Childhood Obesity and Plasma Micronutrient Deficit of Chilean Children between 4 and 14 Years Old

Changes in Children's Adherence to Sustainable Healthy Diets During the Implementation of Chile's Food Labelling and Advertising Law: A Longitudinal Study (2016-2019)

Objectives: This longitudinal study measured changes in adherence to sustainable healthy diets in 698 Chilean children (aged 3-6 years at baseline) over the period that Chile's Food Labelling and Advertising Law was implemented. Methods: Dietary data were collected annually from 2016 to 2019 applying single multiple-pass 24 h dietary recalls to children's primary caretakers. The Planetary Health Diet Index for Children and Adolescents (PHDI-C) was used to quantify adherence to sustainable healthy diets where higher scores indicate better adherence. Linear mixed models were fitted to estimate the change in PHDI-C total and individual component scores from 2016 to 2019. Results: Mean total PHDI-C score decreased from 50.1 points in 2016 to 46.3 and 46.1 in 2018 and 2019, respectively (p-value < 0.001), suggesting that children's overall adherence to sustainable healthy diets was low and decreased over time. Intake of legumes, fruits, dark green vegetables, red and orange vegetables, and vegetable oils decreased, while intake of palm oil, red meats, and animal fats increased, resulting in small but significant declines in eight PHDI-C component scores. Whole cereal intake increased, while the consumption of dairy products and added sugars decreased, resulting in improvements in three PHDI-C component scores. Conclusions: Aside from the decrease in added sugar intake, all dietary changes observed in this study were consistent with trends described among children transitioning from pre-school age to school age. The Law might have contributed to reducing children's added sugar intake, but further research is required to establish causality.

Nutritional imbalances among university students and the urgent need for educational and nutritional interventions

Introduction

The dietary habits of children and adolescents in Chile have been identified as inadequate, potentially contributing to low levels of essential vitamins and minerals, as well as the development of chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. However, the nutritional profile of Chilean university students and the impact of their diets on this profile remain largely unknown. This study aimed to assess the nutritional profile of Finis Terrae University students in the Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile.

Methods

A retrospective 24-h dietary survey, using the Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Dietary Assessment Tool (ASA24®), was administered to 124 students between September and October 2024. Data on macronutrient and micronutrient consumption was analyzed using GraphPad Prism.

Results

Among those surveyed, 90% reported consuming at least three meals daily (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). However, 61% consumed fewer calories than recommended, only 7% met the daily intake goals for dairy, 11% met the recommended fruit and vegetable intake, and 16% fiber intake. In contrast, 65% exceeded the upper recommended limits for sodium intake. Significant deficiencies were observed in the intake of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and vitamins A, C, D, and E. Meanwhile, the intake of copper, phosphorus, selenium, folate, niacin, riboflavin, thiamine, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 met the recommended dietary allowances.

Discussion

Although most of the students consumed three meals daily, the quality of their nutritional intake was suboptimal. These findings highlight the need for educational and nutritional programs to promote healthier eating habits and improve the quality of life of university students, emphasizing regular, balanced meals, developing skills in meal preparation to reduce reliance on ultra-processed foods, and prioritizing hydration with water.

Multiomics: Functional Molecular Biomarkers of Micronutrients for Public Health Application

Adequate micronutrient intake and status are global public health goals. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are widespread and known to impair health and survival across the life stages. However, knowledge of molecular effects, metabolic pathways, biological responses to variation in micronutrient nutriture, and abilities to assess populations for micronutrient deficiencies and their pathology remain lacking. Rapidly evolving methodological capabilities in genomics, epigenomics, proteomics, and metabolomics offer unparalleled opportunities for the nutrition research community to link micronutrient exposure to cellular health; discover new, arguably essential micronutrients of microbial origin; and integrate methods of molecular biology, epidemiology, and intervention trials to develop novel approaches to assess and prevent micronutrient deficiencies in populations. In this review article, we offer new terminology to specify nutritional application of multiomic approaches and encourage collaboration across the basic to public health sciences to advance micronutrient deficiency prevention.

Overnutrition is a risk factor for iron, but not for zinc or vitamin A deficiency in children and young people: a systematic review and meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION

Traditionally associated with undernutrition, increasing evidence suggests micronutrient deficiencies can coexist with overnutrition. Therefore, this work aimed to systematically review the associations between iron, zinc and vitamin A (VA) status and weight status (both underweight and overweight) in children and young people.

METHODS

Ovid Medline, Ovid Embase, Scopus and Cochrane databases were systematically searched for observational studies assessing micronutrient status (blood, serum or plasma levels of iron, zinc or VA biomarkers) and weight status (body mass index or other anthropometric measurement) in humans under 25 years of any ethnicity and gender. Risk of bias assessment was conducted using the American Dietetic Association Quality Criteria Checklist. Where possible, random effects restricted maximum likelihood meta-analyses were performed.

RESULTS

After screening, 83 observational studies involving 190 443 participants from 44 countries were identified, with many studies having reported on more than one micronutrient and/or weight status indicator. Iron was the most investigated micronutrient, with 46, 28 and 27 studies reporting data for iron, zinc and VA status, respectively. Synthesising 16 records of OR from seven eligible studies, overnutrition (overweight and obesity) increased odds of iron deficiency (ID) (OR (95% CI): 1.51 (1.20 to 1.82), p<0.0001, I2=40.7%). Odds appeared to be higher for children living with obesity (1.88 (1.33 to 2.43), p<0.0001, I2=20.6%) in comparison to those with overweight (1.31 (0.98 to 1.64), p<0.0001, I2=40.5%), although between group differences were not significant (p=0.08).

CONCLUSIONS

Overnutrition is associated with increased risk of ID, but not zinc or VA deficiencies, with an inverted U-shaped relationship observed between iron status and bodyweight. Our results highlight significant heterogeneity in the reporting of micronutrient biomarkers and how deficiencies were defined. Inflammation status was rarely adequately accounted for, and the burden of ID may well be under-recognised, particularly in children and young people living with overnutrition.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42020221523.

Dietary Interventions in Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome

Here, we present a Special Issue of Nutrients entitled "Specialized Diet, Obesity and Associated Metabolic Diseases" containing up-to-date scientific data important to both researchers and the public [...].