Trends in food availability in Portugal in 1966-2003: Comparison with other Mediterranean countries

Background: Dietary intake has changed considerably in South European countries, but whether those changes were similar between countries is currently unknown. Aim of the study: To assess the trends in food availability in Portugal and four other Mediterranean countries from 1966 to 2003. Methods: Food and Agricultural Organization food balance sheets from Portugal, France, Italy, Greece and Spain. Trends were assessed by linear regression. Results: The per capita availability of calories has increased in Portugal, France, Greece, Italy and Spain in the past 40 years. Portugal presented the most rapid growth with an annual increase of 28.5 ± 2.2 kcal (slope ± standard error), or +1000 kcal overall. In animal products, Portugal had an annual increase of 20.7 ± 0.9 kcal, much higher than the other four countries. Conversely, the availabilities of vegetable and fruit only showed a slight growth of 1.0 ± 0.1 kcal/year and 2.5 ± 0.4 kcal/year, respectively, thus increasing the ration of animal to vegetable products. Olive oil availability increased in all countries with the notable exception of Portugal, where a significant decrease was noted. Wine supply decreased in all five countries; in contrast, beer supply started to take up more alcohol share. Percentage of total calories from fat increased from nearly 25% to almost 35% in Portugal during the study period, mainly at the expenses of calories from carbohydrates, whereas the share of protein showed just a slight increase. Furthermore, fat and protein were increasingly provided by animal products. Conclusions: Portugal is gradually moving away from the traditional Mediterranean diet to a more Westernized diet as well as France, Greece, Italy and Spain. Noticeably, the trends of diet transition were observed relatively faster in Portugal than in the other four Mediterranean countrie

The prevalence and management of cardiovascular risk factors in immigrant groups in Switzerland

Objectives: To compare the prevalence and management of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) between immigrant groups and Swiss nationals. Methods: The Swiss Health Surveys (SHS, N=49,245) and CoLaus study (N=6,710) were used. Immigrant groups from France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, former Yugoslavia, other European and other countries were defined. Results: Immigrants from Italy, France, Portugal, Spain and former Yugoslavia presented a higher prevalence of smoking than Swiss nationals. Immigrants reported less hypertension than Swiss nationals, but the differences were reduced when blood pressure measurements were used. The prevalence of dyslipidaemia was similar between immigrants and Swiss nationals in the SHS. When eligibility for statin treatment was assessed, immigrants from Italy were more frequently eligible than Swiss nationals. Immigrants from former Yugoslavia presented a lower prevalence of diabetes in the SHS, but a higher prevalence in the CoLaus study. Most differences between immigrant groups and Swiss nationals disappeared after adjusting for age, leisure-time physical activity, being overweight/obesity and education. Conclusions: Most CVRFs are unevenly distributed among immigrant groups in Switzerland, but these differences are due to disparities in age, leisure-time physical activity, being overweight/obesity and educatio

Prevalence of overweight and obesity among migrants in Switzerland: association with country of origin

Abstract Objective Migrants tend to present higher overweight and obesity levels, but whether this relationship applies to all nationalities has seldom been studied. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity according to nationality in adults. Design Cross-sectional population-based samples. Setting Five-year nationwide interview surveys (Swiss Health Surveys - SHS) from 1992 to 2007 (n 63 766) and a local examination survey (CoLaus Study in Lausanne 2004-2006, n 6743). Subjects Participants were separated into Swiss, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish nationals, those from the former Republic of Yugoslavia and from other European and other countries. Results Compared with Swiss nationals, German and French nationals presented a lower prevalence of overweight and obesity, whereas nationals from Italy, Spain, Portugal and the former Republic of Yugoslavia presented higher levels. Adjusting the SHS data for age, gender, education, smoking, leisure-time physical activity and survey year, a lower risk for overweight and obesity was found for German (OR = 0·80, 95 % CI 0·70, 0·92) and French (OR = 0·74, 95 % CI 0·61, 0·89) nationals, whereas higher risks were found for participants from Italy (OR = 1·45, 95 % CI 1·33, 1·58), Spain (OR = 1·36, 95 % CI 1·15, 1·61), Portugal (OR = 1·25, 95 % CI 1·06, 1·47) and the former Republic of Yugoslavia (OR = 1·98, 95 % CI 1·69, 2·32). Similar findings were observed in the CoLaus Study for Italian (OR = 1·63, 95 % CI 1·29, 2·06), Spanish (OR = 1·54, 95 % CI 1·17, 2·04) and Portuguese (OR = 1·49, 95 % CI 1·16, 1·91) participants and for those from the former Republic of Yugoslavia (OR = 5·34, 95 % CI 3·00, 9·50). Conclusions Overweight and obesity are unevenly distributed among migrants in Switzerland. Migrants from Southern Europe and from the former Republic of Yugoslavia present higher prevalence rates. This suggests that preventive messages should be tailored to these specific population

Health-related quality of life in migrant preschool children

BACKGROUND: Minority groups have a lower health-related quality of life (HRQOL), but there is little information if this finding also applies to children. In this study, we compared HRQOL between young children with and without migrant parents. METHODS: Two cross-sectional studies of culturally diverse preschool populations in Switzerland: Ballabeina (40 preschools, 258 girls and 232 boys aged 4 to 6 years) and Youp'la Bouge (58 child care centers, 453 girls and 522 boys aged 2 to 4 years). Most children were born in Switzerland (Ballabeina: 92.3%; Youp'la Bouge: 93.7%). Number of migrant parents was considered as the main exposure. HRQOL was measured using the 23-item Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. RESULTS: Children of migrant parents had a significantly lower HRQOL total score (mean +/- SD, Ballabeina: 84.2 +/- 9.1; 82.7 +/- 9.6 and 81.7 +/- 11.7 for children with none, one or two migrant parents, respectively; Youp'la Bouge: 83.8 +/- 8.6; 82.9 +/- 9.5; 80.7 +/- 11.7, all p > 0.05). Similar results were found in Ballabeina and Youp'la Bouge for social, school and physical functioning (all p > 0.05), but not for emotional functioning. The differences in HRQOL measures were partly mediated by children's place of birth, parental education, paternal occupational level, children's BMI, screen time and physical activity in one study (Ballabeina), but not in the other (Youp'la Bouge). CONCLUSION: In preschoolers, children of migrant parents have lower HRQOL than children of non-migrant parents. These differences are only partly mediated by other sociocultural characteristics or lifestyle behavior. These families may need assistance to prevent further inequalities

Socio-demographic and behavioural determinants of weight gain in the Swiss population

© 2015 Guerra et al.; licensee BioMed Central. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0),which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Background: In Switzerland, socio-demographic and behavioural factors are associated with obesity, but no study ever assessed their impact on weight gain using prospective data. Methods: Data from 4,469 participants (53.0% women), aged 35 to 75 years at baseline and followed for 5.5 years. Weight gain was considered as a rate (kg/year) or as gaining ≥5 kg during the study period. Results: Rate of weight gain was lower among participants who were older (mean ± standard deviation: 0.46 ± 0.92, 0.33 ± 0.88, 0.21 ± 0.86 and 0.06 ± 0.74 kg/year in participants aged [35-45], [45-55], [55–65] and [65+] years, respectively, P<0.001); physically active (0.27 ± 0.82 vs. 0.35 ± 0.95 kg/year for sedentary, P < 0.005) or living in couple (0.29 ± 0.84 vs. 0.35 ± 0.96 kg/year for living single, P < 0.05), and higher among current smokers (0.41 ± 0.97, 0.26 ± 0.84 and 0.29±0.85 kg/year for current, former and never smokers, respectively, p<0.001). These findings were further confirmed by multivariable analysis. Multivariable logistic regression showed that receiving social help, being a current smoker or obese increased the likelihood of gaining ≥5 Kg: Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.43 (1.16-1.77); 1.63 (1.35-1.95) and 1.95 (1.57-2.43), respectively, while living in couple or being physically active decreased the risk: 0.73 (0.62-0.86) and 0.72 (0.62-0.83), respectively. No association was found between weight gain and gender, being born in Switzerland or education. Conclusions: In Switzerland, financial difficulties (indicated by receiving social help) and current smoking were associated with increases in body weight over a 5 years follow-up. Living in couple, being older or physically active were protective against weight gain.The CoLaus study was supported by grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation [grant no: 33CSCO-122661 and FN 33CSC0-139468]; GlaxoSmithKline and the Faculty of Biology and Medicine of Lausanne, Switzerland. FG was supported by a Scientific Mobility Grant from the Lisbon Faculty of Medicine/Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. SS is supported by an Ambizione Grant. (n° PZ00P3_147998) from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)

Trends in food availability in Portugal in 1966-2003: comparison with other Mediterranean countries

BACKGROUND: Dietary intake has changed considerably in South European countries, but whether those changes were similar between countries is currently unknown. AIM OF THE STUDY: To assess the trends in food availability in Portugal and four other Mediterranean countries from 1966 to 2003. METHODS: Food and Agricultural Organization food balance sheets from Portugal, France, Italy, Greece and Spain. Trends were assessed by linear regression. RESULTS: The per capita availability of calories has increased in Portugal, France, Greece, Italy and Spain in the past 40 years. Portugal presented the most rapid growth with an annual increase of 28.5 +/- 2.2 kcal (slope +/- standard error), or +1000 kcal overall. In animal products, Portugal had an annual increase of 20.7 +/- 0.9 kcal, much higher than the other four countries. Conversely, the availabilities of vegetable and fruit only showed a slight growth of 1.0 +/- 0.1 kcal/year and 2.5 +/- 0.4 kcal/year, respectively, thus increasing the ration of animal to vegetable products. Olive oil availability increased in all countries with the notable exception of Portugal, where a significant decrease was noted. Wine supply decreased in all five countries; in contrast, beer supply started to take up more alcohol share. Percentage of total calories from fat increased from nearly 25% to almost 35% in Portugal during the study period, mainly at the expenses of calories from carbohydrates, whereas the share of protein showed just a slight increase. Furthermore, fat and protein were increasingly provided by animal products. CONCLUSIONS: Portugal is gradually moving away from the traditional Mediterranean diet to a more Westernized diet as well as France, Greece, Italy and Spain. Noticeably, the trends of diet transition were observed relatively faster in Portugal than in the other four Mediterranean countries

“Inflammaging” and bone in the OsteoLaus cohort

In this large population-based cohort, we did not find a relation between the coined concept of “inflammaging” (hs-CRP, IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α within the normal range) and bone parameters, measured in terms of prevalent and incident fractures, bone mass density and trabecular bone score