Sex-Specific Associations of Blood-Based Nutrient Profiling With Body Composition in the Elderly

Abstract

The intake of adequate amounts and types of nutrients is key for sustaining health and a good quality of life, particularly in the elderly population. There is considerable evidence suggesting that physiological changes related to age and sex modify nutritional needs, and this may be related to age-associated changes in body composition (BC), specifically in lean and fat body mass. However, there is a clear lack of understanding about the association of nutrients in blood and BC parameters in the elderly. This study investigated the relationships among blood nutrients (amino acids, fatty acids, major elements, trace-elements, and vitamins), BC and nutrient intake in a population of 176 healthy male and female Italian adults between the ages of 65 and 79 years. 89 blood markers, 77 BC parameters and dietary intake were evaluated. Multivariate data analysis was applied to infer relationships between datasets. As expected, the major variability between BC and the blood nutrient profile (BNP) observed was related to sex. Aside from clear sex-specific differences in BC, female subjects had higher BNP levels of copper, copper-to-zinc ratio, phosphorous and holotranscobalamin II and lower concentrations of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) and proline. Fat mass, percentage of fat mass, percentage of lean mass and the skeletal muscle index (SMI) correlated the most with BNP in both sexes. Our data showed positive correlations in male subjects among ethanolamine, glycine, albumin, and sulfur with SMI, while palmitoleic acid and oleic acid exhibited negative correlations. This differed in female subjects, where SMI was positively associated with albumin, folic acid and sulfur, while CRP, proline and cis-8,11,14-eicosatrienoic acid were negatively correlated. We investigated the influence of diet on the observed BNP and BC correlations. Intriguingly, most of the components of the BNP, except for folate, did not exhibit a correlation with nutrient intake data. An understanding of the physiological and biochemical processes underpinning the observed sex-specific correlations between BNP and BC could help in identifying nutritional strategies to manage BC-changes in aging. This would contribute to a deeper understanding of aging-associated nutritional needs with the aim of helping the elderly population to maintain metabolic health.

Free Zinc as a Predictive Marker for COVID-19 Mortality Risk

“…Likewise, the Cu/Zn ratio did not indicate sex-specific differences, but total copper levels in the serum of female patients were more strongly elevated than those in male patients. The latter was also observed in healthy adult women, who have significantly higher serum copper concentrations than those of men, which was also reflected by a higher serum Cu/Zn ratio [ 51 ].…”

“…Sex-dependent characteristics in trace-element homeostasis affecting serum levels are mainly known for selenium and copper [ 51 , 52 ]. So far, sex-specific differences in free serum zinc levels were observed in humans and mice [ 27 , 53 ].…”

One-year Mediterranean diet promotes epigenetic rejuvenation with country- and sex-specific effects: a pilot study from the NU-AGE project

“…A comprehensive clinical and molecular characterization was performed at baseline and after the 1-year intervention, and results achieved so far in the framework of this study have demonstrated a beneficial effect of the Mediterranean-like diet on global cognition and episodic memory (Marseglia et al 2018), osteoporosis , immune function (Maijo et al 2018), and cardiovascular health , as well as on the proteasomal proteolysis (Athanasopoulou et al 2018). The NU-AGE study design (different countries with different dietary traditions and habits) and the large number of collected data allowed to evaluate the impact of relevant variables usually poorly investigated (age, sex, and ethnicity/genetics, as well as individual characteristics) on different parameters at baseline and after the intervention (Konz et al 2018;Marseglia et al 2018;Ostan et al 2018;Pujos-Guillot et al 2018;Santoro et al 2018Santoro et al , 2019Jennings et al 2019). Importantly, the enrolled subjects were recruited also in non-Mediterranean countries (Poland, the Netherlands, and the UK).…”

Low-Dose Ethanol Has Impacts on Plasma Levels of Metabolites Relating to Chronic Disease Risk in SAMP8 mice

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