Procedure to identify fortified foods in the Dutch branded food database.

Introduction: Information on fortified foods is needed for multiple purposes, including food consumption research and dietary advice. Branded food databases are a valuable source of food label data. European labeling legislation prescribes that food fortification should be indicated in the ingredient list, and nutrient values should be declared under certain conditions.

A new food-composition database for 437 polyphenols in 19,899 raw and prepared foods used to estimate polyphenol intakes in adults from 10 European countries.

Background: Accurate assessment of polyphenol intakes is needed in epidemiologic research in order to study their health effects, and this can be particularly challenging in international study settings.

Objective: The purpose of this work is to describe the procedures to prepare a comprehensive polyphenol food-composition database that was used to calculate standardized polyphenol intakes from 24-h diet recalls (24HDRs) and dietary questionnaires (DQs) in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).

Design: With the use of the comparable food classification and facet-descriptor system of the computerized 24HDR program EPIC-Soft (renamed GloboDiet), foods reported in the 24HDR (n = 74,626) were first aggregated following a stepwise process.

Salt Reductions in Some Foods in The Netherlands: Monitoring of Food Composition and Salt Intake.

Background And Objectives: High salt intake increases blood pressure and thereby the risk of chronic diseases. Food reformulation (or food product improvement) may lower the dietary intake of salt. This study describes the changes in salt contents of foods in the Dutch market over a five-year period (2011-2016) and differences in estimated salt intake over a 10-year period (2006-2015).

Oral intake of added titanium dioxide and its nanofraction from food products, food supplements and toothpaste by the Dutch population.

Titanium dioxide (TiO) is commonly applied to enhance the white colour and brightness of food products. TiO is also used as white pigment in other products such as toothpaste. A small fraction of the pigment is known to be present as nanoparticles (NPs).

Implementing the EuroFIR Document and Data Repositories as accessible resources of food composition information.

The EuroFIR Document and Data Repositories are being developed as accessible collections of source documents, including grey literature, and the food composition data reported in them. These Repositories will contain source information available to food composition database compilers when selecting their nutritional data. The Document Repository was implemented as searchable bibliographic records in the Europe PubMed Central database, which links to the documents online.

EuroFIR quality approach for managing food composition data; where are we in 2014?

A EuroFIR quality management framework was developed to assure data quality of food composition data, incorporating several recommendations developed or improved during the EuroFIR projects. A flow chart of the compilation process with standard operating procedures to assure critical steps was the starting point. Recommendations for food description, component identification, value documentation, recipe calculation, quality evaluation of values, guidelines to assess analytical methods, document and data repositories and training opportunities were harmonized as elements of the quality framework.

Dietary fibre: challenges in production and use of food composition data.

Dietary fibre is a heterogeneous group of components for which several definitions and analytical methods were developed over the past decades, causing confusion among users and producers of dietary fibre data in food composition databases. An overview is given of current definitions and analytical methods. Some of the issues related to maintaining dietary fibre values in food composition databases are discussed.

Updated folate data in the Dutch Food Composition Database and implications for intake estimates.

Background And Objective: Nutrient values are influenced by the analytical method used. Food folate measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or by microbiological assay (MA) yield different results, with in general higher results from MA than from HPLC. This leads to the question of how to deal with different analytical methods in compiling standardised and internationally comparable food composition databases? A recent inventory on folate in European food composition databases indicated that currently MA is more widely used than HPCL.

Impact of fatty acid food reformulations on intake of Dutch young adults.

Background: The Dutch'Task Force for the Improvement of the Fatty Acid Composition' initiated fatty acid reformulations in branches using vegetable oils and fats to reduce the trans (TFA) and saturated fatty acid (SFA) content of foods.

Objective: This study estimates the impact of recent reformulations in the task force food groups by estimating changes in median intake of TFA and SFA in Dutch young adults.

Methods: This is a modelling study with food consumption data of young adults.

International collaborative project to compare and monitor the nutritional composition of processed foods.

Background: Chronic diseases are the leading cause of premature death and disability in the world with overnutrition a primary cause of diet-related ill health. Excess energy intake, saturated fat, sugar, and salt derived from processed foods are a major cause of disease burden. Our objective is to compare the nutritional composition of processed foods between countries, between food companies, and over time.

The EPIC nutrient database project (ENDB): a first attempt to standardize nutrient databases across the 10 European countries participating in the EPIC study.

Objective: This paper describes the ad hoc methodological concepts and procedures developed to improve the comparability of Nutrient databases (NDBs) across the 10 European countries participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). This was required because there is currently no European reference NDB available.

Design: A large network involving national compilers, nutritionists and experts on food chemistry and computer science was set up for the 'EPIC Nutrient DataBase' (ENDB) project.

Heme and chlorophyll intake and risk of colorectal cancer in the Netherlands cohort study.

Background: The evidence for red meat as a determinant of colorectal cancer remains equivocal, which might be explained by differences in heme content. Heme is the pro-oxidant, iron-containing porphyrin pigment of meat and its content depends on the type of meat. Chlorophyll from green vegetables might modify this association.

Assessment of dietary intake among Moroccan women and Surinam men.

Objective: To establish a method for food consumption data collection in ethnic groups in the Netherlands.

Methods: Two pilot studies have been carried out, one among Moroccan women and one among Surinam men. First, focus group discussions were held to obtain background information from members of the target population.

A semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire for use in epidemiologic research among the elderly: validation by comparison with dietary history.

A self-administered semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire including 75 food items and providing information on the habitual intake of 31 nutritional parameters, based on the intake of protein, fat, carbohydrate, fiber and 11 vitamins and minerals, was developed for use in epidemiologic research on chronic disease among the elderly, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. By means of detailed frequency and quantity questions, specifications of types of food, preparation methods and seasonal variation, the questionnaire was expected to be an improvement on existing instruments. The relative validity of the questionnaire was examined in 74 men and women, aged 50-75, by comparison with a modified dietary history.

Nutrition and serum cholesterol levels among elderly men and women (Dutch Nutrition Surveillance System).

Associations of serum cholesterol with relevant dietary intake variables (assessed with the dietary history method) and body mass index were investigated in elderly men (n = 199) and women (n = 180) 65-79 years old. All subjects were apparently healthy, nondiabetic, and not on a dietary regimen. The associations were studied separately for men and women using linear regression analysis and all possible subsets regression analysis.

Adequacy of a vegetarian diet at old age (Dutch Nutrition Surveillance System).

To assess the adequacy of a vegetarian diet at old age, the dietary intake (assessed through dietary history with cross-check) of 44 apparently healthy lacto-(ovo-)vegetarians, aged 65-97 years, was evaluated. Adequacy was assessed by a comparison of nutrient intake with (Dutch) recommendations and by evaluating data on nutritional status. The results were also compared with data of elderly omnivores.

Dose-response relationships regarding vitamin B-6 in elderly people: a nationwide nutritional survey (Dutch Nutritional Surveillance System).

The dietary intake and biochemical status of vitamin B-6 in 476 apparently healthy Dutch elderly people (aged 65-79 y), who were not using drugs known to affect vitamin B-6 metabolism, were evaluated. Intake of vitamin B-6 per gram protein was related to biochemical data, namely plasma pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) and cofactor stimulation of aspartate aminotransferase in erythrocytes (AST-AC). Based on a cutoff point of 2.

Nutrition and aging: dietary intake of "apparently healthy" elderly (Dutch Nutrition Surveillance System).

The dietary intake (assessed through dietary history) of 539 apparently healthy, independently living elderly aged 65-79 years, was evaluated in a nationwide random sample. Except for pyridoxine, the intake of vitamins, minerals, and water was adequate according to the Dutch recommended dietary allowances. Fat intake (40 energy%) as well as P/S ratio (0.

Effect of household size on nutritional patterns among the Dutch elderly.

Elderly persons are vulnerable to nutritional risks. Factors such as living alone make the elderly prone to poor nutritional status as a result of inadequate diets. The results of a Dutch national nutrition survey of food consumption and nutritional status among 539 independently living, apparently healthy elderly persons, aged 65 to 79 years, show that in general the intake of macronutrients deviates from the Dutch recommendations.

[Is vitamin intake by the elderly in The Netherlands precarious?].

The elderly are vulnerable to nutritional risks. The vitamin intake (assessed through dietary history) and vitamin status of 539 independently living persons aged 65-79 years and 44 lacto-(ovo)-vegetarian persons aged 65-97 years were evaluated. All respondents were apparently healthy.

Determinants of total and high density lipoprotein cholesterol in boys from Finland, The Netherlands, Italy, the Philippines and Ghana with special reference to diet.

We have studied the determinants of total and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in young boys from five countries characterized by different lifestyles, dietary consumption profiles and mortality rates from coronary heart disease. All measurements including the estimation of dietary intake, physical activity, body mass index and the concentrations of total and HDL cholesterol were carefully standardized. The mean concentrations of total and HDL cholesterol were higher in the European boys (4.