The Effect of Sociodemographic and Anthropometric Variables on Nutritional Knowledge and Nutrition Literacy.

Nutrition literacy, which is one of the important components of health literacy, includes basic nutritional information and understanding, interpreting and having the ability to make healthy decisions on nutrition-related issues. This study aims to dwell upon the relationship between sociodemographic and anthropometric variables and nutritional knowledge and nutrition literacy. A total of 1600 people aged 19-64 years, 934 women and 666 men, voluntarily participated in the research in the capital city of Turkey. The mean age is 28.2 ± 10.9 years. More than half of the participants (57.4%) have a university graduate/postgraduate education level, and 66.2% are unemployed. This cross-sectional study evaluated demographic information, anthropometric measurements, nutritional information and nutrition literacy. Nearly all the respondents (94.6%) were determined to have sufficient nutrition literacy. Body mass index (BMI) and age were negatively associated with nutrition literacy, whilst nutrition knowledge was positively associated. Respondents with nutrition education at school had the highest nutrition knowledge and nutrition literacy scores, and primary school graduates had the lowest. Participants who received nutrition education scored higher in all the subgroups of the GNKQ. Age, gender, marital status, education status, employment status, BMI and nutrition education were significantly associated with nutrition literacy. The results will be useful in developing food and nutrition policies that will pave the way for making decisions on the most useful themes of health and nutrition campaigns.

May the force be with you during the quarantine: a cross-sectional study on the perception of health locus of control, sports engagement and emotional eating of individuals who exercised regularly / Que a força esteja com você durante a quarentena: um estudo transversal sobre a percepção do locus de controle da saúde, engajamento esportivo e alimentação emocional de indivíduos que se exercitam regularmente

ABSTRACT Objective This study evaluated the perception of health locus of control, sports engagement, and emotional eating during quarantine of individuals who regularly exercised before the quarantine. Methods Individuals who regularly attended the gym before the quarantine period were enrolled in the study. The questionnaire included the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale-A, Sport Engagement Scale, and Emotional Eating Scale, which was applied online to 513 gym members. Results 74.9% of participants adopted the perception of internal health locus of control. Emotional eating scores were higher in participants who did not exercise during the quarantine when compared to those who did and in those adopting the perception of chance health locus of control compared to participants adopting the perception of internal health locus of control. Participants who adopted the perception of internal health locus of control compared to the those who adopted the perception of chance or powerful others health locus of control had higher sports engagement (p<0.05). Individuals with a high BMI, who did not have a perception of internal health locus of control and who did not exercise during the quarantine were prone to emotional eating. Conclusion In conclusion, in those individuals who regularly went to gym before the quarantine, continuing to exercise during the quarantine may have provided an advantage in preventing emotional eating, and we also showed that sports engagement supported the continuation of exercise during the quarantine period. In addition, we determined that individuals with a high body mass index, who do not have a perception of internal health locus of control and who did not exercise during the quarantine were prone to emotional eating.

RESUMO Objetivo Este estudo avaliou a percepção do locus de controle da saúde, entre o envolvimento em esportes e comer emocional durante a quarentena de indivíduos que se exercitavam regularmente antes do período de isolamento. Métodos Indivíduos que frequentavam regularmente a academia antes do período de quarentena foram incluídos no estudo. O questionário incluiu: a Escala Multidimensional de Locus de Controle da Saúde, Escala de Envolvimento em Esportes e Escala de Comer Emocional. Esse estudo foi aplicado online a 513 membros da academia Resultados 74,9% dos participantes que adotaram a percepção locus de controle da saúde interno. As pontuações do comer emocional foram mais altas em participantes que não se exercitaram durante a quarentena, em comparação com aqueles que fizeram, e aqueles que adotaram a percepção de locus de controle da saúde de chance, em comparação com participantes que adotaram a percepção de locus de controle da saúde interno. Participantes que adotaram a percepção de locus de controle da saúde interno tiveram um maior envolvimento em esportes em comparação com aqueles que adotaram a percepção de locus de controle da saúde de chance ou de poder de outros (p<0,05). Indivíduos com um alto IMC, que não tinham a percepção de locus de controle da saúde interna e que não se exercitaram durante a quarentena estavam mais propensos à comer emocional. Conclusão Em conclusão, naqueles indivíduos que frequentavam regularmente a academia antes da quarentena, continuar se exercitando durante a quarentena pode ter fornecido uma vantagem em termos de prevenção da Escala Comer Emocional, e também mostramos que o engajamento esportivo apoiou a continuação do exercício durante o período de quarentena. Além disso, determinamos que indivíduos com alto índice de massa corporal, que não têm percepção do locus de controle interno da saúde e que não se exercitam durante a quarentena eram propensos a Escala Comer Emocional.

The power of berries against cardiovascular diseases.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) pose a serious threat to human health and incidence is increasing gradually. Nutrition has an important impact on the prophylaxis and progression of CVD. In this article, general attention is drawn to the possible positive effects of berries on CVD. Polyphenols have beneficial effects on the vascular system by inhibiting low-density lipoprotein oxidation and platelet aggregation, lowering blood pressure, improving endothelial dysfunction, and attenuating antioxidant defense and inflammatory responses. This review provides an overview of the effects of berries for the prevention and treatment of CVDs. Berries contain several cardioprotective antioxidants, vitamins, and numerous phytochemicals, such as phenolic compounds, that have antioxidant properties and antiplatelet activity. Phytochemical compounds in their structures can modulate dissimilar signaling pathways related to cell survival, differentiation, and growth. Important health benefits of berries include their antioxidant roles and anti-inflammatory impacts on vascular function. The effectiveness and potential of polyphenols primarily depend on the amount of bioavailability and intake. Although circulating berry metabolites can improve vascular function, their biological activities, mechanisms of action, and in vivo interactions are still unknown. Analyzing human studies or experimental studies to evaluate the bioactivity of metabolites individually and together is essential to understanding the mechanisms by which these metabolites affect vascular function.

The Correlation between Social Media Addiction and Emotional Eating during the COVID-19 Quarantine Period.

This study was conducted with 458 participants. The demographic and health information of the participants along with the Social Media Addiction, Emotional Eating Scale were obtained. The level of social media addiction in adults was moderate, and women were more interested in social media than men. As the average age of participants increased, the virtual tolerance, virtual communication, social media scores decreased (p < .05). The study found that 51.6% of individuals with emotional eating tendencies happened to be obese. The social media addiction scale scores of those with emotional eating tendencies were higher than those without emotional eating tendencies (p < .05).

A comprehensive overview of the complex relationship between epigenetics, bioactive components, cancer, and aging.

Among age-related diseases, the incidence of cancer increases significantly due to the overlap of some molecular pathways between cancer and aging. While the genetic influence on the human lifespan is estimated to be about 20-25%, epigenetic changes play an important role in modulating individual health status, aging. Aging and age-related conditions are processes that can be modified by both genetic, environmental factors, including dietary habits. Epigenetics is a new discipline has significant potential to be applied for the prevention, management of certain carcinomas and diseases. Epigenetic modifications may play an important role in disease occurrence and pathogenesis. Some nutritional components can be significantly effective in the prevention of breast, skin, esophagus, colorectal, prostate, pancreatic, lung cancers. It contains minerals, vitamins, and some bioactive components (curcumin, indole 3 carbinol, di-indolylmethane, sulforaphane, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, genistein, resveratrol, pterostilbene, apigenin, etc.) regulatory processes. However, compelling evidence suggests that dietary habits can manipulate the aging process and/or its consequences, have health benefits. Aging processes become complex when combined with the relational role of bioactive nutritional components on gene expression. In this review, the relationship between epigenetic processes caused by DNA methylylation, histone modification, non-coding m-RNA, and telomerase activity, the risk of aging and cancer is discussed.

The effect of probiotic, prebiotic and gut microbiota on ASD: A review and future perspectives.

Autism spectrum disorder is a serious neurodevelopmental disease that affects social communication and behavior, characterized by an increasingly common immune mechanism and various complications in the gastrointestinal system. Symptoms of autism can generally vary according to the genetic background of the individuals, the environment in which they live. The microbiota of individuals with autism is also different from healthy individuals. Recently, probiotics, prebiotic, fecal microbiota transplantation, diet therapy, etc. options have come to the fore. Cofactors are even more important at this stage. Since it is related to the gut microbiota, immune mechanism, gastrointestinal system, attention has been drawn to the relationship between dysbiosis, autism in the intestine. The component of the gut microbiota in individuals with autism has been linked with gastrointestinal symptoms that develop with autism severity. However, the role of the microbiota in diagnosis, follow-up, treatment is not clear yet, and its two-way relationship with the nervous system makes it difficult to establish a cause-effect relationship. Nutritional cofactors required in neurotransmitter synthesis and enzyme activation must be regularly and adequately taken to maximize brain functions in autistic individuals. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the cause-effect relationship of ASD with microbiota and brain-gut axis, probiotic-prebiotic use.

The Relationship between Adults' Perceptions, Attitudes of COVID-19, Intuitive Eating, and Mindful Eating Behaviors.

In total, 1224 Turkish adults (27.5 ± 9.6 years; 80.6% female) answered sociodemographic questions, and three instruments: Mindful Eating Questionnaire (MEQ), Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2), and COVID-19 Perception and Attitude Scale. Women's perceptions and attitudes toward COVID-19 indicated higher concerns than men (p < .001). It was found that IES-2 scores of all subjects increased as body mass index (BMI) decreased and education level increased (p < .001; p = .033, respectively). During the social isolation of COVID-19, the MEQ scores of married couples and those who did not eat take-out foods were higher (p = .027; p = .006, respectively). Interestingly, it was found that as the BMI of the subjects increased, their MEQ scores increased (p < .001). The COVID-19 pandemic, which has social and economic consequences, has a great impact on human health and causes sudden lifestyle changes through social distance and isolation at home. Although social isolation during the epidemic is a necessary precaution to protect public health, the results of this study support that it causes changes in intuitive eating, and mindful eating behaviors.

Mediterranean Diet Adherence among Preschoolers and its Association with Parents' Beliefs, Attitudes, and Practices.

The effect of parents on nutritional habits in preschool children is undeniable. It is known that parental control in child nutrition can affect the child's eating habits, and bodyweight. Mediterranean Diet (MD) adherence of children (KIDMED), parents' beliefs, attitudes and practices (Preschool Feeding Questionnaire-PFQ2) were investigated. The questionnaire prepared was applied by researchers face-to-face to 1413 families who agreed to participate voluntarily in the research with preschool children. Parental beliefs, attitudes, and practices regarding child nutrition status of parents were evaluated using 39-item PFQ2 and their child's eating habits using the 16-item KIDMED index. Children's KIDMED scores were found optimal in 34.1%, average in 57.0%, very low in 8.9%. The KIDMED scores of children whose parents are together (6.6 ± 2.1) were found to be significantly higher than children whose parents are separated (4.9 ± 2.2) (p <.001). A correlation was found between the KIDMED scores of the children, the parental control (r = 0.156, p <.001), maternal restriction (r = 0.104, p <.001), and structured feeding (r = 0.162, p <.001). Unfortunately, the adherence of most preschool children with the MD which considered a healthy diet pattern was found below the optimal level.