Ultra-processed food and incident type 2 diabetes: studying the underlying consumption patterns to unravel the health effects of this heterogeneous food category in the prospective Lifelines cohort

Background The overall consumption of ultra-processed food (UPF) has previously been associated with type 2 diabetes. However, due to the substantial heterogeneity of this food category, in terms of their nutritional composition and product type, it remains unclear whether previous results apply to all underlying consumption patterns of UPF. Methods Of 70,421 participants (35–70 years, 58.6% women) from the Lifelines cohort study, dietary intake was assessed with a food frequency questionnaire. UPF was identified according to the NOVA classification. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to derive UPF consumption patterns. The associations of UPF and adherence to UPF consumption patterns with incidence of type 2 diabetes were studied with logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, diet quality, energy intake, alcohol intake, physical activity, TV watching time, smoking status, and educational level. Results During a median follow-up of 41 months, a 10% increment in UPF consumption was associated with a 25% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes (1128 cases; OR 1.25 [95% CI 1.16, 1.34]). PCA revealed four habitual UPF consumption patterns. A pattern high in cold savory snacks (OR 1.16 [95% CI 1.09, 1.22]) and a pattern high in warm savory snacks (OR 1.15 [95% CI 1.08, 1.21]) were associated with an increased risk of incident type 2 diabetes; a pattern high in traditional Dutch cuisine was not associated with type 2 diabetes incidence (OR 1.05 [95% CI 0.97, 1.14]), while a pattern high in sweet snacks and pastries was inversely associated with type 2 diabetes incidence (OR 0.82 [95% CI 0.76, 0.89]). Conclusions The heterogeneity of UPF as a general food category is reflected by the discrepancy in associations between four distinct UPF consumption patterns and incident type 2 diabetes. For better public health prevention, research is encouraged to further clarify how different UPF consumption patterns are related to type 2 diabetes.

Sixty Percent of Foods Advertised in Grocery Store Flyers are Not In-line with Canada’s Food Guide

Purpose: To evaluate foods advertised in discount and premium grocery flyers for their alignment with Canada’s 2007 Food Guide (CFG) and assess if alignment differed by food category, season, page location, and price. Methods: Weekly flyers (n = 192) were collected from discount and premium grocery chains from each of 4 seasons. Health Canada’s Surveillance Tool was used to assess food items as in-line or not in-line with CFG. Results: Of 35 576 food items, 39.7% were in-line with CFG. There were no differences in proportions of foods not in-line in discount versus premium flyers (60.9% and 60.0%, respectively). Other Foods and Meat & Alternatives were advertised most (28.0% and 26.3%, respectively; P < 0.001). Milk & Alternatives were the least advertised food group (10.3%). Vegetables & Fruit (19.6%), Grains (21.6%), Milk & Alternatives (20.6%), and Meat & Alternatives (20.2%) were promoted least in Fall (P < 0.001). A higher proportion of foods advertised on middle pages were not in-line (61.0%) compared with front (56.6%) and back (58.8%) pages (P < 0.001). Not in-line foods were more expensive ($3.49, IQR = $2.82) than in-line foods ($3.28, IQR = $2.81; P < 0.001). Conclusions: While there was no difference in healthfulness of foods advertised in discount versus premium flyers, grocers advertised more foods not in-line with CFG. Government policies to improve the food environment should consider grocery flyers.

Association between dietary choline and betaine intake and 10.6-year cardiovascular disease in adults

Background Several studies have assessed the association between dietary choline and betaine and cardiovascular disease (CVD), but their results are inconsistent. The present study aimed to determine the association between dietary intake of choline and betaine and the risk of CVD in the general population over a 10.6-year period of follow-up. Methods The present cohort study was conducted on participants in the third wave of the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (2006–2008) and was followed-up until March 2018. Dietary intake of choline and betaine was calculated using the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) database. Patients’ medical records were used to collect data on CVD. Results In this study, 2606 subjects with no previous CVD participated and were followed-up for a median of 10.6 years. During the follow-up periods, 187 incidences of CVD were detected. Results of the Cox proportional hazards regression indicated that neither energy-adjusted total choline nor betaine was associated with the incidence of CVD. Among individual choline forms, only higher intake of free choline (FC) was associated with a lower risk of CVD (HR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.42–0.98). There was no significant association between each 10 mg/d increase in choline and betaine content of each food category and CVD. Conclusion Our investigation indicates no association between energy-adjusted total choline and betaine and a 10.6-year risk of CVD among adults. Besides, we found no relationship between individual choline forms (except FC) and CVD. We also found energy-adjusted choline and betaine obtained from food categories were not associated with the risk of CVD.

Association analysis in food sampling inspection data

At present, China exists a problem that the cost of food sampling inspection is too high. This paper attempts to reduce the number of sampling inspection items in the same food category, reduce the cost of food sampling inspection, and improve the work efficiency through the association analysis of national sampling inspection data. And this paper applies Apriori algorithm to analyse the association rules, which is based on the unqualified pastry sampling inspection data in the 2019 national food sampling inspection database. Finally, we obtain 10 strong association rules through experiments. The results show that this association analysis can reduce the workload of food sampling inspection effectively.

Hunger Effects on Option Quality for Hedonic and Utilitarian Food Products

Multiple studies have examined the extent to which consumers’ hunger levels predict their food choices and preference patterns. These investigations often involve making binary choices between hedonic and utilitarian foods. However, most consumers entering a grocery store are not restricted to solely selecting either hedonic or utilitarian foods. Rather, they typically choose both hedonic and utilitarian food options. Moreover, little is known about the effects of hunger on the quality of these food choices or consumers’ cognitive performance in food contexts. To address these gaps, the current study explored (1) whether experimentally induced hunger (vs. satiation) influenced the option quality of consumers’ chosen food items (i.e., the match between actual choices and stated preferences); (2) whether this potential interplay was contingent on the food category (hedonic vs. utilitarian); and (3) whether hungry (vs. satiated) consumers’ performance differed on cognitively challenging tasks. The results revealed that hunger did not lead to a generalized decrease in consumers’ option quality. However, option quality was inferior for utilitarian—but not hedonic—foods among hungry participants, whereas no such differences were found for satiated participants. Hungry (vs. satiated) consumers also performed significantly worse on cognitively demanding tasks, underscoring the far-reaching consequences of hunger on consumers’ decision-making. Together, the current research offers a novel way of testing whether and how hunger influences the quality of consumers’ chosen food items in both hedonic and utilitarian food categories.

Consumer sophistication as an enhancer of innovation in the food industry: measurement development and validation

PurposeRecently, the role of consumers in firms' innovation processes has increased. Prior literature asserts that qualitative aspects of consumers serve as crucial factors shaping the even competitiveness of a specific industry. This study focuses on measuring home demand conditions that enhance local firms' innovation.Design/methodology/approachThe present study describes the development of a 12-item measure to assess consumer sophistication in the food industry. The items assess the general knowledge, experience, skills and abilities needed to purchase a specific food category. A second-order construct with three distinct first-order constructs emerged, which were termed opinion formulation, sensitivity and exposure with variety. The reliability and validity of the scale were assessed with pilot survey data using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The developed measure was tested to investigate its effect on individuals' grocery buying behaviors using grocery receipt panel data from 723 consumers.FindingsThe results indicate that consumer sophistication has a positive effect on new and the variety of grocery purchases. The more sophisticated a consumer is, the more they buy new and a variety of products. The newly developed consumer sophistication measure has a variety of potential applications to predict consumers' variety-seeking and new product purchase behavior.Originality/valueThis study is the first to develop a measure for assessing demand quality, namely, consumer sophistication of a specific food product. This approach may offer insights to practitioners regarding the relevant consumer sophistication levels to target when launching a new product or service in the food industry.

Diet and Dementia: A Prospective Study

Whether dietary and nutrition and dietary patterns are associated with the development of dementia is an interesting research question. Participants of a longitudinal cohort study that included European adults who were middle to old aged at baseline and who had not been diagnosed with dementia at baseline (2006–2010) and had not been diagnosed with dementia or died within 5 years after baseline were followed up (until 2018) and analyzed. Associations between intake frequency of each food class measured by the food-frequency questionnaire at baseline and incident dementia 5 years after baseline were analyzed after correcting for confounding variables. A total of approximately 340,000 participants and 900 cases were included in the analysis for each food class. Cox proportional hazard models with self-reported intake level of each food category divided into four mostly equally divided categorical variables revealed a high intake of bread, moderate total meat and total fish intake and low vegetable and fruit intake were thus associated with a small but significant decrease in the onset risk of dementia, while poultry and cereal were not. These findings are mostly inconsistent with the idea that Mediterranean diet is associated with lower risk of subsequent incident dementia.

Nutri-Score: The Most Efficient Front-of-Pack Nutrition Label to Inform Portuguese Consumers on the Nutritional Quality of Foods and Help Them Identify Healthier Options in Purchasing Situations

Several studies have identified Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labels (FoPLs) as a promising strategy to improve the nutritional quality of consumers’ food choices and encourage manufacturers to offer healthier products. This study aims to fill the evidence gap regarding the most effective FoPL among the Portuguese population. In total, 1059 Portuguese participants were recruited through a web panel provider and asked to declare their intended food choices and to rank three sets of products (pizza, cakes and breakfast cereals) according to their nutritional quality, first in the absence of any labelling, and then with a FoPL displayed on-pack (five FoPLs tested). Finally, participants were asked to answer nine statements related to perceptions of FoPLs. Results showed that participants improved their food choices, depending on the FoPL and the food category. All FoPLs led to a higher percentage of correct responses on the ranking task compared to the no label condition. The Nutri-Score was among the FoPLs producing the greatest improvement across all food categories compared to the reference intakes (OR = 6.45 [4.43–9.39], p-value < 0.0001) and facilitating the highest percentage to correctly rank products according to nutritional quality. This study suggests that, among the available options, Nutri-Score is the most efficient FoPL to inform Portuguese consumers of the nutritional quality of foods and help them identify healthier options in mock purchasing situations.

Investigation of Food and Relative Risk Probability of Having Five Different Diseases, Including Diabetes Using Collected Food Data Over A 6.5-Year Period Based on GHMethod: Math-Physical Medicine (No. 492)

The author is a professionally trained mathematician, physicist and engineer. His view of health and medicine is similar to his past experience on designing a physical object, such as a building structure or a working machine, which he calls an “object”. The object’s strength or its expected lifespan is similar to the health conditions and longevity of a human being based on the following three key factors: (1) The original strength of the object’s material which is similar to the genetic factors of a human body. (2) The engineering design and site construction of this object are similar to the fundamental influential causes, including lifestyle details, life-long habits, and environmental factors, on the human health. Among those external causes, if the author has to pick up one category which has the most influence above of all that is the “food”. (3) The object endures different operational problems due to external forces or impacts which are similar to various diseases suffered by humans. After the object experiences external forces or impacts, we use some structural reinforcements to fix the building’s damaged cracks or replace the malfunctioned part of the machine. These engineering actions are similar to the “medical treatments” doctors provide patients. The medical treatments, including medication interventions (oral drugs or biochemical injections), necessary surgeries, or certain organ transplants are similar to the engineering repair of the damaged object. This article emphasizes the relationship between causes and results such as symptoms of diseases. It particularly addresses the inter-relationship of 5 selected diseases: cancers, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), chronic kidney diseases (CKD), diabetic retinopathy (DR), and type 2 diabetes (T2D), where the most important cause for most diseases is “food”. This food category in his study contains 25 defined elements include input data of food are collected via the developed iPhone APP. There are 5 elements for “Food Quantity”: breakfast amount, lunch amount, dinner amount, amount of between-meals snacks and fruits, and the average daily food consumption amount. In addition, there are 20 selected elements for “Food Quality” (see Figure 1). The combined Food score is the average value of both food quantity score and food quality score.