Nutrition for the Prevention of Chronic Diseases.

Chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States and globally, and are attributable largely to poor nutrition and suboptimal lifestyle behaviors. The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans promote healthy eating and lifestyle patterns across the lifespan to reduce risk of NCDs. Physicians are well positioned to provide lifestyle preventive interventions that are personalized to their patients' biological needs and cultural preferences through multidisciplinary team activities or referral to professional nutrition and physical activity experts.

The 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Scientific Report: Development and Major Conclusions.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) is published every 5 y jointly by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the USDA and provides a framework for US-based food and nutrition programs, health promotion and disease prevention initiatives, and research priorities. Summarized in this report are the methods, major conclusions, and recommendations of the Scientific Report of the 2015 US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC). Early in the process, the DGAC developed a conceptual model and formulated questions to examine nutritional risk and determinants and impact of dietary patterns in relation to numerous health outcomes among individuals aged ≥2 y.

Methodology for adding glycemic index to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey nutrient database.

Generating valid estimates of dietary glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) has been a challenge in nutritional epidemiology. The methodologic issues may have contributed to the wide variation of GI/GL associations with health outcomes observed in existing literature. We describe a standardized methodology for assigning GI values to items in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) nutrient database using the new International Tables to develop research-driven, systematic procedures and strategies to estimate dietary GI/GL exposures of a nationally representative population sample.

Patterns of weight change and progression to overweight and obesity differ in men and women: implications for research and interventions.

Objective: To evaluate long-term patterns of weight change and progression to overweight and obesity during adulthood.

Design: Prospective study. Changes in mean BMI, waist circumference (WC) and weight were assessed over a mean 26-year follow-up (1971–1975 to 1998–2001).

Dietary patterns of women are associated with incident abdominal obesity but not metabolic syndrome.

Data on the relationship between empirical dietary patterns and metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components in prospective study designs are limited. In addition, demographic and lifestyle determinants of MetS may modify the association between dietary patterns and the syndrome. We prospectively examined the relationship between empirically derived patterns and MetS and MetS components among 1146 women in the Framingham Offspring/Spouse cohort.

An obesity dietary quality index predicts abdominal obesity in women: potential opportunity for new prevention and treatment paradigms.

Background. Links between dietary quality and abdominal obesity are poorly understood. Objective.

Nutrient database development: a historical perspective from the Framingham Nutrition Studies.

Food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) are commonly used in nutritional epidemiology to assess habitual eating habits. Development of an appropriate food and nutrient database is required for translating information derived from FFQs into estimates of nutrient intake, dietary quality, or for absolute or rank-ordered nutritional risk assessment. We discuss the procedures used recently in designing a historical nutrient database to analyze an FFQ administered in 1984-1988 to Framingham Offspring-Spouse Study members.

Diet quality, physical activity, smoking status, and weight fluctuation are associated with weight change in women and men.

The effect of diet quality on weight change, relative to other body weight determinants, is insufficiently understood. Furthermore, research on long-term weight change in U.S.

Diet quality and obesity in women: the Framingham Nutrition Studies.

Obesity affects one in three American adult women and is associated with overall mortality and major morbidities. A composite diet index to evaluate total diet quality may better assess the complex relationship between diet and obesity, providing insights for nutrition interventions. The purpose of the present investigation was to determine whether diet quality, defined according to the previously validated Framingham nutritional risk score (FNRS), was associated with the development of overweight or obesity in women.

Performance of a method for identifying the unique dietary patterns of adult women and men: the Framingham nutrition studies.

Background: Identification of population dietary patterns has been recommended by experts as a key to developing innovative and targeted nutrition interventions and achieving long-term dietary behavior changes for health promotion and chronic disease risk reduction. Essential in this task is the evaluation of methods to accurately identify these unique dietary patterns.

Objective: To evaluate the validity and test the performance of a method for classifying adult men and women into one of five a priori dietary patterns.

Nutritional risk and the metabolic syndrome in women: opportunities for preventive intervention from the Framingham Nutrition Study.

Background: Diet is recognized as a key factor in the cause and management of the metabolic syndrome (MetS). However, policies to guide preventive clinical nutrition interventions of the condition are limited.

Objectives: We examined the relation between dietary quality and incident MetS in adult women and identified foci for preventive nutrition interventions.

Unique dietary patterns and chronic disease risk profiles of adult men: the Framingham nutrition studies.

Objective: To identify the dietary patterns of adult men and examine their relationships with nutrient intake and chronic disease risk over long-term follow-up.

Design/subjects: Baseline 145-item food frequency questionnaires from 1,666 Framingham Offspring-Spouse cohort men were used to identify comprehensive dietary patterns. Independent 3-day dietary records at baseline and 8 years later provided estimates of subjects' nutrient intake by dietary pattern.

Compliance with expert population-based dietary guidelines and lower odds of carotid atherosclerosis in women: the Framingham Nutrition Studies.

Background: Carotid stenosis, an indicator of subclinical atherosclerosis, predicts future coronary artery disease (CAD) and stroke and provides a noninvasive method to identify candidates for primary prevention. The relation between diet and stenosis is relatively unexplored, particularly in women.

Objective: We evaluated in women the association between nutrient intakes that were consistent with expert population-based dietary guidelines and carotid stenosis.

What's in store for medical students? Awareness and utilization of expert nutrition guidelines among medical school preceptors.

Background: Instruction of physicians and other health professionals in medical nutrition sciences is among the expert recommendations to promote population health and reduce risks for cancer and other major causes of morbidity and mortality in the population. However, formal training in nutrition in United States medical schools is still lacking compared to the gains in basic and applied medical nutrition sciences. We sought to understand the awareness and current utilization of expert nutrition recommendations and practice guidelines among medical student faculty preceptors.

Dietary patterns, smoking, and subclinical heart disease in women: opportunities for primary prevention from the Framingham Nutrition Studies.

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between a heart-healthy dietary pattern and subclinical heart disease in women, and to identify potential opportunities for primary prevention.

Design: Prospective analysis in which dietary patterns and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors were assessed at baseline. Presence of subclinical heart disease was assessed using carotid atherosclerosis (stenosis >or=25%) measured by ultrasound at 12-year follow-up.