The healthful plant-based diet index as a tool for obesity prevention-The healthy lifestyle community program cohort 3 study.

Background: World-wide the prevalence of obesity is high, and promoting a shift toward more healthful and more plant-based dietary patterns appears to be one promising strategy to address this issue. A dietary score to assess adherence to a healthy plant-based diet is the healthful plant-based diet index. While there is evidence from cohort studies that an increased healthful plant-based diet index is associated with improved risk markers, evidence from intervention studies is still lacking. Methods: A lifestyle intervention was conducted with mostly middle-aged and elderly participants from the general population (n = 115). The intervention consisted of a 16-month lifestyle program focusing on a healthy plant-based diet, physical activity, stress management, and community support. Results: After 10 weeks, significant improvements were seen in dietary quality, body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, total cholesterol, measured and calculated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, oxidized LDL particles, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, remnant cholesterol, glucose, insulin, blood pressure, and pulse pressure. After 16 months, significant decreases were seen in body weight (-1.8 kg), body mass index (-0.6 kg/m2), and measured LDL cholesterol (-12 mg/dl). Increases in the healthful plant-based diet index were associated with risk marker improvements. Conclusions: The recommendation of moving toward a plant-based diet appears acceptable and actionable and may improve body weight. The healthful plant-based diet index can be a useful parameter for intervention studies.

News

This section offers gastrointestinal health-related news briefs as of February 1, 2023, including a study which found that plant-based diet could reduce bowel cancer risk in men, a study which showed that the COVID-19 virus may have a profound effect on the gut microbiome balance, and the call by Coeliac UK for manufacturers to sign up for its labelling scheme in support of research which found that 76% of gluten-free consumers want to be labelled with the Crossed Grain trademark.

Effect of Plant-Based Diets on Gut Microbiota: A Systematic Review of Interventional Studies.

Plant-based diets have grown increasingly popular across the globe, mainly for their health and environmental benefits. Several studies have identified a link between plant-based diets and the decreased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and other health issues. We systematically reviewed human interventions to identify the relationship between various plant-based food items and the gut microbiome, alongside the biochemical and anthropometric measurements as secondary findings. The study selection process was completed using the COVIDENCE platform. Overall, 203 studies were identified, of which 101 were chosen for title and abstract screening by two independent authors. Following this process, 78 studies were excluded, and the full texts and the reference lists of the remaining 23 records were reviewed using the review eligibility criteria. A manual search yielded five additional articles. In the end, 12 studies were included in the systematic review. We found evidence for short- to moderate-term beneficial effects of plant-based diets versus conventional diets (duration ≤ 13 months) on gut microbiome composition and biochemical and anthropometric measurements in healthy participants as well as obese, cardiovascular, and rheumatoid arthritis patients. However, contradictory results were observed for Enterobacteriaceae, at the family level, and for Faecalibacterium and Coprococcus, at the genus level, of gut microbiome composition. The relationship between plant-based diets and the gut microbiome, alongside their underlying metabolic and inflammatory effects, remains largely unexplored. Hence more interventional studies are needed to address these questions.

Low dietary sodium potentially mediates COVID-19 prevention associated with whole-food plant-based diets.

Compared with an omnivorous Western diet, plant-based diets containing mostly fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, with restricted amounts of foods of animal origin, are associated with reduced risk and severity of COVID-19. Additionally, inflammatory immune responses and severe acute respiratory symptoms of COVID-19, including pulmonary oedema, shortness of breath, fever and nasopharyngeal infections, are associated with Na toxicity from excessive dietary Na. High dietary Na is also associated with increased risks of diseases and conditions that are co-morbid with COVID-19, including chronic kidney disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes and obesity. This article presents evidence that low dietary Na potentially mediates the association of plant-based diets with COVID-19 prevention. Processed meats and poultry injected with sodium chloride contribute considerable amounts of dietary Na in the Western diet, and the avoidance or reduction of these and other processed foods in whole-food plant-based (WFPB) diets could help lower overall dietary Na intake. Moreover, high amounts of K in plant-based diets increase urinary Na excretion, and preagricultural diets high in plant-based foods were estimated to contain much lower ratios of dietary Na to K compared with modern diets. Further research should investigate low Na in WFPB diets for protection against COVID-19 and co-morbid conditions.

A review of nutrition in neuropathic pain of leprosy.

Leprosy is a neglected tropical disease (NTD) that continues to burden low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), despite being eliminated as a public health concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2000. The causative agents, Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis, affect nearly 200,000 individuals globally each year, with over 19,000 new cases detected in the Americas in 2020 alone. Canada has experienced an increasing incidence of leprosy, due to rising levels of travel and migration from endemic areas, reaching over 37,000 individuals with leprosy by the end of 2020. Patients experience a spectrum of signs and symptoms including hypopigmented cutaneous macules alongside peripheral neuropathy including peripheral neuropathic pain (PNP) and disabling sensory neuropathies. Despite the development of effective and curative therapeutics via multidrug therapy (MDT), many barriers to treatment adherence and effective immunological control of the pathogen challenge the care of patients with leprosy. Socioeconomic barriers, such as disability-related social stigma and often undiagnosed nutritional deficiencies, have resulted in heightened disease severity. PNP therapeutics are associated with significant side effects and remain ineffective as the majority of individuals will not experience a greater than 30% reduction of symptoms. Nutrient supplementation is known to be instrumental in reducing host oxidative stress, strengthening the immune system and mitigating comorbidities. Likewise, dietary lifestyle interventions known to be physiologically beneficial have recently emerged as powerful tools conferring neuroprotective effects, potentially mitigating PNP severity. However, a significant knowledge gap concerning the effect of adequate nutrition on host immunological control of leprosy and PNP severity exists. Further evaluation of this relationship will provide key insight into the pathogenesis of leprosy, strengthening the current body of literature.

The effect of adherence to high-quality dietary pattern on COVID-19 outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Dietary quality and patterns may influence SARS-CoV-2 infection and outcomes, but scientific data and evidence to support such a role are lacking. Therefore, this meta-analysis aims to elucidate the effect of prepandemic diet quality on the risk of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization. PubMed/MEDLINE, CENTRAL, Scopus, and EMBASE were systematically searched for articles published up to September 1, 2022. A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed to calculate each outcome's risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Five studies including 4 023 663 individuals (3 149 784 high-quality diet individuals and 873 881 controls) were included in the present meta-analysis. The effectiveness of high-quality dietary pattern against SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalization was 28% (95% CI 19%-36%) and 62% (95% CI 25%-80%); respectively. Subgroup analysis based on different levels of diet quality showed no difference between middle and high levels of diet quality in reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection. Interestingly, subgroup analysis based on the different types of high-quality diets and the risk of COVID-19 infection revealed that the effectiveness of plant-based diet against SARS-CoV-2 infection was 50% (95% CI 30%-65%); while the effectiveness of Mediterranean diet against SARS-CoV-2 infection was 22% (95% CI 12%-31%). Adherence to a high-quality dietary pattern is associated with a lower risk of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization. More studies are required to confirm these findings, and future studies should determine the biological mechanisms underlying the association between diet quality and risk of COVID-19 infection.

Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: A Novel Diagnosis.

Patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome have reported a wide array of symptoms that include autonomic dysfunction. It is hypothesized that this may be secondary to interruption of baroreflex pathways in the carotid arteries or nucleus tractus solitarius, however, confirming studies have yet to be performed. A limited number of studies have highlighted the presence of an exaggerated baroreflex response in patients with a post-COVID-19 syndrome that mirror other chronic autonomic dysfunction-related conditions.

Interprofessional Culinary Medicine Training Enhanced Nutrition Knowledge, Nutrition Counseling Confidence, and Interprofessional Experience.

Introduction: Culinary medicine training combining evidence-based nutrition instruction with experiential cooking application has improved nutrition knowledge, skills, and attitudes in the professional and personal lives of medical students. However, interprofessional culinary training remains largely unstudied among professional students who will be involved in collaborative patient care. The goal of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of an elective interprofessional culinary medicine course for students in the medical, pharmacy, social work, nursing, law, and dentistry schools at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Methods: The interprofessional culinary medicine course was offered in-person at the teaching kitchen of the Nova Institute for Health in 2020 and virtually in 2021 during the COVID pandemic. The training featured five workshops combining instruction in a variety of popular diets, cooking a meal inspired by the diet in focus, and group discussion. Paired t tests were utilized to evaluate changes in pre-/post-training nutrition and interprofessional experience outcomes. Linear regression models were constructed to compare outcomes between in-person and virtual delivery. Results: A total of 62 students participated in the culinary medicine training. Confidence in all nutrition knowledge, skills, and attitudes, as well as interprofessional experience outcomes, improved after the training (p < 0.05). Similar improvements were noted in most outcomes with in-person and virtual delivery in linear regression modeling. Discussion: Interprofessional culinary medicine training is feasible, and virtual delivery may help enhance replicability in other settings.

Healthy lifestyle changes favourably affect common carotid intima-media thickness: the Healthy Lifestyle Community Programme (cohort 2).

Common carotid intima-media thickness (ccIMT) progression is a risk marker for cardiovascular disease (CVD), whereas healthy lifestyle habits are associated with lower ccIMT. The objective of the present study was to test whether a healthy lifestyle intervention can beneficially affect ccIMT progression. A community-based non-randomised, controlled lifestyle intervention was conducted, focusing on a predominantly plant-based diet (strongest emphasis), physical activity, stress management and social health. Assessments of ccIMT were made at baseline, 6 months and 1 year. Participants had an average age of 57 years and were recruited from the general population in rural northwest Germany (intervention: n 114; control: n 87). From baseline to 1 year, mean ccIMT significantly increased in both the intervention (0⋅026 [95 % CI 0⋅012, 0⋅039] mm) and control group (0⋅045 [95 % CI 0⋅033, 0⋅056] mm). The 1-year trajectory of mean ccIMT was lower in the intervention group (P = 0⋅022; adjusted for baseline). In a subgroup analysis with participants with high baseline mean ccIMT (≥0⋅800 mm), mean ccIMT non-significantly decreased in the intervention group (-0⋅016 [95 % CI -0⋅050, 0⋅017] mm; n 18) and significantly increased in the control group (0⋅065 [95 % CI 0⋅033, 0⋅096] mm; n 12). In the subgroup, the 1-year trajectory of mean ccIMT was significantly lower in the intervention group (between-group difference: -0⋅051 [95 % CI -0⋅075, -0⋅027] mm; P < 0⋅001; adjusted for baseline). The results indicate that healthy lifestyle changes may beneficially affect ccIMT within 1 year, particularly if baseline ccIMT is high.

Plant-Based Dietary Patterns for Human and Planetary Health.

The coronavirus pandemic has acted as a reset on global economies, providing us with the opportunity to build back greener and ensure global warming does not surpass 1.5 °C. It is time for developed nations to commit to red meat reduction targets and shift to plant-based dietary patterns. Transitioning to plant-based diets (PBDs) has the potential to reduce diet-related land use by 76%, diet-related greenhouse gas emissions by 49%, eutrophication by 49%, and green and blue water use by 21% and 14%, respectively, whilst garnering substantial health co-benefits. An extensive body of data from prospective cohort studies and controlled trials supports the implementation of PBDs for obesity and chronic disease prevention. The consumption of diets high in fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, fish, and unsaturated vegetable oils, and low in animal products, refined grains, and added sugars are associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality. Meat appreciation, health concerns, convenience, and expense are prominent barriers to PBDs. Strategic policy action is required to overcome these barriers and promote the implementation of healthy and sustainable PBDs.

Current Perspective of Plant-Based Diets on Communicable Diseases Caused by Viruses: A Mini Review.

Communicable diseases are illnesses caused by pathogenic biological agents, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, and protozoa. Such diseases spread among people through contact with contaminated surfaces, bodily fluids, or blood products, or through the air, insect bites, or consuming contaminated food and beverages. Although some communicable diseases can be treated or prevented by taking medication and vaccines, there has been an increase in awareness of adopting a healthy diet to aid in the prevention and reversal of these diseases. One popular diet is a plant-based diet. Plant-based diets generally consist of vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, and fruits, without any animal-source foods or artificial ingredients. Over the years, this diet has continuously increased in popularity. Reasons for following a plant-based diet are varied but include health benefits, such as improving immunity, and reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. Scientific evidence even shows that just an increased vegetable intake can decrease the occurrence of chronic diseases caused by viruses, such as hepatitis viruses, and reduce the risk of severe coronavirus disease 2019. Therefore, this mini review discusses the effectiveness of adopting a plant-based diet in ameliorating diseases caused by selected viruses and its limitations.

Plant-based dietary indices and stress in female college students: a cross-sectional study.

Only a few studies have investigated the association between psychological stress and the healthfulness of plant-based diets while accounting for variances in age groups and regions. In light of this, this study aimed to identify the food groups that contribute the most to the relationship between the healthfulness of plant-based diets and psychological stress in female students in Saudi Arabia. This cross-sectional study, which included 401 female college students aged 19-35 years, collected data on blood, anthropometric indices, the perceived stress scale-10 (PSS-10) and diet using the Saudi food frequency questionnaire. An overall plant-based diet index (PDI), healthy PDI, and an unhealthy PDI (uPDI) were defined. Multiple linear regression analyses were applied to examine the associations between PSS-10 and PDI and hPDI and uPDI. No associations between the PSS-10 score and the overall PDI or uPDI scores were found; however, a six-point higher hPDI score was associated with a 0·16-point lower PSS-10 score (95 % CI, -0·24, -0·08) after controlling for lifestyle factors. Moreover, adjustments for healthy food groups, including vegetables and fruits, attenuated the association between the hPDI and PSS-10. In conclusion, healthy plant-based diets are associated with lower psychological stress in young Saudi women. This finding highlights the importance, especially for female students, of following diets that are not only plant-based but are also healthy and rich in fruits and vegetables.

Plant-Based Diet as a Strategy for Weight Control.

According to the World Health Organization, obesity has nearly tripled since the 1970s. Obesity and overweight are major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, inflammatory-mediated diseases, and other serious medical conditions. Moreover, recent data suggest that obesity, overweight, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases are risk factors for COVID-19-related mortality. Different strategies for weight control have been introduced over the last two decades. Unfortunately, these strategies have shown little effect. At the same time, many studies show that plants might be the key to a successful strategy for weight control. Following the PRISMA guidelines for conducting systematic reviews, a search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Embase using the following keywords: obesity, globesity, vegan, plant-based diet, etc. Our results show that vegan diets are associated with improved gut microbiota symbiosis, increased insulin sensitivity, activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors, and over-expression of mitochondrial uncoupling proteins. The key features of this diet are reduced calorie density and reduced cholesterol intake. The combination of these two factors is the essence of the efficiency of this approach to weight control. Our data suggest that plant-based/vegan diets might play a significant role in future strategies for reducing body weight.

Lifestyle Adjustments in Long-COVID Management: Potential Benefits of Plant-Based Diets.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The SARS-CoV-2-pandemic has caused mortality and morbidity at an unprecedented global scale. Many patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 continue to experience symptoms after the acute phase of infection and report fatigue, sleep difficulties, anxiety, and depression as well as arthralgia and muscle weakness. Summarized under the umbrella term "long-COVID," these symptoms may last weeks to months and impose a substantial burden on affected individuals. Dietary approaches to tackle these complications have received comparably little attention. Although plant-based diets in particular were shown to exert benefits on underlying conditions linked to poor COVID-19 outcomes, their role with regard to COVID-19 sequelae is yet largely unknown. Thus, this review sought to investigate whether a plant-based diet could reduce the burden of long-COVID. RECENT FINDINGS: The number of clinical trials investigating the role of plant-based nutrition in COVID-19 prevention and management is currently limited. Yet, there is evidence from pre-pandemic observational and clinical studies that a plant-based diet may be of general benefit with regard to several clinical conditions that can also be found in individuals with COVID-19. These include anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, and musculoskeletal pain. Adoption of a plant-based diet leads to a reduced intake in pro-inflammatory mediators and could be one accessible strategy to tackle long-COVID associated prolonged systemic inflammation. Plant-based diets may be of general benefit with regard to some of the most commonly found COVID-19 sequelae. Additional trials investigating which plant-based eating patterns confer the greatest benefit in the battle against long-COVID are urgently warranted.

Health Benefits of Plant-Based Nutrition: Focus on Beans in Cardiometabolic Diseases.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide, claiming over 650,000 American lives annually. Typically not a singular disease, CVD often coexists with dyslipidemia, hypertension, type-2 diabetes (T2D), chronic system-wide inflammation, and obesity. Obesity, an independent risk factor for both CVD and T2D, further worsens the problem, with over 42% of adults and 18.5% of youth in the U.S. categorized as such. Dietary behavior is a most important modifiable risk factor for controlling the onset and progression of obesity and related disease conditions. Plant-based eating patterns that include beans and legumes support health and disease mitigation through nutritional profile and bioactive compounds including phytochemical. This review focuses on the characteristics of beans and ability to improve obesity-related diseases and associated factors including excess body weight, gut microbiome environment, and low-grade inflammation. Additionally, there are growing data that link obesity to compromised immune response and elevated risk for complications from immune-related diseases. Body weight management and nutritional status may improve immune function and possibly prevent disease severity. Inclusion of beans as part of a plant-based dietary strategy imparts cardiovascular, metabolic, and colon protective effects; improves obesity, low-grade inflammation, and may play a role in immune-related disease risk management.

COVID-19 Pandemic Is a Call to Search for Alternative Protein Sources as Food and Feed: A Review of Possibilities.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a global health challenge with substantial adverse effects on the world economy. It is beyond any doubt that it is, again, a call-to-action to minimize the risk of future zoonoses caused by emerging human pathogens. The primary response to contain zoonotic diseases is to call for more strict regulations on wildlife trade and hunting. This is because the origins of coronaviruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), SARS-CoV, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), as well as other viral pathogens (e.g., Ebola, HIV) are traceable to wild animals. Although COVID-19 is not related to livestock animals, the pandemic increased general attention given to zoonotic viral infections-the risk of which can also be associated with livestock. Therefore, this paper discusses the potential transformation of industrial livestock farming and the production of animal products, particularly meat, to decrease the risks for transmission of novel human pathogens. Plant-based diets have a number of advantages, but it is unrealistic to consider them as the only solution offered to the problem. Therefore, a search for alternative protein sources in insect-based foods and cultured meat, important technologies enabling safer meat production. Although both of these strategies offer a number of potential advantages, they are also subject to the number of challenges that are discussed in this paper. Importantly, insect-based foods and cultured meat can provide additional benefits in the context of ecological footprint, an aspect important in light of predicted climate changes. Furthermore, cultured meat can be regarded as ethically superior and supports better food security. There is a need to further support the implementation and expansion of all three approaches discussed in this paper, plant-based diets, insect-based foods, and cultured meat, to decrease the epidemiological risks and ensure a sustainable future. Furthermore, cultured meat also offers a number of additional benefits in the context of environmental impact, ethical issues, and food security.