G iven the social significance of alcohol worldwide it is not surprising that there is continuing strong interest in the relation between alcohol and hypertension. Recent research continues to address unresolved questions concerning the balance between the medical hazards and the cardiovascular benefits of alcohol, the possible significance of different types of beverage, the role of different drinking patterns for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and mechanisms underlying the pressor effects of ethanol. These issues all need to be considered in the context of social aspects of drinking and effects on noncardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Epidemiologic data relating the type or quantity of alcohol consumption to blood pressure or cardiovascular disease needs to be viewed with circumspection from a number of viewpoints. First, heavier drinkers or problems drinkers are far less likely to participate in surveys than others. Second, alcohol consumption past or present is notoriously underreported. Third, drinking patterns are difficult to quantify and often not reported at all. The type, quantity, and pattern of drinking are all highly correlated with socioeconomic and other lifestyle behaviors, 1 many of which may not be measured or not measured accurately enough for adequate adjustments in statistical models. A relation between average weekly alcohol consumption, blood pressure level, and hypertension prevalence has been consistent worldwide and continues to be studied in different populations to evaluate its contribution in relation to other risk factors. However, because of the above issues some caveats should be put on interpretation of data where authors emphatically imply causal relationships from statistical associations. The more recent cross-sectional studies have concentrated on the effects of pattern of drinking and the consumption of alcohol with or without food, beverage type, and the relative effects of alcohol on hypertension subtypes.

The insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) and H19 imprinted genes control growth and body composition. Adverse in-utero environments have been associated with obesity-related diseases and linked with altered DNA methylation at the IGF2/H19 locus. Postnatally, methylation at the IGF2/H19 imprinting control region (ICR) has been linked with cerebellum weight. We aimed to investigate whether decreased IGF2/H19 ICR methylation is associated with decreased birth and childhood anthropometry and increased contemporaneous adiposity. DNA methylation in peripheral blood (n = 315) at 17 years old was measured at 12 cytosine-phosphate-guanine sites (CpGs), analysed as Sequenom MassARRAY EpiTYPER units within the IGF2/H19 ICR. Birth size, childhood head circumference (HC) at six time-points and anthropometry at age 17 years were measured. DNA methylation was investigated for its association with anthropometry using linear regression. The principal component of IGF2/H19 ICR DNA methylation (representing mean methylation across all CpG units) positively correlated with skin fold thickness (at four CpG units) (P-values between 0.04 to 0.001) and subcutaneous adiposity (P = 0.023) at age 17, but not with weight, height, BMI, waist circumference or visceral adiposity. IGF2/H19 methylation did not associate with birth weight, length or HC, but CpG unit 13 to 14 methylation was negatively associated with HC between 1 and 10 years. β-coefficients of four out of five remaining CpG units also estimated lower methylation with increasing childhood HC. As greater IGF2/H19 methylation was associated with greater subcutaneous fat measures, but not overall, visceral or central adiposity, we hypothesize that obesogenic pressures in youth result in excess fat being preferentially stored in peripheral fat depots via the IGF2/H19 domain. Secondly, as IGF2/H19 methylation was not associated with birth size but negatively with early childhood HC, we hypothesize that the HC may be a more sensitive marker of early life programming of the IGF axis and of fetal physiology than birth size. To verify this, investigations of the dynamics of IGF2/H19 methylation and expression from birth to adolescence are required.

Background: Growth patterns of breastfed and formula-fed infants may differ, with formula-fed infants growing more rapidly than breastfed infants int

Background: Nitrate-rich vegetables lower blood pressure and improve endothelial function in humans. It is not known, however, whether increased consumption of nitrate-rich vegetables translates to a lower risk of atherosclerotic vascular disease (ASVD) mortality.

Background and Objectives: It has been suggested that higher triglyceride levels were associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer9s disease. This study aimed to examine the association of triglycerides with dementia and cognition change in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: This prospective longitudinal study used data from the ASPREE randomized trial of adults aged ≥65 years without dementia or previous cardiovascular events at enrolment. The main outcome was incident dementia. Other outcomes included changes in composite cognition and domain-specific cognition (global cognition, memory, language and executive function, and psychomotor speed). The association between baseline triglycerides and dementia risk was estimated using Cox proportional-hazard models adjusting for relevant risk factors. Linear mixed models were used to investigate cognitive change. The analysis was repeated in a sub-cohort of participants with available APOE-ε4 genetic data with additional adjustment for APOE-ε4 carrier status, and an external cohort (UK Biobank) with similar selection criteria applied. Results: The study included 18,294 ASPREE participants and 68,200 UK Biobank participants (mean age: 75.1 & 66.9 years; female: 56.3% & 52.7%; median [IQR] triglyceride:106 [80-142]mg/dl & 139 [101-193]mg/dl), with dementia recorded in 823 and 2,778 individuals over a median follow-up of 6.4 and 12.5 years, respectively. Higher triglyceride levels were associated with lower dementia risk in the entire ASPREE cohort (HR with doubling of TG: 0.82, 95% CI 0.72-0.94). Findings were similar in the sub-cohort of participants with APOE-ε4 genetic data (n=13,976), and in the UK Biobank cohort (HR was 0.82 and 0.83, respectively, all p≤0.01). Higher triglycerides were also associated with slower decline in global, composite cognition, and memory over time (p≤0.05). Discussion: Older adults with higher triglyceride levels within the normal to high-normal range had a lower dementia risk and slower cognitive decline over time compared to individuals with lower triglyceride levels. Higher triglyceride levels may be reflective of better overall health and/or lifestyle behaviors that would protect against dementia development. Future studies are warranted to investigate whether specific components within the total circulating pool of plasma triglycerides may promote better cognitive function, with the hope of informing the development of new preventive strategies.