Development and Relative Validation of a Food Frequency Questionnaire to Assess Non-Nutritive Sweeteners Intake among Pregnant Women in Santiago, Chile: A Pilot Study.

Studies on the effects of non-nutritive sweeteners (NNSs) among pregnant women are scarce and have produced mixed results. One of the major challenges is to accurately assess NNS intake, especially in countries that have implemented policies to prevent obesity and where many foods and beverages have been progressively reformulated to partially or totally replace sugar with NNSs. This study aimed to develop and assess the relative validity of a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for use in pregnant women. We developed an FFQ to examine the intake of seven NNSs (acesulfame-k, aspartame, cyclamate, saccharin, sucralose, steviol glycosides, and D-tagatose). This questionnaire was piloted in 29 pregnant women (median age = 31.2 y; 25th-75th percentile: 26.9-34.7) to assess NNS intake over the previous month, compared to 3-day dietary records (3-DR). The validity of this dietary method was assessed using Spearman's correlation coefficient, Lin´s concordance correlation coefficient (CCC), and Bland-Altman plots. Spearman's correlations between the FFQ on NNSs and 3-DR ranged from 0.50 for acesulfame K to 0.83 for saccharin. CCC ranged between 0.22 and 0.66. The Bland-Altman plots showed an overestimation of saccharin, sucralose, and steviol glycosides intake by the FFQ on NNSs compared with 3-DR, and an underestimation of acesulfame K and aspartame. Overall, the NNSs most frequently consumed were sucralose, and none of the participants exceeded the acceptable daily intake for any of the NNSs evaluated. The FFQ on NNSs seems to be reasonably valid in the assessment of NNSs among pregnant women.

Overuse of Non-caloric Sweeteners in Foods and Beverages in Chile: A Threat to Consumers' Free Choice?

The prevalence of obesity among Chilean adults and children is one of the highest worldwide. To fight the constant increase of non-communicable diseases and the growing sales of sugar-sweetened beverages, the Chilean government recently enacted a new Law of Food Labeling and Advertising imposing the application of front-of-package warning labels in foodstuffs whose composition exceeds limits for critical nutrients including sugar. Accordingly, food companies have been reformulating their products, incorporating non-caloric sweeteners (NCSs) in partial or total replacement of sucrose. The number of NCS-containing foods and beverages, therefore, has been increasing in the last years. This study aims to identify the NCS-containing products from different food/beverage categories currently available on the Chilean market. Nineteen supermarkets and 13 food web pages were visited by trained dietitians to carry out a systematic search of ingredient information from the different food categories. Overall, 1,489 products were analyzed, of which 815 (55.5%) contained at least one NCS, being this proportion particularly high, compared to other countries. 67.1% of the dairy products, 31.5% of the cereal products, 49% of the processed fruits, 74.3% of the non-alcoholic beverages, and 46.2% of sweets and other desserts contained NCS. Considering the food categories more specifically oriented to children, NCSs were present in 98.8% of powder juices, 98.3% of the flavored milks, 91.2% of jellies, and 79% of the dairy desserts. Sucralose and steviol glycosides were the most widely used NCSs, these sweeteners being present, alone or mixed with other, in 73.5 and 39.7% of the NCS-containing products, respectively, while the use of saccharin and cyclamate was low. In addition, 80 tabletop NCSs were available in the local market, 91.2% of them being sucralose and steviol glycosides (alone or combined). The high number of food products containing steviol glycosides makes very plausible that the daily consumption of this NCS in the pediatric populations could exceed its acceptable daily intake (ADI). The fact that there are no NCS-free foods alternatives for certain food categories, especially for children, is worrying.

Efecto del consumo de alimentos con elevado contenido lipídico sobre el perfil lipídico de ratones sanos / Effect of the consumption of foods with high lipid content on lipid profile of healthy mice

La alteración de los lípidos en sangre o dislipidemias sobre todo el colesterol y triglicéridos, son un factor de riesgo de ateroesclerosis y enfermedades cardiovasculares. En este trabajo se analizó el efecto del consumo de huevo, clara, yema de huevo, mantequilla y maní sobre el perfil lipídico de ratones sanos. Se utilizaron seis grupos de ratones hembras sanas, el grupo control (GC) recibió balanceado comercial, mientras que en los demás grupos, 15% de su alimentación diaria consistió en huevo entero (GHE), yema (GY), clara de huevo (GCH), manteca o mantequilla (GMT) o maní (GMN), durante 28 días. Al final de este periodo, se obtuvo la muestra de suero para la determinación de los niveles de colesterol total (CT), triglicéridos (TG), colesterol HDL, colesterol LDL y colesterol VLDL, y se calcularon los índices de riesgo aterogénico y de riesgo cardiaco. Se observó un aumento estadísticamente significativo en los niveles de CT y LDL en relación al GC en los grupos GHE (p<0,0001), GY (p<0,0001), GCH (p<0,005) y GMT (p<0,001), mientras que en niveles de TG presentan un aumento los grupos GHE (p<0,0001) y GY (p<0,0001). El nivel de HDL aumentó significativamente en los grupos GHE (p<0,005) y GMT (p<0,001), y en cuanto al índice de riesgo cardiaco y aterogénico el grupo GY fue el único que reveló aumento significativo (p<0,0001). En el grupo que recibió maní (GMN), no se alteraron los niveles de lípidos, y por lo tanto tampoco el riesgo cardiaco ni aterogénico, lo que se traduce en un menor riesgo de enfermedades cardiovasculares de este grupo(AU)

The alteration of blood lipids or dyslipidemias, especially cholesterol and triglycerides, are a risk factor for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. In this work, the effect of consumption of egg, egg white, egg yolk, butter and peanut on the lipid profile of healthy mice was analyzed. Six groups of healthy female mice were used, the control group (GC) received commercial pellets, while for the other groups, 15% of their daily food consisted of whole egg (GHE), egg yolk (GY), egg white (GCH) ), butter (GMT) or peanut (GMN), for 28 days. At the end of this period, a serum sample was obtained for the determination of the levels of total cholesterol (CT), triglycerides (TG), HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and VLDL cholesterol, and cardiac and atherogenic risk index were calculated. A statistically significant increase in TC and LDL levels was observed in relation to GC in the GHE (p <0,0001), GY (p <0,0001), GCH (p <0,005) and GMT (p <0,001) groups; whereas TG levels showed an increase in the GHE (p <0,0001) and GY (p <0,0001) groups. The HDL level increased significantly in the groups GHE (p <0,005) and GMT (p <0,001), and in terms of the cardiac and atherogenic risk index, the GY group was the only group that revealed a significant increase (p <0,0001). In the group that received peanuts (GMN), the lipid levels were not altered, and therefore neither the cardiac nor the atherogenic risk, which indicates the risk of cardiovascular diseases in this group, were affected(AU)