Nutr Res Pract.  2015 Apr;9(2):165-173. 10.4162/nrp.2015.9.2.165.

No short-term effects of calorie-controlled Mediterranean or fast food dietary interventions on established biomarkers of vascular or metabolic risk in healthy individuals

• Parcina M
• Brune M
• Kaese V
• Zorn M
• Spiegel R
• Vojvoda V
• Fleming T
• Rudofsky G
• Paul Nawroth P

• KMID: 2313825
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4162/nrp.2015.9.2.165

Abstract

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES
This study addressed the question whether the composition of supposedly 'healthy' or 'unhealthy' dietary regimes has a calorie-independent short-term effect on biomarkers of metabolic stress and vascular risk in healthy individuals.
SUBJECTS/METHODS
Healthy male volunteers (age 29.5 +/- 5.9 years, n = 39) were given a standardized baseline diet for two weeks before randomization into three groups of different dietary regimes: fast food, Mediterranean and German cooking style. Importantly, the amount of calories consumed per day was identical in all three groups. Blood samples were analyzed for biomarkers of cardiovascular risk and metabolic stress after two weeks of the baseline diet and after two weeks of the assigned dietary regime.
RESULTS
No dietary intervention affected the metabolic or cardiovascular risk profile when compared in-between groups or compared to baseline. Subjects applied to the Mediterranean diet showed a statistically significant increase of uric acid compared to baseline and compared to the German diet group. Plasma concentrations of urea were significantly higher in both the fast food group and the Mediterranean group, when compared to baseline and compared to the German diet group. No significant differences were detected for the levels of vitamins, trace elements or metabolic stress markers (8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine, malondialdehyde and methylglyoxal, a potent glycating agent). Established parameters of vascular risk (e.g. LDL-cholesterol, lipoprotein(a), homocysteine) were not significantly changed in-between groups or compared to baseline during the intervention period.
CONCLUSIONS
The calorie-controlled dietary intervention caused neither protective nor harmful short-term effects regarding established biomarkers of vascular or metabolic risk. When avoiding the noxious effects of overfeeding, healthy individuals can possess the metabolic capacity to compensate for a potentially disadvantageous composition of a certain diet.

Keyword

Fast food; mediterranean fiet; laboratory markers; oxidative stress; methylglyoxal

MeSH Terms

Biomarkers*
Cooking
Diet
Diet, Mediterranean
Fast Foods*
Humans
Lipoprotein(a)
Male
Malondialdehyde
Oxidative Stress
Plasma
Pyruvaldehyde
Random Allocation
Stress, Physiological
Trace Elements
Urea
Uric Acid
Vitamins
Volunteers
Lipoprotein(a)
Malondialdehyde
Pyruvaldehyde
Trace Elements
Urea
Uric Acid
Vitamins

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Schematic timeline of the study and randomization of n = 39 participants in three groups with different dietary portfolio.

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