Metabolic syndrome, dyslipidemia, hypertension and type 2 diabetes in youth: from diagnosis to treatment

Overweight and obesity in youth is a worldwide public health problem. Overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescents have a substantial effect upon many systems, resulting in clinical conditions such as metabolic syndrome, early atherosclerosis, dyslipidemia, hypertension and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Obesity and the type of body fat distribution are still the core aspects of insulin resistance and seem to be the physiopathologic links common to metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and T2D. The earlier the appearance of the clustering of risk factors and the higher the time of exposure, the greater will be the chance of developing coronary disease with a more severe endpoint. The age when the event may occur seems to be related to the presence and aggregation of risk factors throughout life

Preterm children have unfavorable motor, cognitive, and functional performance when compared to term children of preschool age

OBJECTIVE: to compare the motor coordination, cognitive, and functional development of preterm and term children at the age of 4 years. METHODS: this was a cross-sectional study of 124 four-year-old children, distributed in two different groups, according to gestational age and birth weight, paired by gender, age, and socioeconomic level. All children were evaluated by the Movement Assessment Battery for Children - second edition (MABC-2), the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI), and the Columbia Mental Maturity Scale (CMMS). RESULTS: preterm children had worse performance in all tests, and 29.1% of the preterm and 6.5% of term groups had scores on the MABC-2 indicative of motor coordination disorder (p = 0.002). In the CMMS (p = 0.034), the median of the standardized score for the preterm group was 99.0 (± 13.75) and 103.0 (± 12.25) for the term group; on the PEDI, preterm children showed more limited skill repertoire (p = 0.001) and required more assistance from the caregiver (p = 0.010) than term children. CONCLUSION: this study reinforced the evidence that preterm children from different socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to have motor, cognitive, and functional development impairment, detectable before school age, than their term peers

Nutritional Profile and Chemical Stability of Pasta Fortified with Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Flour.

Physicochemical parameters of pasta enriched with tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) flour were investigated. Five formulations were prepared with different concentrations of tilapia flour as partial substitute of wheat flour: pasta without tilapia flour (PTF0%), pasta with 6% (PTF6%), 12% (PTF12%), 17% (PTF17%), and 23% (PTF23%) of tilapia flour. The formulations were assessed for proximate composition, fatty acid and amino acid profile on day 1 whereas, instrumental color parameters (L*, a* and b* values), pH, water activity (aw), and lipid and protein oxidation were evaluated on days 1, 7, 14, and 21 of storage at 25°C. Fortification with tilapia flour increased (p < 0.05) protein, lipid, ash, total essential amino acids, and total polyunsaturated fatty acids contents. In addition, supplementation of pasta with tilapia flour decreased (p < 0.05) lightness and water activity while redness, yellowness, pH values, and lipid oxidation were increased (p < 0.05) in a level-dependent manner. Nevertheless, all formulations were exhibited storage stability at 25°C. In general, protein oxidation was greater (p < 0.05) in the pasta containing 12%, 17%, and 23% of tilapia flour than their counterparts, and the storage promoted an increase (p < 0.05) on the carbonyl content in all formulations. Thus, pasta with 6% of tilapia flour has the potential to be a technological alternative to food industry for the nutritional enrichment of traditional pasta with negligible negative effects on the chemical stability of the final product during 21 days at 25°C

Pasta formulations with different tilapia flour levels.

<p>Pasta formulations with different tilapia flour levels.</p

pH and water activity (aw) in pasta fortified with different tilapia flour levels during 21 days at 25°C.

<p>PTF0%, PTF6%, PTF12%, PTF17%, and PTF23% mean pasta with 0%, 6%, 12%, 17%, and 23% (w/w) of tilapia flour, respectively. Results are expressed as means ± standard deviation (n = 3). Different lowercase letters indicate difference (<i>p</i> < 0.05) among formulations on the same day, and different uppercase letters indicate difference (<i>p</i> < 0.05) of means among storage days within the same formulation.</p