New study finds no association between potato consumption and elevated cardiometabolic disease risk

Although potatoes are a nutrient-rich vegetable, they are often singled out as a food to limit. In fact, despite the Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ recommendation to increase fruit and vegetable consumption, some health experts still recommend limiting or avoiding eating potatoes due to concerns that they may increase cardiometabolic risk. However, a newly published study in the Journal of Nutritional Science finds that advice may be unwarranted. Researchers at Boston University examined the influence of potatoes as part of overall diet and lifestyle patterns on cardiometabolic disease risk. They found no change in cardiometabolic risk factors associated with intake of either fried or non-fried potatoes in adults from the long-running Framingham Offspring cohort.

“In this study, we looked at the effects of higher intakes of potatoes on blood pressure, lipids, and glucose and we found that after accounting for other dietary and lifestyle factors, there was no increased risk of cardiometabolic disorders associated with potato consumption,” said lead study investigator Lynn L. Moore, DSc, MPH, associate professor of Medicine at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. “In fact, we found that those in the highest potato intake category consumed 25% more total fruits and vegetables than those in the lower potato intake group. As a result, these participants who consumed more potatoes were more likely to meet the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines.”

The findings from Moore’s research group observed no association between consuming 4 or more cup-equivalents of potatoes per week (both white and sweet, fried and non-fried) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM), impaired fasting glucose (IFG), hypertension, and dyslipidemia in a large population of healthy Caucasian adults. “We know that potatoes are rich in potassium, magnesium, and dietary fiber, all of which may be protective against the heart attacks and strokes that are a consequence of elevated levels of cardiometabolic risk,” explained Moore. “In fact, potatoes are one of the most important sources of potassium in the American diet.”

Meanwhile, the effects of fried potato consumption appeared to be modified by other diet and lifestyle factors. For example, those with higher intakes of fried potatoes and lower consumption of red meat had a 26% lower risk of elevated triglycerides. Additionally, more physically active adults who consumed higher levels of fried potatoes had a 25% lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. These findings underscore the importance of overall diet and lifestyle when it comes to cardiometabolic disease risk,” Moore added. “Public health messaging singling out potatoes, and even fried potatoes, is not supported by this evidence.”

These study results indicate that potatoes, both fried and non-fried sweet and white potato varieties, can be included as part of a healthy diet without impacting risk factors for cardiometabolic disease. Further, potatoes contribute to total fruit and vegetable intake, thus enabling consumers to more closely align with the Dietary Guidelines recommendations.

As Moore explained, “Previously published evidence on potato consumption has been conflicting. For example, some find higher potato intakes to be positively associated with elevated blood pressure while others find the opposite. In observational studies, it is important to try to separate out a food like potatoes from other dietary components. If the individuals consuming more potatoes, for example, also consume more refined grains or have other unhealthy lifestyle habits, then the adverse effect of potatoes may actually be a result of other things associated with diet and lifestyle.”

One strength of the current study is that diet was assessed with detailed dietary records, thus allowing the investigators to determine cooking methods. In addition, dietary records provide a more accurate assessment of the intake of most foods and nutrients than the food frequency questionnaires that have been used in many other studies.

The results of this study support the need for future randomized controlled trials to investigate the effects of potatoes as part of a healthy diet (including potatoes cooked in different ways) on cardiometabolic disease risk. In the interim, these data add to the evidence supporting a role for potatoes as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Study Design, Strengths, and Limitations 

Data from 2,523 offspring of the Framingham Heart Study, 30 years of age and older, were included in this prospective cohort study that began in 1971.

• Approximately 16,000 collective days of dietary records were collected from roughly 70% of participants during exams 3 (1983-87) and 5 (1991-95).
• The consumption of potatoes (both white and sweet potatoes) was derived from total vegetable servings. For these analyses, each participant’s usual potato intake was estimated as the mean from all days of diet records and grouped as follows: total potato intake (<1, 1-<2, 2-<4, and ≥4 cup-equivalents/week, and fried or non-fried (<1, 1-<2, and ≥2 cup-equivalents/week).
• Health outcome data were provided from regular examination visits.
• Researchers assessed the impact of both total potato consumption as well as fried versus non-fried potato consumption on hypertension, T2DM/IFG, and dyslipidemia risk.
• Researchers further assessed whether other diet and lifestyle factors modified the effects of fried and non-fried potato intakes on cardiometabolic risk.

In addition to the large sample size, the use of a prospective study design allowed for the assessment of large amounts of data from subjects in a free-living environment. For example, potato consumption was averaged over 8 years before the beginning of a 16-year follow-up. Furthermore, dietary intake was analyzed from an average of 6 days of dietary records, thus providing a more stable intake assessment. Further studies will need to assess more diverse populations, as this current sample of Caucasian adults is not broadly generalizable. Future studies will also benefit from consideration of cooking methods and by studying the specific effects of potatoes when consumed as part of a healthy diet.

This research was supported by the Alliance for Potato Research and Education (APRE). APRE had no influence on the study design, conduct, execution, or data analysis after approving the initial proposal for funding.

The article “Potato Consumption is not Associated with Cardiometabolic Health Outcomes in Framingham Offspring Study Adults” is published in the Journal of Nutritional Science (doi: 10.1017/jns.2022.65).

Journal: Journal of Nutritional Science

DOI: 10.1017/jns.2022.65

Article title: Potato Consumption is not Associated with Cardiometabolic Health Outcomes in Framingham Offspring Study Adults

Article publication date: 09/02/2022

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JOURNAL

Journal of Nutritional Science

DOI

10.1017/jns.2022.65

USPSTF recommends screening for anxiety in children and adolescents ages 8 to 18

  The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends screening for anxiety in children and adolescents ages 8 to 18 and concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to make a recommendation about screening children age 7 or younger. Anxiety disorder, a common mental health condition in the United States, comprises a group of related conditions characterized by excessive fear or worry that present as emotional and physical symptoms. A 2018-2019 survey found that 7.8% of children and adolescents ages 3 to 17 had a current anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders in childhood and adolescence are associated with an increased likelihood of a future anxiety disorder or depression. The USPSTF routinely makes recommendations about the effectiveness of preventive care services and this is a new recommendation.

Free access to the full-text article: 

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2022.16936?guestAccessKey=19aeeb9a-ac4d-4a57-a48d-9c8e7e745cd0&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=101122

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USPSTF recommends screening for major depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescents ages 12 to 18

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends screening for major depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescents ages 12 to 18 and concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to make a recommendation about screening for MDD in children age 11 or younger and of screening for suicide risk in children and adolescents. Major depressive disorder in children and adolescents is strongly associated with recurrent depression in adulthood, other mental disorders, and increased risk for suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and suicide completion. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among youth ages 10 to 19. The USPSTF routinely makes recommendations about the effectiveness of preventive care services and this recommendation is consistent with its 2014 statement on screening for suicide risk in adolescents and 2016 statement on screening for MDD in children and adolescents.

ree access to the full-text article: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2022.16946?guestAccessKey=ecf31393-a090-4e72-9748-c39414107924&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=101122

Mother’s ultra-processed food intake linked to obesity risk in children

A mother’s consumption of ultra-processed foods appears to be linked to an increased risk of overweight or obesity in her offspring, irrespective of other lifestyle risk factors, suggests a US study published by The BMJ today.

The researchers say further study is needed to confirm these findings and to understand the factors that might be responsible. 

But they suggest that mothers might benefit from limiting their intake of ultra-processed foods, and that dietary guidelines should be refined and financial and social barriers removed to improve nutrition for women of child bearing age and reduce childhood obesity.

According to the World Health Organization, 39 million children were overweight or obese in 2020, leading to increased risks of heart disease, diabetes, cancers, and early death. 

Ultra-processed foods, such as packaged baked goods and snacks, fizzy drinks and sugary cereals, are commonly found in modern Western style diets and are associated with weight gain in adults. But it’s unclear whether there’s a link between a mother’s consumption of ultra-processed foods and her offspring’s body weight.

To explore this further, the researchers drew on data for 19,958 children born to 14,553 mothers (45% boys, aged 7-17 years at study enrollment) from the Nurses’ Health Study II (NHS II) and the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS I and II) in the United States.

The NHS II is an ongoing study tracking the health and lifestyles of 116,429 US female registered nurses aged 25-42 in 1989. From 1991, participants reported what they ate and drank, using validated food frequency questionnaires every four years.

The GUTS I study began in 1996 when 16,882 children (aged 8-15 years) of NHS II participants completed an initial health and lifestyle questionnaire and were monitored every year between 1997 and 2001, and every two years thereafter.

In 2004, 10,918 children (aged 7-17 years) of NHS II participants joined the extended GUTS II study and were followed up in 2006, 2008, and 2011, and every two years thereafter.

A range of other potentially influential factors, known to be strongly correlated with childhood obesity, were also taken into account. These included mother's weight (BMI), physical activity, smoking, living status (with partner or not), and partner’s education, as well as children’s ultra-processed food consumption, physical activity, and sedentary time.

Overall, 2471 (12%) children developed overweight or obesity during an average follow-up period of 4 years.

The results show that a mother’s ultra-processed food consumption was associated with an increased risk of overweight or obesity in her offspring. For example, a 26% higher risk was seen in the group with the highest maternal ultra-processed food consumption (12.1 servings/day) versus the lowest consumption group (3.4 servings/day).

In a separate analysis of 2790 mothers and 2925 children with information on diet from 3 months pre-conception to delivery (peripregnancy), the researchers found that peripregnancy ultra-processed food intake was not significantly associated with an increased risk of offspring overweight or obesity.

This is an observational study, so can’t establish cause and the researchers acknowledge that some of the observed risk may be due to other unmeasured factors, and that self-reported diet and weight measures might be subject to misreporting.

Other important limitations include the fact that some offspring participants were lost to follow-up, which resulted in a few of the analyses being underpowered, particularly those related to peripregnancy intake, and that mothers were predominantly white and from similar social and economic backgrounds, so the results may not apply to other groups.

Nevertheless, the study used data from several large ongoing studies with detailed dietary assessments over a relatively long period, and further analysis produced consistent associations, suggesting that the results are robust.

The researchers suggest no clear mechanism underlying these associations and say the area warrants further investigation.

Nevertheless, these data “support the importance of refining dietary recommendations and the development of programs to improve nutrition for women of reproductive age to promote offspring health,” they conclude.

Study links omega-3s to improved brain structure, cognition at midlife

 

Holy mackerel! Could eating salmon, cod, tuna, herring or sardines keep our brains healthy and our thinking agile in middle age? New research makes this connection. — Eating cold-water fish and other sources of omega-3 fatty acids may preserve brain health and enhance cognition in middle age, new evidence indicates.

Having at least some omega-3s in red blood cells was associated with better brain structure and cognitive function among healthy study volunteers in their 40s and 50s, according to research published online Oct. 5 in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Faculty of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) and other investigators of the Framingham Heart Study conducted the analysis.

“Studies have looked at this association in older populations. The new contribution here is that, even at younger ages, if you have a diet that includes some omega-3 fatty acids, you are already protecting your brain for most of the indicators of brain aging that we see at middle age,” said Claudia Satizabal, PhD, assistant professor of population health sciences with the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio. Satizabal is the lead author of the study.

Volunteers’ average age was 46. The team looked at the relation of red blood cell omega-3 fatty acid concentrations with MRI and cognitive markers of brain aging. Researchers also studied the effect of omega-3 red blood cell concentrations in volunteers who carried APOE4, a genetic variation linked to higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

The study of 2,183 dementia- and stroke-free participants found that:

• Higher omega-3 index was associated with larger hippocampal volumes. The hippocampus, a structure in the brain, plays a major role in learning and memory.
• Consuming more omega-3s was associated with better abstract reasoning, or the ability to understand complex concepts using logical thinking.
• APOE4 carriers with a higher omega-3 index had less small-vessel disease. The APOE4 gene is associated with cardiovascular disease and vascular dementia.

Researchers used a technique called gas chromatography to measure docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) concentrations from red blood cells. The omega-3 index was calculated as DHA plus EPA.

“Omega-3 fatty acids such as EPA and DHA are key micronutrients that enhance and protect the brain,” said study coauthor Debora Melo van Lent, PhD, postdoctoral research fellow at the Biggs Institute. “Our study is one of the first to observe this effect in a younger population. More studies in this age group are needed.”

The team divided participants into those who had very little omega-3 red blood cell concentration and those who had at least a little and more. “We saw the worst outcomes in the people who had the lowest consumption of omega-3s,” Satizabal said. “So, that is something interesting. Although the more omega-3 the more benefits for the brain, you just need to eat some to see benefits.”

Researchers don’t know how DHA and EPA protect the brain. One theory is that, because those fatty acids are needed in the membrane of neurons, when they are replaced with other types of fatty acids, that’s when neurons (nerve cells) become unstable. Another explanation may have to deal with the anti-inflammatory properties of DHA and EPA. “It’s complex. We don’t understand everything yet, but we show that, somehow, if you increase your consumption of omega-3s even by a little bit, you are protecting your brain,” Satizabal said.

It's encouraging that DHA and EPA also protected APOE4 carriers’ brain health. “It’s genetics, so you can’t change it,” Melo van Lent said, referring to the vulnerability of this risk group. “So, if there is a modifiable risk factor that can outweigh genetic predisposition, that’s a big gain.”

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Association of Red Blood Cell Omega-3 Fatty Acids with MRI Markers and Cognitive Function in Midlife – The Framingham Heart Study

Claudia L. Satizabal, PhD; Jayandra J. Himali, PhD; Alexa S. Beiser, PhD; Vasan S. Ramachandran, MD; Debora Melo van Lent, PhD; Dibya Himali, MS; Hugo J. Aparicio, MD, MPH; Pauline Maillard, PhD; Charles DeCarli, MD; William S. Harris, PhD; and Sudha Seshadri, MD.

 First published: Oct. 5, 2022, Neurology

Eating late increases hunger, decreases calories burned, and changes fat tissue

Obesity afflicts approximately 42 percent of the U.S. adult population and contributes to the onset of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cancer, and other conditions. While popular healthy diet mantras advise against midnight snacking, few studies have comprehensively investigated the simultaneous effects of late eating on the three main players in body weight regulation and thus obesity risk: regulation of calorie intake, the number of calories you burn, and molecular changes in fat tissue. A new study by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, found that when we eat significantly impacts our energy expenditure, appetite, and molecular pathways in adipose tissue. Their results are published in Cell Metabolism.

“We wanted to test the mechanisms that may explain why late eating increases obesity risk,” explained senior author Frank A. J. L. Scheer, PhD, Director of the Medical Chronobiology Program in the Brigham's Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders. “Previous research by us and others had shown that late eating is associated with increased obesity risk, increased body fat, and impaired weight loss success. We wanted to understand why.”

“In this study, we asked, ‘Does the time that we eat matter when everything else is kept consistent?’” said first author Nina Vujović, PhD, a researcher in the Medical Chronobiology Program in the Brigham's Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders. “And we found that eating four hours later makes a significant difference for our hunger levels, the way we burn calories after we eat, and the way we store fat.”

Vujović, Scheer and their team studied 16 patients with a body mass index (BMI) in the overweight or obese range. Each participant completed two laboratory protocols: one with a strictly scheduled early meal schedule, and the other with the exact same meals, each scheduled about four hours later in the day. In the last two to three weeks before starting each of the in-laboratory protocols, participants maintained fixed sleep and wake schedules, and in the final three days before entering the laboratory, they strictly followed identical diets and meal schedules at home. In the lab, participants regularly documented their hunger and appetite, provided frequent small blood samples throughout the day, and had their body temperature and energy expenditure measured. To measure how eating time affected molecular pathways involved in adipogenesis, or how the body stores fat, investigators collected biopsies of adipose tissue from a subset of participants during laboratory testing in both the early and late eating protocols, to enable comparison of gene expression patterns/levels between these two eating conditions.

Results revealed that eating later had profound effects on hunger and appetite-regulating hormones leptin and ghrelin, which influence our drive to eat. Specifically, levels of the hormone leptin, which signals satiety, were decreased across the 24 hours in the late eating condition compared to the early eating conditions. When participants ate later, they also burned calories at a slower rate and exhibited adipose tissue gene expression towards increased adipogenesis and decreased lipolysis, which promote fat growth. Notably, these findings convey converging physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying the correlation between late eating and increased obesity risk.

Vujović explains that these findings are not only consistent with a large body of research suggesting that eating later may increase one’s likelihood of developing obesity, but they shed new light on how this might occur. By using a randomized crossover study, and tightly controlling for behavioral and environmental factors such as physical activity, posture, sleep, and light exposure, investigators were able to detect changes the different control systems involved in energy balance, a marker of how our bodies use the food we consume.

 

In future studies, Scheer’s team aims to recruit more women to increase the generalizability of their findings to a broader population. While this study cohort included only five female participants, the study was set up to control for menstrual phase, reducing confounding but making recruiting women more difficult. Going forward, Scheer and Vujović are also interested in better understanding the effects of the relationship between meal time and bedtime on energy balance.

“This study shows the impact of late versus early eating. Here, we isolated these effects by controlling for confounding variables like caloric intake, physical activity, sleep, and light exposure, but in real life, many of these factors may themselves be influenced by meal timing,” said Scheer. “In larger scale studies, where tight control of all these factors is not feasible, we must at least consider how other behavioral and environmental variables alter these biological pathways underlying obesity risk. ”

Disclosures:

During the execution of this project, Scheer received lecture fees from Bayer HealthCare, Sentara HealthCare, Philips, Vanda Pharmaceuticals, and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals; received consulting fees from the University of Alabama at Birmingham; and served on the Board of Directors for the Sleep Research Society. Scheer’s interests were reviewed and managed by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Partners HealthCare in accordance with their conflict of interest policies. None of these are related to the current work. Vujović has been compensated for consulting services provided to the Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research, also unrelated to the current work.

Funding: This study was funded by R01DK099512, UL1TR001102 and UL1TR002541. F.A.J.L.S. was supported by NIH grants R01DK099512, R01HL118601, R01DK102696, and R01DK105072 and R01HL140574. M.J.P. and M.J.B. were supported by DK020595. M.G. was supported by The Spanish Government of Investigation, Development and Innovation (SAF2017-84135-R) including FEDER co-funding; The Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia through the Seneca Foundation (20795/PI/18), and NIDDK R01DK099512. S.L.C. was supported by the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation. J.Q. was supported by the American Diabetes Association (Award 1-17-PDF-103) and by the NIH (Grant K99HL148500 and R01DK102696).

Paper cited: Vujović, N et al. “Late isocaloric eating increases hunger, decreases energy expenditure, and modifies metabolic pathways in adults with overweight and obesity” Cell Metabolism DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2022.09.007

 

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JOURNAL

Cell Metabolism

DOI

10.1016/j.cmet.2022.09.007 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Late isocaloric eating increases hunger, decreases energy expenditure, and modifies metabolic pathways in adults with overweight and obesity

Which grains you eat can impact your risk of getting heart disease earlier

In one of the first studies to examine the relationship between different types of grain intake and premature coronary artery disease in the Middle East, researchers found a higher intake of refined grain was associated with an increased risk of premature coronary artery disease, while eating whole grains was associated with reduced risk. The study will be presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Middle East 2022 Together with the 13th Emirates Cardiac Society Congress, taking place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, October 7-9, 2022.

According to the researchers, previous epidemiological studies have reported an association between different types of grain intake with the risk of coronary artery disease. The current study evaluated the association between refined and whole grains consumption and risk of PCAD in an Iranian population.

Premature coronary artery disease (PCAD) refers to atherosclerotic narrowing of coronary arteries in males under 55 years old or in females under 65 years old. It is often asymptomatic early in the course of the disease but may lead to chest pain (angina) and/or heart attack with progressive development of narrowing (stenosis) or plaque rupture of the arterial wall. Risk factors for PCAD include smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Whole grains are defined as containing the entire grain, while refined grains have been milled—ground into flour or meal—to improve shelf life but they lose important nutrients in the process. The 2019 ACC/American Heart Association Guideline on the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease recommends a diet that emphasizes the intake of vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains and fish to decrease heart disease risk factors.