Associations of Serum Fatty Acid Proportions with Obesity, Insulin Resistance, Blood Pressure, and Fatty Liver: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Background: The links between fatty acids (FAs) and cardiometabolic outcomes are topics of debate.

Objective: Our aim was to investigate the associations between serum standardized FA percentages and cardiometabolic outcomes.

Methods: We used cross-sectional (n = 2187-2200 subjects, age 24-39 y, women 54%) and 10-year prospective data (n = 975-1414 subjects) from the Young Finns Study.

The associations of oxidized lipoprotein lipids with lipoprotein subclass particle concentrations and their lipid compositions. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Objective: Oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) may promote atherosclerosis, whereas the reverse transport of oxidized lipids by high-density lipoprotein (HDL) may contribute to atheroprotection. To provide insights into the associations of lipoprotein lipid oxidation markers with lipoprotein subclasses at the population level, we investigated the associations of oxidized HDL lipids (oxHDL) and oxidized LDL lipids (oxLDL) with lipoprotein subclasses in a population-based cross-sectional study of 1395 Finnish adults ages 24-39 years.

Methods: The analysis of oxidized lipids was based on the determination of the baseline level of conjugated dienes in lipoprotein lipids.

Metabolic profiling of fatty liver in young and middle-aged adults: Cross-sectional and prospective analyses of the Young Finns Study.

Unlabelled: Nonalcoholic fatty liver is associated with obesity-related metabolic disturbances, but little is known about the metabolic perturbations preceding fatty liver disease. We performed comprehensive metabolic profiling to assess how circulating metabolites, such as lipoprotein lipids, fatty acids, amino acids, and glycolysis-related metabolites, reflect the presence of and future risk for fatty liver in young adults. Sixty-eight lipids and metabolites were quantified by nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomics in the population-based Young Finns Study from serum collected in 2001 (n = 1,575), 2007 (n = 1,509), and 2011 (n = 2,002).

Longitudinal study of circulating oxidized LDL and HDL and fatty liver: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Oxidative reactions are thought to play a role in the inflammatory condition called fatty liver. It is unclear whether oxidized lipoprotein lipids or proteins are associated with future fatty liver. In the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study, we determined the circulating levels of LDL and HDL oxidized lipids and studied their associations with fatty liver assessed by ultrasonography.

Paraoxonase-1 and oxidized lipoprotein lipids. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Objective: Paraoxonase-1 (PON1) is suggested to have a role in the antioxidant activity of high-density lipoprotein (HDL). PON1 activity levels are strongly genetically determined by the rs662 polymorphism (PON1 Q192R). To clarify the role of PON1 in lipoprotein oxidation at the population level, we examined the relations between PON1 activity, the rs662 polymorphism and oxidized lipoprotein lipids in young adults.

Factors associated with six-year weight change in young and middle-aged adults in the Young Finns Study.

Objective: To examine factors associated with weight change and obesity risk in young and middle-aged adults.

Subjects/methods: The Young Finns Study with its 923 women and 792 men aged 24-39 years at baseline were followed for six years. Variables associated with the weight change were investigated with regression models.

Metabolite profiling and cardiovascular event risk: a prospective study of 3 population-based cohorts.

Background: High-throughput profiling of circulating metabolites may improve cardiovascular risk prediction over established risk factors.

Methods And Results: We applied quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomics to identify the biomarkers for incident cardiovascular disease during long-term follow-up. Biomarker discovery was conducted in the National Finnish FINRISK study (n=7256; 800 events).

Role of childhood food patterns on adult cardiovascular disease risk.

Accumulating evidence indicates that childhood nutrition plays a role in the adulthood cardiovascular health. A lifelong tracking of dietary habits, following a long-term exposure to unhealthy dietary patterns or independent effects, is a potential effect-mediating mechanism. Dietary patterns have been studied by data-driven and hypothesis-based approaches.

Low density lipoprotein-containing circulating immune complexes: role in atherosclerosis and diagnostic value.

It has been suggested that low density lipoprotein-containing circulating immune complexes (LDL-CIC) play a role in atherogenesis and are involved in the formation of early atherosclerotic lesion. These complexes, as well as anti-LDL autoantibodies, have been found in the blood and in the atherosclerotic lesions of patients with different cardiovascular diseases, as well as in the blood of animals with experimental atherosclerosis. It can be suggested that the presence of anti-LDL antibodies in the blood is a result of immune response induced by lipoprotein modification.

The associations of oxidized high-density lipoprotein lipids with risk factors for atherosclerosis: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Scavenging and reverse transport of atherogenic oxidized lipids by high-density lipoprotein (HDL) was recently suggested to contribute to atheroprotection. We investigated the associations of oxidized HDL lipids (oxHDLlipids) with known risk factors for atherosclerosis in a population-based cross-sectional study of 1395 Finnish adults ages 24-39 years (54.9% women).

Fatty acids as determinants of in-vivo lipid peroxidation: the EFFGE study in Eastern Finnish hypertensive and non-hypertensive subjects.

Background: The degree of fatty acid (FA) unsaturation as a determinant of lipid peroxidation has been inadequately studied.

Methods: We examined associations of plasma free F2α-isoprostanes (F2-IsoPs), an indicator of in-vivo lipid peroxidation, with the levels/intake of FAs, adjusted for the risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in 1211 Finnish men and women, of whom 50% were hypertensive, aged 59.3 ± 8.

Childhood serum fatty acid quality is associated with adult carotid artery intima media thickness in women but not in men.

Childhood nutrition may play a role in the development of cardiovascular disease risk in adulthood. We examined the links between childhood dietary fatty acid quality and adult subclinical atherosclerosis in a cohort of 374 males and 449 females, aged 3-18 y at baseline in 1980, followed for 27 y. Serum cholesterol ester fatty acid (CEFA) percentages were analyzed as markers of dietary fatty acid intake.

Childhood serum cholesterol ester fatty acids are associated with blood pressure 27 y later in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Background: In adults, dietary fatty acids (FAs) modify blood pressure (BP), but it is not known whether childhood FA quality is associated with adulthood BP.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to investigate links between childhood serum cholesterol ester fatty acid (CEFA) proportions and adulthood systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP).

Design: We examined a cohort of 803 boys and girls (aged 3-18 y at baseline in 1980 and followed for 27 y) by using regression models adjusted for the known risk factors of BP.

Does childhood nutrition influence adult cardiovascular disease risk?--insights from the Young Finns Study.

There is a paucity of detailed information about the role of childhood food patterns or on the impact of individual nutrients on adulthood cardiovascular disease (CVD). We review here the reports that have investigated these questions in the Young Finns Study with its 3596 subjects at baseline, aged 3 to 18 years. All the participants filled in a food habit questionnaire, and half of them provided a 48-hour dietary recall interview.

Changes in LDL fatty acid composition as a response to olive oil treatment are inversely related to lipid oxidative damage: The EUROLIVE study.

Objective: The aim of our study was to assess the changes in the fatty acid composition of low density lipoproteins (LDL) after sustained consumption of olive oil at real-life doses (25 mL/day) and their relationship with lipid oxidative damage.

Methods: A multi-center randomized, cross-over, clinical trial with 3 similar types of olive oils, but with differences in the phenolic content, was conducted on 200 healthy European subjects. Intervention periods were of 3 weeks separated by 2-week washout periods.

Effects of astaxanthin supplementation on lipid peroxidation.

Astaxanthin, the main carotenoid pigment in aquatic animals, has greater antioxidant activity in vitro (protecting against lipid peroxidation) and a more polar configuration than other carotenoids. We investigated the effect of three-month astaxanthin supplementation on lipid peroxidation in healthy non-smoking Finnish men, aged 19-33 years by using a randomized double-blind study design. Also absorption of astaxanthin from capsules into bloodstream and its safety were evaluated.

Type 2 diabetes whole-genome association study in four populations: the DiaGen consortium.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a common, polygenic chronic disease with high heritability. The purpose of this whole-genome association study was to discover novel T2D-associated genes. We genotyped 500 familial cases and 497 controls with >300,000 HapMap-derived tagging single-nucleotide-polymorphism (SNP) markers.

Moderate consumption of olive oil by healthy European men reduces systolic blood pressure in non-Mediterranean participants.

We evaluated the effects of a moderate consumption of olive oil on lipid profile, BMI, and blood pressure (BP) in a group of 160 healthy men from non-Mediterranean regions [Northern Europe (n = 50; Finland and Denmark) and Central Europe (n = 60; Germany)] and Mediterranean regions [Southern Europe (n = 45; Italy and Spain)]. The study was a randomized, cross-over trial with 3 intervention periods of 3 wk and 2 wash-out periods of 2 wk. At the intervention periods, 3 similar olive oils (25 mL/d), differing only in their phenolic concentration, were administered to the healthy volunteers.

Effect of olive oils on biomarkers of oxidative DNA stress in Northern and Southern Europeans.

High consumption of olive oil in the Mediterranean diet has been suggested to protect DNA against oxidative damage and to reduce cancer incidence. We investigated the impact of the phenolic compounds in olive oil, and the oil proper, on DNA and RNA oxidation in North, Central, and South European populations. In a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, controlled crossover intervention trial, the effect of olive oil phenolic content on urinary oxidation products of guanine (8-oxo-guanine, 8-oxo-guanosine and 8-oxo-deoxyguanosine) was investigated.

The effect of polyphenols in olive oil on heart disease risk factors: a randomized trial.

Background: Virgin olive oils are richer in phenolic content than refined olive oil. Small, randomized, crossover, controlled trials on the antioxidant effect of phenolic compounds from real-life daily doses of olive oil in humans have yielded conflicting results. Little information is available on the effect of the phenolic compounds of olive oil on plasma lipid levels.

Consumption of juice fortified with oregano extract markedly increases excretion of phenolic acids but lacks short- and long-term effects on lipid peroxidation in healthy nonsmoking men.

Oregano has been shown to possess antioxidant capacity in various in vitro models and has thus been suggested to be potentially beneficial to human health, but studies in humans are lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate the bioavailability and the effects of Origanum vulgare extract supplementation on serum lipids and lipid peroxidation in healthy nonsmoking men. A four-week double-blinded supplementation trial was concluded in which volunteers (n = 45) were randomized to consume daily mango-orange juice (placebo), mango-orange juice enriched with 300 mg/d total phenolic compounds from oregano extract, or mango-orange juice enriched with 600 mg/d total phenolic compounds from oregano extract.

Postprandial LDL phenolic content and LDL oxidation are modulated by olive oil phenolic compounds in humans.

Olive oil phenolic compounds are potent antioxidants in vitro, but evidence for antioxidant action in vivo is controversial. We examined the role of the phenolic compounds from olive oil on postprandial oxidative stress and LDL antioxidant content. Oral fat loads of 40 mL of similar olive oils, but with high (366 mg/kg), moderate (164 mg/kg), and low (2.

Serum homocysteine, folate and risk of stroke: Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor (KIHD) Study.

Background: Homocysteine and folate have been suggested to have opposite effects on the risk of stroke, although the results are controversial.

Design And Methods: The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of serum total homocysteine (tHcy) and serum folate levels on the risk of stroke in a prospective cohort study. The subjects were 1015 men aged 46-64 years and free of prior stroke, examined in 1991-1993 in the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor (KIHD) Study.

Polyphenol-rich phloem enhances the resistance of total serum lipids to oxidation in men.

In humans, polyphenol supplementation studies have resulted in inconsistent findings in lipid peroxidation. Our aim was to investigate the effects of a 4-week consumption of polyphenol-rich phloem on serum lipids and lipid peroxidation in the hydrophilic fraction of serum and on isolated lipoproteins. We conducted a randomized double-blind supplementation study consisting of 75 nonsmoking hypercholesterolemic men.