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.

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

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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.

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Wine, Mediterranean Diet, and Your Health News for 02/11/2015

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Mental Health and Cognition

Adding To the Inconsistencies in Research: There May Be More to Reducing Risk of Cognitive Dysfunction Than Diet Alone

As we’ve seen before here on The French Paradox, diet can have a significant effect on mental health and cognitive function in adults.

Photo by Flickr user Pedro Ribeiro Simões (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrosimoes7/13910019233)
Photo by Flickr user Pedro Ribeiro Simões (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrosimoes7/13910019233)

Despite the many studies that seem to show this effect, the results are not consistent and thus require further study.

A new study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease aimed to compare a variety of diets and their effects on cognitive dysfunction, including Alzheimer’s Disease, all-type dementia, and all-type cognitive impairment in Swedish elderly men.

1,138 Swedish elderly men aged 70 years old were followed over 12 years. Dietary information was collected using a 7 day diet record book that was filled out by all participants.

Diets examined were: the WHO recommendations/Health Diet Indicator, a Mediterranean-style diet, and a low carbohydrate/high protein diet.

Dietary information was then compared with and correlated with incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease, all-type dementia, and all-type cognitive impairment.

Important Findings:

  • At the end of the 12 year follow-up:
    • 4% of men developed Alzheimer’s Disease.
    • 6% of men developed all-type dementia.
    • 4% of men developed all-type cognitive impairment.
  • There were no strong associations between diet and any of the cognitive dysfunction examined in this study.
  • There was a possible beneficial relationship between a Mediterranean-style diet and all-cognitive impairment.

The results of this study did not find any significant associations between diet and cognitive dysfunction in Swedish elderly men, adding to the already inconsistent results found between studies. The did see a trend toward a possible beneficial relationship between a Mediterranean-style diet and all-cognitive impairment, however, these results were not statistically significant.

Photo by Flickr user Pedro Ribeiro Simões (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrosimoes7/262478037)
Photo by Flickr user Pedro Ribeiro Simões (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrosimoes7/262478037)

It is possible that perhaps the sample size was too small to see any effect, or there are other factors involved that have a stronger influence on cognitive dysfunction than diet alone.

The three diets in this study are somewhat similar, in that they are all considered to be relatively “healthy” diets compared to a Western-style diet. Inclusion of this diet would have been important for this study, as this type of diet is consumed by a significant number of people throughout the world.

It is possible that there weren’t enough participants in this study to be sensitive enough to pick up any real differences in terms of associations with cognitive dysfunction. It’s also possible (and likely) that there is single type of diet for every individual, and there are other factors involved that contribute to the development (or lack thereof) of cognitive dysfunction.

Source:

Olsson, E., Karlström, B., Kilander, L., Byberg, L., Cederholm, T., and Sjögren, P. 2015. Dietary Patterns and Cognitive Dysfunction in a 12-Year Follow-Up Study of 70 Year Old Men. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 43: 109-119.

Association is not Causation