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Background: Continued dietary treatment since early diagnosis through newborn screening programs usually prevents brain-related complications in phenylketonuria (PKU). However, subtle neurocognitive and brain alterations may be observed in some adult patients despite early treatment. Nevertheless, neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies in the field remain scarce. Objectives: This work aimed to determine possible neuropsychological and structural brain alterations in treated adult patients with PKU. Methods: Thirty-five patients with PKU and 22 healthy controls (HC) underwent neuropsychological assessment and T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging on a 3 T scanner. FreeSurfer (v.7.1) was used to obtain volumetric measures and SPSS (v27.0.1.0) was used to analyze sociodemographic, neuropsychological, volumetric, and clinical data (p < 0.05). Results: Adult patients with PKU showed significantly lower performance than HC in Full Scale IQ (t = 2.67; p =.010) from the WAIS-IV. The PKU group also showed significantly lower volumes than HC in the pallidum (U = 224.000; p =.008), hippocampus (U = 243.000; p =.020), amygdala (U = 200.000; p =.002), and brainstem (t = 3.17; p =.006) as well as in total cerebral white matter volume (U = 175.000; p =.001). Blood phenylalanine (Phe) levels in PKU patients were negatively correlated with the pallidum (r = -0.417; p =.013) and brainstem (r = -0.455, p =.006) volumes. Conclusions: Adult patients with early-treated PKU showed significantly lower global intelligence than HC. Moreover, these patients showed reduced global white matter volume as well as reductions in the volume of several subcortical grey matter structures, which might be related to the existence of underlying neurodevelopmental alterations. Higher blood Phe levels were also negatively correlated with pallidum and brainstem, suggesting a higher vulnerability of these structures to Phe toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Introduction: promoting healthy eating habits among childhood is one of the key aspects to improve medium and long-term health outcomes. Objectives: the main aims are to improve eating habits, promote the Mediterranean diet (MD) and prevent and/or reverse overweight and obesity in children from 3 to 12 years old. Methods: the program has a one-year follow-up and includes three to five visits with registered dietitians, one telephone control and one practical workshop. Anthropometric, body composition and eating habits data are collected, and nutritional education is carried out. A total sample of 1,000 children will be included. Results: until now, 622 participants have been included (51.6 % boys; median age 8.5 years). At the beginning, 32.2 % of participants were overweight or obese and 38.9 % had an adequate MD. Although no differences were found in the assessment of the Kidmed questionnaire regarding sex (p = 0.214) or body mass index (BMI) subgroups (p = 0.181), differences were found regarding age (p = 0.023) and BMI Z-score (p = 0.004), showing slightly lower values in those having and adequate MD. At the moment, 362 participants have made the six-month visit, of which 61.6 % presented an adequate MD, with statistically significant differences compared to the baseline visit (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: preliminary results show the need for nutritional education in children and suggest that Programa Nutriplato® can be effective in improving eating habits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Introduction: poor dietary habits and lack of physical activity are associated with non-communicable diseases. A healthy diet during childhood is important for the prevention of these diseases in the short and long term. Objectives: improve eating habits, promote the Mediterranean diet (MD) and prevent and/or reverse overweight and obesity in children aged 3 to 12 years. Methods: the program includes 3 to 5 visits with dietitian-nutritionists, 1 telephone control and 1 practical workshop, with a follow-up of 1 year. Anthropometric, body composition and eating habits data are collected, and nutritional education is provided. Results: the program included 1018 participants (51.5 % boys; median age 8.5 ± 2.7 years). At baseline, 31 % were overweight or obese and 33.9 % had optimal MD. 696 participants completed the 12-month follow-up, and an increase in the percentage of participants following optimal MD was observed (38.1 % vs. 53.4 %; p < 0.001). Statistically significant improvements were also observed in relation to the consumption of fruits (except for 3 servings/day), vegetables, legumes, nuts and wholegrains cereals. In participants who were overweight or obese, a slight decrease in the mean BMI z-score was observed at the 12-month follow-up (p = 0.039). Conclusions: the results highlight the need for nutritional education in children and show that the Nutriplato® Program is effective in improving eating habits.

Introduction: Introduction: promoting healthy eating habits among childhood is one of the key aspects to improve medium and long-term health outcomes. Objectives: the main aims are to improve eating habits, promote the Mediterranean diet (MD) and prevent and/or reverse overweight and obesity in children from 3 to 12 years old. Methods: the program has a one-year follow-up and includes three to five visits with registered dietitians, one telephone control and one practical workshop. Anthropometric, body composition and eating habits data are collected, and nutritional education is carried out. A total sample of 1,000 children will be included. Results: until now, 622 participants have been included (51.6 % boys; median age 8.5 years). At the beginning, 32.2 % of participants were overweight or obese and 38.9 % had an adequate MD. Although no differences were found in the assessment of the Kidmed questionnaire regarding sex (p = 0.214) or body mass index (BMI) subgroups (p = 0.181), differences were found regarding age (p = 0.023) and BMI Z-score (p = 0.004), showing slightly lower values in those having and adequate MD. At the moment, 362 participants have made the six-month visit, of which 61.6 % presented an adequate MD, with statistically significant differences compared to the baseline visit (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: preliminary results show the need for nutritional education in children and suggest that Programa Nutriplato® can be effective in improving eating habits.