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Objectives: Metabolic disturbances are well-known risk factors for atherosclerosis, but it remains unclear which cardiometabolic components are the predominant determinants. This study aimed to compare and identify the key determinants of carotid atherosclerosis in asymptomatic middle-aged and elderly Chinese. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study including 3,162 apparently healthy residents aged 37–75 years was performed from July 2008 to June 2010 in Guangzhou, China. Carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) was assessed by B-mode ultrasound, and increased IMT was defined as IMT>1.00 mm. Obesity indices, blood pressure, fasting blood lipids, glucose and uric acid levels were determined. Principal components factor analysis was used to extract common factors underlying 11 metabolic factors. Results: Four common factors, defined as “adiposity,” “blood lipids,” “triglycerides/uric acid (TG/UA)” (in men) or “triglycerides/uric acid/glucose (TG/UA/Glu)” (in women), and “blood pressure,” were retained for both sexes. After adjustment for potential covariates, the “adiposity” factor showed the strongest positive association with increased IMT in men. Comparing the extreme quartiles, ORs (95% CI) of increased IMT were 4.64 (2.04–10.59) at the CCA and 2.37 (1.54–3.64) at the BIF), followed by “blood pressure”, the corresponding OR (95% CI) was 2.85 (1.37–5.90) at the CCA. Whereas, the four common factors showed comparable and weak relationship with increased IMTs, the ORs for quartile 4 vs. quartile 1 varied from 0.89 to 3.59 in women. Conclusions: Among the metabolic factors, “adiposity” and “blood pressure” play predominant roles in the presence of carotid atherosclerosis in men, but no key factor is identified in women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies suggested that the inter-individual differences in metabolizing isoflavone daidzein to equol or O-desmethylangolensin (ODMA) might explain the inconsistency of the soy/isoflavones efficacy on cardiovascular health. Objectives: The study aims to evaluate the relationship between equol and ODMA phenotypes and cardiovascular risks with habitual isoflavone consumption in Chinese postmenopausal women. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study among 726 prehypertensive postmenopal women who were screened for a randomized controlled trial. 648 women returned a daidzein-challenged urine samples for determination of equol and O-DMA production. 595 attended clinic visits for assessment of cardiovascular risks including body composition, blood pressure (BP), serum lipids, uric acid, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), fasting glucose and free fatty acid (FFA). Results: The prevalences of equol and O-DMA producers were 53.2% and 60.9% respectively. Equol producers had higher fat free mass (p = 0.001), lower systolic (p = 0.01) and diastolic (p = 0.01) BP, serum triglyceride (p = 0.023), hs-CRP (p = 0.015) and FFA (p = 0.001) than non-producers. O-DMA producers had lower body fat% (p = 0.032), SBP (p = 0.02), total cholesterol (p = 0.002) than non-producers. The significant differences remained after further adjustment for potential confounders. The habitual soy isoflavones intake had little relation to cardiovascular risk factors in either equol/O-DMA producer phenotypes. Conclusion: Equol/O-DMA producers had more favorable cardiovascular risk profiles than non-producers in prehypertensive postmenopausal women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although many adiposity indices may be used to predict obesity-related health risks, uncertainty remains over which of them performs best. Objective: This study compared the predictive capability of direct and indirect adiposity measures in identifying people at higher risk of metabolic abnormalities. Methods: This population-based cross-sectional study recruited 2780 women and 1160 men. Body weight and height, waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference (HC) were measured and body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) were calculated. Body fat (and percentage of fat) over the whole body and the trunk were determined by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). Blood pressure, fasting lipid profiles, and glucose and urine acid levels were assessed. Results: In women, the ROC and the multivariate logistic regression analyses both showed that WHtR consistently had the best performance in identifying hypertension, dyslipidemia, hyperuricemia, diabetes/IFG, and metabolic syndrome (MetS). In men, the ROC analysis showed that WHtR was the best predictor of hypertension, WHtR and WC were equally good predictors of dyslipidemia and MetS, and WHtR was the second-best predictor of hyperuricemia and diabetes/IFG. The multivariate logistic regression also found WHtR to be superior in discriminating between MetS, diabetes/IFG, and dyslipidemia while BMI performed better in predicting hypertension and hyperuricemia in men. The BIA-derived indices were the second-worst predictors for all of the endpoints, and HC was the worst. Conclusion: WHtR was the best predictor of various metabolic abnormalities. BMI may be used as an alternative measure of obesity for identifying hypertension in both sexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although it is well established that a higher body weight is protective against osteoporosis, the effects of body fat and fat distribution on bone mineral density (BMD) after adjustment for body weight remains uncertain. Objective: To examine the relationship between body fat and fat distribution and BMD beyond its weight-bearing effect in middle-aged Chinese adults. Method: The study had a community-based cross-sectional design and involved 1,767 women and 698 men aged 50–75 years. The BMD of the lumbar spine, total hip, and whole body, and the fat mass (FM) and percentage fat mass (%FM) of the total body and segments of the body were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. General information on the participants was collected using structured questionnaire interviews. Result: After adjusting for potential confounders, an analysis of covariance showed the weight-adjusted (WA-) total FM (or %FM) to be negatively associated with BMD in all of the studied sites (P<0.05) in both women and men. The unfavorable effects of WA-total FM were generally more substantial in men than in women, and the whole body was the most sensitive site related to FM, followed by the total hip and the lumbar spine, in both genders. The mean BMD of the lumbar spine, total hip, and whole body was 3.93%, 3.01%, and 3.65% (in women) and 5.02%, 5.57%, 6.03% (in men) lower in the highest quartile (vs. lowest quartile) according to the WA-total FM (all p<0.05). Similar results were noted among the groups for WA-total FM%. In women, abdominal fat had the most unfavorable association with BMD, whereas in men it was limb fat. Conclusion: FM (or %FM) is inversely associated with BMD beyond its weight-bearing effect. Abdominal fat in women and limb fat in men seems to have the greatest effect on BMD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]