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Background/Objectives Hypercholesterolaemic effects of saturated fatty acids (SFA) may be influenced not only by the chain length, but also by their specific location within the triacylglycerol (TAG) molecule. We examined the hypothesis that dietary fats rich in SFA, but containing mostly unsaturated fatty acids in the sn-2 position with most SFA in sn-1 and -3 (palm olein [PO] and cocoa butter [CB]) will have similar serum lipid outcomes to unsaturated olive oil (OO). Subjects/Methods Thirty-eight participants (20-40 yr, 18.5- [less than or equal to] 27.5 kg/m.sup.2) completed a 4-week randomised 3 × 3 crossover feeding intervention, preceded by 2-week run-in and separated by 2-week washout periods. Background diet contained 35 percentage of total energy (%E) fat, 18%E protein, 48%E carbohydrates, differing in test fats only (palm olein (PO), CB, OO; 20%E). Total cholesterol (TC)/high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio and related variables; TC, HDL-C, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), TAG, apoA1, ApoB, ApoA1 (apolipoprotein A1)/ApoB (apolipoprotein B), lipoprotein (a) (Lp(a)), NEFA, LDL sub-fractions, were assessed pre- and post-intervention. Data were analysed using mixed effects longitudinal models with a P-value < 0.05 considered significant. Results Changes in plasma fatty acids (P < 0.05) confirmed compliance; C18:1 increased with OO compared to PO and CB; C16:0 decreased with OO and C18:0 increased following CB. No differences were seen for TC/HDL-C (mean [95%CI] change for PO, 0.08[0.00, 0.15] mmol/L; CB, 0.06 [-0.05, 0.16] mmol/L; and OO, -0.01 [-0.15, 0.13] mmol/L; P = 0.53] or any other parameter including LDL sub-fractions. OO decreased IDL-A compared to PO (-2.2 [-4.31, -0.21] mg/dL, P = 0.03). Conclusion In healthy young participants, plasma lipid responses to PO and CB, enriched in SFA but having primarily unsaturated fatty acid in the sn-2 position of TAG, did not differ from OO., Author(s): Welma Stonehouse [sup.1], Bianca Benassi-Evans [sup.1], Genevieve James-Martin [sup.1], Mahinda Abeywardena [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation, Health and Biosecurity, Adelaide, Australia Introduction Cardiovascular disease (CVD) [...]

BackgroundLarge-scale initiatives to improve diet quality through increased vegetable consumption have had small to moderate success. Digital technologies have features that are appealing for health-related behavior change interventions. ObjectiveThis study aimed to describe the implementation and evaluation of a mobile phone app called VegEze, which aims to increase vegetable intake among Australian adults. MethodsTo capture the impact of this app in a real-world setting, the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance framework was utilized. An uncontrolled, quantitative cohort study was conducted, with evaluations after 21 and 90 days. The app was available in the Apple App Store and was accompanied by television, radio, and social media promotion. Evaluation surveys were embedded into the app using ResearchKit. The primary outcomes were vegetable intake (servings per day) and vegetable variety (types per day). Psychological variables (attitudes, intentions, self-efficacy, and action planning) and app usage were also assessed. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression were used to describe the impact of the app on vegetable intake and to determine the characteristics associated with the increased intake. ResultsData were available from 5062 participants who completed the baseline survey; 1224 participants completed the 21-day survey, and 273 completed the 90-day survey. The participants resided across Australia and were mostly women (4265/5062, 84.3%) with a mean age of 48.2 years (SD 14.1). The mean increase in intake was 0.48 servings, from 3.06 servings at baseline to 3.54 servings at the end of the 21-day challenge (t1223=8.71; P

Apolipoprotein A5 has recently been identified as a crucial determinant of plasma triglyceride levels. Our results showed that RORa up-regulates human APOA5 but has no effect on mouse apoa5 promoter. These data suggest an additional important physiological role for RORa in the regulation of genes involved in plasma triglyceride homeostasis in human and probably in the development of atherosclerosis

The apolipoprotein A5 (APOA5) gene has been shown to be important in lowering plasma triglyceride levels. Since several studies have shown that hyperinsulinemia is associated with hypertriglyceridemia, we sought to determine whether APOA5 gene is regulated by insulin. We show here that cell and mouse treatments with insulin down-regulated APOA5 expression in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, we determined that insulin decreases APOA5 promoter activity and subsequent deletion analyses revealed an E-box-containing fragment. We showed that Upstream Stimulatory Factors, USF1/USF2, bind to the identified E-box in the APOA5 promoter. Moreover, in cotransfection studies, USF1 stimulates APOA5 promoter activity. The treatment with insulin reduces the binding of USF1/USF2 to APOA5 promoter. The inhibition of PI3K pathway with wortmannin abolished the insulin s effect on APOA5 gene transcription. Using oligoprecipitation method of USF from nuclear extracts, we demontrated that phosphorylated USF1 failed to bind to APOA5 promoter. This indicates that the APOA5 gene transrepression by insulin involves a phosphorylation of USF through PI3K, that modulate their binding to APOA5 promoter and results in APOA5 down-regulation. The effect of exogenous hyperinsulinemia in healthy men shows a decrease of the plasma ApoAV level. These data suggest a potential mechanism involving APOA5 gene in hypertriglyceridemia associated with hyperinsulinemia.