Nutrition
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Review
Nutritional strategies for autophagy activation and health consequences of autophagy impairment.
Currently, the plague of chronic diseases, such as overweight, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, is associated with chronic inflammation as an effect of homeostasis disbalance. One of the processes involved in homeostasis maintenance is autophagy, which is also referred to as self-eating or cellular recycling. Due to the correlation between the epidemic scale of chronic diseases and autophagy impairment, strategies for autophagy activation are urgently needed. ⋯ Autophagy is involved in different dysfunctions and diseases; thus, activation strategies are urgently needed. A high potential in the prevention and therapies of chronic diseases by means of autophagy induction can be expected from nutritional behaviors. To date, most studies were carried out in vitro or in a murine model. Thus, further, well-designed, clinical trials are needed to provide the missing understanding of the nutritional potential to regulate specific signaling pathways that keep autophagy running smoothly.
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Individuals with cancer may be motivated to make lifestyle changes and informed dietary choices, but are exposed to conflicting and erroneous nutrition information, particularly from online and social media sources. Changes to dietary choices that stem from a diagnosis of cancer are not fully understood. Thus, we conducted a narrative review to summarize the literature focused on dietary choices after a cancer diagnosis, and highlighted influential factors. ⋯ These changes align with the recommendations for cancer prevention but were implemented after diagnosis, and may not meet nutrition guidelines for patients with cancer. Age and time since diagnosis were among the influential factors that affected these postdiagnosis changes. Data on dietary changes implemented after a diagnosis of varying cancer types in the North American population are lacking, and would provide practitioners with an enhanced understanding of patient information needs and reasons for dietary choices.
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Although low-quality diets and smoking are independently associated with higher mortality risk, a joint analysis of both risk factors in relation to mortality has not been sufficiently studied. The aim of this study was to explore the effect modification between level of adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern (MedDiet) and smoking status on all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular mortality. ⋯ Smoking and poor adherence to the MedDiet exerted a multiplicative effect in increasing all-cause mortality and cancer-related mortality in a Spanish population of university graduates.
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A few previous studies have described a potential role of Ω-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids from marine animals in obesity in children, but the results are conflicting. The objectives of this study were to examine if intake of marine fat was related to less gain in body mass index (BMI) and body fat (BF) over a 15-mo period among Danish children age 2 to 6 y, and if potential associations depended on which types of fatty acids were replaced. ⋯ This study suggests that marine fat intake and fat composition in a diet may have little or no effect on weight and adiposity development among preschool-aged children.
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Numerous smartphone-based applications that guide parenting, child nutrition, and child health-related knowledge are available. Here, we reviewed the applications available in the Google Play Store for child nutrition, primarily focused on children aged <5 y. The keywords used in the search were "child nutrition," "child nutrition status assessment," and "parenting." We identified 370 apps from the play store and 33 qualified for the review. ⋯ Findings from this review suggest that the apps do not follow any uniform guidelines for delivering the child nutrition information to the caregivers. About 50% of apps did not mention the consulted source for its development, indicating the unavailability of uniform guidelines or policy documents for child nutrition app development. App-based intervention studies are recommended to assess the effectiveness of child nutrition/health smartphone applications.