Dietary antioxidants and hypertension among menopausal women in Rafsanjan Cohort Study.

Studies on the beneficial role of dietary antioxidants in preventing or managing hypertension in postmenopausal women are infrequent. The present cross-sectional study aimed to assess the association between dietary antioxidants and hypertension among menopausal women in Rafsanjan, a city located in the southeast of Iran. This study was based on data from the Rafsanjan Cohort Study (RCS), as part of the Prospective Epidemiological Research Studies in IrAN (PERSIAN). Among 2359 postmenopausal women, finally, 1936 women were included in this study. Participants were grouped as having normal blood pressure (BP), elevated BP, stage 1 hypertension, or stage 2 hypertension as defined by the 2017 American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) BP guideline. A food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), was utilized to ascertain the levels of various nutrients and dietary antioxidants in the diet. The association between dietary intakes of antioxidants and blood pressure groups was evaluated by crude and adjusted models in the multinominal logistics regression analysis. Normal BP, elevated BP, stage 1 hypertension, and stage 2 hypertension were observed in 35.69%, 3.62%, 10.59%, and 50.10% of postmenopausal women respectively. In the adjusted model, in subjects with higher consumption of ß-carotene, the odds ratios of elevated BP in the 3rd quartile was about 2 times (OR: 2.04 (1.06-3.93) higher than 1st quartile. Also, in subjects with medium quality of DAQS, the odds ratios of elevated BP and stage 1 blood pressure were about 2 times (OR: 2.09 (1.05-4.17) and 1.69 times (OR: 1.69 (1.09-2.63) higher than subjects with low quality respectively. Furthermore, we did not find any statistically significant association between increased intake of dietary antioxidants and decreased odds of hypertension. After controlling the effects of confounding variables, increased dietary intake of selenium, carotenoids, vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin E did not decrease the odds of hypertension in postmenopausal women. Accordingly, it is suggested that this association be further investigated in the follow-up phase of this prospective study.

Beneficial effects of folic acid supplementation on lipid markers in adults: A GRADE-assessed systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of data from 21,787 participants in 34 randomized controlled trials.

Folic acid supplementation has received considerable attention in the literature, yet there is a large discrepancy in its effects on lipid markers in adults. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis of 34 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluated the effects of folic acid supplementation on triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentrations in a cohort of 21,787 participants. A systematic search current as of March 2021 was performed in PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase using relevant keywords to identify eligible studies. A fix or random-effects model was used to estimate the weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Thirty-four RCTs were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled analysis revealed that serum TG (WMD: -9.78 mg/dL; 95% CI: -15.5 to -4.00; p = 0.001, I2=0.0%, p = 0.965) and TC (WMD: -3.96 mg/dL; 95% CI: -6.71 to -1.21; p = 0.005, I2=46.9%, p = 0.001) concentrations were significantly reduced following folic acid supplementation compared to placebo. However, folic acid supplementation did not affect serum concentrations of LDL (WMD: -0.97 mg/dL; 95% CI: -6.82 to 4.89; p = 0.746, I2=60.6%, p < 0.001) or HDL cholesterol (WMD: 0.44 mg/dL; 95% CI: -0.53 to 1.41; p = 0.378, I2= 0.0%, p = 0.831). A significant dose-response relationship was observed between the dose of folic acid supplementation and serum concentrations of HDL cholesterols (r = 2.22, p = 0.047). Folic acid supplementation reduced serum concentrations of TG and TC without affecting LDL or HDL cholesterols. Future large RCTs on various populations are needed to show further beneficial effects of folic acid supplementation on lipid profile.

Efficacy of Cuminum Cyminum supplementation on lipid profile and anthropometric parameters: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials.

We aimed to evaluate the effect of Cuminum Cyminum (CC) supplementation on lipid profile and selected anthropometric parameters. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase databases were systematically searched until May 2021. The random-effect model was used to study the effect sizes. The sources of heterogeneity were assessed using subgroup analysis and meta-regression. Publication bias was studied by funnel plots. The GRADE approach was used to assess the overall quality of the evidence.The data from our eight included studies have indicated that CC supplementation can lower body mass index (BMI) (WMD = -0.88 kg/m2 ; 95%CI: -1.58, -0.18; p = .023) and total cholesterol (TC) (WMD = -3.96 mg/dl; 95%CI: -6.51, -1.04; p=.008). Also, after adjusting for publication bias, CC was shown to be effective in improving waist circumference (WC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C), and triglycerides (TG) levels. Although, the current evidence has not shown that CC supplementation can affect low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), our subgroup analysis has indicated that CC supplementation with supplementation length of more than 8 weeks is associated with beneficial effects on LDL-C.While CC might be a suitable choice in managing BMI and TC, further high-quality studies are needed to confirm its efficacy in the clinical setting.