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Dear Colleagues and Friends,
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Applied nutrition investigation
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The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans highlight the necessity to shift from individual foods or nutrients to healthy eating patterns as a whole. A priori dietary patterns have been widely applied in numerous epidemiological studies to further investigate their association with the risk of various chronic diseases. Recently, evidence from the Nurses Health Studies and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) with up to 32 years of follow-up, analyzed the association between adherence to different a priori dietary patterns and cardiovascular disease. An Alternate Mediterranean Diet Score as well as other indices including the Healthy Eating Index–2015, Healthful Plant-Based Diet Index, and the Alternate Healthy Eating Index were associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
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Beyond dietary indices, other health-scores offer additional insight into their association with chronic diseases such as diabetes. A new research from the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) cohort study has shown that higher adherence to a “healthy lifestyle score (HLS)” may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. This lifestyle-assessment tool evaluates smoking habits, physical activity, Mediterranean diet adherence, alcohol consumption, television exposure, nap habits, social activities, and working hours.
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The Mediterranean diet (MD) has recently drawn greater attention for its ability to decrease the risk of cancer. The elevated polyphenol content of olive oil, the predominant source of fat in the MD, might explain its anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic effects. In fact, this diet antioxidant and nutrigenomic modulation power fundamentally due to olive oil polyphenols, in conjunction with red wine resveratrol and tomato lycopene.
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Some of the bioactive components within the MD are of interest in the field of epigenetics. Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is primarily composed of monounsaturated fatty acids and omega-3, however, it also contains other components. A smaller percentage of EVOO is conformed by linoleic acid, vitamin E and other elements that have been correlated with lower incidence of arteriosclerosis, diabetes, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, skin disease, cancer and an influence over the ageing process.
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