Several studies have examined the association between CD36 rs1761667 polymorphism with cardiometabolic risk factors and metabolic syndrome (MetS). This study aimed to investigate the interactions between rs1761667 polymorphism and dietary patterns on the cardiometabolic risk factors and the risk of MetS in apparently healthy individuals aged 20–70 years. Food consumption data were acquired using a validated semi-quantitative FFQ. Dietary patterns were identified by factor analysis. CD36 rs1761667 was genotyped by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism. The gene–diet interaction was detected by the general linear model or logistic regression. Significant or marginally significant interactions were observed between healthy dietary pattern (HDP) and CD36 rs1761667 on weight (P = 0·006), BMI (P = 0·009), waist circumference (P = 0·005), hip circumference (P = 0·06), body muscle percentage (P = 0·02), body fat percentage (P = 0·09), TAG-glucose index (P = 0·057), atherogenic index of plasma (P = 0·07), the risk of MetS (P = 0·02), risk of abdominal obesity (P = 0·02) and elevated blood pressure (P = 0·07). Besides, a gene–diet interaction was detected between the traditional dietary pattern and rs1761667 variants on odds of hypertriglyceridaemia (P = 0·02). The adherence to HDP was associated with a lower weight, BMI and higher odds of HDL-cholesterol only in A-allele carriers. In conclusion, adherence to HDP (a diet with high fibre, fish and dairy products) can be more effective on some cardiometabolic risk factors and risk of MetS components in the A-allele carrier than the GG genotype of rs1761667 polymorphism. However, future studies are required to shed light on this issue.

Some evidence suggests that breast-feeding may modify food preferences in the later years of life. The present study aimed to provide a systematic review of observational studies investigating the association between exposure to breast milk and its duration with data-driven or hypothesis-driven (or diet quality scores) dietary patterns over 1 year of age. The databases of PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science were searched for observational studies published from January 2010 until July 2021, which led to the identification of twenty-two eligible articles. There was considerable heterogeneity between studies in terms of assessment of exposure and outcome. Of the eleven studies that assessed data-driven dietary patterns, ten reported a significant association for at least one identified dietary pattern. Overall, being breast-fed and a longer duration of any/exclusive breast-feeding were associated with higher scores on healthy dietary patterns characterised mainly by high loadings of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. In comparison, a negative association was found for unhealthy dietary patterns rich in foods with high content of added sugar, salt and saturated fats. In terms of diet quality scores, nine out of eleven studies reported a significant positive association between the duration of any breast-feeding and adherence to recommended healthy diets or dietary guidelines. In conclusion, the evidence from this review was generally in support of the hypothesis indicating breast-feeding is associated with healthy dietary patterns at later ages. However, due to the methodological limitations in the available studies, further research is warranted to elucidate solid evidence on this topic.

The metabolic syndrome is common in older adults and may be modified by the diet. The aim of this study was to examine associations between a posteriori dietary patterns and the metabolic syndrome in an older New Zealand population. The REACH study (Researching Eating, Activity, and Cognitive Health) included 366 participants (aged 65–74 years, 36 % male) living independently in Auckland, New Zealand. Dietary data were collected using a 109-item FFQ with demonstrated validity and reproducibility for assessing dietary patterns using principal component analysis. The metabolic syndrome was defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III. Associations between dietary patterns and the metabolic syndrome, adjusted for age, sex, index of multiple deprivation, physical activity, and energy intake were analysed using logistic regression analysis. Three dietary patterns explained 18 % of dietary intake variation – ‘Mediterranean style’ (salad/leafy cruciferous/other vegetables, avocados/olives, alliums, nuts/seeds, shellfish and white/oily fish, berries), ‘prudent’ (dried/fresh/frozen legumes, soya-based foods, whole grains and carrots) and ‘Western’ (processed meat/fish, sauces/condiments, cakes/biscuits/puddings and meat pies/hot chips). No associations were seen between ‘Mediterranean style’ (OR = 0·75 (95 % CI 0·53, 1·06), P = 0·11) or ‘prudent’ (OR = 1·17 (95 % CI 0·83, 1·59), P = 0·35) patterns and the metabolic syndrome after co-variate adjustment. The ‘Western’ pattern was positively associated with the metabolic syndrome (OR = 1·67 (95 % CI 1·08, 2·63), P = 0·02). There was also a small association between an index of multiple deprivation (OR = 1·04 (95 % CI 1·02, 1·06), P < 0·001) and the metabolic syndrome. This cross-sectional study provides further support for a Western dietary pattern being a risk factor for the metabolic syndrome in an older population.

Telomere integrity is influenced by oxidative stress. Also, inflammation-related factors, including nutritional factors, could modulate telomere integrity. The relationship between a posteriori-derived dietary patterns and telomere length (TL) has been scarcely investigated. Thus, our objective was to examine the association between empirically derived dietary patterns ascertained through principal component analysis (PCA) and TL in an older adult Spanish population. A total of 886 older adults (>55 years old; 645 males and 241 females) from the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) cohort were included in the study. TL was measured by monochrome multiplex real-time quantitative PCR. Age-adjusted TL was used for all analyses. Dietary patterns were identified by PCA based on thirty predefined candidate food groups collected from a validated 136-food items frequency questionnaire. Generalised linear models were fitted to obtain β-coefficients and their 95 % CI evaluating differences in TL between each of the four upper quintiles of adherence to dietary patterns and the lowest quintile. Sensitivity analyses by rerunning all multiple linear models under different stratifications were performed to evaluate the robustness of our results. Two major dietary patterns were empirically identified, Western dietary pattern (WDP) and Mediterranean dietary pattern (MDP). After adjustment for potential confounders, longer TL was found among subjects in the highest quintile of MDP (β = 0·064; 95 % CI 0·004, 0·123). The WDP showed no significant association with TL. In conclusion, higher adherence to a posteriori-derived MDP was independently associated with longer telomeres in an older adult Spanish population of the SUN project.

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the adherence to empirically derived dietary patterns and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk and of healthy lifestyles with the prevention of GDM defining an overall healthy score. The Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra project is a Mediterranean cohort of university graduates started in 1999. We included 3455 pregnant women. During a mean follow-up of 10·3 (sd 3·3) years, we identified 173 incident GDM cases. Two major dietary patterns were identified using principal component analysis: the Western dietary pattern (WDP) (characterised by a high consumption of meat-based products and processed foods) and the Mediterranean dietary pattern (MDP) (characterised by a high consumption of vegetables, fruits, fish and non-processed foods). A low-risk score for GDM was defined taking into account important risk factors (age, BMI and unhealthy dietary pattern) for GDM. Positive association was found in the multivariable model between the highest quartile of adherence to WDP and GDM incidence compared with the lowest quartile (OR 1·56; 95 % CI 1·00, 2·43). No association was found between adherence to the MDP and GDM incidence (OR 1·08; 95 % CI 0·68, 1·70 for the highest quartile compared with the lowest). Women who adhered to all three low-risk factors had a 76 % lower risk of GDM (OR 0·24; 95 % CI 0·10, 0·55) compared with women who did not adhere to any factor before pregnancy. In conclusion, our results reinforce the importance of dietary recommendations and other two factors (low BMI and young age at pregnancy) in pre-gravid women.

The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a key indicator of two main causes of death worldwide: CVD and diabetes. The present paper aimed to perform a review of the population-based research on the association of dietary patterns and the MetS in terms of methodology and findings. For the purpose of the present study, a scoping literature review was conducted using MEDLINE and EMBASE databases and hand searching in Google Scholar. Thirty-nine population-based studies were selected. Most of these studies used the factor analysis method and the a priori dietary approach, which had been initially extracted via a posteriori methods such as using the Mediterranean dietary pattern. The main finding was that following the Mediterranean or similar ‘healthy’ pattern reduced risk of the MetS, while following a ‘Western’ pattern increased risk of the MetS. The methodological approach in determining the dietary pattern of a population, whether a priori or a posteriori, should be chosen based on the purpose of the research. Overall, evidence suggests a diet based on the components of the Mediterranean diet and the avoidance of the ‘Western’ diet can aid in preventing the MetS.

Although premenstrual syndrome (PMS) affects a large number of women of reproductive age, the aetiology of this disorder has not yet been fully elucidated. The relationship between food intake and PMS morbidity has been investigated in several studies, but dietary patterns of PMS patients have not been taken into consideration up to now. We examined dietary patterns of 320 nurses with (n 160) and without (n 160) PMS in a case–control study. Food intakes over the past year were determined using semi-quantitative FFQ. Factor analysis was used to identify the main dietary patterns, and logistic regression was used to model the relationship between dietary patterns and PMS morbidity. Three dietary patterns were identified in the analysis: healthy, Western and traditional. After adjustment for age, BMI, menstrual cycles, physical activity and energy intake, participants in the second (OR 2·53; 95 % CI 1·18, 5·43) and third (OR 4·39; 95 % CI 1·97, 9·81) quintiles of the Western dietary pattern were more likely to experience PMS compared with those in the first quintile. The study findings therefore reveal that Western dietary pattern might be associated with PMS morbidity. However, this result should be interpreted with caution as there was no evidence of a dose–response relationship. Future studies are needed to confirm our findings in other populations.