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The aim of the present study was to assess the respective contributions of regional and socio-economic factors to dietary pattern. We used the data from the final MONICA (MONItoring of trends and determinants in Cardiovascular disease) population survey conducted in the three French centres in 1995-7 among a representative sample of 976 men aged 45 -64 years. Dietary intake was assessed using a 3-d record method. Dietary patterns were identified by a factor analysis, based on fifteen food items. An analysis of variance was then used to study their relationship with regional and socio-economic determinants. Two major dietary patterns were identified: a 'Western diet', characterized by high intakes of sugar and sweets, grains, butter, added fats, eggs, potatoes and cheese; a 'prudent diet', mainly distinguished by high intakes of fruit, vegetables, olive oil and fish and low intakes of alcohol, high-fat meat and potatoes. Strong associations were mostly observed with the 'prudent diet' pattern, with a significant relationship with region, educational and incometax levels, leisure-time physical activity and smoking status. There was also a statistically significant interaction between region and educational level (P¼ 0·05), and between region and income-tax level (P¼ 0·03), indicating that the influence of socio-economic factors is different among regions. In conclusion, these results indicate large regional and socio-economic differences in the dietary patterns of this French male population. When considering the 'prudent diet' pattern, they also suggest that traditional regional influences may now be overcome by socio-economic determinants.

Objective: To compare dietary intakes at a 10 y interval of a population aged 35-64 living in France. Trends in nutrient intake and food consumption were examined with a special emphasis on the relationships between educational level and dietary behaviour. Design: Two independent surveys conducted in 1985-1987 (S1) and 1995-1997 (S2) in the framework of the WHO MONICA project. Dietary intake was assessed with a 3-day record method and a food frequency questionnaire. The samples analysed included 416 men and 446 women for S1, 393 men and 409 women for S2. Results: A significant improvement of the quality of fat intake was observed between S1 and S2, independently of educational level, with an increase of the age adjusted P=S ratio from 0.42 to 0.50 in men (P ¼ 10 74 ) and from 0.41 to 0.50 in women (P ¼ 10 74 ), whereas the daily cholesterol intake dropped from 552.0 to 466.9 mg and from 447.2 to 384.6 mg in men and women, respectively (P ¼ 10 74 ). These variations were associated with a decrease in the consumption of high-fat foods and an increase in that of low-fat products (poultry, low-fat dairy foods, fish) in all educational classes. By contrast, the consumption of fruit and vegetables, which was highly associated with educational level, varied little over time. Conclusions: Our results indicate slight improvement in fat quality, independently of educational level, while fruit and vegetable intake, which appeared more dependent on educational level, was only poorly modified over the 10 y interval.

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. Physical activity related energy expenditure with the RT3 and TriTrac accelerometers in overweight adults. Obesity. 2007;15:950 -956. Objective: The objective was to evaluate two accelerometers, the RT3 and the TriTrac-R3D for their ability to produce estimates of physical activity-related energy expenditure (PAEE) in overweight/obese adults. Research Methods and Procedures: PAEE estimates from both accelerometers were obtained in two experiments. In Experiment 1, 13 overweight/obese subjects (BMI 34.2 Ϯ 6.4 kg/m 2 ) were monitored over 2 weeks in everyday life, PAEE being simultaneously measured by the doubly labeled water method (DLW). In Experiment 2, 8 overweight/ obese subjects (BMI 34.3 Ϯ 5.0 kg/m 2 ) and 10 normalweight subjects (BMI 20.8 Ϯ 2.1 kg/m 2 ) were monitored during a treadmill walking protocol, PAEE being simultaneously measured by indirect calorimetry. Results: In Experiment 1, there was no significant difference between methods in mean PAEE (DLW: 704 Ϯ 223 kcal/d, RT3: 656 Ϯ 140 kcal/d, TriTrac-R3D 624 Ϯ 419 kcal/d). The relative difference between methods (accelerometer vs. DLW) was Ϫ17.1% Ϯ 16.7% for the RT3 and Ϫ20.0 Ϯ 44.6% for the TriTrac-R3D. Correlation for PAEE between RT3 and DLW was higher than between TriTrac-R3D and DLW (r ϭ 0.67, p Ͻ 0.05 and r ϭ 0.36, p ϭ 0.25, respectively). The 95% confidence interval (CI) (kcal/d) of the mean difference between methods was large, amounting to Ϫ385 to 145 for the RT3 and Ϫ887 to 590 for the TriTrac-R3D. In Experiment 2, both accelerometers were sensitive to the changes in treadmill speed, with no significant difference in mean PAEE between methods in overweight/obese subjects. Conclusions: Although both accelerometers did not provide accurate estimates of PAEE at individual levels, the data suggest that RT3 has the potential to assess PAEE at group levels in overweight/obese subjects.

Hospitalization for acute illness is a major risk factor of rest-activity rhythm disturbance among elderly subjects. The rest-activity rhythm is disturbed by the acute illness, aging and hospital environment. The purpose of this study is to assess the rest-activity rhythm and light exposure (using a wrist worn actigraph) of 10 patients (mean age 81 years, seven females) admitted on an acute care unit, suffering from cardiac, respiratory or renal acute disease. A non-parametric method was used to analyze activity data. With an improvement of the underlying diseases, the mean relative amplitude of rhythm increased from 0.31 ± 0.19 for the first 5-day period after admission to 0.54 ± 0.21 for the second period before discharge ( P < 0.05). The amount of time at night spent above a lighting threshold of 50 lux decreased from 31.4 to 12.3 min between the two periods. The rhythm of elderly subjects hospitalized in the acute care unit is severely altered during the initial period and is progressively resynchronized following clinical improvement. Under the acute underlying disease and/or aging, environmental conditions (light, noise) should be considered to maintain regular rest-activity rhythm.

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