
2Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Connecticut, USA
3Department of Biology, Fairfield University, USA
We recruited a healthy population (24 men and 26 women), aged 18-30 years old. The exclusion criteria were plasma total cholesterol TC)> 240 mg/dL, plasma triglycerides (TG) > 500 mg/dL; blood pressure (BP)> 145/90 mmHg, fasting blood glucose > 126 mg/dL, and body mass index (BMI)> 30 kg/m2. Subjects were asked to fast overnight for 12 hours and blood was taken to measure plasma lipids and glucose. In addition, blood pressure (BP), body weight, and waist circumference (WC) were determined, 3-day dietary and exercise records (two non-consecutive days and one weekend day) were collected for each participant. The study protocol was approved by the University of Connecticut-Storrs Institutional Review Board, and all participants signed the written, informed consent.
Participants were asked to complete3-day records to assess dietary intake. Dietary records were analyzed using the Nutrition Data System for Research (NDSR) (Nutrition Coordinating Center, University of Minnesota) nutrient analysis software. Physical activity was assessed using 3-day records targeted at evaluating number of active minutes per week. Family history was assessed by a questionnaire that asked participants if a parent, grandparent or sibling had been diagnosed with: heart disease, high blood pressure, elevated plasma cholesterol, type 2 diabetes or cancer. Subjects were considered to be at risk for any of these conditions if they responded “yes” to the disease-specific survey questions.
Body weight was calculated to the nearest 0.5 kg and height to the nearest centimeter to calculate BMI (kg/m2). WC was measured on bare skin during minimal respiration at the top of the iliac crest to the nearest 0.1 cm. Blood pressure (BP) was measured using an automated BP monitor (Omron, Healthcare Inc., Bannockburn, IL) after participants were seated and rested for at least 5 minutes. The average of three separate recordings was used for both WC and BP measures.
Blood (7 ml) was drawn from participants into EDTA-coated blood collection tubes after a 12-h overnight fast and immediately centrifuged at 2000 x g for 20 minutes at 4°C for the separation of plasma. Plasma TC, HDL-C, TG, and glucose were measured using an automated clinical chemistry analyzer (Cobas C111, Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN) via enzymatic methods. Plasma LDL-C was estimated via the Friedewald equation.
Data are presented as mean ± SD for men and women. An un-paired t test was used for comparisons between groups. Pearson correlations were performed to assess the relationship between dietary intake, parameters of MetS and physical activity levels (number of active minutes per week) and plasma lipids. P < 0.05 was considered to be significant. SPSS version 14 was used for statistical analysis.
Baseline dietary intake is presented in Table 1. As expected, the female participants had 19% lower daily energy intake when compared to male participants (p < 0.01). In addition, females had a lower daily intake of total fat (g) (p < 0.01) and carbohydrate (g) (p < 0.01), while total protein intake did not differ between genders. Men consumed a more energy-dense diet overall, as indicated by the higher consumption of total sugar, higher glycemic index and glycemic load, as well as lower consumption of the carotenoids beta-carotene, cryptoxanthin and lutein and zeaxanthin (Table 1).
Parameter | Women (n = 26) | Men (n = 24) |
Energy (kcal) | 2002 ± 538a | 2469 ± 940b |
Carbohydrate (%en) | 43.8 ± 6.38 | 42.9 ± 7.3 |
Fat (%en) | 36.1 ± 5.0 | 36.8 ± 6.8 |
Protein (%en) | 17.7 ± 4.2 | 18.8 ± 4.4 |
Alcohol (%en) | 2.6 ± 4.4 | 2.1 ± 4.6 |
Total Carbohydrate (g) | 222.1 ± 69.9a | 270.8 ± 114.2b |
Total fat (g) | 82.7 ± 26.9a | 97.8 ± 43.0b |
Total Protein (g) | 109.4 ± 107.1 | 121.0 ± 86.7 |
Cholesterol (mg) | 341.3 ± 190.7 | 433.1 ± 203.9 |
Saturated fatty acids (g) | 27.1 ± 10.1a | 39.8 ± 19.4b |
Monounsaturated fatty acids (g) | 29.8 ± 8.9 | 34.2 ± 11.4 |
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (g) | 19.2 ± 9.4 | 17.9 ± 9.0 |
Total sugar (g) | 83.9 ± 30.5a | 99.0 ± 51.2b |
Total fiber (g) | 21.6 ± 9.0 | 19.7 ± 9.2 |
Insoluble fiber (g) | 15.3 ± 7.1 | 12.4 ± 5.8 |
Soluble fiber (g) | 6.0 ± 2.7 | 6.6 ± 2.8 |
Glycemic Index | 56.8 ± 4.0a | 58.1 ± 7.1b |
Glycemic Load | 114.9 ± 33.0a | 144.8 ± 61.7b |
Beta-carotene (µg) | 5347 ± 5740a | 2911 ± 2661b |
Alpha carotene (µg) | 766 ± 1428 | 432 ± 633 |
Cryptoxanthin (µg) | 147 ± 178a | 221 ± 380b |
Lutein + Zeaxanthin (µg) | 5700 ± 7359a | 2633 ± 4071b |
Lycopene (µg) | 7686 ± 9938 | 8182 ± 8112 |
Minutes of Activity | 306.5 ± 245.9 | 416.4 ± 265.6 |
Parameter | Women (n = 26) | Men (n = 24) |
BMI (kg/m2) | 22.7 ± 1.8 | 23.7 ± 2.4 |
Waist Circumference (cm) | 79.9 ± 5.7 | 82.9 ± 7.0 |
Total cholesterol (mg/dL) | 162.2 ± 25.9 | 146.8 ± 29.1 |
LDL-cholesterol (mg/dL) | 76.0 ± 23.8 | 75.3 ± 25.6 |
HDL-cholesterol (mg/dL) | 70.8 ± 22.4a | 58.5 ± 11.6b |
Triglycerides (mg/dL) | 77.9 ± 33.3 | 66.5 ± 25.0 |
Glucose (mg/dL) | 90.5 ± 4.6a | 94.2 ± 8.0b |
Systolic BP (mmHg) | 106.0 ± 10.4 | 118.7 ± 11.1 |
Diastolic BP (mmHg) | 72.0 ± 7.1 | 73.5 ± 7.0 |
CRP (mg/mL) | 2.4 ± 4.1 | 2.5 ± 10.9 |

Gender Subject # | LDL-C1 | HDL-C2 | TG3 | Glucose4 | BP5 | WC6 | Chronic Disease | ||
Cancer | Diabetes | Heart Disease | |||||||
6 (M) | 103 | XX | |||||||
7 (M) | 130 | XX | XX | ||||||
8 (M) | 101 | 130/83 | XX | XX | |||||
10 (F) | 108 | ||||||||
13 (M) | 100 | 133/78 | XX | ||||||
16 (M) | 135/73 | XX | |||||||
22 (F) | 38 | XX | |||||||
25 (M) | 120 | 126/85 | |||||||
28 (M) | 104 | XX | XX | ||||||
32 (F) | 194 | 118/85 | XX | XX | XX | ||||
33 (F) | 150 | 92 | XX | XX | |||||
39 (M) | 104 | XX | XX | ||||||
44 (F) | 48 | XX | XX | ||||||
47 (M) | 109 | XX | |||||||
48 (M) | 107 | ||||||||
50 (M) | 102 | 131/75 | XX | XX | XX |
Regarding diet, a significant correlation was found between the dietary carotenoids lutein + zeaxanthin and HDL-C concentrations (Figure 2). In contrast, inverse correlations were found between systolic (Figure 3, panel A) and diastolic blood pressure (Figure 3, panel B) vs. dietary lutein + zeaxanthin.



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