Dietary habits and obesity: the role of emotional and cognitive factors

In post-industrialised societies, food is more plentiful, accessible and palatable than ever before and technological development has reduced the need for physical activity. Consequently, the prevalence of obesity is increasing, which is problematic as obesity is related to a number of diseases. Various psychological and social factors have an important influence on dietary habits and the development of obesity in the current food-rich and sedentary environments. The present study concentrates on the associations of emotional and cognitive factors with dietary intake and obesity as well as on the role these factors play in socioeconomic disparities in diet. Many people cognitively restrict their food intake to prevent weight gain or to lose weight, but research on whether restrained eating is a useful weight control strategy has produced conflicting findings. With respect to emotional factors, the evidence is accumulating that depressive symptoms are related to less healthy dietary intake and obesity, but the mechanisms explaining these associations remain unclear. Furthermore, it is not fully understood why socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals tend to have unhealthier dietary habits and the motives underlying food choices (e.g., price and health) could be relevant in this respect. The specific aims of the study were to examine 1) whether obesity status and dieting history moderate the associations of restrained eating with overeating tendencies, self-control and obesity indicators; 2) whether the associations of depressive symptoms with unhealthier dietary intake and obesity are attributable to a tendency for emotional eating and a low level of physical activity self-efficacy; and 3) whether the absolute or relative importance of food choice motives (health, pleasure, convenience, price, familiarity and ethicality) contribute to the socioeconomic disparities in dietary habits. The study was based on a large population-based sample of Finnish adults: the participants were men (N=2325) and women (N=2699) aged 25-74 who took part in the DILGOM (Dietary, Lifestyle and Genetic Determinants of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome) sub-study of the National FINRISK Study 2007. The participants weight, height, waist circumference and body fat percentage were measured in a health examination. Psychological eating styles (the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18), food choice motives (a shortened version of the Food Choice Questionnaire), depressive symptoms (the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale) and self-control (the Brief Self-Control Scale) were measured with pre-existing questionnaires. A validated food frequency questionnaire was used to assess the average consumption of sweet and non-sweet energy-dense foods and vegetables/fruit. Self-reported total years of education and gross household income were used as indicators of socioeconomic position. The results indicated that 1) restrained eating was related to a lower body mass index, waist circumference, emotional eating and uncontrolled eating, and to a higher self-control in obese participants and current/past dieters. In contrast, the associations were the opposite in normal weight individuals and those who had never dieted. Thus, restrained eating may be related to better weight control among obese individuals and those with dieting experiences, while among others it may function as an indicator of problems with eating and an attempt to solve them. 2) Emotional eating and depressive symptoms were both related to less healthy dietary intake, and the greater consumption of energy-dense sweet foods among participants with elevated depressive symptoms was attributable to the susceptibility for emotional eating. In addition, emotional eating and physical activity self-efficacy were both important in explaining the positive association between depressive symptoms and obesity. 3) The lower vegetable/fruit intake and higher energy-dense food intake among individuals with a low socioeconomic position were partly explained by the higher priority they placed on price and familiarity and the lower priority they gave to health motives in their daily food choices. In conclusion, although policy interventions to change the obesogenic nature of the current environment are definitely needed, knowledge of the factors that hinder or facilitate people s ability to cope with the food-rich environment is also necessary. This study implies that more emphasis should be placed on various psychological and social factors in weight control programmes and interventions.

Stable carbon isotope ratios in Asian elephant collagen: implications for dietary studies

Stable carbon isotope ratios in bone collagen have been used in a variety of dietary studies in modern and fossil animals, including humans. Inherent in the stable isotope technique is the assumption that the isotopic signature is a reflection of the diet and is persistent in collagen because this is a relatively inert protein. Carbon isotope analyses of bones from a southern Indian population of Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), a long-lived mammal that alternates seasonally between a predominantly C3 (browse) and C4 (grass) plant diet, showed two patterns that have important implications for dietary interpretation based on isotopic studies. Relative to the quantity of the two plant types consumed on average, the ?13C signal in collagen indicated that more carbon was incorporated from C3 plants, possibly due to their higher protein contribution. There was a much greater variance in ?13C values of collagen in sub-adult (range -10.5� to-22.7�, variance=14.51) compared to adult animals (range -16.0� to -20.3�, variance=1.85) pointing to high collagen turnover rates and non-persistent isotopic signatures in younger, growing animals. It thus seems important to correct for any significant relative differences in nutritive value of food types and also consider the age of an animal before drawing definite conclusions about its diet from isotope ratios.

The destabilization of human GCAP1 by a proline to leucine mutation might cause cone-rod dystrophy

Guanylate cyclase activating protein-1 (GCAP1) is required for activation of retinal guanylate cyclase-1 (RetGC1), which is essential for recovery of photoreceptor cells to the dark state. In this paper, experimentally derived observations are reported that help in explaining why a proline→leucine mutation at position 50 of human GCAP1 results in cone–rod dystrophy in a family carrying this mutation. The primary amino acid sequence of wild-type GCAP1 was mutated using site-directed mutagenesis to give a leucine at position 50. In addition, serine replaced a glutamic acid residue at position 6 to promote N‐terminal myristoylation, yielding the construct GCAP1 E6S/P50L. The enzyme was over-expressed in Escherichia coli cells, isolated and purified before being used in assays with RetGC1, characterized by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, and investigated for protease resistance and thermal stability. Assays of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) synthesis from guanosine triphosphate by RetGC1 in the presence of E6S/P50L showed that E6S/P50L could activate RetGC1 and displayed similar calcium sensitivity to wild-type GCAP1. In addition, E6S/P50L and wild-type GCAP1 possess similar CD spectra. However, there was a marked increase in the susceptibility to protease degradation and also a reduction in the thermal stability of E6S/P50L as observed by both the cGMP assay and CD spectroscopy. It is therefore suggested that although GCAP1 E6S/P50L has a similar activity and calcium dependency profile to the wild-type GCAP1, its lower stability could reduce its cellular concentration, which would in turn alter [Ca2+] and result in death of cells.

Combined Electron Transfer Dissociation-Collision-Induced Dissociation Fragmentation in the Mass Spectrometric Distinction of Leucine, Isoleucine, and Hydroxyproline Residues in Peptide Natural Products

Distinctions between isobaric residues have been a major challenge in mass spectrometric peptide sequencing. Here, we propose a methodology for distinction among isobaric leucine, isoleucine, and hydroxyproline, a commonly found post-translationally modified amino acid with a nominal mass of 113 Da, through a combined electron transfer dissociation-collision-induced dissociation approach. While the absence of c and z(center dot) ions, corresponding to the Yyy-Xxx (Xxx = Leu, Ile, or Hyp) segment, is indicative of the presence of hydroxyproline, loss of isopropyl (Delta m = 43 Da) or ethyl radicals (Delta m = 29 Da), through collisional activation of z(center dot) radical ions, are characteristic of leucine or isoleucine, respectively. Radical migration processes permit distinctions even in cases where the specific e ions, corresponding to the Yyy-Leu or -Ile segments, are absent or of low intensity. This tandem mass spectrometric (MSn) method has been successfully implemented in a liquid chromatography MSn platform to determine the identity of 23 different isobaric residues from a mixture of five different peptides. The approach is convenient for distinction of isobaric residues from any crude peptide mixture, typically encountered in natural peptide libraries or proteomic analysis.

Dietary vitamin E inhibits the trans 10-18:1 shift in beef backfat

[EN]Forty feedlot steers were fed a barleygrain-based finishing diet typical for western Canada, with two levels of supplementary vitamin E (468 or 1068 IU head_1 d_1) and the effect on backfat trans-18:1 isomeric profile was determined. Feeding 1068 IU vitamin E reduced the total trans-18:1 content in backfat (P<0.01), as well as the percentage of trans 10-18:1 (P<0.001), which are related to an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases. On the other hand, trans 11-18:1 (vaccenic acid) the precursor for cis 9,trans 11- 18:2 (rumenic acid), which have several purported health benefits, increased (P<0.01). Vitamin E could, therefore, be used to decrease trans-18:1 in beef and improve its isomeric profile.

Food habits and dietary variability of pelagic nekton off Oregon and Washington, 1979-1984

The food habits of 20 species of pelagic nekton were investigated from collections made with small-mesh purse seines from 1979-84 off Washington and Oregon. Four species (spiny dogfish, Squalus acanthias; soupfin shark, Galeorhinus zyopterus; blue shark, Prionace glauca; and cutthroat trout, Salmo clarki) were mainly piscivorous. Six species (coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch; chinook salmon, O. tshawytscha; black rockfish, Sebastes melanops; yellowtail rockfish, S. f1avidus; sablefish, Anoplopoma fimbria; and jack mackerel, Trachurus symmetricus) consumed both nektonic and planktonic organisms. The remaining species (market squid, Loligo opalescens; American shad, Alosa sapidissima; Pacific herring, Clupea harengus pallasi; northern anchovy, Engraulis mordax; pink salmon, O. gorbuscha; surf smelt, Hypomesus pretiosus; Pacific hake, Merluccius productus; Pacific saury, Cololabis saira; Pacific mackerel, Scomber japonicus; and medusafish, Icichthys lockingtom) were primarily planktonic feeders. There were substantial interannual, seasonal, and geographic variations in the diets of several species due primarily to changes in prey availability. Juvenile salmonids were not commonly consumed by this assemblage of fishes (PDF file contains 36 pages.)

Association between dietary phylloquinone intake and peripheral metabolic risk markers related to insulin resistance and diabetes in elderly subjects at high cardiovascular risk

Background: Vitamin K has been related to glucose metabolism, insulin sensitivity and diabetes. Because inflammation underlies all these metabolic conditions, it is plausible that the potential role of vitamin K in glucose metabolism occurs through the modulation of cytokines and related molecules. The purpose of the study was to assess the associations between dietary intake of vitamin K and peripheral adipokines and other metabolic risk markers related to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods: Cross-sectional and longitudinal assessments of these associations in 510 elderly participants recruited in the PREDIMED centers of Reus and Barcelona (Spain). We determined 1-year changes in dietary phylloquinone intake estimated by food frequency questionnaires, serum inflammatory cytokines and other metabolic risk markers. Results: In the cross-sectional analysis at baseline no significant associations were found between dietary phylloquinone intake and the rest of metabolic risk markers evaluated, with exception of a negative association with plasminogen activator inhibitor-1. After 1-year of follow-up, subjects in the upper tertile of changes in dietary phylloquinone intake showed a greater reduction in ghrelin (-15.0%), glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (-12.9%), glucagon-like peptide-1 (-17.6%), IL-6 (-27.9%), leptin (-10.3%), TNF (-26.9%) and visfatin (-24.9%) plasma concentrations than those in the lowest tertile (all p<0.05). Conclusion: These results show that dietary phylloquinone intake is associated with an improvement of cytokines and other markers related to insulin resistance and diabetes, thus extending the potential protection by dietary phylloquinone on chronic inflammatory diseases.

The effects of dietary treatment on the morphometrics and haematological characteristics in Clarias gariepinus

Fingerling of Clarias gariepinus have been reported to have an optimal protein requirement of 40%. Not much is known about the effect that varying this protein level has in the haematological characteristics (i.e packed cell volume, red blood cell count, haemoglobin concentration and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration) and on some landmarks measured along the fish's body. The haematological parameter are useful in assessing the effect of dietary treatment on leanness or robustness in the fish. The results of these experiment reveals that of the 17 landmarks measured on the bodies of the fish species fed dietary protein levels of no protein 11% (low protein), 29% (sub optimal) and 40% (optimal), only four of the landmarks show significant difference. Also, analysis of the haematological characteristics show significant difference in haematoant (PCV) and erthroycte count (RBC) in all the treatments

Dietary carbohydrate requirement of Heterobranchus longifilis

The dietary carbohydrate requirement of Heterobranchus longifilis was evaluated in two separate experiments.In the first experiment, varying levels of carbohydrate ranging from 28, 24 to58 72% were fed to the fish of mean weight 1.83~c0.02g. Results revealed that the polynomial regression curve for the mean weight gain and the carbohydrate levels did not present a point where Y-max is equal to X-max and so the requirement was not obtained. The second experiment was therefore, conducted with lower levels of carbohydrate ranging from 17.00 to 20.86% and fed to fish with mean weight 0.49~c0.02g. Based on growth and feed efficiency data the carbohydrate requirement was determined to be 19.5%

Growth response of Heterobranchus longifilis fingerlings fed with varying levels of dietary freshwater mussel (Aspatharia sinuata)

A common bivalve: Freshwater mussel, Aspatharia sinuate was evaluated as a dietary protein supplement in the production diet for Heterobranchus longifilis fingerlings with mean body weight 8.34 plus or minus 10g reared in aquaria tanks. Four diets containing fishmeal protein at a rate of 25%, 50% and 75% along with the freshwater mussel flesh were formulated. The diet without the freshwater mussel served as the control. The fish fingerlings were fed at 5% body weight per day for 56 days. It was revealed at the end of the experiment that freshwater mussel was most suitable as a protein supplement when incorporated at 25% replacement. The body weight gain, specific growth rate and feed conversion ration values of 6.83g, 1.06% day and 0.62 respectively were highest in diet with 25% replacement closely followed by diet with 50% replacement. Beyond 75% inclusion level there was no significant growth (P>0.05). However, complete replacement of fishmeal by freshwater mussel decreases growth rates and should not be used in Heterobranchus longifilis diets

Haematological response of Heterobranchus longifilis fed varying dietary protein levels

Hematological effects of feeding varying dietary crude proteins levels to one hundred and fifty (150) H.longifilis fingerlings was examined on biweekly basis. The fingerlings of mean weights 1.26g plus or minus 0.24g were stocked in eight hapa nets (1mx1m) at 15 fingerlings per hapa. Four experimental diets with crude protein; 35%, 40%, 45% and 50% coded diet 1-4 respectively were fed to the fish for 8 weeks. The blood sample was taken and examined for packed cell volume (PCV) total protein (TP) Hemoglobin (Hb), Serum album, Erythrocyte count (RBC), while blood cell (WBC) mean corpuscle volume (MCV) and mean corpuscle hemoglobin, concentration (MCHC). There was an increase in the values of the hematological indices studied with increase in protein inclusion levels. A higher positive correlation with no significant difference (P greater than or equal to 0.05) exists between the treatments RBC, WBC, Hb and TP. The best RBC (2.10x10 super(6) count/l). WBC (7.65x10 super(4) count/l), PCV (35.4%) and Hb (5.79mg/l) were presented in fingerlings fed 40% crude protein followed by 45% crude protein. The dietary crude protein of 40% is recommended for H. longifilis for sound and healthy condition

Análise da concordância entre o plano dietético Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) e o padrão alimentar de pacientes hipertensos

A adoção do plano dietético Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) tem sido enfatizado na população hipertensa como uma importante estratégia no controle dos níveis pressóricos elevados. O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar o consumo alimentar de macro e micronutrientes em pacientes hipertensos, em especial do sódio, cálcio, potássio e magnésio, e comparar com as recomendações dietéticas contidas no plano DASH. Estudo transversal envolvendo uma amostra de conveniência composta por 113 hipertensos entre 40 e 69 anos. A medida da pressão arterial (PA) foi determinada com aparelho eletrônico devidamente calibrado e a avaliação dietética obtida pelo questionário de freqüência do consumo alimentar. Os alimentos ingeridos foram convertidos em porções e distribuídos em diferentes grupos alimentares. A faixa de porções recomendadas pelo plano DASH foi determinada com base na média das necessidades energéticas desta amostra permitindo assim uma posterior comparação com o hábito alimentar dos hipertensos, utilizando um escore de pontos com pontuação máxima de 9 pontos. A amostra foi dividida em três grupos: grupo B que obteve 2,5 a 4,0 pontos (n=34; 30%), grupo M entre 4,5 a 5,0 pontos (n=43; 38%) e grupo A que obteve 5,5 a 8,0 pontos (n=36; 32%). Não foram observadas diferenças significativas na média da PA sistólica (14024 vs 13823 vs 13515 mmHg) e diastólica (8617 vs 8813 vs 8410 mmHg). Apesar do grupo A consumir mais proteínas e gordura monoinsaturada, foi detectado um excesso pronunciado na ingestão de gordura saturada, colesterol e das calorias totais, por este grupo de pacientes. No que tange a ingestão dos micronutrientes, o grupo A apresentou consumo significativamente maior de cálcio, potássio e magnésio, refletido pela maior ingestão de vegetais e frutas em comparação aos grupos B e M. A média de ingestão do sódio intrínseco foi significativamente maior no grupo A (4,12,0 vs 3,11,1 vs 2,71,1 g/dia). Foram detectadas, apenas no grupo A, correlações entre PA sistólica e o percentual de proteína (r = -0,5; p=0,002) e PA sistólica e o percentual de carboidrato (r = 0,4; p=0,02). Apenas um terço dos hipertensos avaliados apresentaram padrão alimentar mais concordante com o plano DASH e com maior ingestão de proteínas, gordura monoinsaturada, fibras, cálcio, potássio e magnésio. Entretanto, o consumo mais elevado de sódio, gordura saturada, colesterol e das calorias totais por este grupo de pacientes poderia restringir uma maior queda dos níveis pressóricos elevados.

Dietary variations in three co-occurring rockfish species off the Pacific Northwest during anomalous oceanographic events in 1998 and 1999

Stomach samples from three rockfish species, yellowtail (Sebastes f lavidus), widow (S. entomelas), and canary (S. pinniger) rockfish, seasonally collected off the Pacific Northwest in 1998 and 1999, provided quantitative information on the food habits of these species during and after the 1997–98 El Niño event. Although euphausiids were the most common major prey of all three predators, gelatinous zooplankton and fishes were the most commonly consumed prey items during some seasonal quarters. The influence of the El Niño event was evident in the diets. Anomalous prey items, including the southern euphausiid species Nyctiphanes simplex and juveniles of Pacific whiting (Merluccius productus) frequently appeared in the diets in the spring and summer of 1998. The results of stomach contents analyses, based on 905 stomach samples from 49 trawl hauls during seven commercial fishing trips and from 56 stations during research surveys, were consistent with the timing of occurrence and the magnitude of change in biomass of some zooplankton species reported from zooplankton studies in the northern California Current during the 1997–98 El Niño. Our findings indicate that the observed variations of prey groups in some rockfish diets may be a function of prey variability related to climate and environment changes.

Dietary Phytase: an ideal approach for a cost effective and low-polluting aquafeed

Global fishmeal production from wild-catch sources cannot continue to increase indefinitely; suitable alternatives have to be found for sustainable aquaculture. Plant-based aquafeed seems to be the ideal alternative to this, but has its own limitations. Plant ingredients are rich in phytic acid, which reduces the bioavailability of nutrients like minerals and protein to the fish, thereby causing aquaculture pollution. Dietary phytase treatment reduces the aquaculture pollution by improving the bioavailability of nutrients, and reduces the feed cost as evident from poultry and piggery. Phytase activity is highly dependent upon the pH of the gut. Unlike mammals, fish are either gastric or agastric, and hence, the action of dietary phytase varies from species to species. In this article, the authors attempt to summarise various effects of phytase on nutrient utilization, growth of fish and aquatic pollution.