Context Some evidence has shown an association between maternal vitamin B12 levels and the development of preeclampsia in pregnant women, but the relationship between preeclampsia and vitamin B12 is not clear. Objective The aim of this systematic review was to compare serum vitamin B12 levels in women with preeclampsia with those in normotensive pregnant women. Data Sources The PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were searched up to August 2019, along with the reference lists of included articles. Study Selection The literature was searched for observational studies that investigated vitamin B12 levels in women with preeclampsia. Data Extraction Data were extracted independently by 2 authors. Data were pooled using a random-effects model. Results Vitamin B12 levels in women with preeclampsia were significantly lower than those in healthy women (mean, −15.24 pg/mL; 95%CI, −27.52 to −2.954; P < 0.015), but heterogeneity between studies was high (I2 = 97.8%; P = 0.0103). Subgroup analyses based on folic acid supplementation, homocysteine concentrations, and gestational age at the time of sampling for vitamin B12 assessment did not identify the sources of heterogeneity. Conclusions Women with preeclampsia had significantly lower vitamin B12 concentrations than normotensive pregnant women.

Background Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of hydro-alcoholic extract of spinach (HES) on hepatic and serum measurements of NAFLD in a rat model. Methods In the prevention phase, 18 Sprague–Dawley rats were fed a high-fat diet, a high-fat diet plus 400 mg/kg HES, or a chow diet for seven weeks. For the treatment phase, after the induction of NAFLD, they were fed a high-fat diet, a high-fat diet plus 400 mg/kg HES, a chow diet, or a chow diet plus 400 mg/kg HES for four weeks (n = 6). Results Administration of HES combined with high-fat diet in rats was associated with decreased food intake (P < 0.01), weight loss (P = 0.01), and increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) (P = 0.02) enzyme activity in the liver, at the end of the prevention phase. hs-CRP (P < 0.05), PTX-3 (P < 0.05), and TNF-α (P < 0.05) gene expression in the liver were decreased and PPAR-γ (P < 0.05) gene expression in the liver was increased by spinach intake, both in the prevention and treatment phases. Furthermore, administration of spinach in the treatment phase increased serum TAC (P = 0.03) and hepatic GPX (P = 0.01) enzyme activity. Conclusion Taking into account the potential beneficial effects of HES on prevention and treatment of NAFLD in the present study, to confirm these findings, we propose that further clinical trials be conducted on human subjects with NAFLD.

Background Pro-inflammatory diet and lifestyle factors lead to diseases related to chronically systemic inflammation. We examined the novel dietary/lifestyle indicators related to inflammation such dietary inflammation score (DIS), lifestyle inflammation score (LIS), empirical dietary inflammatory index (EDII) and, risk of Breast Cancer (BrCa) in Iranian woman. Methods In this hospital-based case–control study, 253 patients with BrCa and 267 non-BrCa controls were enrolled. Food consumption was recorded to calculate the DIS, LIS and EDII using a semi-quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). We estimated odds ratios (ORs) and, 95% confidence intervals for the association of the inflammatory potential with risk of these cancers using binary logistic regression models modified for the case–control design. Results Mean ± SD of age and BMI of the study participants were 47.92 ± 10.33 years and 29.43 ± 5.51 kg/m2, respectively. After adjustment for confounders, individuals in highest compared to lowest quartile of DIS and EDII had significantly higher risk of BrCa (DIS: 2.13 (1.15 – 3.92), p-trends: 0.012), EDII: 2.17 (1.12 – 4.22), p-trends: 0.024). However, no significant association was observed for LIS (P-trends: 0.374). Conclusion Findings of this study suggested that higher DIS and EDI increased the risk of BrCa, but concerning LIS, further investigation is needed.

AimVitamin D deficiency is very common among children with IBD. Since there are conflicting results regarding the association of vitamin D with IBD, we conducted this systematic review to confirm the association of vitamin D with IBD.MethodsWe conducted a systematic search in Scopus, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar to find relevant studies. Articles with cross-sectional and case-control designs that reported the association between vitamin D and IBD among children were included.ResultsEventually, 9 studies (with 16 effect sizes) reported the mean and SD or the median and the interquartile range of serum vitamin D levels in both subjects with IBD and control subjects. The random effects meta-analysis revealed that subjects with IBD had −1.159 ng/ml (95% CI: −2.783, 0.464) lower serum vitamin D concentrations compared with their healthy counterparts, but this difference was not significant. A total of 14 studies (with 18 effect sizes) with 2,602 participants provided information for the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency in patients with IBD as 44% (95% CI: 0.34–0.54) with significant heterogeneity noted among studies (p &lt; 0.001; I2 = 97.31%).ConclusionThis systematic and meta-analysis study revealed that vitamin D deficiency was associated with IBD. Longitudinal studies should be conducted in the future to confirm our findings. Large randomized controlled trials assessing the doses of supplementation of vitamin D would provide a better understanding of the association between vitamin D and IBD.

Aim To compare the ability of anthropometric indices [waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), neck-to-height ratio (NHR), conicity index (CI), body adiposity index (BAI), tri-ponderal mass index (TMI) and body mass index (BMI)] and,measuerments like neck(NC), hip(HC) and waist circumferences to predict overweight and obesity in Iranian preschool children. Materials and Methods A total of 498 Iranian preschool children were included in this case–control study conducted in Tehran, Iran. The participants were selected using the stratified random sampling procedure based on gender and school. Using sex-based receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis, we compared the area under the curve and defined the cut-off points for detecting central and general obesity for each index in order to identify the most suitable tools in predicting obesity. Results Boys had significantly higher values for NC, WC, WHR, NHR, CI, TMI and BMI as compared to girls, whereas BAI and HC were higher in girls. The area under the curve was calculated for all the possible predictors of central obesity, i.e., NC (0.841–0.860), WC (0.70–0.679), HC (0.785–0.697), WHR (0.446–0.639) and CI (0.773–0.653) in boys and girls, respectively. And according to the ROC curve analysis, BMI (0.959–0.948), TMI (0.988–0.981), WHtR (0.667–0.553) and NHR (0.785–0.769) were predictors of general obesity and NC (0.841–0.860) as predictor of central obesity in boys and girls, respectively. The optimal cut-off points for TMI (13.80–15.83), NC (28.68–27.5) and for other anthropometric indices were estimated in both boys and girls. Conclusion TMI and NC seem to predict general and central obesity in Iranian preschool children.