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Background and objective: Nutrition is a basic need for athletes; thus, adequate dietary intake is crucial for maintaining overall health, facilitating training adaptations and boosting athletic performance. Accurate dietary assessment tools are required to minimize the challenges faced by athletes. This study verifies the validity and reproducibility of a 157 item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) among Lebanese athletes. This is the only Arabic questionnaire in Lebanon that estimates food consumption for athletes which can also be used in Arabic speaking countries. There has been no previous validated food frequency questionnaire that estimated food consumption for athletes in Lebanon. Methods: A total of 194 athletes were included in the study to assess the validity of the food frequency questionnaire against four days dietary recalls by comparing the total nutrient intake values from the food frequency questionnaire with the mean values of four 24-hour dietary recalls using Spearman correlation coefficient and Bland Altman plots. In order to measure the reproducibility, the intra class correlation coefficients were calculated by repeating the same food frequency questionnaire after one month. Results: The intra-class correlation coefficient between the two-food frequency questionnaires ranged from average (0.739 for carbohydrates) to good (0.870 for energy (Kcal)), to excellent (0.919 for proteins) concerning macronutrients and ranged from average (0.688 for vitamin D), to excellent (0.952 for vitamin B12), indicating an acceptable reproducibility. Spearman's correlation coefficients of dietary intake estimate from the food frequency questionnaire and the four dietary recalls varied between 0.304 for sodium, 0.469 for magnesium to 0.953 for caloric intake (kcal). Bland-Altman plots illustrated a percentage of agreement ranging between 94.3% for fats to 96.4% for proteins. Conclusion: This food frequency questionnaire has a reliable validity and reproducibility to evaluate dietary assessments and is an appropriate tool for future interventions to ensure the adoption of adequate eating strategies by athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N-carboxymethyl-lysine (CML) and other dietary advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are chemically modified amino acids with potential toxicological effects putatively related to their affinity with the receptor for AGEs (RAGE). The goal of this study was to determine the postprandial kinetics of CML in both rodents and humans and, in the latter, to evaluate their relationship with the soluble RAGE isoforms (sRAGE). Four gavage solutions containing different forms of CML were given to rats, and blood was collected over 8 h. Three different breakfasts containing dietary CML (dCML) were administered to 20 healthy volunteers, and blood was collected over 2 h. Concentrations of CML, CEL, and lysine were quantified in plasma and human meals by LC-MS/MS, and sRAGE was determined in human plasma by ELISA. The results showed that dCML did not affect the concentrations of circulating protein-bound CML and that only free CML increased in plasma, with a postprandial peak at 90 to 120 min. In humans, the postprandial plasmatic sRAGE concentration decreased independently of the dAGE content of the breakfasts. This study confirms reports of the inverse postprandial relationship between plasmatic free CML and sRAGE, though this requires further investigation for causality to be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Binge eating behaviour (BE) is the major symptom of binge eating disorder (BED). This study aimed to compare the nutritional intake in the presence or absence of BE, with a particular focus on dietary n-6:n-3 ratio, to assess the association between BE and impulsivity and the mediating effect of BMI on this association. A total of 450 university students (age 18–28 years) participated. The self-administered questionnaires were a semi-quantitative FFQ and the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale and the binge eating scale. The average BE score was 11·6 (se 7·388), and 20 % of the total participants scored above the cut-off of 17, thus presenting BE with 95 % CI of 16·3, 23·7 %. Our study revealed that greater BMI, higher total energy intake, greater negative urgency and positive urgency scores were significantly associated with BE. Participants with high value of dietary n-6:n-3 ratio were 1·335 more at risk to present a BE compared with those with a lower value of this ratio (P = 0·017). The relationship between BE score and UPPS domains score was not mediated by the BMI. This is the first study reporting a link between high dietary n-6:n-3 ratio and BE as well as the fact that BE was linked to both, negative and positive urgencies, and that the association between BE and impulsivity was not mediated by BMI. These findings can help to deal more efficiently with people suffering from BE, a symptom that can precede the development of BED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies on the relative impact of body mass index in women in childbearing age and gestational weight gain on neonatal outcomes are scarce in the Middle East. Objectives: The primary objective of this research was to assess the impact of maternal body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG) on neonatal outcomes. The effect of maternal age and folic acid supplementation before and during pregnancy was also examined. Subjects and methods: This is a retrospective cross sectional observational study of 1000 full term deliveries of women enrolled thru the National Collaborative Perinatal Neonatal Network, in Lebanon. Maternal characteristics such as age, BMI and GWG and neonatal outcomes such as weight, height, head circumference and Apgar score were the primary studied variables in this study. Total maternal weight gain were compared to the guidelines depicted by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Results: The negative outcomes of newborns such as lean body weight and macrosomia were significantly present in women who gained respectively below or above the IOM’s cut-off points. Pregestational body mass index influenced significantly the infants’ birth weight, in both the underweight and obese categories. Birth height, head circumference and Apgar score were not influenced by pregestational body mass index or gestational weight gain. No significant associations were found between maternal age and pregestational body mass index and gestational weight gain. Conclusion: Studies evaluating the impact of weight before and during pregnancy on neonatal outcomes and anthropometrics measurements are lacking in the Middle East. Our results highlight the importance of nutritional counseling in order to shed the extra weights before conceiving and monitor weight gain to avoid the negative impact on feto-maternal health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]