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Urinary lignans and inflammatory markers in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2004 and 2005–2008

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Abstract

Purpose

Chronic inflammation has been implicated in the etiology of various chronic diseases. We previously found that certain urinary isoflavones are associated with markers of inflammation. In the present study, we examined the associations of serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and white blood cell (WBC) count with lignans, which are more frequent in the Western diet than isoflavones.

Methods

Our analysis included 2,028 participants of NHANES 2005–2008 and 2,628 participants of NHANES 1999–2004 aged 18 years and older. The exposures of interest were urinary mammalian lignans (enterodiol and enterolactone). Outcome variables were two inflammatory markers (CRP [≤10 mg/L] and WBC [≥3.0 and ≤11.7 (1,000 cells/μL)]). Log-transformed CRP concentration and WBC count by log-transformed creatinine-standardized concentrations of mammalian lignans were used for linear regression.

Results

Statistically significant inverse associations of urinary lignan, enterodiol, and enterolactone concentrations with circulating CRP and WBC counts were observed in the multivariate-adjusted models: In NHANES 2005–2008, per one-percent increase in lignan concentrations in the urine, CRP concentrations and WBC counts decreased by 8.1 % (95 % CI −11.5, −4.5) and 1.9 % (95 % CI −2.7; −1.2), respectively. Per one-percent increase in enterodiol and enterolactone, WBC counts decreased by 2.1 % (95 % CI −2.8, −1.3) and 1.3 % (95 % CI −1.9, −0.6), respectively. In NHANES 1999–2004, analogous results were 3.0 % (95 % CI −5.6, −0.3), 1.2 % (95 % CI −2.0; −0.4), 1.0 % (95 % CI −1.8, −0.2), and 0.8 % (95 % CI −1.4, 0.2).

Conclusions

Mammalian lignans were inversely associated with markers of chronic inflammation. Due to the cross-sectional design, our findings require confirmation in prospective studies.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Swiss Foundation for Nutrition Research (SFEFS; Zürich, Switzerland). We thank all individuals at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who were responsible for the planning and administering of NHANES.

Conflict of interest

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Zurich, Hirschengraben 84, 8001, Zurich, Switzerland

    Monika Eichholzer, Aline Richard & Sabine Rohrmann

  2. Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program, Nutritional Science Research Group, Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD, USA

    Holly L. Nicastro

  3. Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Elizabeth A. Platz

  4. Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Elizabeth A. Platz

  5. Institute of Epidemiology I, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany

    Jakob Linseisen

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  1. Monika Eichholzer
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  2. Aline Richard
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Correspondence to Monika Eichholzer.

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Eichholzer, M., Richard, A., Nicastro, H.L. et al. Urinary lignans and inflammatory markers in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2004 and 2005–2008. Cancer Causes Control 25, 395–403 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-014-0340-3

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