Changes in food intake to reduce CO2 emissions and have a healthy diet

Introduction: Human activities have resulted in global warming by high CO2 emissions. Poor dietary choices are linked to health diseases and high CO2 emissions. Most studies focus on the changes the average population diet, often suggesting radical changes to our diets. Methodology: An optimisation algorithm will be created to minimise CO2 emissions without changing greatly the current food intake of each individual. Diets of 212 individuals will be used, along with CO2 emissions for each food item in the sample. Results: Current diets contribute 6.94kg of CO2 emissions per person per day, which was reduced by 30% after the optimisation. 100 out of 212 individuals had an optimised diet as the result (47%). Meat and dairy contribute significantly more in CO2 emissions from diets compared to fruits and vegetables. Meat, dairy products, fruits and vegetables are 12% of our food intake each, however after the optimisation, meat and dairy were decreased by 23% whereas fruits and vegetables were increased by 30% and 4% respectively. Conclusions: Optimising food intake led to a healthy diet low in CO2 emissions by combining foods in current diets. It is possible to achieve this by making small changes to the food intake consumed

The European Commission and the public governance of interest groups in the European Union: seeking a niche between accreditation and laissez-faire.

As interest groups participate in public policy, so demands arise for the regulation of their input. These vary between purposeful laissez-faire, and accreditation in return for norm observance, with attempts to find points between these often focusing on supervised and/or incentivised self-regulation. We classify the EU system as de-facto accreditation, based around generalised and ill-defined notions, and on preferences for the simplification of consultative life and to screen out outsider groups with a narrow membership basis that dont follow the rules of the game. The operationalisation of representativity criteria carries with it the danger of privileging certain categories of groups over other types of groups. A wider legitimacy basis is suggested by a limited comparative literature, a sharpening of the concept of accountability and types of interest groups

Maternal iron status in early pregnancy and birth outcomes : insights from the Baby's Vascular health and Iron in Pregnancy study

Date of Acceptance: 16/03/2015 Acknowledgements N. A. A. was funded by a Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellowship (WT87789). H. J. M. and H. E. H. are supported by the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services. N. A. B. S. is supported by Cerebra. The authors’ contributions are as follows: N. A. A. was responsible for organising the study conduct, data collection and database management, performed the statistical analysis, interpreted the results and drafted the paper. N. A. A., N. A. B. S., J. E. C., H. J. M. and D. C. G. contributed to the study concept and design, and interpretation of results. H. J. M. and H. E. H. analysed the laboratory samples. J. E. C. and D. C. G. provided advice on statistical strategy and analysis. All authors have fully participated in the reporting stage and have critically reviewed and approved the final draft of the paper. The authors declare no conflict of interestPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Assessing the reporting of categorised quantitative variables in observational epidemiological studies

Background One aspect to consider when reporting results of observational studies in epidemiology is how quantitative risk factors are analysed. The STROBE guidelines recommend that researchers describe how they handle quantitative variables when analysing data. For categorised quantitative variables, the authors are required to provide reasons and justifications informing their practice. We investigated and assessed the practices and reporting of categorised quantitative variables in epidemiology. Methods The assessment was based on five medical journals that publish epidemiological research. Observational studies published between April and June 2015 and investigating the relationships between quantitative exposures (or risk factors) and the outcomes were considered for assessment. A standard form was used to collect the data, and the reporting patterns amongst eligible studies were quantified and described in the results section. Results Out of 61 articles assessed for eligibility, 23 observational studies were included in the assessment. Categorisation of quantitative exposures occurred in 61% of these studies and reasons informing the practice were rarely provided. Only one article explained the choice of categorisation in the analysis. Transformation of quantitative exposures into four or five groups was common and dominant amongst studies using equally spaced categories. Dichotomisation was not popular; the practice featured in one article. Overall, the majority (86%) of the studies preferred ordered or arbitrary group categories. Other criterions used to decide categorical boundaries were based on established guidelines such as consensus statements and WHO standards. Conclusion Categorisation of continuous variables remains a dominant practice in epidemiological studies. The reasons informing the practice of categorisation within published work are limited and remains unknown in most articles. The existing STROBE guidelines could provide stronger recommendations on reporting quantitative risk factors in epidemiology. Keywords Categorisation - Quantitative or continuous variables - STOBE guidelines – Observational studie

Dietary fibre, whole grains, and risk of colorectal cancer: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies

Objective To investigate the association between intake of dietary fibre and whole grains and risk of colorectal cancer

Ethnic differences in dietary intake at age 12 and 18 months: the Born in Bradford 1000 Study.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the intake of key indicator foods at age 12 months and 18 months between infants of Pakistani and White British origin. DESIGN: Logistic regression was used to model associations between ethnicity and consumption of key indicator foods defined by high or low energy density using an FFQ at age 12 and 18 months. SETTING: Born in Bradford 1000 study, Bradford, UK. SUBJECTS: Infants (n 1259; 38 % White British, 49 % Pakistani), mean age 12·7 (sd 1·0) months and toddlers (n 1257; 37 % White British, 49 % Pakistani), mean age 18·7 (sd1·0) months. RESULTS: At 12 months, Pakistani infants consumed more commercial sweet baby meals than White British infants, with greater odds for being above average consumers (adjusted OR (AOR)=1·90; 95 % CI 1·40, 2·56), more chips/roast potatoes (AOR=2·75; 95 % CI 2·09, 3·62), less processed meat products (AOR=0·11; 95 % CI 0·08, 0·15), more fruit (AOR=2·20; 95 % CI 1·70, 2·85) and more sugar-sweetened drinks (AOR=1·68; 95 % CI 1·29, 2·18). At 18 months these differences persisted, with Pakistani infants consuming more commercial sweet baby meals (AOR=4·57; 95 % CI 2·49, 8·39), more chips/roast potato shapes (AOR=2·26; 95 % CI 1·50, 3·43), more fruit (AOR=1·40; 95 % CI 1·08, 1·81), more sugar-sweetened drinks (AOR=2·03; 95 % CI 1·53, 2·70), more pure fruit juice (AOR=1·82; 95 % CI 1·40, 2·35), more water (AOR=3·24; 95 % CI 2·46, 4·25) and less processed meat (AOR=0·10; 95 % CI 0·06, 0·15) than White British infants. CONCLUSIONS: Dietary intake during infancy and the early toddlerhood period is associated with ethnicity, suggesting the importance of early and culturally adapted interventions aimed at establishing healthy eating behaviours

Systematic Review of the Prevalence of Long COVID

BACKGROUND: Long COVID occurs in those infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) whose symptoms persist or develop beyond the acute phase. We conducted a systematic review to determine the prevalence of persistent symptoms, functional disability, or pathological changes in adults or children at least 12 weeks postinfection. METHODS: We searched key registers and databases from January 1, 2020 to November 2, 2021, limited to publications in English and studies with at least 100 participants. Studies in which all participants were critically ill were excluded. Long COVID was extracted as prevalence of at least 1 symptom or pathology, or prevalence of the most common symptom or pathology, at 12 weeks or later. Heterogeneity was quantified in absolute terms and as a proportion of total variation and explored across predefined subgroups (PROSPERO ID CRD42020218351). RESULTS: One hundred twenty studies in 130 publications were included. Length of follow-up varied between 12 weeks and 12 months. Few studies had low risk of bias. All complete and subgroup analyses except 1 had I2 ≥90%, with prevalence of persistent symptoms range of 0%-93% (pooled estimate [PE], 42.1%; 95% prediction interval [PI], 6.8% to 87.9%). Studies using routine healthcare records tended to report lower prevalence (PE, 13.6%; PI, 1.2% to 68%) of persistent symptoms/pathology than self-report (PE, 43.9%; PI, 8.2% to 87.2%). However, studies systematically investigating pathology in all participants at follow up tended to report the highest estimates of all 3 (PE, 51.7%; PI, 12.3% to 89.1%). Studies of hospitalized cases had generally higher estimates than community-based studies. CONCLUSIONS: The way in which Long COVID is defined and measured affects prevalence estimation. Given the widespread nature of SARS-CoV-2 infection globally, the burden of chronic illness is likely to be substantial even using the most conservative estimates

Development of a new branded UK food composition database for an online dietary assessment tool

The current UK food composition tables are limited, containing ~3300 mostly generic food and drink items. To reflect the wide range of food products available to British consumers and to potentially improve accuracy of dietary assessment, a large UK specific electronic food composition database (FCDB) has been developed. A mapping exercise has been conducted that matched micronutrient data from generic food codes to “Back of Pack” data from branded food products using a semi-automated process. After cleaning and processing, version 1.0 of the new FCDB contains 40,274 generic and branded items with associated 120 macronutrient and micronutrient data and 5669 items with portion images. Over 50% of food and drink items were individually mapped to within 10% agreement with the generic food item for energy. Several quality checking procedures were applied after mapping including; identifying foods above and below the expected range for a particular nutrient within that food group and cross-checking the mapping of items such as concentrated and raw/dried products. The new electronic FCDB has substantially increased the size of the current, publically available, UK food tables. The FCDB has been incorporated into myfood24, a new fully automated online dietary assessment tool and, a smartphone application for weight loss

A randomised trial of an internet weight control resource: The UK Weight Control Trial [ISRCTN58621669]

BACKGROUND: Obesity treatment is notoriously unsuccessful and one of the barriers to successful weight loss reported by patients is a lack of social support. The Internet offers a novel and fast approach to the delivery of health information, enabling 24-hour access to help and advice. However, much of the health information available on the Internet is unregulated or not written by qualified health professionals to provide unbiased information. The proposed study aims to compare a web-based weight loss package with traditional dietary treatment of obesity in participants. The project aims to deliver high quality information to the patient and to evaluate the effectiveness of this information, both in terms of weight loss outcomes and cost-effectiveness. METHODS: This study is a randomised controlled trial of a weight loss package against usual care provided within General Practice (GP) surgeries in Leeds, UK. Participants will be recruited via posters placed in participating practices. A target recruitment figure of 220 will enable 180 people to be recruited (allowing for 22% dropout). Participants agreeing to take part in the study will be randomly allocated using minimisation to either the intervention group, receiving access to the Internet site, or the usual care group. The primary outcome of the study will be the ability of the package to promote change in BMI over 6 and 12 months compared with traditional treatment. Secondary outcomes will be the ability of the Internet package to promote change in reported lifestyle behaviours. Data will be collected on participant preferences, adherence to treatment, health care use and time off work. Difference in cost between groups in provision of the intervention and the cost of the primary outcome will also be estimated. CONCLUSION: A positive result from this study would enhance the repertoire of treatment approaches available for the management of obesity. A negative result would be used to inform the research agenda and contribute to redefining future strategies for tackling obesity

Co-ingestion of carbohydrate with branched-chain amino acids or L-leucine does not preferentially increase serum IGF-1 and expression of myogenic-related genes in response to a single bout of resistance exercise

This study determined if the co-ingestion of carbohydrate (CHO) with branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) or L-leucine (LEU) preferentially affected serum IGF-1 and the expression of myogenic-related genes in response to resistance exercise (RE). Forty one, college-age males were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups: CHO, CHO-BCAA, CHO-LEU, or placebo (PLC). Resistance exercise consisted of 4 sets of leg press and leg extension at 80% 1RM. Supplements were ingested peri-exercise, and venous blood and muscle biopsies were obtained pre-exercise (PRE), and at 30, 120, and 360 min post-exercise. Serum IGF-1 was determined with ELISA, and skeletal muscle mRNA expression of myostatin, ActRIIB, p21kip, p27kip, CDK2, cyclin B1, cyclin D1, Myo-D, myogenin, MRF-4, and myf5 was determined using real-time PCR. Results were determined with two-way ANOVA for serum IGF-1 and two-way MANOVA for mRNA expression. Serum IGF-1 in CHO and CHO+BCAA was greater than PLC (p \u3c 0.05) but was not affected by RE (p \u3e 0.05). Significant differences were detected between groups for myostatin, ActIIB, MyoD, and myf5 mRNA expression showing CHO to be significantly different than CHO+BCAA, CHO+LEU, and PLC (p \u3c 0.05). At 30, 120 and 360 min post-exercise, p21cip was significantly less than PRE, whereas cyclin D1 was greater than PRE at 120 and 360 min post-exercise (p \u3c 0.05). The co-ingestion of CHO with either BCAA or L-leucine in conjunction with RE had no preferential effect on serum IGF-1 or pre-translational markers indicative of myogenesis