Skip to main content

Metabolism, diet and disease

To accompany their BMC conference series on Metabolism, diet and disease, this year with the special theme of cancer and metabolism, the two conference host journals, BMC Biology and BMC Medicine, have launched a thematic series of publications aimed at showing how basic research on the biochemistry, cell biology and genetics of metabolism can address the major health problems of cancer, obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and insulin resistance, and how the therapeutic and nutritional implications can inform the clinical management and treatment of these diseases. The series includes original research, review, comment and opinion pieces, as well as interviews and Q&As, and we welcome further research submissions on these topics. (Video) The obesity-cancer connection. Panel discussion from 'Metabolism Diet and Disease' held in Washington DC, May 29-31 2012. The opinions presented by the panel are those of the individuals and do not represent an endorsement of any organization or product.

  3. Metformin has been a first-line treatment for type II diabetes mellitus for decades and is the most widely prescribed antidiabetic drug. Retrospective studies have found that metformin treatment is associated ...

    Authors: Alba Luengo, Lucas B Sullivan and Matthew G Vander Heiden
    Citation: BMC Biology 2014 12:82
    Content type: Commentary Published on:

  5. The Mediterranean diet has been linked to a number of health benefits, including reduced mortality risk and lower incidence of cardiovascular disease. Definitions of the Mediterranean diet vary across some set...

    Authors: Antonia Trichopoulou, Miguel A Martínez-González, Tammy YN Tong, Nita G Forouhi, Shweta Khandelwal, Dorairaj Prabhakaran, Dariush Mozaffarian and Michel de Lorgeril
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2014 12:112
    Content type: Forum Published on:

  8. It is unknown whether individuals at high cardiovascular risk sustain a benefit in cardiovascular disease from increased olive oil consumption. The aim was to assess the association between total olive oil int...

    Authors: Marta Guasch-Ferré, Frank B Hu, Miguel A Martínez-González, Montserrat Fitó, Mònica Bulló, Ramon Estruch, Emilio Ros, Dolores Corella, Javier Recondo, Enrique Gómez-Gracia, Miquel Fiol, José Lapetra, Lluís Serra-Majem, Miguel A Muñoz, Xavier Pintó, Rosa M Lamuela-Raventós…
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2014 12:78
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  9. Polyphenols may lower the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and other chronic diseases due to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as their beneficial effects on blood pressure, lipid...

    Authors: Anna Tresserra-Rimbau, Eric B Rimm, Alexander Medina-Remón, Miguel A Martínez-González, M Carmen López-Sabater, María I Covas, Dolores Corella, Jordi Salas-Salvadó, Enrique Gómez-Gracia, José Lapetra, Fernando Arós, Miquel Fiol, Emili Ros, Lluis Serra-Majem, Xavier Pintó, Miguel A Muñoz…
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2014 12:77
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  16. A beneficial effect of a high n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LCPUFA) intake has been observed in heart failure patients, who are frequently insulin resistant. We investigated the potential influenc...

    Authors: Elin Strand, Eva R Pedersen, Gard FT Svingen, Hall Schartum-Hansen, Eirik W Rebnord, Bodil Bjørndal, Reinhard Seifert, Pavol Bohov, Klaus Meyer, J Kalervo Hiltunen, Jan E Nordrehaug, Dennis WT Nilsen, Rolf K Berge and Ottar Nygård
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2013 11:216
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  17. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is increasing worldwide and creating a significant burden on health systems, highlighting the need for the development of innovative therapeutic approaches to overcome i...

    Authors: Yong Zhao, Zhaoshun Jiang, Tingbao Zhao, Mingliang Ye, Chengjin Hu, Huimin Zhou, Zhaohui Yin, Yana Chen, Ye Zhang, Shanfeng Wang, Jie Shen, Hatim Thaker, Summit Jain, Yunxiang Li, Yalin Diao, Yingjian Chen…
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2013 11:160
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  18. The carbon metabolism of the blood stages of Plasmodium falciparum, comprising rapidly dividing asexual stages and non-dividing gametocytes, is thought to be highly streamlined, with glycolysis providing most of ...

    Authors: James I MacRae, Matthew WA Dixon, Megan K Dearnley, Hwa H Chua, Jennifer M Chambers, Shannon Kenny, Iveta Bottova, Leann Tilley and Malcolm J McConville
    Citation: BMC Biology 2013 11:67
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  22. A high body mass index (BMI) is associated with an increased risk of mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD); however, a low BMI may also be associated with an increased mortality risk. There is limited in...

    Authors: Dexter Canoy, Benjamin J Cairns, Angela Balkwill, F Lucy Wright, Jane Green, Gillian Reeves and Valerie Beral
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2013 11:87
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  23. Recently, some US cohorts have shown a moderate association between red and processed meat consumption and mortality supporting the results of previous studies among vegetarians. The aim of this study was to e...

    Authors: Sabine Rohrmann, Kim Overvad, H Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita, Marianne U Jakobsen, Rikke Egeberg, Anne Tjønneland, Laura Nailler, Marie-Christine Boutron-Ruault, Françoise Clavel-Chapelon, Vittorio Krogh, Domenico Palli, Salvatore Panico, Rosario Tumino, Fulvio Ricceri, Manuela M Bergmann, Heiner Boeing…
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2013 11:63
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  24. To investigate differences in the performance of the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) as a screening tool for glucose abnormalities after shifting from glucose-based diagnostic criteria to the proposed n...

    Authors: Bernardo Costa, Francisco Barrio, Josep L Piñol, Joan J Cabré, Xavier Mundet, Ramon Sagarra, Jordi Salas-Salvadó and Oriol Solà-Morales
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2013 11:45
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  25. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, and in particular cortisol, has been reported to be involved in obesity-associated metabolic disturbances in adults and in selected populations of adolescents. Th...

    Authors: Flavia Prodam, Roberta Ricotti, Valentina Agarla, Silvia Parlamento, Giulia Genoni, Caterina Balossini, Gillian Elisabeth Walker, Gianluca Aimaretti, Gianni Bona and Simonetta Bellone
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2013 11:44
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  26. Management of type 2 diabetes with metformin often does not provide adequate glycemic control, thereby necessitating add-on treatment. In a 24-week clinical trial, dapagliflozin, an investigational sodium gluc...

    Authors: Clifford J Bailey, Jorge L Gross, Delphine Hennicken, Nayyar Iqbal, Traci A Mansfield and James F List
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2013 11:43
    Content type: Research article Published on:

    The Erratum to this article has been published in BMC Medicine 2013 11:193

  27. Despite the increasing understanding of the mechanisms relating to weight loss and maintenance, there are currently no validated public health interventions that are able to achieve sustained long-term weight ...

    Authors: Katherine Hafekost, David Lawrence, Francis Mitrou, Therese A O'Sullivan and Stephen R Zubrick
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2013 11:41
    Content type: Opinion Published on:

  29. Early randomized controlled trials (RCTs) demonstrated the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids (n-3), whereas recent RCTs were negative. We now address the issue, focusing on the temporal changes having occ...

    Authors: Michel de Lorgeril, Patricia Salen, Pascal Defaye and Mikael Rabaeus
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2013 11:5
    Content type: Opinion Published on:

  30. Research on the role of diet in the prevention of depression is scarce. Some evidence suggests that depression shares common mechanisms with cardiovascular disease.

    Authors: Almudena Sanchez-Villegas and Miguel A Martínez-González
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2013 11:3
    Content type: Opinion Published on:

  35. Excess iron has been shown to induce diabetes in animal models. However, the results from human epidemiologic studies linking body iron stores and iron intake to the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are...

    Authors: Wei Bao, Ying Rong, Shuang Rong and Liegang Liu
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2012 10:119
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  37. Periprostatic (PP) adipose tissue surrounds the prostate, an organ with a high predisposition to become malignant. Frequently, growing prostatic tumor cells extend beyond the prostatic organ towards this fat d...

    Authors: Ricardo Ribeiro, Cátia Monteiro, Victoria Catalán, Pingzhao Hu, Virgínia Cunha, Amaia Rodríguez, Javier Gómez-Ambrosi, Avelino Fraga, Paulo Príncipe, Carlos Lobato, Francisco Lobo, António Morais, Vitor Silva, José Sanches-Magalhães, Jorge Oliveira, Francisco Pina…
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2012 10:108
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  38. Gut microbes influence animal health and thus, are potential targets for interventions that slow aging. Live E. coli provides the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans with vital micronutrients, such as folates th...

    Authors: Bhupinder Virk, Gonçalo Correia, David P Dixon, Inna Feyst, Jie Jia, Nikolin Oberleitner, Zoe Briggs, Emily Hodge, Robert Edwards, John Ward, David Gems and David Weinkove
    Citation: BMC Biology 2012 10:67
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  40. Metabolic syndrome (METS) is an increasingly prevalent but poorly understood clinical condition characterized by insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and obesity. Increased oxid...

    Authors: Khosrow S Houschyar, Rainer Lüdtke, Gustav J Dobos, Ulrich Kalus, Martina Broecker-Preuss, Thomas Rampp, Benno Brinkhaus and Andreas Michalsen
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2012 10:54
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  45. Endothelial dysfunction has been proposed as the underlying cause of diabetic angiopathy that eventually leads to cardiovascular disease, the major cause of death in diabetes. We recently demonstrated the amel...

    Authors: Sakineh Shab-Bidar, Tirang R Neyestani, Abolghassem Djazayery, Mohammad-Reza Eshraghian, Anahita Houshiarrad, A'azam Gharavi, Ali Kalayi, Nastaran Shariatzadeh, Malihe Zahedirad, Niloufar Khalaji and Homa Haidari
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2011 9:125
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  46. The major metabolic complications of obesity and type 2 diabetes may be prevented and managed with dietary modification. The use of sweeteners that provide little or no calories may help to achieve this object...

    Authors: Natasha Wiebe, Raj Padwal, Catherine Field, Seth Marks, Rene Jacobs and Marcello Tonelli
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2011 9:123
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  47. The molecular mechanisms of aging are the subject of much research and have facilitated potential interventions to delay aging and aging-related degenerative diseases in humans. The aging process is frequently...

    Authors: Yuanyuan Li, Michael Daniel and Trygve O Tollefsbol
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2011 9:98
    Content type: Review Published on: