A Scoping Review of the Application of Metabolomics in Nutrition Research: The Literature Survey 2000-2019.

Nutrimetabolomics is an emerging field in nutrition research, and it is expected to play a significant role in deciphering the interaction between diet and health. Through the development of omics technology over the last two decades, the definition of food and nutrition has changed from sources of energy and major/micro-nutrients to an essential exposure factor that determines health risks. Furthermore, this new approach has enabled nutrition research to identify dietary biomarkers and to deepen the understanding of metabolic dynamics and the impacts on health risks. However, so far, candidate markers identified by metabolomics have not been clinically applied and more efforts should be made to validate those. To help nutrition researchers better understand the potential of its application, this scoping review outlined the historical transition, recent focuses, and future prospects of the new realm, based on trends in the number of human research articles from the early stage of 2000 to the present of 2019 by searching the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE). Among them, objective dietary assessment, metabolic profiling, and health risk prediction were positioned as three of the principal applications. The continued growth will enable nutrimetabolomics research to contribute to personalized nutrition in the future.

Errors in the implementation, analysis, and reporting of randomization within obesity and nutrition research: a guide to their avoidance.

Randomization is an important tool used to establish causal inferences in studies designed to further our understanding of questions related to obesity and nutrition. To take advantage of the inferences afforded by randomization, scientific standards must be upheld during the planning, execution, analysis, and reporting of such studies. We discuss ten errors in randomized experiments from real-world examples from the literature and outline best practices for their avoidance. These ten errors include: representing nonrandom allocation as random, failing to adequately conceal allocation, not accounting for changing allocation ratios, replacing subjects in nonrandom ways, failing to account for non-independence, drawing inferences by comparing statistical significance from within-group comparisons instead of between-groups, pooling data and breaking the randomized design, failing to account for missing data, failing to report sufficient information to understand study methods, and failing to frame the causal question as testing the randomized assignment per se. We hope that these examples will aid researchers, reviewers, journal editors, and other readers to endeavor to a high standard of scientific rigor in randomized experiments within obesity and nutrition research.

[Nutritional Study in Spanish Pediatric Population (EsNuPI): updated findings and initial conclusions]. / Estudio Nutricional en Población Infantil Española (EsNuPI): actualización de hallazgos y primeras conclusiones.

INTRODUCTION: Introduction: eating habits and lifestyles during early childhood are important due to their association with chronic diseases in adulthood. Objectives: to evaluate energy and nutrient intake, main food sources, and dietary patterns in the EsNuPI study participants. Methods: a sociodemographic questionnaire, food frequency questionnaire, two 24 h recalls, and a physical activity questionnaire were used in two cohorts of Spanish children aged 1 to < 10 years, who were non-vegans living in municipalities > 50,000 inhabitants - one representative cohort of consumers of all types of milks (SRS = 707) and one other cohort consuming adapted milks (AMS = 741). Results: 84.7 % in SRS and 83.5 % in AMS showed a plausible, adequate energy (EI) (1503 and 1404 kcal/day, respectively). The percentage of children with protein intake > 20 % of EI was 12 % for SRS, and 6 % for AMS. Both cohorts exceeded the recommendations for total fat (36.5 % in SRS, 35.9 % in AMS) and saturated fat (13.1 % vs 12.1 %, respectively); DHA intake was significantly lower in SRS (20 mg vs 90 mg). Vitamin D intake was significantly lower in SRS, although both cohorts did not meet the recommendation. When analyzing dietary patterns, one of palatable energy-dense foods and two of Mediterranean type were highlighted. Conclusions: it is recommended that consumption of saturated fatty acids and protein be reduced, but calcium, vitamin D, and magnesium intakes should be increased, especially in children > 4 years. These findings are important for designing interventions in the Spanish child population. The findings of the EsNuPI study provide useful information for the design and promotion of appropriate interventions for Spanish children.

INTRODUCCIÓN: Introducción: los hábitos de alimentación y los estilos de vida durante las primeras etapas de la infancia son importantes por su asociación a enfermedades crónicas durante la vida adulta. Objetivos: evaluar la ingesta de energía, el aporte de nutrientes, las principales fuentes alimentarias y los patrones dietéticos de los participantes en el estudio EsNuPI. Métodos: se utilizaron un cuestionario sociodemográfico, un cuestionario de frecuencia de consumo de alimentos, dos recuerdos de 24 h y un cuestionario de actividad física en dos cohortes de niños españoles de 1 a < 10 años, no veganos, residentes en municipios > 50.000 habitantes: una representativa de los consumidores de todo tipo de leches (SRS = 707) y otra consumidora de leches adaptadas (AMS = 741). Resultados: el 84,7 % de la cohorte SRS y el 83,5 % de la AMS mostraron una ingesta energética (IE) plausible y adecuada (1503 y 1404 kcal/día, respectivamente) en ambas cohortes. El porcentaje de niños con ingesta proteica > 20 % de la IE fue del 12 % en la SRS y el 6 % en la AMS. Ambas cohortes sobrepasaron las recomendaciones de grasa total (36,5 % en la SRS; 35,9 % en la AMS) y de grasas saturadas (13,1 % vs. 12,1 %, respectivamente); la ingesta de DHA fue significativamente menor en la SRS (20 mg/d vs. 90 mg/d). La ingesta de vitamina D fue significativamente menor en la SRS, aunque ambas cohortes no alcanzaron las recomendaciones de los organismos internacionales. Al analizar los patrones alimentarios, destacan uno de alimentos apetitosos e hipercalóricos y dos de tipo mediterráneo. Conclusiones: es recomendable reducir la ingesta de grasas saturadas y proteínas, e incrementar la de calcio, vitamina D y magnesio, esto último especialmente en los niños > 4 años. Estos hallazgos son importantes para el diseño de intervenciones en la población infantil española.

Predicting anticancer hyperfoods with graph convolutional networks.

BACKGROUND: Recent efforts in the field of nutritional science have allowed the discovery of disease-beating molecules within foods based on the commonality of bioactive food molecules to FDA-approved drugs. The pioneering work in this field used an unsupervised network propagation algorithm to learn the systemic-wide effect on the human interactome of 1962 FDA-approved drugs and a supervised algorithm to predict anticancer therapeutics using the learned representations. Then, a set of bioactive molecules within foods was fed into the model, which predicted molecules with cancer-beating potential.The employed methodology consisted of disjoint unsupervised feature generation and classification tasks, which can result in sub-optimal learned drug representations with respect to the classification task. Additionally, due to the disjoint nature of the tasks, the employed approach proved cumbersome to optimize, requiring testing of thousands of hyperparameter combinations and significant computational resources.To overcome the technical limitations highlighted above, we represent each drug as a graph (human interactome) with its targets as binary node features on the graph and formulate the problem as a graph classification task. To solve this task, inspired by the success of graph neural networks in graph classification problems, we use an end-to-end graph neural network model operating directly on the graphs, which learns drug representations to optimize model performance in the prediction of anticancer therapeutics. RESULTS: The proposed model outperforms the baseline approach in the anticancer therapeutic prediction task, achieving an F1 score of 67.99%±2.52% and an AUPR of 73.91%±3.49%. It is also shown that the model is able to capture knowledge of biological pathways to predict anticancer molecules based on the molecules' effects on cancer-related pathways. CONCLUSIONS: We introduce an end-to-end graph convolutional model to predict cancer-beating molecules within food. The introduced model outperforms the existing baseline approach, and shows interpretability, paving the way to the future of a personalized nutritional science approach allowing the development of nutrition strategies for cancer prevention and/or therapeutics.

Estudio Nutricional en Población Infantil Española (EsNuPI): actualización de hallazgos y primeras conclusiones / Nutritional Study in Spanish Pediatric Population (EsNuPI): updated findings and initial conclusions

Introducción: los hábitos de alimentación y los estilos de vida durante las primeras etapas de la infancia son importantes por su asociación a enfermedades crónicas durante la vida adulta. Objetivos: evaluar la ingesta de energía, el aporte de nutrientes, las principales fuentes alimentarias y los patrones dietéticos de los participantes en el estudio EsNuPI. Métodos: se utilizaron un cuestionario sociodemográfico, un cuestionario de frecuencia de consumo de alimentos, dos recuerdos de 24 h y un cuestionario de actividad física en dos cohortes de niños españoles de 1 a < 10 años, no veganos, residentes en municipios > 50.000 habitantes: una representativa de los consumidores de todo tipo de leches (SRS = 707) y otra consumidora de leches adaptadas (AMS = 741). Resultados: el 84,7 % de la cohorte SRS y el 83,5 % de la AMS mostraron una ingesta energética (IE) plausible y adecuada (1503 y 1404 kcal/día, respectivamente) en ambas cohortes. El porcentaje de niños con ingesta proteica > 20 % de la IE fue del 12 % en la SRS y el 6 % en la AMS. Ambas cohortes sobrepasaron las recomendaciones de grasa total (36,5 % en la SRS; 35,9 % en la AMS) y de grasas saturadas (13,1 % vs. 12,1 %, respectivamente); la ingesta de DHA fue significativamente menor en la SRS (20 mg/d vs. 90 mg/d). La ingesta de vitamina D fue significativamente menor en la SRS, aunque ambas cohortes no alcanzaron las recomendaciones de los organismos internacionales. Al analizar los patrones alimentarios, destacan uno de alimentos apetitosos e hipercalóricos y dos de tipo mediterráneo. Conclusiones: es recomendable reducir la ingesta de grasas saturadas y proteínas, e incrementar la de calcio, vitamina D y magnesio, esto último especialmente en los niños > 4 años. Estos hallazgos son importantes para el diseño de intervenciones en la población infantil española. (AU)

Introduction: eating habits and lifestyles during early childhood are important due to their association with chronic diseases in adulthood. Objectives: to evaluate energy and nutrient intake, main food sources, and dietary patterns in the EsNuPI study participants. Methods: a sociodemographic questionnaire, food frequency questionnaire, two 24 h recalls, and a physical activity questionnaire were used in two cohorts of Spanish children aged 1 to < 10 years, who were non-vegans living in municipalities > 50,000 inhabitants - one representative cohort of consumers of all types of milks (SRS = 707) and one other cohort consuming adapted milks (AMS = 741). Results: 84.7 % in SRS and 83.5 % in AMS showed a plausible, adequate energy (EI) (1503 and 1404 kcal/day, respectively). The percentage of children with protein intake > 20 % of EI was 12 % for SRS, and 6 % for AMS. Both cohorts exceeded the recommendations for total fat (36.5 % in SRS, 35.9 % in AMS) and saturated fat (13.1 % vs 12.1 %, respectively); DHA intake was significantly lower in SRS (20 mg vs 90 mg). Vitamin D intake was significantly lower in SRS, although both cohorts did not meet the recommendation. When analyzing dietary patterns, one of palatable energy-dense foods and two of Mediterranean type were highlighted. Conclusions: it is recommended that consumption of saturated fatty acids and protein be reduced, but calcium, vitamin D, and magnesium intakes should be increased, especially in children > 4 years. These findings are important for designing interventions in the Spanish child population. The findings of the EsNuPI study provide useful information for the design and promotion of appropriate interventions for Spanish children. (AU)

High-throughput LC-MS method to investigate postprandial lipemia: considerations for future precision nutrition research.

Elevated postprandial lipemia is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, yet methods to quantitate postmeal handling of dietary lipids in humans are limited. This study tested a new method to track dietary lipid appearance using a stable isotope tracer (2H11-oleate) in liquid meals containing three levels of fat [low fat (LF), 15 g; moderate fat (MF), 30 g; high fat (HF), 60 g]. Meals were fed to 12 healthy men [means ± SD, age 31.3 ± 9.2 yr, body mass index (BMI) 24.5 ± 1.9 kg/m2] during four randomized study visits; the HF meal was administered twice for reproducibility. Blood was collected over 8 h postprandially, triglyceride (TG)-rich lipoproteins (TRL), and particles with a Svedberg flotation rate >400 (Sf > 400, n = 8) were isolated by ultracentrifugation, and labeling of two TG species (54:3 and 52:2) was quantified by LC-MS. Total plasma TRL-TG concentrations were threefold greater than Sf > 400-TG. Both Sf > 400- and TRL-TG 54:3 were present at higher concentrations than 52:2, and singly labeled TG concentrations were higher than doubly labeled. Furthermore, TG 54:3 and the singly labeled molecules demonstrated higher plasma absolute entry rates differing significantly across fat levels within a single TG species (P < 0.01). Calculation of fractional entry showed no significant differences in label handling supporting the utility of either TG species for appearance rate calculations. These data demonstrate the utility of labeling research meals with stable isotopes to investigate human postprandial lipemia while simultaneously highlighting the importance of examining individual responses. Meal type and timing, control of prestudy activities, and effects of sex on outcomes should match the research goals. The method, optimized here, will be beneficial to conduct basic science research in precision nutrition and clinical drug development.NEW & NOTEWORTHY A novel method to test human intestinal lipid handling using stable isotope labeling is presented and, for the first time, plasma appearance and lipid turnover were quantified in 12 healthy men following meals with varying amounts of fat. The method can be applied to studies in precision nutrition characterizing individual response to support basic science research or drug development. This report discusses key questions for consideration in precision nutrition that were highlighted by the data.

News from NHLBI: Nutrition Research at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and Future Opportunities.

BACKGROUND: Nutrition plays a major role in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and other chronic diseases; hence, nutrition research is a priority for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The purpose of this analysis is to describe the scope of NHLBI-funded extramural nutrition research grants over the past decade and offer insights into future opportunities for nutrition research relevant to NHLBI's mission. METHODS: Data were extracted using the Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization spending categories from the publicly available NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool Expenditures and Results. New 2018 and 2019 grants were coded into categories and mapped to the 2016 NHLBI Strategic Vision priorities. RESULTS: Approximately 90% of nutrition research funds supported extramural grants, particularly through investigator-initiated R series grants (69.6%). Of these, 19.8% were classified as clinical trials. Consistent nutrition-related topics, including physical activity, weight loss, fatty acids, metabolic syndrome, childhood obesity, and other topics such as gut microbiota, arterial stiffness, sleep duration, and meal timing, emerged in 2014-2019.  Mapping of the NHLBI Strategic Vision objectives revealed that 32% of newly funded grants focused on pathobiological mechanisms important to the onset and progression of heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders, with opportunities including developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies and clinical and implementation science research. DISCUSSION: The findings show the breadth of NHLBI-funded nutrition research and highlight potential research opportunities for nutrition scientists.

Informe de Rotación Electiva

El presente informe tiene como propósito dar cuenta del trabajo realizado y los aprendizajes alcanzados durante el desarrollo de la rotación de elección libre. La misma ha sido llevada a cabo entre el 16 de marzo y el 21 de abril de 2020 en el Centro de Investigación en Nutrición y Salud (CINyS) perteneciente al Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública (INSP) de México. En las siguientes páginas se presentará la sede de rotación y la fundamentación relativa a la relevancia de la elección de la misma. Asimismo, se explicitarán los objetivos propuestos y las actividades desarrolladas a lo largo del mencionado período. Finalmente, se presentará una reflexión a partir de los aprendizajes logrados y los aportes que se intentó realizar tanto desde el campo de la nutrición como desde la Educación y Promoción de la Salud. (AU)

A Diet for Healthy Weight: Why Reaching a Consensus Seems Difficult.

Overweight and obesity are global health problems that contribute to the rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers. The World Health Organization recognizes obesity as a primarily diet-induced, preventable condition, yet losing weight or keeping weight loss permanent is a universal challenge. In the U.S., formal dietary guidelines have existed since 1980. Over the same time-period, the incidence of obesity has skyrocketed. Here, we present our perspective on why current dietary guidelines are not always supported by a robust body of scientific data and emphasize the critical need for accelerated nutrition research funding. A clear understanding of the interaction of dietary patterns with system-level biological changes in a precise, response-specific manner can help inform evidence-based nutrition education, policy, and practice.

[Anthroponutriciology: the development of the ideas of the founders of a new scientific direction].

The most outstanding Russian anatomists and anthropologists D.A. Zhdanov and B.A. Nikityuk and the leading nutritionist A.A. Pokrovsky were the founders of the Anthroponutritiology, which arose at the junction of Anthropological Anatomy and Nutrition Science and represented a new stage in the integration of these two sciences. Both Sciences, enriching each other with facts, existing methodology and established traditions, implementing modern innovative approaches, bring the physical and nutritional status of individuals closer to the standard (the "gold standard"). One of the applied tasks of Anthroponutritiology is the identification of the constitutional dependence of morphophysiological characters and determination of anthropological and clinical associations. Solving problems of Anthroponutritiology is a primary public concern, the most crucial state task. This issue is under the mandate of Federal Research Centre of Nutrition and Biotechnology and biotechnology, which implements this new branch of Science.

Is nutrition science ready for the twenty-first century? Moving towards transdisciplinary impacts in a changing world.

Malnutrition in an obese world was the fitting title of the 13th Federation of European Nutrition Societies (FENS) conference held in October 2019. Many individuals do not eat a healthy, well-balanced diet, and this is now understood to be a major driver of increased disease risk and illness. Moreover, both our current eating patterns and the food system as a whole are environmentally unsustainable, threatening the planetary systems we depend on for survival. As we attempt to feed a growing global population, food systems will increasingly be confronted with their environmental impacts, with the added challenge of climate change-induced threats to food production. As we move into the third decade of the twenty-first century, these challenges demand that the nutrition research community reconsider its scope, concepts, methods, and societal role. At a pre-meeting workshop held at the FENS conference, over 70 researchers active in the field explored ways to advance the discipline's capacity to address cross-cutting issues of personal, public and planetary health. Using the world cafe method, four themed discussion tables explored (a) the breadth of scientific domains needed to meet the current challenges, (b) the nature and definition of the shifting concepts in nutrition sciences, (c) the next-generation methods required and (d) communication and organisational challenges and opportunities. As a follow-up to earlier work [1], here we report the highlights of the discussions, and propose the next steps to advance responsible research and innovation in the domain of nutritional science.

Advances in Medical Nutrition Therapy: Parenteral Nutrition.

Parenteral nutrition has evolved tremendously, with parenteral formulas now safer and more accessible than ever. "All-in-one" admixtures are now available, which simplify parenteral nutrition usage and decrease line infection rates alongside other methods of infectious control. Recently published data on the benefits of parenteral nutrition versus enteral nutrition together with the widespread use of indirect calorimetry solve many safety issues that have emerged over the years. All these advances, alongside a better understanding of glycemic control and lipid and protein formulation improvements, make parenteral nutrition a safe alternative to enteral nutrition.

Optimum nutritional strategies for cardiovascular disease prevention and rehabilitation (BACPR).

Nutrition has a central role in both primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease yet only relatively recently has food been regarded as a treatment, rather than as an adjunct to established medical and pharmacotherapy. As a field of research, nutrition science is constantly evolving making it difficult for patients and practitioners to ascertain best practice. This is compounded further by the inherent difficulties in performing double-blind randomised controlled trials. This paper covers dietary patterns that are associated with improved cardiovascular outcomes, including the Mediterranean Diet but also low-carbohydrate diets and the potential issues encountered with their implementation. We suggest there must be a refocus away from macronutrients and consideration of whole foods when advising individuals. This approach is fundamental to practice, as clinical guidelines have focused on macronutrients without necessarily considering their source, and ultimately people consume foods containing multiple nutrients. The inclusion of food-based recommendations aids the practitioner to help the patient make genuine and meaningful changes in their diet. We advocate that the cardioprotective diet constructed around the traditional Mediterranean eating pattern (based around vegetables and fruits, nuts, legumes, and unrefined cereals, with modest amounts of fish and shellfish, and fermented dairy products) is still important. However, there are other approaches that can be tried, including low-carbohydrate diets. We encourage practitioners to adopt a flexible dietary approach, being mindful of patient preferences and other comorbidities that may necessitate deviations away from established advice, and advocate for more dietitians in this field to guide the multi-professional team.