Dietary Sources of Plasma trans Fatty Acids among Adults in the United States: NHANES 2009-2010

Effect of dietary antioxidant quality score on tobacco smoke exposure and asthma in children and adolescents: a cross-sectional study from the NHANES database

BACKGROUND

Asthma is a common non-communicable disease in children, and airway inflammation is the main pathological change of asthma. Tobacco smoke exposure (TSE) can cause systematic inflammation and oxidative stress, which may further aggravate the progression of asthma. Dietary antioxidants can relieve the inflammation and oxidative stress in human body. This study aims to assess the effect of overall antioxidant capacity of dietary intake, evaluating by dietary antioxidant quality score (DAQS), in the association between TSE and childhood asthma.

METHODS

Data of this cross-sectional study were extracted from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) 2007-2018. DAQS was calculated based on the daily dietary intake of selenium, zinc, magnesium, vitamin A, C and E. TSE was measured by serum cotinine concentration. The weighted univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were employed to evaluate the role of DAQS in the association between TSE and asthma among children and adolescents. Subgroup analysis was conducted to further evaluate the association based on gender.

RESULTS

Totally 11,026 children and adolescents were included, of whom 1,244 (11.28%) had asthma. After adjusted all covariates, TSE was associated with the high odds of childhood asthma (OR = 1.26, 95%CI = 1.05-1.52). Among children exposed to tobacco smoke, those with higher DAQS level (OR = 1.15, 95%CI: 0.88-1.50) had a reduced risk of asthma compared with those children with lower DAQS level (OR = 1.43, 1.08-1.89), especially among girls (OR = 1.42, 95%CI: 0.93-2.17).

CONCLUSION

High DAQS may have a moderating effect on asthma in children; that is, the higher DAQS, the lower the odds of asthma in children who exposed to tobacco smoke. Our study provides a reference for developing more targeted strategies for prevention and treatment of asthma in children.

Molecular effects of the consumption of margarine and butter varying in trans fat composition: a parallel human intervention study

BACKGROUND

Whereas the dietary intake of industrial trans fatty acids (iTFA) has been specifically associated with inflammation, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes, understanding the impact of dietary fats on human health remains challenging owing to their complex composition and individual effects of their lipid components on metabolism. The aim of this study is to profile the composition of blood, measured by the fatty acid (FAs) profile and untargeted metabolome of serum and the transcriptome of blood cells, in order to identify molecular signatures that discriminate dietary fat intakes.

METHODS

In a parallel study, the molecular effects of consuming dairy fat containing ruminant TFA (rTFA) or margarine containing iTFA were investigated. Healthy volunteers (n = 42; 45-69 y) were randomly assigned to diets containing margarine without TFA as major source of fat (wTFA control group with 0.4 g TFA per 100 g margarine), margarine with iTFA (iTFA group with 4.1 g TFA per 100 g margarine), or butter with rTFA (rTFA group with 6.3 g TFA per 100 g butter) for 4 weeks. The amounts of test products were individually selected so that fat intake contributed to 30-33% of energy requirements and TFA in the rTFA and iTFA groups contributed to up to 2% of energy intake. Changes in fasting blood values of lipid profiles (GC with flame-ionization detection), metabolome profiles (LC-MS, GC-MS), and gene expression (microarray) were measured.

RESULTS

Eighteen FAs, as well as 242 additional features measured by LC-MS (185) and GC-MS (54) showed significantly different responses to the diets (PFDR-adjusted < 0.05), mainly distinguishing butter from the margarine diets while gene expression was not differentially affected. The most abundant TFA in the butter, i.e. TFA containing (E)-octadec-11-enoic acid (C18:1 t11; trans vaccenic acid), and margarines, i.e. TFA containing (E)-octadec-9-enoic acid (C18:1 t9; elaidic acid) were reflected in the significantly different serum levels of TFAs measured after the dietary interventions.

CONCLUSIONS

The untargeted serum metabolome differentiates margarine from butter intake although the identification of the discriminating features remains a bottleneck. The targeted serum FA profile provides detailed information on specific molecules differentiating not only butter from margarine intake but also diets with different content of iTFAs in margarine.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00933322.

On account of trans fatty acids and cardiovascular disease risk - There is still need to upgrade the knowledge and educate consumers

AIMS

Trans fatty acids (TFAs) are unsaturated lipids either of industrial origin or naturally occurring in ruminant meat and milk. TFAs generated through food processing (industrial) is the main source in our diet and studies provide converging evidence on their negative effect on cardiovascular health. Since April 2021, the European Commission has put into effect a regulation for TFAs providing maximum 2% of total fat in all industrially produced foods. In light of this development, we review the evidence regarding the health attributes of different types of TFAs, their dietary sources and current intakes, and we describe the history of TFA-related legislative actions in an attempt to anticipate the efficiency of new measures.

DATA SYNTHESIS

The PubMed database was searched including original research (observational and intervention studies), systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Scientific reports of competent authorities and organizations have also been screened.

CONCLUSIONS

Trans-fat elimination provides a fine example of how evidence has led to the application of horizontal regulatory measures regarding legal food ingredients in order to protect consumers' health. In EU Member States, TFAs currently provide on average less than 1% of energy (1%E) and intakes marginally exceed recommendations primarily among young adults. Large dietary surveys however provide evidence for additional, less-well known sources of TFAs in the diet. Raising public awareness of "hidden" trans-fat found naturally in foods such as cheese, as well as of the trans-fat generated through traditional cooking practices is needed, if the goal to eliminate trans-fat from the diet is to be met.