Creation of a database for the estimation of cereal fibre content in foods

Food composition data provides a useful tool to calculate nutrient intake based on reported dietary consumption. This intake data may then be analysed for associations with health outcomes. Despite evidence for favourable health outcomes associated with cereal fibre intake, there is no existing quantification of cereal fibre within the vast majority of food databases. This study aimed to expand an existing Australian food database, the AUSNUT 2011-13, to include cereal fibre content of all foods and food products (n = 5741). Cereal fibre content (g) per 100 g was calculated using a systematic recipe-based approach, a food label-based approach and input from manufacturers. Overall 1918 foods were identified as containing ≫ \u3e 0.1% cereal fibre, spanning 19 of 24 major food groups. While the Cereal based products and dishes group contained the majority (47.2%) of these foods, the vast range of contributing food groups indicates the presence of cereal fibre in small amounts in a wide variety of food products. This paper describes methods that can be adapted for use within databases outside Australia. The database may allow assessment of cereal fibre intake within any Australian group that can then be applied in determining associations of cereal fibre intake with health outcomes

Does a standardised dinner meal consumed the evening prior to testing add methodological integrity to an acute meal test study design?

Abstract of an oral paper that was presented at the Dietitians Association of Australia 31st National Conference. Incorporating: 2nd World Forum on Nutrition Research - Translating the Principles of the Mediterranean Diet, 15-17 May 2014, Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Whole grain, bran and cereal fibre consumption and CVD: A systematic review

Whole grain intake is associated with lower CVD risk in epidemiological studies. It is unclear to what extent cereal fibre, located primarily within the bran, is responsible. This review aimed to evaluate association between intake of whole grain, cereal fibre and bran and CVD risk. Academic databases were searched for human studies published before March 2018. Observational studies reporting whole grain and cereal fibre or bran intake in association with any CVD-related outcome were included. Studies were separated into those defining whole grain using a recognised definition (containing the bran, germ and endosperm in their natural proportions) (three studies, seven publications) and those using an alternative definition, such as including added bran as a whole grain source (eight additional studies, thirteen publications). Intake of whole grain, cereal fibre and bran were similarly associated with lower risk of CVD-related outcomes. Within the initial analysis, where studies used the recognised whole grain definition, results were less likely to show attenuation after adjustment for cereal fibre content. The fibre component of grain foods appears to play an important role in protective effects of whole grains. Adjusting for fibre content, associations remained, suggesting that additional components within the whole grain, and the bran component, may contribute to cardio-protective association. The limited studies and considerable discrepancy in defining and calculating whole grain intake limit conclusions. Future research should utilise a consistent definition and methodical approach of calculating whole grain intake to contribute to a greater body of consistent evidence surrounding whole grain

Establishing consensus on nutrition competencies for medicine: a Delphi study

Background: Significant research, regulatory bodies and even governmental resolutions have identified meaningful nutrition education for medical and other healthcare professionals as a priority. Doctors are well placed to provide nutrition care, yet nutrition education in medicine remains inadequate regardless of country, setting, or year of training. There remains a need to establish an accepted benchmark on nutrition competencies for medicine, as without consensus standards there is little likelihood of uniform adoption. Objective: This study aimed to establish consensus on nutrition competencies using a Delphi process to inform a framework for nutrition education in medicine. Methods: A three-round modified online Delphi survey of experts in healthcare practice, education and training, and experts by experience (service users) was conducted to provide a comprehensive consensus on nutrition competencies for medical practice. Results: Fifty-two experts (15.1% response rate) participated in Round 1, 42 completed Round 2 and 47 completed Round 3. Participants included medical professionals, dietitians, academics working in health professions education and policymakers from Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Northern Ireland. Twenty-seven service users (57.5% response rate) completed the Round 1 questionnaire, 19 completed Round 2 and 16 completed Round 3. By consensus, 25 nutrition competencies for medicine were defined. The service user panel identified an additional seven skills and attributes considered important in the receipt of nutrition care. Competencies that achieved consensus broadly fell into themes of team-based care, communication, professionalism (eg, attributes) and health promotion and disease prevention. This informs broad skills that may be taught in a nutrition context but could be included in other domains. Conclusions: The findings suggest doctors need the knowledge and skills to consider the findings from nutrition screening and assessment, coordinate nutrition care when an individual may benefit from further assessment or intervention and provide support for advice delivered by other experts as part of a multidisciplinary approach

Update of a database for estimation of whole grain content of foods in Australia

Food composition data is essential for calculating consumption based on reported dietary intake. Inclusion of the whole grain content of foods in food composition databases is limited. In Australia, quantification of whole grain composition does not include all foods within the current survey database, AUSNUT (Australian Food, Supplement and Nutrient) 2011-13. This study aimed to update an existing Australian whole grain database to include all foods and food products within AUSNUT 2011-13 (n = 5741). Whole grain content (g) per 100 g was calculated using a systematic recipe-based approach, and input from industry stakeholders, product packaging, and ingredient lists. Overall 590 foods were identified as containing whole grain. Cereals and cereal products formed the majority (43%) of the database. Foods with whole grain content 100.0 g/100 g were raw or puffed whole grains, whole grain flours, and ready to eat cereals made from 100% whole grains. Considerable variation in whole grain content exists between and within food groups. The updated database may be a useful tool for assessing whole grain content of Australian food intake data. Application will allow estimation of whole grain intake in highly varied Australian population groups

Dietary intake and diet quality in children receiving treatment for cancer

This narrative synthesis aims to examine the dietary intake, diet quality, and dietary preferences of pediatric cancer patients during cancer treatment. Thirteen studies were eligible for review. Studies mostly investigated nutrient intake, with 7 reporting on children\u27s food intake. There was consensus among studies, which reported suboptimal fruit and vegetable intake and a preference for savory, carbohydrate-based foods. Results suggest that pediatric cancer patients consume a limited variety of foods, with a high intake of noncore foods. Future research should aim to examine dietary food data against dietary guidelines to assess adequacy and variety within core food groups

Development of advanced practice competency standards for dietetics in Australia

Aim: This study aimed to explore the work roles, major tasks and core activities of advanced practice dietitians in Australia to define the Competency Standards for advanced practice. Methods: A qualitative approach was used to review advanced dietetic practice in Australia involving experienced professionals, mostly dietitians. Four focus groups were conducted with a total of 17 participants and an average of 20 years experience: 15 dietitian practitioners plus 2 employers (1 dietitian and 1 non-dietitian). The focus groups explored the key purpose, roles and outcomes of these practitioners. Data from the focus groups were confirmed with in-depth interviews about their core activities with a purposive sample of 10 individuals recently recognised as Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitians. Data from both focus groups and interviews were analysed adductively to identify key themes. Results: The key theme that emerged to define advanced dietetics practice was leadership, with four subthemes that described in more detail the major work roles and outcomes of advanced practice. These subthemes identified that advanced practitioners were (i) outcome-focused, having impact; (ii) influence others and advocate; (iii) innovate and embrace change; and (iv) inspire others and are recognised for their practice. These outcomes were conceptualised within a broad generalist framework to generate revised Competency Standards. Conclusions: This study confirmed that leadership rather than specialist practice skills is the key determinant of advanced practice

Whole grain intake compared with cereal fibre intake in association to CVD risk factors: a cross-sectional analysis of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (UK).

OBJECTIVE: To investigate how intakes of whole grains and cereal fibre were associated to risk factors for CVD in UK adults. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analyses examined associations between whole grain and cereal fibre intakes and adiposity measurements, serum lipid concentrations, C-reactive protein, systolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, HbA1c, homocysteine and a combined CVD relative risk score. SETTING: The National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) Rolling Programme 2008-2014. PARTICIPANTS: A nationally representative sample of 2689 adults. RESULTS: Participants in the highest quartile (Q4) of whole grain intake had lower waist-hip ratio (Q1 0·872; Q4 0·857; P = 0·04), HbA1c (Q1 5·66 %; Q4 5·47 %; P = 0·01) and homocysteine (Q1 9·95 µmol/l; Q4 8·76 µmol/l; P = 0·01) compared with participants in the lowest quartile (Q1), after adjusting for dietary and lifestyle factors, including cereal fibre intake. Whole grain intake was inversely associated with C-reactive protein using multivariate analysis (P = 0·02), but this was not significant after final adjustment for cereal fibre. Cereal fibre intake was also inversely associated with waist-hip ratio (P = 0·03) and homocysteine (P = 0·002) in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Similar inverse associations between whole grain and cereal fibre intakes to CVD risk factors suggest the relevance of cereal fibre in the protective effects of whole grains. However, whole grain associations often remained significant after adjusting for cereal fibre intake, suggesting additional constituents may be relevant. Intervention studies are needed to compare cereal fibre intake from non-whole grain sources to whole grain intake

Comparing and Integrating Constraint Programming and Temporal Planning for Quantum Circuit Compilation

Recently, the makespan-minimization problem of compiling a general class of quantum algorithms into near-term quantum processors has been introduced to the AI community. The research demonstrated that temporal planning is a strong solution approach for the studied class of quantum circuit compilation (QCC) problems. In this paper, we explore the use of methods from operations research, specifically constraint programming (CP), as an alternative and complementary approach to temporal planning. We also extend previous work by introducing two new problem variations that incorporate important characteristics identified by the quantum computing community. We apply temporal planning and CP to the baseline and extended QCC problems as both stand-alone and hybrid approaches. The hybrid method uses solutions found by temporal planning to warm-start CP, leveraging the ability of temporal planning to find satisficing solutions to problems with a high degree of task optionality, an area that CP typically struggles with. These solutions are then used to seed the CP formulation which significantly benefits from inferred bounds on planning horizon and task counts provided by the warm-start. Our extensive empirical evaluation indicates that while stand-alone CP is not competitive with temporal planning, except for the smallest problems, CP in a hybrid setting is beneficial for all temporal planners in all problem classes

A CellAgeClock for expedited discovery of anti-ageing compounds

We aim to improve anti-ageing drug discovery, currently achieved through laborious and lengthy longevity analysis. Recent studies demonstrated that the most accurate molecular method to measure human age is based on CpG methylation profiles, as exemplified by several epigenetics clocks that can accurately predict an individual’s age. Here, we developed CellAgeClock, a new epigenetic clock that measures subtle ageing changes in primary human cells in vitro . As such, it provides a unique tool to measure effects of relatively short pharmacological treatments on ageing. We validated the CellAgeClock against known longevity drugs such as rapamycin and trametinib. Moreover, we uncovered novel anti-ageing drugs, torin2 and Dactolisib (BEZ-235), demonstrating the value of our approach as a screening and discovery platform for anti-ageing strategies. The CellAgeClock outperforms other epigenetic clocks in measuring subtle ageing changes in primary human cells in culture. The tested drug treatments reduced senescence and other ageing markers, further consolidating our approach as a screening platform. Finally, we show that the novel anti-ageing drugs we uncovered in vitro , indeed increased longevity in vivo . Our method expands the scope of CpG methylation profiling from measuring human chronological and biological age from human samples in years, to accurately and rapidly detecting anti-ageing potential of drugs using human cells in vitro , providing a novel accelerated discovery platform to test sought after geroprotectors