The association between a priori and a posterior dietary patterns with perceived stress in women of childbearing age

More than half of women in developed countries are overweight or obese. Studies show that 20-25% of women in the UK enter pregnancy as obese. Healthy diet patterns such as the Mediterranean diet (MD) are linked with lower adiposity among women of childbearing age. However there is evidence that maternal diet in the UK is poor and stress increases the consumption of saturated-fat, sweets, and energy-dense foods. There is limited evidence on dietary patterns and stress among women of childbearing age, therefore this study aimed to investigate the association. This was an anonymous online survey of female university students. The survey included: socio-demographic characteristics, physical activity, self-reported BMI and waist circumference. Dietary assessment was done via a validated 100-food item food frequency questionnaire and perceived stress via the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The dietary data were compared to the a priori defined Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) and scored according to eight components (vegetables, legumes, fruit and nuts, cereals, fish, dairy products, meat and meat products, and the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fat). The scores ranged from 0 to 8 with MDS adherence groups being 0-3 low, 4-5 medium, and 6-8 high. Factor analysis was also applied on 11 food components (g/d) (the eight above plus eggs, potatoes, sweets and drinks) to reveal the latent major dietary patterns (DP) in the studied cohort.Negative binomial regression was used to examine the association between stress and the diet patterns, controlling for the socioeconomic factors, physical activity, marital status, BMI, and waist. One hundred twenty-three students (mean age 27.7 (SD 7.3)) participated. Participants had medium (n=49) or low MD adherence (n=48), with fewer participants having high adherence (n=26). Stress was not significantly associated with MD adherence, but was positively associated with sweets intake (p=0.03). The scree plot of Factor analysis showed that the number of factors generated by the analysis is three. Using minimum loading cut-off of 0.4, factor analysis revealed three latent diet patterns; the first (DP-1) contained: cereals, sweets and potatoes (comfort foods), DP-2 consisted: eggs, fish and meat (high protein) and DP-3 consisted of: vegetables, fruits, nuts, and legumes (vegan). Results showed a significant positive association between stress and DP-1 (p<0.01). No association was found between other diet patterns and any other psychosocial and physical variables. Future well designed randomised controlled trials are needed to investigate further the relationship between perceived stress and dietary patterns in women of childbearing age

Poor dietary quality and patterns are associated with higher perceived stress among women of reproductive age in the UK

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between stress and diet quality/patterns among women of reproductive age in UK. In total, 244 reproductive aged women participated in an online survey consisting of the European Prospective into Cancer and Nutrition food frequency questionnaire in addition to stress, depression, physical-activity, adiposity, and socioeconomic questions. An a-priori diet quality index was derived by assessing the adherence to Alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMD). A-posteriori dietary-patterns (DPs) were explored through factor analysis. Regression models were used to assess the predictors of the DPs. Participants mainly had medium (n = 113) aMD adherence. Higher stress levels were reported by participants with low aMD adherence. Participants with high aMD adherence were of normal BMI. Factor analysis revealed three DPs: fats and oils, sugars, snacks, alcoholic-beverages, red/processed meat, and cereals (DP-1), fish and seafood, eggs, milk and milk-products (DP-2), and fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds (DP-3). Regression models showed that DP-1 was positively associated with stress (p = 0.005) and negatively with age (p = 0.004) and smoking (p = 0.005). DP-2 was negatively associated with maternal educational-level (p = 0.01) while DP-3 was negatively associated with stress (p < 0.001), BMI (p = 0.001), and white ethnicity (p = 0.01). Stress was negatively associated with healthy diet quality/patterns among reproductive aged women

Challenges and facilitators to healthy eating in pregnancy: a systematic review

The aim of this review is to synthesize previous research findings on the barriers and enablers towards healthy eating in pregnancy. The following areas will be explored: • What are the views of pregnant women on challenges/barriers towards healthy eating? • What are the views of pregnant women on enablers/facilitators of healthy eating

Collateral Health Issues Derived from the Covid-19 Pandemic.

At the end of 2019, a new coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak occurred in Wuhan, China, and spread throughout the world despite efforts to contain the virus. At the end of January 2020, the General Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and by mid-May 2020, the worldwide number of known Covid-19 cases had surpassed 4.4 million including more than 300,000 deaths..

Changes in body weight, body composition and cardiovascular risk factors after long-term nutritional intervention in patients with severe mental illness: an observational study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Compared with the general population, individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) have increased prevalence rates of obesity and greater risk for cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to investigate the effects of a long term nutritional intervention on body weight, body fat and cardiovascular risk factors in a large number of patients with SMI.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Nine hundred and eighty-nine patients with a mean ± S.D age of 40 ± 11.7 yrs participated in a 9 mo nutritional intervention which provided personalised dietetic treatment and lifestyle counselling every two weeks. Patients had an average body mass index (BMI) of 34.3 ± 7.1 kg.m^-2and body weight (BW) of 94.9 ± 21.7 kg. Fasted blood samples were collected for the measurement of glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL- cholesterol. All measurements were undertaken at baseline and at 3 mo, 6 mo and 9 mo of the nutritional intervention.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Four hundred and twenty-three patients of 989 total patients' cases (42.8%) dropped out within the first 3 months. Two hundred eighty-five completed 6 months of the program and 145 completed the entire 9 month nutritional intervention. There were progressive statistically significant reductions in mean weight, fat mass, waist and BMI throughout the duration of monitoring (p < 0.001). The mean final weight loss was 9.7 kg and BMI decreased to 30.7 kg.m^-2(p < 0.001). The mean final fat mass loss was 8.0 kg and the mean final waist circumference reduction was 10.3 cm (p < 0.001) compared to baseline. Significant and continual reductions were observed in fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol and triglycerides concentrations throughout the study (p < 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The nutritional intervention produced significant reductions in body weight, body fat and improved the cardiometabolic profile in patients with SMI. These findings indicate the importance of weight-reducing nutritional intervention in decreasing the cardiovascular risk in patients with SMI.</p

Older People’s Adherence to Community-Based Group Exercise Programmes: A Multiple-Case Study

Physical inactivity is a global phenomenon, with estimates of one in four adults not being active enough to achieve health benefits, thus heightening the risk of developing non-communicable diseases. In order to realise the health and wellbeing gains associated with physical activity the behaviour must be sustained. Community-based group exercise programmes (CBGEP) utilising social support have been shown to be one means of not only increasing activity levels for older people, but sustaining physical activity. A mixed-methods systematic review revealed a gap in the literature around older people’s long-term adherence to real-life CBGEP within a UK context. This study therefore sought to address this gap by understanding older people’s ongoing adherence to CBGEP with a view to gaining further insight about which factors contribute to enabling people to sustain their physical activity levels. A multiple case study research design was employed to understand older people’s (≥ 60 years, n=27) adherence (≥ 69%, for ≥ 1 year) to three current CBGEP in the South- West of England. Qualitative data (participant observation, focus groups, documents, and interviews) were collected and analysed using inductive thematic analysis followed by the analytic technique of explanation building. In order to gain deeper insights into adherence, the humanisation framework was utilised in an a priori manner to further understand adherence from a humanising perspective. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and used to set the context of the study. This study found that older people’s adherence to CBGEP was mediated through six factors: factors relating to the individual, the instructor, programme design, social features, participant perceived benefits, and a humanised exercise environment. These all served to explain older people’s adherence to CBGEP. The humanising qualities of these CBGEP must be considered if we wish to support older people in sustaining a physically active lifestyle as they age. These findings are of interest to practitioners and policy makers in how CBGEP serve to aid older people in maintaining a physically active lifestyle with a view to preventing non-communicable diseases and in maintaining social connectivity