Developing comprehensive approaches to prevention and control of obesity among low-income, urban, African-American women.

Obesity presents a major threat to the health and well-being of low-income, urban, African-American women. African-American women have among the highest rates of obesity in the United States and suffer from a corresponding excess burden of obesity-related diseases. Distinct physiological, societal, cultural, and environmental factors form a mosaic of forces that promote weight gain and prevent weight loss in these women. To develop specific strategies to improve their health, researchers need to better understand the unique nutritional problems facing low-income African-American women residing in inner cities. Individual and community interventions to promote weight reduction have been insufficient to reverse the epidemic. A problem of this magnitude requires concerted and comprehensive policy interventions. This paper uses an ecological approach to suggest multilevel public health strategies to reduce obesity among urban African-American women.

Folate deficiency and an abnormal lymphocyte deoxyuridine suppression test in monkeys.

Cebus albifrons were fed folate-deficient diets in order to assess folate status at the cellular level with the deoxyuridine suppression test. Plasma and red blood cell folates were significantly lower at 2 months, compared to control values. Hematologic signs of megaloblastic anemia occurred after 6 months, with significantly lower hematocrit, hemoglobin and red blood cell number values and increased polymorphonuclear leukocyte lobe counts. Urinary formiminoglutamic acid excretion also was elevated significantly. Whole blood lymphocyte cultures exhibited abnormal deoxyuridine suppression of [3H]-thymidine incorporation into DNA with folate deficiency. Thus this deoxyuridine suppression test can be used in isolated whole blood lymphocytes of these nonhuman primates to document folate deficiency.

Experimental maternal and neonatal folate status relationships in nonhuman primates.

The influence of maternal dietary folic acid intake on folate status was studied in Cebus albifrons monkeys by feeding 10 or 250 micrograms/100 kcal dietary folic acid during pregnancy and 4 wk postpartum. Maternal, infant, and nonpregnant hematologic indices; blood and liver folate concentrations; and urinary formiminoglutamic acid excretion all varied with dietary folate intake and pregnancy status as did milk folate concentration in lactating dams. Maternal folate status, determined by plasma, red blood cell, and milk folate concentrations, as well as urinary formiminoglutamic acid excretion, all were correlated significantly with liver folate concentrations in neonates (r = 0.740, r = 0.919, r = 0.936, and r = -0.851, respectively). Results in these primates showed that neonatal folate status was related significantly to the dietary folate intake and folate status of the mother during pregnancy and lactation.

Intestinal absorption, liver uptake, and excretion of 3H-folic acid in folic acid-deficient, alcohol-consuming nonhuman primates.

Nonhuman primates fed folic acid-deficient diets +/- 30% kcal ethanol were used to determine alcohol effects on megaloblastic anemia development and folate bioavailability. Lower hemoglobin (Hb) and red blood cell (RBC) counts and higher mean corpuscular volume (MCV) occurred after 13 wk in alcohol-fed monkeys, later in controls. Plasma, RBC, and liver folate declined and urinary formiminoglutamic acid (FIGLU) was elevated in both groups with FIGLU increasing more among alcohol-fed monkeys at 38 wk. After 40 wk, the bioavailability of oral 3H-folic acid was investigated and showed increased fecal and reduced urinary tritium excretion in alcohol-fed monkeys compared with controls while plasma uptake and liver and whole body tritium retention were similar in both groups. These observations demonstrate that chronic alcohol consumption impairs folate coenzymes, accelerates appearance of hematologic indices of megaloblastic anemia, and causes possible malabsorption of enterohepatically circulated folates in folate deficiency even when other essential nutrients are provided.