Food Culture in Youth Athletics: Exploration of the Beliefs in USA Stakeholders

Objectives. The present study examined beliefs surrounding food culture in youth athletics. Design. Qualitative research. Methods. Coaches (n = 62), parents (n = 161), and youth athletes (n = 40) in the USA completed questionnaires that explored aspects of the food environment of youth athletics, including practices related to food and beverage consumption and perspectives on the nutritional value of available foods and beverages. Results. Coaches, parents, and athletes all reported a high number of available foods and beverages, and were mixed both about whether these were healthy or unhealthy, and whether the availability of unhealthy foods and beverages was problematic. Conclusions. This study aimed to add to the literature an examination of multiple perspectives on the current food culture in youth athletics. Participant perspectives suggest that the food environment of youth sport may be an unhealthy mismatch with the physical, social, and psychological benefits of participation. Further research could aim to identify optimal environments for promoting health in youth sport. Limitations and additional directions for future research are discussed.

The Importance of Emotional Regulation in Mental Health

Mental health is a critical component of overall well-being and exists on a continuum much like physical health. Although many ways to assess mental health exist outside of either having a disorder or not, practitioners often rely on the presence or absence of symptomatology. The assessment and promotion of emotional regulation in patients is one way to encourage individuals to engage in mental health-promoting behaviors. Specific techniques are discussed that address emotional regulation. Overall, providing patients with the tools to regulate emotional responding will likely have a direct impact on well-being as well as reduce MH symptomology.

Gluten, Inflammation, and Neurodegeneration

Growing evidence supports a potential link between dietary gluten intake and neurodegenerative disease in susceptible populations. Observational data supporting this link are described along with interventional study data evaluating the effects of restricting gluten from the diet in patients with neurologic disorders. Suggested underlying mechanisms between gluten intake and neurodegeneration are discussed.

Yoga for Preventive Health: A Holistic Approach

Yoga has been prevalent for over 5000 years; it originated in India and has become an essential lifestyle ingredient for achieving optimal health. The goal of this article in lifestyle modification is to increase awareness about the benefits of yoga and how its practice can reduce the overall risk of chronic diseases. Yoga has been proven to be therapeutic for enhancing immunity and support management of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine disorders, obesity, cancer, and metabolic syndrome. Yoga techniques called asanas, such as pranayama for breathing regulation and dhyana for meditation, boost innate immune response, interrupt inflammation, and thereby prevent the manifestation of chronic diseases. Yoga also provides symptomatic relief for chronic arthritis by increasing joint flexibility and microcirculation. Yoga and meditation regulate neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, hormones, and cytokines that mediate interactions between the central nervous system and the immune system. These techniques reduce the psychological and physiological effects of chronic stress. Serotonin, oxytocin, and melatonin released directly due to practicing yoga have been shown to better manage anxiety and fear, especially during the pandemic. We believe the current trends of chronic disease management will become more effective with the implementation of lifestyle changes using yoga.

Beyond Services and Prescriptions: Reimagining Healthy Lifestyle Centers as Cooperative Enterprises

While the health-enhancing benefits of exercise and good nutrition have been well documented, the ability of health professionals to encourage healthier lifestyle behaviors among those they serve continues to prove challenging. Creating the conditions where healthier living can both occur and be sustained requires thinking beyond the traditional provision of services and prescriptions that occur in healthcare settings. Healthy Lifestyle Centers are emerging as a way of deploying lifestyle medicine practices. Turning these centers into cooperative businesses has the potential to make them more effective. Cooperative business principles are well established, and they enable individuals to become makers and producers of their own healthy lifestyles, providing a greater opportunity for sustained lifestyles changes. The purpose of this article is to further examine the role of engagement practices and coproduction as they relate to cooperative business models and to propose a framework for a Cooperative Healthy Lifestyle Center.

Maternal Cardiovascular Disease After Pre-Eclampsia and Gestational Hypertension: A Narrative Review

Previous literature has highlighted that women who have a pregnancy affected by gestational hypertension or preeclampsia are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in later life. However, CVD is a composite of multiple outcomes, including coronary heart disease, heart failure, and stroke, and the risk of both CVD and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy varies by the population studied. We conducted a narrative review of the risk of cardiovascular outcomes for women with prior gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia. Previous literature is summarized by country and ethnicity, with a higher risk of CVD and coronary heart disease observed after gestational hypertension and a higher risk of CVD, coronary heart disease and heart failure observed after pre-eclampsia in most of the populations studied. Only one study was identified in a low- or middle-income country, and the majority of studies were conducted in white or mixed ethnicity populations. We discuss potential interventions to mitigate cardiovascular risk for these women in different settings and highlight the need for a greater understanding of the epidemiology of CVD risk after gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia outside of high-income, white populations.

Association Between Occupational Sitting With High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein: The Jackson Heart Study

Modifiable, behavioral risk factors like occupational sitting may contribute to inflammation, an important cardiovascular risk factor. This study evaluated the association of self-reported occupational sitting with changes in c-reactive protein (CRP) and the role of sex. We examined occupational sitting and baseline CRP levels for 2889 African American participants in the Jackson Heart Study. Four multivariable linear regression models were estimated to determine the association of occupational sitting and CRP. Analyses were conducted in 2020. The mean age was 50.8 years and 61% were female. Participants who reported occupational sitting as “often/always” had CRP levels of 4.9±6.8 mg/L, “sometimes” had levels of 4.8±8.1 mg/L, and “never/seldom” had levels of 4.3±6.8 mg/L. In the unadjusted model, “often/always” engaging in occupational sitting was significantly associated with higher levels of CRP when compared to “never/seldom” ( P < .05). This differed by sex with female participants who reported “often/always” occupational sitting had CRP levels of 6.0±7.6 mg/L compared to only 5.1±6.9 mg/L for “never/seldom.” Neither the overall association nor the female-specific association remained statistically significant in the adjusted models. We found an association between occupational sitting and inflammation, measured by CRP. This association varied by sex but did not remain significant after fully adjusting for covariates.

Differences of Sedentary Behavior, Physical Activity, and Metabolic Syndrome Severity Among Metabolic Syndrome Clusters

Background: Sedentary behavior (SB), physical activity (PA), and metabolic syndrome (MetS) are risk indicators for cardiometabolic diseases. Novel methods for researching MetS by the 16 unique clusters (i.e., WC+FBG+BP) and as a continuous severity z-score (MetS-Z) have emerged. This study examined how SB, PA, and MetS-Z differed among MetS clusters and SB and PA differences by MetS-Z tertiles. Methods: Using 2015-2016 National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) data, participants with MetS (N = 792) were identified. Subsequently, sex-, race-, and ethnicity-specific MetS-Z were calculated. SB and PA differences were compared between MetS clusters and MetS-Z tertiles. Additionally, MetS-Z was compared between MetS clusters. Results: The WC+FBG+BP MetS cluster was prevalent among 23.80% of participants (95% CIs, 18.41-30.18) and the overall mean MetS-Z was 1.16 (1.08-1.24). Participants reported over 6 daily hours of SB (393.41 minutes⋅day-1 [370.07-416.75]). The TRI+FBG+BP+HDL MetS cluster had less SB than the WC+TRI+FBG+HDL, WC+TRI+HDL, and WC+FBG+BP MetS clusters. PA did not differ between MetS clusters and no differences in SB or PA between MetS-Z tertiles. Conclusions: Limited differences in SB and PA were observed. Participants with 4 or more MetS criteria had worse MetS-Z. Efforts should support replacing SB with PA to improve cardiometabolic health.

Pedestrian Deaths During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID pandemic provides a natural experiment examining how a 50–60% reduction in pedestrian activity might lead to a reduction in pedestrian deaths. We assessed whether the reduction in pedestrian deaths was proportional to a one-to-one matching presumed in statistics correlating mobility with fatality. The primary analysis examined New York (largest city in US), and the validation analysis examined Toronto (largest city in Canada). We identified pedestrian activity in each location from the Apple Mobility database, normalized to the baseline in January 2020. We calculated monthly pedestrian deaths from the Vision Zero database in each city with baseline data from 3 prior years. We found a large initial reduction in pedestrian deaths during the lockdown in New York that was transient and not statistically significant during the summer and autumn despite sustained reductions in pedestrian activity. Similarly, we found a large initial reduction in pedestrian deaths during the lockdown in Toronto that was transient and not sustained. Together, these data suggest the substantial reductions in pedestrian activity during the COVID pandemic have no simple correlation with pedestrian fatality counts in the same locations. An awareness of this finding emphasizes the role of unmeasured modifiable individual factors beyond pedestrian infrastructure or other structural contributors.

Probiotics for Mental Health: A Review of Recent Clinical Trials

The digestive system is involved in providing both regulatory and biochemical signaling to the nervous system via the gut–brain axis. Major brain neurotransmitters within the enteric nervous system include acetylcholine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, which are triggered by various stimuli within the digestive system, including the microbiota. Associations between the gut microbiome and activation of neuroreceptors and neurotransmitters are related to factors such as appetite control, mood, and memory. This column presents the results of a brief review of recently published clinical trials related to gut microbiome interventions (n = 11) that aimed to address a variety of mental health outcomes. The impacts of probiotics on mental health and other clinical outcomes vary by the health of study participants. Continuing research on the mental health benefits of probiotics in healthy individuals is necessary.