Malalties emergents
A cura de Màrius Foz i Sala i Francesc Gonzàlez i Sastre

INSTITUT D'ESTUDIS CATALANS
Barcelona, 2010
ISBN: 978-84-9965-023-4

Abstract:
OBJECTIVE: The combined effects of limited food intake and OE treatment have been analysed in order to determine whether hypocaloric diets enhance the slimming effects of OE on mature overweight male rats. Two levels of dietary limitation at 50 and 25% of a standard intake were established, roughly corresponding to the human LCDs and VLCDs.
DESIGN: Wistar male rats (6 weeks old) were made overweight by a cafeteria diet. After transition to standard diet, they were subjected to food restriction: down to 50 or 25% with respect to the transition period. Half the animals were given daily oral gavages of 10 nmol/g oleoyl-estrone (OE), and the rest received only the vehicle during 10 days.
MEASUREMENTS: Changes in weight and body composition: water, lipid, protein or gross energy were determined by comparing the final pool size with that of day 0, calculated from the initial body weight and the composition of untreated rats. Energy and nitrogen balances were estimated. Plasma levels of metabolites and hormones were also measured.
RESULTS: OE induced changes in body composition similar to those elicited by a 50% reduction in food, with massive loss of lipid and energy. OE-treated rats ate less than the controls, but additional effects on body composition on reduced diet were minimal. OE improved metabolic homoeostasis: better maintained glycaemia, lower cholesterol and shallower hormonal changes, but at the expense of slightly increased protein mobilisation.
CONCLUSIONS: The data presented suggest that no advantages are accomplished by combining OE treatment and hypocaloric diets compared with OE alone, at least under the experimental conditions tested, since the effects were not additive. Despite OE affecting food intake, mechanisms other than that are deemed responsible for the mobilisation of body fat, since intake alone cannot explain the effects on body weight, nor the metabolic and hormonal changes in OE-treated rats. It is concluded that the combination of food restriction and OE may result in unwanted increased protein mobilisation with no synergy between both slimming treatments.

Salas-Salvadó J, Granada M, Bulló M, Corominas A, Casas P, Foz M.
Plasma adiponectin distribution in a Mediterranean population and its association with cardiovascular risk factors and metabolic syndrome.

Metabolism. 2007 Nov;56(11):1486-92.

PMID: 17950098

Abstract
Adiponectin may play an important role in the regulation of body weight, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the distribution of adiponectin in a Mediterranean adult population and its relationship with cardiovascular risk factors and metabolic syndrome. A cross-sectional study was performed in a representative sample of 1023 subjects from a Spanish Mediterranean population. Individuals with the metabolic syndrome were identified using the diagnostic criteria of the Adult Treatment Panel III. Anthropometric parameters were measured, and biochemical analyses were performed in fasting conditions. Plasma insulin levels were measured and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance was calculated. Plasma adiponectin levels were measured by a commercial radioimmunoassay. Median levels of adiponectin were significantly higher in women than in men after adjusting for differences in body mass index. However, no differences in adiponectin plasma levels were observed in relation to age. Significantly lower levels of adiponectin were also observed in women with obesity, abdominal obesity, hyperglycemia or diabetes, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, hypertriglyceridemia, or metabolic syndrome. In men, only those with obesity, abdominal obesity, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, hypertriglyceridemia, or metabolic syndrome showed significantly lower plasma levels of adiponectin. In a stepwise multivariate analysis, sex, waist circumference, serum C-reactive protein serum levels, and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance explained 23.4% of its variability. In conclusion, adiponectin plasma levels are more closely related to the components of the metabolic syndrome in women than in men in a Mediterranean population.