Estimated average calcium – magnesium content in day meal in a sample of students from Faculty of Medicine of Sarajevo University

Nutrients are chemical substances obtained from food. They have different roles in body. Some are used as energy source, some as structural materials, and regulating agents. Nutrients may reduce the risks of some diseases. There are some recommendations about dietary intake of these nutrients for optimal health. This study aimed to estimate average calcium and magnesium content in day meal in a sample of students from Faculty of Medicine of Sarajevo University. A cross-sectional study was conducted during academic 2015/16 year at Faculty of Medicine of Sarajevo University. The survey covered 44 students. The research instrument was a self-administered questionnaire, by which 3-Day Diet Record was provided. The average intakes of calcium and magnesium were estimated using Nutritional analysis computer program (Nutrics Professional Nutrition Analysis Software). On daily level average intake of calcium was 718.39±311.14 mg in total sample and average intake of magnesium was 292.57±310.10 mg in total sample. Average Ca/Mg ratio was 2.45. In our sample cheese was top source of calcium with Ca/Mg ratio of 32.5, and bread was top source of magnesium with Ca/Mg ratio of 3.1. These results emphasize the importance of monitoring the food nutrition facts in order to achieve adequate nutrients intake.

Nutritional Redundancy in Human Diet

Studying human dietary intake may help us identify effective measures to treat or prevent many chronic diseases whose natural histories are influenced by nutritional factors. Through examining four comprehensive cohorts with dietary intake data collected on different time scales, we find that the food intake profile varies tremendously across individuals and over time, while the nutritional intake profile is highly stable across individuals and over time. We refer to this phenomenon as ‘nutritional redundancy’. We find that this phenomenon cannot be simply explained by the fact that different foods contain similar nutrients. Instead, it is largely due to more sophisticated features (e.g., the highly nested structure) of the food-nutrient network --- a bipartite graph that connects foods to their nutrient constituents. The food-nutrient network also enables us to quantify the level of nutritional redundancy for each diet record of any individual, i.e., the personal nutritional redundancy. Interestingly, this personal nutritional redundancy measure does not strongly correlate with any classical healthy diet scores, but its performance of predicting healthy aging in a cohort of older women is as strong as those healthy diet scores. The concept of nutritional redundancy developed here offers us a new perspective on studying human diet and presumably could be used for more phenotype predictions.

Can Nutrition Education Improve the Nutrition Behavior and Anthropometric Indexes among Patients with Hypertension based on the Health Promotion Model?

Background: Following the rapid urbanization, unhealthy diet, enhanced life expectancy, and sedentary lifestyle has led to an increase in the prevalence of CVD and its risk factors, such as hypertension. Self-care is introduced as “behaviors directed toward oneself or the environment to formulate one’s functioning in the interest of one’s life, and well-being. Can nutrition education improve the nutrition behavior and anthropometric indexes among patients with hypertension based on the Health Promotion Model?Methods: A quasi-experimental and single-blind study was conducted on patients with hypertension attended to the Health Houses of Gorgan city of Iran between June 2018 and February 2019. To collect information, 68 patients in the control and 68 ones in the intervention arm were investigated. Data were collected by distributing self-administered questionnaires about HPM constructs, and testing 3-day diet record. Education was just conducted in the intervention arm including six sessions during three weeks, and in final, measurement was run two and six months after intervention. Results: There was no difference between the two groups about constructs of the HPM, anthropometric indexes, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and nutritional behavior before education, while after education all variables were significantly changed in two and six months’ follow-ups. Conclusion: HPM-based education might be likely useful to improve nutritional behaviors in patients with hypertension and it can also be applied in the health system of Golestan Province.

Evaluation of Glycemic Index Education in People Living with Type 2 Diabetes: Participant Satisfaction, Knowledge Uptake, and Application

The glycemic index (GI) has been included in the Canadian clinical practice guidelines for type 2 diabetes (T2D) management since 2003, and even longer in other parts of the world (e.g., Australia). Despite this, dietitians have reported that GI is “too difficult for patients to understand and apply.” They have called for diverse GI-utility data and evidence-informed education materials. To address these concerns, we developed and evaluated a GI education workshop and supporting materials, using the Kirkpatrick Model, for a T2D population. Participants (n = 29) with T2D attended a dietitian-facilitated workshop and received education materials. A mixed-form questionnaire (GIQ) and 3-day-diet-record were used to capture patient demographics, satisfaction, knowledge, and application, prior to and immediately after the workshop, 1-week, and 4-weeks post-education. Dietary GI was significantly lower at 1 and 4 weeks post-education (mean ± SEM; both 54 ± 1), compared to pre-education (58 ± 1; p ≤ 0.001). Participants (28/29) were satisfied with the intervention. The GI knowledge score was significantly higher post-education at baseline (83.5 ± 3.4%; p ≤ 0.001), week one (87.5 ± 2.6%; p = 0.035), and week four (87.6 ± 3.8%; p = 0.011) when compared to pre-education (53.6 ± 5.1%). A significant reduction in dietary GI was achieved by participants living with T2D, after completing the workshop, and they were able to acquire and apply GI knowledge in a relatively short period.

Relative Validity and Reproducibility of a Short Food Frequency Questionnaire to Assess Nutrient Intakes of New Zealand Adults

There is no recent validated short food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for use in New Zealand (NZ) adults. This study aimed to evaluate the relative validity and reproducibility of a short FFQ in free-living NZ adults aged 30–59 years. A 57-item, semi-quantitative FFQ was developed and pre-tested. During a 12-month study period the FFQ was administrated twice with a 9-month interval between administrations. Four two-day diet records were collected at months 0, 3, 6, and 9 and a blood sample was taken at month 9. Spearman correlations were used to evaluate the validity of the FFQ with the eight-day diet records and selected biomarkers. Cross-classification analysis and the Bland–Altman method were used to assess the agreement between the FFQ and the diet record. Reproducibility over nine months was assessed using intra-class correlations. A total of 132 males and females completed both FFQs, the eight-day diet record, and provided a blood sample. The highest energy-adjusted correlation coefficients were observed for alcohol (0.81), cholesterol (0.61), and carbohydrate (0.61), with the lowest for sodium (0.29), thiamin (0.33), and niacin equivalents (0.34). More than three quarters of the participants were correctly classified into the same or adjacent quartile for most nutrients, with a low proportion of participants being grossly misclassified (<10%). For most nutrients, the limits of agreement from the Bland–Altman analyses were between 50% and 250%. A positive correlation was observed between dietary intakes and plasma biomarkers for all selected nutrients. The FFQ showed moderate to good reproducibility, with almost all reliability coefficients ranging from 0.60 to 0.80. This short FFQ was shown to validly and reliably rank individuals by their habitual intake of most major nutrients, indicating that the FFQ will offer a time-efficient way to assess the nutrient intake of NZ adults in future research.

Acceptability to parents of a baby-led approach to introducing solids

In Baby-Led Weaning (BLW), infants are offered foods they can pick up and feed themselves from the start of complementary feeding. Infants who are fully BLW are not spoonfed at all by their parents, feeding themselves all their foods instead. The Baby-Led Introduction to SolidS (BLISS) study was a randomised controlled trial of the effect of a modified version of BLW5 on infant growth, iron status, and risk of choking, and provides an opportunity to investigate parents’ experiences of using a baby-led approach to infant feeding. Complementary feeding methods are usually chosen by parents, so it is important to ascertain whether parents find a baby-led method of introducing solids acceptable if they are assigned to follow it. This is both to determine whether it would be feasible to randomise them to follow BLW in future randomised controlled trials and because, if beneficial effects of BLW are shown, policy makers need to know whether parents would find it acceptable to follow BLW. The aim of this analysis was to determine the acceptability to parents of a baby-led approach to complementary feeding when their infant was 7 to 12 months of age. In total, 206 participants were randomised to Control (n = 101) or BLISS (n = 105) groups in the third trimester of pregnancy. When the infants were 7, 8, 9, and 12 months of age, questionnaires were administered to determine parents’ happiness and frustration with their feeding method, and attitudes regarding its convenience, mess, and expense. Food cost was estimated using supermarket prices linked to a 3-day weighed diet record collected at 7 months of age. Both groups reported high levels of happiness and convenience, but also reported finding complementary feeding very frustrating. There were two significant differences between the groups – the BLISS group reported less messiness, and were more likely to perceive their method as expensive. The actual food cost per day was not statistically significantly different between the two groups (NZ$1.70 for BLISS, NZ$1.90 for Controls). In conclusion, parents did not find a baby-led approach to introducing solids any less acceptable than control parents found standard infant feeding. It is, therefore, feasible to run studies where parents are randomised to follow a baby-led approach to complementary feeding and, should health advantages to BLW be identified, parents are likely to find BLW acceptable to follow.

The effect of remuneration schedule on data completion and retention in the Pregnancy Eating Attributes Study (PEAS)

Background: Maximizing data completion and study retention is essential in population research. There is scant research to inform how remuneration schedules and data collection modality influence participant data completion and retention. Purpose: We examined the effect of remuneration schedule and data collection modality on data completion and retention in the Pregnancy Eating Attributes Study (PEAS) cohort. Methods: Participants (n=458) completed self-administered surveys and diet recalls online and attended six study visits. Initially, remuneration was a prespecified amount per visit (lump sum). The remuneration schedule was changed mid-study to be based on the number of forms completed (pro-rated). Survey data collection modality was changed to in-person at the 1-year postpartum visit. Remuneration schedule as a predictor of withdrawal by visit was modeled using Poisson regression; differences in retention at 1-year postpartum were examined by t-test. Differences in survey and diet record completion were determined by t-test, analysis of covariance, and logistic regression. Results: There was no significant difference in the time to withdrawal and no interaction of visit with remuneration schedule on withdrawal. Survey and diet recall completion were significantly lower under prorated remuneration at the first visit but did not significantly differ at subsequent visits. Survey completion at 1-year postpartum was significantly higher for in-person versus online completion. Conclusions: Findings suggest that remuneration schedule and data collection modality can impact completion of self-reported assessments. Further research is needed to understand how remuneration and data collection practices intersect with diverse populations to influence data completion and retention.

Impact of Nutrition Education Program on Diet Quality Score amongst Adolescent Girls between Age Group of 16 to 17 Years in Mumbai

Aim: To See The Impact Of Nutrition Education Program On Diet Quality Score Amongst Adolescent Girls Between Age Group Of 16 To 17 Years In Mumbai. Place and Duration of the Study: The study was conducted at Dr B.M.N. College of Home Science (Mumbai) in India between November 2018 to February 2019. Methodology: 3 Day 24 hour Diet record was taken where energy, carbohydrate, protein and fat were calculated and with the help of 3 day diet record Healthy Eating Index Score of Adolescent was assessed and Nutrition Education Program was imparted for the duration of 2 months. Results: The results of the study showed that consumption of Energy was 1715 Kcal, Carbohydrate 226 gm and Protein 43 gm was low in pre tests which significantly increased in post tests i.e Energy was 1959 kcal, Carbohydrate was 250 gm and Protein was 49 gm, hence showed significant results (p=0.05). However consumption of fat was high in pre test i.e 41.25 gm which significantly reduced in post test i.e 39 gm which showed no significant results (p= 0.05). It was observed that the Healthy Eating Index score for pre test was 45.15 which was considered as “Poor Diet” and Healthy Eating Index score for post test was 52.45 considered as “ Need for Improvement” and high significant difference was observed (p= 0.05). Conclusion: Thus the study concluded that after giving Nutrition Education Program to the subjects there was increase in the Healthy Eating Index Score. There was also increase in the consumption of energy, carbohydrate, protein and decrease in fat consumption and thus Nutrition Education Program had positive effect on the subjects.