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Nutrition is closely related to the health of the elderly population. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive picture of the nutrition status of elderly Chinese and its related dietary, geographical, and socioeconomic factors.A total of 13,987 ≥ 60-year-old persons from the 2010-2013 Chinese National Nutrition and Health Survey were included to evaluate various aspects of malnutrition, including underweight, overweight or obesity, and micronutrient inadequacy.Overall, the prevalence of obesity, overweight, and underweight was 12.4%, 34.8%, and 5.7%, respectively, with disparities both geographically and socioeconomically. The prevalence of underweight was higher among the older old (≥ 75 years), rural residents and those with low income, with low education status, and residing in undeveloped West areas. More than 75% of the elderly do not meet the Dietary Reference Intakes for vitamins A, BObesity epidemic, inadequacy of micronutrient intake, and high prevalence of underweight and anemia in susceptible older people are the major nutrition challenges for the rapidly aging population in China.

Early diagnosis of neural changes causing cognitive impairment is critical for development of preventive therapies for dementia. Biomarkers currently characterized cannot be extensively applied due to the invasive sampling of cerebrospinal fluid. The other imaging approaches are either expensive or require a high technique. Phospholipids (PLs), which are basic constituents of neurons, might be a key variable in the pathogenesis of cognitive impairment. Changes in plasma PL provide the possibility for development of novel biomarkers with minimal invasion and high patient acceptance. In this work, a HILIC-ESI-IT-TOF-MS system was introduced for untargeted profiling of plasma PLs to investigate the relationship between changes of plasma PL profiles and cognitive impairment. A total of 272 types of PL molecular structures were characterized in human plasma and quantified through the internal standard method. Univariate analysis shows 29 PLs were significantly different between the control (n = 41) and the cognitive impairment (CI) group (n = 41). Multivariate analysis (PCA and OPLS-DA) was conducted based on these 29 potential PL biomarkers. Both univariate and multivariate analyses show abnormality of PL metabolism in the CI group, and the downregulation of ethanolamine plasmalogen (pPE) supply, especially those with PUFAs, in the circulation system should be strongly associated with neurodegeneration. A discriminative model was established with satisfied fit (R2) and prediction (Q2) abilities, and the classification test showed better recognition of the CI group than the control group indicating that this model of PL biomarkers could be used as indicators for screening of CI. Graphical abstract Characterization of potential plasma biomarkers related to cognitive impairment by untargeted profiling of phospholipids.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the trends of lipid profiles and dyslipidemia among Chinese adults from 2002 to 2015. METHODS Data were collected from three nationally representative cross-sectional surveys. Fasting venous blood samples were collected and serum lipids were tested by biochemical analysis and enzymatic determination. Lipid levels and the prevalence of dyslipidemia among adults were analyzed with complex sampling weighting adjustment for age and gender. RESULTS The weighted means of TC, TG, and LDL-c significantly increased linearly from 3.93, 1.12, and 2.12 mmol/L in 2002 to 4.59, 1.41, and 2.78 mmol/L in 2010 and then to 4.63, 1.47, and 2.87 mmol/L in 2015, respectively; by contrast, HDL-c levels decreased significantly from 1.30 mmol/L to 1.26 mmol/L over the same period. Similar trends in mean non-HDL-c and lipid-related ratios were observed. The weighted dyslipidemia prevalence linearly increased; in particular, hypercholesterolemia increased from 1.6% to 5.6% and then to 5.8%, hypertriglyceridemia increased from 5.7% to 13.6% and then to 15.0%, low HDL-c increased from 18.8% to 35.5% and then to 24.9%, and high LDL-c increased from 1.3% to 5.6% and then to 7.2% (P for trend0.001). CONCLUSION Dyslipidemia increased among Chinese adults from 2002 to 2015. Development of a comprehensive strategy to decrease lipid levels in this population is urgently required.

Obesity is recognized as a significant risk factor for diabetes and hypertension. The present study aimed to examine the associations between adults'obesity risk and childhood and parental obesity.A total of 204 children aged 6-17 years were recruited in 2002 with an average follow-up period of 13.2 years. Height and body weight were measured by trained staffs. Overweight and obesity were defined based on the Chinese standard for children and adults. T-test, analysis of variance, and Chi-square analysis were used for single factor analysis. Multiple linear and logistic regression analyses were used to perform multifactor analysis.The percentage of non-obese children who grew up to be non-obese adults was 62.6%, and that of obese children who grew up to be obese adults was 80.0%. There was a significant association between childhood body mass index (BMI) and adulthood BMI with a β regression coefficient of 3.76 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.36-6.16], and between childhood obesity and adulthood obesity with an odds ratio of 5.76 (95% CI: 1.37-24.34). There was no statistical difference between parental obesity at baseline and children's adulthood obesity, after adjustment of confounders. Male participants and those aged 10.0-13.0 years had a higher risk of adulthood obesity with odds ratios of 2.50 (95% CI: 1.12-5.26) and 3.62 (95% CI: 1.17-11.24), respectively.Childhood obesity is an important predictor of adulthood obesity.

Undernutrition is highly prevalent among older people. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of undernutrition in elderly Chinese residents and explore the relationship between undernutrition and dietary factors.Data were collected from 2,552 elderly people aged 75 years and over from the Chinese Nutrition and Health Surveillance during 2010-2012 using questionnaires, anthropometric measurement, and individual consecutive 3-day 24-hour dietary records.The present study showed that 10.5% of participants had undernutrition. The prevalence was higher among the population living in rural areas, those living in the South region, those who smoked, and those with low income levels. Most participants failed to meet the Chinese Dietary Reference Intakes for energy (66.1%) and protein (72.1%). When comparing quartiles of food intake, high rice consumption [odds ratio (OR) = 2.44, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.35-4.40)], animal oil intake (OR = 1.60, 95% CI: 1.18-2.17), and high fat intake from animal sources (OR = 1.56, 95% CI: 1.06-2.31) were positively associated with underweight whereas high wheat consumption (OR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.26-0.74), a proper proportion (24%-32%) of energy intake from fat (OR = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.35-0.83), and high fat intake from plant sources (OR = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.46-0.99) were inversely related.The prevalence of undernutrition was high among elderly Chinese people, especially in rural areas. Dietary factors, such as high consumption of rice, were associated with undernutrition.

Nuts, a class of fatty natural food, are associated with a series of health benefit. Lipid, which is the most abundant nutrient in nuts, could be one of the major contributors to many beneficial effects. In previous studies, only the composition of fatty acids was investigated. To better understand the nutritional value of nuts, phospholipids (PLs), with widely confirmed bioactivities, should be profiled as well. In this work, a HILIC-ESI-IT-TOF-MS system is applied to characterize PL profiles in six kinds of nut, including almonds, cashews, pecans, pistachios, walnuts and peanuts. A total of 165 PL molecular species were characterized and quantified. The obtained results showed that pistachios, cashews and walnuts are favorable nuts with diverse and high content of PLs; peanuts consist of abundant PL species but lower concentration of PLs; almonds and pecans might not be the first choice for PLs with relatively low species abundance and content.