Association of Alcohol Types, Coffee, and Tea Intake with Risk of Dementia: Prospective Cohort Study of UK Biobank Participants

The prevalence of dementia is increasing globally and is linked to obesity and unfavorable dietary habits. The present study analyses the association of alcohol intake from wine and non wine alcoholic beverages (non-wine) in g/d, as well as coffee and tea in cups/d, with incident dementia. Over 4.2 million person-years, 4270 dementia cases occurred in 351,436 UK Biobank participants. Hazard ratios (HRs) for incident dementia were defined with Cox proportional hazard regression models in which beverage intake was fitted as penalized cubic splines. Wine intake showed a significant U-shaped association with the lowest risk for incident dementia (nadir) ranging from 21 to 23 g alcohol/d in all participants and in males. In contrast, non-wine consumption was significantly and dose-dependently associated with incident dementia, and the nadir was found at 0 g alcohol/d. Coffee consumption was not related to dementia risk, while moderate-to-high tea intake was negatively associated with incident dementia. Taken together, the current study shows on a population level that moderate consumption of wine and moderate-to-high tea intake is associated with a decreased risk of incident dementia. In contrast, non-wine is positively related to dementia risk in a linear fashion, and no clear association is found for coffee

Bacterial Species Associated with Highly Allergenic Plant Pollen Yield a High Level of Endotoxins and Induce Chemokine and Cytokine Release from Human A549 Cells

none10siSensitization to pollen allergens has been increasing in Europe every year. Most studies in this field are related to climate change, phenology, allergens associated with different pollens, and allergic disorders. As a plant microhabitat, pollen is colonized by diverse microorganisms, including endotoxin-producing bacteria which may contribute to pollen allergy (pollinosis). Therefore, bacteria isolated from high allergenic and low allergenic plant pollen, as well as the pollen itself with all microbial inhabitants, were used to assess the effect of the pollen by measuring the endotoxins lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and lipoteichoic acid (LTA) concentrations and their effect on chemokine and cytokine release from transwell cultured epithelial A549 cells as a model of epithelial lung barrier. High allergenic pollen showed a significantly higher level of bacterial endotoxins; interestingly, the endotoxin level found in the bacterial isolates from high allergenic pollen was significantly higher compared to that of bacteria from low allergenic pollen. Moreover, bacterial LPS concentrations across different pollen species positively correlated with the LPS concentration across their corresponding bacterial isolates. Selected bacterial isolates from hazel pollen (HA5, HA13, and HA7) co-cultured with A549 cells induced a potent concentration-dependent release of the chemokine interleukin-8 and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 as well as the cytokine TNF-alpha and interleukin-2 to both apical and basal compartments of the transwell model. This study clearly shows the role of bacteria and bacterial endotoxins in the pollen allergy as well as seasonal allergic rhinitis.Ambika Manirajan, Binoy; Hinrichs, Ann-Kathrin; Ratering, Stefan; Rusch, Volker; Schwiertz, Andreas; Geissler-Plaum, Rita; Eichner, Gerrit; Cardinale, Massimiliano; Kuntz, Sabine; Schnell, SylviaAmbika Manirajan, Binoy; Hinrichs, Ann-Kathrin; Ratering, Stefan; Rusch, Volker; Schwiertz, Andreas; Geissler-Plaum, Rita; Eichner, Gerrit; Cardinale, Massimiliano; Kuntz, Sabine; Schnell, Sylvi

Association of Antioxidants Use with All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: A Prospective Study of the UK Biobank

Prospective studies and randomized controlled trials elucidating the impact of antioxidants supplementation on mortality risk are inconclusive. The present analysis determined association between regular antioxidants use and all-cause (primary objective), as well as cause-specific, mortality in 345,626 participants of the UK Biobank cohort using Cox proportional hazard models. All models were adjusted for confounders and multiple testing. Antioxidants users were defined as participants who indicated to regularly use at least one of the following: multivitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, and zinc. Median age of antioxidants users (n = 101,159) and non-users (n = 244,467) at baseline was 57 years. During 3.9 million person-years and a median follow-up of 11.5 years, 19,491 deaths occurred. Antioxidants use was not significantly associated with all-cause, cancer, and non-cancer mortality including several cancer and non-cancer subtypes. Interestingly, mortality risk from respiratory disease was significantly 21% lower among antioxidants users as compared to non-users (hazard ratio: 0.79; 95% confidence interval: 0.67, 0.92). In conclusion, the present study findings do not support recommendations for antioxidants supplementation to prevent all-cause, cancer, or non-cancer mortality on a population level. The significant inverse association between antioxidants use and respiratory disease mortality needs further study.</jats:p

Gluten intake and metabolic health: conflicting findings from the UK Biobank

Abstract Purpose The impact of gluten intake on metabolic health in subjects without celiac disease is unclear. The present study aimed to assess the association between gluten intake and body fat percentage (primary objective), as well as a broad set of metabolic health markers. Methods Gluten intake was estimated in 39,927 participants of the UK Biobank who completed a dietary questionnaire for assessment of previous 24-h dietary intakes. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed between gluten intake and markers of metabolic health with Holm adjustment for multiple comparisons. Results Median gluten intake was 9.7 g/day (male: 11.7 g/day; female: 8.2 g/day; p &lt; 0.0001). In multiple linear regression analysis, association between gluten intake and percentage body fat was negative in males (β = − 0.028, p = 0.0020) and positive in females (β = 0.025, p = 0.0028). Furthermore, gluten intake was a negative predictor of total cholesterol (male: β = − 0.031, p = 0.0154; female: β = − 0.050, p &lt; 0.0001), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (male: β = − 0.052, p &lt; 0.0001; female: β = − 0.068, p &lt; 0.0001), and glomerular filtration rate (sexes combined: β = − 0.031, p &lt; 0.0001) in both sexes. In females only, gluten intake was positively associated with waist circumference (β = 0.041, p &lt; 0.0001), waist-to-height ratio (β = 0.040, p &lt; 0.0001), as well as body mass index (β = 0.043, p &lt; 0.0001), and negatively related to low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (β = − 0.035, p = 0.0011). A positive association between gluten intake and triglycerides was observed in males only (β = 0.043, p = 0.0001). Conclusion This study indicates that gluten intake is associated with markers of metabolic health. However, all associations are weak and not clinically meaningful. Limiting gluten intake is unlikely to provide metabolic health benefits for a population in total. </jats:sec