European Journal of Nutrition最新文献

Objective: Dietary intake plays a pivotal role in sustaining optimal melatonin levels, while the relationship between dietary patterns and circulating melatonin levels remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the associations between dietary patterns, nutrient intake, and serum melatonin levels in the Chinese population.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 6,521 Chinese adults. Three dietary patterns were identified through principal component analysis. Multivariable linear regression was used to assess the associations between dietary patterns and serum melatonin levels. The covariance analysis and partial least squares regression was used to evaluate the association between micronutrient intake and serum melatonin concentrations.

Results: The Dietary pattern 2 (DP2), characterized by high intake of fatty foods and red meat with the lowest Dietary Variety Score (DVS), and DP3 featuring high consumption of red meat, fruits, and vegetables but low intake of white meat and aquatic products with low DVS, were significantly associated with lower serum melatonin levels (DP2: β = - 0.12, P-trend < 0.001; DP3: β = - 0.13, P-trend < 0.001). Insufficient nutrient and quality intake of dietary fiber, potassium, vitamin B2, calcium, and magnesium was found in DP2, whereas DP3 showed inadequate intake of protein, cholesterol, vitamin B2, niacin, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, selenium, and iron.

Conclusion: Specific dietary patterns, low dietary diversity and nutrient deficiencies are associated to reduced melatonin levels. These findings reveal distinct mechanisms linking overall dietary patterns to serum melatonin concentrations, underscoring the importance of appropriate dietary patterns and nutrients intake in sustaining optimal circulating melatonin homeostasis in humans.

Purpose: Healthy and sustainable diets promote individual health and well-being while minimizing environmental impact. Although the concept of sustainable diets has gained increasing attention, the extent to which nutritional adequacy aligns with overall dietary sustainability remains unclear, particularly in the Portuguese context, where dietary patterns reflect both Mediterranean and Western influences. The study aims to assess the association between sustainable and healthy diet adherence and nutritional adequacy among Portuguese adults.

Methods: Data was gathered using a self-administered questionnaire between October and December 2022 from 347 adults. The Sustainable and Healthy Eating Diet index was used to assess adherence to a sustainable and healthy diet. A semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was used to record dietary consumption. Nutrient inadequacy was defined as an intake below the dietary reference values set by the European Food Safety Authority for 18 selected nutrients.

Results: The prevalence of inadequacy for dietary fibre, vitamins A, E, C, folate and potassium was higher in participants with low adherence to a sustainable and healthy diet. After adjusting for confounders, participants with higher adherence to a sustainable and healthy diet were less likely to have inadequate intake of dietary fibre (OR = 0.14, 95% CI: 0.06,0.32), vitamin A (OR = 0.11, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.54), vitamin E (OR = 0.13, 95% CI: 0.06, 0.29), B6 (OR = 0.26, 95% CI: 0.09, 0.81), folate (OR = 0.14, 95% CI: 0.06, 0.31), vitamin C (OR = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.09, 0.43), selenium (OR = 0.35, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.99), and potassium (OR = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.07, 0.51). Participants with higher adherence to a sustainable and healthy diet were also less likely to have six or more inadequacies in nutrient intake (OR: 0.08, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.23).

Conclusion: Individuals who more closely follow a sustainable and healthy diet tend to achieve better nutritional adequacy.

Background: Added sugars are now acknowledged as a risk factor for obesity, insulin resistance, and purine degradation pathways. However, there has been limited evidence on the association between added sugars and hyperuricemia. Therefore, we designed a cohort study to examine whether added sugar intake increased the risk of hyperuricemia in Chinese adults.

Methods: This prospective cohort study investigated 19,745 participants (mean age: 39.5 years; 9,837 [49.8%] males) who were free of hyperuricemia, cardiovascular disease, and cancer at baseline. Added sugar intake was estimated from a validated 100-item self-administered food frequency questionnaire. Hyperuricemia was defined as serum uric acid levels ≥ 7.0 mg/dL in males and ≥ 6 mg/dL in females. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess the association between added sugar intake and the risk of hyperuricemia.

Results: During a median follow-up of 4.2 years, a total of 4,246 first incident cases of hyperuricemia occurred. After adjusting for various potential confounders, the multivariable hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for the risk of hyperuricemia in the highest quartile of total, liquid, and solid sugar intake compared with the lowest quartile were 1.29 (1.17, 1.42), 1.32 (1.21, 1.45), and 1.11 (1.01, 1.22), respectively.

Conclusions: This population-based prospective cohort study firstly demonstrated that increased added sugar intake was associated with the risk of hyperuricemia in Chinese adults.

Purpose: The present study aims at substantiation of cause-and-effect relationships via a combination of ranking studies and statistical modelling of the highest scoring studies.

Methods: Due to the fact that independent datasets of studies identified in the ranking part of the study were difficult to obtain the second part was performed using a different aim. The ranking part concentrated around studies on the association between vitamin D status and severity (morbidity/mortality) of COVID-19 infection in hospitalized patients with criteria focussing on physiological and statistical relevance. The topic of the second part of our study changed into the impact of postbiotic consumption on infectious episodes in children to accommodate testing the statistical modelling approach. The latter consisted of the construction of a multivariate confounding model based on the data of one study and subsequent validation of the achieved model via data of an independent study with a similar experimental design. Sensitivity and specificity were assessed in both studies applying discriminant analysis.

Results: The first part of our project consisted of five statistically-based criteria to rank the various studies resulting in the highest score obtained by Hernandez et al. (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 106, e1343-e1353. 10.1210/clinem/dgaa733, 2021). Subsequently, the second part using the datasets of the postbiotic studies yielded a significant model showing impact by consumption of the postbiotic on the reduction of infectious episodes. The sensitivity and specificity outcome ranged between 68 to 94%. Importantly changing the datasets did not affect the significant impact of the postbiotic.

Conclusion: The combination of a ranking and a statistical modelling approach supports the validation of causal-effect relationships via objective criteria.

Purpose: The main purpose of this review is to explore the potential of rare sugars as an innovative nutritional intervention for obesity-related type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and associated cardiometabolic diseases. The central research question is whether rare sugars, due to their unique metabolic properties, can serve as effective alternatives to traditional treatments, helping to manage or prevent T2DM while minimizing long-term side effects linked to anti-diabetic drugs.

Methods: This review synthesizes evidence from in vitro, ex vivo, in vivo, and clinical studies to assess the effects of rare sugars on glucose metabolism, insulin sensitivity, lipid regulation, and overall cardiometabolic health. Studies were examined for their contributions to understanding the mechanistic pathways and therapeutic implications of rare sugars in comparison with conventional interventions.

Results: Evidence indicates that rare sugars differ significantly from regular sugars in their metabolic impact. Findings highlight their anti-hyperglycemic and anti-hyperlipidemic effects, with demonstrated improvements in insulin sensitivity and glucose regulation. Both animal and human studies suggest that rare sugars may reduce cardiometabolic risks associated with obesity and T2DM, supporting their role as promising functional sweeteners.

Conclusions: Rare sugars present a novel and promising strategy for managing obesity-related T2DM and preventing cardiometabolic complications. While current evidence underscores their beneficial metabolic properties, more comprehensive clinical trials in diverse populations are necessary to validate their efficacy and safety in long-term use. These findings open a pathway for rare sugars to be considered as part of dietary strategies aimed at improving cardiovascular and metabolic health.

Purpose: Recent trends in dietary supplement use, particularly non-vitamin, non-mineral products, are not well characterized. We assessed patterns of dietary supplement use among U.S. adults from 2011 to 2023.

Methods: We used data from five cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2011-2023, n = 29,216). Dietary supplement information was collected with in-home or telephone interviews by asking participants whether they used any dietary supplements in the preceding 30 days. Survey-weighted prevalence of overall and individual supplement use was calculated to be nationally representative of U.S. adults aged 20 years and older. We evaluated trends across cycles and conducted subgroup analyses by age, sex, race and ethnicity, education, body mass index, and self-reported health status.

Results: The overall use of any dietary supplements increased from 51.8% in 2011-2012 to 61.4% in 2021-2023 (Ratio = 1.19, 95% confidence intervals: 1.10, 1.27; Difference = 9.6% [5.6%, 13.5%]; P _trend < 0.001). Use of four or more supplement products increased from 10.0 to 16.2% between 2011-2012 and 2021-2023 cycles (Ratio = 1.63 [1.35, 1.96], Difference = 6.3% [3.9%, 8.6%], P _trend < 0.001). The observed increasing trend was consistent across different groups of age, sex, race and ethnicity, education, body mass index, and self-reported health status. There has been a steady rise in the use of ten supplements: biotin, vitamin B1, B12, C, D, zinc, co-enzyme Q10, fiber, ginger, and probiotic.

Conclusion: Dietary supplement uses among U.S. adults increased significantly during the last decade, with notable growth in the use of specific products like fiber and probiotic.

Purpose: Nutritional epidemiological research is shifting its focus from individual nutrients to dietary patterns, which challenges traditional statistical methods. Here, we aim to apply various machine learning algorithms to identify and predict dietary patterns in the Dutch population.

Methods: Data on food consumption, sociodemographic and lifestyle factors from 867 males and 866 females participating in the Dutch National Food Consumption Survey (DNFCS) were analysed. K-means, K-medoids, and hierarchical clustering were compared to identify dietary patterns by sex. Six classifiers (naïve Bayes, K-nearest neighbours, decision tree, random forest, support vector machine and xgboost) were used to predict identified dietary patterns based on sociodemographic and lifestyle factors.

Results: After comparison, the optimal clustering method, K-means clustering, identified two distinct dietary patterns for both sexes, i.e. Traditional and Health-conscious patterns. The Traditional pattern was characterised by a higher energy intake and consumption of bread, potatoes, red and processed meat, coffee, fats and oils, and sugary drinks. Conversely, a higher intake of fruit, vegetables, tea, nuts, seeds, and breakfast cereals characterised the Health-conscious pattern. The classification models demonstrated moderate predictive accuracies (60-68%). According to the classifiers, the most important predictors for both sexes were education level, age, and BMI.

Conclusion: Machine learning algorithms can be useful in identifying dietary patterns in population studies. We identified Health-conscious and Traditional patterns in a Dutch population, suggesting tailored public health interventions towards individuals adhering to a Traditional pattern. Future research should improve model validity and reproducibility to enhance its applicability in public health interventions and dietary guidelines.