Do Rotating Night Shifts Change Nurses' Nutritional Status? A Cross-Sectional Study.

OBJECTIVE: Shift work disrupts circadian rhythms through environmental factors such as disruption of the light-dark and rest-activity cycle. This study aims to evaluate the nutritional status, circadian phenotype, sleep quality, and anthropometric measurements in nurses working in rotating night shifts. METHOD: The study included 44 nurses working in rotating night shifts. Physical activity records for 4 days and 24-hour dietary recalls for 7 days were taken. To evaluate the circadian phenotypes and sleep quality, the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire and the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index were used, respectively. RESULTS: Most nurses were evening chronotype and had poor sleep quality. Shift work was associated with higher daily energy intake and lower total daily energy expenditure (p < 0.05). On the night shifts, while fiber-rich foods such as beans and fruit consumption decrease, the consumption of fats, sweets, and cereals increases. While carbohydrates, total fat, and cholesterol intake were higher in only women on the night shift (p < 0.05), saturated fat and calcium intake were higher in all nurses (p < 0.05). While the water intake of the nurses was lower on the night shift (p < 0.05), tea intake was higher in women (p < 0.05). A correlation was found between total shift work duration, body mass index (r = 0.525), waist circumference (r = 0.577), waist-height ratio (r = 0.584), and body fat percentage (r = 0.513) (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Nurses should be encouraged to ensure adequate water intake and to make healthy food choices during the night shift to maintain health and work performance.

The Relationship between Adults' Perceptions, Attitudes of COVID-19, Intuitive Eating, and Mindful Eating Behaviors.

In total, 1224 Turkish adults (27.5 ± 9.6 years; 80.6% female) answered sociodemographic questions, and three instruments: Mindful Eating Questionnaire (MEQ), Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2), and COVID-19 Perception and Attitude Scale. Women's perceptions and attitudes toward COVID-19 indicated higher concerns than men (p < .001). It was found that IES-2 scores of all subjects increased as body mass index (BMI) decreased and education level increased (p < .001; p = .033, respectively). During the social isolation of COVID-19, the MEQ scores of married couples and those who did not eat take-out foods were higher (p = .027; p = .006, respectively). Interestingly, it was found that as the BMI of the subjects increased, their MEQ scores increased (p < .001). The COVID-19 pandemic, which has social and economic consequences, has a great impact on human health and causes sudden lifestyle changes through social distance and isolation at home. Although social isolation during the epidemic is a necessary precaution to protect public health, the results of this study support that it causes changes in intuitive eating, and mindful eating behaviors.

Mediterranean Diet Adherence among Preschoolers and its Association with Parents' Beliefs, Attitudes, and Practices.

The effect of parents on nutritional habits in preschool children is undeniable. It is known that parental control in child nutrition can affect the child's eating habits, and bodyweight. Mediterranean Diet (MD) adherence of children (KIDMED), parents' beliefs, attitudes and practices (Preschool Feeding Questionnaire-PFQ2) were investigated. The questionnaire prepared was applied by researchers face-to-face to 1413 families who agreed to participate voluntarily in the research with preschool children. Parental beliefs, attitudes, and practices regarding child nutrition status of parents were evaluated using 39-item PFQ2 and their child's eating habits using the 16-item KIDMED index. Children's KIDMED scores were found optimal in 34.1%, average in 57.0%, very low in 8.9%. The KIDMED scores of children whose parents are together (6.6 ± 2.1) were found to be significantly higher than children whose parents are separated (4.9 ± 2.2) (p <.001). A correlation was found between the KIDMED scores of the children, the parental control (r = 0.156, p <.001), maternal restriction (r = 0.104, p <.001), and structured feeding (r = 0.162, p <.001). Unfortunately, the adherence of most preschool children with the MD which considered a healthy diet pattern was found below the optimal level.

A minireview of quercetin: from its metabolism to possible mechanisms of its biological activities.

Quercetin, one of the most taken flavonoid with diet, belongs to the family of flavonols in which kaempferol and myricetin are also found. Quercetin occurs as a glycoside (with linked sugars) or as an aglycone (without linked sugars). Although quercetin has many different forms in nature, the form found in plants is quercetin-3-O-glucoside, which generally functions as a pigment that gives color to a multitude of fruits and vegetables. The recent literature has been reviewed using PubMed, Science Direct, and Embase databases. In this article, we reviewed quercetin with respect to chemical properties, absorption mechanism, metabolism, bioavailability, food sources, bioactivities, and possible health-promoting mechanisms. Quercetin is known as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, and anti-obesity compound. It is thought to be beneficial against cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, neurological diseases, obesity, allergy asthma, and atopic diseases. Further clinical studies with large sample sizes are needed to determine the appropriate dose and form of quercetin for preventing diseases.