Chronic aflatoxin exposure has been associated with childhood stunting (length-for-age/height-for-age < –2 sd), while data lacks for Bangladesh, a country with substantial burden of childhood stunting. This paper examined the association between aflatoxin exposure and childhood stunting in a slum setting of Dhaka city.

In this MAL-ED aflatoxin birth cohort study, plasma samples were assayed for aflatoxin B1-lysine adduct (AFB1-lys) by MS at 7, 15, 24 and 36 months of age for 208, 196, 173 and 167 children to assess chronic aflatoxin exposure. Relationship between aflatoxin exposure and anthropometric measures was examined by mixed-effects logistic regression models.

The study was conducted in Mirpur, Dhaka, where children were followed from birth to 36 months.

Prevalence of stunting increased from 21 % at 7 months to 49 % at 36 months of age. Mean AFB1-lys concentrations at 7, 15, 24 and 36 months were 1·30 (range 0·09–5·79), 1·52 (range 0·06–6·35), 3·43 (range 0·15–65·60) and 3·70 (range 0·09–126·54) pg/mg albumin, respectively, and the percentage of children with detectable AFB1-lys was 10, 21, 18 and 62 %, respectively. No association was observed between aflatoxin exposure and stunting in multivariable analyses. Factors associated with childhood stunting were age, low birth weight, maternal height, stool myeloperoxidase and number of people sleeping in one room.

A relatively lower exposure to aflatoxin may not influence the linear growth of children. This finding indicates a threshold level of exposure for linear growth deficit and further investigation in other areas where higher concentrations of aflatoxin exposure exist.

To date, there have been few studies on dietary supplement (DS) use in Korean children and adolescents, using nationally representative data. This study aimed to investigate the current status of DS use and its related factors, among Korean children and adolescents from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) data.

A cross-sectional study.

Data from the KNHANES 2015–2017. Participants completed 24-h dietary recall interviews, including DS products that the subjects consumed.

The study population was 4380 children and adolescents aged 1–18 years.

Approximately 2013 % of children and adolescents were using DS; the highest use was among children aged 1–3 years old, and the lowest use was among adolescents aged 16–18 years. The most frequently used DS was prebiotics/probiotics, followed by multivitamin/mineral supplements. Factors that were associated with DS use were lower birth weight in children aged <4 years; younger age, higher household income, regular breakfast intake and lower BMI in children aged 4–9 years; and regular breakfast intake and use of nutrition facts label in adolescents aged 10–18 years. Feeding patterns in infancy and having chronic diseases were not associated with DS use.

We report that over 20 % of children and adolescents use DS. Nutritional education for parents and children about proper DS consumption is needed.

To examine the effect of an intervention combining user fees removal with community-based management of undernutrition on the nutrition status in children under 5 years of age in Burkina Faso.

The study was a non-equivalent control group post-test-only design based on household survey data collected 4 years after the intervention onset in the intervention and comparison districts. Additionally, we used propensity score weighting to achieve balance on covariates between the two districts, followed by logistic multilevel modelling.

Two health districts in the Sahel region.

Totally, 1116 children under 5 years of age residing in 41 intervention communities and 1305 from 51 control communities.

When comparing children living in the intervention district to children living in a non-intervention district, we determined no differences in terms of stunting (OR = 1·13; 95 % CI 0·83, 1·54) and wasting (OR = 1·21; 95 % CI 0·90, 1·64), nor in severely wasted (OR = 1·27; 95 % CI 0·79, 2·04) and severely stunted (OR = 0·99; 95 % CI 0·76, 1·26). However, we determined that 3 % of the variance of wasting (95 % CI 1·25, 10·42) and 9·4 % of the variance of stunting (95 % CI 6·45, 13·38) were due to systematic differences between communities of residence. The presence of the intervention in the communities explained 2 % of the community-level variance of stunting and 3 % of the community-level variance of wasting.

With the scaling-up of the national free health policy in Africa, we stress the need for rigorous evaluations and the means to measure expected changes in order to better inform health interventions.

To describe the duration of breast-feeding between 1990 and 2013 and to estimate the association between breast-feeding duration and sociodemographic, health and pro-breast-feeding policies and programmes in Latin American countries.

This is a cross-sectional study with data from Demographic and Health Surveys programme conducted in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and the Dominican Republic between 1990 and 2013. The median duration of breast-feeding was estimated by survival analysis. Information on pro-breast-feeding policies and programmes was extracted from the World on Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) tool. The association between the duration of breast-feeding and WBTi tool score was analysed by multilevel survival regression.

Nationally representative cross-sectional survey from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Dominican Republic.

We included children under 24 months of age, totalling 17 318 children.

Breast-feeding duration showed a significant increase in all countries, except the Dominican Republic. Mothers with higher schooling level (HR = 1·66; 95 % CI 1·35, 2·04), higher income (HR = 1·58; 95 % CI 1·40, 1·77) and overweight (HR = 1·14; 95 % CI 1·05, 1·23) breastfed for a shorter time. Breast-feeding in the first hour of life (HR = 0·79; 95 % CI 0·74, 0·83) was associated with increase in the duration of breast-feeding. Regarding WBTi, Peru presented the lowest score and the Dominican Republic presented the highest score. WBTi score was inversely related to the duration of breast-feeding for this set of countries (HR = 1·07; 95 % CI 1·02, 1·12).

Mothers with better socio-economic conditions and overweight breastfed for a shorter time. Breast-feeding in the first hour was associated with longer duration of breast-feeding. In this set of countries, higher scores from WBTi tool did not result in longer duration of breast-feeding.

Colombia is experiencing a nutrition transition, characterised by nutritionally poor diets and an increased prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCD). We aimed to investigate the association between diet quality and general health outcomes related to the risk of NCD, in a nationally representative sample of Colombian adolescents and adults.

Cross-sectional analysis. The Alternative Healthy-Eating Index (AHEI) was derived to calculate diet quality. Adjusted regressions were used to examine the association between AHEI, self-perceived general health status (GHS) and anthropometric variables (i.e. age-specific z-scores for height, and BMI for adolescents; waist circumference and BMI for adults).

Nationally representative data from the Colombian National Nutrition Survey (ENSIN) 2010.

Adolescents aged 10–17 years (n 6566) and adults aged ≥18 years (n 6750).

AHEI scores were similar between adolescents (mean 29·3 ± 7·2) and adults (mean 30·5 ± 7·2). In the whole sample, a better diet quality (higher AHEI score) was associated with worse self-perceived GHS (adjusted (a) β-coefficient: –0·004; P < 0·001) and with a smaller waist circumference ((a) β-coefficient: –0·06; P < 0·01). In adults, a higher AHEI score was negatively associated with BMI ((a) β-coefficient: –0·02; P < 0·05), whilst in adolescents it was associated with a reduced height-for-age z-score ((a) β-coefficient: –0·009; P < 0·001).

A better diet quality was associated with reduced prevalence of predictors of NCD and with some indicators of general health in the Colombian population. In light of the high prevalence of overweight, our findings support the need for public health interventions focused on sustainable positive changes in dietary habits in the general population.

This study aimed to dynamically model and quantify expected health effects of four scenarios: (i) a reference scenario with an unchanged fruit and vegetable intake, (ii) the removal of value-added tax (VAT) on fruits and vegetables, (iii) the implementation of a 20 % subsidy on fruits and vegetables and (iv) a guideline scenario with a population-wide fruit and vegetable intake of five portions per day.

Baseline fruit and vegetable intake data was derived from the GEDA 2012 study. We used price elasticities for Germany to calculate the change in fruit and vegetable consumption under the zero VAT and the 20 % subsidy scenario. All scenarios were modelled over a 10-year projection period using DYNAMO-HIA.

Germany.

A projected real-life population.

Cumulated over the 10-year projection period, an estimated 4450 incident ischaemic heart disease (IHD) cases, 7010 stroke cases and 13 960 deaths would be prevented under the zero VAT scenario. Under the 20 % subsidy scenario, 17 990 incident IHD cases, 27 390 stroke cases and 54 880 deaths would be averted. Although this corresponds to only a fraction of the incidents that would occur under the reference scenario, the averted cases translate to 2 % (for the zero VAT scenario) and 9 % (for the 20 % subsidy scenario) of IHD, stroke and death cases that would be prevented if the whole population consumed the recommended five portions of fruits and vegetables per day.

Fiscal policies on fruits and vegetables provide a non-negligible step towards the removal of the health burden induced by low fruit and vegetable intake.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the differences between the consumption of plant-based v. animal-based protein-rich diets on successful ageing, as well as to identify the optimal combination of dietary protein intake for facilitating successful ageing in people aged >50 years.

A combined analysis was conducted in older adults of the ATTICA and MEDIS population-based cross-sectional studies. Anthropometrical, clinical and sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle parameters, dietary habits and level of protein intake were derived through standard procedures. Successful ageing was evaluated using the validated Successful Aging Index (SAI) composed of ten health-related social, lifestyle and clinical characteristics.

Athens area and twenty Greek islands.

A total of 3349 Greek women and men over 50 years old.

Participants with high consumption of plant proteins were more likely to be male, physically active, with higher daily energy intake, higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet and higher level of SAI (P < 0·001). Participants with ‘Low animal & High plant’ and ‘High animal & High plant’ protein consumption had a 6 and 7 % higher SAI score, respectively, compared with the other participants (P < 0·001). In contrast, ‘Low animal & Low plant’ and ‘High animal & Low plant’ protein intake was negatively associated with SAI as compared to the combination of all other consumption categories (P < 0·02).

The consumption of a plant-based protein-rich diet seems to be a beneficial nutritional choice that should be promoted and encouraged to older people since it may benefit both individual’s health and prolong successful ageing.

To investigate the vision loss burden due to vitamin A deficiency (VAD) at the global, regional and national levels by year, age, sex and socio-economic status using prevalence and years lived with disability (YLD).

International, retrospective, comparative burden-of-disease study.

Prevalence and YLD data were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2017. The association of age-standardised YLD rates and human development index (HDI) was tested by Pearson correlation and linear regression analyses. The Gini coefficient and concentration index (CI) were calculated to demonstrate the trends in between-country inequality in vision loss burden due to VAD.

All participants met the GBD inclusion criteria.

The age-standardised prevalence rate increased by 9·2 %, while the age-standardised YLD rates rose by 10·8 % from 1990 to 2017. Notably, the vision loss burden caused by VAD showed a declining trend since 2014. The vision loss burden was more concentrated in the post-neonatal age group and decreased with increasing age. The age-standardised YLD rates were inversely correlated with HDI (r = –0·2417, P = 0·0084). The CI and Gini coefficients indicated that socio-economic-related and between-country inequality declined from 2000 to 2017. VAD was the eighth leading cause of the age-standardised prevalence rate and ninth leading cause of age-standardised YLD rate among fifteen causes of vision loss in 2017.

VAD has become one of the significant leading causes of vision loss globally. Efforts to control vision impairment related to VAD are needed, especially for children in countries with lower socio-economic status.

B-vitamins affect brain function through multiple pathways. Given limited evidence on the relationship between dietary intake of these vitamins and psychological disorders, we examined dietary intake of vitamin B6-9-12 in relation to psychological disorders among Iranian women.

Cross-sectional study. Dietary intake was assessed using a valid and reliable FFQ. To assess psychological disorders, we used a version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 validated in Iran.

Ten public health centres in southern Tehran, Iran.

A total of 447 female participants aged 20–50 years.

The median values of vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), B9 (folate) and B12 (cobalamin) were 1·30 mg/d, 313·89 µg/d and 3·99 µg/d, respectively. After adjustment for potential confounders, dietary vitamin B6 intake was associated with lower odds of depression (OR: 0·54; 95 % CI: 0·31, 0·95; Ptrend: 0·03). However, there was a positive association between dietary vitamin B12 intake with the odds of depression (OR: 2·05; 95 % CI: 1·17, 3·60; Ptrend: 0·01) and psychological distress (OR: 2·00; 95 % CI: 1·17, 3·41; Ptrend: 0·01). No association was found between vitamin B9 with any psychological disorders.

Women with higher dietary intakes of vitamin B6 had lower likelihood of depression. However, women with higher dietary intake of vitamin B12 had higher odds of depression and psychological distress. Future prospective studies in different populations are needed to clarify whether B-vitamin deficiency is a cause or consequence of psychological disorders.

Diminished diet quality in the Caribbean and other island settings may be related to a dietary transition from local foods towards imported products. The current study aimed to characterise the association between intentionally purchasing local foods (IPLF) and diet quality in Puerto Rico (PR).

Cross-sectional study.

Primary care clinics in the PR metropolitan area.

Data were obtained from adult participants (30–75 years; n 243) of the Puerto Rico Assessment of Diet, Lifestyle, and Diseases. IPLF was probed by asking: ‘How often do you purposely purchase foods from PR (like fruits, vegetables, meat and other products that are produced on the island rather than being imported)?’ Dietary intake was measured using a FFQ, and diet quality was assessed by the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (range 0–110; higher scores indicating higher diet quality). Multivariate-adjusted generalised linear models tested the association between IPLF and Alternate Healthy Eating Index 2010 (AHEI) and its component scores.

A third (33·9 %) of participants reported seldom, 33·5 % reported often and 30·6 % reported always IPLF. Compared with seldom IPLF, fully adjusted mean AHEI scores were 3·6 (P = 0·038) points higher among those often IPLF and 9·3 (P < 0·0001) points higher among those always IPLF. Compared with seldom IPLF, those who always IPLF had significantly higher fully adjusted mean component scores for vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts and legumes, trans fat and n-3 fats.

Adults in PR who intentionally purchase local foods had higher diet quality, especially for intake of plant-based foods and healthy fats, highlighting potential dietary benefits associated with improved local food availability in PR.

To assess the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Chinese adults living in Ningbo and to examine the association between alcohol consumption and MetS and its medical components.

A representative survey in Ningbo was conducted in 2015 covering socio-demography. A FFQ together with additional questionnaires was used to collect information on alcohol consumption, diet, demography, lifestyle and medical information. Multivariable logistic regression and generalised linear models were used to examine the association between alcohol consumption and both MetS and its medical components, respectively.

Ningbo, China.

A total of 2853 adults ≥ 20 years (44 % men) in this final analysis.

The prevalence of frequent alcohol drinkers and MetS was 29·9 % and 28·0 %, respectively. Significantly higher prevalence of MetS and mean values of medical components were found in the group of frequent alcohol drinkers with an exception for HDL-cholesterol, compared with less or non-alcohol drinkers. Frequent alcohol consumption was associated with higher odds of developing MetS and positively associated with medical components excepting waist circumference.

Frequent alcohol consumption contributed to a higher prevalence of MetS and unfavourable influence on MetS and its medical components among Chinese adults. A public health intervention on alcohol restriction is necessary for the prevention and control of the ongoing epidemic MetS.

To collect context-specific insights into maternal and child health and nutrition issues, and to explore potential solutions in Nanoro, Burkina Faso.

Eleven focus groups with men and women from eleven communities, facilitated by local researchers.

The study took place in the Nanoro Health district, in the West-Central part of Burkina Faso.

Eighty-six men (18–55 years) and women by age group: 18–25; 26–34 and 35–55 years, participated in the group discussions.

Participants described barriers to optimal nutrition of mothers and children related to a range of community factors, with gender inequality as central. Major themes in the discussions are related to poverty and challenges generated by socially and culturally determined gender roles. Sub-themes are women lacking access to food whilst pregnant and having limited access to health care and opportunities to generate income. Although communities believe that food donations should be implemented to overcome this, they also pointed out the need for enhancing their own food production, requiring improved agricultural technologies. Given the important role that women could play in reducing malnutrition, these communities felt they needed to be empowered to do so and supported by men. They also felt that this had to be carried out in the context of an enhanced health care system.

Findings reported here highlight the importance of nutrition-sensitive interventions and women’s empowerment in improving maternal and child nutrition. There is a need to integrate a sustainable multi-sectorial approach which goes beyond food support.

To compare the contribution of different food consumption places to the energy and nutrient intake among Brazilian adolescents.

We analysed data from the Study of Cardiovascular Risk in Adolescents – ERICA, carried out in 2013–2014. Foods were categorised into thirty-three food groups. Energy, nutrients and food groups were analysed according to home, public and private schools, and other places of foods consumption. Linear regression models were used to test the association between eating away from home and nutrient intake.

Brazilian public and private schools.

All adolescents who had undergone anthropometric evaluation and provided information through the questionnaires, including the 24-h recall (n 71 740).

The main portion of energy intake per day was consumed within the adolescent households (8112·776 kJ (1939 kcal), 95 % CI 1892, 1985). Away-from-home eating was reported by 52 % of students in a given day, but it contributed to only 15 % of total energy intake. This contribution was mainly due to high energy-dense food intake. The percentage contribution of foods consumed at public school and other places was very similar with respect to nutrients. However, food consumption at other places meant less intake of protein, fibre and Fe, in addition to increasing the intake of added sugar and fats.

The frequency of food consumption outside the home by adolescents is high, although the main contribution to energy intake occurs at home, and despite the similarity of nutrients consumed in school and restaurants, the latter tends to worsen the nutritional quality of meals.

To derive dietary patterns (DP) among women of reproductive age (WRA) and older women in urban Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and to examine their association with body mass index (BMI), overweight and obesity.

We used principal component analysis to derive DP. Their association with BMI, overweight and obesity was assessed using linear and multinomial logistic regression models controlling for age, marital status, education and wealth.

Cross-sectional data from prospective studies in Accra, Ghana (2008–2009), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (2014) and Lilongwe and Kasungu, Malawi (2017–2018) were used.

We compared WRA in Ghana (18–54 years, n 1762) and Malawi (19–48 years, n 137), and older women in Ghana (≥55 years, n 514) and Tanzania (≥50 years, n 134).

Among WRA, protein and healthy DP were identified in both Ghana and Malawi. In Ghana, the protein DP was associated with higher odds of overweight or obesity (adjusted OR 1·82, 95 % CI 1·27, 2·60 for quintile 2). Among older women, three DP were identified in Ghana (cereal, protein and healthy) and two DP in Tanzania (protein and healthy). The protein DP was associated with higher BMI in Ghana (adjusted mean difference 2·83, 95 % CI 0·95, 4·71 for quartile 3).

Higher quintiles of the protein DP were associated with higher BMI and odds of overweight or obesity among women in urban Ghana, but not in Malawi or Tanzania. Further research is needed to understand how DP influence overweight and obesity among adult women in urban SSA.

To quantify diet-related burdens of cardiometabolic diseases (CMD) by country, age and sex in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

Intakes of eleven key dietary factors were obtained from the Global Dietary Database Consortium. Aetiologic effects of dietary factors on CMD outcomes were obtained from meta-analyses. We combined these inputs with cause-specific mortality data to compute country-, age- and sex-specific absolute and proportional CMD mortality of eleven dietary factors in 1990 and 2010.

Thirty-two countries in LAC.

Adults aged 25 years and older.

In 2010, an estimated 513 371 (95 % uncertainty interval (UI) 423 286–547 841; 53·8 %) cardiometabolic deaths were related to suboptimal diet. Largest diet-related CMD burdens were related to low intake of nuts/seeds (109 831 deaths (95 % UI 71 920–121 079); 11·5 %), low fruit intake (106 285 deaths (95 % UI 94 904–112 320); 11·1 %) and high processed meat consumption (89 381 deaths (95 % UI 82 984–97 196); 9·4 %). Among countries, highest CMD burdens (deaths per million adults) attributable to diet were in Trinidad and Tobago (1779) and Guyana (1700) and the lowest were in Peru (492) and The Bahamas (504). Between 1990 and 2010, greatest decline (35 %) in diet-attributable CMD mortality was related to greater consumption of fruit, while greatest increase (7·2 %) was related to increased intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages.

Suboptimal intakes of commonly consumed foods were associated with substantial CMD mortality in LAC with significant heterogeneity across countries. Improved access to healthful foods, such as nuts and fruits, and limits in availability of unhealthful factors, such as processed foods, would reduce diet-related burdens of CMD in LAC.

To investigate the perceived effects of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic lockdown measures on food availability, accessibility, dietary practices and strategies used by participants to cope with these measures.

We conducted a cross-sectional multi-country online survey between May and July 2020. We used a study-specific questionnaire mainly based on the adaptation of questions to assess food security and coping strategies from the World Food Programme’s ‘Emergency Food Security Assessment’ and ‘The Coping Strategy Index’.

The questionnaire was hosted online using Google Forms and shared using social media platforms.

A total of 1075 adult participants from eighty-two countries completed the questionnaire.

As a prelude to COVID-19 lockdowns, 62·7 % of the participants reported to have stockpiled food, mainly cereals (59·5 % of the respondents) and legumes (48·8 %). An increase in the prices of staples, such as cereals and legumes, was widely reported. Price increases have been identified as an obstacle to food acquisition by 32·7 % of participants. Participants reported having lesser variety (50·4 %), quality (30·2 %) and quantity (39·2 %) of foods, with disparities across regions. Vulnerable groups were reported to be facing some struggle to acquire adequate food, especially people with chronic diseases (20·2 %), the elderly (17·3 %) and children (14·5 %). To cope with the situation, participants mostly relied on less preferred foods (49 %), reduced portion sizes (30 %) and/or reduced the number of meals (25·7 %).

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted food accessibility and availability, altered dietary practices and worsened the food insecurity situation, particularly in the most fragile regions.