Objectives To determine whether starvation during periods of increased growth after birth have long term health consequences.

The population of Leningrad suffered from severe starvation, cold and psychological stress during the siege in 1941-1944. We investigated long-term effects of the siege on cardiovascular risk factors and mortality in surviving men and women. 3905 men born 1916-1935 and 1729 women born 1910-1940, resident in St Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) between 1975 and 1982, of whom a third experienced the siege as children, adolescents or young adults, were examined for cardiovascular risk factors in 1975-1977 and 1980-1982 respectively and followed till end 2005. Effects of siege exposure on blood pressure, lipids, body size, and mortality were studied in multivariate analysis stratified by gender and period of birth, adjusted for age, smoking, alcohol and social characteristics. Women who were 6-8 years-old and men who were 9-15 years-old at the peak of starvation had higher systolic blood pressure compared to unexposed subjects born during the same period of birth (fully adjusted difference 8.8, 95% CI: 0.1-17.5 mm Hg in women and 2.9, 95% CI: 0.7-5.0 mm Hg in men). Mean height of women who were exposed to siege as children appeared to be greater than that of unexposed women. Higher mortality from ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease was noted in men exposed at age 6-8 and 9-15, respectively. The experience of severe stress and starvation in childhood and puberty may have long-term effects on systolic blood pressure and circulatory disease in surviving men and women with potential gender differences in the effect of siege experienced at pre-pubertal age.

The population of Leningrad suffered from severe starvation, cold and psychological stress during the siege in World War II in 1941-1944. We investigated the long-term effects of the siege on cancer mortality in 3,901 men and 1,429 women, born between 1910 and 1940. All study subjects were residents of St. Petersburg, formerly Leningrad, between 1975 and 1982. One third of them had experienced the siege as children, adolescents or young adults (age range, 1-31 years at the peak of starvation in [1941][1942]. Associations of siege exposure with risk of death from cancer were studied using a multivariable Cox regression, stratified by gender and period of birth, adjusted for age, smoking, alcohol and social characteristics, from 1975 to 1977 (men) and 1980 to 1982, respectively (women), until the end of 2005. Women who were 10-18 years old at the peak of starvation were taller as adults (ageadjusted difference, 1.7 cm; 95% CI, 0.5-3.0) and had a higher risk of dying from breast cancer compared with unexposed women born during the same period (age-adjusted HR, 9.9; 95% CI, 1.1-86.5). Mortality from prostate cancer was nonsignificantly higher in exposed men. The experience of severe starvation and stress during childhood and adolescence may have long-term effects on cancer in surviving men and women. ' 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Key words: breast cancer; caloric restriction; prostate cancer; siege of Leningrad; starvation It has been hypothesized that caloric restriction can prevent cancer in humans, 1 including breast cancer. 2 However, the risk of breast cancer was increased in a dose-response manner in women who were exposed to a short but severe caloric restriction as children during the 1944-1945 Dutch famine.3 An earlier study of the Dutch famine also found statistically significantly increased risk of breast cancer in women exposed to dietary restriction during or shortly after the adolescent growth spurt period. 4 Further studies of men and women exposed to the Dutch famine in childhood showed that total cancer risk, exclusive of breast cancer, was not affected by the famine in women 5 and that famine was nonsignificantly associated with increased prostate cancer risk in men 6 and decreased colon cancer risk in both men and women. A study examining female survivors of the German Occupation of Guernsey 1940Guernsey -1945 found that women who remained in Guernsey during the Occupation experienced on an average delayed menarche and a nonsignificantly increased risk of breast cancer.8 Recent analyses of Jewish Holocaust survivors residing in Israel found significantly higher cancer risk in the exposed men and women, with the strongest effects seen for breast and colorectal cancers and for those exposed prior to adolescence. The starvation experienced by the population of Leningrad in 1941-1944 provides a unique opportunity to replicate and compare the results from the Dutch and other famine studies. The siege of Leningrad by German troops during World War II lasted from September 1941 to January 1944 and resulted i...

There is abdominal obesity in men that is accompanied with high risk of concomitant disease. The different authors data about close relation between obesity and metabolic syndrome with hypogonadism in men are performed in this article. Reduction of body weight due to the treatment with Xenical is accompanied by improvement of metabolic syndrome symptoms.

The review is devoted to discussion the data regarding involvement of the adipocytes’ secreting protein, adiponectin, in atherogenesis. The questions relating the structure of its molecular forms, mechanisms of its production and signaling are also considered. Based on analysis of clinical studies and the results obtained in animals and cell cultures it is thought that adiponectin has both antiatherogenic and proatherogenic properties.