Backgrounds: The health of university staff is a major occupational health concern worldwide. Studies have reported low health-related quality of life (HRQOL), low job satisfaction and poor mental health in this occupational group.... more
Backgrounds: The health of university staff is a major occupational health concern worldwide. Studies have reported low health-related quality of life (HRQOL), low job satisfaction and poor mental health in this occupational group. However, none of previous studies have measured health utility and compared it to a national norm. Therefore, this study was conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the HRQOL of university staff in China and to identify risk factors influential to their health. Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey conducted in a public university in China. Participants were interviewed face-to-face for demographic and socioeconomic information and health conditions. The Chinese version of the EQ-5D-5L instrument was used to measure HRQOL for calculating health utility. The relationship between health utility and sample characteristics was first examined using t-test and correlation analysis. Multivariate generalized linear models were further applied to evaluate...
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Research Interests: Genetics, Algorithms, Genetic Epidemiology, Human Genetics, Multiple sclerosis, and 15 moreGenomics, Polymorphism, Molecular Genetics, Epigenetics, Human, Cytogenetics, Genetics of complex disease, Humans, Pharmacogenetics, Clinical Genetics, Body Mass Index, Clinical Sciences, Human Genome, Correlation Analysis, and Detection Algorithm
Research Interests: Genetics, Genetic Epidemiology, Genomics, Breast Cancer, Biology, and 15 moreChina, Epigenetics, Cytogenetics, Genetics of complex disease, Clinical Genetics, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, Age related macular degeneration, Clinical Sciences, Copy Number Variation, Genotype, False discovery rate, Glutathione Transferase, Blood Proteins, Gene frequency, and glucuronosyltransferase
Research Interests: Genetics, Human Genetics, Principal Component Analysis, Biology, Singapore, and 12 morePopulation structure, Humans, Haplotypes, Clinical Sciences, Total Length, Positive Selection, Linkage Disequilibrium, European Continental Ancestry Group, Asian Continental Ancestry Group, Demographic History, Frequency of occurrence, and Gene frequency
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Objectives: To (1) identify social and rehabilitation predictors of nursing home placement, (2) investigate the association between effectiveness and efficiency in rehabilitation and nursing home placement of patients admitted for... more
Objectives: To (1) identify social and rehabilitation predictors of nursing home placement, (2) investigate the association between effectiveness and efficiency in rehabilitation and nursing home placement of patients admitted for inpatient rehabilitation from 1996 to 2005 by disease in Singapore. Design: National data were retrospectively extracted from medical records of community hospital. Data Sources: There were 12,506 first admissions for rehabilitation in four community hospitals. Of which, 8,594 (90.3%) patients were discharged home and 924 (9.7%) patients were discharged to a nursing home. Other discharge destinations such as sheltered home (n = 37), other community hospital (n = 31), death in community hospital (n = 12), acute hospital (n = 1,182) and discharge against doctor’s advice (n = 24) were excluded. Outcome Measure: Nursing home placement. Results: Those who were discharged to nursing home had 33 % lower median rehabilitation effectiveness and 29 % lower median re...
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230 Text: 3587 Corresponding author: Annalise E Zemlin Division of Chemical Pathology National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) and University of Stellenbosch Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town7505 Telephone number: + 27 21 938 4254 E-mail... more
230 Text: 3587 Corresponding author: Annalise E Zemlin Division of Chemical Pathology National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) and University of Stellenbosch Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town7505 Telephone number: + 27 21 938 4254 E-mail address: azemlin@sun.ac.za
Abstract Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) constitutes a clonal expansion of what appears to be malignant B cells. Viruses are involved in its pathogenesis, such as the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Since... more
Abstract Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) constitutes a clonal expansion of what appears to be malignant B cells. Viruses are involved in its pathogenesis, such as the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Since these viral infections have been shown to play key roles in the pathogenesis of HL, countries with a prevalence of HIV and EBV represent interesting population targets to study the pathogenesis of HL, linking the evolution of the disease with viral infections. Usually, patients present with late stage disease often involving the bone marrow at the time of diagnosis. The present paper discusses the role of viral infection in African countries, as HL is considered to be a malignant disease characterized by an inflammatory reaction to an aberrant B cell clone that is well known as the Reed–Sternberg cell (HRS).
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Like several Southeast Asian countries, Singapore has a complex eating-out environment and a rising eating-out prevalence. However the determinants and drivers of eating-out in urban Asian environments are poorly understood. We examined... more
Like several Southeast Asian countries, Singapore has a complex eating-out environment and a rising eating-out prevalence. However the determinants and drivers of eating-out in urban Asian environments are poorly understood. We examined the socio-demographic characteristics of persons who frequently ate away from home in local eateries called hawker centres and Western fast-food restaurants, using data from 1647 Singaporean adults participating in the National Nutrition Survey (NNS) 2010. We also assessed the underlying drivers of eating out and evaluated if these were different for eating at local eateries compared to Western fast-food restaurants using 18 focus group discussions of women (130 women). Participants reported a high eating-out frequency with 77.3% usually eating either breakfast, lunch or dinner at eateries. Main venues for eating-out included hawker centres (61.1% usually ate at least 1 of 3 daily meals at this venue) and school/workplace canteens (20.4%). A minority...
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Iron deficiency is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, can present with or without haematological changes and is a major cause of microcytic anaemia. In South Africa and Africa in general, there is a paucity of studies on... more
Iron deficiency is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, can present with or without haematological changes and is a major cause of microcytic anaemia. In South Africa and Africa in general, there is a paucity of studies on the iron status of healthy adult non pregnant females and males >18years of age. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of iron deficiency in a healthy South African population. A total of 651 healthy adults >18years were included in the study. Blood samples were taken for the determination of iron status, haematological and inflammatory parameters. A ferritin level of <30μg/L was used to define iron deficiency and these subjects were further divided into those with and without anaemia. Diet and menstrual history in females was further investigated. Overall, the prevalence of anaemia was 12.6% and iron deficiency was found in 78% of anaemic subjects. The prevalence of iron deficiency was 39.8% in all participants and females and Black Africans had a very high prevalence of 56.6% and 50.7% respectively. Significant (p<0.05) differences were found in concentrations of ferritin, haemoglobin, iron, transferrin, transferrin saturation, MCV and MCH between the groups. Anaemia is a minor health problem but a large proportion of subjects with iron deficiency do not present with anaemia. The prevalence of iron deficiency was high especially in females and Black African participants.
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To identify the optimal strategy for gastric cancer (GC) prevention by evaluating the cost-effectiveness of esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD)-based preventive strategies. We conducted a model-based cost-effectiveness analysis. Adopting a... more
To identify the optimal strategy for gastric cancer (GC) prevention by evaluating the cost-effectiveness of esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD)-based preventive strategies. We conducted a model-based cost-effectiveness analysis. Adopting a healthcare payer's perspective, Markov models simulated the clinical experience of the target population (Singaporean Chinese 50-69 years old) undergoing endoscopic screening, endoscopic surveillance and usual care of do-nothing. The screening strategy examined the cohort every alternate year whereas the surveillance strategy provided annual EGD only to people with precancerous lesions. For each strategy, discounted lifetime costs ($) and quality adjusted life years (QALY) were estimated and compared to generate incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify influential parameters and quantify the impact of model uncertainties. Annual EGD surveillance with an ICER of $34...
In the more than 100 genome wide association studies (GWAS) conducted in the past 5 years, more than 250 genetic loci contributing to more than 40 common diseases and traits have been identified. Whilst many genes have been linked to a... more
In the more than 100 genome wide association studies (GWAS) conducted in the past 5 years, more than 250 genetic loci contributing to more than 40 common diseases and traits have been identified. Whilst many genes have been linked to a trait, both their individual and combined effects are small and unable to explain earlier estimates of heritability. Given the rapid changes in disease incidence that cannot be accounted for by changes in diagnostic practises, there is need to have well characterized exposure information in addition to genomic data for the study of gene-environment interactions. The case-control and cohort study designs are most suited for studying associations between risk factors and occurrence of an outcome. However, the case control study design is subject to several biases and hence the preferred choice of the prospective cohort study design in investigating gene-environment interactions. A major limitation of utilising the prospective cohort study design is the ...
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Over the past several years, more focus has been placed on dissecting the genetic basis of complex diseases and traits through genome-wide association studies. In contrast, Mendelian disorders have received little attention mainly due to... more
Over the past several years, more focus has been placed on dissecting the genetic basis of complex diseases and traits through genome-wide association studies. In contrast, Mendelian disorders have received little attention mainly due to the lack of newer and more powerful methods to study these disorders. Linkage studies have previously been the main tool to elucidate the genetics of Mendelian disorders; however, extremely rare disorders or sporadic cases caused by de novo variants are not amendable to this study design. Exome sequencing has now become technically feasible and more cost-effective due to the recent advances in high-throughput sequence capture methods and next-generation sequencing technologies which have offered new opportunities for Mendelian disorder research. Exome sequencing has been swiftly applied to the discovery of new causal variants and candidate genes for a number of Mendelian disorders such as Kabuki syndrome, Miller syndrome and Fowler syndrome. In addition, de novo variants were also identified for sporadic cases, which would have not been possible without exome sequencing. Although exome sequencing has been proven to be a promising approach to study Mendelian disorders, several shortcomings of this method must be noted, such as the inability to capture regulatory or evolutionary conserved sequences in non-coding regions and the incomplete capturing of all exons.
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Indexes to quantify adherence to recommended dietary patterns have been developed for Western populations, but it is unclear whether these indexes can predict acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in Asian populations. We aimed to investigate... more
Indexes to quantify adherence to recommended dietary patterns have been developed for Western populations, but it is unclear whether these indexes can predict acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in Asian populations. We aimed to investigate the association between the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)-2010 and risk of AMI and to evaluate potential mediation by traditional cardiovascular risk factors in a Chinese population. A nested case-control study in 751 incident cases of AMI (564 nonfatal and 288 fatal) and 1443 matched controls was conducted within the prospective Singapore Chinese Health Study, a cohort of ethnic Chinese men and women aged 45-75 y. At baseline, habitual diet was assessed by using a validated, semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire. AMI cases were ascertained via linkage with nationwide hospital databases (confirmed through medical record review) and the Singapore Birth and Death Registry. We evaluated the association between the AHEI-2010 and cardi...
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As countries develop economically and increasing numbers of women enter the workforce, children are partly being cared for by someone other than their mother. Little is known about the impact of this shift in child-care provider on... more
As countries develop economically and increasing numbers of women enter the workforce, children are partly being cared for by someone other than their mother. Little is known about the impact of this shift in child-care provider on children's nutrition. This study presents findings from a case study of Singapore, a small country that has experienced phenomenal economic growth. Focus groups were conducted with 130 women of varying educational levels and ethnicities to learn about food decisions in their families. The findings showed that Singaporean working women cook infrequently, families eat out frequently, and children exert considerable influence on food choices. Implications for work-family policies and child health are discussed.
Research Interests: Nutrition and Dietetics, Decision Making, Focus Groups, Family, Singapore, and 21 moreDiet, Economic Development, Child Care, Urbanization, Employment, Gender Identity, Maternal and Child Nutrition, Urbanisation, Humans, Child, Cooking, Female, Restaurants, Mothers, Middle Aged, Food habits, Adult, Food Preferences, Food Sciences, Food Decisions, and Choice Behavior
In western populations, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), and to a lesser degree serum creatinine and haemoglobin A1c, predict risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). However, data on Asian populations that are increasingly... more
In western populations, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), and to a lesser degree serum creatinine and haemoglobin A1c, predict risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). However, data on Asian populations that are increasingly affected by CHD are sparse and it is not clear whether these biomarkers can be used to improve CHD risk classification. We conducted a nested case-control study within the Singapore Chinese Health Study cohort, with incident 'hard' CHD (myocardial infarction or CHD death) as an outcome. We used data from 965 men (298 cases, 667 controls) and 528 women (143 cases, 385 controls) to examine the utility of hsCRP, serum creatinine and haemoglobin A1c in improving the prediction of CHD risk over and above traditional risk factors for CHD included in the ATP III model. For each sex, the performance of models with only traditional risk factors used in the ATP III model was compared with models with the biomarkers added using weighted Cox proportional haz...
Research Interests: Engineering, Singapore, Diet, Prospective studies, Humans, and 17 moreFemale, Male, Follow-up studies, Fruit, Cereals, Body Mass Index, Risk factors, Vegetables, Aged, Middle Aged, Questionnaires, Food habits, Dietary Carbohydrates, Asian Continental Ancestry Group, Risk Factors, Proportional Hazards Models, and Myocardial Ischemia
ABSTRACT According to the World Health Organization's 2008 GLOBOCAN report, 64% of global cancer deaths -- and 56% of cancer cases -- were registered in countries in Africa, Asia, or Latin America. So while cancer is... more
ABSTRACT According to the World Health Organization's 2008 GLOBOCAN report, 64% of global cancer deaths -- and 56% of cancer cases -- were registered in countries in Africa, Asia, or Latin America. So while cancer is unquestionably a global burden, its reach in the developing world points to the need for specialized study on cancer in these countries. Cancer Epidemiology: Low- and Middle-Income Countries and Special Populations reviews the current status of cancer epidemiologic research and training -- rationale, requisite infrastructure, methodologic principles, and illustrative examples in low- and middle-income countries -- in order to facilitate future advances by trained health professionals. The result is a valuable resource for both program leaders and graduate and post-graduate students pursuing careers in international cancer epidemiologic research. Features: In addition to LMICs, addresses reports on specific studies conducted in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, and the Middle East, as well as studies in Australia, Europe, North America and in populations that migrate from LMICs to developed countries Includes detailed training requirements and examples of curricula that will enable graduate and post-graduate students to pursue careers in international cancer epidemiologic research Summarizes and reviews research studies that are in progress concerning major prevalent cancers of the breast, uterine cervix, lung and bronchus, upper aerodigestive tract, stomach, liver, colon, and HIV-associated cancers For program leaders and graduate and post-graduate students pursuing careers in international cancer epidemiologic research
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Research Interests: Focus Groups, Public Health, Health Services Research, Social Responsibility, Policy making, and 12 moreSouth Africa, Humans, Role, Focus Group, Advisory Committees, Goals, Qualitative Study, South African, Information Dissemination, Psychology of Power, Consumer Participation, and Clinical Trials as Topic
As countries develop economically and increasing numbers of women enter the workforce, children are partly being cared for by someone other than their mother. Little is known about the impact of this shift in child-care provider on... more
As countries develop economically and increasing numbers of women enter the workforce, children are partly being cared for by someone other than their mother. Little is known about the impact of this shift in child-care provider on children's nutrition. This study presents findings from a case study of Singapore, a small country that has experienced phenomenal economic growth. Focus groups were conducted with 130 women of varying educational levels and ethnicities to learn about food decisions in their families. The findings showed that Singaporean working women cook infrequently, families eat out frequently, and children exert considerable influence on food choices. Implications for work-family policies and child health are discussed.
Research Interests: Nutrition and Dietetics, Decision Making, Focus Groups, Family, Singapore, and 21 moreDiet, Economic Development, Child Care, Urbanization, Employment, Gender Identity, Maternal and Child Nutrition, Urbanisation, Humans, Child, Cooking, Female, Restaurants, Mothers, Middle Aged, Food habits, Adult, Food Preferences, Food Sciences, Food Decisions, and Choice Behavior
Based on a content analysis using framing theory, this article examines how the microbicide trials for HIV/AIDS prevention were portrayed in local newspapers in South Africa. Twenty-nine newspaper articles on microbicide research in South... more
Based on a content analysis using framing theory, this article examines how the microbicide trials for HIV/AIDS prevention were portrayed in local newspapers in South Africa. Twenty-nine newspaper articles on microbicide research in South Africa appeared between 2004 and 2007 in 8 major South African newspapers; 13 had extended discussions of the microbicide trials while the remainder only mentioned them in passing. Six major topics were identified in these articles: participants; consequences of microbicide use; quality of the research design; research ethics; the stopping process (i.e. the way in which the microbicide trials were halted); and "villains" and "heroes." These topics were then inductively related to three emergent categories, named by the researchers as the: malicious microbicide trial, which characterizes the trials in highly negative, and disapproving ways; the marvelous microbicide trial, which frames the trials in highly positive and approving ways; and finally the multifaceted microbicide trial, which attempts to shed light on the complexities of the issues, rather than portraying them in one-sided terms. The report concludes with a discussion of the implications of the different media portrayals for public health in South Africa.
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The study investigated the relationship of general (body mass index [BMI]) and central (waist circumference [WC]; waist-hip ratio [WHipR]; waist-height ratio [WHeightR]) adiposity with all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related... more
The study investigated the relationship of general (body mass index [BMI]) and central (waist circumference [WC]; waist-hip ratio [WHipR]; waist-height ratio [WHeightR]) adiposity with all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related mortality in an Asian population with diabetes. A total of 13,278 participants with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) recruited from public-sector primary-care and specialist outpatients clinics in Singapore were followed-up for a median duration of 2.9 years, during which time there were 524 deaths. Cox proportional-hazards regression and competing-risk models were used to obtain hazard ratios (HRs) for anthropometric variables of all-cause and CVD-related mortality. After adjusting for BMI, the highest quintiles of WC, WHipR and WHeightR were all positively associated with mortality compared with the lowest quintiles, with WHeightR exhibiting the largest effect sizes [all-cause mortality HR: 2.13, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.33-3.42; CVD-related m...
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ABSTRACT The study reports on the results of an empirical investigation of the education and recruitment processes used in HIV vaccine trials conducted in South Africa. Interviews were conducted with 21 key informants involved in HIV... more
ABSTRACT The study reports on the results of an empirical investigation of the education and recruitment processes used in HIV vaccine trials conducted in South Africa. Interviews were conducted with 21 key informants involved in HIV vaccine research in South Africa and three focus groups of community advisory board members. Data analysis identified seven major themes on the relationship between education and recruitment: the process of recruitment, the combined dual role of educators and recruiters, conflicts perceived by field staff, pressure to achieve recruitment targets, problems in achieving comprehension, accountability and education as capacity building. The results raise ethical concerns about the adequacy of current informed consent processes in these settings. The study findings bear directly on current debates about issues of exploitation and the scope of moral responsibilities of researchers and funding agencies to assure that HIV clinical prevention research is conducted ethically.
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Research Interests: Nutrition and Dietetics, Nutrition, Coffee, Singapore, Inflammation, and 31 moreLinear models, Multivariate Analysis, Insulin Resistance, Humans, Glucose, Glucose Metabolism, Smoking, Tea, Black Tea, Green Tea, Female, Male, Cohort Study, Follow-up studies, Body Mass Index, Risk factors, Ethnic Groups, Middle Aged, C reactive protein, Questionnaires, Adiponectin, Food habits, Adult, Cross Section, Asian Continental Ancestry Group, Biological markers, Risk Factors, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Cross sectional Study, Cross Sectional Studies, and Motor activity
Research Interests: Nutrition and Dietetics, Nutrition, Coffee, Indonesia, Singapore, and 22 moreIndia, Prospective studies, Humans, Cholesterol, Female, Male, Population based study, Risk factors, Triglycerides, LDL-cholesterol, Middle Aged, Questionnaires, Adult, Diterpenes, Risk Factors, Food Handling & Hygiene, Cross sectional Study, Cross Sectional Studies, Serum Cholesterol, Blood Lipids, Confidence Interval, and Serum lipids
The study of de novo point mutations (new germline mutations arising from the gametes of the parents) remained largely static until the arrival of next-generation sequencing technologies, which made both whole-exome sequencing (WES) and... more
The study of de novo point mutations (new germline mutations arising from the gametes of the parents) remained largely static until the arrival of next-generation sequencing technologies, which made both whole-exome sequencing (WES) and whole-genome sequencing (WGS) feasible in practical terms. Single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping arrays have been used to identify de novo copy-number variants in a number of common neurodevelopmental conditions such as schizophrenia and autism. By contrast, as point mutations and microlesions occurring de novo are refractory to analysis by these microarray-based methods, little was known about either their frequency or impact upon neurodevelopmental disease, until the advent of WES. De novo point mutations have recently been implicated in schizophrenia, autism and mental retardation through the WES of case-parent trios. Taken together, these findings strengthen the hypothesis that the occurrence of de novo mutations could account for the high prevalence of such diseases that are associated with a marked reduction in fecundity. De novo point mutations are also known to be responsible for many sporadic cases of rare dominant mendelian disorders such as Kabuki syndrome, Schinzel-Giedion syndrome and Bohring-Opitz syndrome. These disorders share a common feature in that they are all characterized by intellectual disability. In summary, recent WES studies of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disease have provided new insights into the role of de novo mutations in these disorders. Our knowledge of de novo mutations is likely to be further accelerated by WGS. However, the collection of case-parent trios will be a prerequisite for such studies. This review aims to discuss recent developments in the study of de novo mutations made possible by technological advances in DNA sequencing.
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Regions of homozygosity (ROHs) are more abundant in the human genome than previously thought. These regions are without heterozygosity, i.e. all the genetic variations within the regions have two identical alleles. At present there are no... more
Regions of homozygosity (ROHs) are more abundant in the human genome than previously thought. These regions are without heterozygosity, i.e. all the genetic variations within the regions have two identical alleles. At present there are no standardized criteria for defining the ROHs resulting in the different studies using their own criteria in the analysis of homozygosity. Compared to the era of genotyping microsatellite markers, the advent of high-density single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping arrays has provided an unparalleled opportunity to comprehensively detect these regions in the whole genome in different populations. Several studies have identified ROHs which were associated with complex phenotypes such as schizophrenia, late-onset of Alzheimer's disease and height. Collectively, these studies have conclusively shown the abundance of ROHs larger than 1 Mb in outbred populations. The homozygosity association approach holds great promise in identifying genetic susceptibility loci harboring recessive variants for complex diseases and traits.
Research Interests: Genetics, Human Genetics, Schizophrenia, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Genetics of complex disease, and 10 moreHumans, Human Genome, Single Nucleotide Polymorphism, Genetic variation, High Density Concrete, Body Height, Alzheimer Disease, Genetic Susceptibility, Genetic Markers, and Age of Onset
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This review summarizes the results on flavonoid intakes and the development of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Recent advances in food composition databases have allowed the evaluation of a more comprehensive range of... more
This review summarizes the results on flavonoid intakes and the development of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Recent advances in food composition databases have allowed the evaluation of a more comprehensive range of flavonoids in epidemiological studies. In addition, the number of randomized trials of flavonoid-rich foods has increased rapidly. Results from both cohort studies and randomized trials suggest that anthocyanidins from berries and flavan-3-ols from green tea and cocoa may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Meta-analyses of randomized trials indicate that the strongest evidence exists for a beneficial effect of green tea on LDL-cholesterol and a beneficial effect of flavan-3-ol-rich cocoa on endothelial function and insulin sensitivity. Few randomized trials had a long duration or evaluated pure flavonoid compounds. Evidence from cohort studies and randomized trials suggest beneficial effects of food sources of anthocyanidins (berries) and flavan-3-ols (green tea and cocoa) on cardiovascular health. These findings need to be confirmed in long-term randomized trials, and evaluation of pure compounds will be important to establish what specific flavonoids and doses are effective.
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Endothelial dysfunction plays an important role in development and progression of atherosclerosis and may also contribute to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. This review summarizes recent findings on the effects of vitamin D,... more
Endothelial dysfunction plays an important role in development and progression of atherosclerosis and may also contribute to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. This review summarizes recent findings on the effects of vitamin D, antioxidant vitamins, polyphenols, polyphenol-rich foods, dietary component combinations and healthy diets on endothelial function. Dietary patterns rich in fruit, vegetables, fish and nuts appear to have beneficial effects on endothelial function. With regard to specific foods, cacao and green tea consumption have been associated with improvement in endothelial function and this seems to be due to their flavan-3-ol (catechins and epigallocatechin gallate) content. The evidence for beneficial effects of other foods such as citrus fruit, apples and red wine is less consistent. Recent studies have also suggested beneficial effects of vitamin D and anthocyanins on endothelial function and have provided more insight into potential mechanisms underlying the effect of diet on endothelial function. The currently available evidence supports beneficial effects of various dietary compounds on endothelial function. However, in order to obtain strong evidence for relevant health effects that can be used for specific dietary recommendations, more long-term studies using well characterized diets/supplements in a large number of individuals are needed.