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PURPOSE: To compare the lifestyle-related characteristics of low-meat consumer and omnivore adolescents in Sweden and Norway. METHODS: A total of 2041 students (578 from Umea, Sweden; 504 from Stockholm, Sweden; and 959 from Bergen, Norway), with a mean age of 15.5 years, completed a questionnaire. Information was collected about physical characteristics, and health, family situation, social, exercise, alcohol, and tobacco habits. The response rate was 95% in Umea, 91% in Stockholm, and 83% in Bergen. Statistical analyses included Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests. RESULTS: There was no reported difference between low-meat consumers and omnivores with respect to alcohol use, smoking, weight, or amount of exercise. Female low-meat consumers more frequently used smokeless tobacco, reported having more sick days during the last year, attached less importance to 'being healthy,' and had been depressed more often than female omnivores. Male low-meat consumers reported, to a greater extent than male omnivores, having been tired without reason, having often had headaches and having been depressed. Female low-meat consumers had parents with a higher average level of education than did female omnivores and more often spent time with friends after school. CONCLUSIONS: Vegetarianism or low-meat consumption is mainly a female phenomenon among adolescents in this study. The study indicates that the lifestyle of young low-meat consumers differs from the lifestyle found in previous studies of vegetarians with respect to the respondents' exercise habits, their perception of their own health, and their use of alcohol and tobacco. Contrary to findings from other studies, adherence to a low-meat diet may not correlate with other health promotion practices among adolescents in Sweden and Norway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Doubly labeled water is gold standard for measuring total energy expenditure (TEE). Measurements using the method are sensitive to the isotope dilution space ratio (DSR). Accuracy and precision of the method might be improved if we could identify factors influencing DSR., Objectives: We evaluated the potential associations of age, sex, ethnicity, anthropometry, body composition, turnover rates of the isotopes, and geographical elevation with DSR., Methods: We used univariate regression analysis to explore the relationships between the continuous variables and analysis of variance to test the relationships between the categorical variables with DSR. Subsequently, we used general linear model (GLM) and 1-way analysis of variance to evaluate the simultaneous associations of age, sex, ethnicity, fat-free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) on DSR., Results: From 5678 measurements complied from studies around the world with diverse ethnicity and living at various elevations, the mean DSR was 1.0364 ± 0.0141. No meaningful physiologic effect of any of the continuous and categorical variable on DSR was detected. General linear model analysis revealed no effect of FFM and FM (P > 0.33) on DSR, but DSR decreased with age (P < 0.001) among those aged 60 y and older regardless of sex. Among the Whites who were younger than 60 y, DSR was not related to FFM and FM (P = 0.73) but was affected by both age and sex (P < 0.001)., Conclusions: Previous estimates of age-related decline in TEE may have overestimated TEE at age 90 y. Validation studies on older participants are required to confirm this finding., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest WWW reports administrative support was provided by Baylor College of Medicine. JRS reports administrative support and article publishing charges were provided by University of Aberdeen. MLN is a Deputy Editor of the Journal of Nutrition but played no role in the Journal’s evaluation of the manuscript. The other authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 American Society for Nutrition. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Adherence to antibiotic recommendations and safety aspects of restrictive use are important components when combating antibiotic resistance. The primary aim of this study was to assess the impact of national guidelines on antibiotic prescriptions for bone augmentation procedures among dentists working at three specialized clinics. The secondary aim was to assess the occurrence of postoperative infections., Methods: Medical charts of 400 patients treated with bone augmentation were reviewed: 200 in the years 2010-2011 and 200 in 2014-2015. The Swedish national recommendations for antibiotic prophylaxis were published in 2012., Results: There was a wide variation in antibiotic regiments prescribed throughout the study. The number of patients treated with antibiotic prophylaxis in a single dose of 2 g amoxicillin, and treated as advocated in the national recommendations, was low and decreasing between the two time periods from 25% (n = 50/200) in 2010-2011 to 18.5% (n = 37/200) in 2014-2015. The number of patients not given any antibiotics either as a prophylactic single dose or during the postoperative phase increased (P < 0.001). The administration of a 3-7-days antibiotic prescription increased significantly from 25.5% in 2010-2011 to 35% in 2014-2015. The postoperative infection rates (4.5% and 6.5%) were without difference between the studied periods. Smoking and omitted antibiotic prophylaxis significantly increased the risk of postoperative infection. Logistic regression analyses showed that patient male gender and suffering from a disease were predictive factors for the clinician to adhere to the guidelines., Conclusions: After introduction of national recommendations for antibiotic prophylaxis before bone augmentation procedures, the patient group receiving a single preoperative dose decreased while the group not given antibiotic prophylaxis increased. There was no difference in occurrence of postoperative infections between the two time periods. The results indicate a need for educational efforts and strategies for implementation of antibiotic prudence and awareness among surgeons performing bone augmentation procedures., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

There is considerably greater variation in metabolic rates between men than between women, in terms of basal, activity and total (daily) energy expenditure (EE). One possible explanation is that EE is associated with male sexual characteristics (which are known to vary more than other traits) such as musculature and athletic capacity. Such traits might be predicted to be most prominent during periods of adolescence and young adulthood, when sexual behaviour develops and peaks. We tested this hypothesis on a large dataset by comparing the amount of male variation and female variation in total EE, activity EE and basal EE, at different life stages, along with several morphological traits: height, fat free mass and fat mass. Total EE, and to some degree also activity EE, exhibit considerable greater male variation (GMV) in young adults, and then a decreasing GMV in progressively older individuals. Arguably, basal EE, and also morphometrics, do not exhibit this pattern. These findings suggest that single male sexual characteristics may not exhibit peak GMV in young adulthood, however total and perhaps also activity EE, associated with many morphological and physiological traits combined, do exhibit GMV most prominently during the reproductive life stages.

Concerns have been raised about the quality of reporting in nutritional epidemiology. Research reporting guidelines such as the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement can improve quality of reporting in observational studies. Herein, we propose recommendations for reporting nutritional epidemiology and dietary assessment research by extending the STROBE statement into Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology - Nutritional Epidemiology (STROBE-nut). Recommendations for the reporting of nutritional epidemiology and dietary assessment research were developed following a systematic and consultative process, co-ordinated by a multidisciplinary group of 21 experts. Consensus on reporting guidelines was reached through a three-round Delphi consultation process with 53 external experts. In total, 24 recommendations for nutritional epidemiology were added to the STROBE checklist. When used appropriately, reporting guidelines for nutritional epidemiology can contribute to improve reporting of observational studies with a focus on diet and health.

The monocyte/macrophage system plays a central role in host defense, wound healing and immune regulation at biomaterial surfaces. Monocytes can be classically and alternatively activated, and can be stimulated differently in response to variations in biomaterial surface properties. In this study, human monocytes, cultured on polystyrene surfaces (Ps), were activated either classically, by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), or alternatively, by interleukin-4 (IL-4). Monocytes were also cultured on anodically oxidized (Ox) and machined (Ma) titanium surfaces, with and without LPS stimulation. Cells were cultured for 1 and 3 days and their conditioned media (CM) were collected. The osteogenic response of hMSCs to the monocyte CM was determined by analyzing the gene expression of key osteogenic markers. The CM from classically activated monocytes increased the hMSCs expression of runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Furthermore, CM from monocytes cultured on Ox surface resulted in a modest increase of the expression of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2). LPS stimulation of the surface-seeded monocytes overwhelmed the effect of the surface properties and resulted in significant upregulation of BMP-2 and Runx2 for all samples. The results show that human monocytes, cultured on different surfaces and/or under different activation pathways, communicate pro-osteogenic signals to hMSCs. The signals involve regulation of autologous BMP-2 in the hMSCs. The classical activation results in profound and prolonged osteogenic effect compared to the effect of the investigated surface properties., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Estimating energy intake (EI) of a child by using a diet history interview (DHI) method may be a challenge because of difficulty for the child to remember what has been eaten as well as to report portion sizes. The aim of this research was to validate reported EI from a DHI in children classified as overweight or obese by comparing the reported EI to total energy expenditure (TEE) measured by 2 objective measures. Eighty-five 10.5- +/- 1.1-y-old overweight and obese children, with help from 1 or 2 parents, reported their EI 2 wk retrospectively in a DHI. Reported EI was compared with TEE, as measured by SenseWear armband (n = 85) and the doubly-labeled water (DLW) method (n = 21), during the same period as the DHI. Reported EI was underestimated by 14% when validated against both the armband and DLW method. Underestimation did not differ between boys and girls. However, the EI of obese children was underestimated by 22%, which is twice the rate as for the overweight children (95% CI: 0.55, 3.08). Underestimated EI was negatively correlated with BMI (r = -0.38; P = <0.01) as well as age (r = -0.21; P = 0.05). EI is underestimated to a higher extent among children with higher BMI and higher age when using a DHI method. The findings show the importance of validating dietary intake of children in general and in overweight and obese children in particular.

The aim of this study was to identify sources of nutrients in diets of young Swedish vegans and omnivores. Three months of dietary intakes were investigated by diet history interviews. Volunteers were recruited through advertising and visits to schools in the city of Umeå, Sweden. Thirty vegans, 15 female and 15 male, aged 17.5+/-1.0 years, were compared with 30 sex-, age-, and height-matched omnivores. Vegans had different sources of nutrients than young omnivores and relied to a great extent on dietary supplements as a source of vitamin B-12, vitamin D, calcium, and selenium. Dietary intake of vegetables, fruits, and berries exceeded 500 g/day for 21 of the 30 vegans, whereas the same held true for only 1 of the 30 omnivores. Instead of animal products, young vegans rely on dietary supplements, legumes, vegetables, fruits, and berries as sources of nutrients.

In a town in northern Sweden, 3.3% of the 15-year-old adolescents were vegans in 1996. This study describes the process of becoming a vegan among adolescents and interprets the informants' descriptions by constructing categories, which later on were related to relevant theories. Group interviews were conducted with three vegans and in-depth interviews were performed with three other vegan adolescents. The methodology was grounded theory and the adolescents' perceptions were analyzed in the framework of symbolic interactionism. Three types of vegans were identified: the Conformed Vegan, the Organized Vegan, and the Individualistic Vegan. The decision to become a vegan was reported to be influenced by perceived internal reasons such as ethics, health, distaste for meat, and preference for vegetarian food. In addition, friends, family, school, media, and music influenced the decision to become a vegan. The perceived consequences of becoming a vegan were positive as well as negative and differed between the three types of vegans. Veganism as a new type of status passage with specific characteristics was illustrated. No modifications or new properties were discovered that add to the theory of status passage which indicates that the general model is applicable also in a vegan context.

Background: Adolescents sometimes become vegetarian for ethical rather than health reasons. This may result in health problems caused by lack of interest in and knowledge of nutrition., Objective: We compared the dietary intake and nutritional status of young Swedish vegans and omnivores., Design: The dietary intakes of 30 vegans (15 males and 15 females; mean age: 17.5 +/- 1.0 y) and 30 sex-, age-, and height-matched omnivores were assessed with the use of a diet-history interview and validated by the doubly labeled water method and by measuring nitrogen, sodium, and potassium excretion in urine. Iron status and serum vitamin B-12 and folate concentrations were measured in blood samples., Results: The diet-history method underestimated energy intake by 13% and potassium intake by 7% compared with the doubly labeled water method and 24-h urine excretion, respectively. Reported dietary nitrogen and sodium intakes agreed with the 24-h urinary excretion measure. Vegans had higher intakes of vegetables, legumes, and dietary supplements and lower intakes of cake and cookies and candy and chocolate than did omnivores. Vegans had dietary intakes lower than the average requirements of riboflavin, vitamin B-12, vitamin D, calcium, and selenium. Intakes of calcium and selenium remained low even with the inclusion of dietary supplements. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of low iron status among vegans (20%) and omnivores (23%). Two vegans with low intakes of vitamin B-12 had low serum concentrations., Conclusion: The dietary habits of the vegans varied considerably and did not comply with the average requirements for some essential nutrients.

Background: It is difficult to obtain accurate reports of dietary intake; therefore, reported dietary intakes must be validated. Researchers need low-cost methods of estimating energy expenditure to validate reports of energy intake in groups with different lifestyles and eating habits., Objective: We sought to validate the reported energy expenditure and energy and protein intakes of Swedish adolescent vegans and omnivores., Design: We compared 16 vegans (7 females and 9 males; mean age: 17.4 +/- 0.8 y) with 16 omnivores matched for sex, age, and height. Energy expenditure as reported in a physical activity interview and energy and protein intakes as reported by diet history were validated by using the doubly labeled water method and by measuring urinary nitrogen excretion., Results: The validity of reported energy expenditure and energy and protein intakes was not significantly different between vegans and omnivores. The physical activity interview had a bias toward underestimating energy expenditure by 1.4 +/- 2.6 MJ/d (95% CI: 2.4, 0.5 MJ/d). The diet-history interview had a bias toward underestimating energy intake by 1.9 +/- 2.7 MJ/d (95% CI: 2.9, 1.0 MJ/d) but showed good agreement with the validation method for nitrogen (protein) intake (underestimate of 0.40 +/- 1.90 g N/d; 95% CI: 1.10, 0.29 g N/d)., Conclusions: The physical activity and diet-history interviews underestimated energy expenditure and energy intake, respectively. Energy intake and expenditure were underestimated to the same extent, and the degree of underestimation was not significantly different between vegans and omnivores. Valid protein intakes were obtained with the diet-history method for both vegans and omnivores.