Dietary interventions, particularly carbohydrate-restricted approaches, improve metabolic and endocrine abnormalities in patients with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS). However, whether metformin (MET) provides additional benefits when combined with intensive dietary intervention and how host metabolism and the gut microbiota respond at the molecular level remain unclear. In this pilot randomized controlled trial, overweight or obese women with PMOS (BMI 26–32 kg/m², aged 25–35 years) underwent an 8-week very-low-carbohydrate, low-calorie, high-protein dietary intervention (VLCD), with or without MET. Clinical parameters, plasma lipoproteins, untargeted serum metabolomics, and fecal metagenomics were assessed before and after the intervention. Between-group differences were evaluated using ANCOVA adjusted for baseline values. Among 38 randomized participants (20 VLCD, 18 VLCD + MET), 32 completed the 8-week assessment. Within-group reductions were observed in body weight, BMI, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, and triglycerides, with no significant between-group differences in any outcome after adjustment. Both groups showed substantial lipoprotein remodeling, dominated by reductions in very low-density lipoprotein levels. The sets of metabolites meeting the within-group significance criteria partially overlapped between groups (the overlapped metabolites accounted for 48.1
Hypertension is a major public health concern. Although dietary patterns such as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension and Mediterranean dietary patterns have demonstrated beneficial effects on blood pressure (BP), evidence regarding the provision of salt-restricted traditional Japanese (washoku) diet is limited. This pilot trial aims to estimate the effect on BP of providing salt-restricted washoku meals as part of the usual diets among young Japanese adults. This is an open-label, three-arm, parallel-group pilot randomized controlled trial recruited 240 community-dwelling young adults aged 20–39 years with a clinic systolic BP (SBP) < 160 mmHg who are not receiving antihypertensive treatment. Participants are randomly assigned in a 1:1:1 ratio to receive salt-restricted washoku meals, regular washoku meals, or salt-restricted regular meals. Each participant receives one assigned study meal per day, five days a week, for four weeks, while otherwise maintaining their usual diet. The primary outcome is the change in clinic SBP from baseline to the post-intervention assessment, conducted within one week after completion of the four-week intervention. Mean changes and 95
The long-term effects of dietary free-sugar reduction and the potential influence of genetic susceptibility on pediatric non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remain incompletely understood. Three complementary studies involved two independent pediatric cohorts aged 5–14 years. A 48-week randomized controlled trial (RCT; n = 146) evaluated a multicomponent dietary and lifestyle intervention emphasizing free-sugar reduction. An independent cross-sectional study (n = 242) examined associations of free-sugar intake and PNPLA3 rs738409, TM6SF2 rs58542926, and UGT1A1 rs10929303 with NAFLD. A nested 15-week crossover trial (n = 14) assessed metabolic responses to low-free-sugar and habitual dietary conditions. In the RCT, free-sugar intake decreased significantly, and NAFLD resolution was more frequent in the intervention group at week 48 (27.4
Night fasting has been proposed as a potential modulator of inflammatory processes, yet evidence in pediatric populations is scarce. Moreover, individual metabolic status may influence inflammatory responses to fasting. The objective of the study was to explore the association between night fasting duration and circulating inflammatory biomarkers in children and adolescents, and to determine if weight status modulates this relationship, using data from the I.Family study. This cross-sectional analysis (years: 2013–2014) included 1027 participants (mean age 11.4 years, SD 1.8) from the I.Family study. Night fasting duration was calculated as the interval between the last caloric intake prior to blood sampling (reported by parents/participants at the examination visit) and the time of venipuncture. Circulating inflammatory biomarkers, specifically high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interferon gamma-induced protein 10 (IP-10), interleukins (IL-15, IL-6, IL-8), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF- α ), and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), were quantified in fasting blood samples. Associations between fasting duration and biomarkers were examined using linear regression models, adjusted for age, sex, country of residence, physical activity, sleep duration, daily energy intake, fasting insulin, and body mass index (BMI) z-score. Stratified analyses by BMI status were performed. Sensitivity analyses excluded sleep duration and were restricted to participants fasting ≥ 6 h. The analytical sample comprised 44
Folate is an essential micronutrient for DNA synthesis, cellular growth, and fetal neural tube development. However, comparable evidence on dietary folate intake among women of reproductive age across countries and over time remains limited. We aimed to characterise global, regional, and national intake patterns, temporal trends, and sociodemographic differences from 1990 to 2018. We conducted a serial cross-sectional ecological secondary analysis of Global Dietary Database (GDD) estimates for women aged 15–49 years in 185 countries. Estimates represented folate intake from unfortified foods, expressed as dietary folate equivalents (µg DFE/day), and excluded folic acid from fortified foods and supplements. We calculated population-weighted estimates, estimated annual percentage changes (EAPCs), urban–rural and high–low education contrasts, and country-level correlations with the Socio-demographic Index (SDI). In 2018, the estimated global average folate intake was 276.87 µg DFE/day (95
