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Adipocytokine plasma level changes in a 24-month dietary and physical activity randomised intervention trial in postmenopausal women

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Abstract

Background

Adipocytokines are signaling molecules secreted by adipose tissue contributing to the control of body fat, energy expenditure and secretion of insulin and cytokines. They have been related to the development of obesity, type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Diet and physical activity (PA) may have beneficial effects on their level. We evaluated the effects of a 24-month dietary and/or PA intervention on plasma levels of adipocytokines as a secondary analysis in the DAMA (Diet, physical Activity and Mammography) trial.

Methods

The 234 study participants (healthy postmenopausal women with high breast density, 50–69 years, non-smokers, no hormone therapy) were randomised to four arms: (1) isocaloric dietary intervention mainly based on plant-foods; (2) moderate-intensity PA intervention with at least 1 h/week of supervised strenuous activity; (3) both interventions; (4) general recommendations on healthy dietary and PA patterns. Leptin, resistin and adiponectin were measured at baseline and at the end of the intervention. Analyses were performed using Tobit regression.

Results

After 24 months, women randomised to PA intervention (arms #2 + #3) showed significant lower level of leptin (37.5% lower) and resistin (65.6% lower) compared to the control group (arms #1 + #4). No significant differences emerged in adiponectin levels. No significant differences in leptin, resistin and adiponectin levels at follow-up emerged in women randomised to the dietary intervention (arms #1 + #3) in comparison with controls (arms #2 + #4).

Conclusion

This study supports the effectiveness of PA, even at moderate intensity, in improving the leptin and resistin profile in postmenopausal women.

Trial registration number: ISRCTN28492718, date of trial registration 17/05/2012.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to participants privacy protection but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank all the participants of the DAMA Trial and the staff personnel involved in the different phases of the study. Members and volunteers of a local consumers cooperative (UNICOOP-Firenze) are also acknowledged for their support to the study cooking activities.

Funding

This work was supported by Istituto Toscano Tumori–ITT (Grant 2009–2012 to GM); Ministry of Health (Programma Integrato Oncologia 2006 coordinated by DP); Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca contro il Cancro (AIRC) Milan, Italy (IG 2015 Grant Number 17146 to DP).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Institute for Cancer Research, Prevention and Clinical Network (ISPRO), Via Cosimo Il Vecchio 2, Florence, Italy

    Benedetta Bendinelli & Giovanna Masala

  2. Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Chiara Della Bella, Marisa Benagiano, Sara Pratesi & Mario Milco D’Elios

  3. Cancer Risk Factors and Lifestyle Epidemiology Unit, Institute for Cancer Research, Prevention and Clinical Network (ISPRO), Florence, Italy

    Melania Assedi, Ilaria Ermini, Daniela Occhini, Maria Castaldo, Calogero Saieva, Saverio Caini & Domenico Palli

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  1. Benedetta Bendinelli
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Contributions

GM and DP conceived and designed the study. DO, MC, IE, BB, CS and SC contributed to the trial activity, data acquisition and sample retrieval. MMD’E, CDB, MB and SP performed the laboratory analyses. GM, MA and BB managed and analysed the data. GM, BB, MMD’E and DP wrote, revised and approved the manuscript. All the authors contributed to the results interpretation and read and approved the submitted version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giovanna Masala.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

The DAMA trial was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Local Health Authority “Azienda Sanitaria Firenze” (ethical approval number: 15/2007/CEL). The DAMA trial was performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

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Bendinelli, B., Masala, G., Bella, C.D. et al. Adipocytokine plasma level changes in a 24-month dietary and physical activity randomised intervention trial in postmenopausal women. Eur J Nutr 62, 1185–1194 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-022-03055-y

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