Nowadays the food production, supply and consumption chain represent a major cause of ecological pressure on the natural environment, and diet links worldwide human health with environmental ...sustainability. Food policy, dietary guidelines and food security strategies need to evolve from the limited historical approach, mainly focused on nutrients and health, to a new one considering the environmental, socio-economic and cultural impact-and thus the sustainability-of diets.
To present an updated version of the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid (MDP) to reflect multiple environmental concerns.
We performed a revision and restructuring of the MDP to incorporate more recent findings on the sustainability and environmental impact of the Mediterranean Diet pattern, as well as its associations with nutrition and health. For each level of the MDP we provided a third dimension featuring the corresponding environmental aspects related to it.
The new environmental dimension of the MDP enhances food intake recommendations addressing both health and environmental issues. Compared to the previous 2011 version, it emphasizes more strongly a lower consumption of red meat and bovine dairy products, and a higher consumption of legumes and locally grown eco-friendly plant foods as much as possible.
The Mediterranean Diet has been associated with greater longevity and quality of life in epidemiological studies, the majority being observational. The application of evidence-based medicine to the ...area of public health nutrition involves the necessity of developing clinical trials and systematic reviews to develop sound recommendations. The purpose of this study was to analyze and review the experimental studies on Mediterranean diet and disease prevention. A systematic review was made and a total of 43 articles corresponding to 35 different experimental studies were selected. Results were analyzed for the effects of the Mediterranean diet on lipoproteins, endothelial resistance, diabetes and antioxidative capacity, cardiovascular diseases, arthritis, cancer, body composition, and psychological function. The Mediterranean diet showed favorable effects on lipoprotein levels, endothelium vasodilatation, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, antioxidant capacity, myocardial and cardiovascular mortality, and cancer incidence in obese patients and in those with previous myocardial infarction. Results disclose the mechanisms of the Mediterranean diet in disease prevention, particularly in cardiovascular disease secondary prevention, but also emphasize the need to undertake experimental research and systematic reviews in the areas of primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, infectious diseases, age-related cognitive impairment, and cancer, among others. Interventions should use food scores or patterns to ascertain adherence to the Mediterranean diet. Further experimental research is needed to corroborate the benefits of the Mediterranean diet and the underlying mechanisms, and in this sense the methodology of the ongoing PREDIMED study is explained.
The relation between the consumption of sweetened beverages and metabolic syndrome (MetS) is controversial.
This analysis evaluated the associations between intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages ...(SSBs), artificially sweetened beverages, and natural and bottled fruit juices and the incidence of MetS in elderly individuals at high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and without MetS at baseline.
We prospectively examined 1868 participants free of MetS at baseline from the PREDIMED (PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea) study. MetS was defined by using the updated harmonized criteria of the International Diabetes Federation, the American Heart Association, and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Energy and nutrient intakes were evaluated at baseline and then yearly by using a validated 137-item food-frequency questionnaire. Multivariable-adjusted HRs for MetS and its components were estimated from mean intakes during follow-up. We compared the 2 highest consumption categories (1-5 and >5 servings/wk) with the lowest category (<1 serving/wk).
A total of 930 incident cases of MetS were documented during a median follow-up of 3.24 y. When we compared consumption of >5 servings/wk with consumption of <1 serving/wk, multivariable HRs (95% CIs) for MetS incidence were 1.43 (1.00, 2.15), 1.74 (1.26, 2.41), 1.30 (1.00, 1.69), and 1.14 (1.04, 1.65) for SSBs, artificially sweetened beverages, natural fruit juices, and bottled fruit juices, respectively.
The occasional consumption of SSBs and artificially sweetened beverages (1-5 servings/wk) was not associated with the incidence of MetS in middle-aged and elderly individuals at high risk of CVD. The consumption of >5 servings/wk of all of the types of beverages analyzed was associated with an increased risk of MetS and some of its components. However, for SSBs and bottled fruit juices these associations must be interpreted with caution because of the low frequency of consumption in this population. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as ISRCTN35739639.
Aims
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) on the incidence of heart failure (HF), a pre‐specified secondary outcome in the PREDIMED (PREvención con ...DIeta MEDiterránea) primary nutrition‐intervention prevention trial.
Methods and results
Participants at high risk of cardiovascular disease were randomly assigned to one of three diets: MedDiet supplemented with extra‐virgin olive oil (EVOO), MedDiet supplemented with nuts, or a low‐fat control diet. Incident HF was ascertained by a Committee for Adjudication of events blinded to group allocation. Among 7403 participants without prevalent HF followed for a median of 4.8 years, we observed 29 new HF cases in the MedDiet with EVOO group, 33 in the MedDiet with nuts group, and 32 in the control group. No significant association with HF incidence was found for the MedDiet with EVOO and MedDiet with nuts, compared with the control group hazard ratio (HR) 0.68; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.41–1.13, and HR 0.92; 95% CI 0.56–1.49, respectively.
Conclusion
In this sample of adults at high cardiovascular risk, the MedDiet did not result in lower HF incidence. However, this pre‐specified secondary analysis may have been underpowered to provide valid conclusions. Further randomized controlled trials with HF as a primary outcome are needed to better assess the effect of the MedDiet on HF risk.
Trial registration: ISRCTN35739639.
Background
The relationship between plasma concentrations of betaine and choline metabolism and major cardiovascular disease (CVD) end points remains unclear. We have evaluated the association ...between metabolites from the choline pathway and risk of incident CVD and the potential modifying effect of Mediterranean diet interventions.
Methods and Results
We designed a case‐cohort study nested within the PREDIMED (Prevention With Mediterranean Diet) trial, including 229 incident CVD cases and 751 randomly selected participants at baseline, followed up for 4.8 years. We used liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry to measure, at baseline and at 1 year of follow‐up, plasma concentrations of 5 metabolites in the choline pathway: trimethylamine N‐oxide, betaine, choline, phosphocholine, and α‐glycerophosphocholine. We have calculated a choline metabolite score using a weighted sum of these 5 metabolites. We used weighted Cox regression models to estimate CVD risk. The multivariable hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) per 1‐SD increase in choline and α‐glycerophosphocholine metabolites were 1.24 (1.05–1.46) and 1.24 (1.03–1.50), respectively. The baseline betaine/choline ratio was inversely associated with CVD. The baseline choline metabolite score was associated with a 2.21‐fold higher risk of CVD across extreme quartiles (95% confidence interval, 1.36–3.59; P<0.001 for trend) and a 2.27‐fold higher risk of stroke (95% confidence interval, 1.24–4.16; P<0.001 for trend). Participants in the higher quartiles of the score who were randomly assigned to the control group had a higher risk of CVD compared with participants in the lower quartile and assigned to the Mediterranean diet groups (P=0.05 for interaction). No significant associations were observed for 1‐year changes in individual plasma metabolites and CVD.
Conclusions
A metabolite score combining plasma metabolites from the choline pathway was associated with an increased risk of CVD in a Mediterranean population at high cardiovascular risk.
Clinical Trial Registration
URL: http://www.controlled-trials.com. Unique identifier: ISRCTN35739639.
The Mediterranean Diet (MedDiet) has been promoted as a means of preventing and treating cardiodiabesity. The aim of this study was to answer a number of key clinical questions (CQs) about the role ...of the MedDiet in cardiodiabesity in order to provide a framework for the development of clinical practice guidelines. A systematic review was conducted to answer five CQs formulated using the Patient, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome (PICO) criteria. Twenty articles published between September 2013 and July 2016 were included, adding to the 37 articles from the previous review. There is a high level of evidence showing that MedDiet adherence plays a role in the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and improves health in overweight and obese patients. There is moderate-to-high evidence that the MedDiet prevents increases in weight and waist circumference in non-obese individuals, and improves metabolic syndrome (MetS) and reduces its incidence. Finally, there is moderate evidence that the MedDiet plays primary and secondary roles in the prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The MedDiet is effective in preventing obesity and MetS in healthy and at-risk individuals, in reducing mortality risk in overweight or obese individuals, in decreasing the incidence of T2DM and CVD in healthy individuals, and in reducing symptom severity in individuals with T2DM or CVD.
Limited prospective studies have examined the association between legumes consumption and mortality, whereas scarce, if at all, previous studies have evaluated such associations taking into ...consideration specific grain legumes. We aimed to investigate the association between total legumes consumption and grain legumes species (dry beans, chickpeas, lentils, and fresh peas) with all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer and other-cause mortality among elderly Mediterranean individuals at high CVD risk.
We prospectively assessed 7216 participants from the PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea study. Dietary intake was assessed at baseline and yearly during follow-up by using a validated food frequency questionnaire.
During a median follow-up of 6.0 years, 425 total deaths, 103 CVD deaths, 169 cancer deaths and 153 due to other-causes deaths occurred. Hazard ratios (HRs) 95% confidence interval (CI) of CVD mortality were 1.52 (1.02–2.89) (P-trend = 0.034) and 2.23 (1.32–3.78) (P-trend = 0.002) for the 3rd tertile of total legumes and dry beans consumption, respectively, compared with the 1st tertile. When comparing extreme tertiles, higher total legumes and lentils consumption was associated with 49% (HR: 0.51; 95% CI: 0.31–0.84; P-trend = 0.009) and 37% (HR: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.40–0.98; P-trend = 0.049) lower risk of cancer mortality. Similar associations were observed for CVD death in males and for cancer death in males, obese and diabetic participants.
These findings support the benefits of legumes consumption for cancer mortality prevention which may be counterbalanced by their higher risk for CVD mortality.
The trial is registered at http://www.controlled-trials.com (ISRCTN35739639). Registration date: 5th October 2005.
There is growing interest in the potential health-related effects of moderate alcohol consumption and, specifically, of beer. This review provides an assessment of beer-associated effects on ...cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors to identify a consumption level that can be considered "moderate". We identified all prospective clinical studies and systematic reviews that evaluated the health effects of beer published between January 2007 and April 2020. Five of six selected studies found a protective effect of moderate alcohol drinking on cardiovascular disease (beer up to 385 g/week) vs. abstainers or occasional drinkers. Four out of five papers showed an association between moderate alcohol consumption (beer intake of 84 g alcohol/week) and decreased mortality risk. We concluded that moderate beer consumption of up to 16 g alcohol/day (1 drink/day) for women and 28 g/day (1-2 drinks/day) for men is associated with decreased incidence of cardiovascular disease and overall mortality, among other metabolic health benefits.
The popularity of botanical products is on the rise in Europe, with consumers using them to complement their diets or to maintain health, and products are taken in many different forms (e.g. teas, ...juices, herbal medicinal products, plant food supplements (PFS)). However there is a scarcity of data on the usage of such products at European level.
To provide an overview of the characteristics and usage patterns of PFS consumers in six European countries.
Data on PFS usage were collected in a cross-sectional, retrospective survey of PFS consumers using a bespoke frequency of PFS usage questionnaire.
A total sample of 2359 adult PFS consumers from Finland, Germany, Italy, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Descriptive analyses were conducted, with all data stratified by gender, age, and country. Absolute frequencies, percentages and 95% confidence intervals are reported.
Overall, an estimated 18.8% of screened survey respondents used at least one PFS. Characteristics of PFS consumers included being older, well-educated, never having smoked and self-reporting health status as "good or very good". Across countries, 491 different botanicals were identified in the PFS products used, with Ginkgo biloba (Ginkgo), Oenothera biennis (Evening primrose) and Cynara scolymus (Artichoke) being most frequently reported; the most popular dose forms were capsules and pills/tablets. Most consumers used one product and half of all users took single-botanical products. Some results varied across countries.
The PlantLIBRA consumer survey is unique in reporting on usage patterns of PFS consumers in six European countries. The survey highlights the complexity of measuring the intake of such products, particularly at pan-European level. Incorporating measures of the intake of botanicals in national dietary surveys would provide much-needed data for comprehensive risk and benefit assessments at the European level.
Scope
Consumption of meat has been associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D), but if plasma metabolite profiles associated with these foods reflect this relationship is unknown. The ...objective is to identify a metabolite signature of consumption of total meat (TM), red meat (RM), processed red meat (PRM), and fish and examine if they are associated with T2D risk.
Methods and results
The discovery population includes 1833 participants from the PREDIMED trial. The internal validation sample includes 1522 participants with available 1‐year follow‐up metabolomic data. Associations between metabolites and TM, RM, PRM, and fish are evaluated with elastic net regression. Associations between the profiles and incident T2D are estimated using Cox regressions. The profiles included 72 metabolites for TM, 69 for RM, 74 for PRM, and 66 for fish. After adjusting for T2D risk factors, only profiles of TM (Hazard Ratio (HR): 1.25, 95% CI: 1.06‐1.49), RM (HR: 1.27, 95% CI: 1.07‐1.52), and PRM (HR: 1.27, 95% CI: 1.07‐1.51) are associated with T2D.
Conclusions
The consumption of TM, its subtypes, and fish is associated with different metabolites, some of which have been previously associated with T2D. Scores based on the identified metabolites for TM, RM, and PRM show a significant association with T2D risk.
Meat has been associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D), but if plasma metabolite signatures associated with these foods reflect this relationship is unknown. The aim is to identify meat and fish metabolite signatures and examine if they are associated with T2D. Meat and fish are associated with sets of metabolites, but only meat‐related signatures are associated with T2D.
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