSTRACT
This study examined the possible effects of lycopene at physiological dosage and body fat mass on the humoral immune response in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus [T2DM]. A total of 35 patients with Typ2 diabetes mellitus from both sexes aged 54 +/- 9 yrs from the Iranian Diabetes Society were introduced into a double blind placebo controlled clinical trial conducted for 2 months. After a 2-week lycopene free diet washout period, patients were allocated to either lycopene supplementation group [10mg/d] [n=16] or placebo age- and sex matched group [n=19] for 8 weeks. Patients were instructed to keep their diets and physical activities as unchanged as possible. Lycopene supplements increased serum lycopene levels [p<0.001]. While intake of dietary energy and nutrients did not change in either groups, the ratio of total antioxidant capacity to malondialdehyde increased significantly in the lycopene group [p=0.007]. There was an inverse correlation between serum levels of lycopene and those of IgG [r= -0.338, p=0.008]. On the contrary, changes of serum levels of lycopene directly correlated with those of IgM [r=0.466, p=0.005]. Interestingly, changes of the amount of fat mass correlated directly with those of serum IgG [r=0.415, p=0.044] but inversely with of serum IgM [r= -0.469, p=0.021]. While truncal fat might promote adaptive humoral immunity, lycopene probably by inhibiting MDA-LDL formation might attenuate T cell dependent adaptive [pro-atherogenic] humoral immune response. These findings may have preventive implications in long term diabetic complications, notably atherogenesis
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Male , Body Mass Index , Oxidative Stress , AnthropometryABSTRACT
The bulk of our knowledge on immunosuppression in malnutrition comes from the experiments done on cell-mediated immunity. However, malnutrition-induced modifications of humoral immunity have been less understood. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of acute protein-energy malnutrition on serum levels of immunoglobulins and their subclasses in murine models. Male and female C57BL/6J mice were allocated to one of the four groups: [1] zero-time control [ZC] [19 days of age]; [2] ad libitum intake of a complete purified diet [control group [CG]]; [3] restricted intake of the complete diet [restricted group [RG]]; and ad libitum intake of an isocaloric low-protein diet [low-protein group [LP]]. The three groups other than the zero-time control were maintained on their respective regimens for 14 days, i.e. from 19 through 33 days of age. The restricted intake protocol produced weight loss through energy deficiency [marasmic-type malnutrition], whereas the low-protein diet caused wasting through inadequate protein nitrogen and induced a condition mimicking incipient kwashiorkor. Though serum levels of IgG1 and IgE [Th2-type immunoglobulins] in RG and LP mice were significantly higher than those in CG mice, serum levels of IgG2a and IgG3 [Th1-type immunoglobulins] did not show any significant difference between those three groups. Interestingly, serum levels of IgG2b [another Th2-type immunoglobulin] in LP mice were significantly higher than those in CG and RG mice. In ZC mice serum levels of total IgG IgG1 , IgG2b and IgG3 were significantly higher than those in the other three groups. We concluded that during acute malnutrition, Thl/Th2 balance is apparently shifted towards Th2 arm. This deviation seems to be more prominent during acute protein deficiency. The increased serum levels of immunoglobulins in ZC mice were probably due to the intestinal uptake of those proteins from maternal milk