Background
Ultra-processed food consumption and obesity have been highlighted as an important relationship to public health. We aimed to evaluate the association between ultra-processed food consumption and body fat from 6 to 11 years of age.
Methods
We assessed the association between ultra-processed food consumption (from food frequency questionnaires) and body fat (measured by air displacement plethysmography) between 6 and 11 years of age among participants of the Pelotas-Brazil 2004 Birth Cohort. The NOVA classification was used to classify foods according to the processing degree. Body fat was evaluated relative to the height using fat mass index (FMI). Generalized estimating equations were used to answer the main research question and mediation analyses were run to assess the direct and indirect effect of ultra-processed food in body fat.
Results
At fully adjusted analysis, an increase of 100 g in contribution from ultra-processed food to daily food intake at between 6 and 11 years of age was associated with a gain of 0.14 kg/m² in FMI in the same period; 58% of the total effect of ultra-processed food intake at 6 years (in grams) over the change in FMI from 6 to 11 years was mediated by its calorie content.
Conclusions
Ultra-processed food consumption was associated with an increase in body fat from childhood to early adolescence, and this association was not just due to the effect of ultra-processed food on calorie content.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Eugenia uniflora fruit (red type) extract on metabolic status, as well as on neurochemical and behavioral parameters in an animal model of metabolic syndrome induced by a highly palatable diet (HPD). Rats were treated for 150days and divided into 4 experimental groups: standard chow (SC) and water orally, SC and E. uniflora extract (200mg/kg daily, p.o), HPD and water orally, HPD and extract. Our data showed that HPD caused glucose intolerance, increased visceral fat, weight gain, as well as serum glucose, triacylglycerol, total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol; however, E. uniflora prevented these alterations. The extract decreased lipid peroxidation and prevented the reduction of superoxide dismutase and catalase activities in the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and striatum of animals submitted to HPD. We observed a HPD-induced reduction of thiol content in these cerebral structures. The extract prevented increased acetylcholinesterase activity in the prefrontal cortex caused by HPD and the increase in immobility time observed in the forced swim test. Regarding chemical composition, LC/MS analysis showed the presence of nine anthocyanins as the major compounds. In conclusion, E. uniflora extract showed benefits against metabolic alterations caused by HPD, as well as exhibited antioxidant and antidepressant-like effects.
Fruit extracts of E. uniflora and P. cattleianum exhibited considerable antihyperglycemic, antidyslipidemic, and antioxidant effects, and may be useful in the therapeutic management of alterations due to IR.
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