Maternal Dietary Patterns Are Associated With Risk of Neural Tube and Congenital Heart Defects.

Maternal Dietary Patterns are Associated With Risk of Neural Tube and Congenital Heart Defects.

Am J Epidemiol. 2013 May 2;
Sotres-Alvarez D, Siega-Riz AM, Herring AH, Carmichael SL, Feldkamp ML, Hobbs CA, Olshan AF,

Studying empirically derived dietary patterns is useful in understanding dietary practice. We classified women by their dietary patterns using latent class analysis of 66 foods and studied the association of these patterns with neural tube defects (NTDs) and congenital heart defects (CHDs) in the US National Birth Defects Prevention Study (1997-2005). Logistic regression models used data from 1,047 with an NTD, 6,641 with a CHD, and 6,123 controls that were adjusted for maternal characteristics and tested the effect modification of multivitamin supplement use. Four latent dietary patterns were identified: prudent, Western, low-calorie Western, and Mexican. Among participants who did not use supplements, those in the Mexican, Western, and low-calorie Western classes were significantly more likely (odds ratios of 1.6, 1.5, and 1.4, respectively) to have offspring born with NTDs than were those in the prudent class after adjustment of for dietary folic acid intake. In contrast, among supplement users, there was no difference in the incidence of NTDs between classes. Associations between dietary class and CHD subgroups were not modified by supplement use except for tetralogy of Fallot; among supplement users, those in the Western class were twice as likely (95% confidence interval: 1.4, 2.8) as the prudent class to have offspring with tetralogy of Fallot. Women who adhered to a Western diet were 1.2 (95% confidence interval: 1.03, 1.35) times more likely to have an infant with septal heart defect than were women who adhered to a prudent diet. A prudent dietary pattern, even with folate fortification, may decrease the risk of NTDs and some heart defects. HubMed – eating

 

Factors Associated With Weight Loss, Low BMI, and Malnutrition Among Nursing Home Patients: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2013 Apr 29;
Tamura BK, Bell CL, Masaki KH, Amella EJ

BACKGROUND: Weight loss and poor nutrition are important quality measures in long term care. Long term care professionals need to identify factors associated with weight loss and poor nutrition to target high-risk patients. METHODS: The authors systematically searched Medline and CINAHL databases and included English language studies with more than 100 subjects analyzed, published after January 1, 1990, with data on factors associated with at least one of the following: weight loss, low body mass index (BMI), low Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) score, or other standard measure of malnutrition. Data from all studies were systematically extracted onto a matrix table. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) questions were used to compare the quality of evidence extracted. Data from each article were then sorted and arranged into tables of factors associated with weight loss, low BMI, and malnutrition. RESULTS: Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria for the review. The factors most consistently associated with weight loss were depression, poor oral intake, swallowing issues, and eating/chewing dependency. Staffing factors were associated with weight loss in most studies. The factors most consistently associated with low BMI included immobility, poor oral intake, chewing problems, dysphagia, female gender, and older age. The factors most consistently associated with poor nutrition included impaired function, dementia, swallowing/chewing difficulties, poor oral intake, and older age. CONCLUSION: Potentially modifiable factors consistently associated with increased likelihood of weight loss, low BMI, or poor nutrition included depression, impaired function, and poor oral intake. Nursing home medical directors may wish to target quality improvement efforts toward patients with these conditions who are at highest risk for weight loss and poor nutrition. HubMed – eating

 

Bowel Functions, Fecal Unconjugated Primary and Secondary Bile Acids, and Colonic Transit in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2013 Apr 29;
Shin A, Camilleri M, Vijayvargiya P, Busciglio I, Burton D, Ryks M, Rhoten D, Lueke A, Saenger A, Girtman A, Zinsmeister AR

BACKGROUND: & Aims: There is an unclear relationship among bowel symptoms, excretion of unconjugated fecal bile acid (UBA), and colonic transit in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). We measured total and main individual UBA in fecal samples of patients with IBS, and assessed relationships among stool frequency or consistency, fecal UBA (total and individual), and colonic transit. METHODS: In a study of 30 healthy volunteers (controls), 31 subjects with IBS with diarrhea (IBS-D), and 30 with IBS with constipation (IBS-C) were placed on 4-day diets containing 100 g fat; we measured stool characteristics, total fecal UBA and fat levels, and overall colonic transit. We assessed univariate associations of total and individual levels of fecal UBA with phenotype (controls, IBS-D, IBS-C) using the Kruskal-Wallis test; associations between endpoints were assessed using Spearman correlations. With response surface regression models, we assessed relationships between stool, colonic transit, and fecal total and secretory UBA. RESULTS: There was a significant association between total fecal UBA and phenotype (P=.029); the association was greater for IBS-D than IBS-C, compared with controls. Fecal levels of primary UBAs (cholic and chenodeoxycholic acids) were higher in subjects with IBS-D, compared with controls (both P<.01). Levels of fecal secretory UBAs (chenodeoxycholic acids, P=.019; deoxycholic acid, P=.025) were lower in subjects with IBS-C compared with controls, whereas levels of the nonsecretory UBA, lithocholic acid, were higher (P=.020). There were significant univariate associations between stool number and form and total fecal UBA (including percentages of lithocholic acid, chenodeoxycholic acids, and cholic acid), fecal fat, and colonic transit at 24 and 48 h after eating. In the regression models, the relative contribution of colonic transit was consistently greater, and largely independent of the contribution of bile acids. CONCLUSIONS: Measurements of individual UBAs identify changes associated with stool characteristics in patients with IBS; these effects are independent of the effects of colonic transit. HubMed – eating

 

Substantial weight gains are common prior to treatment-seeking in obese patients with binge eating disorder.

Compr Psychiatry. 2013 Apr 29;
Masheb RM, White MA, Grilo CM

This study examined weight trajectories in obese patients with binge eating disorder (BED) during the year prior to treatment initiation and explored potential correlates of these weight changes. One hundred thirty (N=130) consecutive, treatment-seeking, obese patients with BED were assessed with structured interviews and self-report questionnaires. Eighty-three percent (83%; n=108) of treatment seeking obese BED patients gained weight, and 65% (n=84) gained a clinically significant amount of weight (greater than or equal to 5% body weight), in the year preceding treatment. Overall, participants reported a mean percent weight gain of 8% (16.6 pounds) during the 12months prior to treatment with a wide range of weight changes across participants (from a 52% weight gain to a 13% weight loss). A substantial proportion of patients (35%), categorized as High Weight Gainers (defined as gaining more than 10% of body weight during previous year), reported gaining an average of 16.7% of body weight. Low Weight Gainers (defined as gaining greater than 5%, but less than 10%) comprised 29% of the sample and were characterized by a mean gain of 6.9% of body weight. Weight Maintainers/Losers (defined as having maintained or lost weight during the 12months prior to treatment) comprised 17% of the sample and reported losing on average 2.8% of body weight. These three groups did not differ significantly in their current weight and eating behaviors or eating disorder psychopathology. The majority of treatment-seeking obese patients with BED reported having gained substantial amounts of weight during the previous year. These findings provide an important context for interpreting the modest weight losses typically reported in treatment studies of BED. Failure to produce weight loss in these studies may be reinterpreted as stabilization of weight and prevention of further weight gain. HubMed – eating