Obestatin and adropin in Prader-Willi syndrome and nonsyndromic obesity: Associations with weight, BMI-z, and HOMA-IR.

The roles of obestatin and adropin in paediatric obesity are poorly understood. We compared obestatin and adropin concentrations in younger (n = 21) and older children (n = 14) with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and age and BMI-z-matched controls (n = 31). Fasting plasma obestatin and adropin were higher in younger children with PWS than controls; adropin was also higher in older children with PWS. Growth hormone treatment had no effects on obestatin or adropin in PWS. The ratio of ghrelin to obestatin declined from early to late childhood but was higher in older PWS than older controls. Adropin correlated with fasting glucose in the PWS group only. Changes in the ratio of ghrelin to obestatin may suggest changes in the processing of preproghrelin to ghrelin and obestatin during development and differential processing of preproghrelin in PWS.

Healthy Foods North improves diet among Inuit and Inuvialuit women of childbearing age in Arctic Canada.

BACKGROUND: Healthy Foods North (HFN) is a community-based intervention designed to promote a healthy diet and lifestyle of Inuit and Inuvialuit populations in Arctic Canada. The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of HFN on the nutrient intake of women of childbearing age. METHODS: Six communities in Nunavut (n = 3) and the Northwest Territories (n = 3) were selected for programme implementation; four received a 12-month intervention and two served as controls. Quantitative food frequency questionnaires were used to assess dietary intake at baseline and 1 year post-intervention. Among women participants aged 19-44 years (n = 136), 79 were exposed to the intervention and 57 were not. Mean daily energy and nutrient intake and density were determined. Dietary adequacy was assessed by comparing the women's daily nutrient intakes with dietary reference intakes (DRI). RESULTS: Main outcomes were the pre- to post-intervention changes between intervention and control groups for energy and selected nutrient intakes, nutrient density and dietary adequacy. Among the participants, the intervention had a beneficial effect on vitamin A and D intake. The percentage of individuals with nutrient intakes below the DRI increased from pre- to post-intervention for vitamin A and D in the control group but only for vitamin A in the intervention group. The programme did not have a significant impact on calorie, sugar, or fat consumption. CONCLUSIONS: The HFN programme is effective in mitigating some of the negative impacts of the nutrition transition on dietary adequacy among Inuit and Inuvialuit women of childbearing age.

Adherence to recommendations for fruit and vegetable intake, ethnicity and ischemic heart disease mortality.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Ischemic heart disease (IHD) accounts for one-third of annual deaths in the U.S. and mortality rates vary by ethnicity. The association between adherence to dietary guidelines for fruit and vegetable intake with IHD mortality among different ethnic groups has not previously been examined. METHODS AND RESULTS: A prospective cohort design was used to examine the incidence of fatal IHD among participants in the Multiethnic Cohort Study. Participants included 164,617 men and women from five ethnic groups: African American, Native Hawaiian, Japanese American, Latino, and Caucasian. Cox proportional hazards models, stratified by ethnicity and sex, were used to examine associations between adherence with recommended dietary guidelines for fruit and vegetable intake and risk for fatal IHD. The results did not provide evidence that the association between adherence with dietary recommendations for fruit or vegetable intake and IHD mortality varies by ethnicity. Pooled data did provide evidence that adhering to the recommendations for vegetables lowered risk among men (RR = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.74-0.96) and women (RR = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.69-0.94). No significant effects were observed for fruit intake. CONCLUSIONS: The effect of dietary intake of fruit and vegetables did not vary by ethnicity, providing evidence that recommendations do not need to be individualized for these special populations. The protective effect observed for vegetable intake among both sexes confirms previous findings and supports the evidence base for promoting diet modification in this direction.

Validation of a culturally appropriate quantitative food frequency questionnaire for Inuvialuit population in the Northwest Territories, Canada.

BACKGROUND: The estimation of dietary intake in population-based studies is often assessed by a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). This present study aimed to establish the validity of a 142-item quantitative FFQ (QFFQ) developed to assess dietary intake in a population living in the Northwest Territories, Canada, and undergoing rapid nutrition transition. METHODS: Sixty-four randomly selected Inuvialuit adults were recruited. The mean of one to three 24-h recalls was used as the reference to measure the validity of the QFFQ. Spearman rank correlations (ρ), cross-classification and weighted kappa were computed as measures of concordance, adjusting for the daily dietary intake variations in the recalls. Bland - Altman plots were used for additional assessment. RESULTS: Four participants with daily energy intake of >25.1 MJ were not included in the analysis. For all nutrients, mean daily intake estimations were higher from the QFFQ than from the recalls. De-attenuated ρ's for macronutrients ranged from 0.33 (protein) to 0.45 (carbohydrate). The best de-attenuated ρ amongst micronutrients was observed for vitamin C (0.53). Overall correlation between the two dietary tools improved after correction for within-person variance (from 0.32 to 0.35). When nutrient intakes were categorised into quartiles, the QFFQ and 24-h recalls indicated relative agreement (same or adjacent quartiles) for 77% for energy and macronutrients, 86% for total sugar and 72% for micronutrients. Bland-Altman plots showed a tendency for increased scatter of the differences at higher intakes. CONCLUSIONS: The QFFQ developed is valid and can be used to assess usual dietary intake and dietary adequacy, determine the contribution of foods to specific nutrient intakes, and identify dietary risk factors for chronic disease amongst Inuvialuit.

Validation of a quantitative food frequency questionnaire for Inuit population in Nunavut, Canada.

BACKGROUND: Validation of a quantitative food frequency questionnaire (QFFQ) developed specifically for Inuit is necessary to determine its usefulness in assessing dietary intake and adequacy and in identifying dietary risk factors for chronic disease in this population. METHODS: Seventy-five randomly selected Inuit adults in Nunavut, Canada, were recruited. Mean daily intake of nutrients from one to three 24-h recalls was used as the reference to measure QFFQ validity. Crude and energy-adjusted Spearman rank correlations (ρ), cross classification and weighted kappa were computed as measures of concordance. Bland-Altman plotting was used for additional assessment. RESULTS: Excluding four participants with daily energy intake of >25.1 MJ, 71 participants were included in the analysis. For all nutrients, mean daily intake from the QFFQ was higher than the recall. ρ's for macronutrients were in the range 0.71 for carbohydrate to 0.25 for protein. The best ρ amongst micronutrients was observed for vitamin C (0.66). Overall correlation between the two dietary tools improved after correction for within-person variance (from 0.46 to 0.49), although adjusting for energy did not improve the overall coefficient. When nutrient intakes were categorised into quartiles, the QFFQ and 24-h recalls indicated relative agreement proportion (same or adjacent quartiles) of 83% for energy, 94% for total sugar, 83% for macronutrients and 77% for micronutrients. Bland-Altman plots showed a tendency for increased scatter of the differences in nutrients at higher intakes. CONCLUSIONS: The QFFQ developed is valid and can be used to assess usual dietary intake and dietary adequacy, determine the contribution of foods to specific nutrient intakes, and identify dietary risk factors for chronic disease amongst this population.

Awareness of chronic disease diagnosis amongst family members is associated with healthy dietary knowledge but not behaviour amongst Inuit in Arctic Canada.

BACKGROUND: The extent to which awareness of chronic disease (CD) diagnosis affects one's healthy food knowledge, self-efficacy and intentions or healthy dietary and physical activity (PA) behaviours remains unexplored among Inuit in Canada. METHODS: A food frequency questionnaire and an adult impact questionnaire were used in a cross-sectional study to collect self-reported data on daily energy and nutrient intake, PA and the diagnosis of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and cancer amongst adult Inuit and their family members. Associations between awareness of personal and family CD status and healthy food knowledge, self-efficacy and intentions, percentage of energy consumed from non-nutrient-dense foods and PA were assessed via ordinal logistic regression. RESULTS: Of the 266 participants, those who self-reported CD for both themselves and their relative(s) were more likely to have high healthy food knowledge [odds ratio (OR)=2.45] than those who did not. Reporting hypertension and heart disease amongst only relatives increased the likelihood of high knowledge (OR=5.20) and intentions (OR=5.10) for healthy eating. Heart disease in both participants and their relatives was associated with high levels of PA (OR=12.24). However, there were no associations when only participants (but not their relatives) reported having CD. A joint effect between a high level of education and awareness of CD was positively related to high food knowledge (OR=38.93). An inverse association between awareness of CD and unhealthy eating was not observed. CONCLUSIONS: Awareness of a relative having a CD was a more important factor in increasing knowledge and, to a lesser degree, self-efficacy or intentions to eat healthy than participants' awareness of personal CD. However, awareness was not associated with lower non-nutrient-dense food intake.