Should you take fish oil? Depends on your genotype
March 25, 2021
Science Daily/University of Georgia
Fish oil supplements are a billion-dollar industry built on a foundation of purported, but not proven, health benefits. Now, new research from a team led by a University of Georgia scientist indicates that taking fish oil only provides health benefits if you have the right genetic makeup.
The study, led by Kaixiong Ye and published in PLOS Genetics, focused on fish oil (and the omega-3 fatty acids it contains) and its effect on triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood and a biomarker for cardiovascular disease.
"We've known for a few decades that a higher level of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood is associated with a lower risk of heart disease," said Ye, assistant professor of genetics in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "What we found is that fish oil supplementation is not good for everyone; it depends on your genotype. If you have a specific genetic background, then fish oil supplementation will help lower your triglycerides. But if you do not have that right genotype, taking a fish oil supplement actually increases your triglycerides."
Ye's team, including first author and graduate student Michael Francis, examined four blood lipids (fats) -- high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, total cholesterol and triglycerides -- that are biomarkers for cardiovascular disease. The data for their sample of 70,000 individuals was taken from UK Biobank, a large-scale cohort study collecting genetic and health information from half a million participants.
The team divided the sample into two groups, those taking fish oil supplements (about 11,000) and those not taking fish oil supplements. Then they performed a genome-wide scan for each group, testing for 8 million genetic variants to compare. After running over 64 million tests, their results revealed a significant genetic variant at gene GJB2. Individuals with the AG genotype who took fish oil decreased their triglycerides. Individuals with the AA genotype who took fish oil slightly increased their triglycerides. (A third possible genotype, GG, was not evident in enough study volunteers to draw conclusions.)
Determining your genotype is not as far-fetched as it sounds, thanks to direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies. Companies may not report that specific genetic variant yet, but a tech-savvy consumer should be able to download the raw data and look at the specific position to discover the genotype, according to Ye. The ID for the variant is rs112803755 (A>G).
The study's findings may also shed light on previous trials, most of which found that fish oil provides no benefit in preventing cardiovascular disease.
"One possible explanation is that those clinical trials didn't consider the genotypes of the participants," Ye said. "Some participants may benefit, and some may not, so if you mix them together and do the analysis, you do not see the impact."
Now that Ye has identified a specific gene that can modify an individual's response to fish oil supplementation, his next step will be directly testing the effects of fish oil on cardiovascular disease.
"Personalizing and optimizing fish oil supplementation recommendations based on a person's unique genetic composition can improve our understanding of nutrition," he said, "and lead to significant improvements in human health and well-being."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210325115253.htm
Green leafy vegetables essential for muscle strength
March 24, 2021
Science Daily/Edith Cowan University
Eating just one cup of leafy green vegetables every day could boost muscle function, according to new Edith Cowan University (ECU) research.
The study, published today in the Journal of Nutrition, found that people who consumed a nitrate-rich diet, predominantly from vegetables, had significantly better muscle function of their lower limbs.
Poor muscle function is linked to greater risk of falls and fractures and is considered a key indicator of general health and wellbeing.
Researchers examined data from 3,759 Australians taking part in Melbourne's Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute AusDiab study over a 12-year period. They found those with the highest regular nitrate consumption had 11 per cent stronger lower limb strength than those with the lowest nitrate intake. Up to 4 per cent faster walking speeds were also recorded.
Lead researcher Dr Marc Sim from ECU's Institute for Nutrition Research said the findings reveal important evidence for the role diet plays in overall health.
"Our study has shown that diets high in nitrate-rich vegetables may bolster your muscle strength independently of any physical activity," he said.
"Nevertheless, to optimise muscle function we propose that a balanced diet rich in green leafy vegetables in combination with regular exercise, including weight training, is ideal."
Muscle function is vital for maintaining good overall health, especially bone strength later in life.
"With around one in three Australians aged over 65 suffering a fall each year, it's important to find ways of preventing these events and their potentially serious consequences," said Dr Sim.
Go for green
While leafy greens may be some of our least favourite vegetables, they could be the most important, according to Dr Sim.
The research found nitrate-rich vegetables, such as lettuce, spinach, kale and even beetroot, provided the greatest health benefits.
"Less than one in ten Australians eat the recommended five to six serves of vegetables per day," Dr Sim said.
"We should be eating a variety of vegetables every day, with at least one of those serves being leafy greens to gain a range of positive health benefits for the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular system."
"It's also better to eat nitrate-rich vegetables as part of a healthy diet rather than taking supplements. Green leafy vegetables provide a whole range of essential vitamins and minerals critical for health."
Building knowledge
The study, a collaboration with Deakin University's Institute of Physical Activity and Nutrition and the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, builds on Dr Sim's previous research into nitrate and muscle function in older women.
It also adds to growing evidence linking vegetables with cardiovascular health, including a recent ECU study into cruciferous vegetables and blood vessel health.
Dr Sim said the next step of his research will be exploring strategies to increase leafy green vegetable consumption in the general population.
"We are currently recruiting for the MODEL Study, which examines how knowledge of disease can be used to prompt people in making long-term improvements to their diet and exercise," said Dr Sim.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210324132309.htm
Consumption of added sugar doubles fat production
March 16, 2021
Science Daily/University of Zurich
Sugar is added to many common foodstuffs, and people in Switzerland consume more than 100 grams of it every day. The high calorie content of sugar causes excessive weight and obesity, and the associated diseases. But does too much sugar have any other harmful effects if consumed regularly? And if so, which sugars in particular?
Even moderate amounts of sugar increase fat synthesis
Researchers at the University of Zurich (UZH) and the University Hospital Zurich (USZ) have been investigating these questions. Compared to previous studies, which mainly examined the consumption of very high amounts of sugar, their results show that even moderate amounts lead to a change in the metabolism of test participants. "Eighty grams of sugar daily, which is equivalent to about 0,8 liters of a normal soft drink, boosts fat production in the liver. And the overactive fat production continues for a longer period of time, even if no more sugar is consumed," says study leader Philipp Gerber of the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Clinical Nutrition.
Ninety-four healthy young men took part in the study. Every day for a period of seven weeks, they consumed a drink sweetened with different types of sugar, while the control group did not. The drinks contained either fructose, glucose or sucrose (table sugar which is a combination of fructose and glucose). The researchers then used tracers (labeled substances that can be traced as they move through the body) to analyze the effect of the sugary drinks on the lipid metabolism.
Fructose and sucrose double fat production beyond food intake
Overall, the participants did not consume more calories than before the study, as the sugary drink increased satiety and they therefore reduced their calorie intake from other sources. Nevertheless, the researchers observed that fructose has a negative effect: "The body's own fat production in the liver was twice as high in the fructose group as in the glucose group or the control group -- and this was still the case more than twelve hours after the last meal or sugar consumption," says Gerber. Particularly surprising was that the sugar we most commonly consume, sucrose, boosted fat synthesis slightly more than the same amount of fructose. Until now, it was thought that fructose was most likely to cause such changes.
Development of fatty liver or diabetes more likely
Increased fat production in the liver is a significant first step in the development of common diseases such as fatty liver and type-2 diabetes. From a health perspective, the World Health Organization recommends limiting daily sugar consumption to around 50 grams or, even better, 25 grams. "But we are far off that mark in Switzerland," says Philipp Gerber. "Our results are a critical step in researching the harmful effects of added sugars and will be very significant for future dietary recommendations."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210316100709.htm
Stress reduction as a path to eating less fast food
Intervention's effect of lowering stress linked to dietary improvement
March 11, 2021
Science Daily/Ohio State University
Overweight low-income mothers of young kids ate fewer fast-food meals and high-fat snacks after participating in a study -- not because researchers told them what not to eat, but because the lifestyle intervention being evaluated helped lower the moms' stress, research suggests.
The 16-week program was aimed at preventing weight gain by promoting stress management, healthy eating and physical activity. The methods to get there were simple steps tucked into lessons on time management and prioritizing, many demonstrated in a series of videos featuring mothers like those participating in the study.
"We used the women's testimonies in the videos and showed their interactions with their families to raise awareness about stressors. After watching the videos, a lot of intervention participants said, 'This is the first time I've realized I am so stressed out' -- because they've lived a stressful life," said Mei-Wei Chang, lead author of the study and associate professor of nursing at The Ohio State University.
"Many of these women are aware of feeling impatient, and having head and neck pain and trouble sleeping -- but they don't know those are signs of stress."
An analysis of the study data showed that the women's lowered perceived stress after participating in the intervention was the key factor influencing their eventual decrease in consumption of high-fat and fast foods.
"It's not that these women didn't want to eat healthier," Chang said. "If you don't know how to manage stress, then when you are so stressed out, why would you care about what you eat?"
The research is published in a recent issue of the journal Nutrients.
The 338 participants, overweight or obese moms between the ages of 18 and 39, were recruited from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which serves low-income mothers and children up to age 5. Those eligible for the program must have an annual household income no higher than 185 percent of the federal poverty line.
Chang said these women are likely to face a number of challenges that could cause them stress: financial difficulties, living in run-down neighborhoods, frequent moves, unstable romantic relationships and households bustling with little kids. It's also common for this population to retain 10 or more pounds of pregnancy weight after childbirth and risk life-long obesity and potential problems for themselves and new babies if they become pregnant again.
During the trial, the 212 participants randomized into the intervention group watched a total of 10 videos in which women like them gave unscripted testimonials about healthy eating and food preparation, managing their stress and being physically active. Participants also dialed in to 10 peer support group teleconferences over the course of the study.
Chang and colleagues previously reported that as a group, the women in the intervention arm of the study were more likely to have reduced their fat consumption than women in a comparison group who were given print materials about lifestyle change.
This newer analysis showed that the intervention's lessons alone did not directly affect that change in diet. When the researchers assessed the potential role of stress as a mediator, the indirect effect of the intervention -- reducing participants' perceived stress -- was associated with less consumption of high-fat foods, including fast food. A 1-point reduction in the scale measuring stress was linked to a nearly 7% reduction in how frequently the women ate high-fat foods.
The intervention focused on showing the women examples of how they could achieve a healthier and less stressful lifestyle rather than telling them what they had to change.
"I learned a lot from those women," Chang said. "Everything needs to be practical and applicable to daily life -- anytime, anywhere."
Some examples: Comparing a bag of chips to a bag of apples -- the chips might be half the price, but they supply far fewer family snacks. Or using a household responsibility chart to assign tasks to young children, and encouraging moms to reward kids with a hug or individual attention when they follow the instructions. And taking deep breaths to counter the feeling of being overwhelmed.
When it came to stress management, the researchers focused on advising the women to shift their thinking, and not to blame themselves when things go wrong, rather than to take on solving the problems that caused them stress.
"We raised their awareness about stressors in their lives, and unfortunately a lot of these problems are not within their control," Chang said. "So we teach them ways to control their negative emotions -- remember that this is temporary, and you can get through it. And give them confidence to look to the future."
The videos from the intervention are now part of WIC's continuing education series for mothers. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health. Co-authors included Duane Wegener from Ohio State and Roger Brown from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210311185957.htm
Two servings of fish per week can help prevent recurrent heart disease
March 8, 2021
Science Daily/McMaster University
An analysis of several large studies involving participants from more than 60 countries, spearheaded by researchers from McMaster University, has found that eating oily fish regularly can help prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD) in high-risk individuals, such as those who already have heart disease or stroke.
The critical ingredient is omega-3 fatty acids, which researchers found was associated with a lower risk of major CVD events such as heart attacks and strokes by about a sixth in high-risk people who ate two servings of fish rich in omega-3 each week.
"There is a significant protective benefit of fish consumption in people with cardiovascular disease," said lead co-author Andrew Mente, associate professor of research methods, evidence, and impact at McMaster and a principal investigator at the Population Health Research Institute.
No benefit was observed with consumption of fish in those without heart disease or stroke.
"This study has important implications for guidelines on fish intake globally. It indicates that increasing fish consumption and particularly oily fish in vascular patients may produce a modest cardiovascular benefit."
Mente said people at low risk for cardiovascular disease can still enjoy modest protection from CVD by eating fish rich in omega-3, but the health benefits were less pronounced than those high-risk individuals.
The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine on March 8.
The findings were based on data from nearly 192,000 people in four studies, including about 52,000 with CVD, and is the only study conducted on all five continents. Previous studies focused mainly on North America, Europe, China and Japan, with little information from other regions.
"This is by far the most diverse study of fish intake and health outcomes in the world and the only one with sufficient numbers with representation from high, middle and low income countries from all inhabited continents of the world," said study co-lead Dr. Salim Yusuf, professor of medicine at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and executive director of the PHRI.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210308131709.htm
Eating more refined grains increases risk of heart attack, early death
The researchers examined diets from diverse populations in low, middle and high-income countries.
February 19, 2021
Science Daily/Simon Fraser University
A new study published in The British Medical Journal by researchers including SFU health sciences professor Scott Lear found consuming a high number of refined grains, such as croissants and white bread, is associated with a higher risk of major cardiovascular disease, stroke and early death.
The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study has been examining diets from diverse populations in low-, middle- and high-income countries around the world. Over 16 years of analysis of 137,130 participants in 21 countries, including Canada, the researchers found the intake of refined grains and added sugars have greatly increased over the years.
Grains were categorized into three groups: refined grains, whole grains and white rice. Refined grains included goods made with refined (e.g. white) flour, including white bread, pasta/noodles, breakfast cereals, crackers, and bakery products/desserts containing refined grains. Whole grains included whole grain flours (e.g. buckwheat) and intact or cracked whole grains (eg. steel cut oats).
The study found that having more than seven servings of refined grains per day was associated with a 27 per cent greater risk for early death, 33 percent greater risk for heart disease and 47 per cent greater risk for stroke.
"This study re-affirms previous work indicating a healthy diet includes limiting overly processed and refined foods," says Lear.
No significant adverse health effects were found with consuming whole grains or white rice.
The study suggests eating whole grain foods like brown rice and barley, and having fewer cereal grains and refined wheat products. Reducing one's overall consumption of refined grains and having better quality carbohydrates is essential for optimal health outcomes.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210219155857.htm
Study links prolonged sedentary time to distractibility in adults with obesity, overweight
February 17, 2021
Science Daily/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau
Scientists used accelerometers to track daily activity levels for a week in 89 adults with obesity or overweight and, in a series of tests, measured their ability to multitask and maintain their attention despite distractions. The study revealed that individuals who spent more sedentary time in bouts lasting 20 minutes or more were less able to overcome distractions.
Reported in the International Journal of Obesity, the research adds to the evidence linking sedentary behaviors and cognition, said University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign kinesiology and community health professor Dominika Pindus, who led the work on the paper.
"Several studies have examined the relationship between different types of sedentary behaviors such as TV viewing and cognitive functions in children and adults," Pindus said. "The relationships they observed varied with the type of sedentary behavior. These studies primarily measured sedentary behaviors during leisure time."
The research found that regularly sitting for extended periods is linked to increased mortality and cardiovascular disease, Pindus said. People who do not engage in at least 60 minutes per day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and sit for eight hours or more have an increased health risk. Other studies suggest that bouts of prolonged sitting lasting 20 minutes or more negatively affect levels of blood sugar after a meal.
"Few studies, however, have examined the relationship between prolonged sedentary time and cognitive functions," Pindus said. To address this gap in research, she and her colleagues focused on the associations between objectively measured, prolonged sedentary time and cognition in adults 25-45 years old with obesity or overweight.
"We know from previous research that people with obesity or overweight don't do as well on certain types of cognitive tasks," Pindus said. "These tasks engage executive functions -- cognitive functions that are important for reasoning and staying focused on a goal."
Some studies have found that long-term physical activity interventions in preadolescent children or older adults can improve those functions.
"But we don't have much data on how prolonged sedentary time is linked to executive functions in working-age people with obesity or overweight," she said. "If we can show how sedentary time and physical activity in everyday life relate to executive functions in those individuals, we may be able to design more targeted lifestyle interventions to improve cognition in this population."
The researchers collected baseline information for all participants, tested their cognitive ability and calculated each person's body mass index and percent body fat. Participants wore accelerometers on their waists during waking hours for seven days. They also completed cognitive tasks and measures of brain function in a laboratory setting.
"We used EEG recordings to measure electrical potentials that are generated in the brain while participants engaged in tasks that challenged them to focus, ignore distractions and flexibly switch attention between tasks," Pindus said. A controller connected to a computer allowed participants to respond to problems while the speed and accuracy of their responses was recorded.
A statistical analysis of participants' sedentariness in relation to their speed and accuracy on a task that measures distractibility found a relationship between the two, Pindus said.
"Our key finding was that people who spent more time in prolonged sedentary bouts were more easily distracted," she said.
More research is needed to determine how the structure of a person's sedentary time influences cognition, Pindus said.
"If you make sure to break up your sitting time with brief bouts of physical activity, could that reduce how distracted you will be?" she said. "And if it does, what is driving this effect? This is something we want to explore."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210217132335.htm
Childhood diet and exercise creates healthier, less anxious adults
Study in mice shows lasting effects of early-life habits
April 9, 2021
Science Daily/University of California - Riverside
Exercise and a healthy diet in childhood leads to adults with bigger brains and lower levels of anxiety, according to new UC Riverside research in mice.
Though diet and exercise are consistently recommended as ways to promote health, this study is the first to examine the long-lasting, combined effects of both factors when they are experienced early in life.
"Any time you go to the doctor with concerns about your weight, almost without fail, they recommend you exercise and eat less," said study lead and UCR physiology doctoral student Marcell Cadney. "That's why it's surprising most studies only look at diet or exercise separately. In this study, we wanted to include both."
The researchers determined that early-life exercise generally reduced anxious behaviors in adults. It also led to an increase in adult muscle and brain mass. When fed "Western" style diets high in fat and sugar, the mice not only became fatter, but also grew into adults that preferred unhealthy foods.
These findings have recently been published in the journal Physiology and Behavior. To obtain them, the researchers divided the young mice into four groups -- those with access to exercise, those without access, those fed a standard, healthy diet and those who ate a Western diet.
Mice started on their diets immediately after weaning, and continued on them for three weeks, until they reached sexual maturity. After an additional eight weeks of "washout," during which all mice were housed without wheels and on the healthy diet, the researchers did behavioral analysis, measured aerobic capacity, and levels of several different hormones.
One of those they measured, leptin, is produced by fat cells. It helps control body weight by increasing energy expenditure and signaling that less food is required. Early-life exercise increased adult leptin levels as well as fat mass in adult mice, regardless of the diet they ate.
Previously, the research team found that eating too much fat and sugar as a child can alter the microbiome for life, even if they later eat healthier. Going forward, the team plans to investigate whether fat or sugar is more responsible for the negative effects they measured in Western-diet-fed mice.
Together, both studies offer critical opportunities for health interventions in childhood habits.
"Our findings may be relevant for understanding the potential effects of activity reductions and dietary changes associated with obesity," said UCR evolutionary physiologist Theodore Garland.
In other words, getting a jump start on health in the early years of life is extremely important, and interventions may be even more critical in the wake of the pandemic.
"During the COVID-19 lockdowns, particularly in the early months, kids got very little exercise. For many without access to a park or a backyard, school was their only source of physical activity," Cadney said. "It is important we find solutions for these kids, possibly including extra attention as they grow into adults."
Given that exercise was also shown to reduce adult anxiety, Cadney believes children who face these challenges may face unique physical and mental health issues as they become adults in the coming decade.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/04/210409093604.htm
Sugar not so nice for your child's brain development
New research shows how high consumption affects learning, memory
March 31, 2021
Science Daily/University of Georgia
Sugar practically screams from the shelves of your grocery store, especially those products marketed to kids.
Children are the highest consumers of added sugar, even as high-sugar diets have been linked to health effects like obesity and heart disease and even impaired memory function.
However, less is known about how high sugar consumption during childhood affects the development of the brain, specifically a region known to be critically important for learning and memory called the hippocampus.
New research led by a University of Georgia faculty member in collaboration with a University of Southern California research group has shown in a rodent model that daily consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages during adolescence impairs performance on a learning and memory task during adulthood. The group further showed that changes in the bacteria in the gut may be the key to the sugar-induced memory impairment.
Supporting this possibility, they found that similar memory deficits were observed even when the bacteria, called Parabacteroides, were experimentally enriched in the guts of animals that had never consumed sugar.
"Early life sugar increased Parabacteroides levels, and the higher the levels of Parabacteroides, the worse the animals did in the task," said Emily Noble, assistant professor in the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences who served as first author on the paper. "We found that the bacteria alone was sufficient to impair memory in the same way as sugar, but it also impaired other types of memory functions as well."
Guidelines recommend limiting sugar
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a joint publication of the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and of Health and Human Services, recommends limiting added sugars to less than 10 percent of calories per day.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show Americans between the ages 9-18 exceed that recommendation, the bulk of the calories coming from sugar-sweetened beverages.
Considering the role the hippocampus plays in a variety of cognitive functions and the fact the area is still developing into late adolescence, researchers sought to understand more about its vulnerability to a high-sugar diet via gut microbiota.
Juvenile rats were given their normal chow and an 11% sugar solution, which is comparable to commercially available sugar-sweetened beverages.
Researchers then had the rats perform a hippocampus-dependent memory task designed to measure episodic contextual memory, or remembering the context where they had seen a familiar object before.
"We found that rats that consumed sugar in early life had an impaired capacity to discriminate that an object was novel to a specific context, a task the rats that were not given sugar were able to do," Noble said.
A second memory task measured basic recognition memory, a hippocampal-independent memory function that involves the animals' ability to recognize something they had seen previously.
In this task, sugar had no effect on the animals' recognition memory.
"Early life sugar consumption seems to selectively impair their hippocampal learning and memory," Noble said.
Additional analyses determined that high sugar consumption led to elevated levels of Parabacteroides in the gut microbiome, the more than 100 trillion microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract that play a role in human health and disease.
To better identify the mechanism by which the bacteria impacted memory and learning, researchers experimentally increased levels of Parabacteroides in the microbiome of rats that had never consumed sugar. Those animals showed impairments in both hippocampal dependent and hippocampal-independent memory tasks.
"(The bacteria) induced some cognitive deficits on its own," Noble said.
Noble said future research is needed to better identify specific pathways by which this gut-brain signaling operates.
"The question now is how do these populations of bacteria in the gut alter the development of the brain?" Noble said. "Identifying how the bacteria in the gut are impacting brain development will tell us about what sort of internal environment the brain needs in order to grow in a healthy way."
The article, "Gut microbial taxa elevated by dietary sugar disrupt memory function," appears in Translational Psychiatry. Scott Kanoski, associate professor in USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Science, is corresponding author on the paper.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210331130910.htm
Frequent consumption of meals prepared away from home linked to increased risk of early death
March 25, 2021
Science Daily/Elsevier
Dining out is a popular activity worldwide, but there has been little research into its association with health outcomes. Investigators looked at the association between eating out and risk of death and concluded that eating out very frequently is significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause death, which warrants further investigation. Their results appear in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, published by Elsevier.
Eating out is a popular activity. The US Department of Agriculture recently estimated that Americans' daily energy intake from food away from home increased from 17 percent in 1977-1978 to 34 percent in 2011-2012. At the same time, the number of restaurants has grown steadily, and restaurant-industry sales are forecasted to increase significantly.
Although some restaurants provide high-quality foods, the dietary quality for meals away from home, especially from fast-food chains, is usually lower compared with meals cooked at home. Evidence has shown that meals away from home tend to be higher in energy density, fat, and sodium, but lower in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and protective nutrients such as dietary fiber and antioxidants.
"Emerging, although still limited, evidence suggests that eating out frequently is associated with increased risk of chronic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes and biomarkers of other chronic diseases," explained lead investigator Wei Bao, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA. "However, little is known about the association between eating meals away from home and risk of mortality.
Investigators analyzed data from responses to questionnaires administered during face-to-face household interviews from 35,084 adults aged 20 years or older who participated in the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey 1999-2014. Respondents reported their dietary habits including frequency of eating meals prepared away from home. "We linked these records to death records through December 31, 2015, looking especially at all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and cancer mortality," noted first author Yang Du, MD, PhD candidate, Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
During 291,475 person-years of follow-up, 2,781 deaths occurred, including 511 deaths from cardiovascular disease and 638 deaths from cancer. After adjustment for age, sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, dietary and lifestyle factors, and body mass index, the hazard ratio of mortality among participants who ate meals prepared away from home very frequently (two meals or more per day) compared with those who seldom ate meals prepared away from home (fewer than one meal per week) was 1.49 (95% CI 1.05 to 2.13) for all-cause mortality, 1.18 (95% CI 0.55 to 2.55) for cardiovascular mortality, and 1.67 (95% CI 0.87 to 3.21) for cancer mortality.
"Our findings from this large nationally representative sample of US adults show that frequent consumption of meals prepared away from home is significantly associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality," commented Dr. Du.
"This is one of the first studies to quantify the association between eating out and mortality," concluded Dr. Bao. "Our findings, in line with previous studies, support that eating out frequently is associated with adverse health consequences and may inform future dietary guidelines to recommend reducing consumption of meals prepared away from home."
"The take-home message is that frequent consumption of meals prepared away from home may not be a healthy habit. Instead, people should be encouraged to consider preparing more meals at home," concluded the investigators.
Future studies are still needed to look more closely at the association of eating out with death from cardiovascular disease, cancer, dementia, and other chronic diseases.
"It is important to note that the study design for this research examines associations between frequency of eating meals prepared away from home and mortality. While encouraging clients to consider preparing healthy meals at home, registered dietitian nutritionists might also focus on how selections from restaurant menus can be healthy. Tailoring strategies to each client by reviewing menus from restaurants they frequent can help them make healthy food choices," added co-investigator Linda G. Snetselaar, PhD, RDN, LD, FAND, professor and chair, Preventive Nutrition Education, Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210325084824.htm