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Only a few efforts have been made to define competencies for epidemiologists working in academic settings. Here we describe a multi-national effort to define competencies for epidemiologists who are increasingly facing emerging and potentially disruptive technological and societal health trends in academic research. During a 1,5 years period, we followed an iterative process that aimed to be inclusive and multi-national to reflect the various perspectives of the diverse group of epidemiologists. Competencies were developed by a consortium in a consensus-oriented process that spanned three main activities: two in-person interactive meetings in Amsterdam and Zurich and an online survey. In total, 93 meeting participants from 16 countries and 173 respondents from 19 countries contributed to the development of 31 competencies. These 31 competencies included 14 on “Developing a scientific question” and “Study planning”, 12 on “Study conduct \amp; analysis”, 3 on “Overarching competencies” and 2 competencies on “Communication and translation”. The process described here provides a consensus-based framework for defining and adapting the field. It should initiate a continuous process of thinking about competencies and the implications for teaching epidemiology to ensure that epidemiologists working in academic settings are well prepared for today’s and tomorrow’s health research.

Inflammation is a major biological process regulating the interaction between organisms and the environment, including the diet. Because of the increase in chronic inflammatory diseases, and in light of the immune-regulatory properties of breastfeeding, the ability of dairy products to modulate inflammatory processes in humans is an important but unresolved issue. Here, we report a systematic review of 52 clinical trials investigating inflammatory markers in relation to the consumption of dairy products. An inflammatory score (IS) was defined to quantitatively evaluate this interaction. The IS was significantly positive for the entire data set, indicating an anti-inflammatory activity in humans. When the subjects were stratified according to their health status, the IS was strongly indicative of an anti-inflammatory activity in subjects with metabolic disorders and of a pro-inflammatory activity in subjects allergic to bovine milk. Stratifying the data by product categories associated both low-fat and high-fat products, as well as fermented products, with an anti-inflammatory activity. Remarkably, the literature is characterized by a large gap in knowledge on bioavailability of bioactive nutrients. Future research should thus better combine food and nutritional sciences to adequately follow the fate of these nutrients along the gastrointestinal and metabolic axes.

Tables S1-S10. Describing the literature search criteria and the lists of studies and putative biomarkers of intake of dairy and egg products. (DOCX 138 kb)

Inflammation is a major biological process regulating the interaction between organisms and the environment, including the diet. Because of the increase in chronic inflammatory diseases, and in light of the immune-regulatory properties of breastfeeding, the ability of dairy products to modulate inflammatory processes in humans is an important but unresolved issue. Here, we report a systematic review of 52 clinical trials investigating inflammatory markers in relation to the consumption of dairy products. An inflammatory score (IS) was defined to quantitatively evaluate this interaction. The IS was significantly positive for the entire data set, indicating an anti-inflammatory activity in humans. When the subjects were stratified according to their health status, the IS was strongly indicative of an anti-inflammatory activity in subjects with metabolic disorders and of a pro-inflammatory activity in subjects allergic to bovine milk. Stratifying the data by product categories associated both low-fat and high-fat products, as well as fermented products, with an anti-inflammatory activity. Remarkably, the literature is characterized by a large gap in knowledge on bioavailability of bioactive nutrients. Future research should thus better combine food and nutritional sciences to adequately follow the fate of these nutrients along the gastrointestinal and metabolic axes.

Inflammation is a major biological process regulating the interaction between organisms and the environment, including the diet. Because of the increase in chronic inflammatory diseases, and in light of the immune-regulatory properties of breastfeeding, the ability of dairy products to modulate inflammatory processes in humans is an important but unresolved issue. Here, we report a systematic review of 52 clinical trials investigating inflammatory markers in relation to the consumption of dairy products. An inflammatory score (IS) was defined to quantitatively evaluate this interaction. The IS was significantly positive for the entire data set, indicating an anti-inflammatory activity in humans. When the subjects were stratified according to their health status, the IS was strongly indicative of an anti-inflammatory activity in subjects with metabolic disorders and of a pro-inflammatory activity in subjects allergic to bovine milk. Stratifying the data by product categories associated both low-fat and high-fat products, as well as fermented products, with an anti-inflammatory activity. Remarkably, the literature is characterized by a large gap in knowledge on bioavailability of bioactive nutrients. Future research should thus better combine food and nutritional sciences to adequately follow the fate of these nutrients along the gastrointestinal and metabolic axes.

Figure S1. Overview of primary literature search. (PPTX 79 kb)

Tables S1-S10. Describing the literature search criteria and the lists of studies and putative biomarkers of intake of dairy and egg products. (DOCX 138 kb)

Figure S1. Overview of primary literature search. (PPTX 79 kb)

Inflammation is a major biological process regulating the interaction between organisms and the environment, including the diet. Because of the increase in chronic inflammatory diseases, and in light of the immune-regulatory properties of breastfeeding, the ability of dairy products to modulate inflammatory processes in humans is an important but unresolved issue. Here, we report a systematic review of 52 clinical trials investigating inflammatory markers in relation to the consumption of dairy products. An inflammatory score (IS) was defined to quantitatively evaluate this interaction. The IS was significantly positive for the entire data set, indicating an anti-inflammatory activity in humans. When the subjects were stratified according to their health status, the IS was strongly indicative of an anti-inflammatory activity in subjects with metabolic disorders and of a pro-inflammatory activity in subjects allergic to bovine milk. Stratifying the data by product categories associated both low-fat and high-fat products, as well as fermented products, with an anti-inflammatory activity. Remarkably, the literature is characterized by a large gap in knowledge on bioavailability of bioactive nutrients. Future research should thus better combine food and nutritional sciences to adequately follow the fate of these nutrients along the gastrointestinal and metabolic axes.

Inflammation is a major biological process regulating the interaction between organisms and the environment, including the diet. Because of the increase in chronic inflammatory diseases, and in light of the immune-regulatory properties of breastfeeding, the ability of dairy products to modulate inflammatory processes in humans is an important but unresolved issue. Here, we report a systematic review of 52 clinical trials investigating inflammatory markers in relation to the consumption of dairy products. An inflammatory score (IS) was defined to quantitatively evaluate this interaction. The IS was significantly positive for the entire data set, indicating an anti-inflammatory activity in humans. When the subjects were stratified according to their health status, the IS was strongly indicative of an anti-inflammatory activity in subjects with metabolic disorders and of a pro-inflammatory activity in subjects allergic to bovine milk. Stratifying the data by product categories associated both low-fat and high-fat products, as well as fermented products, with an anti-inflammatory activity. Remarkably, the literature is characterized by a large gap in knowledge on bioavailability of bioactive nutrients. Future research should thus better combine food and nutritional sciences to adequately follow the fate of these nutrients along the gastrointestinal and metabolic axes.

Nutritional research is currently entering the field of personalized nutrition, to a large extent driven by major technological breakthroughs in analytical sciences and biocomputing. An efficient launching of the personalized approach depends on the ability of researchers to comprehensively monitor and characterize interindividual variability in the activity of the human gastrointestinal tract. This information is currently not available in such a form. This review therefore aims at identifying and discussing published data, providing evidence on interindividual variability in the processing of the major nutrients, i.e., protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals, along the gastrointestinal tract, including oral processing, intestinal digestion, and absorption. Although interindividual variability is not a primary endpoint of most studies identified, a significant number of publications provides a wealth of information on this topic for each category of nutrients. This knowledge remains fragmented, however, and understanding the clinical relevance of most of the interindividual responses to food ingestion described in this review remains unclear. In that regard, this review has identified a gap and sets the base for future research addressing the issue of the interindividual variability in the response of the human organism to the ingestion of foods., Despite numerous examples of interindividual variability in the processing of food by the human gastrointestinal tract, the knowledge on this topic, as illustrated for polymorphisms in mineral absorption, remains fragmented. The GutSelf review sets the base for motivating future research specifically addressing the issue of the interindividual variability in the response of the human organism to the ingestion of foods.

International audience; Inflammation is a major biological process regulating the interaction between organisms and the environment, including the diet. Because of the increase in chronic inflammatory diseases, and in light of the immune-regulatory properties of breastfeeding, the ability of dairy products to modulate inflammatory processes in humans is an important but unresolved issue. Here, we report a systematic review of 52 clinical trials investigating inflammatory markers in relation to the consumption of dairy products. An inflammatory score (IS) was defined to quantitatively evaluate this interaction. The IS was significantly positive for the entire data set, indicating an anti-inflammatory activity in humans. When the subjects were stratified according to their health status, the IS was strongly indicative of an anti-inflammatory activity in subjects with metabolic disorders and of a pro-inflammatory activity in subjects allergic to bovine milk. Stratifying the data by product categories associated both low-fat and high-fat products, as well as fermented products, with an anti-inflammatory activity. Remarkably, the literature is characterized by a large gap in knowledge on bioavailability of bioactive nutrients. Future research should thus better combine food and nutritional sciences to adequately follow the fate of these nutrients along the gastrointestinal and metabolic axes

// Didier Remond 1, 2 , Danit R. Shahar 3 , Doreen Gille 4 , Paula Pinto 5, 6 , Josefa Kachal 7 , Marie-Agnes Peyron 1, 2 , Claudia Nunes Dos Santos 6, 8 , Barbara Walther 4 , Alessandra Bordoni 9 , Didier Dupont 10 , Lidia Tomas-Cobos 11 , Guy Vergeres 4 1 UMR 1019, UNH, CRNH Auvergne, INRA, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France 2 Clermont Universite, Universite d’Auvergne, Unite de Nutrition Humaine, BP 10448, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France 3 Department of Public Health, The S. Daniel Abraham International Center for Health and Nutrition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84105 Beer-Sheva, Israel 4 Institute for Food Sciences IFS, Agroscope, Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research EAER, 3003 Berne, Switzerland 5 Escola Superior Agraria, Insituto Politecnico de Santarem, 2001-904 Santarem, Portugal 6 Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica e Biologica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal 7 Israeli Ministry of Health, 93591 Jerusalem, Israel 8 Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnologica, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal 9 Department of Agri-Food Sciences and Technologies, University of Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy 10 UMR 1253, Science et Technologie du Lait & de l’Œuf, INRA, 35000 Rennes, France 11 ainia Centro Tecnologico, E46980 Paterna (Valencia), Spain Correspondence to: Guy Vergeres, e-mail: guy.vergeres@agroscope.admin.ch Keywords: malnutrition, gastrointestinal tract, aging, dietary solutions, gerotarget Received: May 06, 2015 Accepted: May 13, 2015 Published: May 27, 2015 ABSTRACT Although the prevalence of malnutrition in the old age is increasing worldwide a synthetic understanding of the impact of aging on the intake, digestion, and absorption of nutrients is still lacking. This review article aims at filling the gap in knowledge between the functional decline of the aging gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and the consequences of malnutrition on the health status of elderly. Changes in the aging GIT include the mechanical disintegration of food, gastrointestinal motor function, food transit, chemical food digestion, and functionality of the intestinal wall. These alterations progressively decrease the ability of the GIT to provide the aging organism with adequate levels of nutrients, what contributes to the development of malnutrition. Malnutrition, in turn, increases the risks for the development of a range of pathologies associated with most organ systems, in particular the nervous-, muscoskeletal-, cardiovascular-, immune-, and skin systems. In addition to psychological, economics, and societal factors, dietary solutions preventing malnutrition should thus propose dietary guidelines and food products that integrate knowledge on the functionality of the aging GIT and the nutritional status of the elderly. Achieving this goal will request the identification, validation, and correlative analysis of biomarkers of food intake, nutrient bioavailability, and malnutrition.