Background: The European IDEFICS (Identification and prevention of dietary-and lifestyle-induced health effects in children and infants) study was set up to determine the aetiology of overweight, obesity and related disorders in children, and to develop and evaluate a tailored primary prevention programme. Objective: This paper focuses on the aetiological element of the multicentre study, the measures and examinations, sociodemographic characteristics of the study sample and proportions of participation. Design: Prospective cohort study with an embedded intervention study that started with a baseline survey in eight countries in [2007][2008]. Subjects and measurements: Baseline participants of the prospective cohort study were 16 224 children aged 2-9 years. Parents reported sociodemographic, behavioural, medical, nutritional and other lifestyle data for their children and families. Examinations of children included anthropometry, blood pressure, fitness, accelerometry, DNA from saliva and physiological markers in blood and urine. The built environment, sensory taste perception and other mechanisms of children's food choices and consumer behaviour were studied in subgroups. Results: Between 1507 and 2567, children with a mean age of 6.0 years and an even sex distribution were recruited from each country. Of them, 82% lived in two-parent families. The distribution of standardised income levels differed by study sample, with low-income groups being strongly represented in Cyprus, Italy and Germany. At least one 24-h dietary recall was obtained for two-thirds of the children. Blood pressure and anthropometry were assessed in more than 90%. A 3-day accelerometry was performed in 46%, motor fitness was assessed in 41%, cardiorespiratory fitness in 35% and B11% participated in taste perception tests. The proportion of children donating venous blood, urine and saliva was 57, 86 and 88%, respectively. Conclusion: The IDEFICS cohort provides valuable data to investigate the interplay of social, environmental, genetic, physiological and behavioural factors in the development of major diet-and lifestyle-related disorders affecting children at present.
Early television exposure has been associated with various health outcomes including childhood obesity. This paper describes associations between patterns of television viewing, on one hand, and diet, taste preference and weight status, on the other, in European preschoolers and schoolchildren. The IDEFICS baseline survey was conducted at examination centers in Italy, Estonia, Cyprus, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, and Spain. 15,144 children aged 2–9 completed the basic protocol, including anthropometry and parental questionnaires on their diets and television habits. A subsample of 1,696 schoolchildren underwent further sensory testing for fat and sweet taste preferences. Three dichotomous indicators described: children’s habitual television exposure time; television viewing during meals; and having televisions in their bedrooms. Based on these variables we investigated television habits in relation to overweight (IOTF) and usual consumption of foods high in fat and sugar. A possible role of taste preference in the latter association was tested in the sensory subgroup. All television indicators were significantly associated with increased risk of overweight, with odds ratios ranging from 1.21 to 1.30, in fully adjusted models. Children’s propensities to consume high-fat and high-sugar foods were positively and, in most analyses, monotonically associated with high-risk television behaviors. The associations between television and diet propensities were not explained by preference for added fat or sugar in test foods. To summarize, in addition to being more overweight, children with high-risk television behaviors may, independent of objectively measured taste preferences for fat and sugar, passively overconsume higher-fat and particularly higher-sugar diets.
Background:The 5-year multilevel epidemiological IDEFICS (Identification and prevention of dietary-and lifestyle-induced health effects in children and infants) study, launched under the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Commission, aims at counteracting the epidemic of dietary-and lifestyle-induced adverse health effects in children. To reveal possible links between overweight/obesity in childhood with taste sensitivity and taste preferences, special procedures were developed for application at the European level. This paper presents these newly developed procedures. Methods: Testing procedures to assess taste sensitivity for sucrose, sodium chloride, caffeine and monosodium glutamate and taste preferences for sweet, flavour, salty, fatty and umami tastes were developed with 191 children from nursery schools and preschools in northern Germany. To assess test-retest reliability, Cohen's kappa was calculated. Results: The study shows that it is possible to assess taste sensitivity and taste preferences even in young children, provided the framework of the procedures applied is adapted to this scenario. Test-retest reliability was calculated for the procedures applied and the results show that they are very reliable for assessing taste preferences and taste sensitivity in young children. Conclusion: It is possible to assess taste sensitivity and taste preferences even in young children, provided the methods applied are adapted to the special requirements that working with young children entail.
A quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA 1 ) was developed to characterize the sensory quality of a set of 14 cold pressed sunflower oils present on the Italian market. The oils' chemical quality (free acidity, peroxide value, oleic acid, linoleic acid and volatile profile) was also defined. Eighteen sensory descriptors, selected by a trained panel, allowed for thorough profiling of the specimens. Some of the oils were characterized by dominant positive sensory notes typical of cold pressed sunflower oils (sunflower seeds and nutty), some by mild notes of refined sunflower oils, while others by negative sensory attributes (especially rancid/fried oil). The volatile profiles of the samples (by solid phase microextraction -gas chromatographic analysis, SPME-GC) were well in agreement with the data provided by the sensory judgment: the samples characterized by olfactive and retro-olfactive notes of sunflower seeds evidenced many terpenic compounds that were practically absent in oils judged as mild ones (similar to neutral refined sunflower oils). Moreover, the samples defined as defective for the presence of rancid/fried oil negative attribute, showed higher amounts of the E-2-heptenal, a volatile aldehyde marking lipid oxidation.Practical applications: The QDA 1 developed in this work is useful for characterization of the sensory quality of commercial cold pressed sunflower oils. The sensory quality appears to discriminate between genuine cold pressed sunflower oils, characterized by positive peculiar notes, and mild samples more similar to the neutral refined sunflower oils or defective samples. The study of the volatile profiles confirms the suitability of the proposed sensory descriptors, while the analysed chemical parameters give an interesting picture of the quality of the commercial sunflower oils, sold as cold pressed.
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