Nutrition, metabolism and colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer and myocardial infarction are associated at population level and in autoptic studies. Furthermore, they share many blood variables: cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL cholesterol, fructosamine, glycated haemoglobin and glycated apolipoprotein B. These blood variables are intermediates between dietary, mainly saturated fats and high glycemic index and load diets, and colorectal cancer and myocardial infarction. Blood intermediate variables can be used in dietary trials as outcomes, and even to throw light on the pathogenesis of both diseases.     

自由基、营养、天然抗氧化剂与衰老

影响衰老的因素很多,其中主要有遗传基因、饮食营养、生活方式、运动多少、心理状态、医疗条件及环境因素等。其中饮食营养是非常重要的因素,而且是可以控制的因素。研究证明,营养不良和营养过剩都会影响健康和寿命,而健康和延长寿命最有效的方法是限食(限能)。最近,美国和英国的权威杂志《Science》和《Nature》发表研究文章表明,节食,以及一些自由基清除剂,如小分子多酚类物质白藜芦醇,可以启动长寿基因SIRI1,抑制肿瘤基因p53,阻断细胞凋亡,延缓衰老和延长寿命。早在1955年,Dr. Harman发表的“衰老的自由基理论”就提出,体内产生过多自由基是引起衰老的重要因素,保持体内自由基和抗氧化剂的平衡可以延缓衰老。我们的实验还证明,天然抗氧化剂茶多酚可延长果蝇的寿命,使果蝇匀浆中的超氧化物歧化酶(superoxide dismutase,SOD)活性增加,脂质过氧化水平降低,改善高脂引起的果蝇寿命缩短、SOD活性降低以及脂质过氧化水平的升高。作者最近的实验还证明,茶多酚可以防止氧化应激引起的线虫寿命的缩短,还可以预防和治疗6-OHDA引起的大鼠帕金森氏综合症,山楂黄酮可以预防和治疗蒙古沙鼠缺血引起的中风,大豆异黄酮和尼古丁可以预防和治疗转基因线虫和小鼠老年痴呆症。饮食营养和天然抗氧化剂研究的进展将对人类健康和延缓衰老,提供新的线索并做出重大贡献。     

l-carnitine: Nutrition,pathology, and health benefits

Carnitine is a medically needful nutrient that contributes in the production of energy and the metabolism of fatty acids. Bioavailability is higher in vegetarians than in people who eat meat. Deficits in carnitine transporters occur as a result of genetic mutations or in combination with other illnesses such like hepatic or renal disease. Carnitine deficit can arise in diseases such endocrine maladies, cardiomyopathy, diabetes, malnutrition, aging, sepsis, and cirrhosis due to abnormalities in carnitine regulation. The exogenously provided molecule is obviously useful in people with primary carnitine deficits, which can be life-threatening, and also some secondary deficiencies, including such organic acidurias: by eradicating hypotonia, muscle weakness, motor skills, and wasting are all improved l-carnitine (LC) have reported to improve myocardial functionality and metabolism in ischemic heart disease patients, as well as athletic performance in individuals with angina pectoris. Furthermore, although some intriguing data indicates that LC could be useful in a variety of conditions, including carnitine deficiency caused by long-term total parenteral supplementation or chronic hemodialysis, hyperlipidemias, and the prevention of anthracyclines and valproate-induced toxicity, such findings must be viewed with caution.     

Nutrition, insulin, insulin-like growth factors and cancer.

The incidence of colon, pancreatic, and kidney cancers, as well as aggressive prostate cancer in men, and breast and endometrial cancer in women is invariably high in Western countries. Nutritional and related factors have been typically implicated. This review presents a model integrating nutrition, insulin and IGF-1 physiology ("bioactive" IGF-1), and carcinogenesis based on the following: (1) insulin and the IGF-1 axis function in an integrated fashion to promote cell growth and survival; (2) chronic exposure to these growth properties enhances carcinogenesis; (3) factors that influence bioactive IGF-1 will affect cancer risk. The model presented here summarizes the data that chronic exposure to high levels of insulin and IGF-1 may mediate many of the risk factors for some cancers that are high in Western populations. This hypothesis may help explain some of the epidemiologic patterns observed for these cancers, both from a cross-national perspective and within populations. Of particular importance is that some of relevant factors are modifiable through nutritional and lifestyle interventions. Out of a variety of perspectives presented, nutritional manipulation through the insulin pathway may be more feasible than attempting to influence total IGF-1 concentrations, which are determined largely by growth hormone. Further study is required to test these conclusions.     

Nutrition, fertility and maternal investment in primates

While the energetics of reproduction have been intensively investigated among women, studies of mother-offspring relationships among non-human primates have tended to neglect the effect of nutrition of the mother on lactational performance and on growth and survival of offspring. Typically fertility has been compared between populations under different nutritional regimes. In this paper, the relations between suckling frequencies, the time of weaning, the survivorship of offspring, the contraceptive effects of lactation and the quality of maternal diets are outlined. Energy transfer from mother to offspring in the form of milk is proposed as a measurable component of maternal investment, and the behavioural causes and consequences of lactational anoestrus are explored using data from free-ranging vervet monkeys. It is suggested that nutrition of the mother is most important during the early phase of rapid infant growth, because at that time the energetic requirements of lactation are high; and that a mother's ability to assess her infant's demands and needs for nutrition for growth leads to alterations in suckling frequencies which result in variation in female fertility.