Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) is impaired with aging and is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). We determined if regular aerobic exercise improves brachial artery FMD in middle-aged/older (MA/O) men and postmenopausal women. In sedentary MA/O adults (age 55 – 79 years) without CVD, 8 weeks of brisk walking (6 days/week for ~50 min/day; randomized, controlled design) increased treadmill time ~20% in both MA/O men (n=11) and postmenopausal women (n=15) (P<0.01), without altering body composition or circulating CVD risk factors. Brachial artery FMD increased > 50% in the MA/O men (4.6 ± 0.6 to 7.1 ± 0.6%, P < 0.01), but did not change in the postmenopausal women (5.1 ± 0.8 vs. 5.4 ± 0.7%, P = 0.50). No changes occurred in the non-exercising controls. In a separate cross-sectional study (n =167), brachial artery FMD was ~50% greater in endurance exercise-trained (6.4 ± 0.4%, n = 45) vs. sedentary (4.3 ± 0.3%, n = 60) MA/O men (P < 0.001), whereas there were no differences between endurance-trained (5.3 ± 0.7%, n = 20) and sedentary (5.6 ± 0.5%, n = 42) postmenopausal women (P = 0.70). Brachial artery lumen diameter, peak hyperemic shear rate and endothelium independent dilation did not differ with exercise intervention or in the endurance-exercise vs. sedentary groups. Regular aerobic exercise is consistently associated with enhanced brachial artery FMD in MA/O men, but not in postmenopausal women. Some postmenopausal women without CVD may be less responsive to habitual aerobic exercise than MA/O men.

Daily 2000 IU vitamin D supplementation may be effective in optimizing vitamin D status and counteracting the progression of aortic stiffness in black youth. Plasma 25(OH)D concentrations in response to the 2000 IU/d supplementation are negatively modulated by adiposity.

Abstract-We tested the hypothesis that vascular endothelial function, assessed by endothelium-dependent dilation, is related to serum vitamin D status among middle-aged and older adults without clinical disease, and that this is linked to inflammation. Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation, a measure of endothelium-dependent dilation, was lower (PϽ0. Key Words: aging Ⅲ endothelium-dependent dilation Ⅲ NFB Ⅲ interleukin-6 Ⅲ 1-␣ hydroxylase Ⅲ VDR C ardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the leading cause of death in modern societies, and advancing age is the major risk factor for CVD. [1][2][3] The increase in CVD risk with aging is attributable in large part to the development of vascular endothelial dysfunction, most commonly assessed as impaired endothelium-dependent dilation. 2,4,5 Consistent with this, middle-aged and older adults demonstrate reduced brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD), a measure of endothelium-dependent dilation, 6 compared with young adults. 7 However, there is considerable variability in brachial artery FMD among middle-aged/older adults, and the contributing factors to impaired brachial FMD in this at-risk group are incompletely understood.Vitamin D deficiency is an independent predictor of CVD and all-cause mortality. 8 -10 Patients with chronic clinical diseases who are vitamin D deficient and young adults with severe vitamin D deficiency demonstrate impaired brachial artery FMD. [11][12][13] The physiological mechanisms by which vitamin D deficiency is linked to brachial artery FMD in these settings have not been established but may involve vascular inflammation. In humans, vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased circulating inflammatory proteins, 10,14,15 whereas in cultured vascular endothelial cells, vitamin D inhibits activation of the proinflammatory transcription factor nuclear factor B (NFB), 16 as well as the release of the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6), 17 a downstream target of NFB activation. However, it is unknown whether vitamin D deficiency is associated with impaired brachial artery FMD among middle-aged/older adults without CVD and, if so, whether this is related to vascular inflammation.In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that brachial artery FMD is inversely related to vitamin D status (as reflected by serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D