Associations of food groups and cardiometabolic and inflammatory biomarkers: does the meal matter?

Abstract

Increased attention has been paid to circadian patterns and how predisposition to metabolic disorders can be affected by meal timing. Currently, it is not clear which role can be attributed to the foods selected at meals. On a cross-sectional sub-cohort study (815 adults) within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Potsdam study, we investigated whether the same foods (vegetables, fruits, refined grains, whole grains, red and processed meats) eaten at different meals (breakfast, lunch or dinner) show different associations with biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk. Meal-specific usual intakes were calculated from multiple 24-h dietary recalls. Multivariable-adjusted linear regression models showed that intake of vegetables at breakfast was associated with lower LDL-cholesterol (−0·37 mmol/l per 50 g; 95 % CI −0·61, −0·12) and vegetables at dinner was associated with higher HDL-cholesterol (0·05 mmol/l per 50 g; 95 % CI 0, 0·10). Fruit intake at breakfast was associated with lower glycated Hb (HbA1c) (−0·06 % per 50 g; 95 % CI −0·10, −0·01) and fruits at dinner with lower C-reactive protein (CRP) (−0·21 mg/l per 50 g; 95 % CI −0·42, −0·01). Red and processed meat intake at breakfast was associated with higher HbA1c (0·25 % per 50 g; 95 % CI 0·05, 0·46) and CRP (0·76 mg/l per 50 g; 95 % CI 0·15, 1·36). Our results suggest that by preferring fruits and vegetables and avoiding red and processed meats at specific meals (i.e. breakfast and dinner), cardiometabolic profiles and ultimately chronic disease risk could be improved. Lunch seemed to be a less important meal in terms of food–biomarker associations.

Habitually skipping breakfast is associated with chronic inflammation: a cross-sectional study

“…We used selfreport questionnaires to assess breakfast consumption frequency, which could introduce misclassification. Further, previous studies reported that different breakfast foods and breakfast food patterns might have different impacts on cardiometabolic risk (48,49) . However, we did not collect information on the specific foods which were consumed during breakfast.…”

Hesperidin and SARS-CoV-2: New Light on the Healthy Function of Citrus Fruits

“…The scientific literature on the healthy properties of fruit and vegetables [5,18,29,[110][111][112][113][114] is vast and beyond the scope of this article, which has focused on the remarkable and surprising interaction between hesperidin, and the key proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, seen by means of computational simulations. Since these methods are now the "gold standard" for screening new drugs and their targets, we can hypothesize the beneficial effects of hesperidin in COVID-19 as well, pending the need of clinical evidence of therapeutic efficacy.…”

Modulation of the Gut Microbiota by Olive Oil Phenolic Compounds: Implications for Lipid Metabolism, Immune System, and Obesity

“…It is possible that the unusually high amount of PCs included in the OO consumption sustained for three weeks could be responsible for the unexpected effect in CRP. CRP levels have also been shown to raise when circadian rhythm is altered [136], in type-2 diabetes [137], and with dietary habits or fast/fed status [138], factors that might have contributed to the observed increase in CRP. Another randomized controlled trial which tested an OOPC-enriched VOO in pre-/hypertensive individuals in a postprandial situation, demonstrated that this treatment improved proinflammatory biomarkers such as VCAM-1 and PAI-1.…”