Microbiome connections with host metabolism and habitual diet from 1,098 deeply phenotyped individuals.

The gut microbiome is shaped by diet and influences host metabolism; however, these links are complex and can be unique to each individual. We performed deep metagenomic sequencing of 1,203 gut microbiomes from 1,098 individuals enrolled in the Personalised Responses to Dietary Composition Trial (PREDICT 1) study, whose detailed long-term diet information, as well as hundreds of fasting and same-meal postprandial cardiometabolic blood marker measurements were available. We found many significant associations between microbes and specific nutrients, foods, food groups and general dietary indices, which were driven especially by the presence and diversity of healthy and plant-based foods. Microbial biomarkers of obesity were reproducible across external publicly available cohorts and in agreement with circulating blood metabolites that are indicators of cardiovascular disease risk. While some microbes, such as Prevotella copri and Blastocystis spp., were indicators of favorable postprandial glucose metabolism, overall microbiome composition was predictive for a large panel of cardiometabolic blood markers including fasting and postprandial glycemic, lipemic and inflammatory indices. The panel of intestinal species associated with healthy dietary habits overlapped with those associated with favorable cardiometabolic and postprandial markers, indicating that our large-scale resource can potentially stratify the gut microbiome into generalizable health levels in individuals without clinically manifest disease.

Objectively measured sleep duration and plasma glucose values following an oral glucose tolerance test amongst pregnant women with obesity in the UK.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Short sleep duration has been linked to maternal hyperglycaemia following a 1-h 50 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in observational studies conducted primarily in the USA. Our objective was to examine the relationship between objectively measured sleep duration and plasma glucose values following the 2-h 75 g OGTT routinely used in the UK amongst women with obesity. METHODS: Sleep and OGTT data were available for 49 pregnant women who wore wrist actigraphs for at least two nights, and took a 2-h 75 g OGTT at the end of their second trimester. Multivariable regression was used to evaluate associations between sleep duration and OGTT results. RESULTS: Higher 2-h plasma glucose values were significantly associated with shorter sleep duration and higher maternal age and BMI, with no association observed between wake after sleep onset (WASO) and 2-h plasma glucose values. No associations were observed between fasting plasma glucose values and any sleep parameters. CONCLUSIONS: We found that shorter sleep duration, as measured using actigraphy, is associated with higher 2-h plasma glucose values following a 2-h 75 g OGTT in the UK. These findings are in keeping with those observed elsewhere in the world, employing alternative OGTT protocols. Future studies should investigate sleep extension as a potential candidate for inclusion in future RCTs aiming to improve glucose tolerance and prevent GDM amongst those at risk.

The development of green care in western European countries.

This article represents a review of green care across Western European countries. The following questions are addressed: What is green care, and what are its basic goals? What are the most commonly known types of green care interventions, and how are they connected to each other? There are different sectors of green care intervention that vary from each other regarding their structure, specific goals, and purpose. These traits will be investigated in this review. And lastly, how these interventions are designed and their approach to promote and provide health will be examined.

Environmental costs of freshwater eutrophication in England and Wales.

Eutrophication has many known consequences, but there are few data on the environmental and health costs. We developed a new framework of cost categories that assess both social and ecological damage costs and policy response costs. These findings indicate the severe effects of nutrient enrichment and eutrophication on many sectors of the economy. We estimate the damage costs of freshwater eutrophication in England and Wales to be $105-160 million yr(-1) (pound 75.0-114.3 m). The policy response costs are a measure of how much is being spent to address this damage, and these amount to $77 million yr(-1) pound 54.8 m). The damage costs are dominated by seven items each with costs of $15 million yr(-1) or more: reduced value of waterfront dwellings, drinking water treatment costs for nitrogen removal, reduced recreational and amenity value of water bodies, drinking water treatment costs for removal of algal toxins and decomposition products, reduced value of nonpolluted atmosphere, negative ecological effects on biota, and net economic losses from the tourist industry. In common with other environmental problems, it would represent net value (or cost reduction) if damage was prevented at source. A variety of effective economic, regulatory, and administrative policy instruments are available for internalizing these costs.