Attitudes toward genetic testing and personalised nutrition in a representative sample of European consumers.

Negative consumer opinion poses a potential barrier to the application of nutrigenomic intervention. The present study has aimed to determine attitudes toward genetic testing and personalised nutrition among the European public. An omnibus opinion survey of a representative sample aged 14-55+ years (n 5967) took place in France, Italy, Great Britain, Portugal, Poland and Germany during June 2005 as part of the Lipgene project. A majority of respondents (66 %) reported that they would be willing to undergo genetic testing and 27 % to follow a personalised diet. Individuals who indicated a willingness to have a genetic test for the personalising of their diets were more likely to report a history of high blood cholesterol levels, central obesity and/or high levels of stress than those who would have a test only for general interest. Those who indicated that they would not have a genetic test were more likely to be male and less likely to report having central obesity. Individuals with a history of high blood cholesterol were less likely than those who did not to worry if intervention foods contained GM ingredients. Individuals who were aware that they had health problems associated with the metabolic syndrome appeared particularly favourable toward nutrigenomic intervention. These findings are encouraging for the future application of personalised nutrition provided that policies are put in place to address public concern about how genetic information is used and held.

Providing Personalised Nutrition: Consumers' Trust and Preferences Regarding Sources of Information, Service Providers and Regulators, and Communication Channels.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Personalised nutrition has potential to revolutionise dietary health promotion if accepted by the general public. We studied trust and preferences regarding personalised nutrition services, how they influence intention to adopt these services, and cultural and social differences therein. METHODS: A total of 9,381 participants were quota-sampled to be representative of each of 9 EU countries (Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK, and Norway) and surveyed by a questionnaire assessing their intention to adopt personalised nutrition, trust in service regulators and information sources, and preferences for service providers and information channels. RESULTS: Trust and preferences significantly predicted intention to adopt personalised nutrition. Higher trust in the local department of health care was associated with lower intention to adopt personalised nutrition. General practitioners were the most trusted of service regulators, except in Portugal, where consumer organisations and universities were most trusted. In all countries, family doctors were the most trusted information providers. Trust in the National Health Service as service regulator and information source showed high variability across countries. Despite its highest variability across countries, personal meeting was the preferred communication channel, except in Spain, where an automated internet service was preferred. General practitioners were the preferred service providers, except in Poland, where dietitians and nutritionists were preferred. The preference for dietitians and nutritionists as service providers highly varied across countries. CONCLUSION: These results may assist in informing local initiatives to encourage acceptance and adoption of country-specific tailored personalised nutrition services, therefore benefiting individual and public health.

Cyclosporine enhances salt sensitivity of body water composition as assessed by impedance among psoriatic patients with normal renal function.

OBJECTIVE: Cyclosporine (CsA) therapy may be accompanied by a significant increase in blood pressure, either sodium (Na+) independent or Na+ dependent. The relationship between Na+ intake and body water distribution among patients treated with CsA has not been evaluated. We report the study, by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), of water composition changes after dietary salt manipulations both before and during CsA treatment of psoriatic patients. METHODS: Ten normotensive psoriatic patients, ages 37 +/- 12 years (range, 19 to 54), with normal renal function were included. Each patient was assessed by BIA in 2 phases, before (phase 1) and during (phase 2) CsA therapy (3 mg/kg/day). In both phases, each patient was assessed in basal conditions (basal1 and basal2), on day 7 of a low-sodium diet (LS1 and LS2; 20 mEq/day) and on day 7 of a high-sodium diet (HS1 and HS2; 350 mEq/day). Plasma creatinine (Pcr), urinary volume excretion (Uv), urinary sodium (UNa+), urinary potassium (UK+), urinary osmolality (UOsmo), weight (Wt), resistance (R), reactance (Xc), total body water (TBW), extracellular water (ECW), intracellular water (ICW), Na:K exchangeable (Nae:Ke), phase angle (PA), and body cell mass (BCM) were evaluated. Blood pressure was monitored during 24 hours on the last day of each diet. Paired Student's t-test was used to analyze the different phases. RESULTS: Before CsA treatment, Wt, TBW and Nae:Ke were lower during LS1 than during basal1, whereas TBW was higher during HS1 than during LS1. During CsA, Wt, TBW, ECW, and Nae:Ke were lower during LS2 than during basal2, whereas ICW and PA were higher during LS2 than during basal2. HS2 showed higher TBW, ECW, and Nae:Ke and lower ICW, PA, and BCM than during LS2. Systolic blood pressure was higher during HS2 than during LS2 or HS1. In addition, diastolic blood pressure was higher during HS2 than during HS1. CONCLUSION: Body hydration status was more sensitive to dietary salt fluctuations during CsA treatment than without CsA, and a high-sodium diet seemed to enhance the CsA-induced hypertension side effect. Moreover, patients on low sodium intake under CsA treatment displayed neither any disturbance of body water composition nor any blood pressure change. Our data suggest that a low sodium intake might be very useful in preventing undesirable pressure and volume changes brought about by CsA treatment.

Bioimpedance analysis highlights changes in body composition at the early stages of impairment of kidney transplant function.

OBJECTIVE: Kidney transplantation restores renal filtration, although it does not achieve the function of 2 native kidneys, and with time it may involute back to chronic renal failure. We hypothesized that bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) might highlight differences for body compartments among kidney transplants (Tx) with different filtration rates. METHODS: Thirty transplantation patients (19 male, 11 female) were studied at 62.4+/-26.6 months postsurgery and were divided into 3 groups: good creatinine clearance (crCl, mL/min/1.73 m2; >65.0), borderline (35.0