Nutrition
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It is likely that the number of older adults who eat alone has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Older adults who eat alone tend to experience weight fluctuations. Weight loss and underweight in older adults cause health problems. The study objective was to longitudinally investigate the association between changes in eating alone or with others and body weight status in older adults. ⋯ These findings suggest that measures to prevent weight loss in older adults who eat alone are particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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This study aimed to evaluate sex differences in the relationships of food security level with skeletal muscle mass and handgrip strength. ⋯ Low food security was associated with lower muscle mass and strength in men aged <60 y and weaker muscle strength in men aged ≥60 y and women of all ages. These results suggest sex differences in the relationships of food security with muscle mass and strength in individuals aged <60 y.
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Review
Assessment of body composition: Intrinsic methodological limitations and statistical pitfalls.
Evaluation of body composition (BC) is crucial for an adequate assessment of nutritional status and its alterations, to ensure the optimal tailoring of nutritional therapies during several pathologic conditions. The need for feasible and reliable methods for BC measurement, which could be applied either in healthcare across the lifespan as well as in clinical research and epidemiologic studies, has led to the development of various techniques. Unfortunately, they have not always produced equivalent results due to the fact that they are based on completely different principles or suffer intrinsic biases related to specific conditions. ⋯ Finally, the need to compare the data obtained by new techniques to a reference standard has produced a further bias, due to a systematic misinterpretation of the statistical methods in the attempt to correlate the various techniques. In this context, the most used statistical methods for the comparison between different techniques have been Pearson's correlation test, the more recent intraclass correlation coefficient, Lin's concordance correlation coefficient method, and the Bland-Altman analysis. The aim of this review was to offer a summary of the methods that are mostly used in clinical practice to measure BC with the intent to give appropriate suggestions when statistical methods are used to interpret data, and underline pitfalls and limitations.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Acute intake of fructooligosaccharide and partially hydrolyzed guar gum on gastrointestinal transit: A randomized crossover clinical trial.
Dietary fibers, such as fructooligosaccharide (FOS) and partially hydrolyzed guar gum (PHGG) have several gastrointestinal functions. The aims of this study were to evaluate the effect of acute ingestion of FOS and PHGG on the percentage of gastric emptying and small intestinal transit and to evaluate the effect of these dietary fibers on the levels of intestinal hormones-active glucagon-like peptide-1, pancreatic polypeptide, and gastric inhibitory peptide-and their effect on feelings of hunger and satiety and the desire to eat. ⋯ The acute intake of FOS increased gastric emptying, whereas both FOS and PHGG reduced small intestine transit without altering the levels of intestinal hormones, hunger feelings and satiety, or the desire to eat.