Nutrition Bulletin最新文献

Vitamin D insufficiency is a worldwide problem that is likely underestimated since physical symptoms may only be apparent in individuals with severe deficiencies. Previously, people in South Asian countries were thought to be vitamin D sufficient because of plentiful sunshine, but vitamin D insufficiency has also been reported in these countries. In a South Asian country like Bangladesh, people living in the rural and urban parts of the country can have considerable differences in their sun exposure, types of clothing worn, and levels of air pollution. This pilot study aimed to explore the vitamin D status (measured by serum 25[OH]D) of healthy urban and rural Bangladeshi people and to examine the association of serum 25(OH)D concentration with calcium and alkaline phosphatase concentrations. A total of 101 apparently healthy adult individuals, aged 20-58 years, were enrolled from both urban and rural areas. The participants were selected from students, staff and patient attendants from the outpatient department (OPD) of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and Mirsarai Upazila Health Complex, Chittagong. The overall rate of vitamin D insufficiency was 39.6% and of vitamin D deficiency was 51.5%. However, it was observed that the proportion of vitamin D-deficient participants in urban areas (70.6%) was more than double that of participants living in rural areas (32%) and that serum 25(OH)D concentrations were higher in rural compared to urban participants with similar sunlight exposure times. However, participants aged 50 years or more showed similar concentrations of serum vitamin D levels irrespective of their habitat. This pilot study highlights the need for further larger-scale studies in Bangladesh to determine the reasons for the high rates of vitamin D inadequacy overall and the differences between rural and urban populations.

Sarcopenic obesity (SO) is a body composition phenotype derived from the simultaneous presence in the same individual of an increase in fat mass and a decrease in skeletal muscle mass and/or function. Several protocols for the diagnosis of SO have been proposed in the last two decades making prevalence and disease risk estimates of SO heterogeneous and challenging to interpret. Dementia is a complex neurological disorder that significantly impacts patients, carers and healthcare systems. The identification of risk factors for early cognitive impairment and dementia is key to mitigating the forecasted trends of a 2-fold increase in dementia case numbers over the next two decades worldwide. Excess adiposity and sarcopenia have both been independently associated with risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. Whether SO is associated with a greater risk of cognitive impairment and dementia is currently uncertain. This review critically appraises the current evidence on the association between SO with cognitive outcomes and dementia risk. It also discusses some of the putative biological mechanisms that may link the SO phenotype with alteration of brain functions.

This study aimed to assess the association between community and consumer food environment (FE) measures and anaemia, overweight and abdominal obesity in mother-child dyads living in situations of social vulnerability. A cross-sectional study was carried out in 40 favelas in a capital city in the northeast of Brazil. The sample consisted of 1882 women and 665 children aged under 5 years. The community FE was assessed using a scale of perception of the availability of healthy food in the neighbourhood. Consumer FE was assessed by auditing 624 retail food stores using the AUDITNOVA instrument. This investigated various aspects of the food environment and evaluated the availability of 18 ultra-processed foods (UPF) most consumed by the Brazilian population available in these stores. The presence of overweight was assessed by measuring the weight and height of the mother and the child, and abdominal obesity was assessed by measuring the mother's waist circumference. The presence of anaemia in the mother and the child was assessed by measuring haemoglobin. Adjusted multilevel regression models were used to verify associations between the FE and malnutrition in mother-child dyads. Low perception of community FE was associated with higher risk of women being overweight (OR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.05-1.73) and abdominally obese (OR: 1.38; 95% CI: 1.04-1.84); low health scores in food shops were associated with higher risk of abdominal obesity (OR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.01-1.79) and anaemia (OR: 1.16; 95% CI: 1.02-1.98) in women and overweight in children (OR: 1.69; 95% CI: 1.05-2.73); and the high availability of UPF in retail shops was associated with increased odds of overweight (OR: 2.64; 95% CI: 1.61-4.33) and anaemia (OR: 2.11; 95% CI: 1.38-3.02) in children by 164% and 111%, respectively. It was observed that less healthy food environments are associated with greater chances of anaemia, overweight and abdominal obesity in mothers and children under 5 years in situations of social vulnerability in Brazil.

In 2023, 25% of adults in England, Wales and Northern Ireland experienced food insecurity. The concentration of food insecurity in both socioeconomically disadvantaged groups and households containing children raises concerns about its uneven nutritional and health impacts across different groups. In parallel with rising food insecurity over the past decade, concerns about the environmental consequences of human diets are intensifying, where urgent changes are needed to people's diets to avoid irreversible environmental damage. It is generally assumed that cost has a significant impact on people's ability to adopt more environmentally sustainable food practices. This UK Research Council-funded project seeks to gain insights into the ways in which low-income mothers (are able to) engage with environmentally sustainable food practices. RQ1 will examine the day-to-day food practices that mothers undertake for their families to offer insights into everyday food insecurity and the relevance of environmentally sustainable food practices. RQ2 will explore biographical experiences to highlight how mothers' life histories influence their familial food practices, including their current household food security and engagement with environmentally sustainable food practices. Finally, RQ3 will explore mothers' upcoming prospects of food insecurity and environmentally sustainable food practices. These research questions will be explored through a qualitative longitudinal, feminist study of 15 low-income mothers in Sheffield, UK, combining in-depth interviews with ethnographic elements. Gaining improved knowledge of mothers' food practices on a low income will be valuable to influence realistic, effective and meaningful philosophies, policies and practical action that prioritises equity, good nutrition and environmentally sustainable food practices.

The British Nutrition Foundation convened a roundtable event in January 2024 entitled 'Meat and the Future of Sustainable Diets: Turning Challenges into Opportunities', bringing together multi-sector stakeholders to discuss the social, nutritional, public health and environmental aspects of meat consumption within a sustainable food system. Participants explored the challenge of the complexity of balancing nutrition and planetary goals, emphasising the need to navigate trade-offs between various dimensions of sustainability. Whilst recognising the global nature of the issue, the roundtable primarily focussed on a UK perspective. The discussion highlighted the urgency of transforming the food system to achieve net zero, whilst ensuring broader environmental benefits, nutritional adequacy and dietary and health equity across all life stages. Concerns about poor dietary patterns, particularly among vulnerable groups were raised, with participants stressing the need for policies that promote healthy, sustainable and equitable diets without worsening inequalities. These policies should also enhance livelihoods and community wellbeing, foster resilience and support local economies. On the supply side, participants called for better data within the agri-food system, particularly at the farm level. They advocated for a multidimensional, holistic approach that goes beyond greenhouse gas emissions to encompass wider environmental impacts and whole-farm benefits, such as enhancing soil health, promoting biodiversity, improving water management, supporting nutrient cycling and boosting farm-level resilience through diversified cropping systems. Roundtable participants acknowledged existing recommendations to reduce meat consumption for both environmental reasons, such as land use and greenhouse gas emissions, and health concerns, as evidence links red, particularly processed, meat consumption with increased colorectal cancer risk. Given the variation in meat consumption globally and even locally between individuals, the discussion explored the potential of targeted campaigns to reduce high meat intake, along with the role of public food procurement and the food industry in decreasing processed meat consumption. The consensus was that dietary changes must be framed within the context of a balanced diet and broader sustainability concerns. Despite some differing viewpoints on implementation, participants agreed that transitioning to healthier, more sustainable diets is a priority. Collaboration across the entire food chain, from farm to fork, with investment in innovation, robust data collection and research, alongside policy support, was emphasised as essential to achieving this goal.

The present study explored the associations between orthorexia nervosa, social media addiction, emotion regulation difficulties, perfectionism and BMI with four facets of mindful eating, using path analysis to assess these relationships. A sample of 551 students (127 males, 424 females, mean age = 22.6 years) completed an online self-report questionnaire evaluating these constructs. Analyses revealed that mindful eating contributed to emotion dysregulation and orthorexia nervosa and was related to social media addiction. Significant indirect paths were identified from mindful eating, social media addiction and adaptive perfectionism through emotion dysregulation to maladaptive perfectionism. While no direct paths were observed between mindful eating and perfectionism, a direct path was found between adaptive perfectionism and orthorexia nervosa. These findings suggest a more nuanced understanding of eating behaviours is required. Individuals susceptible to eating disorders should approach mindful eating with caution and seek support from healthcare providers to ensure it is used in a way that supports overall wellbeing. Future research should aim to replicate and further clarify these associations to reveal the long-term effects of mindful eating.

Nutrition label serving sizes are determined primarily based on typical consumption when such data are available. However, such data are not available for certain foods such as spray cooking oil (cooking spray). Our study assessed cooking spray use by the United States (US) adults compared to the 0.25-s serving size used on US-sold cooking spray labels. Adults (n = 1041, aged 33 ± 16.7 years) completed a 13-question survey on cooking spray use and perceptions. In the survey, participants reported using cooking spray for 1.9 ± 0.9 s per use, and 42.3%-43.1% of participants reported being more likely to purchase products if they were labelled calorie- or fat-free. Next, 30 adults (aged 29.7 ± 11.0 years) completed a laboratory-based study which assessed cooking spray durations for seven cookware items. Spray times ranged from 1.0 ± 0.5 (smallest pan) to 2.5 ± 1.3 s (largest baking sheet), with 100% of sprays (210/210) exceeding the 0.25-s US serving size. Our results suggest that cooking spray serving size should be increased to 1 s to better reflect actual consumption, and this would have the added benefit of aligning better with cooking spray serving sizes in other developed countries (0.5-1.0 s). A 1-s serving size would also preclude cooking spray advertised as calorie- or fat-free, allowing consumers to make more informed choices on the dietary implications of using cooking spray.

The current cost-of-living crisis is disproportionately affecting families experiencing poverty and is likely to be amplifying existing dietary inequalities and challenges, such as food insecurity (FI). Government policies designed to address diet inequality in the UK have historically had minimal impact on population diet and health and may have even widened existing inequalities. Therefore, the effect of nutrition policies on those experiencing FI in the context of the current cost-of-living crisis needs to be better understood. The aim of the Diet and Health Inequalities (DIO Food) project is to work with early years, people living on a low income and retailers to generate opportune evidence-based research and commentary that will inform diet-related health inequalities policy and practice. DIO Food is related to the existing Food Insecurity in people living with Obesity (FIO Food) project, which consists of four interlinked work packages (WPs1-4). DIO Food consists of three interlinked work packages (WPs5-7), which enhance the scope of FIO Food, and are described in this article. WP5 addresses a paucity of research on maternal and infant food insecurity in the UK, by applying a qualitative research approach to capture parents' and carers' perceptions of the relationship between the food system and other influences impacting infant feeding practice, associated with the cost-of-living crisis. WP6 will conduct the first-ever cross-retailer independent evaluation of England's high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) product placement legislation. Researchers will analyse store-level supermarket sales data provided by large UK retailers to produce sector-level insights into whether HFSS legislation reduced HFSS purchasing, improved the healthiness of retailer product portfolios, and was equitable across areas with different characteristics. WP7 will support WP5 and 6, by strengthening engagement with key stakeholders, including at-risk consumers and representatives of major supermarkets, and effectively translating research outcomes and stakeholder perspectives for policy and industry decision-makers.

Adherence to the Mediterranean diet has decreased among university students in many countries. Cooking skills (CS) and food skills (FS) have been suggested as potential targets for reversing this decline. This study aims to determine CS and FS and to examine their relationship with adherence to the Mediterranean diet in young adults attending university in Türkiye. This cross-sectional study was conducted between March 2022 and April 2022 at Ondokuz Mayıs University in Samsun, Türkiye, and included 859 university students (56.1% women; mean age 22.57 ± 2.75 years). Sociodemographic characteristics were collected. The CS and FS measure and the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS) were administered. The mean MEDAS, CS and FS scores were 4.77 ± 1.97, 59.10 ± 18.17 and 77.81 ± 22.27, respectively. Those with higher MEDAS scores (quartile three and quartile four-Q3 and Q4) had significantly higher CS scores than those with lower scores (Q1 and Q2), while those in the lowest quartile (Q1) had lower FS scores than all other quartiles (p < 0.001). Total scores of CS and FS positively, although weakly, correlated with MEDAS (r = 0.227 and r = 0.296; p < 0.001). Two separate models for CS and FS were analysed; along with access to kitchen facilities, CS and FS contributed the most variability, accounting for 8.9% and 11.8% of the variance in MEDAS, respectively (p < 0.001). This research indicates that higher CS and FS in university students are associated with higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet. It is also recommended that kitchen facilities be provided for them to practice these skills.

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most common liver disease worldwide, affecting 30% of the population in Western countries. MASLD is considered the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome, pathophysiologically underpinned by insulin resistance and frequently co-exists with hypertension, central obesity and dyslipidaemia. Currently, safe and effective pharmacotherapies for MASLD are limited, making weight loss with lifestyle changes the mainstay therapy. A Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) has emerged as an effective dietary pattern for preventing and managing MASLD, but most studies have been conducted in Mediterranean countries, necessitating further investigation into its benefits in Western populations. Additionally, the effect of holistic multimodal lifestyle interventions, including physical activity combined with the MedDiet, is not well established. Finally, MASLD's widespread prevalence and rapid growth require improved accessibility to interventions. Digital health delivery platforms, designed for remote access, could be a promising approach to providing timely support to individuals with MASLD. This narrative review summarises the current evidence related to the effects of the MedDiet in Western, multicultural populations with MASLD. This includes a detailed description of the composition, prescription and adherence to dietary interventions in terms of how they have been designed and applied. The evidence related to the role of physical activity or exercise interventions prescribed in combination with the MedDiet for MASLD will also be reviewed. Finally, recommendations for the design and delivery of dietary and physical activity or exercise interventions to inform the design of future randomised controlled trials to facilitate the optimal management of MASLD are outlined.