Bread Consumption-Induced Heavy Metal Exposures and Health Risk Assessment of Pregnant Women: Turkey

Affordable, nutritious, and easily available bread has a significant place in the nutrition of pregnant women. This study aims to determine bread consumption-induced heavy metal exposure in pregnant women with different sociodemographic characteristics living in Turkey and to evaluate it for non-carcinogenic health risks. Bread consumption data of pregnant women covered a retrospective 24-h period. Heavy metal exposure was calculated according to the deterministic model. Non-carcinogenic health risk assessment was evaluated by target hazard quotient (THQ) and hazard index (HI). Bread consumption-induced Mn, Al, Cu, Ni, Pb, As, Cr, Co, Cd, and Hg exposures of all pregnant women (n = 446) were 44.0, 25.0, 6.62, 0.69, 0.15, 0.06, 0.04, 0.03, 0.03, and < 0.00 µg/kg bw/day, respectively. Bread consumption-induced Mn exposure was higher than the tolerable daily intake level. The HI (1.37 [Formula: see text] 1.71) related to bread consumption is greater than 1 in all pregnant women in different age groups and trimesters and bread consumption may cause some health concerns in terms of non-carcinogenic health risks for pregnant women. The bread consumption can be limited, but bread consumption should not be abandoned.

Dietary acrylamide exposure and health risk assessment of pregnant women: A case study from Türkiye

This study aimed to determine the acrylamide exposure of pregnant women resulting from the consumption of bread, coffee, and French fries and to evaluate it in terms of carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks. Retrospective 24-h food consumption data of pregnant women (n = 487) was obtained using the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). Dietary acrylamide exposure was calculated according to a deterministic model, and the data were assessed by hazard index (HI) and carcinogenic risk (CR). The mean daily acrylamide exposure of pregnant women aged 18-30 and ≥31 years and in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd trimesters was 31.4, 35.4, 38.7, 31.3, and 32.4 μg/day, respectively. The acrylamide exposure data were not significantly different among different age groups and pregnancy periods (p > .05). Dietary acrylamide exposure in pregnant women of different age groups and trimesters may cause significant and serious health problems in terms of carcinogenic risk. According to their level of contribution to average acrylamide exposure, the foods were ranked as follows: French fries> bread> coffee. There is a significant risk of cancer due to exposure to acrylamide from French fries and bread other than coffee. The findings suggest that pregnant women should avoid consuming French fries, bread, and coffee with high acrylamide levels for both their own health and their newborns' health.

COVID-19 pandemic: Evaluating its psychological impact and individuals' depression, anxiety, and stress levels

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global public health problem affecting mental health, and basic data are required for evidence-based mental health interventions. This study aimed to identify the prevalence of psychological impacts, anxiety, depression, stress, and any associated risk factors in individuals living in Turkey during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Materials and methods

The population of this descriptive study consisted of individuals over the age of 18 living in Turkey. The data were collected between July-September 2020 using the snowball sampling method. The study was completed with 1733 participants. The data were collected using the Impact of Events Scale-Revised and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. Statistical analyses included percentage, mean, standard deviation, a Chi-square test, a Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis and Tamhane's T2 post hoc, and Spearman's correlation. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

45.1% had moderate or severe psychological effects; 42.7% had a moderate or severe depression, 31.7% had moderate or severe anxiety, and 28.5% had moderate or severe stress levels. Being a woman, being single, unemployment, smoking, the presence of chronic diseases, being young (<35), being a university graduate, having a household size of 5 or more, a low income, having poor health, and being underweight were significantly correlated with some psychological impact, depression, anxiety, and stress levels of people.

Conclusion

During the pandemic period, almost half of the respondents were found to experience some psychological impact of the pandemic and have negative moderate to severe mental health levels. Risk groups for mental health were identified.

Dietary Heat-Treatment Contaminants Exposure and Cancer: A Case Study from Turkey

In this study, the 10-year dietary habits of patients diagnosed with cancer (n = 1155) were retrospectively analyzed, and the relationships between dietary (red meat, white meat, fish meat, French fries, bread, instant coffee, ready-to-drink coffee, Turkish coffee, and black tea) heterocyclic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, acrylamide, and N-nitrosamine-based risk scores and cancer types were statistically evaluated. The foods with the highest and lowest mean dietary heat-treatment contaminant risk scores were red meat and ready-to-drink coffee, respectively. There were statistically significant differences in the dietary heat-treatment contamination risk scores based on the cancer patients' demographic characteristics (sex, age, smoking, and body mass index) (p < 0.05). According to the cancer types, the systems with the highest and lowest dietary heat-treatment contaminant risk scores were determined as other (brain, thyroid, lymphatic malignancies, skin, oro- and hypopharynx, and hematology) and the reproductive (breast, uterus, and ovary) system, respectively. The relationship between instant coffee consumption and respiratory system cancer types, the frequency of consumption of French fries and urinary system cancer types and the consumption of meat products and gastrointestinal system cancer types were determined. It is thought that this study contains important findings regarding the relationship between dietary habits and cancer and will be a good source for other studies to be conducted in this context.

Assessment of death anxiety among medical and surgery clinics patients of a teaching hospital

OBJECTIVE

To determine the level of death anxiety among inpatients in Medical and Surgery clinics.

METHODS

The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Medical and Surgery clinics of the University Hospital of Trabzon, Turkey, from June 15 to October 15, 2014. Data was gathered using a questionnaire and Death Anxiety Scale was applied.

RESULTS

There were 170 subjects in the study. Mean death anxiety score was 7.82±2.73 among Medical patients, while it was 8.09±2.73 for surgical patients. Those who stayed at Medical Clinic showed statistically significant differences between death anxiety and gender, patients' profession, the type of patient room, and patients' previous surgeries (p<0.05 each). Patients who stayed at Surgery Clinic showed statistically significant differences between death anxiety and age, marital status, having visitors, frequency of thoughts about death and sharing thoughts of death with others (p<0.05 each).

CONCLUSIONS

Death anxiety was higher among patients who stayed at the Surgery Clinic than those at the Medical Clinic.

Prevalence and screening for risk factors of type 2 diabetes in Rize, Nourtheast Turkey: findings from a population-based study

AIMS

We aimed to determine the prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes, risk factors affecting the healthy population, and factors that increase diabetes risk in the adult northeast Turkish population.

METHODS

Using population proportional cluster sampling, 930 adults were selected. After excluding people with diabetes, risk screening was conducted in the healthy population (n: 825) using the Information Form and FINDRISK questionnaire. Fasting venous blood and biochemical parameters were measured.

RESULTS

Prevalence of diabetes was 13.6% (new % 2.3), translating to approximately 44 thousand adults. Among the healthy population, 37.5% had high risk. Prevalence of not exercising (78.2%), obesity (36.1%), and hypertension (24.5%) were high. Predictors of risk of diabetes were aging (OR 1.09), low education (OR 0.51), familial diabetes history (OR 15.27), not exercising (OR 0.41), obesity (OR 5.17), high waist circumference (OR 1.05), heart disease (OR 4.81), and hypertension (OR 2.60).

CONCLUSIONS

This study can stimulate early screening for cardiovascular diseases and hypertension and initiating aggressive treatments in people with high diabetes risk. In primary health services, number of doctors and nurses trained in diabetes should be increased and dieticians should be involved. People with high risk should receive lifestyle regulations training.