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A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutritional Epidemiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 56980

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Dr. Shannon L. Lennon

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Guest Editor

University of Delaware, Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, Newark, United States
Interests: nutrition; cardiovascular health; blood pressure; potassium; salt

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Despite numerous advances in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease, it remains the leading cause of death in both men and women worldwide. This Special Issue on “Nutrition, Lifestyle and Cardiovascular Disease" is focused on the role that nutrition and lifestyle have on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors. Lifestyle factors including nutrition, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, unhealthy weight, and physical inactivity can affect CVD risk. The likelihood of developing CVD increases with unhealthy dietary patterns and/or lifestyle behaviors, leading to an unfavorable lipid profile and high blood pressure, both risk factors for CVD. Additionally, diet and lifestyle factors can influence vessel health such as arterial stiffness and endothelial function, subsequently leading to CVD. Therefore, the focus of this Issue is intentionally broad and will explore a wide range of nutrients and/or dietary patterns as well as other lifestyle factors and their association with risk factors for CVD.

Dr. Shannon L. Lennon
Guest Editor

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Keywords

nutrition
diet
risk factors
cardiovascular disease
lifestyle factors
blood pressure
vascular function

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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13 pages, 303 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Associations of Serum Folate and Holotranscobalamin with Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Rural and Urban Cameroon

by Camille M. Mba, Albert Koulman, Nita G. Forouhi, Fumiaki Imamura, Felix Assah, Jean Claude Mbanya and Nick J. Wareham

Nutrients 2022, 14(1), 178; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14010178 - 30 Dec 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2004

Abstract

A low intake of fruit and vegetables and a high intake of meat are associated with higher cardiometabolic disease risk; however much prior research has relied on subjective methods for dietary assessment and focused on Western populations. We aimed to investigate the association of blood folate as an objective marker of fruit and vegetable intake and holotranscobalamin (holoTC) as a marker of animal-sourced food intake with cardiometabolic risk factors. We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study on 578 adults (mean ± SD age = 38.2 ± 8.6 years; 64% women). The primary outcome was a continuous metabolic syndrome score. The median serum folate was 12.9 (IQR: 8.6–20.5) nmol/L and the mean holoTC was 75 (SD: 34.3) pmol/L. Rural residents demonstrated higher serum folate concentrations (15.9 (9.8–25.9) nmol/L) than urban residents (11.3 (7.9–15.8) nmol/L), but lower holoTC concentrations (rural: 69.8 (32.9) pmol/L; urban: 79.8 (34.9)) pmol/L, p < 0.001 for both comparisons. There was an inverse association between serum folate and metabolic syndrome score by −0.20 in the z-score (95% CI, −0.38 to −0.02) per 10.8 (1 SD) of folate) in a model adjusted for socio-demographic factors, smoking status, alcohol intake, BMI, and physical activity. HoloTC was positively associated with the metabolic syndrome score in unadjusted analysis (0.33 (95% CI, 0.10 to 0.56)) but became non-significant (0.17 (−0.05 to 0.39)) after adjusting for socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics. In conclusion, serum folate and holoTC were associated with the metabolic syndrome score in opposite directions. The positive association between serum holoTC and the metabolic syndrome score was partly dependent on sociodemographic characteristics. These findings suggest that, based on these biomarkers reflecting dietary intakes, public health approaches promoting a higher intake of fruit and vegetables may lower cardiometabolic risk factors in this population. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition, Lifestyle and Cardiovascular Disease)

10 pages, 281 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Unhealthy Lifestyle, Genetics and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality in 76,958 Individuals from the UK Biobank Cohort Study

by Katherine M. Livingstone, Gavin Abbott, Joey Ward and Steven J. Bowe

Nutrients 2021, 13(12), 4283; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13124283 - 27 Nov 2021

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 6634

Abstract

To examine associations of unhealthy lifestyle and genetics with risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke. We used data on 76,958 adults from the UK Biobank prospective cohort study. Favourable lifestyle included no overweight/obesity, not smoking, physical activity, not sedentary, healthy diet and adequate sleep. A Polygenic Risk Score (PRS) was derived using 300 CVD-related single nucleotide polymorphisms. Cox proportional hazard ratios (HR) were used to model effects of lifestyle and PRS on risk of CVD and all-cause mortality, stroke and MI. New CVD (n = 364) and all-cause (n = 2408) deaths, and stroke (n = 748) and MI (n = 1140) events were observed during a 7.8 year mean follow-up. An unfavourable lifestyle (0–1 healthy behaviours) was associated with higher risk of all-cause mortality (HR: 2.06; 95% CI: 1.73, 2.45), CVD mortality (HR: 2.48; 95% CI: 1.64, 3.76), MI (HR: 2.12; 95% CI: 1.65, 2.72) and stroke (HR:1.74; 95% CI: 1.25, 2.43) compared to a favourable lifestyle (≥4 healthy behaviours). PRS was associated with MI (HR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.27, 1.43). There was evidence of a lifestyle-genetics interaction for stroke (p = 0.017). Unfavourable lifestyle behaviours predicted higher risk of all-cause mortality, CVD mortality, MI and stroke, independent of genetic risk. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition, Lifestyle and Cardiovascular Disease)

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9 pages, 2039 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Coffee Consumption and Cardiovascular Diseases: A Mendelian Randomization Study

by Shuai Yuan, Paul Carter, Amy M. Mason, Stephen Burgess and Susanna C. Larsson

Nutrients 2021, 13(7), 2218; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13072218 - 28 Jun 2021

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 10951

Abstract

Coffee consumption has been linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease in observational studies, but whether the associations are causal is not known. We conducted a Mendelian randomization investigation to assess the potential causal role of coffee consumption in cardiovascular disease. Twelve independent genetic variants were used to proxy coffee consumption. Summary-level data for the relations between the 12 genetic variants and cardiovascular diseases were taken from the UK Biobank with up to 35,979 cases and the FinnGen consortium with up to 17,325 cases. Genetic predisposition to higher coffee consumption was not associated with any of the 15 studied cardiovascular outcomes in univariable MR analysis. The odds ratio per 50% increase in genetically predicted coffee consumption ranged from 0.97 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.63, 1.50) for intracerebral hemorrhage to 1.26 (95% CI, 1.00, 1.58) for deep vein thrombosis in the UK Biobank and from 0.86 (95% CI, 0.50, 1.49) for subarachnoid hemorrhage to 1.34 (95% CI, 0.81, 2.22) for intracerebral hemorrhage in FinnGen. The null findings remained in multivariable Mendelian randomization analyses adjusted for genetically predicted body mass index and smoking initiation, except for a suggestive positive association for intracerebral hemorrhage (odds ratio 1.91; 95% CI, 1.03, 3.54) in FinnGen. This Mendelian randomization study showed limited evidence that coffee consumption affects the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, suggesting that previous observational studies may have been confounded. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition, Lifestyle and Cardiovascular Disease)

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20 pages, 1236 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Associations between Adherence to Four A Priori Dietary Indexes and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors among Hyperlipidemic Patients

by Xiaoli Gao, Zezhong Tian, Dan Zhao, Kongyao Li, Yimin Zhao, Lin Xu, Xu Wang, Die Fan, Xilin Ma, Wenhua Ling, Huicui Meng and Yan Yang

Nutrients 2021, 13(7), 2179; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13072179 - 24 Jun 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2764

Abstract

Little is known about which currently available a priori dietary indexes provide best guidance for reducing cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRF) among hyperlipidemic patients. This study was designed to compare the associations between four a priori dietary indexes, including Diet Balance Index (DBI-16), Chinese Healthy Eating Index (CHEI), Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and CMRF among hyperlipidemic patients. A total of 269 participants were enrolled into the cross-sectional study. DBI-16, CHEI, MDS, and DASH scores were calculated using established methods. CMRF was measured using standard methods. DBI-total scores (DBI-TS) were inversely associated with triglyceride concentrations and TC:HDL-C ratio, and positively associated with HDL-C and ApoA1 concentrations (all p < 0.05), while the results for DBI-low bound scores (DBI-LBS) were opposite. DBI-high bound scores (DBI-HBS) and DASH scores were positively and inversely associated with glucose concentrations, respectively (both p < 0.05). Higher diet quality distance (DQD) was positively associated with higher TC, LDL-C and ApoB concentrations, and TC:HDL-C and LDL-C:HDL-C ratios, and lower HDL-C and ApoA1 concentrations and ApoA1:ApoB ratio (all p < 0.05). CHEI scores were inversely associated with triglyceride concentrations (p = 0.036). None of the dietary indexes was associated with blood pressures. DBI-16 provided most comprehensive evaluations of the overall diet quality and balance for optimizing cardiometabolic health among hyperlipidemic individuals. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition, Lifestyle and Cardiovascular Disease)

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13 pages, 1383 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Interaction between Vitamin D-Related Genetic Risk Score and Carbohydrate Intake on Body Fat Composition: A Study in Southeast Asian Minangkabau Women

by Buthaina E. Alathari, Arif Sabta Aji, Utami Ariyasra, Sri R. Sari, Nabila Tasrif, Finny F. Yani, Ikhwan R. Sudji, Julie A. Lovegrove, Nur I. Lipoeto and Karani S. Vimaleswaran

Nutrients 2021, 13(2), 326; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020326 - 23 Jan 2021

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 4442

Abstract

Metabolic diseases have been shown to be associated with low vitamin D status; however, the findings have been inconsistent. Hence, the objective of our study was to investigate the relationship between vitamin D status and metabolic disease-related traits in healthy Southeast Asian women and examine whether this relationship was modified by dietary factors using a nutrigenetic study. The study included 110 Minangkabau women (age: 25–60 years) from Padang, Indonesia. Genetic risk scores (GRS) were constructed based on five vitamin D-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (vitamin D-GRS) and ten metabolic disease-associated SNPs (metabolic-GRS). The metabolic-GRS was significantly associated with lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations (p = 0.009) and higher body mass index (BMI) (p = 0.016). Even though the vitamin D-GRS had no effect on metabolic traits (p > 0.12), an interaction was observed between the vitamin D-GRS and carbohydrate intake (g) on body fat percentage (BFP) (p_interaction = 0.049), where those individuals who consumed a high carbohydrate diet (mean ± SD: 319 g/d ± 46) and carried >2 vitamin D-lowering risk alleles had significantly higher BFP (p = 0.016). In summary, we have replicated the association of metabolic-GRS with higher BMI and lower 25(OH)D concentrations and identified a novel interaction between vitamin D-GRS and carbohydrate intake on body fat composition. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition, Lifestyle and Cardiovascular Disease)

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19 pages, 307 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Associations of Ultra-Processed and Unprocessed/Minimally Processed Food Consumption with Peripheral and Central Hemodynamics and Arterial Stiffness in Young Healthy Adults

by Katarina Smiljanec, Alexis U. Mbakwe, Macarena Ramos-Gonzalez, Christina Mesbah and Shannon L. Lennon

Nutrients 2020, 12(11), 3229; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12113229 - 22 Oct 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3861

Abstract

Consumption of ultra-processed food (UPF) replaces the intake of freshly prepared unprocessed/minimally processed food (MPF) and is positively associated with hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The objective of this observational study was to investigate the relation between (1) UPF and (2) MPF with peripheral and central blood pressure (BP), wave reflection, and arterial stiffness. Habitual dietary intake, ambulatory BP, augmentation index (AIx), and pulse wave velocity (PWV) were assessed in 40 normotensive young adults (15 M/25 W; 27 ± 1 y; body mass index 23.6 ± 0.5 kg/m²). UPF consumption was positively associated with overall and daytime peripheral systolic BP (B = 0.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.03, 0.46, p = 0.029; B = 0.32, 95% CI 0.09, 0.56, p = 0.008, respectively), daytime diastolic BP (B = 0.18, 95% CI 0.01, 0.36, p = 0.049) and daytime peripheral pulse pressure (PP; B = 0.22, 95% CI 0.03, 0.41, p = 0.027). MPF consumption was inversely associated with daytime peripheral PP (B = −0.27, 95% CI −0.47, −0.07, p = 0.011), overall and daytime central systolic BP (B = −0.27, 95% CI −0.51, −0.02, p = 0.035; B = −0.31, 95% CI −0.58, −0.04, p = 0.024, respectively), and nighttime central PP (B = −0.10, 95% CI −0.19, −0.01, p = 0.042). Both UPF and MPF were not associated with AIx nor PWV. These data suggest avoidance of UPF and consumption of more MPF may reduce CVD risk factors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition, Lifestyle and Cardiovascular Disease)

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19 pages, 910 KiB

Open AccessReview

Considerations for Maximizing the Exercise “Drug” to Combat Insulin Resistance: Role of Nutrition, Sleep, and Alcohol

by Mary-Margaret E. Remchak, Kelsey L. Piersol, Sabha Bhatti, Andrea M. Spaeth, Jennifer F. Buckman and Steven K. Malin

Nutrients 2021, 13(5), 1708; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13051708 - 18 May 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 12746

Abstract

Insulin resistance is a key etiological factor in promoting not only type 2 diabetes mellitus but also cardiovascular disease (CVD). Exercise is a first-line therapy for combating chronic disease by improving insulin action through, in part, reducing hepatic glucose production and lipolysis as well as increasing skeletal muscle glucose uptake and vasodilation. Just like a pharmaceutical agent, exercise can be viewed as a “drug” such that identifying an optimal prescription requires a determination of mode, intensity, and timing as well as consideration of how much exercise is done relative to sitting for prolonged periods (e.g., desk job at work). Furthermore, proximal nutrition (nutrient timing, carbohydrate intake, etc.), sleep (or lack thereof), as well as alcohol consumption are likely important considerations for enhancing adaptations to exercise. Thus, identifying the maximal exercise “drug” for reducing insulin resistance will require a multi-health behavior approach to optimize type 2 diabetes and CVD care. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition, Lifestyle and Cardiovascular Disease)

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14 pages, 1332 KiB

Open AccessReview

Consensus and Controversy in the Debate over the Biphasic Impact of Alcohol Consumption on the Cardiovascular System

by Cristian Stătescu, Alexandra Clement, Ionela-Lăcrămioara Șerban and Radu Sascău

Nutrients 2021, 13(4), 1076; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13041076 - 25 Mar 2021

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 5011

Abstract

In the past few decades, research has focused on the importance of addressing modifiable risk factors as a means of lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which represents the worldwide leading cause of death. For quite a long time, it has been considered that ethanol intake has a biphasic impact on the cardiovascular system, mainly depending on the drinking pattern, amount of consumption, and type of alcoholic beverage. Multiple case-control studies and meta-analyses reported the existence of a “U-type” or “J-shaped” relationship between alcohol and CVD, as well as mortality, indicating that low to moderate alcohol consumption decreases the number of adverse cardiovascular events and deaths compared to abstinence, while excessive alcohol use has unquestionably deleterious effects on the circulatory system. However, beginning in the early 2000s, the cardioprotective effects of low doses of alcohol were abnegated by the results of large epidemiological studies. Therefore, this narrative review aims to reiterate the association of alcohol use with cardiac arrhythmias, dilated cardiomyopathy, arterial hypertension, atherosclerotic vascular disease, and type 2 diabetes mellitus, highlighting literature disagreements over the risk and benefits of low to moderate drinking on the cardiovascular system. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition, Lifestyle and Cardiovascular Disease)

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16 pages, 295 KiB

Open AccessReview

The DASH Diet and Cardiometabolic Health and Chronic Kidney Disease: A Narrative Review of the Evidence in East Asian Countries

by Yazhen Song, Andrea J. Lobene, Yanfang Wang and Kathleen M. Hill Gallant

Nutrients 2021, 13(3), 984; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13030984 - 18 Mar 2021

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 7077

Abstract

The rising incidence of cardiometabolic diseases and chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a leading public health problem in East Asia. Diet is an important modifiable risk factor; thus, adopting a healthy diet such as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet may help combat these chronic diseases. The DASH diet was originally developed in a U.S. population, and East Asia is demographically and culturally different from the U.S. Therefore, it is important to examine the evidence regarding the DASH diet and chronic disease in this unique population. This narrative review summarizes the evidence on the DASH diet and cardiometabolic health and CKD in East Asia. Culturally-modified DASH diets have been developed in some East Asian countries. Studies suggest the DASH diet is effective at lowering blood pressure in this population, though the long-term benefits remain unclear. Evidence also suggests the DASH diet may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Further research indicates the DASH diet and its components may reduce CKD risk. However, recommending the DASH diet in those who already have CKD is controversial, as it conflicts with current CKD dietary guidelines, especially in advanced CKD. Notably, current intakes in the general population differ from the DASH dietary pattern, suggesting public health efforts would be needed to encourage adoption of the DASH diet. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition, Lifestyle and Cardiovascular Disease)

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