HJBR Sep/Oct 2019

40 SEP / OCT 2019  I  Healthcare Journal of baton rouge   Healthcare Briefs healthcare facilities. She has more than 20 years of service with the Department of Health. “Cecile’s tireless dedication behind the scenes has ensured the continued health and safety of Louisianans in facilities across the state,” Gee said. “Her commitment to excellence encour- ages better health and quality of care for all cli- ents served in these facilities.” “The passion Cecile puts forth every day for the health and safety of Louisianans is an invaluable asset to our state,” Gee said. Calorie Restriction Cuts Danger of Heart Disease, Diabetes, Stroke When it comes to reducing the risk factors for diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, cutting even a moderate amount of calories can serve as a powerful remedy to the ravages of poor and unhealthy diets, according to a new study pub- lished July 11 in the medical journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology . LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Cen- ter’s leading obesity researchers, Drs. Eric Ravus- sin and Leanne Redman, served as clinical prin- cipal investigators of the study. Duke University served as the coordinating center for the study, and Dr. William Kraus, a cardiologist and distin- guished professor of medicine at Duke, was the study’s lead author. Cutting caloric intake by around 12 percent, or 300 calories per day, for two years significantly reduced multiple cardiometabolic risk factors, even for healthy young and middle-aged men and women, researchers found. In addition, calorie restriction improved already normal risk factors in healthy young and middle- aged study participants, implying improvement in long-term cardiovascular risk. The study’s findings should provide a new tool for clinicians in fighting the ravages of the 21st-century American lifestyle, the researchers said. “To our knowledge, this trial is the first, ade- quately powered two-year dietary randomized clinical trial to show such a profound effect on lowering all cardiometabolic risk factors beyond normal levels, even in rather young, lean individ- uals,” Ravussin said. “There are no pharmacological agents with such a profound effect on such a broad range of cardiometabolic risk factors,” Redman said. In the study, 220 healthy, normal weight men and women were randomly assigned to either a calorie-restriction group or one where volunteers followed their normal diet. Pennington Biomedi- cal’s clinical trials unit enrolled more than a third of the participants from the Baton Rouge area. The calorie-restriction group cut their consump- tion by the equivalent of a traditional cake donut, from an average of 2,467 calories to 2,170. Participants in this ongoing project with the National Institutes of Health called CALERIE* were also enrolled through Washington Univer- sity Medical School in St. Louis, Missouri; and Tufts University in Boston. The risk factors that improved with calorie restriction were waist circumference, blood pres- sure, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglycer- ides, insulin resistance and glucose control, met- abolic syndrome, and chronic inflammatory tone. The improvements placed the calorie-restriction group well below the conventional risk thresholds used in clinical practice. For example, the participants began the study with a higher concentration of a biomarker (high- sensitivity C-reactive protein) that indicates chronic inflammation, which is associated with heart disease, cancer, cognitive decline, and the biology of aging. After two years of calorie restric- tion, the participants’ reduced the biomarker to the range associated with a 50 percent lower risk of heart disease. The new study is part of an ongoing National Institutes of Health clinical trial called CALERIE (Comprehensive Assessment of Long-term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy). CALERIE is the first study to focus on the effects of long- term calorie restriction in humans. “These findings are of substantial public health importance even when started in people who are healthy, young and middle-aged, and not obese,” the researchers said. “These data combined with previously published safety data for calorie restriction, indicate that inexpensive and safe dietary interventions, such as moderate Dr. Rebekah Gee awards Cecile Castello the Health Hero Award from the Louisiana Department of Health.