Selected Biomarkers in an African‐American Population at Risk for Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) significantly impacts many African-Americans in the United States. African-American adults (15 males, 74 females) at high risk for CVD, ages 35–81 yrs, participated in nutrition education for 12 weeks in the Tuskegee University Nutrition Outreach Program to determine its effectiveness on reducing risk for coronary heart disease. Anthropometry, lipid profiles, plasma high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) concentrations, and plasma glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity were monitored before and after the intervention. The results indicated body weight and BMI decreased by 3.1 % (P<0.001), and 3.2 % (P<0.001), respectively. The HDL cholesterol and triglycerides were significantly improved from 52.4 to 57.5 mg/dL (P<0.001) and from 89.9 to 81.0 mg/dL (P<0.05) respectively, while no significant differences were observed in LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol after the intervention. Hs-CRP levels were significantly lower after intervention than baseline (1.24 vs. 0.51 mg/L; P<0.001). The plasma GPx activities for females were significantly higher than that of males (84.7 vs. 76.3 U/L; P<0.05). No significant correlations were found between hs-CRP concentration and plasma GPx activity. Our findings demonstrated that this nutrition education intervention program was effective in reducing selected CVD risk in this population group.