Search

Aim: The COVID -19 pandemic has changed the way people live, and children are particularly at risk because of their vulnerable age. The aim of this work was to evaluate the changes in nutritional status, physical activity, and eating habits of elementary schoolaged children during the Covid 19 pandemic. Methods: The study was conducted from February to April 2021 and included 197 primary school children, 100 boys, and 97 girls. A questionnaire was used to collect data on lifestyle, eating habits, and physical activity outside school. The Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for children and adolescents was used to determine membership in the Mediterranean diet. The kinanthropological and anthropological data of the students were obtained from the diary of the physical education and health teacher. Results: The average rating of the quality of the children's diet, as determined by the Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for Children and Adolescents, showed a moderate affiliation with the Mediterranean diet. Before online instruction, 65.9% of students ate breakfast daily, whereas during online instruction, 75.7% ate breakfast (p< 0.001). Results showed that students exercised statistically significantly more before online instruction than during online instruction (p< 0.05). Students had weaker kinanthropological scores than before beginning online instruction. Conclusions: According to the results, students' diet is of average quality, and some habits, such as breakfast, have improved, while physical activities have decreased significantly during the pandemic. Therefore, the promotion of proper nutrition and physical activity through public health programs should be emphasized to educate both children and parents about the importance of proper nutrition, physical activity, and responsible use of various media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Medicina Fluminensis is the property of Croatian Medical Association, Rijeka Branch & Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The traditional Mediterranean diet is associated with reducing the risk of many chronic non-communicable diseases. The aim of this study was to determine diet quality in students from Rijeka. In addition, adherence to Mediterranean diet was assessed using two indices, the Mediterranean Diet Quality Index and the Mediterranean Diet Score. The research was conducted from January to May 2018 and included 455 students from Rijeka University, 336 women and 119 men. Data on age, physical activity, anthropometry, smoking habits and eating habits were obtained from the above mentioned questionnaires. The mean diet quality score of the students obtained by the Mediterranean Diet Quality Index was 9.61, implying medium to poor diet quality. According to the Mediterranean Diet Score, diet quality was estimated as being poor (mean score 3.70). Women had a significantly better Mediterranean Diet Quality Index (9.36) than men (p<0.001) and non-smoking students had a significantly better Mediterranean Diet Quality Index (9.11) than those that smoked (p<0.001). In conclusion, according to the Mediterranean Diet Quality Index and the Mediterranean Diet Score, the study showed the diet of students to be medium to poor. From these results, it is evident that there is the need to increase adherence to the Mediterranean diet and to change dietary habits of students. According to the results obtained, there is clear need to create a health promotion program, with special emphasis on diet and diet education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mediterranean diet (MD), abundant in whole grains, is known to be one of the healthiest dietary patterns. Given the health benefits of whole grain cereals as a rich source of nutrients and phytochemicals, this study examined parental adherence to MD and its association with their adolescents' cereals intake, in 203 parent-adolescent dyads. Adherence to MD was evaluated using the Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for adolescents (13.5±1.2y) and the Short Mediterranean Diet Questionnaire for parents (41.53±5.99y). Although the level of the parents' adherence to MD did not significantly influence the adolescents´ weekly consumption frequency of pasta and rice, adolescents whose parents had higher adherence to MD (44.3%) more often ate cereals or grains for breakfast (p=0.045) and less frequently, commercially baked goods or pastries (p=0.043). Adolescents of parents who had lower adherence to MD (55.7%) stated that they would eat more whole grain bakery products (p=0.049) and more breakfast cereals (p=0.039) if those foods were more often available at home. Adolescents with parents who had higher adherence to MD stated that they were more often encouraged by their parents to eat whole grain bakery products (p=0.030), compared with their counterparts whose parents had lower adherence to MD. With this study, we revealed that food environment and parental eating behaviour are notable factors that influence adolescents' dietary intake. Disease prevention health programs should focus more strongly on encouraging parents to adopt MD features in their family food environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this study were to determine medical students' knowledge regarding the association between dietary factors and the risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases and to investigate if this knowledge has an impact on their dietary intakes. Three hundred and ninety medical students (males and females) were included in a study and grouped according to their daily fibre and fat intakes. For diet - disease knowledge, questions from the General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire for Adults were used and dietary assessment was done with Food Frequency Questionnaire. The obtained results showed that the students' diet-disease knowledge was generally inadequate. Higher level of diet-disease knowledge was among those with high dietary fibre intake, with slightly better scores for dietary factors and risk for cardiovascular diseases than the risk for cancer. Better diet-disease knowledge positively correlated with higher intake of fish (p=0.027, p=0.001) and vegetables (p=0.019, p=0.001) in high fibre groups of both gender, and in females additionally with fruit intake (p=0.038, p=0.007). A higher dietary fibre intake among studied students seems to be a factor that ensures lower obesity rates, lower intake of energy and lower consumption of coffee, sweets and alcoholic drinks. On the basis of the results of this study, it is clear that medical schools should provide in their nutrition programs the opportunity for students to learn about their own dietary and lifestyle behaviours, in order to more knowledgably and convincingly counsel their future patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present preliminary data of Program of prevention and early detection of osteoporosis among women in Primorsko-goranska County. Osteoporosis is recognized as a public health problem for which clearly preventive measures are defined. Measurement of bone density was done by ultrasound densitometry of the calcaneus among women aged from 45 to 69 years old. 688 women were examined and they were classified in five five-year age groups. The women with the osteoporosis (T-score ≤2.5) were 141; osteopenia (T-score from -2.5 to -1) were found in 400 women, and those with normal range of T-score were 147. All of five groups of women had T-score in range of osteopenia (T-score ≤1). A statistically significant difference was between the first and fourth groups of women (p=0.002) and the second and fourth groups (p=0.001). After examination, depending on the value of T-score, women were recommended to visit family doctor and they also got educative booklet with advices for healthy nutrition and physical activity. Implementation of this program indicated the importance of proper lifestyle in the prevention of osteoporosis. Average T-scores of all five groups of women show that osteopenia occurs also in the youngest ones. This indicates the need for a systematic approach to preventing osteoporosis through education of women including younger ones and creating conditions for organized physical activities at the community level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Collegium Antropologicum is the property of Croatian Anthropological Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

It has become evident that chronic low-grade inflammation associated with excess adipose tissue plays an important role in the etiology of insulin resistance and other obesity related metabolic disturbances. Weight loss intervention focusing on anti-inflammatory dietary modification might help to attenuate and eventually reverse these disturbances. In this random case-control nutrition intervention study we hypothesized that obese patients will improve their inflammatory and metabolic status together with body composition following anti-inflammatory diet during 24 weeks. Body composition parameters of 42 obese patients, who completed the study, were determined by bioelectrical impedance analysis (Seca®, mBCA 515 Medical Body Composition Analyzer). Their inflammatory status was assessed with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and insulin resistance with HOMA index. The inflammatory potential of their diet was assessed by the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII®), based on 37 food parameters which derived from 123-item food frequency questionnaire. A positive DII® designates a diet with pro-inflammatory potential, while negative DII® designates a diet with anti-inflammatory potential. Data and z-scores were analyzed with Statistica v13.3 (StatSoft Inc., Tulsa, USA) for baseline and study end parameters differences. Obtained results have shown that, at the end of study, the patients significantly reduced their body weight (-3.3 %, p < 0.001), BMI (-3.2 %, p < 0.001), waist circumference (-1.9 %, p < 0.001), total (-3.3 %, p < 0.001) and visceral body fat (-10.4 %, p < 0.001), total (-3.1 %, p < 0.001) and extracellular water (-2.9 %, p < 0.001). The patients also significantly reduced hs-CRP (-37.7 %, p = 0.0025). Although we observed noteworthy -10.7 % reduction of HOMA index, this finding did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.862). The inflammatory potential of patients' diet changed significantly from -0.45 to -1.73 on average (p < 0.001). With presented dietary intervention study it could be concluded that the change of the diet toward more anti-inflammatory milieu had significant influence on body weight, total and visceral body fat reduction. Consequently, those changes could have been involved in observed significant improvement of their inflammatory status. However, mild reduction of insulin resistance and rather small study group pointed out the need for further studies with more comprehensive dietary intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]