Longitudinal Anthropometry and Body Composition in Children With SARS-CoV-2-Associated Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome.

OBJECTIVES: Acute coronavirus disease 2019 infection has been shown to negatively affect body composition among adult and malnourished or obesity children. Our aim is to longitudinally evaluate body composition in children affected by the Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS-C). METHODS: In this cohort study, we recruited 40 patients affected by MIS-C, aged 2-18 years old, who were admitted in our clinic between December 2020 and February 2021. Physical examination for each participant included weight, height, body mass index (BMI) z score, circumferences, and skinfolds assessment. The same measurements were repeated during outpatient follow-up at 10 (T2), 30 (T3), 90 (T4), and 180 (T5) days after hospital discharge. Fat mass and fat free mass were calculated according to skinfolds predictive equations for children and adolescents. A control group was randomly selected among patients attending a pediatric nutritional outpatient clinic. RESULTS: BMI z score significantly decrease between preadmission and hospital discharge. Similarly, arm circumference z score, arm muscular area z score, and arm fat area z score significantly decreased, during hospital stay. Fat mass index (FMI) significantly increased over time, peaking at T3. Fat free mass index decreased during hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to assess body composition in a numerically large pediatric MIS-C population from acute infection to 6 months after triggering event. FMI and anthropometric parameters linked to fat deposits were significantly higher 6 months after acute event. Thus, limiting physical activity and having sedentary lifestyle may lead to an accumulation of adipose tissue even in healthy children who experienced MIS-C and long hospitalization.

The Paradox of the Mediterranean Diet in Pediatric Age during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, whose causative agent is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, has caused a global crisis that has had a major impact on the health of the global population [...].

Nutripedia: The Fight against the Fake News in Nutrition during Pregnancy and Early Life.

(1) Background. Early nutrition and lifestyle before and during pregnancy, breastfeeding, infancy, and early childhood can affect the risk of developing common non-communicable diseases during adulthood such as obesity and metabolic syndrome. To support positive long-term outcomes, it is essential to debunk fake news and provide evidence-based nutritional recommendations. "Nutripedia-Informati per Crescere" is a new tool delivering information and education on appropriate nutrition of mothers and babies during pregnancy and the first years of life. (2) Methods. Nutripedia provides the readers with evidence-based scientific contents in an easy-to-access fashion through a website, a social media page and a personalized advice app called "Nutripedia Chatbot". (3) Results. Forty articles were published on Nutripedia website with more than 220,000 total views. Social channel activation via bloggers reached over 9 million parents. 14,698 users downloaded Nutripedia chatbot, through which a total of 1930 questions were directed to experts while over 24,000 responses were provided by the app. (4) Conclusions. The use of different communication tools delivering evidence-based nutritional information such as Nutripedia is increasing and could offer supportive strategies to provide scientific information to large audiences and contribute fighting fake news. Future research could investigate the effectiveness of this important health campaign.