Autosomal recessive ARVC caused by a mutation in plakoglobin was 100% penetrant by adolescence. Affected subjects who were homozygous experienced progressive disease with adverse prognosis. A minority of subjects who were heterozygous showed minor ECG/echocardiographic changes, but clinically significant disease did not develop.

Adherence to the Mediterranean diet tended to be associated with lower occurrence of the three respiratory outcomes. For current and current severe wheeze, the association was mainly driven by the results in Mediterranean populations.

Objective: Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is the natural precursor of the cardioprotective long-chain nÀ3 fatty acids. Available data indicate a possible beneficial effect of ALA on cardiovascular disease (CVD), but the response of various CVD risk factors to increased ALA intake is not well characterized. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of increased ALA intake on blood pressure in man. Design, setting, subjects and interventions: We used a prospective, two-group, parallel-arm design to examine the effect of a 12-week dietary supplementation with flaxseed oil, rich in ALA (8 g/day), on blood pressure in middle-aged dyslipidaemic men (n ¼ 59). The diet of the control group was supplemented with safflower oil, containing the equivalent nÀ6 fatty acid (11 g/day linoleic acid (LA); n ¼ 28). Arterial blood pressure was measured at the beginning and at the end of the dietary intervention period. Results: Supplementation with ALA resulted in significantly lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels compared with LA (P ¼ 0.016 and P ¼ 0.011, respectively, from analysis of variance (ANOVA) for repeated measures). Conclusions: We observed a hypotensive effect of ALA, which may constitute another mechanism accounting in part for the apparent cardioprotective effect of this nÀ3 fatty acid.

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