The addition of TC to diet education is more effective than diet education alone at improving diet quality and emerging CHD risk factors, such as LDL particle size, in obese older women.

Capsaicin (CAP), the main pungent component of chili peppers, is a selective agonist for transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1). Stimulation of TRPV1 receptors with low doses of CAP results in augmented ventilatory output in anesthetized mice (Wang, 2006 JAP). We tested the hypothesis that dietary intake of CAP in older mice would augment ventilation compared to a control diet. Male mice were tested using unrestrained barometric plethysmography to quantify ventilation before initiation of a specialized diet and after 4‐weeks of AIN‐93G diet (Harlan Teklad) enhanced with either CAP dissolved in lecithin (50 mg/kg food weight: CAP; n=13) or lecithin only (CON; n=12). Mice were acclimated to the chamber (30 min – 180 min) and a 10‐min baseline was collected with room air. Data were analyzed using a multi‐variate linear model and are presented as MEAN±SEM; p < 0.05. At 23‐mon, mice displayed a similar pattern of quiet breathing (data combined; Freq 124±4 bpm, tidal volume (TV) 0.33±0.01 mL/breath, minute ventilation (MV) 40.7±2.1 mL/min). Following 4 weeks of AIN‐93G diet, CON vs. CAP groups demonstrated no differences when exposed to room air for Freq (119±9 vs. 146±13 bpm), TV (0.34±0.02 vs. 0.32±0.01 mL/breath) or MV (39.3±2.6 vs. 47.1±4.7). These responses indicate that dietary CAP does not alter quiet breathing in aging mice. Both groups were exposed to acute hypoxia (15 minutes; 10% O2); these data may provide additional insight regarding the pattern of breathing following dietary CAP. Funding: LMC Student Research Committee; McDevitt Center Research Fellowships in Natural Science to AL and SR.

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Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical used in the production of various plastics. It is classified as an endocrine disruptor since it can exert estrogen‐like effects in the body. Although estrogen can play a role in the control of breathing, it is unknown if BPA influences conscious ventilation. We tested the hypothesis that 4 weeks of dietary BPA administration would result in an altered pattern of breathing compared to the response of dietary controls. At 8 weeks of age, male CD‐1 mice were housed in polypropylene cages and administered a soybean oil‐free diet (AIN‐93G) for 2 weeks. At 10 weeks of age the mice were placed onto control (C: AIN‐93G; n=4), C+ethinyl estradiol (EE: 0.1 ppb; n=5) or C+BPA (50 mg BPA/kg diet; n=5) diets. Unrestrained barometric plethysmography was used to quantify frequency (F; breaths/min), tidal volume (TV; mL/breath), and minute ventilation (MV; mL/min) in 14 week old mice during exposure to room air (MEAN±SEM). Control mice displayed similar F (C: 150±28 vs. C+BPA: 129±11 vs. C+EE: 150±25), TV (C: 0.35±0.01 vs. C+BPA: 0.49±0.05 vs. C+EE: 0.48±0.07) and MV (C: 54.4±9.5 vs. C+BPA: 62.5±10.3 vs. C+EE: 69.8±9.6). These preliminary findings indicate no difference in quiet breathing following 4 weeks of dietary BPA or EE administration in mice. Supported by LMC start‐up funds (LRD) and the Hill Collaboration on Environmental Medicine (KCD).

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