Development, Validation, and Reproducibility of Food Group-Based Frequency Questionnaires for Clinical Use in Brazil: A Pre-Hypertension and Hypertension Diet Assessment

The Blood pressure control diet is well described; however, it has not been implemented in clinical care, possibly due to the impracticability of the diet assessment in these contexts. In order to facilitate the dietary assessment, we developed and assessed the validity and reproducibility of two food group-based food frequency questionnaires (FG-FFQs), with a one-week (7-day FG-FFQ) and a one-month (30-day FG-FFQ) period of coverage for patients with pre-hypertension or hypertension. In 2010, 155 men and women, 30–70 years old, were invited to participate in a prospective study in two outpatient clinics in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil. The participants responded to two 30-day, two 7-day FG-FFQ, four 24-h dietary recalls, and underwent demographic, anthropometric, and blood pressure assessments. The validity and reproducibility were assessed using partial correlation coefficients adjusted for sex and age, and the internal validity was tested using the intra-class correlation coefficient. The participants were aged 61 (±10) years and 60% were women. The validity correlation coefficient was higher than r = 0.80 in the 30-day FG-FFQ for whole bread (r = 0.81) and the 7-day FG-FFQ for diet/light/zero soda and industrialized juices (r = 0.84) in comparison to the 24-h dietary recalls. The global internal validity was α = 0.59, but it increased to α = 0.76 when 19 redundant food groups were excluded. The reproducibility was higher than r = 0.80 for pasta, potatoes and manioc, bakery goods, sugar and cocoa, and beans for both versions. The 30-day had a slightly higher validity, both had good internal validity, and the 7-day FG-FFQ had a higher reproducibility.

Wikipedia, Google Trends and Diet: Assessment of Temporal Trends in the Internet Users’ Searches in Italy before and during COVID-19 Pandemic

We obtained data from Google Trends and Wikipedia in order to assess whether an analysis of Internet searches could provide information on the Internet users’ behaviour/interest in diets. Differences in seasonality, year and before/during COVID-19 pandemic were assessed. From Wikipedia, we extracted the number of times a page is viewed by users, aggregated on monthly and seasonal bases. We also used Google Trends to evaluate the frequency of the users’ web searches. The Mediterranean diet was the most frequently (33.9%), followed by the pescatarian diet (9.0%). Statistically, significant seasonal differences were found for the Mediterranean, vegetarian, Atkins, Scarsdale, and zone diets and pescetarianism. The most commonly searched diet and consequent diet-related queries on Google resulted to be: Dukan diet, Dukan and weight loss. Ketogenic, FODMAP and intermittent fasting diets were statistically more frequently searched during the pandemic compared with before. Our data show a different trend of searches based on the seasonality, year and the pandemic. These data could be useful for scientists, practitioners and policy makers because they can inform educational campaigns via the Internet, especially in periods when the population is more receptive.

Dietary free sugar and dental caries in children: A systematic review on longitudinal studies

Background: Dental caries, as a multi-factorial problem, is prevalent among children. The aim of this review was to assess the association between dietary free sugars (DFS) consumption and dental caries in 6- to 12-year-old children in the recent longitudinal evidence. Methods: In this systematic review, database search was performed in PubMed, Embase, ISI Web of Science and Scopus using the keywords "diet", "dental caries" and "school children".We considered the articles published in English from 2004 to 2019. After duplicate removal,title, abstract data basell text of all included papers were assessed by two independent reviewers. The quality of included papers was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Results: From 2122 papers, ten longitudinal studies were included. In the included studies, the consumption of 100% juice (daily), candy (more than once a week), and soft drink and sweet drinks (at bedtime) were highly associated with caries in children. In few studies, daily consumption of water and dairy products was reported to be protective. However, some studies reported non-significant association between consumption of different sugary items and dental caries. The quality of included studies was moderate. Heterogeneity was observed in the measurement of caries outcome, and data collection tool for diet assessment, and statistical measure, which impeded the meta-analysis of data. Conclusion: The methodology and results in the longitudinal studies on the association of dietary free sugar consumption and dental caries in schoolchildren were heterogeneous, which urge the need for further standard research protocols in this area.

Differences in Oral Health Status in Elite Athletes According to Sport Modalities

Oral health status may affect physical and sports performance. The purpose of this study was to assess the oral health status and oral health habits of elite athletes according to the performed sports type. A sample of 186 elite athletes divided into individual sports (n = 74; 53 men and 21 women; 24.9 ± 9.3 years) and team sports (n = 112; 97 men and 15 women; 24.5 ± 4.8 years) participated in the study. The decayed, missing, and filled teeth index (DMFT), the oral health impact profile (OHIP), and the diet assessment of caries risk (DACR) were evaluated to assess their oral health status. Athletes in individual modalities had a lower number in total teeth, healthy teeth, and restoration index (p < 0.05). Furthermore, this group showed a greater number of missing (p < 0.001) and decayed teeth (p < 0.05) and a greater DMFT index (p < 0.001). A relationship between sports modality and prevalence of malocclusions (p < 0.01), periodontal plaque (p < 0.05), and the habit of consuming energy drinks (p < 0.05) was also highlighted. Elite athletes who compete in individual sports presented a worse oral situation.

Adults With Clinically Meaningful Depressive Symptoms Are More Vulnerable to the Effects of a Pro-inflammatory Diet on Frailty Onset

Objectives The dietary inflammatory index (DII®) reflects the inflammatory potential from dietary intakes. A pro-inflammatory diet (higher DII score) has been linked with frailty and increased risk of depression. It is unclear if depressive symptoms exacerbate the association between a pro-inflammatory diet and frailty. We determined if the association between DII score and frailty differed by depressive symptoms in adults from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS). Methods This prospective study included non-frail individuals (n = 1712) with baseline (1998–2001) diet assessment from food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), depressive symptoms from Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale and follow-up frailty measurement (2011–2014). Energy-adjusted DII (E-DIITM) scores were calculated from foods and nutrients reported on the FFQ. Frailty was defined as fulfilling ≥3 Fried frailty criteria: unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, low physical activity, slow gait speed, and low grip strength. We stratified by baseline CES-D scores &lt;16 or ≥ 16, which denotes the absence or presence of clinically meaningful depressive symptoms, respectively. Logistic regression estimated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) for frailty development, adjusting for baseline age, sex, energy intake, current smoking, treatment for diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease, and non-skin cancers. Results Of the 1712 non-frail individuals at baseline (mean age: 58 ± 8 years, range: 33–81; 45% male), 227 individuals became frail over 16 years. Mean E-DII for all participants was −1.95 ± 2.20 (range: −6.71–5.44). Mean E-DII in frail individuals was −1.73 ± 2.13, while in non-frail individuals it was −1.98 ± 2.21. In those with CES-D &lt; 16, one-unit increase in E-DII (more pro-inflammatory diet) was associated with 16% higher odds (95%CI:1.08–1.26) of frailty. In the cohort who had CES-D ≥16(∼6%), one-unit increase in E-DII was associated with 51% higher odds of frailty (95%CI:1.12–2.03). Conclusions In this cohort of older adults, those with depressive symptoms had higher odds of frailty with a more inflammatory diet compared to those without. Thus, especially among those with depressive symptoms, addressing the pro-inflammatory diet components may be a useful strategy for reducing or preventing frailty in older adults. Funding Sources NIA(T32-AG023480)