Associations of vitamin D status with dietary intakes and physical activity levels among adults from seven European countries: the Food4Me study.

Purpose: To report the vitamin D status in adults from seven European countries and to identify behavioural correlates.

Methods: In total, 1075 eligible adult men and women from Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Greece, UK, Poland and Germany, were included in the study.

Results: Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency, defined as 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25-OHD) concentration of <30 and 30-49.

The impact of micronutrient status on health: correlation network analysis to understand the role of micronutrients in metabolic-inflammatory processes regulating homeostasis and phenotypic flexibility.

Background: Vitamins and carotenoids are key micronutrients facilitating the maintenance of health, as evidenced by the increased risk of disease with low intake. Optimal phenotypic flexibility, i.e.

Weekday sunlight exposure, but not vitamin D intake, influences the association between vitamin D receptor genotype and circulating concentration 25-hydroxyvitamin D in a pan-European population: the Food4Me study.

Scope: Little is known about diet- and environment-gene interactions on 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D concentration. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate (i) predictors of 25(OH)D concentration and relationships with vitamin D genotypes and (ii) whether dietary vitamin D intake and sunlight exposure modified these relationships.

Methods And Results: Participants from the Food4Me study (n = 1312; age 18-79) were genotyped for vitamin D receptor (VDR) and vitamin D binding protein at baseline and a genetic risk score was calculated.

Design and baseline characteristics of the Food4Me study: a web-based randomised controlled trial of personalised nutrition in seven European countries.

Improving lifestyle behaviours has considerable potential for reducing the global burden of non-communicable diseases, promoting better health across the life-course and increasing well-being. However, realising this potential will require the development, testing and implementation of much more effective behaviour change interventions than are used conventionally. Therefore, the aim of this study was to conduct a multi-centre, web-based, proof-of-principle study of personalised nutrition (PN) to determine whether providing more personalised dietary advice leads to greater improvements in eating patterns and health outcomes compared to conventional population-based advice.

Rose hip and its constituent galactolipids confer cartilage protection by modulating cytokine, and chemokine expression.

Background: Clinical studies have shown that rose hip powder (RHP) alleviates osteoarthritis (OA). This might be due to anti-inflammatory and cartilage-protective properties of the complete RHP or specific constituents of RHP. Cellular systems (macrophages, peripheral blood leukocytes and chondrocytes), which respond to inflammatory and OA-inducing stimuli, are used as in vitro surrogates to evaluate the possible pain-relief and disease-modifying effects of RHP.

Hydroxytyrosol is the major anti-inflammatory compound in aqueous olive extracts and impairs cytokine and chemokine production in macrophages.

Substances in olive products contribute to improved health as suggested by epidemiological data. In this study we assessed the effects of hydroxytyrosol (HT) on inflammatory mediators, cytokines and chemokines, and identified anti-inflammatory constituents of aqueous olive extracts, I.E.

Metabolism of lutein and zeaxanthin in rhesus monkeys: identification of (3R,6'R)- and (3R,6'S)-3'-dehydro-lutein as common metabolites and comparison to humans.

Lutein and zeaxanthin are xanthophylls that can be found highly concentrated in the macula of the retina. They are thought to protect the macula through their role as blue-light filters and because of their antioxidant and singlet oxygen quenching properties. Examination of metabolites unique to lutein and zeaxanthin such as 3'-dehydro-lutein, and of their stereochemistry may provide insight to the mechanism by which they are formed and by which they exert protection.

CMO1 deficiency abolishes vitamin A production from beta-carotene and alters lipid metabolism in mice.

Carotenoids are currently investigated regarding their potential to lower the risk of chronic disease and to combat vitamin A deficiency in humans. These plant-derived compounds must be cleaved and metabolically converted by intrinsic carotenoid oxygenases to support the panoply of vitamin A-dependent physiological processes. Two different carotenoid-cleaving enzymes were identified in mammals, the classical carotenoid-15,15'-oxygenase (CMO1) and a putative carotenoid-9',10'-oxygenase (CMO2).

Effects of 6-month daily supplementation with oral beta-carotene in combination or not with benzo[a]pyrene on cell-cycle markers in the lung of ferrets.

Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that people who eat more fruits and vegetables (rich in carotenoids) and people who have higher serum beta-carotene (BC) levels have a lower risk of cancer, particularly lung cancer. However, the two main human intervention studies of BC supplementation (the ATBC and the CARET trials) revealed an increased risk of lung cancer among smokers and asbestos workers. Previous studies carried out in the ferret have reported that BC effects are related to dose.

Beta-carotene and apocarotenals promote retinoid signaling in BEAS-2B human bronchioepithelial cells.

High dose beta-carotene supplementation of smokers was associated with increased lung cancer risk in two intervention trials. It was proposed that generation of apocarotenals in smoke-exposed lungs impaired retinoic acid (RA) signaling, leading to squamous metaplasia and cell proliferation. To test this, we compared RA target gene regulation by retinoids, apocarotenals or beta-carotene by transcriptomics in BEAS-2B cells cultured to promote squamous differentiation.