Proanthocyanidins (syn condensed tannins) are complex flavonoid polymers naturally present in cereals, legume seeds and particularly abundant in some fruits and fruit juices. They share some common structural features—phenolic nature and high molecular weight—with phenolic polymers found in black tea and red wine (called here tannin-like compounds). The polymeric nature of proanthocyanidins makes their analysis and estimation in food difficult. For this reason, little is known about their consumption, although they likely contribute a large part of the daily polyphenol intake. They also share common physicochemical properties: they form stable complexes with metal ions and with proteins and are, like other polyphenols, good reducing agents. Many of their biological effects of nutritional interest derive from these properties. As metal ion chelators, they influence the bioavailability of several minerals. The nutritional significance of the non-specific complexation of proteins is less clear. As reducing agents, they may participate in the prevention of cancers, both of the digestive tract and inner organs. They may also protect LDLs against oxidation and inhibit platelet aggregation and therefore prevent cardiovascular diseases. In vitro, animal and human studies on the prevention of these chronic diseases are reviewed with particular attention to wine and tea polyphenols. The lack of data on their bioavailability and the paucity of human studies are emphasised.

© 2000 Society of Chemical Industry

Proanthocyanidins and tannin-like compounds – nature, occurrence, dietary intake and effects on nutrition and health

NICOTINE has been consumed in the form of tobacco and other plants for many hundreds of years. The compulsive use of tobacco has been observed in nearly every culture into which tobacco has been introduced. Nearly 30 percent of adult Americans smoke despite, in most cases, a desire to quit and despite common knowledge of the health hazards.1 Their failure to quit smoking is attributable in large part to the addictive properties of nicotine. Recently, nicotine has become available as a pharmaceutical agent, marketed as a chewing gum to help people stop smoking. In addition to its direct effect on . . .

Drug therapy. Pharmacologic aspects of cigarette smoking and nicotine addiction.

Satoshi Umemura ● Hisatomi Arima ● Shuji Arima ● Kei Asayama ● Yasuaki Dohi ● Yoshitaka Hirooka ● Takeshi Horio ● Satoshi Hoshide ● Shunya Ikeda ● Toshihiko Ishimitsu ● Masaaki Ito ● Sadayoshi Ito ● Yoshio Iwashima ● Hisashi Kai ● Kei Kamide ● Yoshihiko Kanno ● Naoki Kashihara ● Yuhei Kawano ● Toru Kikuchi ● Kazuo Kitamura ● Takanari Kitazono ● Katsuhiko Kohara ● Masataka Kudo ● Hiroo Kumagai ● Kiyoshi Matsumura ● Hideo Matsuura ● Katsuyuki Miura ● Masashi Mukoyama ● Satoko Nakamura ● Takayoshi Ohkubo ● Yusuke Ohya ● Takafumi Okura ● Hiromi Rakugi ● Shigeyuki Saitoh ● Hirotaka Shibata ● Tatsuo Shimosawa ● Hiromichi Suzuki ● Shori Takahashi ● Kouichi Tamura ● Hirofumi Tomiyama ● Takuya Tsuchihashi ● Shinichiro Ueda ● Yoshinari Uehara ● Hidenori Urata ● Nobuhito Hirawa

The Japanese Society of Hypertension Guidelines for the Management of Hypertension (JSH 2019)

Because of recent resurgence in its consumption, the effects and health consequences of smokeless tobacco are of considerable public health interest. We studied the extent and time course of absorption of nicotine and cardiovascular effects of smokeless tobacco (oral snuff and chewing tobacco) and compared it with smoking cigarettes and chewing nicotine gum in 10 healthy volunteers. Maximum levels of nicotine were similar but, because of prolonged absorption, overall nicotine exposure was twice as large after single exposures to smokeless tobacco compared with cigarette smoking. All tobacco use increased heart rate and blood pressure, with a tendency toward a greater overall cardiovascular effect despite evidence of development of some tolerance to effects of nicotine with use of smokeless tobacco. Relatively low levels of nicotine and lesser cardiovascular responses were observed with use of nicotine gum. Adverse health consequences of smoking that are nicotine related would be expected to present a similar hazard with the use of smokeless tobacco.

Nicotine absorption and cardiovascular effects with smokeless tobacco use: comparison with cigarettes and nicotine gum.

Cardiovascular Toxicity of Nicotine: Implications for Nicotine Replacement Therapy

Blood pressure in smokers and nonsmokers: epidemiologic findings.

This study was designed to evaluate the association of a single, integrated measure of simultaneous exposure to a number of adverse work and environmental conditions, termed the Ergonomic Stress Level (E-S-L), on workers' accident and sickness absence rates The factors determining the E-S-L were body motion and posture, physical effort, active hazards and environmental stressors E-S-L evaluation was based on 'walk-through' hazard inventories, direct observations, measurements and interviews Workers were assigned to one of four stress levels ranging from low (A) to high (D) Subjects were 729 males, aged 20-67 years, employed in five factories in Israel A linear relationship between E-S-L AND accident incidence was found, increasing from the lowest to the highest E-S-L Moreover, workers more sensitive to environmental stressors, as indicated by their reported subjective annoyance, showed higher accident rates across all the ergonomic stress levels, a tendency which was statistically significant at levels C and D On the other hand, sickness absence was significantly related to the overall subjective stress experienced, as manifested by reported job dissatisfaction and somatic complaints, and not directly to E-S-L These findings highlight the role of aggregate work stress, coupled with individual sensitivity to environmental stressors, in increasing the risk of accidents

Ergonomic stress levels, personal characteristics, accident occurrence and sickness absence among factory workers

The associations of serum lipids with coffee, tea, and egg consumption were examined in a survey of 658 men in Israel. A significant, positive association was found between coffee consumption and serum total cholesterol (TC), mainly reflecting a difference in the low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Among the subjects aged 20-39, the difference in TC between the lowest and highest consumption categories was 13.2 mg/dl, and among those aged 40-69 the difference was 7.4 mg/dl. An even stronger, negative association between tea intake and TC was present; the difference between the lowest and highest consumption categories was 28.7 mg/dl for the younger subjects and 18.4 mg/dl for the older group. On the other hand, serum TC levels were not elevated at higher levels of whole egg consumption. Thus, allowing for the bias inherent in dietary recall, coffee and tea consumption appear to be associated more strongly with serum lipid and lipoprotein levels than egg consumption.

https://jech.bmj.com/content/jech/40/4/324.full.pdf

Association of serum lipids with coffee, tea, and egg consumption in free-living subjects.

The influence of several factors on the heart-rate (HR) response to tasks performed during regular work has been evaluated in a study population of 1654 male factory employees in Israel. Each worker was monitored for approximately one hour with an ambulatory electrocardiogram. The percentage change from resting HR decreased with increasing age and, as expected, was lower in sedentary workers than in manual workers. A highly significant negative correlation between the HR response and both systolic and diastolic blood pressure was found in the manual workers only. In further multiple regression analysis, after controlling for age, relative weight, smoking status, resting HR and the presence of abnormalities on the resting ECG, the association persisted for systolic BP only. Among young workers, both smoking and relative body weight were significantly associated with a higher HR response to work. Those with ECG abnormalities had lower HR response than those with normal ECGs, but not significantly so. These ...

Factors affecting ambulatory heart rate in industrial workers.

STUDY OBJECTIVE--The aim was to determine the effect of migration from a non-industrialised to an industrialised society on age related changes in blood pressure and serum cholesterol. DESIGN--The study was a comparison of major risk factors for cardiovascular disease in cross sectional surveys in two groups: Ethiopian immigrants and Israeli industrial employees. SETTING--Ethiopian immigrants were examined at Army induction centres in Israel; industrial employees were examined in the course of a national Israeli study on occupational risk factors for cardiovascular disease. PARTICIPANTS--Participants were a sample of 387 male Ethiopians, aged 20-49 years, examined in 1987, who had immigrated to Israel three to four years previously, and a sample of 2747 male Israeli industrial employees in the same age group examined in 1985-7. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS--Among the Ethiopians there were no cases of overweight (Quetelet's index above 2.8) and only 6.7% were smokers, as compared with 20.7% overweight and 47.1% smokers among the other Israelis (p less than 0.001 for both variables). There were no significant differences in the prevalence of hypertension (11.6% and 13.0% for Ethiopians and other Israelis respectively). Hypercholesterolaemia (greater than 5.2 mmol/litre, 200 mg/dl) was much more prevalent among the other Israelis (42.0% v 9.6%, p less than 0.001). Blood pressures were similar and increased with age in both groups. However, in contrast to the other Israelis, average serum cholesterol among the Ethiopians was low and increased minimally with age. After regression adjustment for age and body mass index, blood pressures were higher among the Ethiopians, whereas serum cholesterol remained considerably higher among the other Israelis. Serum cholesterol was correlated with blood pressure in both groups. CONCLUSIONS--Since Ethiopian immigrants have been found to have uniformly low blood pressures on arrival in Israel, these findings suggest that there is an age dependent effect on blood pressure resulting from migration which is not reflected in the serum cholesterol values.

https://jech.bmj.com/content/jech/45/4/281.full.pdf

Eliezer Jucha

Papers

Blood pressure in smokers and nonsmokers: epidemiologic findings.

Ergonomic stress levels, personal characteristics, accident occurrence and sickness absence among factory workers

Association of serum lipids with coffee, tea, and egg consumption in free-living subjects.

Factors affecting ambulatory heart rate in industrial workers.

Blood pressure and serum cholesterol among male Ethiopian immigrants compared to other Israelis.