Only few epidemiologic studies examined sleep characteristics in relation to dietary behaviour. Our aim was to analyse associations of sleep duration, midpoint of sleep and sleep quality with dietary ...intake among the Bavarian population.
Within the cross-sectional Bavarian Food Consumption Survey II, 1050 subjects aged 13-81 years were recruited. Dietary intake was assessed with three 24-h dietary recalls by telephone (EPIC-Soft). In our study, 814 participants aged 18 years or older, who completed at least two 24-h dietary recalls and who had complete and plausible information on sleep characteristics were analysed. Dietary intake was described by the consumption of main food groups, energy-proving nutrients and energy intake. Sleep was measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Questionnaire, from which categories of self-reported usual sleep duration in half-h-steps per night, midpoint of sleep and overall sleep quality were derived.
Sleep duration was associated with intake of non-alcoholic beverages (P<0.01), carbonated beverages (P=0.04), water (P=0.04) and coffee/black tea (P=0.01) with higher intake among short duration sleepers. No association was found between the consumption of other main food groups, energy-proving nutrients or total daily energy intake and sleep duration. Midpoint of sleep was associated with intake of carbonated beverages (P=0.02, highest intake among subjects with early midpoint of sleep). No association between sleep quality and dietary intake was detected.
Our findings demonstrate only specific associations between sleep characteristics and dietary intake, and mainly sleep duration was associated with beverage intake.
To compare macronutrient intakes out of home-by location-to those at home and to investigate differences in total daily intakes between individuals consuming more than half of their daily energy out ...of home and those eating only at home.
Data collected through 24-h recalls or diaries among 23 766 European adults. Participants were grouped as 'non-substantial', 'intermediate' and 'very substantial out-of-home' eaters based on energy intake out of home. Mean macronutrient intakes were estimated at home and out of home (overall, at restaurants, at work). Study/cohort-specific mean differences in total intakes between the 'very substantial out-of-home' and the 'at-home' eaters were estimated through linear regression and pooled estimates were derived.
At restaurants, men consumed 29% of their energy as fat, 15% as protein, 45% as carbohydrates and 11% as alcohol. Among women, fat contributed 33% of energy intake at restaurants, protein 16%, carbohydrates 45% and alcohol 6%. When eating at work, both sexes reported 30% of energy from fat and 55% from carbohydrates. Intakes at home were higher in fat and lower in carbohydrates and alcohol. Total daily intakes of the 'very substantial out-of-home' eaters were generally similar to those of individuals eating only at home, apart from lower carbohydrate and higher alcohol intakes among individuals eating at restaurants.
In a large population of adults from 11 European countries, eating at work was generally similar to eating at home. Alcoholic drinks were the primary contributors of higher daily energy intakes among individuals eating substantially at restaurants.
Depression has frequently been reported to be associated with other physical diseases and changes in the cytokine system. We aimed to investigate associations between a medical history of depression, ...its comorbidities and cytokine plasma levels in the Bavarian Nutrition Survey II (BVS II) study sample and in patients suffering from an acute depressive episode. The BVS II is a representative study of the Bavarian population aged 13-80years. The disease history of its 1050 participants was assessed through face-to-face interviews. A sub-sample of 568 subjects and 62 additional acutely depressed inpatients of the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry participated in anthropometric measurements and blood sampling. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and soluble TNF receptor (sTNF-R) p55 and sTNF-R p75 plasma levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. A history of depression was associated with a higher incidence of high blood pressure, peptic ulcer, dyslipoproteinemia, osteoporosis, allergic skin rash, atopic eczema and thyroid disease. Within the BVS II sample, participants with a history of depression differed from subjects who had never had depression with regard to sTNF-R p55 and sTNF-R p75 levels even when controlling for age, BMI and smoking status. Acutely depressed inpatients showed even higher levels of sTNF-R p55 and sTNF-R p75 than subjects in the normal population. TNF-alpha levels were also significantly elevated in acutely depressed patients. These results confirm earlier studies regarding the comorbidities of depression and support the hypothesis that activation of the TNF-alpha system may contribute to the development of a depressive disorder.
To describe the dietary patterns of 10 European countries and their socio-demographic determinants, using the comparable between-countries DAFNE data.
Analysis of standardized and postharmonized data ...collected through the national household budget surveys.
Nationally representative surveys undertaken in 10 European countries, generally in the second half of the 1990s.
The differences in the fruit and vegetable consumption previously identified between Mediterranean and Northern European countries seem to be leveling out, particularly in relation to fruit consumption. Pulses, however, still characterize the diet of the Mediterraneans. Straying from their traditional food choices, Mediterraneans recorded high availability of unprocessed red meat, while Central and Northern Europeans preferably consumed meat products. The household availability of beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) is generally higher among Central and Northern European populations. Principal component (PC) analysis led to the identification of two dietary patterns in each of the 10 countries. The first was similar in all countries and indicated 'wide-range' food buyers. The second was slightly more varied and described 'beverage and convenience' food buyers. PC1 was common among households of retired and elderly members, while PC2 was common among households located in urban or semi-urban areas and among adult Scandinavians living alone.
The dietary patterns identified point towards a progressive narrowing of dietary differences between North and South European countries. The comparable between-countries DAFNE data could prove useful in ecological studies, in the formulation of dietary guidelines and public health initiatives addressing specific population groups.
European Commission.
To describe a cost-efficient method for estimating energy and nutrient availability using household budget survey (HBS) data.
Four different approaches were tested and the results were compared with ...published nutrient intake data. The selected method was exemplarily applied in German and Greek data.
Germany, 1998; Greece, 1998/99.
Nationally representative HBSs.
Comparisons showed that HBS-based estimates were generally close to intake data when results were presented as contributions to daily energy intake. Daily energy and protein availabilities were similar in Germany and Greece. Differences were observed in the availability of carbohydrates (German households reported a 5 percentage points higher contribution to daily energy availability) and lipids (Greek households recorded higher values for total fat, but lower values for saturated fat). Meat, added lipids and potatoes were important energy suppliers in Germany, whereas in Greece the first three energy suppliers were added lipids, cereals and meat. In both countries, meat, cereals, milk and cheese were important protein sources and cereals, potatoes, fruits and nuts contributed more than 60% of the daily carbohydrate availability. Added lipids were the major source of fat in the daily diet of both countries, but their contribution amounted to less than one-third in Germany and two-thirds in Greece.
National HBS data can be used for monitoring and comparing nutrient availability among representative population samples of different countries. The ground is set for the development of a harmonised food composition table to be applied to HBS food data at international level.
Nutritional behaviour is framed by biological, anthropological, economic, psychological, socio-cultural, and home economics related determinants and it is shaped by the individual situation. From a ...public health point of view, the outcome is often unsatisfactory, because it is associated with preventable cases of various diseases. This situation evoked the founding of the German Association for Nutritional Behaviour (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Ernährungsverhalten, AGEV) which celebrated its 25th anniversary within the scope of the 10th Food Choice Conference in the summer of 2002 with a plenary session on ‘Sensible policies for nutrition and life-style intervention’. One might assume that the many determinants of nutritional behaviour provide a whole set of means to intervene into people's food choices. But closer deliberations make clear that there are two important aspects that tend to hinder dietary changes: on the one hand, nutritional behaviour is characterized by many conflicts of its related determinants. In order to cope with them, people develop individual guiding strategies for food choice situations which are quite stable as soon as they proved their suitability. On the other hand, any dietary modification leads to certain gains (like increased health), but losses, as well (like decreased palatability). Thus, a sustainable change can only be expected, if its gains are evaluated higher than its losses. These aspects need to be carefully considered when designing nutrition and life-style related intervention concepts.
Objective: Adolescents are an interesting but neglected target group in obesity prevention. We assessed the feasibility of using a diet optimization approach for computer-tailored nutrition ...interventions for adolescents. Method: Development of an optimization model based on the public health approach to diet optimization. On the basis of food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) of 48 adolescents (14-17 years) optimized diets were calculated. Results: The optimization calculations for all cases resulted in individual advice. On a total of 137 items included in the FFQ, the individualized advice included changes in a minimum of 36 and a maximum of 88 items (mean: 61 items), recommendations for changes in the food items ranged from less than 1 g day-1 up to 1660 g day-1. In almost all cases a higher intake of fruit and vegetables was recommended; some unexpected advice was also generated (for example, to decrease the consumption of brown bread and to increase the consumption of pizza). The strengths and weaknesses of the optimized diets are discussed. Conclusion: Using the optimization approach is a step forward in nutrition tailoring interventions but the model used in the present feasibility study still needs to be refined.
Due to inconsistent results based on dietary intake data, unsaturated fatty acids in red blood cell (RBC) membranes and diet were used to investigate their association with allergic sensitisation and ...allergic rhinitis.
Cross-sectional, population-based study.
Bavarian Nutrition Survey II (2002-03), Germany.
A total of 568 adult participants, 325 women and 243 men.
By means of logistic regression models, the relation of fatty acids to (i) allergic sensitisation as defined by means of specific serum immunoglobulin E analysis (CAPSX1 class > or = 2), and (ii) self-reported allergic rhinitis was examined.
A high cell membrane level of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5 n-3) was inversely associated with allergic sensitisation, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were 0.52 (0.30-0.90) for the highest (vs lowest) quartile. A similar effect was observed for allergic rhinitis with an OR (95% CI) of 0.50 (0.24-1.03; P = 0.027 for trend). A higher dietary intake of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA, 18:3 n-3) was associated with a decreased risk of allergic sensitisation and allergic rhinitis with ORs (95% CIs) of 0.51 (0.28-0.93) and 0.43 (0.20-0.93), respectively, in the highest quartiles. No other dietary or cell membrane unsaturated fatty acid was significantly associated with the outcome variables, nor was the n-6/n-3 ratio. The strongest effects were observed among subjects under the age of 40 y.
In this cross-sectional study among adults, a high content of n-3 fatty acids in RBC membranes (EPA) or in the diet (ALA) is associated with a decreased risk of allergic sensitisation and allergic rhinitis.
Background/Objectives: Only few epidemiologic studies examined sleep characteristics in relation to dietary behaviour. Our aim was to analyse associations of sleep duration, midpoint of sleep and ...sleep quality with dietary intake among the Bavarian population. Subjects/Methods: Within the cross-sectional Bavarian Food Consumption Survey II, 1050 subjects aged 13-81 years were recruited. Dietary intake was assessed with three 24-h dietary recalls by telephone (EPIC-Soft). In our study, 814 participants aged 18 years or older, who completed at least two 24-h dietary recalls and who had complete and plausible information on sleep characteristics were analysed. Dietary intake was described by the consumption of main food groups, energy-proving nutrients and energy intake. Sleep was measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Questionnaire, from which categories of self-reported usual sleep duration in half-h-steps per night, midpoint of sleep and overall sleep quality were derived. Results: Sleep duration was associated with intake of non-alcoholic beverages (P less than 0.01), carbonated beverages (P=0.04), water (P=0.04) and coffee/black tea (P=0.01) with higher intake among short duration sleepers. No association was found between the consumption of other main food groups, energy-proving nutrients or total daily energy intake and sleep duration. Midpoint of sleep was associated with intake of carbonated beverages (P=0.02, highest intake among subjects with early midpoint of sleep). No association between sleep quality and dietary intake was detected. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate only specific associations between sleep characteristics and dietary intake, and mainly sleep duration was associated with beverage intake. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2017) 71, 631-637; doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2016.264; published online 11 January 2017
Background: The valid estimation of the usual dietary intake remains a challenge till date. We applied the method suggested by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to data from the 2nd Bavarian Food ...Consumption Survey (BVS II) and compared it to an individual means approach. Methods: Within the cross-sectional BVS II, 1,050 Bavarian residents aged 13-80 years participated in a personal interview and completed three 24-h dietary recalls by telephone interview. For the 13 main food groups and 23 subgroups the usual intake was calculated by (1) an individual means approach and (2) by the NCI method. Results: The distributions derived by the individual means approach are wider than those derived from the NCI approach. For a majority of food groups and subgroups, the proportion of participants who meet the dietary recommendations published by the German Nutrition Society is higher when the NCI approach is applied. The proportions of participants above or below recommended amounts differ greatly for “meat and meat products” and “cheese.” Conclusion: The mean intake at the groups level can easily be derived from the individual means approach. Since only the NCI method accounts for intra-personal variation, this method provides more valid intake estimates at the individual level and should be applied when, for example, individual intakes are compared with dietary recommendations.
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