Research is still limited on nutrition and quality of life among older adults.

Introduction: Globally, the number of older adults is growing exponentially. Yet, while living longer, people are not necessarily healthier. Nutrition can positively impact healthy aging and quality of life (QoL).

Critical data at the crossroads: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey faces growing challenges.

NHANES needs urgent attention to ensure its future, which is facing emerging challenges associated with data collection, stagnant funding that has undercut innovation, and the increased call for granular data for subpopulations and groups at risk. The concerns do not rest merely on securing more funding but focus on the need for a constructive review of the survey to explore new approaches and identify appropriate change. This white paper, developed under the auspices of the ASN's Committee on Advocacy and Science Policy (CASP), is a call to the nutrition community to advocate for and support activities to prepare NHANES for future success in a changing nutrition world.

Iodine in Foods and Dietary Supplements: A Collaborative Database Developed by NIH, FDA and USDA.

Data on the iodine content of foods and dietary supplements are needed to develop general population intake estimates and identify major contributors to intake. Samples of seafood, dairy products, eggs, baked products, salts, tap water, other foods and beverages, and dietary supplements were collected according to established sampling plans of the U.S.

Interlaboratory comparison of 25-hydroxyvitamin D assays: Vitamin D Standardization Program (VDSP) Intercomparison Study 2 - Part 2 ligand binding assays - impact of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and 24R,25-dihydroxyvitamin D on assay performance.

An interlaboratory comparison study was conducted by the Vitamin D Standardization Program (VDSP) to assess the performance of ligand binding assays (Part 2) for the determination of serum total 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]. Fifty single-donor samples were assigned target values for concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], 3-epi-25-hydroxyvitamin D [3-epi-25(OH)D], and 24R,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [24R,25(OH)D] using isotope dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (ID LC-MS/MS). VDSP Intercomparison Study 2 Part 2 includes results from 17 laboratories using 32 ligand binding assays.

Interlaboratory comparison of 25-hydroxyvitamin D assays: Vitamin D Standardization Program (VDSP) Intercomparison Study 2 - Part 1 liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assays - impact of 3-epi-25-hydroxyvitamin D on assay performance.

An interlaboratory comparison study was conducted by the Vitamin D Standardization Program (VDSP) to assess the performance of liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assays used for the determination of serum total 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), which is the sum of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D). A set of 50 single-donor samples was assigned target values for concentrations of 25(OH)D, 25(OH)D, 3-epi-25-hydroxyvitamin D (3-epi-25(OH)D), and 24R,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (24R,25(OH)D) using isotope dilution liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry (ID LC-MS/MS). VDSP Intercomparison Study 2 Part 1 includes results from 14 laboratories using 14 custom LC-MS/MS assays.

Vitamin D Standardization Program (VDSP) intralaboratory study for the assessment of 25-hydroxyvitamin D assay variability and bias.

An intralaboratory study assessing assay variability and bias for determination of serum total 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] was conducted by the Vitamin D Standardization Program (VDSP). Thirteen assays for serum total 25(OH)D were evaluated in a single laboratory including 11 unique immunoassays and one liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assay. Fifty single-donor serum samples, including eight samples with high concentrations of 25(OH)D (> 30 nmol/L), were assigned target values for 25(OH)D and 25(OH)D using reference measurement procedures (RMP).

Development of Databases on Iodine in Foods and Dietary Supplements.

Iodine is an essential micronutrient required for normal growth and neurodevelopment; thus, an adequate intake of iodine is particularly important for pregnant and lactating women, and throughout childhood. Low levels of iodine in the soil and groundwater are common in many parts of the world, often leading to diets that are low in iodine. Widespread salt iodization has eradicated severe iodine deficiency, but mild-to-moderate deficiency is still prevalent even in many developed countries.

Iron status in pregnant women and women of reproductive age in Europe.

Understanding the iron status in pregnant women in Europe provides a foundation for considering the role of iron screening and supplementation. However, available reports and studies have used different approaches that challenge the devising of overall summaries. Moreover, data on pregnant women are limited, and thus, data on women of reproductive age provide useful background information including baseline iron stores in pregnant women.

Baseline Assessment of 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Assay Performance: A Vitamin D Standardization Program (VDSP) Interlaboratory Comparison Study.

The Vitamin D Standardization Program (VDSP) coordinated an interlaboratory study to assess the comparability of measurements of total 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] in human serum, which is the primary marker of vitamin D status. A set of 50 individual donor samples were analyzed by 15 different laboratories representing national nutrition surveys, assay manufacturers, and clinical and/or research laboratories to provide results for total 25(OH)D using both immunoassays (IAs) and LC tandem MS (MS/MS). The results were evaluated relative to bias compared with the target values assigned based on a combination of measurements at Ghent University (Belgium) and the U.

Baseline Assessment of 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Reference Material and Proficiency Testing/External Quality Assurance Material Commutability: A Vitamin D Standardization Program Study.

The Vitamin D Standardization Program (VDSP) coordinated a study in 2012 to assess the commutability of reference materials and proficiency testing/external quality assurance materials for total 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] in human serum, the primary indicator of vitamin D status. A set of 50 single-donor serum samples as well as 17 reference and proficiency testing/external quality assessment materials were analyzed by participating laboratories that used either immunoassay or LC-MS methods for total 25(OH)D. The commutability test materials included National Institute of Standards and Technology Standard Reference Material 972a Vitamin D Metabolites in Human Serum as well as materials from the College of American Pathologists and the Vitamin D External Quality Assessment Scheme.

The Vitamin D Standardization Program (VDSP) Manual for Retrospective Laboratory Standardization of Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Data.

Low concentrations of total 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], the principal biological measure of vitamin D status, have been associated with clinical and public health outcomes. The determination of levels under which there is an increase in the risk of disease, as well as comparisons across populations, have been difficult to establish due the large assay variability in measuring 25(OH)D. Accordingly, the Vitamin D Standardization Program (VDSP) includes the retrospective standardization of existing 25(OH)D values collected by epidemiological and clinical studies, as well as clinical trials, as one of its main objectives.

Development of an Improved Standard Reference Material for Vitamin D Metabolites in Human Serum.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed Standard Reference Material (SRM) 972a Vitamin D Metabolites in Frozen Human Serum as a replacement for SRM 972, which is no longer available. SRM 972a was developed in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements. In contrast to the previous reference material, three of the four levels of SRM 972a are composed of unmodified human serum.

The Reverse J-Shaped Association Between Serum Total 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentration and All-Cause Mortality: The Impact of Assay Standardization.

We evaluated the impact of standardizing the originally measured serum total 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) values from Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III, 1988-1994) on the association between 25(OH)D and rate of all-cause mortality. Values were standardized to the gold-standard laboratory method. Follow-up from 1990-2006 consisted of 15,099 participants aged at least 20 years at baseline, among whom there were 3,784 deaths.

Do Cinnamon Supplements Have a Role in Glycemic Control in Type 2 Diabetes? A Narrative Review.

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum sp) has been suggested to help patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) achieve better glycemic control, although conclusions from meta-analyses are mixed. To evaluate whether the use of cinnamon dietary supplements by adults with T2DM had clinically meaningful effects on glycemic control, as measured by changes in fasting plasma glucose (FPG) or hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), a comprehensive PubMed literature search was performed. Eleven randomized controlled trials were identified that met our inclusion criteria that enrolled 694 adults with T2DM receiving hypoglycemic medications or not.

Standardizing 25-hydroxyvitamin D values from the Canadian Health Measures Survey.

Background: The Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) is an ongoing cross-sectional national survey that includes a measure of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] by immunoassay. For cycles 1 and 2, the collection period occurred approximately every 2 y, with a new sample of ∼5600 individuals.

Objective: The goal was to standardize the original 25(OH)D CHMS values in cycles 1 and 2 to the internationally recognized reference measurement procedures (RMPs) developed by the US National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) and Ghent University, Belgium.

Significance of serum 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D in the assessment of vitamin D status: a double-edged sword?

Background: 24,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D [24,25(OH)2D] in serum may be both a nuisance and nutritionally valuable.

Methods: We investigated the impact of 24,25(OH)2D3 on the performance of commercially available immunoassays for serum total 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] using (a) serum from a nationally representative sample of adults, (b) serum from a spiking experiment, and (c) data from the UK Vitamin D External Quality Assurance Scheme (DEQAS). We also investigated the utility of the serum ratio of 24,25(OH)2D3 to 25(OH)D as an index of inactivation and of response to vitamin D supplementation using randomized controlled trial (RCT) data.

Including food 25-hydroxyvitamin D in intake estimates may reduce the discrepancy between dietary and serum measures of vitamin D status.

The discrepancy between the commonly used vitamin D status measures-intake and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations--has been perplexing. Sun exposure increases serum 25(OH)D concentrations and is often used as an explanation for the higher population-based serum concentrations in the face of apparently low vitamin D intake. However, sun exposure may not be the total explanation.