Speakers - 2024

Biography

Dr. Shahryar Eghtesadi received a Bachelor degree in Nutrition Science and Food Chemistry in 1975 from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran; an MSPH degree in Nutrition in 1977 from Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran; and a PhD from the University of California at Davis (UCD), USA, in Nutrition (1985). He served as a visiting scientist at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University, Boston, USA (1994–1995), a full professor at Tabriz, Iran, and Tehran Universities of Medical Sciences, and currently serves as a professor at Azad University, Science & Research Branch. He was the chair of the departments of nutrition and biochemistry, biochemistry and clinical nutrition, and public health nutrition and nutrition at the aforementioned universities. I also served as Associate Dean and Dean of the School of Public Health & Nutrition and the School of Public Health of Tabriz and Iran Universities of Medical Sciences, respectively. He was selected as a distinguished professor and scientist at the preceding universities. For a long and extended period of time, I taught various courses in nutrition in undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate, and international bureau programs and directed many projects and dissertations for MS and PhD programs. I published numerous peer-reviewed articles in journals, edited several books, and finally served as the principal investigator of the World Bank Project for Capacity Building in Nutrition in Iran.

Abstract

Green tea with iron-chelating properties can be useful in TB treatment and management. We studied the effect of green tea consumption on iron status and the process of pulmonary tuberculosis treatment (accelerating the negative sputum smear and reducing the level of oxidative stress). Following approval by the Ethics Committee for Human Studies of Golestan and Tehran Universities of Medical Sciences and also obtaining the written consent of patients, this double-blinded randomized clinical trial study was conducted on patients with TB who were assigned randomly to the intervention group (41 patients) receiving 500 mg catechin of green tea extract and the control group (39 subjects) receiving placebo for two months since the beginning of concomitant anti-TB treatment. Sputum evaluation was carried out on three slides using the Ziehl-Nelson method. At first, demographic and dietary intake data were obtained. . After obtaining 10 ml of venous blood, hemoglobin (Hb), transferrin, ferritin, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), iron, and serum malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured at the beginning and end of the study. Sputum samples were collected in the third week (every 10 days), and the reduction of microbial load was also tested until the sputum smear became negative. Data were processed using an independent and paired t-test, McNemar, Wilcoxon, Kaplan-Meier, log-rank test, and Cox regression model. The P-value was taken as significant at <0.05. The average daily energy intake of patients was 1518±431 kcal, the distribution of which was as follows: carbohydrates (58%), protein (17%), and fat (22%). Vitamin D and zinc intake in patients were lower, and iron intake was higher than the DRI. Weight changes in both groups of placebo and green tea had a tendency to increase, with a significant difference at two and six-month follow-ups (p 0.0001). However, there were no significant changes due to the intervention compared to the placebo. Sputum conversion time (days) was 52.5± 24.5 (median = 53 days) and 40.6± 22.5 (median = 29 days) in the placebo and catechin groups, respectively. The proportion of patients in the green tea group based on the criterion of the short duration of a negative sputum smear was significantly higher than the placebo group (p = 0.032). To measure the mean iron status after intervention, the ANCOVA test showed a mean difference level (Pvalue) in both groups for Hb, iron, TIBC, transferrin, and ferritin as 0.004, 0.56, 0.65, 0.38, and 0.16, respectively, which means that the increase in hemoglobin in the green tea group was significant compared with the placebo group. There was just a 9.2 nmol/ml difference between the two groups for MDA at the beginning of the study, which was not statistically significant (p = 0.078), whereas it was increased to 24.8 nmol/ml after the intervention, indicating a significant difference (p<0.001). The decline value was estimated at -45.45 ± 14.69 nmol/ml for the catechin group and -19.91 ± 18.38 nmol/ml for the placebo group. In conclusion, green tea can systematically reduce the inflammatory elements and oxidants (decrease of MDA-induced damage in the lung) and, adjunct to antimicrobial therapy, accelerate sputum smear conversion, disease amelioration, and treatment improvement. Finally, given the higher iron intake despite lower micronutrients and macronutrients in the diet of our patients, and considering the iron effect on mycobacterium survival and the incidence and exacerbation of inflammatory complications in patients, it seems that the policy of mandatory flour fortification with iron, especially in provinces such as Golestan, must be viewed cautiously and its further implementation meticulously revised.