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Abstract
BackgroundWe hypothesized that socio-economic development could, via nutritionally driven levels of pubertal sex-steroids, promote a pro-inflammatory state among men but not women in developing countries. We tested this hypothesis, using recalled childhood meat eating as a proxy for childhood nutrition, in southern China.MethodsWe used multivariable linear regression in the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study phase 3 (2006-8) to examine the adjusted associations of recalled childhood meat eating, <1/week (n = 5,023), about once per week (n = 3,592) and almost daily (n = 1,252), with white blood cell count and its differentials among older (≥50 years) men (n = 2,498) and women (n = 7,369).ResultsAdjusted for age, childhood socio-economic position, education and smoking, childhood meat eating had sex-specific associations with white blood cell count and lymphocyte count, but not granulocyte count. Men with childhood meat eating almost daily compared to <1/week had higher white blood cell count (0.33 109/L, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.10 to 0.56) and higher lymphocyte count (0.16 109/L, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.25). Adjustment for obesity slightly attenuated these associations.ConclusionIf confirmed, this hypothesis implies that economic development and the associated improvements in nutrition at puberty may be less beneficial among men than women; consistent with the widening sex differentials in life expectancy with economic development.
Highlights
We hypothesized that socio-economic development could, via nutritionally driven levels of pubertal sex-steroids, promote a pro-inflammatory state among men but not women in developing countries
In a large sample from the developing country setting of southern China, we examined whether a marker of childhood nutrition, positively associated with cognition [27], but sex- associated with central obesity and some lipids [28], had sex-specific associations with inflammatory markers
In a large study from an understudied non-western developing population, we found that a marker of early life conditions, i.e., recalled childhood meat eating, had sexspecific associations with some inflammatory markers
Summary
We hypothesized that socio-economic development could, via nutritionally driven levels of pubertal sex-steroids, promote a pro-inflammatory state among men but not women in developing countries. We tested this hypothesis, using recalled childhood meat eating as a proxy for childhood nutrition, in southern China. Inter-generationally and nutritionally driven increases in the amount, tempo and intensity of pubertal development with macro-economic improvement provide a potential explanation [10,15], because pubertal sex-steroids may have long-term sex-specific effects on fat patterning [16], some lipids [17,18] and immune responsiveness [19,20,21], which are detrimental among men but sometimes protective among women [16,17,18,19,20,21,22]. In a large sample from the developing country setting of southern China, we examined whether a marker of childhood nutrition, positively associated with cognition [27], but sex- associated with central obesity and some lipids [28], had sex-specific associations with inflammatory markers
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