Planetary Health Diet Index and risk of total and cause-specific mortality in three prospective cohorts.

BACKGROUND: In 2019, the EAT-Lancet Commission proposed a healthy dietary pattern that, along with reductions in food waste and improved agricultural practices, could feed the increasing global population sustainably. We developed a Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI) to quantify adherence to the EAT-Lancet reference diet. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to assess associations between PHDI and total and cause-specific mortality in 3 prospective cohorts of males and females in the United States. METHODS: We followed 66,692 females from the Nurses' Health Study (1986-2019), 92,438 females from the Nurses' Health Study II (1989-2019), and 47,274 males from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986-2018) who were free of cancer, diabetes, and major cardiovascular diseases at baseline. The PHDI was calculated every 4 y using a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated using multivariable proportional-hazards models. RESULTS: During follow-up, we documented 31,330 deaths among females and 23,206 among males. When comparing the highest with the lowest quintile of PHDI, the pooled multivariable-adjusted HRs were 0.77 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.75, 0.80] for all-cause mortality (P-trend < 0.0001). The PHDI was associated with lower risk of deaths from cardiovascular diseases (HR: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.81, 0.91), cancer (HR: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.85, 0.95), respiratory diseases (HR: 0.53; 95% CI: 0.48, 0.59), and neurodegenerative diseases (HR: 0.72; 95% CI: 0.67, 0.78). In females, but not males, the PHDI was also significantly associated with a lower risk of deaths from infectious diseases (HR: 0.62; 95% CI: 0.51, 0.76). PHDI scores were also associated inversely with greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts. CONCLUSIONS: In 3 large United States-based prospective cohorts of males and females with up to 34 y of follow-up, a higher PHDI was associated with lower risk of total and cause-specific mortality and environment impacts.

Prevalence of metabolic syndrome among Vietnamese adult employees.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Metabolic syndrome (MtS) is associated with increased risk of many health disorders, especially cardiovascular diseases. In Vietnam, study examining MtS is meager and especially lacking for the workforce. We estimated the prevalence of MtS and its associated factors among Vietnamese employees. METHODS AND RESULTS: We analyzed secondary data of annual health check of employees of 300 Vietnamese companies from the Vinmec Healthcare System. We used three definitions for MtS: International Diabetes Federation (IDF), National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III), and NCEP ATP III-Asia. Of 57,997 participants evaluated, 48.5 % were males and 66.2 % were younger than 40 years old. The unadjusted MtS prevalence was 8.4 % (IDF), 10.2 % (NCEP ATP III), and 16.0 % (NCEP ATP III-Asia). The age-sex adjusted prevalence of MtS (NCEP ATP III-Asia) was 21.8 % (95 % confidence interval (CI): 21.4 %, 22.2 %). MtS prevalence increased with age, reached 49.6 % for age ≥60. The aging related increase was more remarkable in females than males (prevalence ratio (PR) (95 % CI) for age ≥60 comparing to age <30 years old in males vs. females was 4.0 (3.6, 4.3) vs. 20.1 (17.7, 22.9)). High blood triglyceride (83.4 %) and abdominal obesity (74.5 %) were the predominant contributors to MtS. CONCLUSION: In this relatively young Vietnamese working population, 16 % had MtS with high triglyceride and abdominal obesity being the predominant contributors. These findings emphasize the need for developing effective high triglyceride and abdominal obesity prevention and control programs to curb the emerging epidemic of metabolic disorders in the workforce.