Medical Bulletin 13/ August/ 2024

Metabolic syndrome is a complex of multiple metabolic abnormalities, including obesity, high blood pressure, and high triglycerides, often caused by poor diet and lack of exercise. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one in eight people worldwide is overweight, making obesity treatment one of the most prominent markets currently.

There are various types of obesity treatments including drug injections and pharmaceuticals, but such chemical treatments often come with potential side effects when taken over for a long period.

Accordingly, the team led by Dr. he official name of the electrical stimulation technique is transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS). Through years of research, the team identified the possibility that non-invasive electrical stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with tRNS technology could induce appetite suppression.

The goal of the clinical trial was to prove that tRNS stimulation is effective in reducing appetite. The trial included 60 female volunteers, 30 in the tRNS group and 30 in the active sham group. The trial consisted of six sessions of electrical stimulation with two to three days of interval for two weeks.

The results showed that the tRNS treatment group was effective in reducing appetite, willingness to eat, and hunger compared to the placebo group. The clinical trial also showed that tRNS can help treat emotional eating, meaning that the tendency to eat to process or relieve emotions such as stress, depression, anxiety, and joy was significantly reduced.

As the trial was conducted only for two weeks, long-term weight loss effect was not confirmed but participants reported significant appetite suppression.

But the researchers mentioned that although the technology is not yet complete and needs further research and verification, if this electrostimulation treatment equipment with far fewer side effects than existing obesity treatments is commercialized and can be used at home instead of in hospitals, it will provide an easy and simple method for daily appetite suppression management.

Ref: Dr. Ki-young Shin, KERI, National Research Council of Science and Technology

Limited evidence supports the effects of short-interval high-intensity interval training (HIIT) for improving cardiorespiratory fitness (V̇O2peak) after stroke. Hence, with this the authors aimed to compare the effects of 12 weeks of short-interval HIIT versus moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) on V̇O2peak, cardiovascular risk factors, and mobility outcomes among individuals ≥6 months poststroke.

This study was a multi-site, 12-week randomized controlled trial with an 8-week follow-up. Participants were randomized into 3 d/wk of HIIT with 10×1 minute 80%–100% heart rate reserve interspersed with 1 minute 30% heart rate reserve or MICT which is 20–30 minutes 40%–60% heart rate reserve.

Secondary outcomes of the trial, including V̇O2peak, cardiovascular risk factors (carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, blood pressure, and waist-hip ratio), and mobility (6-minute walk test, 10 m gait speed), were reported.

The results showed that of the 305 potential participants, 82 consented and were randomized to HIIT (n=42) or MICT (n=40). Participants attended 82% of visits. A significant group×study time point interaction was found for V̇O2peak at 12 weeks whereby the HIIT group had greater gains in V̇O2peak compared with the MICT group. However, there was no between-group difference in V̇O2peak at 8-week follow-up.

Hence, the researchers concluded that short-interval HIIT may be an effective alternative to MICT for improving V̇O2peak at 12 weeks postintervention.

Ref: Kevin Moncion, Lynden Rodrigues et al. Cardiorespiratory Fitness Benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training After Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial; Stroke; https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.124.046564

Although artificial and non-nutritive sweeteners are widely used and generally recognized as safe, there have been no clinical trials to assess either long-term cardiovascular disease risks or short-term cardiovascular disease–relevant phenotypes.

Therefore, using a prospective interventional study design, the authors tested the impact of erythritol or glucose consumption on multiple indices of stimulus-dependent platelet responsiveness in healthy volunteers. Erythritol plasma levels were quantified with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Platelet function at baseline and following erythritol or glucose ingestion was assessed via both aggregometry and analysis of granule markers released. It was found that dietary erythritol lead to a more that 1000-fold increase in erythritol plasma concentration and exhibited acute enhancement of stimulus-dependent aggregation responses in all subjects, agonists, and doses examined. Erythritol ingestion also enhanced stimulus-dependent release of the platelet dense granule marker serotonin and the platelet α-granule marker CXCL4. In contrast, glucose ingestion triggered no significant increases in stimulus-dependent release of either serotonin or CXCL4.

Hence, it was concluded that ingestion of a typical quantity of the non-nutritive sweetener erythritol, but not glucose, enhances platelet reactivity in healthy volunteers, raising concerns that erythritol consumption may enhance thrombosis potential.

Ref: Marco Witkowski, Jennifer Wilcox et al. Ingestion of the Non-Nutritive Sweetener Erythritol, but Not Glucose, Enhances Platelet Reactivity and Thrombosis Potential in Healthy Volunteers; Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology;

https://doi.org/10.1161/ATVBAHA.124.32101