Abstract Plant-based diets (PBD) have been found to be environmentally sustainable as well as beneficial for health. Observational research showed that higher plant-based diet quality improves well-being in adult women, however this is unclear for older adults. This association may be due to anti-inflammatory properties of PBD. Older adults, often suffering from chronic inflammation, may therefore profit from a more PBD. Therefore, we investigated the relation between PBD and well-being in older adults of both genders and tested whether the effects are influenced by circulating high-senstivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels. We used the data of the population-based Lifelines Cohort Study (n=6,635, mean age=65.2 years) and a subsample in which hsCRP was measured (n=2,251, mean age=65.2 years). We applied a plant-based diet index measuring adherence to a healthful (hPDI) and an unhealthful (uPDI) plant-based diet based on food frequency questionnaires. The RAND-36 questionnaire was applied as measure of quality of life, from which we derived physical (PCS) and mental component scores (MCS). Older adults with the highest adherence to a healthful plant-based diet had respectively 14% and 12% greater odds for high physical well-being and mental well-being. Meanwhile, higher adherence to uPDI was associated with respectively 19% and 14% lower odds for high physical and mental well-being. We observed an additive but no mediating effect of hsCRP on the association between plant-based diets and well-being. We conclude that in older men and women, adherence to a healthful plant-based diet and circulating levels of inflammation are independently associated with physical and mental well-being.
Abstract Mindfulness-based interventions are thought to reduce compulsive behavior such as overeating by promoting behavioral flexibility. Here the main aim was to provide support for mindfulness-mediated improvements in reversal learning, a direct measure of behavioral flexibility. We investigated whether an 8-week mindful eating intervention improved outcome-based reversal learning relative to an educational cooking (i.e., active control) intervention in a non-clinical population. Sixty-five healthy participants with a wide BMI range (19–35 kg/m 2 ), who were motivated to change their eating habits, performed a deterministic reversal learning task that enabled the investigation of reward- and punishment-based reversal learning at baseline and following the intervention. No group differences in reversal learning were observed. However, time invested in the mindful eating, but not the educational cooking intervention correlated positively with changes in reversal learning, in a manner independent of outcome valence. These findings suggest that greater amount of mindfulness practice can lead to increased behavioral flexibility, which, in turn, might help overcome compulsive eating in clinical populations.
Inconsistencies in prospective studies investigating sugars and sweeteners with health may be partly due to inaccurate self-reported intake estimates. We compared the relative validity of two self-reported dietary methods and urinary biomarkers to estimate the intake of sugars and sweeteners using data of free-living Dutch adults. We included 848 participants with one food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and ≥3 24-h recalls from the NQplus study. Intakes of sugars (mono and disaccharides, sucrose, fructose, free sugars, and added sugars), sugary foods, and sweetened beverages (sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), Low/Non-calorie beverages (LNCB), and fruit juice) were estimated by using the Dutch food composition table. A sub-sample of 288 participants provided 3 repeated urine samples to measure the urinary sugar and sweetener concentrations. Measurement error models were used to calculate, ICCs, proportional scaling bias (βx), validity coefficients (VC), and attenuation factors (AF). According to 24 h-recall data, most sugars and sweet foods/beverages had a high day-to-day variation (ICC ≤ 0.56). Under-reporting (βx < 1) between the FFQ and the multiple recalls was highest for sugary foods and beverages (0.57 to 0.66), and lowest for sugars (0.68 to 0.81). VCs ranged from 0.49 (sugary foods) to 0.74 (SSB), suggesting a moderate to good agreement between the methods for most sugars and for sweet beverages. AFs ranged from 0.42 (sugary foods) to 0.96 (SSB), indicating that the FFQ tends to underestimate the associations between sugars or sweet foods and disease compared to the recalls. The high AFs for LNCB (0.93) and SSB (0.96) suggested that the under-estimation of the diet-disease association was minimal for these beverages when using the FFQ instead of recalls. Compared to men, women showed more day-to-day variation, more under-reporting, and lower VC and AF, except with LNCB. In general, only slight differences between BMI categories were observed. Results of the biomarkers are expected in April. Overall, the FFQ showed moderate to good ranking performance compared to multiple 24 h-recalls for sugars and sweet foods. This EU project under the acronym "SWEET" has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.
Diet is an important modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease and appears relevant in migrant groups in Western Europe, including the Netherlands. However, no comprehensive picture of the dietary patterns of the main non-western migrants in the Netherlands exists. Research is limited by a lack of validated instruments to measure habitual diet. In this study we aimed to develop ethnic-specific FFQs in order to study the dietary patterns of Surinamese of African and of South Asian origin, Turkish and Moroccan individuals residing in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Methods
Food items were selected according to their percentage contribution to the nutrients of interest based on data from 24 h recalls. Tests of face-validity and cognitive interviews were performed to pinpoint problems in design and comprehension of the FFQs. A nutrient database was constructed based on data in the Dutch Food Composition Table.
Results
Three FFQs including 180–200 food items have been developed to reflect usual intakes of Turkish, Moroccan and Surinamese migrants. Overall the FFQs cover more than 94% of the intake of the nutrients at interest in this study.
Conclusion
With the development of the ethnic-specific FFQs, this study provides an opportunity to move the field of nutritional and health epidemiology forward. The FFQs will be applied to participants in the HELIUS study, a multi-ethnic cohort in Amsterdam, and will enable us to gather dietary intake data of 1000 participants (18–70 year old) per ethnic group. This will allow research into the main determinants and health consequences of habitual diet.
