Br J Nutr. 2012 Aug;108(3):500-8.
Expression of proinflammatory, proatherogenic genes is reduced by the Mediterranean diet in elderly people.
Camargo A, Delgado-Lista J, Garcia-Rios A, Cruz-Teno C, Yubero-Serrano EM, Perez-Martinez P, Gutierrez-Mariscal FM, Lora-Aguilar P, Rodriguez-Cantalejo F, Fuentes-Jimenez F, Tinahones FJ, Malagon MM, Perez-Jimenez F, Lopez-Miranda J.
Source
Lipids and Atherosclerosis Unit, IMIBIC, Reina Sofía University Hospital,
University of Córdoba, CIBER Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBEROBN),
Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Córdoba, Spain.
Abstract
Ageing is an important determinant of atherosclerosis development rate, mainly
by the creation of a chronic low-grade inflammation. Diet, and particularly its
fat content, modulates the inflammatory response in the fasting and postprandial
states. Our aim was to study the effects of dietary fat on the expression of
genes related to inflammation (NF-?B, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1
(MCP-1), TNF-? and IL-6) and plaque stability (matrix metalloproteinase 9,
MMP-9) during the postprandial state of twenty healthy, elderly people who
followed three diets for 3 weeks each: (1) Mediterranean diet (Med Diet)
enriched in MUFA with virgin olive oil; (2) SFA-rich diet; and (3) low-fat,
high-carbohydrate diet enriched in n-3 PUFA (CHO-PUFA diet) by a randomised
crossover design. At the end of each period, after a 12-h fast, the subjects
received a breakfast with a composition similar to the one when the dietary
period ended. In the fasting state, the Med Diet consumption induced a lower
gene expression of the p65 subunit of NF-?B compared with the SFA-rich diet (P =
0·019). The ingestion of the Med Diet induced a lower gene postprandial
expression of p65 (P = 0·033), MCP-1 (P = 0·0229) and MMP-9 (P = 0·041) compared
with the SFA-rich diet, and a lower gene postprandial expression of p65 (P =
0·027) and TNF-? (P = 0·047) compared with the CHO-PUFA diet. Direct plasma
quantification mostly reproduced the findings. Our data suggest that consumption
of a Med Diet reduces the postprandial inflammatory response in mononuclear
cells compared with the SFA-rich and CHO-PUFA diets in elderly people. These
findings may be partly responsible for the lower CVD risk found in populations
with a high adherence to the Med Diet.
PMID: 22085595 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]