Nutritional quality of food as represented by the FSAm-NPS nutrient profiling system underlying the Nutri-Score label and cancer risk in Europe: Results from the EPIC prospective cohort study

Background Helping consumers make healthier food choices is a key issue for the prevention of cancer and other diseases. In many countries, political authorities are considering the implementation of a simplified labelling system to reflect the nutritional quality of food products. The Nutri-Score, a five-colour nutrition label, is derived from the Nutrient Profiling System of…

Nutritional profile of the diet according to circadian clock genes in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) chronodiet study

Background & aims Circadian rhythms seem to impact both dietary intake and metabolism, depending on the individual’s chronotype. We aimed to explore whether the nutritional composition of meals throughout the day is influenced by genetics linked to the circadian clock and chronotype within the “European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) chronodiet” study. Methods…

Nutrient-wide association study of 92 foods and nutrients and breast cancer risk

Background Several dietary factors have been reported to be associated with risk of breast cancer, but to date, unequivocal evidence only exists for alcohol consumption. We sought to systematically assess the association between intake of 92 foods and nutrients and breast cancer risk using a nutrient-wide association study. Methods Using data from 272,098 women participating…

Nutrient Patterns and Their Food Sources in an International Study Setting: Report from the EPIC Study

Compared to food patterns, nutrient patterns have been rarely used particularly at international level. We studied, in the context of a multi-center study with heterogeneous data, the methodological challenges regarding pattern analyses. We identified nutrient patterns from food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Study and used 24-hour…

Nutrient adequacy and environmental foot-print of Mediterranean, pesco-, ovo-lacto-, and vegan menus: a modelling study

Background: Consumer food choices are changing towards a more plant-based diet (PBD) due to growing awareness of their less detrimental effects on health and the environment. However, PBDs—particularly vegan diets—may lead to nutritional deficiencies compared to non-PBDs. These differences may, in part, be influenced by the typically lower caloric content of PBDs. Objective: To compare…

Nut intake and 5-year changes in body weight and obesity risk in adults: results from the EPIC-PANACEA study

Purpose There is inconsistent evidence regarding the relationship between higher intake of nuts, being an energy-dense food, and weight gain. We investigated the relationship between nut intake and changes in weight over 5 years. Methods This study includes 373,293 men and women, 25–70 years old, recruited between 1992 and 2000 from 10 European countries in the European…

Nut consumption, linoleic and α-linolenic acid intakes, and genetics: how fatty acid desaturase 1 impacts plasma fatty acids and type 2 diabetes risk in EPIC-InterAct and PREDIMED studies

Background Dietary guidelines recommend replacing saturated fatty acid with unsaturated fats, particularly polyunsaturated fatty acids. Cohort studies do not suggest a clear benefit of higher intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids but, in contrast, higher circulating linoleic acid (LA) levels—reflective of dietary LA intake, are associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. However, genetic…

Novel Biomarkers of Habitual Alcohol Intake and Associations with Risk of Pancreatic and Liver Cancers and Liver Disease Mortality

Background Alcohol is an established risk factor for several cancers, but modest alcohol-cancer associations may be missed due to measurement error in self-reported assessments. Biomarkers of habitual alcohol intake may provide novel insight into the relationship between alcohol and cancer risk. Methods Untargeted metabolomics was used to identify metabolites correlated with self-reported habitual alcohol intake…

Non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity (NEAC) estimated by two different dietary assessment methods and its relationship with NEAC plasma levels

Purpose We aimed to quantify and compare dietary non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity (NEAC), estimated using two dietary assessment methods, and to explore its relationship with plasma NEAC. Methods Fifty healthy subjects volunteer to participate in this study. Two dietary assessment methods [a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and a 24-hour recall (24-HR)] were used to collect dietary…