Monthly Archives: February 2015

Cancer

DNA Damage Correlated With Low Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet in Men with Prostate Cancer: Lack of Control Group Makes Results Questionable

Prostate cancer in men is a world-wide problem and has many risk factors from environmental to genetic and finally to lifestyle. Specifically, some risk factors for prostate cancer include: old age,

Photo by Flickr user Mario Mancuso (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mario-mancuso/8822345254)
Photo by Flickr user Mario Mancuso (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mario-mancuso/8822345254)

ethnicity, family history/genetics, lifestyle factors, and diet.

Some studies have observed dietary fats may influence prostate cancer risk, particularly related to the Western-style diet and the omega-6 and animals fats are prevalent compared with the so-called “good” fats related to the Mediterranean diet (olive oil fats, omega-3, etc). Specifically, it is dietary fats that have been implicated in DNA damage related to cancer risk.

A new study published in the journal Nutrients aimed to evaluate dietary fat intake through diets like the Mediterranean diet and the Western diet, and compare consumption of these diets to inflammation markers and DNA damage in men with prostate cancer.

20 men with prostate cancer (Gleason scores between 6 and 7) were recruited for this study.

Blood samples were collected at the beginning of the study, as well as 3 months later. Fatty acid profiles and DNA damage was evaluated from blood samples.

Dietary information prior to the beginning of the study was collected via questionnaire.

During the study, all participants were given a strict diet based on the Mediterranean diet, and were provided with all meals throughout the 3 month experiment.

Light to moderate exercise was encouraged, and participants were required to not each or drink anything that was not allowed based on experimental protocol.

Adherence to the experimental Mediterranean-style diet was determined via questionnaire.

Important Findings:

  • DNA damage levels were correlated with dietary fat sources:
    • DNA damage was negatively correlated with adherence to the experimental Mediterranean-style diet, whole blood monounsaturated fatty acids, and oleic acid.
    • DNA damage was positively correlated with consumption of dairy products, red meat, and whole blood omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

The results of this study indicate that dietary fats associated with a Western-style diet are correlated with greater DNA damage in men

Photo by Flickr user JD Hancock (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/5021666285)
Photo by Flickr user JD Hancock (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/5021666285)

with prostate cancer. On the other hand, those men with prostate cancer adhering strictly to a Mediterranean-style diet had lowest levels of DNA damage.

Problems with this study: the sample size was incredibly small. With only 20 participants, the results of this study are only preliminary and would need a much larger sample size to be more confident in the results.

Also, there were NO controls in this study. Basic scientific experimental design dictates that there should always be a control (preferably more than one!), or else the results are virtually meaningless.

While the results of this study are interesting and indicate that the adherence to the Mediterranean diet is correlated with less DNA damage in men with prostate cancer, these results should be taken with a grain of salt due to the omission of a control group.

Source:

Bishop, K.S., Erdich, S., Karunasinghe, N., Han, D.Y., Zhu, S., Jesuthasan, A., and Ferguson, L.R. 2015. An Investigation into the Association between DNA Damage and Dietary Fatty Acid in Men with Prostate Cancer. Nutrients 7: 405-422.

News

Wine, Mediterranean Diet, and Your Health News for 02/13/2015

Please click on the links below to read the full articles.

Wine

Alcohol

Olives & Olive Oil

Mediterranean Diet & Healthy Eating

Nuts & Beans

Cancer

Mediterranean Diet Reduces Risk of Breast Cancer in Women With Specific Genotypes Responsible For Folate Metabolism

In addition to environmental factors, there are known genetic causes for breast cancer risk in women. Specifically, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) found on certain genes has been shown to be associated with breast cancer risk.

SNPsSome research has shown that folate in the diet may interact with specific SNPs on genes associated with breast cancer risk. Typical Mediterranean diet patterns are relatively high in folate, leading to past research showing possible relationships between Mediterranean diet adherence and reduced breast cancer risk in women.

Specific genes on which SNPS have been shown to interact with dietary folates are the MTHFR (rs180133 and rs1801131) and the MTR (rs1805087) genes.

A new study published in the journal Genes & Nutrition aimed to further investigate whether or not specific SNPs on the aforementioned genes affect the observed benefit of eating a Mediterranean diet on breast cancer risk. In other words, do sequence changes on these genes reduce or increase breast cancer risk in women adhering to a Mediterranean diet?

1,109 women with breast cancer from Cyprus were recruited for this study. Dietary information was collected via questionnaires.

All participants were genotyped for the MTHFR and MTR genes, which would basically provide the researchers with the specific DNA sequence and therefore specific SNP sequences of those genes.

Important Findings:

  • High adherence to the Mediterranean diet:
    • Decreased breast cancer risk in women who had increasing numbers of variants of rs180133 SNPs on the MTHFR gene.
    • Decreased breast cancer risk in women who had at least one variant of rs1805087 SNP on the MTR gene.
    • Decreased breast cancer risk in women who had the rs1801131 SNP on the MTHFR gene.

The results of this study indicate that Cyprus women with certain genotypes (gene sequences) had a reduced risk of breast cancer if they adhered strictly to the Mediterranean diet.

Photo by Flickr user Army Medicine (http://www.flickr.com/photos/armymedicine/6198092775)
Photo by Flickr user Army Medicine (http://www.flickr.com/photos/armymedicine/6198092775)

What may be happening here is that the folate obtained from the Mediterranean diet interacts better with certain genotypes than others, resulting in a reduced risk of breast cancer.

More research needs to be done to get a better understanding of the mechanisms behind these relationships, but the results seem to indicate that women with certain genes seem to be better protected from breast cancer if they eat a Mediterranean diet than women who eat a diet with lower folate levels.

Source:

Kakkoura, M.G., Demetriou, C.A., Loizidou, M.A., Loucaides, G., Neophytou, I., Marcou, Y., Hadjisavvas, A., and Kyriacou, K. 2015. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in one-carbon metabolism genes, Mediterranean diet and breast cancer risk: a case-control study in the Greek-Cypriot female population. Genes & Nutrition 10(2): doi: 10.1007/s12263-015-0453-7.

News

Wine, Mediterranean Diet, and Your Health News for 02/12/2015

Please click on the links below to read the full articles.

Wine

Alcohol

Olives & Olive Oil

Mediterranean Diet & Healthy Eating

Nuts & Beans

Respiratory Disease

Asthma Severity in Children is Not Associated With Diet

Asthma in children is one of the most common chronic disease of that age group, with incidence rates rising within the past several

Photo by Flickr user Phyllis Buchanan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/pgautier/614247789)
Photo by Flickr user Phyllis Buchanan (https://www.flickr.com/photos/pgautier/614247789)

decades. Environmental factors, such as exposure to second-hand smoke and air pollution, are understood to have influence asthma rates in children, though more recently diet has been considered to be a potential factor as well.

A new study in the journal Indian Pediatrics aimed to examine whether or not diet is associated with asthma severity in Brazilian children.

A total of 268 children (age 3 to 12 years) with persistent asthma were recruited for this study (between two teaching hospitals in Brazil). An additional age-matched 126 children with intermittent asthma were used as controls. Asthma cases were categorized as mild, moderate, or severe.

Dietary habits, demographic information, socioeconomic information, mother’s lifestyle habits during pregnancy, environmental allergen exposure, family medical history (pertaining to asthma and other related diseases) were collected during interviews with children and their parents.

Important Findings:

  • Maternal smoking during pregnancy, preterm birth, and child obesity were positively (and significantly) associated with asthma severity in children.
  • There was no association between diet and asthma severity in children.

As research has shown previous, this study confirms that maternal smoking is positively associated with asthma severity in children. In other words, the more mom smoked during pregnancy, the more severe the asthma in her child.

Additionally, preterm birth and child obesity were also positively

Photo By Tradimus (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
Photo By Tradimus (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
associated with asthma severity in children.

However, in regards to diet, this study showed that diet type (including a Mediterranean-style diet) was not associated with asthma severity in children. There were no healthy controls (i.e. no asthma) in this study, so it can’t be said with certainty whether or not asthma prevalence in general is linked to diet, but this study does seem to show that asthma severity is not related to diet in any way.

Source:

Silveira, D.H., Zhang, L., Prietsch, S.O.M., Vecchi, A.A., and Susin, L.R.O. 2015. Association between dietary habits and asthma severity in children. Indian Pediatrics 52: 25-30.