Relationships between 25(OH)D concentration, sarcopenia and HOMA-IR in postmenopausal Korean women.

OBJECTIVE: Sarcopenia and insulin resistance are common co-morbidities in the elderly and are known to be associated with vitamin D deficiency. However, no previous studies have investigated interactions between all three of these factors. We aimed to investigate the relationship between 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration, sarcopenia, and insulin resistance in postmenopausal Korean women. METHODS: This study used data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2008-2011. Participants were 3744 postmenopausal Korean women. Sarcopenia was defined as appendicular skeletal muscle mass divided by body weight >1 standard deviation below the mean for women aged 20-40 years. The serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and fasting insulin levels were measured, and insulin resistance was calculated using the formula: fasting plasma glucose (mg/dl) × fasting insulin (mIU/l)/405. RESULTS: We found a strong inverse association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration and sarcopenia in postmenopausal Korean women (p = 0.0009). There was also a significant association between sarcopenia and insulin resistance, independent of vitamin D and obesity status (p < 0.0001). However, there was no significant association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration and insulin resistance. In the subgroup analysis, insulin resistance was found to be determined by sarcopenic rather than vitamin D status. CONCLUSIONS: Sarcopenia was associated with both insulin resistance and 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration in postmenopausal Korean women, regardless of obesity status. However, 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration was not associated with insulin resistance. Sarcopenia is therefore of greater clinical importance due to its close relationship with insulin resistance.

Associations of dietary calcium intake with metabolic syndrome and bone mineral density among the Korean population: KNHANES 2008-2011.

Excessive amount of calcium intake increased risk for metabolic syndrome in men. However, modest amount decreased the risk of metabolic syndrome and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Modest amount of calcium also increased bone mineral density (BMD) in both men and postmenopausal women. INTRODUCTION: The present study aimed to evaluate the associations of dietary calcium intake with metabolic syndrome and bone mineral density (BMD) in Korean men and women, especially postmenopausal women. METHODS: The study was performed using data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2008-2011) and included 14,705 participants (5953 men, 4258 premenopausal women, and 4494 postmenopausal women). Clinical and other objective characteristics, presence of metabolic syndrome, and the BMD of the femur neck and lumbar spine were evaluated according to dietary calcium intake. RESULTS: There was a higher tendency for metabolic syndrome in men with a dietary calcium intake of >1200 mg/day than with ≤400 mg of calcium intake; >400 and ≤800 mg of calcium intake was helpful for postmenopausal women to decrease risk for metabolic syndrome. Overall, the group with calcium intake >400 and ≤800 mg daily had significantly increased BMD in both femoral neck and lumbar spine from both men and postmenopausal women. From both femoral neck and lumbar spine, the prevalence of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women significantly decreased in the group whose calcium intake was >400 and ≤800 mg daily. CONCLUSION: Excessive dietary calcium may increase the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in men. For postmenopausal women, calcium intake does not increase the risk of metabolic syndrome, but modest amount decreases the risk. It may increase the BMD in men and postmenopausal women, and also reduce the prevalence of both osteoporosis and metabolic syndrome in postmenopausal women.

The effect of prolonged breast-feeding on the development of postmenopausal osteoporosis in population with insufficient calcium intake and vitamin D level.

UNLABELLED: Breast-feeding affects bone metabolism and calcium homeostasis, and prolonged breast-feeding may influence the development of postmenopausal osteoporosis, particularly in highly susceptible populations. The study determined that breast-feeding may be a risk factor for postmenopausal osteoporosis, especially in people with low calcium intakes and vitamin D deficiencies. INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to determine whether breast-feeding is a risk factor in the development of postmenopausal osteoporosis, especially in highly susceptible population. METHODS: The study was performed using data from the 2010 to 2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and it included 1231 postmenopausal women who were aged between 45 and 70 years. Osteoporosis was defined using the World Health Organization's T-score criteria, namely, a T-score of ≤-2.5 at the femoral neck or the lumbar spine. The patients' ages, body mass indexes, daily calcium intakes, serum vitamin D levels, exercise levels, smoking histories, and reproductive factors relating to menarche, menopause, delivery, breast-feeding, hormone treatment, and oral contraceptive use were evaluated. Comparisons between the osteoporosis and non-osteoporosis groups were undertaken using Student's t test and the chi-square test, and logistic regression models were built. RESULTS: A significant increase in the risk of osteoporosis was apparent in postmenopausal women with prolonged breast-feeding histories (≥24 months) (model 1: odds ratio [OR] = 2.489; 95 % confidence interval [CI] = 1.111 to 5.578, p = 0.027; model 2: OR = 2.503; 95 % CI = 1.118 to 5.602, p = 0.026; model 3: OR = 2.825; 95 % CI = 1.056 to 7.56, p = 0.039), particularly in those with inadequate serum vitamin D levels and calcium intakes (<800 mg/day). CONCLUSIONS: Breast-feeding seems to increase the risk of postmenopausal osteoporosis; however, its impact may not be definitive in women with sufficient vitamin D levels and calcium intakes. Therefore, sufficient calcium intakes and adequate vitamin D levels may be important to prevent osteoporosis in postmenopausal women that is derived from breast-feeding.

Association of metabolic syndrome with coronary atherosclerosis in non-diabetic postmenopausal women.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the possible association of metabolic syndrome with arterial stiffness and coronary atherosclerosis in non-diabetic, postmenopausal women. METHODS: A total of 293 non-diabetic, postmenopausal women who visited the health promotion center for a routine health check-up were included in a cross-sectional study. Arterial stiffness was measured by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity, and coronary atherosclerosis was detected using 64-row multi-detector computed tomography. RESULTS: Women with coronary atherosclerosis had a significantly higher proportion of metabolic syndrome than those without coronary atherosclerosis. The brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity was significantly higher in women who had metabolic syndrome compared to those who had no metabolic syndrome (1567.71 ± 211.81 vs. 1336.75 ± 159.62 cm/s, p < 0.001). In addition, the brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity was shown to increase with increasing number of metabolic syndrome components (p for trend < 0.001). Metabolic syndrome was associated with increased risk of coronary atherosclerosis (adjusted odds ratio 2.38; 95% confidence interval 1.01-5.06), after adjusting for confounding factors. CONCLUSIONS: Metabolic syndrome increases the risk of coronary atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women. Increased arterial stiffness may partly explain an increased risk of coronary atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women with metabolic syndrome.

Binding mode of porphyrins to poly[d(A-T)(2)] and poly[d(G-C)(2)].

We examined the binding geometry of Co-meso-tetrakis (N-methyl pyridinium-4-yl)porphyrin, Co-meso-tetrakis (N-n-butyl pyridinium-4-yl)porphyrin and their metal-free ligands to poly[d(A-T)(2)] and poly[d(G-C)(2)] by optical spectroscopic methods including absorption, circular and linear dichroism spectroscopy, and fluorescence energy transfer technique. Signs of an induced CD spectrum in the Soret band depend only on the nature of the DNA sequence; all porphyrins exhibit negative CD when bound to poly[d(G-C)(2)] and positive when bound to poly[d(A-T)(2)]. Close analysis of the linear dichroism result reveals that all porphyrins exhibit outside binding when complexed with poly[d(A-T)(2)], regardless of the existence of a central metal and side chain. However, in the case of poly[d(G-C)(2)], we observed intercalative binding mode for two nonmetalloporphyrins and an outside binding mode for metalloporphyrins. The nature of the outside binding modes of the porphyrins, when complexed with poly[d(A-T)(2)] and poly[d(G-C)(2)], are quite different. We also demonstrate that an energy transfer from the excited nucleo-bases to porphyrins can occur for metalloporphyrins.