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Biomedical subjects

A Ferro-Luzzi

Publications and source records attributed to A Ferro-Luzzi.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Food sources of nutrients in the diet of elderly Italians: I. Macronutrients and lipids.

The major sources of macronutrients in the Italian diet were assessed. Elderly Italians, aged > or = 60 recorded their weighed intake for a 7-day period. A total of 945 subjects from 14 centres throughout Italy participated during the period 1983-1987. These data were used to quantify the contribution of individual foods to the total intake of and variability in intake of kilocalories, protein, carbohydrate, total fat, saturated fat, oleic acid, polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic acid, and cholesterol. The foods ranked one to five for Italy were compared to the top five foods contributing to these nutrients in the diet of the elderly in the US based on the NHANES II Survey (1976-1980). These data provide information for the design of an Italian data-based quantitative food frequency questionnaire. They are also of interest in their description of an industrialized, well-nourished population with a dietary pattern markedly different from the US--lower in saturated fat, higher in complex carbohydrate and higher in alcohol.

Aged↗
PubMed1993

Food sources of nutrients of the diet of elderly Italians: II. Micronutrients.

The foods which contribute most to the intake of selected vitamins and minerals were evaluated for the elderly in Italy and compared to food sources of nutrients in the US. A sample of 945 Italians, aged > or = 60, from 14 centres throughout Italy, each completed weighed 7-day food records during the period 1983-1987. These data were used to quantify the contribution of individual foods to the total intake of and variability in intake of vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin C, calcium, and iron. In addition, those foods contributing most to micronutrient intake for the Italians were compared to those foods contributing most for the elderly in the US as recorded by the NHANES II Survey (1976-1980). Overall, there was a preponderance of vegetable rather than animal sources, and of less processed food sources in Italy. In Italy, wine was an important source of several nutrients, including iron and riboflavin. These data are useful for characterizing diet in a well-nourished population with marked differences in diet from the US. They may also form the basis for a quantitative food frequency questionnaire for epidemiological studies in Italy.

Aged↗
PubMed1993

The nutritional impact of seasonality in children and adults of rural Ethiopia.

A survey of the nutritional status of subsistence farmers was conducted over 13 months in a rural area of Ethiopia characterized by moderate climatic seasonality and intensive land exploitation. Bi-monthly questionnaires on food consumption, time allocation, agricultural production and cash flow were administered to 203 households and anthropometry performed on 1407 individuals. Comparison of post-harvest and pre-harvest anthropometry was made on 672 individuals (48% of the sample). In children, seasonal changes in the Z-score of weight-for-height were small and not significant. Height growth velocity showed instead a marked seasonal pattern, with values close to normal (-0.2 SD units) in July to December, a period characterized by better food availability, and lower values (-3.0 SD units) in January to June, a period characterized by intensive farm labour and heavy rains. Among the adults, body weight was highest in the post-harvest season (December) and decreased by 1.5 +/- 2.3 kg in men and 1.3 +/- 2.6 kg in women to the yearly minimum in the pre-harvest season (June). The paper shows that in this area children and adults both suffer from exposure to seasonal energy stress. The change in weight-for-height Z-score observed in children and the body weight loss observed in adults was greater in individuals of low socio-economic status and, within the same socio-economic level, in individuals with better nutritional status.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Seasonal energy stress in an Ethiopian rural community: an analysis of the impact at the household level.

The household integrated response to seasonal fluctuations in food availability and work load was assessed in a longitudinal study in two villages of southern Ethiopia. The household response to energy stress was estimated by pooling weight changes of all members of the family, accounting for the diverse biological and functional meaning of weight losses of different age and sex groups, and levels of nutritional status. On average, seasonal energy stress experienced by the households was modest (3.3%, P < 0.05 by Tukey test). The cumulative weight change of poor households was twice as large as that of rich ones, and evidence was obtained of their further deterioration over the following agricultural year. Household food availability fluctuated seasonally, with evident socio-economic gradient: in the early pre-harvest season food stocks of poor households were 6.5 times smaller than those of better-off families (P < 0.001 by ANOVA). Unlike rich households, poor families markedly decreased the time devoted to agriculture in the pre-harvest season. Crop selection, quality of land management and time employed in agricultural work might have synergistically concurred to cause the stress situation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Vitamin A.

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Humans↗
PubMed1993

Vitamin C.

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Ascorbic Acid↗
PubMed1992

Salicylate hydroxylation as an early marker of in vivo oxidative stress in diabetic patients.

In vivo metabolism of salicylic acid produces two main hydroxylated derivatives (2,5- and 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid). The former can be produced by enzymatic pathways through the cytochrome P-450 system, while the latter is reported to be solely formed by direct hydroxyl radical attack. Therefore, measurement of 2,3-dihydroxybenzoate, following oral administration of salicylate in its acetylated form (aspirin), has been proposed for assessment of oxidative stress. In this article we report plasma levels of 2,3- and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoates following the administration of 1 g aspirin and plasma levels of thiobarbituric acid-reactive material (TBARM) in well-controlled diabetic patients and in healthy subjects. 2,3-Dihydroxybenzoate levels were significantly higher (23%) in diabetic patients than in controls (63.4 +/- 20.1 versus 49.0 +/- 6.8 nM; p < .05). On the other hand, TBARM values were not significantly different between groups. These results suggest that the method is useful to reveal in vivo oxidative stress independently from the peroxidation of lipids, and they support the hypothesis that oxygen radicals are involved in the pathogenesis of chronic complications of diabetes.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

A simplified approach of assessing adult chronic energy deficiency.

Body mass index (BMI) in conjunction with indices of energy turnover, e.g. physical activity levels (PAL), was recently proposed for classifying adult chronic energy deficiency (CED). Three deprived populations in Africa and Asia were chosen to assess the classification system. Repeated monitoring showed that the combined indicator was affected by instability in PALs and produced implausible discontinuities in the prevalence of different grades of CED. The use of BMI alone produced coherent data with changing BMI distributions, and only 5% of the population would have been wrongly classified as being malnourished, because of being thin but active. The risk of misclassification would be even smaller for populations with BMI distribution shifted towards the right. The prevalence of CED was consistently related within each country to indices of socio-economic status. Yet in Zimbabwe 18% of women and 6% of men had Grade I obesity compared with 11% and 14%, respectively, with CED. Less than 1% Indian and Ethiopian adults were obese but 61% of women and 70% of men were classified as CED in India and 57% and 50%, respectively, in Ethiopia. We propose that adult BMI alone is sufficient to provide important new insights into the problems of food availability and its control in less developed countries.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Nutritional status: serum lipids. Euronut SENECA investigators.

Serum lipid levels are considered to be one of the main risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in middle-aged men and women. The significance, however, of serum lipid metabolism as a cardiovascular disease risk factor in the elderly has yet to be clarified. This paper focuses upon the serum lipid levels of groups of elderly people from 18 centres with diversified socioeconomic backgrounds in 11 European countries. Serum cholesterol was measured with an enzymatic colorimetric method by autoanalyser in one laboratory and accuracy was checked by participation in the quality control programme of the Centre for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA, USA. Mean (+/- SD) serum cholesterol levels ranged from 6.56 +/- 0.66 mmol/l (Bellinzona, Switzerland) to 5.22 +/- 0.68 mmol/l (Coimbra, Portugal) in men, and in women from 7.77 +/- 1.61 mmol/l (Elverum, Norway) to 5.86 +/- 1.07 mmol/l (Anogia-Archanes/Greece). The mean levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ranged from 1.40 +/- 0.58 mmol/l (Chateau Renault-Amboise, France) to 1.05 +/- 0.28 mmol/l (Elverum, Norway) in men and from 1.62 +/- 0.41 mmol/l (Padua, Italy) to 1.23 +/- 0.29 mmol/l (Anogia-Archanes, Greece; Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal) in women. The highest median serum triglyceride values were found in Norway (Elverum) (men: 1.50 mmol/l, women: 1.75 mmol/l), and one of the French groups (Chateau Renault-Amboise) had the lowest median values (men: 1.07 mmol/l, women: 1.15 mmol/l). Significant differences between participating centres and between sexes were found for the following variables: serum cholesterol, HDL, and the ratio total HDL cholesterol/total cholesterol. For triglycerides the differences were significant only between centres, not between the sexes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Nutritional status: blood vitamins A, E, B6, B12, folic acid and carotene. Euronut SENECA investigators.

This chapter describes the vitamin plasma concentration data collection, preliminary analysis and results of the Euronut SENECA study. Blood plasma was collected from approximately 2500 elderly subjects born in 1913-1918 living in 17 small towns in 11 European countries, and the plasma levels of carotene, retinol, alpha-tocopherol, vitamin B12, folic acid and pyridoxal 5'-phosphate were determined. There were very large within- and between-centre differences in vitamin levels with no definite geographical pattern emerging. The vitamin status for retinol and folic acid was adequate in all centres. The prevalence of biochemical vitamin B6 deficiency was widespread and reached over 50% in some centres. Vitamin B12 biochemical deficiency was limited to ten centres and its prevalence was 1.6%-10%. Vitamin E biochemical deficiency was found in seven centres and varied from 0.5% to 25%.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Total and domestic consumption of salt and their determinants in three regions of Italy.

Total and domestic (discretionary) consumption of salt was assessed in a sample of 91 households, which were randomly selected in three areas of Italy characterized by different dietary habits. Total salt intake was estimated by the mean urinary sodium in four 24 h collections. Discretionary salt, added during the preparation of the meals or at the table, was assessed using a simplified protocol of the lithium marker technique. Total sodium excretion was 191 mmol/d, 160 mmol/d and 132 mmol/d in adult males, adult females and children respectively. Dietary sodium density was 15 mmol per MJ of energy in children and 19 mmol/MJ in adults. It was significantly lower in the area where the traditional consumption of unsalted bread persists. Discretionary sodium intake was 67 mmol/d in adult males and females and 43 mmol/d in children; equivalent respectively to 36 per cent, 39 per cent and 34 per cent of total sodium intake. No difference was found between urban and rural environments, whereas discretionary use of salt was higher in the lower social class. These findings have important nutrition policy implications for the lowering of salt intake in the general population.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Simplifying the lithium-marker technique used to assess the dietary intake of discretionary sodium in population studies.

1. Lithium has been used by Sanchez-Castillo et al. (Clin. Sci. 1987; 72, 81-6) for tracking sodium in order to monitor the domestic use of salt. The present study was designed to simplify the original protocol, which is too cumbersome for epidemiological studies. 2. A preliminary study conducted on nine volunteers showed that sharp modifications of lithium intake are detected within 24 h in urinary excretion. The average intake over a 5-day period could be predicted by the mean excretion of the last 3 days. Lithium recovery established from 1 baseline day and 3 plateau days was 95 +/- 6% (mean +/- SD), not significantly different from the recovery obtained by the integrated excretion curve over 12 days. 3. A simplified protocol was therefore developed, reducing to 4 the 12 days of urine collection originally required. 4. This simplified protocol was tested on five households (14 adults and five children). All domestic salt was substituted with lithium-tagged salt. Urine samples were collected on 1 baseline day and on 3 plateau days. The lithium/sodium ratio of all urine collections (both complete and incomplete) could be used to estimate the proportion of discretionary sodium. In our sample it was about 29% of total sodium intake. 5. The simplified protocol can thus be proposed for population studies.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Social and public health issues in adaptation to low energy intakes.

The centrality of the concept of energy requirement for a number of major national policy areas as well as the large proportion of Third World population believed to be exposed to energy stress and therefore needing to adapt emphasize the importance of the adaptation issue. This paper reviews the evidence of adaptation to low energy intakes in real-life conditions and, while identifying the reduction in physical activity as potentially the most powerful energy-sparing strategy, shows that the currently available evidence does not support the recourse to this behavioral strategy in developing countries undergoing recurrent seasonal energy stresses. Distinction is made between behavioral adaptation mechanisms, which include only actions taken after weight loss and directly resulting in immediate reduction of energy intake, and those actions that are taken in anticipation of a forth-coming energy stress and do not necessarily reduce energy expenditure.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1990

Seasonal energy deficiency in Ethiopian rural women.

The purpose of the study was to establish the existence of seasonal exposure to energy deficiency in rural areas of developing countries and to investigate the sequence of appearance and the nature of energy-sparing mechanisms utilized under real life conditions. The body weight of a group of 226 rural Ethiopian women was measured repeatedly over a one year period, at 45 day intervals. On a sub-group of 22 non-pregnant women total energy intake, TEI, total energy expenditure, TEE, and basal metabolic rate, BMR were also measured by the precise weighing method and by indirect calorimetry (Kofranyi-Michaelis respirometer or Douglas bag) and activity diaries. Body weight was found to have a moderate but statistically significant seasonal trend, with an overall loss of 1.6 kg. Women with higher BMI had larger seasonal swings of their body weight. Seasonal fluctuations were also found for TEI (maximum difference 420 kcal/d, not significant), and for BMR (maximum difference 200 kcal/day, P less than 0.000). TEE (mean yearly value of 1909 kcal/d, 42 kcal/kg) was very stable over the year and did not show any seasonal fluctuation. The present findings suggest that, under the study circumstances, seasonal exposure to fluctuation in food availability caused a moderate weight loss which was sufficient to induce metabolic adaptations, but not to cause any detectable change in physical activity.

Adaptation, Physiological↗