Association of Serum Adropin Levels with Nutritional Status and Lipid Profile in Patients with Kidney Failure with Replacement Therapy

Objective. This study aimed to determine serum adropin levels and to examine the relationship of serum adropin levels with nutritional status and lipid profile in patients with kidney failure with replacement therapy (KFRT). Methods. The study consisted of 88 subjects, including 30 patients treated with hemodialysis (HD), 29 patients treated with peritoneal dialysis (PD), and 29 patients who had undergone kidney transplantation (TX). The study included assessing anthropometric measurements, handgrip strength, bioelectrical impedance analysis, malnutrition-inflammation score, dietary intake, resting energy expenditure, and biochemical parameters. The patients’ food consumption was recorded for three days. The malnutrition-inflammation score (MIS) was calculated to assess the patients’ nutritional status. Blood samples were collected for serum adropin and other biochemical parameters. Results. Adropin levels were significantly higher in the TX group when compared to the HD group. Patients with low adropin levels had higher MIS, serum ferritin, and lower low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and total cholesterol (total-C) levels. Serum adropin levels were negatively correlated with the MIS and positively correlated with total-C, LDL-C, and HDL-C levels. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that the MIS (β=-0.25 p=0.038) and LDL-C level (β=0.29, p=0.007) were associated with serum adropin. Conclusions. Adropin may be considered as a new marker of nutritional status and possibly plays a role in the pathophysiological mechanisms and complications of patients with KFRT

Evaluation of food insecurity and associated factors in women of childbearing age: A community-based study from Turkey

Food security is an important factor in ensuring a healthy diet. However, it has been reported that women are more vulnerable to food insecurity than men in many countries. In addition, there is little evidence that Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence is associated with a lower risk of food insecurity. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate food insecurity and associated factors in women of childbearing age. In addition, women's adherence to MD and its relationship with food insecurity were evaluated. This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 2675 adult women aged 18–49. The demographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, nutritional habits, compliance with the MD, and the level of food insecurity were evaluated using the structured, self-administered, web-based questionnaire form. The mean age of the individuals was 29.5 ± 10.35 years. 21.6% of individuals had food insecurity, and 5.2% had severe food insecurity. 36.4% of the individuals adhere to the MD. There was a statistically significant difference between the individuals with and without food security regarding age, marital status, and income status (p < .05). However, there was no statistically significant difference in terms of the Mediterranean diet adherence score (MEDAS) and MEDAS classification between individuals with and without food security (p > .05). It was determined that age, marital status, and income status affected food insecurity (R2 = 0.374; p < .001). Also, it was determined that age, number of main meals and snacks, and income status affected adherence to MD (R2 = 0.286; p < .001). In conclusion, considering the fragility of women in food insecurity, more comprehensive studies should be conducted in this area to better define the factors associated with food insecurity in women and inform policymakers. In addition, the results of this study can shed light on comprehensive intervention studies in this area

Time-restricted eating (16/8) and energy-restricted diet: effects on diet quality, body composition and biochemical parameters in healthy overweight females

Abstract Background Time-restricted eating (TRE) is a current popular dietary strategy for noncommunicable diseases. However, studies demonstrated contradictory results for it and in all dietary strategies, diet quality is an the important part of the well-being. Our study aimed to investigate the effect of TRE and energy-restricted diet (ERD) on the nutritional status and diet quality of individuals. Methods This pilot study was completed 23 healthy overweight female. Anthropometric and body composition measurements of individuals were taken. The energy expenditure was measured using indirect calorimetry. Blood pressure and heart rate measurements were made. Biochemical parameters were evaluated and food consumption were taken. The quality of dietary intake was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) -2015. The physical activity levels of the individuals were estimated using the physical activity record. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 22.0) software was used for all analyses. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results After 8 weeks of intervention, while no change was observed in the diet quality of the individuals in the TRE group (p > 0.05), a significant increase was found in the diet quality score of the individuals in the ERD group (p  0.05), a 7.1% decrease was observed in the ERD group (p < 0.05). A statistically significant decrease was found in the total cholesterol (3.7%) in the ERD group, and in the total cholesterol (6.7%) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (6.5%) in the TRE group. In addition, a statistically significant increase was found in adiponectin (77.3%) and total antioxidant status (TAS) (13.2%) in the ERD group. Conclusion Energy-restricted diet yielded better results in weight loss and improvement of body composition and diet quality compared to TRE. Also, a decrease in total cholesterol level was found in the ERD group. However, more studies should be done with longer follow-ups and high sample sizes are very important in terms of creating public health-based recommendations

Turkish version of the ‘food and nutrition literacy questionnaire for Chinese school-age children’ for school-age adolescents: a validity and reliability study

Abstract Background In this study, it was aimed to examine the psychometric characteristics of the scale named ‘Food and Nutrition Literacy Questionnaire for Chinese School-age Children (FNLQ-SC)’ in Turkish school age adolescents. Methods The research was carried out with 341 school-age adolescents aged 10 to 17 years. The Cronbach’s α coefficient was used to evaluate internal consistency reliability and the test–retest method was applied. The construct validity was assessed by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and the content validity was assessed by the Pearson correlation coefficient. Results EFA indicated that the Turkish version of FNLQ-SC had three factorial structures that accounted for 42.0% of the total variance. The overall Turkish version of FNLQ-SC questionnaire had acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.679). The dimensional structure obtained in the EFA was controlled by CFA and the three-factor model showed acceptable goodness-of-fit indices (χ2/df = 1.924, RMSEA = 0.052, CFI = 0.864, GFI = 0.949). The Pearson correlation coefficients between each dimension and the overall questionnaire ranged from 0.300 to 0.842. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that age, gender, grade of class, being an only child and discussing nutrition information with families had an effect on food and nutrition literacy (R2 = 0.312; p < 0.001). Conclusion The Turkish version of FNLQ-SC has good reliability and construct validity to assess the food and nutrition literacy of Turkish school age adolescents