The Nordic Nutrition Recommendations and prostate cancer risk in the Cancer of the Prostate in Sweden (CAPS) study

Nordic Nutrition Recommendations and risk of myocardial infarction and stroke: a prospective cohort study

PURPOSE

The Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR) are developed to prevent diet-related diseases. This study aimed to examine adherence to the NNR and risk of myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke among women and men in Sweden.

METHODS

We followed 34,898 adults from 1997 to 2016. Dietary intake was assessed once at baseline using a food frequency questionnaire. Adherence scores corresponding to NNR-editions from 2023, 2012, 2004 and 1996 were calculated. Scores were categorized into low (reference category), moderate and high adherence. Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusted for potential confounders were used to estimate hazards ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

RESULTS

We identified 1649 incident cases of MI and 2071 incident cases of stroke during follow-up (mean 17.9 years). For each 1-point increase in the NNR2023-score (range 0-9), the rate of MI decreased by 14% (HR: 0.86; 95% CI 0.78-0.95). High adherence was associated with a lower rate of MI (HR: 0.72; 95% CI 0.59-0.87) (p-trend = 0.01). Moderate adherence was associated with a lower rate of stroke (HR: 0.88; 95% CI 0.78-0.99) (p-trend = 0.31). Among women, a 23% lower rate of MI (HR: 0.77; 95% CI 0.67-0.89) was observed for each 1-point increase, and high adherence was associated with a lower rate of MI (HR: 0.59; 95% CI 0.45-0.78). No associations were found in men. The results were similar, though attenuated, for earlier NNR-editions.

CONCLUSION

Adherence to the NNR was associated with a reduced risk of MI. This association was more pronounced among women than among men and in more recent NNR-editions. The findings for stroke need further investigation.

Effect of dietary n-6: n-3 Poly-Unsaturated fatty acids ratio on gestational diabetes mellitus: a prospective cohort

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between dietary n-6: n-3 poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) ratio and the risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 100 pregnant women were prospectively included for detailed information on dietary intake at 16-18 weeks evaluated using a three-day food record, and subsequent GDM diagnosis at 24-28 weeks. Participants were divided into two groups for analysis: GDM group (n = 22) and control group (n = 78) based on oral glucose tolerance test results performed between 24 and 28 weeks.

RESULTS

The average dietary n-6: n-3 PUFA ratio in the control group was 5.63 ± 2.12 and that in the GDM group was 8.35 ± 3.45, within a significant difference (p < .05). A significant difference was associated with a higher dietary n-6: n-3 PUFA ratio and GDM (adjusted odds ratio = 4.29, 95%confidence interval:1.303, 14.124).

CONCLUSIONS

Higher dietary n-6: n-3 PUFA ratio was associated with higher odds of GDM. Given the small sample, further studies are required to confirm this hypothesis.

Intake and adherence to energy and nutrient recommendations among women and men with binge-type eating disorders and healthy controls

BACKGROUND & AIMS

Research quantifying dietary intake in individuals with bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder (i.e., binge-type eating disorders) is surprisingly scant. We assessed the dietary intake of women and men with binge-type eating disorders in a large case-control study and compared them with healthy controls. We also evaluated the extent to which their dietary intake adhered to the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations. Among cases, we assessed the relationship of binge eating frequency with energy and macronutrient intake.

METHODS

We derived the total daily energy, macro-, and micronutrient intake of 430 cases with binge-type eating disorders (women: n = 391, men: n = 39) and 1227 frequency-matched controls (women: n = 1,213, men: n = 14) who completed the MiniMeal-Q, a validated food frequency questionnaire. We calculated mean intake for men and women and, in women, compared mean intake of energy and nutrients between cases and controls using linear regression. We calculated the proportion of women and men who met the recommended intake levels from the NNR, and compared these proportions in female cases and controls using logistic regression. We used linear regression to examine energy and macronutrient intake of women with varying frequencies of current binge-eating.

RESULTS

Female, but not male cases, had a higher mean intake of total energy/day compared with controls and higher intake than recommended. The majority in all groups (male and female cases and controls) exceeded saturated fat recommendations, and did not meet recommendations for omega-3 fatty acid intake. Among all groups, adherence was low for vitamin D, selenium, and salt. Iron and folate intake was low among the majority of women, especially controls. Female cases with ≥4 binge-eating episodes in the past 28 days had higher intake of energy and percent carbohydrates, and lower intake of percent fat, compared to cases with no binge-eating episodes in the past month.

CONCLUSIONS

Higher than recommended total daily energy intake among women with binge-type eating disorders may lead to weight gain and downstream health complications, if persistent. In most women, iron and folate intake was insufficient, which may have negative consequences for reproductive health. We found suboptimal adherence for key nutrients that are important to limit (saturated fat and salt) or meet (omega-3 fatty acids) for cardiovascular and overall health in all groups. Nutrition counseling should form an important pillar of treatment to assist with normalization of eating patterns and may also benefit individuals without eating disorders to optimize nutrient intake for long term health promotion.

Assessing Overall Diet Quality: Development and Evaluation of the Performance of a Short Self-Administrated Questionnaire SCASA

Several tools assessing diet quality have been developed over the last decades, but their use in public health and clinical practice is limited because they necessitate detailed quantitative assessment of food intake. Our goal was to develop and validate a score (Score d’Alimentation Saine, SCASA) based on a short self-administrated online questionnaire to assess overall diet quality. SCASA targets the adult population in French-speaking Switzerland, but it was designed in a way enabling its adaptation for other regions. The choice of the items involved experts and lay volunteers. Construct validation and inter-method reliability were assessed by screening meal plans and by comparing the self-rated scores with food-record derived scores (kappa and Bland–Altman). SCASA (17 components) discriminated adequately balanced from imbalanced meal plans (93–95% and 44–46% of maximal score). Agreement between self-assessed and food record-based scores ranged between >90% (3 items), 80–89% (3 items), 70–79% (4 items), and <70% (5 items). The Bland–Altman plot showed a mean difference of −1.60 (95% CI −2.36 to −0.84), indicating a slight overestimation of the self-assessed diet quality compared to the food record. SCASA offers a reliable way to assess overall diet quality without requiring burdensome data collection or nutrient calculations.

Index-Based Dietary Patterns and the Risk of Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause for cancer incidence in male. Although this high incidence is due to prostate specific antigen screening, other risk-factors, such as diet, might also be involved. The results of previous studies on the association between prostate cancer risk and individual dietary components have been conflicting. Thus, evaluation by dietary pattern analysis rather than individual dietary factors is suggested. The purpose of this study was to review the association of prostate cancer with a priori dietary indices, which are less studied and reviewed to date compared to a posteriori indices. Studies reviewed in this research were published from January 1997 to March 2017. Seventeen studies with nine indices were selected. In Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS), all four studies were non-significant. In Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII), 3 out of 4 studies significantly increased risk by 1.33-2.39 times, suggesting that a higher pro-inflammatory diet may be a possible prostate cancer risk factor. In Oxidative Balance Score (OBS), 2 out of 5 studies had decreased risk by 0.28 and 0.34 times, whereas 1 study had increased risk by 1.17 times. Among other indices, Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and prostate cancer dietary index were associated with decreased risk, while the results from 2 studies of Low Carbohydrate, High Protein Diet (LCHP) score were conflicting. In conclusion, we observed that it is insufficient to support the association between a priori indices and prostate cancer risk, except for MDS and DII, which had relatively constant results among studies. Therefore, further studies are required to identify consistent criteria for each a priori index, and should be conducted actively in various populations.