Ingesta de tomate reduce niveles de colesterol en ratas Wistar / Tomato intake lowers cholesterol levels in rats

Cardiovascular diseases are closely associated with lifestyle risk factors, some of them modifiable. Animal studies and clinical observations have suggested a relationship between serum total cholesterol and atherosclerosis. Studies have shown that levels of triglycerides and cholesterol were modified by the consumption of fresh tomato juice. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of daily consumption of tomato mash on cholesterol and other biochemical parameters in Wistar rats. To carry out this research two groups of rats (n = 6 each one), were formed, one of which was supplemented with a mash diet tomato and the other was used for control. After 15 days of testing, the rats were sacrificed and plasma collected was used for biochemical determination of total cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, glutamicoxaloacetic transaminase and glutamic pyruvic transaminase. The cholesterol level decreased in the study group (33,7+/-2,78 mg/dL) with respect to that of control group (58,6+/-10,6 mg/dL). This study showed an ipocholesterolemic effect of the tomato in rats. Future studies could examine this activity in dyslipidemic subjects.

Discordancia en autopercepción de peso en población adulta de Talca / Discordance between nutritional status and self perception of weight among adults from Talca, Chile

Background: Obesity is related to underestimation of one’s own weight. Aim: To determine the agreement between nutritional status and self perception of weight status in apparently healthy adults from Talca. Subjects and methods: Data were obtained from a survey applied at 1007 randomly selected subjects, aged 18-74 years old (66% women). The survey identified age, gender, educational level and socioeconomic status. Self-perception of weight was estimated with pictures representing the four nutritional status categories: underweight, normal, overweight and obese. Body Mass Index (BMI, kg/m2) was calculated todetermine nutritional status. Statistical analysis included kappa index, Bowman’s symmetry test and a logistic regression model to calculate the odds ratio in different variables related tounderestimation of weight. Results: Seventy three percent of subjects were overweight or obese and 44% underestimated their nutritional status. Sixty percent of subjects with a BMI between 25 and 26 kg/m2, perceived themselves as normal. A higher underestimation was observed in obesesubjects (odds ratio (OR) 17.2 95% confidence intervals (CI) 10.9-27.1), in overweight individuals (OR 3.5 95% CI 2.3-5.3), in men (OR 1.5 95% CI 1.1-2.1) and in people aged from 45 to 59 years (OR 1.7 95% CI 1.0-2.7). Conclusion: Almost half of studied population had an erroneous self perception of weight, mainly due to underestimation. Obese subjects, males and people older than 45 years were those with the higher degree of underestimation.

Prevalencia de factores de riesgo cardiovascular clásicos en población adulta de Talca, Chile, 2005 / Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in adult from Talca, Chile

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has several traditional risk factors (RF), and some of them are potentially modifiable. Aim: To determine the prevalence of most common risk factors in adult population in Talca in Central Chile. Subjects and methods: We studied 1007 subjects aged 18 to 74 years (66 percent women), living in Talca, selected by a probability sampling. They answered a questionnaire and anthropometry, blood pressure, lipid profile and blood glucose were measured. Results: Thirty seven percent of subjects smoked, 70.1 percent had a body mass index over 25 kg/m² and 41 percent had an abnormally high circumference. High blood pressure was found in 37 percent (36 percent of these subjects were unaware of this condition), 44.5 percent had hypercholesterolemia, 21.5 percent had low HDL cholesterol, 40.1 percent had hypertriglyceridemia and 26.3 percent had high blood glucose levels. Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of risk factors for CVD in adult population from Talca. The prevalence of risk factors is higher than that reported by the 2003 National Health Survery.

Efectos del entrenamiento físico de moderada intensidad en pacientes diabéticos tipo 2 / Effects of the physical training of moderate intensity in diabetic patients type 2

El rol específico de la actividad física en el tratamiento de la diabetes mellitus tipo 2 es un asunto aún en discusión. Nuestro objetivo fue determinar los efectos de un programa de ejercicio físico de moderada intensidad de cuatro meses de duración, sobre el control glicémico en 10 pacientes diabéticos de mediana edad (47,3 5,9 años) y de más de un año de evolución conocida de su enfermedad (10 8 años). El programa de entrenamiento consistió en tres sesiones semanales de ejercicio dirigidas por kinesiologos, con intensidades entre 50 y 70 por ciento de la Frecuencia cardiaca de reserva y una duración de 30 a 50 minutos. Durante el estudio no se realizó intervensión sobre la dieta ni las dosis farmacológicas utilizadas por los pacientes. No se encontraron diferencias significativas en la glicemia de ayuno, colesterol total, triglicéridos, HDL-colesterol, peso corporal luego de las 16 semanas de intervención. Los niveles de HbA1c a los 2 y cuatro meses mostraron disminuciones estadísticamente significativas (p<0.05) respecto de los valores iniciales (7,6 2,1 por ciento y 7,5 2,1 por ciento v/s 9,4 1,5 por ciento respectivamente) y los niveles de insulinemia aumentaron leve pero significativamente luego del entrenamiento (13,7 5,1 a 22,8 8,5 U/ml, p<0.05). Los niveles de LDL-colesterol a los meses disminuyeron respecto a los niveles basales (147,6 53,1 v/s 132 50,9 mg/dl; p<0.05) pero no mostraron diferencias significativas a los cuatro meses de entreno. En resumen nuestro estudio sugiere que la actividad física sistemática de moderada intensidad logra mejorías importantes en el control glicémico de pacientes con diabetes tipo 2 no complicados