In Search of Mercury Lost from Sediments in a Previously Contaminated Coastal Area, Harboøre Tange, Denmark.

Concentrations of mercury in sediment and benthic invertebrate fauna of Nissum Broad, North-western Jutland, Denmark were investigated. The western coast of Nissum Broad is Harboøre Tange, along which heavy mercury contamination - caused by discharge from production of mercury containing seed dressers in the 1950 and 1960s - was documented in the 1980s. Recent investigations showed marked decreases in mercury contamination in the near shore sediments along Harboøre Tange since the 1980s and the present investigation was initiated to learn if the loss of mercury from Harboøre Tange had led to an increased mercury contamination in the neighbouring marine area, Nissum Broad. Mercury concentrations in the surface sediment correlated with the content of organic matter and the slope of the regression is a good indicator for the degree of mercury contamination. Average mercury concentrations in the upper 5 cm of the sediments ranged between 0.9 and 71 ng g- 1 dry weight (dw) with only 1 station exceeding the Background Assessment Concentration of 70 ng g- 1 dw. Average mercury concentrations in blue mussels Mytilus edulis (169-260 ng g- 1 dw) and periwinkles Littorina littorea (66-203 ng g- 1 dw) exceeded those in uncontaminated areas and the Environmental Quality Standard of approximately 100 ng g- 1 dw. Present sediment mercury concentrations in Nissum Broad are approximately half of what they were in the 1980s, rendering it unlikely that mercury lost from Harboøre Tange has been deposited there. Sediment and organism concentrations did not show any correlation.

Effect of a Nine-Month Web- and App-Based Workplace Intervention to Promote Healthy Lifestyle and Weight Loss for Employees in the Social Welfare and Health Care Sector: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: General health promoting campaigns are often not targeted at the people who need them the most. Web- and app-based tools are a new way to reach, motivate, and help people with poor health status. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to test a Web- and mobile app-based tool ("SoSu-life") on employees in the social welfare and health care sector in Denmark. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial was carried out as a workplace intervention. The tool was designed to help users make healthy lifestyle changes such as losing weight, exercise more, and quit smoking. A team competition between the participating workplaces took place during the first 16 weeks of the intervention. Twenty nursing homes for elderly people in 6 municipalities in Denmark participated in the study. The employees at the nursing homes were randomized either 1:1 or 2:1 on a municipality level to use the SoSu-life tool or to serve as a control group with no intervention. All participants underwent baseline measurements including body weight, waist circumference, body fat percentage, blood pressure, and blood cholesterol level and they filled in a questionnaire covering various aspects of health. The participants were measured again after 16 and 38 weeks. RESULTS: A total of 566 (SoSu-life: n=355, control: n=211) participants were included in the study. At 16 weeks there were 369 participants still in the study (SoSu-life: n=227, control: n=142) and 269 participants completed the 38 week intervention (SoSu-life: n=152, control: n=117). At 38 weeks, the SoSu-life group had a larger decrease in body weight (-1.01 kg, P=.03), body fat percentage (-0.8%, P=.03), and waist circumference (-1.8 cm, P=.007) compared with the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The SoSu-life Web- and app-based tool had a modest yet beneficial effect on body weight and body fat percentage in the health care sector staff. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02438059; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02438059 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6i6y4p2AS).

New Nordic Diet versus Average Danish Diet: A Randomized Controlled Trial Revealed Healthy Long-Term Effects of the New Nordic Diet by GC-MS Blood Plasma Metabolomics.

A previous study has shown effects of the New Nordic Diet (NND) to stimulate weight loss and lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure in obese Danish women and men in a randomized, controlled dietary intervention study. This work demonstrates long-term metabolic effects of the NND as compared with an Average Danish Diet (ADD) in blood plasma and reveals associations between metabolic changes and health beneficial effects of the NND including weight loss. A total of 145 individuals completed the intervention and blood samples were taken along with clinical examinations before the intervention started (week 0) and after 12 and 26 weeks. The plasma metabolome was measured using GC-MS, and the final metabolite table contained 144 variables. Significant and novel metabolic effects of the diet, resulting weight loss, gender, and intervention study season were revealed using PLS-DA and ASCA. Several metabolites reflecting specific differences in the diets, especially intake of plant foods and seafood, and in energy metabolism related to ketone bodies and gluconeogenesis formed the predominant metabolite pattern discriminating the intervention groups. Among NND subjects, higher levels of vaccenic acid and 3-hydroxybutanoic acid were related to a higher weight loss, while higher concentrations of salicylic, lactic, and N-aspartic acids and 1,5-anhydro-d-sorbitol were related to a lower weight loss. Specific gender and seasonal differences were also observed. The study strongly indicates that healthy diets high in fish, vegetables, fruit, and whole grain facilitated weight loss and improved insulin sensitivity by increasing ketosis and gluconeogenesis in the fasting state.

The New Nordic Diet: phosphorus content and absorption.

PURPOSE: High phosphorus content in the diet may have adverse effect on cardiovascular health. We investigated whether the New Nordic Diet (NND), based mainly on local, organic and less processed food and large amounts of fruit, vegetables, wholegrain and fish, versus an Average Danish Diet (ADD) would reduce the phosphorus load due to less phosphorus-containing food additives, animal protein and more plant-based proteins. METHODS: Phosphorus and creatinine were measured in plasma and urine at baseline, week 12 and week 26 in 132 centrally obese subjects with normal renal function as part of a post hoc analysis of data acquired from a 26-week controlled trial. We used the fractional phosphorus excretion as a measurement of phosphorus absorption. RESULTS: Mean baseline fractional phosphorus excretion was 20.9 ± 6.6 % in the NND group (n = 82) and 20.8 ± 5.5 % in the ADD group (n = 50) and was decreased by 2.8 ± 5.1 and 3.1 ± 5.4 %, respectively, (p = 0.6) at week 26. At week 26, the mean change in plasma phosphorus was 0.04 ± 0.12 mmol/L in the NND group and -0.03 ± 0.13 mmol/L in the ADD group (p = 0.001). Mean baseline phosphorus intake was 1950 ± 16 mg/10 MJ in the NND group and 1968 ± 22 mg/10 MJ in the ADD group and decreased less in the NND compared to the ADD (67 ± 36 mg/10 MJ and -266 ± 45 mg/day, respectively, p < 0.298). CONCLUSION: Contrary to expectations, the NND had a high phosphorus intake and did not decrease the fractional phosphorus excretion compared with ADD. Further modifications of the diet are needed in order to make this food concept beneficial regarding phosphorus absorption.

Long-term adherence to the New Nordic Diet and the effects on body weight, anthropometry and blood pressure: a 12-month follow-up study.

PURPOSE: The New Nordic Diet (NND) has induced weight loss in a 26-week controlled intervention. We aim to investigate whether high compliance and satisfaction can be maintained after the active intervention is discontinued thereby maintaining the health effects. METHODS: After 26 weeks of intervention with NND or Average Danish Diet (ADD), 147 participants (mean age 43 years and mean BMI 29.1 kg/m²) were followed for further 52 weeks. All participants were encouraged to follow NND but without further guidance. The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, study id NCT01195610. RESULTS: One hundred and ten participants (75%) completed the follow-up. Among participants previously randomised to NND (NND group), dietary compliance and satisfaction decreased from 4.3 to 3.0 and from 4.8 to 4.0, respectively (both p < 0.0001) (1-5 point scale). Among those originally randomised to ADD (ADD group), satisfaction with NND was significantly higher than with ADD during follow-up (3.3 vs. 2.5, p = 0.026). Weight losses during intervention of -6.2 kg and -3.0 kg were followed by regains of 4.6 kg (SE 0.5) and 1.1 kg (SE 0.7) for the NND group and ADD group, respectively [adjusted difference; mean (95 % CI): 1.8 kg (0.1-3.4), p = 0.041]. Across diet groups, every 1 score higher in compliance with NND was associated with 0.90 kg less body weight regain (p = 0.026) and those who increased physical activity regained 3.4 kg less compared to those who did not (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: NND provides higher satisfaction, and body weight regain is reduced with higher compliance with NND and increased physical activity.

Untargeted metabolomics as a screening tool for estimating compliance to a dietary pattern.

There is a growing interest in studying the nutritional effects of complex diets. For such studies, measurement of dietary compliance is a challenge because the currently available compliance markers cover only limited aspects of a diet. In the present study, an untargeted metabolomics approach was used to develop a compliance measure in urine to distinguish between two dietary patterns. A parallel intervention study was carried out in which 181 participants were randomized to follow either a New Nordic Diet (NND) or an Average Danish Diet (ADD) for 6 months. Dietary intakes were closely monitored over the whole study period, and 24 h urine samples as well as weighed dietary records were collected several times during the study. The urine samples were analyzed by UPLC-qTOF-MS, and a partial least-squares discriminant analysis with feature selection was applied to develop a compliance model based on data from 214 urine samples. The optimized model included 52 metabolites and had a misclassification rate of 19% in a validation set containing 139 samples. The metabolites identified in the model were markers of individual foods such as citrus, cocoa-containing products, and fish as well as more general dietary traits such as high fruit and vegetable intake or high intake of heat-treated foods. It was easier to classify the ADD diet than the NND diet probably due to seasonal variation in the food composition of NND and indications of lower compliance among the NND subjects. In conclusion, untargeted metabolomics is a promising approach to develop compliance measures that cover the most important discriminant metabolites of complex diets.

Microbial enterotypes, inferred by the prevotella-to-bacteroides ratio, remained stable during a 6-month randomized controlled diet intervention with the new nordic diet.

It has been suggested that the human gut microbiota can be divided into enterotypes based on the abundance of specific bacterial groups; however, the biological significance and stability of these enterotypes remain unresolved. Here, we demonstrated that subjects (n = 62) 18 to 65 years old with central obesity and components of metabolic syndrome could be grouped into two discrete groups simply by their relative abundance of Prevotella spp. divided by Bacteroides spp. (P/B ratio) obtained by quantitative PCR analysis. Furthermore, we showed that these groups remained stable during a 6-month, controlled dietary intervention, where the effect of consuming a diet in accord with the new Nordic diet (NND) recommendations as opposed to consuming the average Danish diet (ADD) on the gut microbiota was investigated. In this study, subjects (with and without stratification according to P/B ratio) did not reveal significant changes in 35 selected bacterial taxa quantified by quantitative PCR (ADD compared to NND) resulting from the dietary interventions. However, we found higher total plasma cholesterol within the high-P/B group than in the low-P/B group after the intervention. We propose that stratification of humans based simply on their P/B ratio could allow better assessment of possible effects of interventions on the gut microbiota and physiological biomarkers.

Discovery and validation of urinary exposure markers for different plant foods by untargeted metabolomics.

While metabolomics is increasingly used to investigate the food metabolome and identify new markers of food exposure, limited attention has been given to the validation of such markers. The main objectives of the present study were to (1) discover potential food exposure markers (PEMs) for a range of plant foods in a study setting with a mixed dietary background and (2) validate PEMs found in a previous meal study. Three-day weighed dietary records and 24-h urine samples were collected three times during a 6-month parallel intervention study from 107 subjects randomized to two distinct dietary patterns. An untargeted UPLC-qTOF-MS metabolomics analysis was performed on the urine samples, and all features detected underwent strict data analyses, including an iterative paired t test and sensitivity and specificity analyses for foods. A total of 22 unique PEMs were identified that covered 7 out of 40 investigated food groups (strawberry, cabbages, beetroot, walnut, citrus, green beans and chocolate). The PEMs reflected foods with a distinct composition rather than foods eaten more frequently or in larger amounts. We found that 23 % of the PEMs found in a previous meal study were also valid in the present intervention study. The study demonstrates that it is possible to discover and validate PEMs for several foods and food classes in an intervention study with a mixed dietary background, despite the large variability in such a dataset. Final validation of PEMs for intake of foods should be performed by quantitative analysis.

The new nordic diet--consumer expenditures and economic incentives estimated from a controlled intervention.

BACKGROUND: Several studies suggest that a healthy diet with high emphasis on nutritious, low-energy components such as fruits, vegetables, and seafood tends to be more costly for consumers. Derived from the ideas from the New Nordic Cuisine--and inspired by the Mediterranean diet, the New Nordic Diet (NND) has been developed as a palatable, healthy and sustainable diet based on products from the Nordic region. The objective of the study is to investigate economic consequences for the consumers of the NND, compared with an Average Danish Diet (ADD). METHODS: Combine quantity data from a randomized controlled ad libitum dietary 6 month intervention for central obese adults (18-65 years) and market retail price data of the products consumed in the intervention. Adjust consumed quantities to market price incentives using econometrically estimated price elasticities. RESULTS: Average daily food expenditure of the ADD as represented in the unadjusted intervention (ADD-i) amounted to 36.02 DKK for the participants. The daily food expenditure in the unadjusted New Nordic Diet (NND-i) costs 44.80 DKK per day per head, and is hence about 25% more expensive than the Average Danish Diet (or about 17% when adjusting for energy content of the diet). Adjusting for price incentives in a real market setting, the estimated cost of the Average Danish Diet is reduced by 2.50 DKK (ADD-m), compared to the unadjusted ADD-i diet, whereas the adjusted cost of the New Nordic Diet (NND-m) is reduced by about 3.50 DKK, compared to the unadjusted NND-i. The distribution of food cost is however much more heterogeneous among consumers within the NND than within the ADD. CONCLUSION: On average, the New Nordic Diet is 24-25 per cent more expensive than an Average Danish Diet at the current market prices in Denmark (and 16-17 per cent, when adjusting for energy content). The relatively large heterogeneity in food costs in the NND suggests that it is possible to compose an NND where the cost exceeds that of ADD by less than the 24-25 per cent.

Effectiveness of a Canteen Take Away concept in promoting healthy eating patterns among employees.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of a relatively novel concept of providing employees with healthy ready-to-heat meals to bring home to their families, here referred to as Canteen Take Away (CTA). DESIGN: Employees' dietary intake on two weekdays when they received free CTA was compared with that on weekdays when they did not receive CTA. Four non-consecutive 24 h dietary recalls were applied to assess dietary intake on a daily basis. Moreover, a digital photographic method was used to assess evening meal intake for three consecutive weeks. Data were analysed using a mixed-effects model. SETTING: A financial worksite offering CTA. SUBJECTS: Twenty-seven employees. RESULTS: Overall dietary quality as expressed by the energy density of the food (excluding beverages) was found to be significantly lower on days consuming CTA meals compared to days not consuming CTA with regard to evening meal intake (average difference: -187 (95 % CI -225, -149) kJ/100 g) and on a daily basis (average difference: -77 (95 % CI -132, -21) kJ/100 g). Other favourable differences included increased vegetable intake (average difference: 83 (95 % CI 67, 98) g/evening meal, 109 (95 % CI 62, 155) g/d). CONCLUSION: The present study shows that providing healthy take-away dinners has potential for promoting healthy dietary habits among employees. This reinforces the importance of availability and convenience as effective tools to promote healthy eating habits.

Human urine 1H NMR metabolomics reveals alterations of protein and carbohydrate metabolism when comparing habitual Average Danish diet vs. healthy New Nordic diet.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the alteration of the human urine metabolome by means of diet and to compare the metabolic effects of the nutritionally healthy New Nordic Diet (NND) with an Average Danish Diet (ADD). The NND was designed a decade ago by scientists and chefs, based on local and sustainable foods, including fish, shellfish, vegetables, roots, fruit, and berries. The NND has been proven to lower blood pressure, reduce glycemia, and lead to weight loss. METHODS: The human urine metabolome was measured by untargeted proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in samples from 142 centrally obese Danes (20-66 years old), randomized to consume the ADD or the NND. The resulting metabolomics data was processed and analyzed using advanced multivariate data analysis methods to reveal effects related to the design factors, including diet, season, sex, and changes in body weight. RESULTS: Exploration of the nuclear magnetic resonance profiles revealed unique metabolite markers reflecting changes in protein and carbohydrate metabolism between the two diets. Glycine betaine, glucose, trimethylamine N-oxide and creatinine were increased in urine of the individuals following the NND compared with the ADD population, whereas relative concentrations of tartrate, dimethyl sulfone, and propylene glycol were decreased. Propylene glycol had a strong association with the homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance in the NND group. The food intake biomarkers found in this study confirm the importance of these as tools for nutritional research. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study provided new insights into the effects of a healthy diet on glycemia, reduction of inflammation, and weight loss among obese individuals, and alteration of the gut microbiota metabolism.

Pretreatment fasting plasma glucose and insulin modify dietary weight loss success: results from 3 randomized clinical trials.

Background: Which diet is optimal for weight loss and maintenance remains controversial and implies that no diet fits all patients.Objective: We studied concentrations of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and fasting insulin (FI) as prognostic markers for successful weight loss and maintenance through diets with different glycemic loads or different fiber and whole-grain content, assessed in 3 randomized trials of overweight participants.Design: After an 8-wk weight loss, participants in the DiOGenes (Diet, Obesity, and Genes) trial consumed ad libitum for 26 wk a diet with either a high or a low glycemic load. Participants in the Optimal well-being, development and health for Danish children through a healthy New Nordic Diet (OPUS) Supermarket intervention (SHOPUS) trial consumed ad libitum for 26 wk the New Nordic Diet, which is high in fiber and whole grains, or a control diet. Participants in the NUGENOB (Nutrient-Gene Interactions in Human Obesity) trial consumed a hypocaloric low-fat and high-carbohydrate or a high-fat and low-carbohydrate diet for 10 wk. On the basis of FPG before treatment, participants were categorized as normoglycemic (FPG <5.6 mmol/L), prediabetic (FPG 5.6-6.9 mmol/L), or diabetic (FPG ≥7.0 mmol/L). Modifications of the dietary effects of FPG and FI before treatment were examined with linear mixed models.Results: In the DiOGenes trial, prediabetic individuals regained a mean of 5.83 kg (95% CI: 3.34, 8.32 kg; P < 0.001) more on the high- than on the low-glycemic load diet, whereas normoglycemic individuals regained a mean of 1.44 kg (95% CI: 0.48, 2.41 kg; P = 0.003) more [mean group difference: 4.39 kg (95% CI: 1.76, 7.02 kg); P = 0.001]. In SHOPUS, prediabetic individuals lost a mean of 6.04 kg (95% CI: 4.05, 8.02 kg; P < 0.001) more on the New Nordic Diet than on the control diet, whereas normoglycemic individuals lost a mean of 2.20 kg (95% CI: 1.21, 3.18 kg; P < 0.001) more [mean group difference: 3.84 kg (95% CI: 1.62, 6.06 kg); P = 0.001]. In NUGENOB, diabetic individuals lost a mean of 2.04 kg (95% CI: -0.20, 4.28 kg; P = 0.07) more on the high-fat and low-carbohydrate diet than on the low-fat and high-carbohydrate diet, whereas normoglycemic individuals lost a mean of 0.43 kg (95% CI: 0.03, 0.83 kg; P = 0.03) more on the low-fat and high-carbohydrate diet [mean group difference: 2.47 kg (95% CI: 0.20, 4.75 kg); P = 0.03]. The addition of FI strengthened these associations.Conclusion: Elevated FPG before treatment indicates success with dietary weight loss and maintenance among overweight patients consuming diets with a low glycemic load or with large amounts of fiber and whole grains. These trials were registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00390637 (DiOGenes) and NCT01195610 (SHOPUS), and at ISRNCT.com as ISRCTN25867281 (NUGENOB).

The Mutational Landscape of the Oncogenic MZF1 SCAN Domain in Cancer.

SCAN domains in zinc-finger transcription factors are crucial mediators of protein-protein interactions. Up to 240 SCAN-domain encoding genes have been identified throughout the human genome. These include cancer-related genes, such as the myeloid zinc finger 1 (MZF1), an oncogenic transcription factor involved in the progression of many solid cancers. The mechanisms by which SCAN homo- and heterodimers assemble and how they alter the transcriptional activity of zinc-finger transcription factors in cancer and other diseases remain to be investigated. Here, we provide the first description of the conformational ensemble of the MZF1 SCAN domain cross-validated against NMR experimental data, which are probes of structure and dynamics on different timescales. We investigated the protein-protein interaction network of MZF1 and how it is perturbed in different cancer types by the analyses of high-throughput proteomics and RNASeq data. Collectively, we integrated many computational approaches, ranging from simple empirical energy functions to all-atom microsecond molecular dynamics simulations and network analyses to unravel the effects of cancer-related substitutions in relation to MZF1 structure and interactions.

New Nordic Diet-Induced Weight Loss Is Accompanied by Changes in Metabolism and AMPK Signaling in Adipose Tissue.

CONTEXT: The molecular mechanisms behind diet-induced metabolic improvements remain to be studied. OBJECTIVE: This study sought to investigate whether expression of proteins in skeletal muscle or adipose tissue could explain improvements in glucose and lipid homeostasis after weight loss. DESIGN: Volunteers consumed a New Nordic Diet (NND) or an Average Danish Diet for 26 weeks in a controlled, free-living setting. SUBJECTS: Sixty four moderately obese women and men (44 ± 2 y; body mass index, 31 ± 1 kg/m(2)). INTERVENTION: Fasting blood samples and biopsies from the vastus lateralis muscle and subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue (SCAT) were obtained at week 0 and 26. OUTCOME: Gene and protein expressions were analyzed by real-time PCR and Western blotting. RESULTS: Improved homeostasis homeostatic model of assessment-insulin resistance index and lowered plasma triacylglycerol concentration after NND coincided with molecular adaptations in SCAT but not in skeletal muscle. NND induced greater reduction in fat mass than ADD (-6 ± 1 kg and -2 ± 1 kg; P < .01). In SCAT this was associated with increased AMPK and acetyl-CoA carboxylase phosphorylation (P < .05). Concomitantly, NND induced up-regulation of Akt2 and Akt substrate of 160 kDa (P < .05) as well as fatty acid transport protein 4 and membrane associated fatty acid binding protein (P < .05). Indices of increased oxidative capacity were observed, as carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1 mRNA (P = .08) as well as citrate synthase (P = .1) and cytochrome c (P = .05) protein tended to increase. CONCLUSION: NND-induced metabolic improvements were accompanied by increased AMPK signaling in SCAT, suggesting a role of AMPK in these adaptations. The concomitant up-regulation of key glucose and lipid-handling proteins suggests an improved metabolic capacity in adipose tissue after weight loss.

Health effect of the New Nordic Diet in adults with increased waist circumference: a 6-mo randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The regional Mediterranean Diet has been associated with lower risk of disease. OBJECTIVE: We tested the health effects of the New Nordic Diet (NND), which is a gastronomically driven regional, organic, and environmentally friendly diet, in a carefully controlled but free-living setting. DESIGN: A total of 181 centrally obese men and women, with a mean (range) age of 42 y (20-66 y), body mass index (in kg/m(2)) of 30.2 (22.6-47.3), and waist circumference of 100 cm (80-138 cm) were randomly assigned to receive either the NND (high in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and fish) or an average Danish diet (ADD) for 26 wk. Participants received cookbooks and all foods ad libitum and free of charge by using a shop model. The primary endpoint was the weight change analyzed by both completer and intention-to-treat analyses. RESULTS: A total of 147 subjects [81% (NND 81%; ADD 82%)] completed the intervention. A high dietary compliance was achieved, with significant differences in dietary intakes between groups. The mean (±SEM) weight change was -4.7 ± 0.5 kg for the NND compared with -1.5 ± 0.5 kg for the ADD (adjusted difference: -3.2 kg; 95% CI: -4.6, -1.8 kg; P < 0.001) for the completer analysis, and the difference was -3.0 kg (95% CI: -4.0, -2.1 kg) for the intention-to-treat analysis. The NND produced greater reductions in systolic blood pressure (adjusted difference: -5.1 mm Hg; 95% CI: -8.2, -2.1 mm Hg) and diastolic blood pressure (adjusted difference: -3.2 mm Hg; 95% CI: -5.7, -0.8 mm Hg) than did the ADD. CONCLUSION: An ad libitum NND produces weight loss and blood pressure reduction in centrally obese individuals. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01195610.

Evaluation of a digital method to assess evening meal intake in a free-living adult population.

BACKGROUND: In recent years new applications of technologies, including digital images, to capture dietary behaviour in real time have been explored. OBJECTIVES: To validate a digital method for estimating evening meal intake in a free-living adult population, and to examine the feasibility of the method for recording evening meal intake over a prolonged period of time. DESIGN: The digital method was compared against weighed records of 19 participants' usual evening meals for five consecutive days. Two trained image analysts independently estimated the weight of individual foods within the meals into major food categories, and the nutrient content was calculated. A second study included interviews with 28 participants recording their evening meals on weekdays for three consecutive weeks to get their perspective on the feasibility of the method. RESULTS: High correlation coefficients between the digital method and weighed records were found for all measured food categories and nutrients. Comparable means and acceptable limits of agreement (mean difference +/- 2 SD) were found with regard to macronutrient distribution (e.g. fat content -5 to 6 E%), energy density (-75 to 91 kJ/100 g), and energy-adjusted foods (e.g. fruit and vegetable content -241 to 236 g/10 MJ). The majority of the participants expressed satisfaction with the method and were willing to record their evening meals for 1 month or more using the digital method. CONCLUSION: The digital method is valid and feasible for evening meal estimation in real-time where a prolonged recording period of participants' meals is needed.