Journal Articles
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915
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Item Effectiveness of a Sodium-Reduction Smartphone App and Reduced-Sodium Salt to Lower Sodium Intake in Adults With Hypertension: Findings From the Salt Alternatives Randomized Controlled Trial.(JMIR Publications, 2023-03-09) Eyles H; Grey J; Jiang Y; Umali E; McLean R; Te Morenga L; Neal B; Rodgers A; Doughty RN; Ni Mhurchu C; Buis LR; Eysenbach GBACKGROUND: Even modest reductions in blood pressure (BP) can have an important impact on population-level morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease. There are 2 promising approaches: the SaltSwitch smartphone app, which enables users to scan the bar code of a packaged food using their smartphone camera and receive an immediate, interpretive traffic light nutrition label on-screen alongside a list of healthier, lower-salt options in the same food category; and reduced-sodium salts (RSSs), which are an alternative to regular table salt that are lower in sodium and higher in potassium but have a similar mouthfeel, taste, and flavor. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to determine whether a 12-week intervention with a sodium-reduction package comprising the SaltSwitch smartphone app and an RSS could reduce urinary sodium excretion in adults with high BP. METHODS: A 2-arm parallel randomized controlled trial was conducted in New Zealand (target n=326). Following a 2-week baseline period, adults who owned a smartphone and had high BP (≥140/85 mm Hg) were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to the intervention (SaltSwitch smartphone app + RSS) or control (generic heart-healthy eating information from The Heart Foundation of New Zealand). The primary outcome was 24-hour urinary sodium excretion at 12 weeks estimated via spot urine. Secondary outcomes were urinary potassium excretion, BP, sodium content of food purchases, and intervention use and acceptability. Intervention effects were assessed blinded using intention-to-treat analyses with generalized linear regression adjusting for baseline outcome measures, age, and ethnicity. RESULTS: A total of 168 adults were randomized (n=84, 50% per group) between June 2019 and February 2020. Challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and smartphone technology detrimentally affected recruitment. The adjusted mean difference between groups was 547 (95% CI -331 to 1424) mg for estimated 24-hour urinary sodium excretion, 132 (95% CI -1083 to 1347) mg for urinary potassium excretion, -0.66 (95% CI -3.48 to 2.16) mm Hg for systolic BP, and 73 (95% CI -21 to 168) mg per 100 g for the sodium content of food purchases. Most intervention participants reported using the SaltSwitch app (48/64, 75%) and RSS (60/64, 94%). SaltSwitch was used on 6 shopping occasions, and approximately 1/2 tsp per week of RSS was consumed per household during the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: In this randomized controlled trial of a salt-reduction package, we found no evidence that dietary sodium intake was reduced in adults with high BP. These negative findings may be owing to lower-than-anticipated engagement with the trial intervention package. However, implementation and COVID-19-related challenges meant that the trial was underpowered, and it is possible that a real effect may have been missed. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12619000352101; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=377044 and Universal Trial U1111-1225-4471.Item A Cross-Sectional Investigation of Preadolescent Cardiometabolic Health: Associations with Fitness, Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, Nutrition, and Sleep.(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2023-02-09) Castro N; Zieff G; Bates LC; Pagan Lassalle P; Higgins S; Faulkner J; Lark S; Skidmore P; Hamlin MJ; Signal TL; Williams MA; Stoner L; Kambas ABACKGROUND: Cardiometabolic disease (CMD) risk often begins early in life. Healthy lifestyle behaviors can mitigate risk, but the optimal combination of behaviors has not been determined. This cross-sectional study simultaneously examined the associations between lifestyle factors (fitness, activity behaviors, and dietary patterns) and CMD risk in preadolescent children. METHODS: 1480 New Zealand children aged 8-10 years were recruited. Participants included 316 preadolescents (50% female, age: 9.5 ± 1.1 years, BMI: 17.9 ± 3.3 kg/m2). Fitness (cardiorespiratory fitness [CRF], muscular fitness), activity behaviors (physical activity, sedentary, sleep), and dietary patterns were measured. Factor analysis was used to derive a CMD risk score from 13 variables (adiposity, peripheral and central hemodynamics, glycemic control, and blood lipids). RESULTS: Only CRF (β = -0.45, p < 0.001) and sedentary time (β = 0.12, p = 0.019) were associated with the CMD risk score in the adjusted multivariable analysis. CRF was found to be nonlinear (VO2 max ≤ ≈42 mL/kg/min associated with higher CMD risk score), and thus a CRF polynomial term was added, which was also associated (β = 0.19, p < 0.001) with the CMD risk score. Significant associations were not found with sleep or dietary variables. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that increasing CRF and decreasing sedentary behavior may be important public health targets in preadolescent children.Item A Community-Based Heart Health Intervention: Culture-Centered Study of Low-Income Malays and Heart Health Practices(Frontiers Media S.A., 2020-03-31) Kaur-Gill S; Dutta MJ; Bashir MB; Ahmed RThis paper reports the formative research findings of a culture-centered heart health intervention with Malay community members belonging to low-income households. The community-based culture-centered intervention entailed working in the grassroots with community stakeholders to tailor a heart health campaign with and for low-income Malay Singaporeans. Community stakeholders designed and developed the heart health communicative infrastructures during six focus group sessions detailed in the results. The intervention included building smoking cessation information accessible to the community, the curation of heart healthy Malay centric recipes, and developing culturally responsive information infrastructures to understand a myocardial infarction. The intervention sought to bridge the gap for the community where there is an absence of culturally-centered communicative infrastructures on heart health.Item Pharmacokinetics of Nitrate and Nitrite Following Beetroot Juice Drink Consumption(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2021-01-20) Jakubcik EM; Rutherfurd-Markwick K; Chabert M; Wong M; Ali ABACKGROUND: Nitrate (NO3 -)-rich beetroot (BR) juice supplementation has been shown to improve cardiovascular function via reduction to nitrite (NO2 -) and then to the bioactive molecule nitric oxide (NO). However, limited research exists for the role of inorganic NO2 - that is contained naturally within BR. OBJECTIVE: As BR juice can naturally contain both NO3 - and NO2 - the objective of this study was to evaluate the individual effects of NO3 - and NO2 - consumed from BR on plasma [NO3 -]/[NO2 -] and their subsequent effects on various cardiovascular measures. DESIGN: In four separate treatments, 11 healthy adults consumed 250 mL of BR containing one of the following: (i) high NO3 -, low NO2 - (HL; 572 mg NO3 -, 32 mg NO2 -); (ii) medium NO3 -, medium NO2 - (MM; 280 mg NO3 -, 237 mg NO2 -); (iii) low NO3 -, medium NO2 - (LM; 43 mg NO3 -, 262 mg NO2 -); (iv) placebo (PL; low NO3 -, low NO2 -: 8 mg NO3 -, 5.8 mg NO2 -). Plasma [NO3 -]/[NO2 -], blood pressure, heart rate, mean arterial pressure (MAP), cardiac output and stroke volume were measured at baseline and every hour or second hour for 6 h post-BR consumption. OUTCOMES: Ingestion of the HL and MM BR increased plasma [NO2 -] and [NO3 -] after 2 h, with both remaining elevated after 6 h (p < 0.05). LM increased plasma [NO3 -] (p < 0.05) but did not increase plasma [NO2 -] compared to PL (p = 0.177). MAP was lower following the consumption of HL at 4 h and LM at 6 h (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Inorganic NO3 - consumption is the critical factor in elevating plasma [NO3 -] and [NO2 -]; however, both NO2 - and NO3 - show potential to reduce MAP. The known reduction of systolic blood pressure (SBP)/diastolic blood pressure (DBP) following NO3 - supplementation was not observed, making it unclear if NO2 - contributes to a reduction in SBP/DBP alongside NO3 -.Item Ischaemic Heart Disease and Occupational Exposures: A Longitudinal Linkage Study in the General and Māori Populations of New Zealand(Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society, 2022-05) Barnes LA; Eng A; Corbin M; Denison HJ; 't Mannetje A; Haslett S; McLean D; Ellison-Loschmann L; Jackson R; Douwes JOBJECTIVES: This study assessed associations between occupational exposures and ischaemic heart disease (IHD) for males and females in the general and Māori populations (indigenous people of New Zealand). METHODS: Two surveys of the general adult [New Zealand Workforce Survey (NZWS); 2004-2006; n = 3003] and Māori population (Māori NZWS; 2009-2010; n = 2107), with information on occupational exposures, were linked with administrative health data and followed-up until December 2018. Cox proportional hazards regression (adjusted for age, deprivation, and smoking) was used to assess associations between organizational factors, stress, and dust, chemical and physical exposures, and IHD. RESULTS: Dust [hazard ratio (HR) 1.6, 95%CI 1.1-2.4], smoke or fumes (HR 1.5, 1.0-2.3), and oils and solvents (HR 1.5, 1.0-2.3) were associated with IHD in NZWS males. A high frequency of awkward or tiring hand positions was associated with IHD in both males and females of the NZWS (HRs 1.8, 1.1-2.8 and 2.4, 1.1-5.0, respectively). Repetitive tasks and working at very high speed were associated with IHD among NZWS females (HRs 3.4, 1.1-10.4 and 2.6, 1.2-5.5, respectively). Māori NZWS females working with vibrating tools and those exposed to a high frequency of loud noise were more likely to experience IHD (HRs 2.3, 1.1-4.8 and 2.1, 1.0-4.4, respectively). Exposure to multiple dust and chemical factors was associated with IHD in the NZWS males, as was exposure to multiple physical factors in males and females of the NZWS. CONCLUSIONS: Exposures associated with an elevated IHD risk included dust, smoke or fumes, oils and solvents, awkward grip or hand movements, carrying out repetitive tasks, working at very high speed, loud noise, and working with tools that vibrate. Results were not consistently observed for males and females and between the general and Māori populations.Item VEGF-A related SNPs: a cardiovascular context.(2023) Meza-Alvarado JC; Page RA; Mallard B; Bromhead C; Palmer BRCardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death worldwide. Currently, cardiovascular disease risk algorithms play a role in primary prevention. However, this is complicated by a lack of powerfully predictive biomarkers that could be observed in individuals before the onset of overt symptoms. A key potential biomarker for heart disease is the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A), a molecule that plays a pivotal role in blood vessel formation. This molecule has a complex biological role in the cardiovascular system due to the processes it influences, and its production is impacted by various CVD risk factors. Research in different populations has shown single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may affect circulating VEGF-A plasma levels, with some variants associated with the development of CVDs, as well as CVD risk factors. This minireview aims to give an overview of the VEGF family, and of the SNPs reported to influence VEGF-A levels, cardiovascular disease, and other risk factors used in CVD risk assessments.