BackgroundThere is a great necessity for new methods of evaluation of dietary intake that overcome the limitations of traditional self-reporting methods.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to develop a new method, based on an app for mobile phones called e-EPIDEMIOLOGY, which was designed to collect individual consumption data for a series of foods/drinks, and to compare this app with a previously validated paper food frequency questionnaire (FFQ).MethodsUniversity students >18 years of age recorded the consumption of certain foods/drinks using e-EPIDEMIOLOGY during 28 consecutive days and then filled out a paper FFQ at the end of the study period. To evaluate the agreement between the categories of habitual consumption for each of the foods/drinks included in the study, cross-classification analysis and a weighted kappa statistic were used.ResultsA total of 119 participants completed the study (71% female, 85/119; 29% male, 34/119). Cross-classification analysis showed that 79.8% of the participants were correctly classified into the same category and just 1.1% were misclassified into opposite categories. The average weighted kappa statistic was good (κ=.64).ConclusionsThe results indicate that e-EPIDEMIOLOGY generated ranks of dietary intakes that were highly comparable with the previously validated paper FFQ. However, it was noted that further testing of e-EPIDEMIOLOGY is required to establish its wider utility.

Despite the fact that the mean age and number of comorbidities in acute myocardial infarction patients has increased year over year, acute myocardial infarction mortality has decreased, probably because of more frequent reperfusion and revascularization therapy and better medical treatment.

Mediterranean diet (MD) is potentially one of the best diets regarding health benefits and sustainability. However, it is faced with serious difficulties staying alive, even in traditionally Mediterranean regions. The objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of an application (e-12HR) to improve adherence to the MD (AMD) in university students. This study was a controlled, randomized, and multicentric clinical trial with two parallel groups (control group (CG) and intervention group (IG)), a 28-day follow-up period, and 286 participants (74.1% women). There were two versions of e-12HR: ‘feedback’ e-12HR (IG) and ‘non-feedback’ e-12HR (CG). Only the ‘feedback’ e-12HR had two specific automatic functions: 1. Evaluation of the user’s AMD; 2. Identification of the food groups for which the user has not fulfilled the MD recommendations. Both versions of the application allowed the collection of data on dietary intake in order to calculate the AMD. When comparing CG and IG at 14-, 21-, and 28-days follow-up (no significant statistical differences at baseline), there were significant statistical improvements in favor of IG in AMD index (0.71, 1.56, and 1.43 points, respectively), and in the percentage of participants with medium/high AMD index (14.4%, 20.6%, and 23.7%, respectively). In conclusion, e-12HR could improve AMD among university students.

BackgroundOne of the greatest challenges in nutritional epidemiology is improving upon traditional self-reporting methods for the assessment of habitual dietary intake.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the relative validity of a new method known as the current-day dietary recall (or current-day recall), based on a smartphone app called 12-hour dietary recall, for determining the habitual intake of a series of key food and drink groups using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and four dietary records as reference methods.MethodsUniversity students over the age of 18 years recorded their consumption of certain groups of food and drink using 12-hour dietary recall for 28 consecutive days. During this 28-day period, they also completed four dietary records on randomly selected days. Once the monitoring period was over, subjects then completed an FFQ. The two methods were compared using the Spearman correlation coefficient (SCC), a cross-classification analysis, and weighted kappa.ResultsA total of 87 participants completed the study (64% women, 56/87; 36% men, 31/87).For e-12HR versus FFQ, for all food and drink groups, the average SCC was 0.70. Cross-classification analysis revealed that the average percentage of individuals classified in the exact agreement category was 51.5%; exact agreement + adjacent was 91.8%, and no participant (0%) was classified in the extreme disagreement category. The average weighted kappa was 0.51.For e-12HR versus the four dietary records, for all food and drink groups, the average SCC was 0.63. Cross-classification analysis revealed that the average percentage of individuals classified in the exact agreement category was 47.1%; exact agreement + adjacent was 89.2%; and no participant (0%) was classified in the extreme disagreement category. The average weighted kappa was 0.47.ConclusionsCurrent-day recall, based on the 12-hour dietary recall app, was found to be in good agreement with the two reference methods (FFQ & four dietary records), demonstrating its potential usefulness for categorizing individuals according to their habitual dietary intake of certain food and drink groups.

Incidence of colorectal cancer has steadily increased in both the sexes and across all age groups during the last decades in Spain, in contrast with other countries where incidence decreased during this period. This increase is more marked among men, probably due to a high exposure to risk factors such as smoking, heavy drinking, overweight and diabetes. Annual age-adjusted mortality rates have increased in Spain during the period 1951-2000, but from that time until 2006 these rates have kept steady in males and fallen in females. When analyzing the evolution of exposure to behavioural factors during this period, known as risk or protective factors for colorectal cancer in Spain, notorious increases in tobacco and alcohol consumption, red and processed meats intake and a decreased ingestion of vegetables, cereals and beans were observed. Cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, red meats, poultry, fish, vegetables and fruit were highly, positively correlated with colorectal cancer incidence and mortality, and cereals and beans consumption showed strong, negative correlations. At the same time and during this period, physical exercise decreased and overweight, obesity and diabetes mellitus notably increased. Certain changes in diet and lifestyle can be attributed to the growth in income during the last decades, but the lack and delay in implementing legislative and educational measures by the State and Regional Governments during decades cannot be ignored. In colorectal cancer, a minimal time span of 10-15 years is necessary for changes in exposure to risk factors to be able to modify the incidence of the tumour. Therefore, the implementation of more vigorous legislative and educational measures in Spain against smoking, heavy drinking, red meat intake, sedentary lifestyle, overweight and others reviewed in this study, is urgent.