The effects of low-calorie sweeteners on energy intake and body weight: a systematic review and meta-analyses of sustained intervention studies.

Previous meta-analyses of intervention studies have come to different conclusions about effects of consumption of low-calorie sweeteners (LCS) on body weight. The present review included 60 articles reporting 88 parallel-groups and cross-over studies ≥1 week in duration that reported either body weight (BW), BMI and/or energy intake (EI) outcomes. Studies were analysed according to whether they compared (1) LCS with sugar, (2) LCS with water or nothing, or (3) LCS capsules with placebo capsules. Results showed an effect in favour of LCS vs sugar for BW (29 parallel-groups studies, 2267 participants: BW change, -1.06 kg, 95% CI -1.50 to -0.62, I2 = 51%), BMI and EI. Effect on BW change increased with 'dose' of sugar replaced by LCS, whereas there were no differences in study outcome as a function of duration of the intervention or participant blinding. Overall, results showed no difference in effects of LCS vs water/nothing for BW (11 parallel-groups studies, 1068 participants: BW change, 0.10 kg, 95% CI -0.87 to 1.07, I2 = 82%), BMI and EI; and inconsistent effects for LCS consumed in capsules (BW change: -0.28 kg, 95% CI -0.80 to 0.25, I2 = 0%; BMI change: 0.20 kg/m2, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.36, I2 = 0%). Occurrence of adverse events was not affected by the consumption of LCS. The studies available did not permit robust analysis of effects by LCS type. In summary, outcomes were not clearly affected when the treatments differed in sweetness, nor when LCS were consumed in capsules without tasting; however, when treatments differed in energy value (LCS vs sugar), there were consistent effects in favour of LCS. The evidence from human intervention studies supports the use of LCS in weight management, constrained primarily by the amount of added sugar that LCS can displace in the diet

Diet and diabetes revisited, yet again

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Health effects of saturated and trans-fatty acid intake in children and adolescents: Systematic review and meta-analysis

© 2017 Te Morenga, Montez. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Background: Elevated cholesterol has been linked to cardiovascular disease in adults and preclinical markers of atherosclerosis in children, thus reducing saturated (SFA) and trans-fatty acids (TFA) intake from an early age may help to reduce cholesterol and the risk of cardiovascular disease later in life. The aim of this review is to examine the evidence for health effects associated with reducing SFA and TFA intake in free-living children, adolescents and young adults between 2 to 19 years of age. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and prospective cohort studies. Study selection, assessment, validity, data extraction, and analysis were undertaken as specified by the Cochrane Collaboration and the GRADE working group. Data were pooled using inverse variance models with random effects. Data sources: EMBASE; PubMed; Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials; LILACS; and WHO Clinical Trial Registry (up to July 2016). Eligibility criteria for selecting trials: RCTs involving dietary interventions aiming to reduce SFA or TFA intakes and a control group, and cohort studies reporting the effects of SFA or TFA exposures, on outcomes including blood lipids; measures of growth; blood pressure; insulin resistance; and potential adverse effects. Minimum duration was 13 days for RCTs and one year for cohort studies. Trials of weight loss or confounded by additional medical or lifestyle interventions were excluded. Results: Compared with control diets, there was a highly statistically significant effect of reduced SFA intake on total cholesterol (mean difference (MD) -0.16 mmol/l, [95% confidence interval (CI): -0.25 to -0.07]), LDL cholesterol (MD -0.13 mmol/l [95% CI:-0.22 to -0.03]) and diastolic blood pressure (MD -1.45 mmol/l [95% CI:-2.34 to -0.56]). There were no significant effects on any other risk factors and no evidence of adverse effects. Conclusions: Advice to reduce saturated fatty acids intake of children results in a significant reduction in total and LDL-cholesterol levels as well as diastolic blood pressure without evidence of adverse effects on growth and development. Dietary guidelines for children and adolescents should continue to recommend diets low in saturated fat

Using the Adapted Levenberg-Marquardt method to determine the validity of ignoring insulin and glucose data that is affected by mixing

Most parameter ID methods use least squares criterion to fit parameter values to observed behavior. However, the least squares criterion can be heavily influenced by outlying data or un-modelled effects. In such cases, least squares estimation can yield poor results. Outlying data is often manually removed to avoid inaccurate outcomes, but this process is complex, tedious and operator dependent. This research presents an adaptation of the Levenberg-Marquardt (L-M) parameter identification method that effectively ignores least-square contributions from outlying data. The adapted method (aL-M) is capable of ignoring outlier data in accordance with the coefficient of variation of the residuals and was thus, capable of operator independent omission of outlier data using the 3 standard deviation rule. The aLM was compared to the original Levenberg-Marquardt (L-M) method in C-peptide, insulin and glucose data. In total three cases were tested: L-M in the full dataset, L-M in the same data where the points that were suspected to be affected by incomplete mixing at the depot site were removed, and the aL-M in the full data set. There were strong correlations between the aL-M and the reduced dataset from [0.85, 0.71] for the clinically valuable glucose parameters. In contrast, the unreduced data yielded poor residuals and poor correlations with the aL-M [0.44, 0.33]. The aL-M approach provided strong justification for consistent removal of data that was deemed to be affected by mixing

A casual video game with psychological well-being concepts for young adolescents: Protocol for an acceptability and feasibility study

Background: Many face-to-face and digital therapeutic supports are designed for adolescents experiencing high levels of psychological distress. However, promoting psychological well-being among adolescents is often neglected despite significant short-term and long-term benefits. Objective: This research has 3 main objectives: (1) to assess the acceptability of Match Emoji, a casual video game with psychological well-being concepts among 13-15-year-old students in a New Zealand secondary school; (2) to identify the feasibility of the research process; and (3) to explore the preliminary well-being and therapeutic potential of Match Emoji. Methods: Approximately 40 participants aged 13-15 years from a local secondary college in Wellington, New Zealand, will be invited to download and play Match Emoji 3-4 times a week for 5-15 minutes over a 2-week period. Participants will complete 4 assessments at baseline, postintervention, and 3 weeks later to assess psychological well-being and therapeutic changes. Statistical analysis will be used to synthesize data from interviews and triangulated with assessment changes and game analytics. This synthesis will help to assess the acceptability and feasibility of the Match Emoji. Results: The key outputs from the project will include the acceptability, feasibility, and therapeutic potential of Match Emoji. It is anticipated that participants will have finished playing the recommended game play regimen by August 2021 with analysis of results completed by October 2021. Conclusions: Data from the study are expected to inform future research on Match Emoji including a randomized controlled trial and further adjustments to the design and development of the game

Are some diets "mass murder"? Dietary guidelines worldwide advise limiting saturated fat in favour of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats

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Effect of a relatively high-protein, high-fiber diet on body composition and metabolic risk factors in overweight women

Background:Obesity and its comorbidities are worldwide problems. Approaches to reducing obesity and its associated metabolic derangements typically emphasize fat and energy restriction, but for many achieving and maintaining weight loss is difficult. Diets that focus on substantially altering macronutrient distribution rather than energy restriction are promising alternatives, but have generally included large amounts of protein, fiber or fat.Objective:To compare the effects of dietary advice including moderate increases in protein and fiber without specifying energy intake with standard low-fat, high-carbohydrate dietary recommendations on body composition and metabolic risk factors.Methods:89 overweight or obese women aged 18-65 years were randomized to either a standard diet that was intended to be low in fat and relatively high in carbohydrate (n42) or to a relatively high-protein (up to 30% of energy), relatively high-fiber (> 35 g per day; HPHF) diet (n = 47) for 10 weeks. Advice regarding strict adherence to energy intake goals was not given.Results:Participants on the HPHF diet lost more body weight (1.3 kg; 95% CI, 0.7, 1.9; P > 0.0001), total fat (1.0 kg; 95% CI, 0.2, 1.8; P > 0.0001) and truncal fat (0.7 kg; 95% CI, 0.1, 1.3; P0.034) than participants on the standard diet. Total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol were also significantly lower after the HPHF diet.Conclusion:An ad libitum diet relatively high in both protein and fiber improved body composition and metabolic risk factors compared with standard dietary advice. © 2010 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved

Low carbohydrate diets: Going against the grain

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Impact of a modified version of baby-led weaning on infant food and nutrient intakes: The BLISS randomized controlled trial

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Despite growing international interest in Baby-Led Weaning (BLW),we know almost nothing about food and nutrient intake in infants following baby-led approaches to infant feeding. The aim of this paper was to determine the impact of modified BLW (i.e., Baby-Led Introduction to SolidS; BLISS) on food and nutrient intake at 7–24 months of age. Two hundred and six women recruited in late pregnancy were randomized to Control (n = 101) or BLISS (n = 105) groups. All participants received standard well-child care. BLISS participants also received lactation consultant support to six months, and educational sessions about BLISS (5.5, 7, and 9 months). Three-day weighed diet records were collected for the infants (7, 12, and 24 months). Compared to the Control group, BLISS infants consumed more sodium (percent difference, 95% CI: 35%, 19% to 54%) and fat (6%, 1% to 11%) at 7 months, and less saturated fat (−7%, −14% to −0.4%) at 12 months. No differences were apparent at 24 months of age but the majority of infants from both groups had excessive intakes of sodium (68% of children) and added sugars (75% of children). Overall, BLISS appears to result in a diet that is as nutritionally adequate as traditional spoon-feeding, and may address some concerns about the nutritional adequacy of unmodified BLW. However, BLISS and Control infants both had high intakes of sodium and added sugars by 24 months that are concerning