| 1. |
- Leder, Lena, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of a healthy Nordic diet on gene expression changes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in response to an oral glucose tolerance test in subjects with metabolic syndrome : A SYSDIET sub-study
- 2016
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Ingår i: Genes & Nutrition. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1555-8932 .- 1865-3499. ; 11:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Diet has a great impact on the risk of developing features of metabolic syndrome (MetS), type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). We evaluated whether a long-term healthy Nordic diet (ND) can modify the expression of inflammation and lipid metabolism-related genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) during a 2-h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in individuals with MetS. Methods: A Nordic multicenter randomized dietary study included subjects (n = 213) with MetS, randomized to a ND group or a control diet (CD) group applying an isocaloric study protocol. In this sub-study, we included subjects (n = 89) from three Nordic centers: Kuopio (n =26), Lund (n = 30), and Oulu (n = 33) with a maximum weight change of ±4 kg, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein concentration ≤10 mg L-1, and baseline body mass index -2. PBMCs were isolated, and the mRNA gene expression analysis was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). We analyzed the mRNA expression changes of 44 genes before and after a 2hOGTT at the beginning and the end of the intervention. Results: The healthy ND significantly down-regulated the expression of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), interleukin 18 (IL18), and thrombospondin receptor (CD36) mRNA transcripts and significantly up-regulated the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta (PPARD) mRNA transcript after the 2hOGTT compared to the CD. Conclusions: A healthy ND is able to modify the gene expression in PBMCs after a 2hOGTT. However, more studies are needed to clarify the biological and clinical relevance of these findings.
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| 2. |
- Berggren, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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Nordic children's conceptualizations of healthy eating in relation to school lunch
- 2017
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Ingår i: Health Education. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 0965-4283 .- 1758-714X. ; 117:2, s. 130-147
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: Pupils' perspective should be better taken into account when developing nutrition education at school. The purpose of this paper is to explore Nordic children's perspectives on the healthiness of meals in the context of school lunches.Design/methodology/approach: In total, 78 focus group discussions were conducted with 10-11-year-old girls and boys (n=457) from schools in Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, which were participating in the Nordic school meal project ProMeal during the school year 2013-2014. A flexible discussion guide and stimulus material in the form of 14 photographs displaying different school lunch contexts were used. The discussions were analyzed using thematic analysis.Findings: These Nordic children seem to share the adult-set aim of healthy eating in the school context as a socio-cultural norm. Although healthy eating was constructed as a rational, normative and acceptable way to eat at school, unhealthy eating was emphasized as negotiably acceptable when eaten occasionally and under certain circumstances (e.g. at special occasions). Unhealthy eating also comprised emotionally laden descriptions such as enjoyment and disgust. Practical implications: Children's conceptualizations of healthy eating are connected to nutritional, socio-cultural, emotional and normative dimensions, which should be reflected also when developing nutrition education in school.Originality/value: The need for research exploring children's experiences of, and understandings about, school lunch motivated this unique multicenter study with a large number of participating children. In the focus groups a child-oriented, photo-elicitation method was used.
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| 3. |
- Berggren, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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Perspectives about health outcomes related to food among Nordic children
- 2016
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Perspectives about health outcomes related to food among Nordic childrenLinda Berggren* 1, Sanna Talvia2, Eldbjørg Fossgard3, Unnur Björk Arnfjörð4, Agneta Hörnell 1, Anna Ólafsdóttir 4,Ingibjörg Gunnarsdóttir 5, Hege Wergedahl 3, Hanna Lagström 6, Maria Waling1, Cecilia Olsson11Umeå University, Department of food and nutrition, Umeå, Sweden, 2Child and Youth Research institute, Turku, Finland,3Faculty of Education, Bergen University College, Bergren, Norway, 4School of Education, University of Iceland, 5TheNational University Hospital of Iceland , Unit for Nutrition Research, Reykjavik, Iceland, 6University of Turku, TurkuInstitute of Child and Youth Research, Turku, FinlandPreferred presentation type: Only PosterBackground and aims: Dietary intake in school has previously been studied but little is known about Nordic children’sperspectives on food healthiness in the school lunch context. This study aims to explore 10-year-old Nordic children’sperspectives on outcomes of healthy eating in the school lunch context.Methods: Seventy-two focus groups were conducted in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland with a total of 423participants. A flexible topic guide and 14 preselected photos displaying different school lunch contexts were used asstimuli material. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis.Results: Children reasoned that school lunch are and should be healthy since the food eaten at school has short andlong term outcomes related to cognitive and physical health. It was commonly expressed that food eaten in school affectsschool work and functioning in learning activities. It was also stated that food eaten in school can have negative andpositive effects on your mood, e.g. eating unhealthy food or an insufficient amount of food, puts you in a bad mood whichcan affect the rest of the school day. The discussions mainly relied on negative short term effects such as feeling ill andreduced stamina. Some food and food groups such as vegetables, milk and fish, were mentioned in a more positivesense highlighting the positive short- and long term outcomes on health. When describing the long-term outcomes ofeating, children mentioned that healthy eating helps to build muscles, grow and prevent diseases, such as cancer anddiabetes. Sugar and fat was frequently mentioned as being the cause of overweight and some other diseases.Conclusion: In general, Nordic children have an adequate understanding of established relations between food andhealth. Yet, we know that many pupils do not eat according to recommendations. This highlights the importance of takingthe complexity of food choice into consideration in nutritional education.Disclosure of Interest: None to declare
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| 4. |
- Gamborg, Michael, et al.
(författare)
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Birth weight and systolic blood pressure in adolescence and adulthood : meta-regression analysis of sex- and age-specific results from 20 Nordic studies
- 2007
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Ingår i: American Journal of Epidemiology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0002-9262 .- 1476-6256. ; 166:6, s. 634-645
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The authors investigated the shape, sex- and age-dependency, and possible confounding of the association between birth weight and systolic blood pressure (SBP) in 197,954 adults from 20 Nordic cohorts (birth years 1910-1987), one of which included 166,249 Swedish male conscripts. Random-effects meta-regression analyses were performed on estimates obtained from age- and sex-stratified analyses within each of the cohorts. There was an inverse association between birth weight and SBP, irrespective of adjustment for concurrent body mass index. The association was linear for males, but for females with a birth weight greater than 4 kg, SBP increased with birth weight (p < 0.01). The association was stronger in the older age groups (p < 0.05), although this could have been a birth cohort effect. The association was stronger among females than among males (p = 0.005) when birth weight was less than or equal to 4 kg. The estimated effect of birth weight on SBP at age 50 years was -1.52 mmHg/kg (95% confidence interval: -2.27, -0.77) in men and -2.80 mmHg/kg (95% confidence interval: -3.85, -1.76) in women. Exclusion of the Swedish conscripts produced nearly identical results. This meta-analysis supports the evidence of an inverse birth weight-SBP association, regardless of adjustment for concurrent body size. It also reveals important heterogeneity in the shape and strength of the association by sex and age.
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| 5. |
- Gürdeniz, Gözde, et al.
(författare)
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Analysis of the SYSDIET Healthy Nordic Diet randomized trial based on metabolic profiling reveal beneficial effects on glucose metabolism and blood lipids
- 2021
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Ingår i: Clinical Nutrition. - : Elsevier. - 0261-5614 .- 1532-1983. ; 41:2, s. 441-451
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND & AIMS: Intake assessment in multicenter trials is challenging, yet important for accurate outcome evaluation. The present study aimed to characterize a multicenter randomized controlled trial with a healthy Nordic diet (HND) compared to a Control diet (CD) by plasma and urine metabolic profiles and to associate them with cardiometabolic markers.METHODS: During 18-24 weeks of intervention, 200 participants with metabolic syndrome were advised at six centres to eat either HND (e.g. whole-grain products, berries, rapeseed oil, fish and low-fat dairy) or CD while being weight stable. Of these 166/159 completers delivered blood/urine samples. Metabolic profiles of fasting plasma and 24 h pooled urine were analysed to identify characteristic diet-related patterns. Principal components analysis (PCA) scores (i.e. PC1 and PC2 scores) were used to test their combined effect on blood glucose response (primary endpoint), serum lipoproteins, triglycerides, and inflammatory markers.RESULTS: The profiles distinguished HND and CD with AUC of 0.96 ± 0.03 and 0.93 ± 0.02 for plasma and urine, respectively, with limited heterogeneity between centers, reflecting markers of key foods. Markers of fish, whole grain and polyunsaturated lipids characterized HND, while CD was reflected by lipids containing palmitoleic acid. The PC1 scores of plasma metabolites characterizing the intervention is associated with HDL (β = 0.05; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.08; P = 0.001) and triglycerides (β = -0.06; 95% CI: -0.09, -0.03; P < 0.001). PC2 scores were related with glucose metabolism (2 h Glucose, β = 0.1; 95% CI: 0.05, 0.15; P < 0.001), LDL (β = 0.06; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.1; P = 0.02) and triglycerides (β = 0.11; 95% CI: 0.06, 0.15; P < 0.001). For urine, the scores were related with LDL cholesterol.CONCLUSIONS: Plasma and urine metabolite profiles from SYSDIET reflected good compliance with dietary recommendations across the region. The scores of metabolites characterizing the diets associated with outcomes related with cardio-metabolic risk. Our analysis therefore offers a novel way to approach a per protocol analysis with a balanced compliance assessment in larger multicentre dietary trials. The study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov with NCT00992641.
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| 6. |
- Hörnell, Agneta, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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School meals and health : the PROMEAL-study
- 2016
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Ingår i: Food & Nutrition Research. - : SNF Swedish Nutrition Foundation. - 1654-6628 .- 1654-661X. ; 60:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 7. |
- Jonsson, Bert, et al.
(författare)
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The effect of schooling on basic cognition in selected Nordic Countries
- 2017
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Ingår i: Europe's Journal of Psychology. - : Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID). - 1841-0413. ; 13:4, s. 645-666
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present study investigated schooling effects on cognition. Cognitive data were collected as part of a research project (ProMeal) that investigated school meals and measured the intake of school lunch in relation to children’s health, cognitive function, and classroom learning in four Nordic countries, among children between 10–11 years of age. It was found that Finnish pupils attending 4th grade were not, on any measure, outperformed by Norwegian and Icelandic pupils attending 5th and Swedish pupils attending 4th grade on a task measuring working memory capacity, processing speed, inhibition, and in a subsample on response- and attention control. Moreover, boys were found to perform superior to girls on tasks measuring processing speed. However, girls were found to perform better on tasks related to attention and self-control. The results are discussed in relation to the reciprocal association between cognition and schooling and whether these results reflect quality differences between schools in the four Nordic countries; most notably in comparison to Finland.
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| 8. |
- Kolehmainen, Marjukka, et al.
(författare)
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Healthy Nordic diet downregulates the expression of genes involved in inflammation in subcutaneous adipose tissue in individuals with features of the metabolic syndrome.
- 2015
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Ingår i: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. - : Elsevier BV. - 0002-9165 .- 1938-3207. ; 101:1, s. 228-239
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Previously, a healthy Nordic diet (ND) has been shown to have beneficial health effects close to those of Mediterranean diets.OBJECTIVE: The objective was to explore whether the ND has an impact on gene expression in abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and whether changes in gene expression are associated with clinical and biochemical effects.DESIGN: Obese adults with features of the metabolic syndrome underwent an 18- to 24-wk randomized intervention study comparing the ND with the control diet (CD) (the SYSDIET study, carried out within Nordic Centre of Excellence of the Systems Biology in Controlled Dietary Interventions and Cohort Studies). The present study included participants from 3 Nordic SYSDIET centers [Kuopio (n = 20), Lund (n = 18), and Oulu (n = 18)] with a maximum weight change of ±4 kg, highly sensitive C-reactive protein concentration <10 mg/L at the beginning and the end of the intervention, and baseline body mass index (in kg/m(2)) <38. SAT biopsy specimens were obtained before and after the intervention and subjected to global transcriptome analysis with Gene 1.1 ST Arrays (Affymetrix).RESULTS: Altogether, 128 genes were differentially expressed in SAT between the ND and CD (nominal P < 0.01; false discovery rate, 25%). These genes were overrepresented in pathways related to immune response (adjusted P = 0.0076), resulting mainly from slightly decreased expression in the ND and increased expression in the CD. Immune-related pathways included leukocyte trafficking and macrophage recruitment (e.g., interferon regulatory factor 1, CD97), adaptive immune response (interleukin32, interleukin 6 receptor), and reactive oxygen species (neutrophil cytosolic factor 1). Interestingly, the regulatory region of the 128 genes was overrepresented for binding sites for the nuclear transcription factor κB.CONCLUSION: A healthy Nordic diet reduces inflammatory gene expression in SAT compared with a control diet independently of body weight change in individuals with features of the metabolic syndrome. The study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00992641.
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| 9. |
- Thorell, Kaisa, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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The Helicobacter pylori Genome Project: insights into H. pylori population structure from analysis of a worldwide collection of complete genomes
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - 2041-1723. ; 14:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Helicobacter pylori, a dominant member of the gastric microbiota, shares co-evolutionary history with humans. This has led to the development of genetically distinct H. pylori subpopulations associated with the geographic origin of the host and with differential gastric disease risk. Here, we provide insights into H. pylori population structure as a part of the Helicobacter pylori Genome Project (HpGP), a multi-disciplinary initiative aimed at elucidating H. pylori pathogenesis and identifying new therapeutic targets. We collected 1011 well-characterized clinical strains from 50 countries and generated high-quality genome sequences. We analysed core genome diversity and population structure of the HpGP dataset and 255 worldwide reference genomes to outline the ancestral contribution to Eurasian, African, and American populations. We found evidence of substantial contribution of population hpNorthAsia and subpopulation hspUral in Northern European H. pylori. The genomes of H. pylori isolated from northern and southern Indigenous Americans differed in that bacteria isolated in northern Indigenous communities were more similar to North Asian H. pylori while the southern had higher relatedness to hpEastAsia. Notably, we also found a highly clonal yet geographically dispersed North American subpopulation, which is negative for the cag pathogenicity island, and present in 7% of sequenced US genomes. We expect the HpGP dataset and the corresponding strains to become a major asset for H. pylori genomics.
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| 10. |
- Ulven, Stine M., et al.
(författare)
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An isocaloric nordic diet modulates rela and tnfrsf1a gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in individuals with metabolic syndrome—a sysdiet sub-study
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nutrients. - : MDPI AG. - 2072-6643. ; 11:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A healthy dietary pattern is associated with a lower risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and reduced inflammation. To explore this at the molecular level, we investigated the effect of a Nordic diet (ND) on changes in the gene expression profiles of inflammatory and lipid-related genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of individuals with MetS. We hypothesized that the intake of an ND compared to a control diet (CD) would alter the expression of inflammatory genes and genes involved in lipid metabolism. The individuals with MetS underwent an 18/24-week randomized intervention to compare a ND with a CD. Eighty-eight participants (66% women) were included in this sub-study of the larger SYSDIET study. Fasting PBMCs were collected before and after the intervention and changes in gene expression levels were measured using TaqMan Array Micro Fluidic Cards. Forty-eight pre-determined inflammatory and lipid related gene transcripts were analyzed. The expression level of the gene tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor superfamily member 1A (TNFRSF1A) was down-regulated (p = 0.004), whereas the nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) subunit, RELA proto-oncogene, was up-regulated (p = 0.016) in the ND group compared to the CD group. In conclusion, intake of an ND in individuals with the MetS may affect immune function.
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