Since December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been spreading steadily, resulting in overwhelmed health-care systems and numerous deaths worldwide. To counter these outcomes, many ...countries, including France, put in place strict lockdown measures, requiring the temporary closure of all but essential places and causing an unprecedented disruption of daily life.
Our objective was to explore potential changes in dietary intake, physical activity, body weight, and food supply during the COVID-19 lockdown and how these differed according to individual characteristics.
The analyses included 37,252 adults from the French web-based NutriNet-Santé cohort who completed lockdown-specific questionnaires in April–May 2020. Nutrition-related changes and their sociodemographic, lifestyle, and health-status correlates were investigated using multivariable logistic regression models. Clusters of participants were defined using an ascending hierarchical classification of change profiles derived from multiple correspondence analyses.
During the lockdown, trends of unfavorable changes were observed: decreased physical activity (reported by 53% of the participants), increased sedentary time (reported by 63%), increased snacking, decreased consumption of fresh food (especially fruit and fish), and increased consumption of sweets, cookies, and cakes. Yet, the opposite trends were also observed: increased home cooking (reported by 40%) and increased physical activity (reported by 19%). Additionally, 35% of the participants gained weight (mean weight gain in these individuals, 1.8 kg ± SD 1.3 kg) and 23% lost weight (2 kg ± SD 1.4 kg weight loss). All of these trends displayed associations with various individual characteristics.
These results suggest that nutrition-related changes occurred during the lockdown in both unfavorable and favorable directions. The observed unfavorable changes should be considered in the event of a future lockdown, and should also be monitored to prevent an increase in the nutrition-related burden of disease, should these diet/physical activity changes be maintained in the long run. Understanding the favorable changes may help extend them on a broader scale. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03335644.
There is a growing trend for vegetarian and vegan diets in many Western countries. Epidemiological evidence suggesting that such diets may help in maintaining good health is rising. However, dietary ...and sociodemographic characteristics of vegetarians and vegans are not well known. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to describe sociodemographic and nutritional characteristics of self-reported, adult vegetarians and vegans, compared to meat-eaters, from the French NutriNet-Santé study.
Participants were asked if they were following a specific diet. They were then classified into three self-reported diet groups: 90,664 meat-eaters, 2370 vegetarians, and 789 vegans. Dietary data were collected using three repeated 24-h dietary records. Multivariable polytomic logistic regression models were perfomed to assess the association between the sociodemographic characteristics and type of diet. The prevalence of nutrient intake inadequacy was estimated, by sex and age for micronutrients, as well as by type of self-reported diet.
Compared with meat-eaters, vegetarians were more likely to have a higher educational level, whereas vegans had a lower education level. Compared with meat-eaters, vegetarians were more likely to be women, younger individuals, and to be self-employed or never employed rather than managerial staff. Vegetarians and vegans substituted animal protein-dense products with a higher consumption of plant protein-dense products (e.g., soy-based products or legumes). Vegetarians had the most balanced diets in terms of macronutrients, but also had a better adherence to French dietary guidelines. Vegetarians exhibited a lower estimated prevalence of inadequacies for micronutrients such as antioxidant vitamins (e.g., for vitamin E, 28.9% for vegetarian women <55 years of age vs. 41.6% in meat-eaters) while vegans exhibited a higher estimated prevalence of inadequacies for some nutrients, in particular vitamin B12 (69.9% in men and 83.4% in women <55 years of age), compared to meat-eaters.
Our study highlighted that, overall, self-reported vegetarians and vegans may meet nutritional recommendations.
People classified by a priori definitions as having metabolically healthy obesity have frequently been found to be at increased risk of mortality, compared with individuals with metabolically healthy ...normal weight, suggesting these definitions may be insufficient.
To systematically derive a new definition of metabolic health (MH) and investigate its association with cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality and total mortality.
In a cohort study using data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES-III), a representative survey using complex multistage probability sampling, anthropometric factors, biomarkers, and blood pressure (BP) associated with total and CVD mortality among participants with obesity were identified with Cox proportional hazards regression. Area under the receiver operating characteristic was calculated to identify predictive factors for mortality to be used to define MH, cutoff levels were determined by the Youden index, and the findings were validated through comparison with the independent UK Biobank cohort, a population-based prospective study. All nonpregnant participants in the databases aged 18 to 75 years with no history of CVD, body mass index greater than or equal to 18.5, and who fasted 6 or more hours before examination in NHANES-III were included; participants in the UK Biobank cohort who did not have blood measurements were excluded. The study was conducted from 2015 to 2020.
Body mass index and MH were defined by the new definition and compared with 3 a priori definitions.
Cardiovascular disease mortality and total mortality.
Within the NHANES-III (n = 12 341) cohort, mean (SD) age was 41.6 (29.2) years, 50.7% were women, and mean follow-up was 14.5 (2.7) years. Within the UK Biobank (n = 374 079) cohort, mean (SD) age was 56.2 (8.1) years, 55.1% were women, and mean follow-up was 7.8 (1.0) years. Use of blood pressure (BP)-lowering medication (hazard ratio HR for CVD mortality, 2.41; 95% CI, 1.50-3.87 and total mortality, 2.05; 95% CI, 1.47-2.84), diabetes, and several continuous factors were associated with mortality. Of all significant continuous factors, the combination of systolic BP and waist-to-hip ratio showed the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic (CVD mortality: 0.775; 95% CI, 0.770-0.781; total mortality: 0.696; 95% CI, 0.694-0.699). Thus, MH was defined as systolic BP less than 130 mm Hg, no BP-lowering medication, waist-to-hip ratio less than 0.95 for women and less than 1.03 for men, and no self-reported (ie, prevalent) diabetes. In both cohorts, metabolically healthy obesity was not associated with CVD and total mortality compared with metabolically healthy normal weight. For NHANES-III, the hazard ratio was 0.68 (95% CI, 0.30-1.54) for CVD mortality and 1.03 (95% CI, 0.70-1.51) for total mortality. For UK Biobank, the hazard ratio was 1.17 (95% CI, 0.81-1.69) for CVD mortality and 0.98 (95% CI, 0.87-1.10) for total mortality. Regardless of body mass index, all metabolically unhealthy groups displayed increased risks.
This newly proposed definition of MH may identify a subgroup of people with obesity without increased risk of mortality and stratify risks in people who are overweight or normal weight.
In the current context of unsustainable food systems, we aimed to develop and validate an index, the sustainable diet index (SDI), assessing the sustainability of dietary patterns, including ...multidimensional individual indicators of sustainability. Based on the FAO’s definition of sustainable diets, the SDI includes seven indicators categorised into four standardised sub-indexes, respectively, environmental, nutritional, economic and sociocultural. The index (range: 4–20) was obtained by summing the sub-indexes. We computed the SDI for 29 388 participants in the NutriNet-Santé cohort study, estimated its validity and identified potential socio-demographic or lifestyle differences across the SDI quintile. In our sample, the SDI (mean=12·10/20; 95 % CI 12·07, 12·13) was highly correlated to all the sub-indexes that exerted substantial influence on the participants’ ranking. The environmental and economical sub-indexes were the most and less correlated with the SDI (Pearson R
2 0·66 and 0·52, respectively). Dietary patterns of participants with a high SDI (considered as more sustainable) were concordant with the already published sustainable diets. Participants with high SDI scores were more often women (24 %), post-secondary graduates (22 %) and vegetarians or vegans (7 %), without obesity (16 %). Finally, the SDI could be a useful tool to easily assess the sustainability-related changes in dietary patterns, estimate the association with long-term health outcomes and help guide future public health policies.
Aims/hypothesis
Studies suggest decreased mortality risk among people who are overweight or obese compared with individuals with normal weight in type 2 diabetes (obesity paradox). However, the ...relationship between body weight or weight change and microvascular vs macrovascular complications of type 2 diabetes remains unresolved. We investigated the association between BMI and BMI change with long-term risk of microvascular and macrovascular complications in type 2 diabetes in a prospective cohort study.
Methods
We studied participants with incident type 2 diabetes from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Potsdam cohort, who were free of cancer, cardiovascular disease and microvascular disease at diagnosis (
n
= 1083). Pre-diagnosis BMI and relative annual change between pre- and post-diagnosis BMI were evaluated in multivariable-adjusted Cox models.
Results
There were 85 macrovascular (myocardial infarction and stroke) and 347 microvascular events (kidney disease, neuropathy and retinopathy) over a median follow-up of 10.8 years. Median pre-diagnosis BMI was 29.9 kg/m
2
(IQR 27.4–33.2), and the median relative annual BMI change was −0.4% (IQR −2.1 to 0.9). Higher pre-diagnosis BMI was positively associated with total microvascular complications (multivariable-adjusted HR per 5 kg/m
2
95% CI: 1.21 1.07, 1.36, kidney disease 1.39 1.21, 1.60 and neuropathy 1.12 0.96, 1.31) but not with macrovascular complications (HR 1.05 95% CI 0.81, 1.36). Analyses according to BMI categories corroborated these findings. Effect modification was not evident by sex, smoking status or age groups. In analyses according to BMI change categories, BMI loss of more than 1% indicated a decreased risk of total microvascular complications (HR 0.62 95% CI 0.47, 0.80), kidney disease (HR 0.57 95% CI 0.40, 0.81) and neuropathy (HR 0.73 95% CI 0.52, 1.03), compared with participants with a stable BMI; no clear association was observed for macrovascular complications (HR 1.04 95% CI 0.62, 1.74). The associations between BMI gain compared with stable BMI and diabetes-related vascular complications were less apparent. Associations were consistent across strata of sex, age, pre-diagnosis BMI or medication but appeared to be stronger among never-smokers compared with current or former smokers.
Conclusions/interpretation
Among people with incident type 2 diabetes, pre-diagnosis BMI was positively associated with microvascular complications, while a reduced risk was observed with weight loss when compared with stable weight. The relationships with macrovascular disease were less clear.
Graphical abstract
Abstract
Background
Research on the effect of pesticide exposure on health has been largely focused on occupational settings. Few reviews have synthesized the associations between dietary pesticide ...exposure and health outcomes in non-occupationally exposed adults.
Objective
We aim to summarize the evidence regarding dietary pesticide exposure and non-communicable diseases (NCD) in adults, using a systematic review of prospective studies.
Methods
Electronic and manual searches were performed until July 2023. The inclusion criteria were the following: 1) adults aged ≥ 18years, 2) (non)-randomized trials, prospective cohort studies, 3) dietary exposure to pesticides. A bias analysis was carried out using the Nutrition Evidence Systematic Review guidelines based on the Cochrane ROBINS-I.
Results
A total of 52 studies were retrieved and 6 studies that met the above criteria were included. Studies were conducted either in France or in the United States. The studies investigated the risk of cancer (
n
= 3), diabetes (
n
= 1), cardiovascular diseases (
n
= 1), and mortality (
n
= 1). The quality of the studies varied with overall grades derived from the bias analysis ranging from low to moderate bias. The level of evidence was estimated as low for the risk of cancer while the grading was not assignable for other outcomes, as only one study per outcome was available.
Conclusions
Although further research is warranted to examine more in depth the relationships between low-dose chronic exposure to pesticides through diet and NCD outcomes in non-occupationally-exposed adults, studies suggest a possible role of exposure to dietary pesticide on health. Standardized methodological guidelines should also be proposed to allow for comparison across studies.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The purpose of this study was to examine food choice motives associated with various organic and conventional dietary patterns among 22,366 participants of the NutriNet-Santé study. Dietary intakes ...were estimated using a food frequency questionnaire. Food choice motives were assessed using a validated 63-item-questionnaire gathered into nine food choice motive dimension scores: "absence of contaminants", "avoidance for environmental reasons", "ethics and environment", "taste", "innovation", "local and traditional production", "price", "health" and "convenience". Five consumers' clusters were identified: "standard conventional food small eaters", "unhealthy conventional food big eaters", "standard organic food small eaters", "green organic food eaters" and "hedonist moderate organic food eaters". Relationships between food choice motive dimension scores and consumers' clusters were assessed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) models adjusted for sociodemographic factors. "Green organic food eaters" had the highest mean score for the "health" dimension, while "unhealthy conventional food big eaters" obtained the lowest mean score for the "absence of contaminants" dimension. "Standard organic food small eaters", "green organic food eaters" and "hedonist moderate organic food eaters" had comparable scores for the "taste" dimension. "Unhealthy conventional food big eaters" had the highest mean score for the "price" dimension while "green organic food eaters" had the lowest mean scores for the "innovation" and "convenience" dimensions. These results provide new insights into the food choice motives of diverse consumers' profiles including "green" and "hedonist" eaters.
•Little is known about dietary pesticide exposure profiles and BW change.•The lower dietary exposure to synthetic pesticides the lower weight gain in women.•The lower weight gain is observed in ...premenopausal women only.•The higher dietary exposure to a pesticide mixture the higher weight loss in men.
Pesticides cause a wide range of deleterious health effects, including metabolic disorders. Little is known about the effects of dietary pesticide exposure on body weight (BW) change in the general population.
We aimed to investigate the role of dietary pesticide exposure in BW change among NutriNet-Santé participants, focusing on potential sexual dimorphism.
Participants completed a Food Frequency Questionnaire (2014), assessing conventional and organic food consumption. Dietary exposure from plant foods of 25 commonly used pesticides was estimated using a residue database, accounting for agricultural practices (conventional and organic).
Exposure profiles based on dietary patterns were computed using Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF). Mixed models were used to estimate the associations between BW change and exposure to pesticide mixtures, overall and after stratification by sex and menopausal status.
The final sample included 32,062 participants (8,211 men, 10,637 premenopausal, and 13,214 postmenopausal women). The median (IQR) follow-up was 7.0 (4.4; 8.0) years. Four pesticides profiles were inferred.
Overall, men and postmenopausal women lost BW during follow-up, whereas premenopausal women gained BW.
Higher exposure to NMF3, reflecting a lower exposure to synthetic pesticides, was associated with a lower BW gain, especially in premenopausal women (β(95 %CI) = -0.04 (-0.07; 0) kg/year, p = 0.04).
Higher exposure to NMF2, highly positively correlated with a mixture of synthetic pesticides (azoxystrobin, boscalid, chlorpropham, cyprodinil, difenoconazole, fenhexamid, iprodione, tebuconazole, and lamda-cyhalothrin), was associated with a higher BW loss in men (β(95 %CI) = -0.05 (-0.08; −0.03) kg/year, p < 0.0001). No associations were observed for NMF1 and 4.
This study suggests a role of pesticide exposure, inferred from dietary patterns, on BW change, with sexually dimorphic actions, including a potential role of a lower exposure to synthetic pesticides on BW change in women. In men, exposure to a specific pesticide mixture was associated with higher BW loss. The underlying mechanisms need further elucidation.
We aimed to explore the relationship between socio-economic characteristics and sustainable dietary patterns.
Dietary data were derived from a web-based FFQ. Diet sustainability was evaluated using a ...modified Sustainable Diet Index, comprising nutritional, environmental and cultural components (higher scores expressing higher sustainability). The socio-economic position markers were education, household income and occupation status. Multi-adjusted linear and Poisson regression models were used to assess the cross-sectional association of the markers of socio-economic status with a sustainable diet and sustainability subcomponents, respectively.
France.
29 119 NutriNet-Santé participants.
Individuals with a more sustainable diet had slightly higher diet monetary cost, lower total energy intake and consumed less animal-based foods than their counterparts. Lower education level was associated with lower overall diet sustainability (
= -0·62, 95 % CI (-0·72, -0·51)) and nutrition, socio-cultural and environmental subscores. Manual workers and employees had a lower modified Sustainable Diet Index than intermediate professionals (
= -0·43, 95 % CI (-0·52, -0·33) and
= -0·56, 95 % CI (-0·64, -0·48)). Participants with the lowest
. highest incomes had a higher environmental subscore but a lower socio-cultural subscore, whereas the results were less marked for occupational status.
Overall, our results documented associations between socio-economic status and the level of diet sustainability, arguing for the implementation of appropriate food policies to promote sustainable diets at lower cost.
Abstract
Animal production is responsible for 56–58% of the GHG emissions and limiting meat consumption would strongly contribute to reducing human health risks in Western countries. This study aimed ...to investigate the nature of protein intake as a discriminating factor for diets’ sustainability. Using data from 29,210 French adults involved in the NutriNet-Santé cohort, we identified clusters according to 23 protein sources. A multicriteria (environmental, economic, nutritional and health) sustainability analysis was then conducted on the identified clusters. The economic analysis focused on both food and protein expenditure structures, using a budget coefficient approach. Relative values of clusters compared to the whole sample were calculated. We identified five clusters: milk-based, meat-based, fast food-based, healthy-fish-based, and healthy-plant-based. We found that the healthy-plant-based and healthy-fish-based clusters were the most sustainable, conciliating the compromise between human health (0.25 and 0.53 respectively for the Health Risk Score) and the protection of the environment (− 62% and − 19% respectively for the pReCiPe indicator). Conversely, the highest environmental impacts (+ 33% for the pReCiPe indicator) and the highest health risk (0.95 for the HRS) were observed for the meat-based cluster, which was associated with the lowest nutritional scores (− 61% for the PNNS-GS2 score). The economic analysis showed that the healthy-plant-based cluster was the one with the highest food budget coefficient (+ 46%), followed by the healthy-fish-based cluster (+ 8%), partly explained by a strong share of organic food in the diet. However, the meat-based cluster spent more of their food budget on their protein intake (+ 13%), while the healthy-plant-based cluster exhibited the lowest expenditure for this intake (− 41%). Our results demonstrate that the nature of protein intake is a discriminating factor in diet sustainability. Also, reducing animal protein consumption would generate co-benefits beyond environmental impacts, by being favorable for health, while reducing the monetary cost associated with protein intake.