Viocare (United States)

Objectives: In this paper, we examined diet quality and associations between changes in skin carotenoids and body composition among selected NCAA Division I athletes. Methods: Athletes from women's (rowing, swimming, gymnastics) and men's (swimming, wrestling) teams at a large Midwest university (N = 129) completed one online food frequency questionnaire and 2 in-person visits, once in-season and once out-of-season, to assess skin carotenoids and body composition. Diet quality was assessed via Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI). Carotenoids were measured via resonance Raman spectroscopy and body composition via dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. ANOVA and Pearson correlations were used to test differences between teams and determine association between changes from in-season to out-of-season. Results: Mean HEI score for all athletes was 71.0. Women's rowing reported the highest diet quality (73.5), men's wrestling lowest (56.5). Skin carotenoids decreased for all teams, except men's wrestling, from in-season to out-of-season. Body fat percentage increased for women and decreased for men. There was a moderate inverse association between changes in skin carotenoids and body fat percentage (r = -.334, p = .001). Conclusions: Suboptimal diet quality coupled with decreases in skin carotenoids and increases in body fat percentage from in-season to out-of-season may justify dietitian-led interventions year-round to improve dietary patterns in collegiate athletes.

BackgroundNew methods for assessing diet in research are being developed to address the limitations of traditional dietary assessment methods. Mobile device–assisted ecological momentary diet assessment (mEMDA) is a new dietary assessment method that has not yet been optimized and has the potential to minimize recall biases and participant burden while maximizing ecological validity. There have been limited efforts to characterize the use of mEMDA in behavioral research settings.ObjectiveThe aims of this study were to summarize mEMDA protocols used in research to date, to characterize key aspects of these assessment approaches, and to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of mEMDA compared with the traditional dietary assessment methods as well as implications for future mEMDA research.MethodsStudies that used mobile devices and described mEMDA protocols to assess dietary intake were included. Data were extracted according to Preferred Reporting of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses and Cochrane guidelines and then synthesized narratively.ResultsThe review included 20 studies with unique mEMDA protocols. Of these, 50% (10/20) used participant-initiated reports of intake at eating events (event-contingent mEMDA), and 50% (10/20) used researcher-initiated prompts requesting that participants report recent dietary intake (signal-contingent mEMDA). A majority of the study protocols (60%, 12/20) enabled participants to use mobile phones to report dietary data. Event-contingent mEMDA protocols most commonly assessed diet in real time, used dietary records for data collection (60%, 6/10), and provided estimates of energy and nutrient intake (60%, 6/10). All signal-contingent mEMDA protocols used a near real-time recall approach with unannounced (ie, random) abbreviated diet surveys. Most signal-contingent protocols (70%, 7/10) assessed the frequency with which (targeted) foods or food groups were consumed. Relatively few (30%, 6/20) studies compared mEMDA with the traditional dietary assessment methods.ConclusionsThis review demonstrates that mEMDA has the potential to reduce participant burden and recall bias, thus advancing the field beyond current dietary assessment methods while maximizing ecological validity.

IntroductionNutrition counseling is an important intervention for many chronic diseases and dietary assessment is a crucial component of any initial nutrition counseling visit. Although necessary, the process of collecting a detailed dietary assessment is time consuming and, in turn, decreases the amount of time available for nutrition education and goal setting. The objective of this study was to examine whether an online dietary assessment completed prior to a nutrition counseling visit was related to more efficient nutrition counseling visits.MethodsTwenty‐six adults were recruited out of primary care centers and were randomized to either the pre‐assessment group (n=13) or the control group (n=13). Participants in both groups then attended 2 nutrition counseling visits with registered dietitians in a local grocery store. The pre‐assessment group completed an online food frequency questionnaire prior to their first visit with the dietitian, to which the dietitian had access prior to the initial visit. The control group did not complete a dietary assessment before their visit. Following each visit, the dietitians reported the time spent on assessment, education, goal setting, and aisle tours, as well as the specific topics covered during the education portion. A depth score was also used to estimate the average depth of each of the topic covered in the session (1=basic introduction, 4=skill mastery activities).ResultsParticipants who completed the online dietary assessment questionnaire experienced a more in‐depth nutrition educational experience as a result of the detailed preliminary report. When compared to the control group, the provision of the dietary intake assessment questionnaire resulted in significantly less time spent on assessment (14 vs. 19 minutes) and significantly more time spent on education (33 vs. 26 minutes) and goal setting (13 vs. 11 minutes) during the initial 1 hour session. Although the dietitians reported a shorter time spent on dietary assessment during the visit, they also reported spending an average of 13 minutes reviewing the online assessments prior to the visit. Those who completed the assessment prior to their visits had a greater mean number of topics covered, as well as a greater average depth score.DiscussionCompleting a dietary assessment prior to the initial nutrition counseling visit allowed for a more efficient visit with the dietitian. More time was spent on education and goal setting and the breadth and depth of the initial visit was greater for those in the pre‐assessment group. Requesting that patients complete a detailed dietary assessment prior to their nutrition counseling visits may be a feasible method for improving nutrition care, however additional research testing this model on a wider scale is necessary.Support or Funding InformationThe Ohio State University Food Innovation Center