Dietetics, Volume 1, Issue 2 (September 2022) – 7 articles

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to understand how the public in a non-Mediterranean multi-ethnic society perceived the Mediterranean dietary pattern (MDP) and its general health benefits. A total of 373 participants took part in this study. Most of the sample were young adults, females and had been living in Australia for over 10 years. Knowledge of the MDP score, attitudes towards the MDP score and an adherence to the MPD score were measured. Normality of variables was tested. Simple linear regression and Chi-squared tests were conducted to examine associations. ANOVA tests were used to report participants’ demographics across various attitudes scores. Less than half of participants were aware of the MDP guidelines, food choices and health benefits. As for adherence to the MDP, 20% of the sample were found to have high adherence to the MDP. Results also showed that participants with high knowledge about the MDP were twice more likely to have higher MDP adherence rates, OR 95% CI = 2.3 (1.3, 4.0), p-value = 0.002. This paper provided new insights about the association between nutritional knowledge and adherence to the MDP in a multi-ethnic non-Mediterranean setting. Full article

Vitamin supplements are over-the-counter medications consumed by the majority of adults. Given that many supplements may be ineffective and/or associated with adverse events, compliance of the registered trials to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) rule for prompt reporting of the results is of crucial importance for consumers’ health. The present retrospective study was designed to evaluate compliance with the European Union (EU) requirement to post the trial results to the EU Clinical Trials Database (EudraCT) and assess the trial characteristics associated with this compliance. Three independent researchers searched the EudraCT for completed trials on vitamin supplements performed on humans. A total of 144 completed trials involving 40,464 participants fulfilled the inclusion criteria. For 45.7% of these, results were due. Trials funded by the industry had approximately quadruple chances of being published, adjusting for their design, masking, comparator, and participant age group. Moreover, trials testing vitamin supplement safety are more likely to report their findings as compared to vitamin efficacy. Many vitamin supplementation trials registered in the EudraCT failed to report their results and adhere to the EMA regulations. Stricter regulations should be imposed concerning trial results reporting to increase transparency and public trust. Full article

Despite health advice and campaigns, discretionary beverages remain a source of added sweeteners (sugar and intense sweeteners) and fat in the dietary intakes of many young adults. This study aimed to determine discretionary beverage consumption amongst 18 to 30-year-olds residing in New South Wales, Australia. Data were collected in 2017/2018 during the MYMeals study in which 1044 participants recorded their food and beverage consumption over a three-day period, using the purpose-designed Eat and Track (EaT) app. Discretionary beverages included all water-based and milk-based drinks with added sugar, intense sweeteners or fats and excluded alcoholic beverages. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the proportion of consumers for different types of beverages, and contribution to overall energy and nutrient intakes. ANCOVA analyses compared the energy and nutrient intakes of consumers and non-consumers, adjusted for gender and age group. Sixty-two percent of participants with complete data (n = 1001) were classified as consumers of discretionary beverages. The most consumed beverages were soft drinks (39.0%) and flavoured tea/coffee (23.1%). The greatest proportion of nutrients contributed by discretionary beverages was total sugars (27.2% of total per consumers). In comparison to non-consumers, consumers of discretionary beverages had higher mean daily intakes of energy (kJ) (8736 versus 7294), and higher percentage energy (%E) from total sugars (16.5 versus 13.3) (p < 0.001) and saturated fat (12.5 versus 12.0) (p < 0.05) but lower protein (18.5 versus 20.5) (p < 0.001). The consumption of non-alcoholic discretionary beverages continues to be a source of significant energy and total sugars among young adults. Full article

Diet has long been identified as a major determinant of cardiovascular and other chronic diseases. In this study, we assess the relation between adherence to different dietary patterns and biochemical and metabolic parameters as well as the 10-year risk of major cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in a community of blood donors in Northern Italy. We assess their adherence to four dietary patterns, namely, the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, the Mediterranean diet through the Greek and Italian Mediterranean Indices (GMI and IMI) and the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet, using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). We then assess their association with blood parameters and the 10-year risk of major CVD using a spline regression model. We found an inverse association between the DASH and MIND diets and total and LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride and HDL cholesterol values for the Mediterranean diets (IMI and GMI). Additionally, according to our sex-stratified analyses, men who have greater adherence to dietary patterns have a decreased risk of major CVD for all patterns. The results suggest that greater adherence to dietary patterns positively influences blood biochemical and metabolic parameters, thus reducing the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and delaying the use of drug treatments. Full article

(1) Background: Although the effects of diets used worldwide, such as the Mediterranean diet, have been repeatedly studied, the effects of diet plans developed by national nutritionists are unknown. Our cross-sectional study aimed to assess the effects of the commercial Fitlap diet plan, widely used among Estonians, on bone mineral density (BMD), while considering other influential factors (physical activity, body composition, and macro- and micro-nutrients). (2) Methods: A total of 68 women participated (followers of Fitlap diet—FDF, n = 34; age-matched controls, n = 34). Body composition, bone mineral density (BMD), including the whole body (WB) and areal BMD from the femoral neck (FN) and lumbar spine (LS), and blood micro-nutrient levels were measured. The menu analysis was based on dietary recalls. (3) Results: The Fitlap diet contains significantly more calcium (p < 0.001) and magnesium (p = 0.007). FDF consume more fiber (coef. 6.49; p < 0.001) and protein (coef. 20.12; p < 0.001), which influences fat-free mass (coef. 3674.8; p = 0.008) and vitamin B12 blood values (coef. 184.98; p < 0.001). The only influencing factor of WB BMD, LS, and FN aBMD was fat-free mass (coef. in all locations 0.000009; and p = 0.015; p = 0.015; p = 0.01, respectively). (4) Conclusions: Fitlap is an example of a commercial diet plan that has no negative effects on bones. Full article

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a reproductive, hormonal, and metabolic disorder frequently associated with insulin resistance, hyperandrogenism, chronic inflammation, and oxidative stress. Resveratrol is a naturally occurring polyphenolic stilbene found in trace amounts in some food items. It has been extensively used as a treatment option for metabolic disorders but its use in PCOS treatment has been limited. This review emphasizes the effect of resveratrol on the clinical features of PCOS, ovarian morphology, androgen profile, markers of oxidative stress, inflammatory markers, and metabolic markers associated with PCOS. Full article

Poor dietary choices are a leading cause of preventable chronic disease. Consequently, improving dietary choices is a key public health goal. While several approaches are available to influence dietary choices, consumer education is likely a key to improving the diet. One approach to educating consumers is to provide grocery store tours where consumers are provided with nutrition education where purchasing decisions are often made. At this time, there has been limited research to show the effectiveness of this approach or to develop best practices. A possible barrier to innovation in this area concerns the difficulty to get access to grocery stores to conduct tours. Moreover, these barriers may also hamper research efforts to identify best practices. A possible alternative approach is to create virtual worlds where grocery store tours can be conducted remotely. This present manuscript describes an approach to developing virtual grocery stores as a method for providing nutrition education with a description of the design possibilities. Full article