2 results
Analysis of dietary habits and health status in a court of young athletes in Northern Italy practicing Athletic disciplines
- Emanuela Cazzaniga, Annalisa Terenzio, Alessandra Pozzi, Alice Cassera, Andrea Greco, Antonina Orlando, Paola Palestini
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- Journal:
- Proceedings of the Nutrition Society / Volume 79 / Issue OCE2 / 2020
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 10 June 2020, E553
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Introduction:
A balanced diet is a fundamental component of athletes' health, training and performance. WHO dietary guidelines highlight the importance of maintaining a normal BMI, limiting the intake of sugars (especially sweetened foods and beverages), eating at least 5 portions of fruits and vegetables per day, drink lots of clean water (at least 2 L per day for children older than 13 and for adults). HBSC-Italy study reveals that children have frequently bad eating habits, such as consuming sweetened drinks and not enough fruits and vegetables. Indeed, 21.3% of Italian children are overweight and 9.3% are obese. The purpose of this study is to evaluate nutritional and health status of a population of Northern Italy children and adolescents practicing Athletics, investigating for both endurance and not endurance disciplines. Data obtained are a starting point for focused food education interventions aimed at improving health and sport performance.
Materials and Methods:A cohort of 125 athletes (12–25 years, 42.4% male, 57.6% female). Two groups were created: children (12–17 years) and adults (18–25 years). Weight, height, waist circumference, triceps and subscapularis skinfolds were measured in order to calculate BMI, Waist-to-Height ratio (WtHr), body adiposity and muscle mass. At baseline and after 1 year (follow-up) from a nutritional educational intervention, the anthropometric measures and dietary habits were tested with a validated dietary screening survey, considering food quality, portions and frequencies of consumption, were taken.
Results:At Baseline, more than 85% of athletes were found to be normal weight with WHtR < 0.5. All the athletes showed body adiposity in the normal range. Regarding food habits, most athletes do not take the recommended daily fruit and vegetable servings follow Italian trend. Only about 20% of children athletes assumes the water daily intake. On the contrary, about 50% of athletes in every group drink sweetened beverages every day. The data collection after the personalized food education meetings will be collected in May 2019.
Discussion:The athletes of cohort shows a good health status but nutritional habits present critical issue. For this reasons, there is a need of nutritional education for improving healthy eating habits in young athletes in order to impact positively on future health status and on sport performance.
Project for the prevention of caries in the developmental age: Experience in kindergartens of Northern Italy
- Antonina Orlando, Stefano Brioschi, Luca Macca', Francesca Gennaro, Alice Cassera, Maria Cristina Panzeri, Paola Palestini, Emanuela Cazzaniga
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- Journal:
- Proceedings of the Nutrition Society / Volume 79 / Issue OCE2 / 2020
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 10 June 2020, E710
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- Article
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- You have access Access
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Abstract
Introduction: Caries is one of the most widespread chronic diseases in the world and in Italy, only 78.4% of the 4 years children are caries free. Caries is defined as an infectious multifactorial pathology and between the etiological factors that contribute to its developing we find excessive sugar consumption. Correct behaviours adopted since the pediatric age will allow the child to learn how to improve their lifestyle, thus protecting health. Parents must therefore be properly educated to transmit healthy habits to their children from the early years. The main goal of our project is the prevention of caries in the developmental age by means of educational interventions on parents of children in the kindergarten (0–3 years). The study assesses the oral hygiene and food habits of the child and caregiver at baseline and after 3 months from the interventions (follow-up).
Materials and Methods: We have used a questionnaire to collect the oral hygiene and food habits of parents and children. Next, dental hygienists and nutritionists organized training sessions for parents about correct oral hygiene and eating habits (in particular to reduce the sugar consumption). After 3 months from the training, the same questionnaires reconfirmed to evaluate the improvement of family habits.
Results: The number of participants was reduce from 99 to 68 at the follow-up. With regards to eating habits, after training, almost the whole of the sample began to practice breakfast, indicating that the actual importance of this meal was understood. The habit of morning and afternoon snack, essential for a growing child, has increased (from 84% at baseline to 94% at follow-up and from 92% to 97% respectively). The bad habit of the after dinner snack, often even after teeth brushing, has decreased consistently (32% to 22%).
The most significant advances in oral hygiene are those concerning tooth washing (86% to 97%), the average daily washing (1.27/die to 1.57/die), self-washing (33% to 30%), the use of toothpaste (85% to 90%) and fluoridated toothpaste (48% to 62%).
Discussion: Starting from the data obtained from our pilot study, we think that it is essential to intervene already in the first years of life, when the subject is still “plastic” and can be trained to perform correct eating habits and oral hygiene. Furthermore, reducing the consumption of foods rich in sugar does not have a positive effect only on the onset of caries but also on the health of the individual.