The Nutritional Status of Behçet's Disease Patients
Abstract
Introduction: Nutrition and immunity are closely related because the immune system's cells use the most energy. Behçet's disease (BD) presents with a diverse range of symptoms, such as ulcers in the mouth and genitals, eye problems, skin lesions, gastrointestinal and neurological issues, arthritis, vascular complications, and pulmonary indications. Few studies have investigated the role of diet in the progression/development of BD symptoms. Moreover, few studies have investigated olfactory function in BD. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the dietary intake of BD patients using Intake24 software, calculate the DII scores of patients' diets, quantify the SCFA level in BD serum, quantify GPR41 and GPR43 receptors in patients' PBMC, and assess BD patients’ olfactory function using UPSIT. Materials and Methods: The patients' dietary intake was investigated using a 24- hour dietary recall website. The SCFA level in the serum was determined using an ELISA test. The levels of GPR41 and GPR43 receptors were determined using qPCR. UPSIT was used to investigate the cohort’s olfactory function. Results: The data showed no notable disparity in the dietary intake between the BD and healthy control (HC) groups. Additionally, approximately 73% of BD patients followed a pro-inflammatory diet, as determined by the DII score formula. The median DII score for BD patients was +1.085, higher than the global database score of +0.23. The ratio of ω-3 to ω-6 was suboptimal in more than 80% of patients. In addition, 75% of BD patients did not fulfil the required dietary fibre consumption. SCFA levels showed no significant variation between the BD and HC groups. The 9 expression of the GPR41 receptor at the gene level was significantly reduced in BD patients compared to HC (P = 0.04). Simultaneously, the expression levels of both GPR41 and GPR43 genes were significantly reduced in active BD patients in comparison to non-active patients (P = 0.02, 0.015). There was no significant difference in the smell test scores of healthy individuals and patients with BD. Nevertheless, 85% of BD patients showed an impaired sense of smell, while only 72% of healthy individuals reported olfactory impairment. Severe microsomia was not observed in the HC. All patients who were diagnosed with severe microsomia were those with major organ involvement phenotypes. When studying the connection between food intake and sense of smell in BD patients, it was shown that the levels of ω-3 and ω-6 were significantly lower in patients with moderate and/or severe microsmia compared to those with mild microsmia (P = 0.04, 0.01). Conclusion: Many BD patients consume pro-inflammatory diets, which may be linked to the disease's activity. The role of GPR41 and GPR43 in BD patients needs further study. Patients with major organ involvement often have severe microsmia. ω-3 and ω-6 in BD patients should be investigated further in relation to disease activity as well as to olfactory function. These results may confirm the relationship between BD and nutrition status.
Authors
Almogayel, HCollections
- Theses [4248]