Carotenoid dietary intakes and plasma concentrations are associated with heel bone ultrasound attenuation and osteoporotic fracture risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Norfolk cohort

Carotenoids are found in abundance in fruit and vegetables, and may be involved in the positive association of these foods with bone health. This study aimed to explore the associations of dietary carotenoid intakes and plasma concentrations with bone density status and osteoporotic fracture risk in a European population. Cross-sectional analyses (n 14 803) of bone density status, using calcaneal broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) and longitudinal analyses (n 25 439) of fracture cases were conducted on data from the prospective European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Norfolk cohort of middle-aged and older men and women. Health and lifestyle questionnaires were completed, and dietary nutrient intakes were derived from 7-d food diaries. Multiple regression demonstrated significant positive trends in BUA for women across quintiles of dietary α-carotene intake (P=0·029), β-carotene intake (P=0·003), β-cryptoxanthin intake (P=0·031), combined lutein and zeaxanthin intake (P=0·010) and lycopene intake (P=0·005). No significant trends across plasma carotenoid concentration quintiles were apparent (n 4570). The Prentice-weighted Cox regression showed no trends in fracture risk across dietary carotenoid intake quintiles (mean follow-up time 12·5 years), except for a lower risk for wrist fracture in women with higher lutein and zeaxanthin intake (P=0·022); nevertheless, inter-quintile differences in fracture risk were found for both sexes. Analysis of plasma carotenoid data (mean follow-up time 11·9 years) showed lower hip fracture risk in men across higher plasma α-carotene (P=0·026) and β-carotene (P=0·027) quintiles. This study provides novel evidence that dietary carotenoid intake is relevant to bone health in men and women, demonstrating that associations with bone density status and fracture risk exist for dietary intake of specific carotenoids and their plasma concentrations.The EPIC-Norfolk study received grants from the Medical Research Council (G9502233) and from Cancer Research UK (SP2024-0201 and SP2024-0204)

Longitudinal associations between marine omega-3 supplement users and Coronary Heart Disease in a UK population-based cohort

Objectives: Assess the association between marine omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n 3 PUFA) intake from supplements, mainly cod liver oil, and coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality. Design: Prospective cohort study, with three exposure measurements over 22 y. Setting: Norfolk-based European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC-Norfolk, UK). Participants: 22,035 men and women from the general population, 39-79 y at recruitment. Exposure: Supplement use was assessed in three questionnaires (1993-1998; 2002-2004; 2004-2011). Participants were grouped into non-supplement users (NSU), n 3 PUFA supplement users (SU+n3) and non n 3 PUFA supplement users (SU n3). Cox regression adjusted for time-point specific variables: age, smoking, prevalent illnesses, BMI, alcohol consumption, physical activity and season and baseline assessments of sex, social class, education and dietary intake (7-day diet diary). Primary and secondary outcome measures: During a median of 19 y follow-up, 1562 CHD deaths were registered for 22,035 included participants. Results: Baseline supplement use was not associated with CHD mortality, but baseline food and supplement intake of n 3 PUFA was inversely associated with CHD mortality after adjustment for fish consumption. Using time-varying covariate analysis, significant associations were observed for SU+n3 (HR: 0.74, 95%CI: 0.66, 0.84), but not for SU n3 vs. NSU. In further analyses, the association for SU+n3 persisted in those who did not take other supplements (HR: 0.83, 95%CI: 0.71, 0.96) and those who did (HR: 0.74, 95%CI: 0.60, 0.91). Those who became SU+n3 over time or were consistent SU+n3 vs. consistent NSU had a lower hazard of CHD mortality; no association with CHD was observed in those who stopped using n 3 PUFA-containing supplements. Conclusions: Recent use of n 3 PUFA supplements was associated with a lower hazard of CHD mortality in this general population with low fish consumption. Residual confounding cannot be excluded, but the findings observed may be explained by postulated biological mechanisms and the results were specific to SU+n3.All authors report grants from Cancer Research UK programme grants (G0401527, G1000143) and grants from the Medical Research Council (MRC) programme grants (C864/A8257, C864/A14136) during the study. RHK is supported by a MRC Fellowship (MR/M014827/1)

Chocolate consumption and incident heart failure

BACKGROUND: We aimed to examine the association between chocolate intake and the risk of incident heart failure in a UK general population. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantify this association. METHODS AND RESULTS: We used data from a prospective population-based study, the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC)-Norfolk cohort. Chocolate intake was quantified based on a food frequency questionnaire obtained at baseline (1993-1997) and incident heart failure was ascertained up to March 2009. We supplemented the primary data with a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies which evaluated risk of incident heart failure with chocolate consumption. A total of 20,922 participants (53% women; mean age 58 ± 9 years) were included of whom 1101 developed heart failure during the follow up (mean 12.5 ± 2.7 years, total person years 262,291 years). After adjusting for lifestyle and dietary factors, we found 19% relative reduction in heart failure incidence in the top (up to 100 g/d) compared to the bottom quintile of chocolate consumption (HR 0.81 95%CI 0.66-0.98) but the results were no longer significant after controlling for comorbidities (HR 0.87 95%CI 0.71-1.06). Additional adjustment for potential mediators did not attenuate the results further. We identified five relevant studies including the current study (N = 75,408). The pooled results showed non-significant 19% relative risk reduction of heart failure incidence with higher chocolate consumption (HR 0.81 95%CI 0.66-1.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that higher chocolate intake is not associated with subsequent incident heart failure.The EPIC-Norfolk study was supported by grants from the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.numecd.2016.01.00

Screwworms, Cochliomyia hominivorax, Reared for Mass Release Do Not Carry and Spread Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus and Classical Swine Fever Virus

Experiments were done to determine if transporting live screwworms Cochliomyia hominivorax Coquerel (Diptera: Calliphoridae) for developing new strains from countries where foot-and-mouth disease and classical swine fever are endemic, to the mass rearing facilities in Mexico and Panama, may introduce these exotic diseases into these countries. Are screwworms capable of harboring and spreading foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) and classical swine fever virus (CSFV) when they are grown in virus-inoculated larval rearing medium? In one experiment, screwworm larvae were reared in a FMDV-inoculated artificial medium containing either 0.1 % formaldehyde or antibiotics as an antimicrobial agent. In another experiment, larvae were similarly reared in a CSFV-inoculated artificial medium containing 0.1% formaldehyde. In each experiment, samples of larvae and the rearing media were collected daily until pupation occurred. The presence of FMDV was assayed by observing cytopathic effects on cell cultures and a conventional reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR); CSFV was assayed using an avidin-biotin complex assay and a conventional RT-PCR. For media containing antibiotics, FMDV was detected in a larval sample collected on day 1 and in media samples on days 1, 2 and 3. No FMDV was detected from larval and media samples collected on all other days. For media containing formaldehyde, FMDV and CSFV were not detectable in larval or media samples collected on all sampling days. These results indicate that FMDV and CSFV cannot survive in rearing medium containing formaldehyde as an antimicrobial agent. Therefore, insects collected in endemic regions and reared using formaldehyde-containing medium for at least one generation at the collection site should be free of FMDV and CSFV and can be transported safely to a strain development/mass rearing facility

Carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios of urine and faeces as novel nutritional biomarkers of meat and fish intake

Purpose Meat and fish consumption are associated with changes in the risk of chronic diseases. Intake is mainly assessed using self-reporting, as no true quantitative nutritional biomarker is available. The measurement of plasma fatty acids, often used as an alternative, is expensive and time-consuming. As meat and fish differ in their stable isotope ratios, δ13C and δ15N have been proposed as biomarkers. However, they have never been investigated in controlled human dietary intervention studies. Objective In a short-term feeding study, we investigated the suitability of δ13C and δ15N in blood, urine and faeces as biomarkers of meat and fish intake. Methods The dietary intervention study (n = 14) followed a randomised cross-over design with three eight-day dietary periods (meat, fish and half-meat–half-fish). In addition, 4 participants completed a vegetarian control period. At the end of each period, 24-h urine, fasting venous blood and faeces were collected and their δ13C and δ15N analysed. Results There was a significant difference between diets in isotope ratios in faeces and urine samples, but not in blood samples (Kruskal–Wallis test, p < 0.0001). In pairwise comparisons, δ13C and δ15N were significantly higher in urine and faecal samples following a fish diet when compared with all other diets, and significantly lower following a vegetarian diet. There was no significant difference in isotope ratio between meat and half-meat–half-fish diets for blood, urine or faecal samples. Conclusions The results of this study show that urinary and faecal δ13C and δ15N are suitable candidate biomarkers for short-term meat and fish intake

A novel online food recall checklist for use in an undergraduate student population : a comparison with diet diaries

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Massive-star supernovae as major dust factories

We present late-time optical and mid-infrared observations of the Type II supernova 2003gd in the galaxy NGC 628. Mid-infrared excesses consistent with cooling dust in the ejecta are observed 499 to 678 days after outburst and are accompanied by increasing optical extinction and growing asymmetries in the emission-line profiles. Radiative-transfer models show that up to 0.02 solar masses of dust has formed within the ejecta, beginning as early as 250 days after outburst. These observations show that dust formation in supernova ejecta can be efficient and that massive-star supernovae could have been major dust producers throughout the history of the universe

Restriction of meat, fish, and poultry in omnivores improves mood: A pilot randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Omnivorous diets are high in arachidonic acid (AA) compared to vegetarian diets. Research shows that high intakes of AA promote changes in brain that can disturb mood. Omnivores who eat fish regularly increase their intakes of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), fats that oppose the negative effects of AA in vivo. In a recent cross-sectional study, omnivores reported significantly worse mood than vegetarians despite higher intakes of EPA and DHA. This study investigated the impact of restricting meat, fish, and poultry on mood.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Thirty-nine omnivores were randomly assigned to a control group consuming meat, fish, and poultry daily (OMN); a group consuming fish 3-4 times weekly but avoiding meat and poultry (FISH), or a vegetarian group avoiding meat, fish, and poultry (VEG). At baseline and after two weeks, participants completed a food frequency questionnaire, the Profile of Mood States questionnaire and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales. After the diet intervention, VEG participants reduced their EPA, DHA, and AA intakes, while FISH participants increased their EPA and DHA intakes. Mood scores were unchanged for OMN or FISH participants, but several mood scores for VEG participants improved significantly after two weeks.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Restricting meat, fish, and poultry improved some domains of short-term mood state in modern omnivores. To our knowledge, this is the first trial to examine the impact of restricting meat, fish, and poultry on mood state in omnivores.</p