The impact of poor diet and early life stress on memory status

Nutraceuticals and dietary supplements: balancing out the pros and cons

While the market is full of different dietary supplements, in most countries, legislation is clear and strict towards these products, with severe limitations on their health claims. Overall, the claims cannot go beyond the consumption of a said supplement will contribute to a healthy diet. Thus, the supplement industry has been reacting and changing their approach to consumers. One change is the considerable growth of the nutraceutical market, which provides naturally produced products, with low processing and close to no claims on the label. The marketing of this industry shifts from claiming several benefits on the label (dietary supplements) to relying on the knowledge of consumers towards the benefits of minimally processed foods filled with natural products (nutraceuticals). This review focuses on the difference between these two products, their consumption patterns, forms of presentation, explaining what makes them different, their changes through time, and their most notable ingredients, basically balancing out their pros and cons.

Trends and Inequities in Food, Energy, Protein, Fat, and Carbohydrate Intakes in Rural Bangladesh

BACKGROUND

Tracking dietary changes can inform strategies to improve nutrition, yet there is limited evidence on food consumption patterns and how disparities in food and nutrient intakes have changed in Bangladesh.

OBJECTIVES

We assessed trends and adequacies in energy and macronutrient intakes and evaluated changes in inequities by age group, sex, and expenditure quintile.

METHODS

We used panel data from the 2011 and 2018 Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (n = 20,339 and 19,818 household members aged ≥2 y, respectively). Dietary intakes were collected using 24-h recall and food-weighing methods. Changes in energy and macronutrient intakes were assessed using generalized linear models and adjusted Wald tests. Inequities in outcomes were examined by age group, sex, and expenditure quintile using the Slope Index of Inequality and Concentration Index.

RESULTS

Between 2011 and 2018, dietary diversity improved across sex and age groups (30-46% in children, 60-65% in adolescents, 37-87% in adults), but diets remain imbalanced with ∼70% of energy coming from carbohydrates. There were declines in intakes of energy (3-8%), protein (3-9%), and carbohydrate (9-16%) for all age groups (except children aged 2-5 y), but an increase in fat intake (57-68% in children and 22-40% in adults). Insufficient intake remained high for protein (>50% among adults) and fat (>80%), whereas excessive carbohydrate intake was >70%. Insufficient energy, protein, and fat intakes, and excessive carbohydrate intakes, were more prevalent among poor households across survey years. Inequity gaps decreased for insufficient energy intake in most age groups, remained stable for insufficient protein intake, and increased for insufficient fat and excessive carbohydrate intakes.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite improvements in dietary diversity, diets remain imbalanced and inequities in insufficient energy, protein, and fat intakes persist. Our findings call for coherent sets of policies and investments toward a well-functioning food system and social protection to promote healthier, more equitable diets in rural Bangladesh.

Carbohydrates and cognitive function

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Recent evidence documents the negative impact of obesity, diabetes mellitus, and other metabolic dysregulation on neurocognitive function. This review highlights a key dietary factor in these relationships: refined carbohydrates.

RECENT FINDINGS

Chronic consumption of refined carbohydrates has been linked to relative neurocognitive deficits across the lifespan. Hippocampal function is especially impacted, but prefrontal and mesolimbic reward pathways may also be altered. Early life exposure to refined carbohydrates, (i.e., prenatal, juvenile, and adolescence periods) may be particularly toxic to cognitive functioning. The impact of acute carbohydrate administration is mixed, with some findings showing benefits while others are neutral or negative. Potential mechanisms of the carbohydrate-cognition relationship include dysregulation in metabolic, inflammatory, and vascular factors, whereas moderators include age, genetic factors, physiological (e.g., glucoregulatory) function and the timing and type of carbohydrate exposure. Critically, the negative neurocognitive impacts of diets high in refined carbohydrates have been shown to be independent of total body weight.

SUMMARY

Neurocognitive deficits induced by a diet high in refined carbohydrates may manifest before overt obesity or metabolic disease onset, suggesting that researchers and providers may need to target subclinical metabolic, inflammatory, and vascular dysregulation factors in efforts to preserve cognitive function across the lifespan.

Behavioral and cognitive impact of early life stress: Insights from an animal model

BACKGROUND

Children subjected to traumatic events during childhood are reported to exhibit behavioral and cognitive deficits later in life, often leading to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression. Interestingly, some children continue to remain normal despite being exposed to the same risk factors. These trauma-related behavioral and cognitive profiles across different stages of life are not well understood. Animal studies can offer useful insights.

OBJECTIVE

The goal of this study was to determine the impact of early life exposure to traumatic events on behavioral and cognitive profile in rats by tracking the behavior of each rat at different ages.

METHODS

We utilized the single prolonged stress (SPS), a rodent model of PTSD, to study the effects of early life stress. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to SPS on post-natal day (PND) 25. Tests to assess anxiety- and depression-like behavior, as well as learning and memory function were performed at PND32, 60 and 90.

RESULTS

Rats exposed to SPS exhibited both anxiety- and depression-like behavior at PND32. And, short-term (STM) but not long-term memory (LTM) was impaired. Rats exposed to SPS at PND60 exhibited anxiety- but not depression-like behavior. STM but not LTM was impaired. Rats exposed to SPS at PND90 exhibited fearful (as indicated by elevated plus maze test) but not an overall anxiety-like behavior (in light and dark test). These rats also displayed significant depression-like behavior with no changes in STM or LTM. Interestingly, when data was further analyzed, two subsets of PND90 rats exposed to SPS were identified, "susceptible": with depression-like behavior and "resilient": without depression-like behavior. Importantly, while resilient group expressed early signs of anxiety- (at PND32 and PND60) and depression-like behavior (at PND32), these behavioral deficits were absent at PND90. On the other hand, susceptible PND90 rats exposed to SPS expressed later onset of anxiety-like behavior (at PND60), while depression-like phenotype was evident only later on at PND90.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that early life stress caused co-occurrence of anxiety and depression-like behavior at PND32 (mimics human early-adolescent period). This co-occurrence was lost at PND60 with demonstration of anxiety- but not depression-like behavior. Later, depression but not anxiety-like behavior was observed at PND90. It seems that behavioral adaptations occur at the critical PND60 stage (mimics human late-adolescent period), where behavioral and cognitive switching occurs, thereby, expressing susceptible and resilient phenotypes.

Nutritional habits in the elderly

Introduction: Aging is accompanied by several physiological and psychological changes in the organism of an individual (e.g., decreased sense of taste and smell, disruption of satiety, depression), which affect the nutritional intake. Purpose: The purpose of this retrospective study is to highlight the nutritional habits of elderly people. Materials and methods: Extensive review of the recent literature in electronic databases (Pub med, Google scholar) and journals. Exclusion criterion for the articles was the language than the Greek and English. Results: The increase life expectancy is important to be accompanied by physical and mental health, quality of life and, where possible, from participation in social, economic, cultural and spiritual life. Adopting healthy dietary patterns, combined with daily physical activity, and factors such as avoiding smoking, could help considerably in reaching these goals. The physical and psychological changes occurring during aging may adversely affect nutritional status. Instead, a proper diet can positively influence the physical and emotional state of elderly people. Conclusions: Diet and generally nutrition habits of the elderly play an important role in their health.