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Improving nutrition science begins with asking better questions.
Stern, Dalia; Ibsen, Daniel B; MacDonald, Conor James; Chiu, Yu-Han; Lajous, Martin; Tobias, Deirdre K.
Affiliation
  • Stern D; CONAHCyT-Population Health Research Center, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Mexico.
  • Ibsen DB; Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark.
  • MacDonald CJ; Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
  • Chiu YH; MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
  • Lajous M; Unit of Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
  • Tobias DK; Department of Public Health Sciences, Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Am J Epidemiol ; 2024 Jul 11.
Article in En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38992167
ABSTRACT
A priority of nutrition science is to identify dietary determinants of health and disease to inform effective public health policies, guidelines, and clinical interventions. Yet, conflicting findings in synthesizing evidence from randomized trials and observational data has contributed to confusion and uncertainty. Often, heterogeneity can be explained by the fact that seemingly similar bodies of evidence are asking very different questions. Improving the alignment within and between research domains begins with investigators clearly defining their diet-disease questions; however, nutritional exposures are complex and often require a greater degree of specificity. First, dietary data are compositional, meaning a change in a food may imply a compensatory change of other foods. Second, dietary data are multidimensional; that is, the primary components (i.e., foods) are comprised of sub-components (e.g., nutrients), and sub-components can be present in multiple primary components. Third, because diet is a lifelong exposure, the composition of a study population's background diet has implications on the interpretation of the exposure and the transportability of effect estimates. Collectively clarifying these key aspects of inherently complex dietary exposures when conducting research will facilitate appropriate evidence synthesis, improve certainty of evidence, and improve the ability of these efforts to inform policy and decision-making.

Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Language: En Journal: Am J Epidemiol Year: 2024 Document type: Article Affiliation country: Country of publication:

Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Language: En Journal: Am J Epidemiol Year: 2024 Document type: Article Affiliation country: Country of publication: