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This study attempts to discover whether Eurocurrency market interest rates contain a unit root or stochastic trend.

BACKGROUND: Some studies have shown potential benefit of vitamin E on platelet function, but several clinical trials failed to show improved cardiovascular outcome with alpha-tocopherol supplementation. Gamma-tocopherol, a major dietary form of vitamin E, may have protective properties different from those of alpha-tocopherol. OBJECTIVE: We compared the effects of supplementation with alpha-tocopherol (500 mg) and a gamma-tocopherol-rich compound (500 mg, containing 60% gamma-tocopherol) on serum and cellular tocopherol concentrations, urinary tocopherol metabolite excretion, and in vivo platelet activation in subjects with type 2 diabetes. DESIGN: Fifty-eight subjects were randomly assigned to receive either 500 mg alpha-tocopherol/d, 500 mg mixed tocopherols/d, or matching placebo. Serum, erythrocyte, and platelet tocopherol and urinary metabolite concentrations were measured at baseline and after the 6-wk intervention. Soluble CD40 ligand, urinary 11-dehydro-thromboxane B2, serum thromboxane B2, soluble P-selectin, and von Willebrand factor were measured as biomarkers of in vivo platelet activation. RESULTS: Serum alpha-tocopherol increased with both tocopherol treatments. Serum and cellular gamma-tocopherol increased 4-fold (P < 0.001) in the mixed tocopherol group, whereas red blood cell gamma-tocopherol decreased significantly after alpha-tocopherol supplementation. Excretion of alpha-carboxyethyl-hydroxychroman increased significantly after supplementation with alpha-tocopherol and mixed tocopherols. Excretion of gamma-carboxyethyl-hydroxychroman increased significantly after supplementation with mixed tocopherols and after that with alpha-tocopherol, which may reflect the displacement of gamma-tocopherol by alpha-tocopherol due to incorporation of the latter into lipoproteins in the liver. Neither treatment had any significant effect on markers of platelet activation. CONCLUSIONS: Supplementation with alpha-tocopherol decreased red blood cell gamma-tocopherol, whereas mixed tocopherols increased both serum alpha-tocopherol and serum and cellular gamma-tocopherol. Changes in serum tocopherol closely reflect changes in cellular concentrations of tocopherols after supplementation. Copyright © 2006 American Society for Clinical Nutrition [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wave nature of heat propagation in a two-dimensional rectangular plate with an instantaneous thermal disturbance released in an arbitrary position is investigated by solving the hyperbolic heat conduction equation. The exact analytical solutions are developed for the temperature field and heat flux using the Green's function technique to deal with two limiting boundary conditions, the constant wall temperature and the adiabatic condition, around the region. The disturbance gives rise to a severe thermal wave front, which differs completely from that obtained through one-dimensional analysis, traveling through the medium at a finite speed with a sharp peak at the leading edge. The significant findings in these results are that a negative trailer is generated and follows behind the wave front. In addition, the magnitude of the front is significantly attenuated from the side adjacent to the trailer because the increasing area available to it for diffusion, and decays exponentially along its path of travel, since the thermal energy is dissipated in the wake of the moving wave front. The results also reveal that different boundary conditions strongly influence the reflection of a thermal wave front from the exterior surfaces and the reflection and interaction among thermal waves are more complicated than those found through one-dimensional analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prominent product placement is a core promotional tactic in retail food environments. How this practice has been adapted for online supermarkets, and the extent to which it is applied to healthier and less healthy food products in this setting, is largely unknown. We aimed to investigate placement-type promotions of food products in Australian online supermarkets., Methods: We developed a new method to assess placement promotions and applied it to the online stores of the two largest supermarket retailers in Australia. Each online store was audited across six 'locations' (input prior to data collection), including a randomly selected high socio-economic position area and low socio-economic position area from each of the three largest Australian cities. The names, page locations and type of placement strategy of promoted food products were captured, with product healthiness assessed using the Health Star Rating (HSR) nutrient profiling system. Descriptive statistics summarised the page locations of promoted products and the placement strategies used to promote them, and chi-squared tests applied to compare product healthiness by retailer and socio-economic position., Results: We recorded 12,152 food products promoted through placement strategies, 99% of which were eligible for a HSR. Overall, 44% of products promoted through placement strategies were unhealthy. Cross-promotions and recommendations was the most common strategy recorded overall (55.9% of all strategies), and advertisements and site content was the strategy most likely to promote unhealthy products (53.7% of products unhealthy). One retailer was more likely to promote unhealthy products (46% v 43%, p = 0.004) and unhealthy products were more likely to be promoted in more disadvantaged than less disadvantaged locations (45% vs 43%, p = 0.05), though the magnitudes of difference were small., Conclusions: A considerable number of unhealthy products are likely presented to online grocery shoppers in Australia. Public health policies targeting unhealthy food promotions may need to be updated, including with consideration of the different ways that products can be prominently displayed online, to avoid exacerbating risks of diet-related disease and health inequalities. Our novel methodology could be used for ongoing monitoring of online supermarkets in Australia and elsewhere to inform such policies., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Objective: To examine the relationship between the major plasma n6 PUFA, linoleic acid (LA), as well as the non-LA n6 PUFAs, and total and cause-specific mortality., Design: Prospective, observational, biomarker-based study., Setting: UK Biobank., Participants: Individuals with complete information on baseline demographic, covariate and plasma PUFA levels and mortality outcomes were utilized (n=257,925)., Methods: Multivariable-adjusted, Cox-proportional hazards models were used to predict risk of death from all-causes, and from cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, and other causes as a function of plasma LA and non-LA n6 levels, both continuously and by PUFA quintile (Q)., Results: Comparing LA Q5 to Q1, the hazard ratio (HR, 95% CI) for total mortality was 0.80 (0.76, 0.84; p<0.001), and this was similar for all three cause-specific death categories. On the other hand, mortality HR for non-LA n6 was 1.12 (1.08,1.17; p<0.001), and this was primarily due to increased risk for non-CVD, non-cancer deaths [HR 1.29 (1.19,1.40; p<0.001)]. Exploratory analyses among the eight next most common other causes of death suggested that both the decreased risk associated with higher LA and the increased risk associated with non-LA n6 were confined to deaths from respiratory and digestive diseases., Conclusions: These findings highlight the profound differences in health-related outcomes related to LA and non-LA n6 PUFA levels and underscore the inappropriateness of treating n-6 PUFAs as a homogenous class with respect to health outcomes. They also support recommendations to maintain (if not increase) current LA intakes., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest ☒ The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:William Harris reports financial support was provided by William H Donner Foundation. William Harris reports a relationship with OmegaQuant that includes: equity or stocks. WSH is on the editorial board of AJCN. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 American Society for Nutrition. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background and Aims: Our study examined the trends of cardiovascular health metrics in individuals with coronary heart disease (CHD) and their associations with all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality in the US., Methods and Results: The cohort study was conducted based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2018 and their linked mortality files (through 2019). Baseline CHD was defined as a composite of self-reported doctor-diagnosed coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, and angina pectoris. Cardiovascular health metrics were assessed according to the American Heart Association recommendations. Long-term all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality were the primary outcomes. Survey-adjusted Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios and corresponding 95% confidence intervals for the associations between cardiovascular health metrics and all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality. The prevalence of one or fewer ideal cardiovascular health metrics increased from 14.15% to 22.79% (P < 0.001) in CHD, while the prevalence of more than four ideal cardiovascular health metrics decreased from 21.65% to 15.70 % (P < 0.001) from 1999 to 2018, respectively. Compared with CHD participants with one or fewer ideal cardiovascular health metrics, those with four or more ideal cardiovascular health metrics had a 35% lower risk (hazard ratio, 0.65; 95% confidence interval: 0.51, 0.82) and a 44% lower risk (0.56; 0.38, 0.84) in all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality, respectively., Conclusion: Substantial declines were noted in ideal cardiovascular health metrics in US adults with CHD. A higher number of cardiovascular health metrics was associated with lower all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality in them., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest None declared., (Copyright © 2024 The Italian Diabetes Society, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aim: To modify the Australian and New Zealand Health Star Rating to account for ultra-processing and compare the alignment of the modified ratings with NOVA classifications and the current Australian Dietary Guidelines classifications of core (recommended foods) and discretionary (foods to limit)., Methods: Data was cross-sectionally analysed for 25 486 products. Four approaches were compared to the original Health Star Rating: (1) five 'negative' points added to ultra-processed products (modification 1; inclusion approach); (2) ultra-processed products restricted to a maximum of 3.0 Health Stars (modification 2; capping approach); (3 and 4) same approach used for modifications 1 and 2 but only applied to products that already exceeded 10 'negative' points from existing Health Star Rating attributes (modifications 3 and 4, respectively; hybrid approaches). Alignment occurred when products (i) received <3.5 Health Stars and were NOVA group 4 (for NOVA comparison) or discretionary (for Dietary Guidelines comparison), or (ii) received ≥3.5 Health Stars and were NOVA groups 1-3 or core., Results: All Health Star Rating modifications resulted in greater alignment with NOVA (ranging from 69% to 88%) compared to the original Health Star Rating (66%). None of the modifications resulted in greater alignment to the Dietary Guidelines classifications overall (69% to 76%, compared with 77% for the original Health Star Rating), but alignment varied considerably by food category., Conclusions: If ultra-processing were incorporated into the Australian and New Zealand Health Star Rating, consideration of ultra-processing within the broader dietary guidance framework would be essential to ensure coherent dietary messaging to Australians., (© 2024 The Author(s). Nutrition & Dietetics published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Dietitians Australia.)

Switching between similar food and beverage products may reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe). Here, using consumer data linked to 23,550 product-specific GHGe values, we estimated annual GHGe attributable to product purchases consumed at home in Australia and calculated reductions from specific switches. Potential changes to mean Health Star Rating, mean energy density and the proportion of ultraprocessed foods purchased were assessed. Approximately 31 million tonnes of GHGe were attributable to products consumed at home in 2019, the three highest contributors of GHGe being 'meat and meat products' (49%), 'dairy' (17%) and 'non-alcoholic beverages' (16%). Switching higher-emission products for 'very similar' lower-emission products could reduce total emissions by 26%. Switches to 'less similar' lower-emission products could lead to a 71% reduction. Switches had little impact on the average Health Star Rating, energy density of purchases and proportion of ultraprocessed foods purchased. Directing manufacturing and marketing towards lower-environmental-impact products and signposting such options to consumers are key., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Aims: The Australian Dietary Guidelines are currently being revised and ultra-processed foods have been identified as a high priority action area. To better understand how well the current Dietary Guidelines align with level of processing classifications, the aim of this study was to assess the alignment between the Australian Dietary Guidelines and the NOVA classification system for classifying the healthiness of packaged foods., Methods: Data were sourced from the Australian FoodSwitch dataset, which included 28 071 packaged food and beverage products available in major Australian supermarkets in 2022. Products were classified as (i) core or discretionary (Australian Dietary Guidelines) and (ii) non-ultra-processed or ultra-processed (NOVA). Agreement between the two systems (core vs. non-ultra-processed and discretionary vs. ultra-processed) was evaluated using the kappa statistic., Results: There was 'moderate' agreement (κ = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.40-0.42) between the Australian Dietary Guidelines and the NOVA system, with 69.8% of products aligned across the two systems. Alignment was more common for discretionary foods (80.6% were ultra-processed) than core foods (59.9% aligned were not-ultra-processed). Food categories exhibiting the strongest levels of alignment included confectionary, foods for specific dietary use, and egg and egg products. Discordance was most common for convenience foods, sugars, honey and related products, and cereal and grain products., Conclusions: Despite moderate alignment between the Australian Dietary Guidelines and NOVA, the discordance observed for almost one-third of products highlights the opportunity to develop recommendations for ultra-processed foods within the guidelines to advise Australians how these foods should be considered as part of a healthy diet., (© 2024 The Authors. Nutrition & Dietetics published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Dietitians Australia.)

We investigated the extent of alignment between 'healthiness' defined by a food classification system that classifies foods and beverages primarily by their nutrient composition, the Health Star Rating (HSR) and a system that considers only the degree of processing of the product, the NOVA classification system. We used data for 25 486 products contained within the George Institute for Global Health's Australian 2022 FoodSwitch Dataset. Agreement between the two systems in the proportion of products classified as 'healthier' (HSR ≥3.5 or NOVA group 1-3) or 'less healthy' (HSR <3.5 or NOVA group 4) was assessed using the κ statistic. There was 'fair' agreement (κ = 0.30, 95%CI: 0.29-0.31) between both systems in the proportion of all products classified as healthier or less healthy. Approximately one-third (n = 8729) of all products were defined as 'discordant', including 34.3% (n = 5620) of NOVA group 4 products with HSR ≥3.5 (commonly convenience foods, sports/diet foods, meat alternatives, as well as products containing non-sugar sweeteners) and 34.1% (n = 3109) of NOVA group 1-3 products with HSR <3.5 (commonly single-ingredient foods such as sugars/syrups, full-fat dairy and products specially produced to contain no ultra-processed ingredients). Our analysis strengthens the evidence for the similarities and differences in product healthiness according to a nutrient-based classification system and a processing-based classification system. Although the systems' classifications align for the majority of food and beverage products, the discordance found for some product categories indicates potential for confusion if systems are deployed alongside each other within food policies., (© 2023 The Authors. Nutrition Bulletin published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Nutrition Foundation.)

Background: Food product labelling can support consumer decision-making. Several food product labels (nutrition information panels (NIPs), ingredients lists, allergen declarations and country-of-origin) are mandated for physical product packaging in Australia, with a voluntary front-of-pack nutrition labelling system, Health Star Ratings (HSRs), also available. However, labelling requirements are not explicitly extended to online settings and the extent to which this information is available in these increasingly important food environments has not been assessed., Methods: Data from all individual food product pages was collected from the online stores of the two dominant supermarket retailers in Australia using automated web scraping in April-May 2022 (n = 22,077 products collected). We assessed the proportion of pages displaying NIPs, ingredients, allergens, country-of-origin and HSRs after excluding products ineligible to display the respective label. We also assessed whether HSRs were differentially available for higher- (healthier) and lower-scoring (less healthy) products, with HSR scores drawn from a comprehensive Australian food composition database, FoodSwitch. A manual inspection of randomly selected product pages (n = 100 for each label type per supermarket), drawn from products displaying the relevant label, was conducted to assess whether the labels were immediately visible to users (i.e. without scrolling or clicking). Differences in labelling prevalence and visibility were compared using chi-squared tests., Results: Across both supermarkets, country-of-origin labelling was almost complete (displayed on 93% of food product pages), but NIPs (49%), ingredients (34%) and allergens (53%) were less frequently displayed. HSRs were infrequently displayed (14% across both supermarkets) and more likely to be applied to higher-scoring products (22% on products with ≥ 3.5HSR v 0.4% on products with < 3.5HSR, p < 0.001). One supermarket was far more likely to make NIPs (100% v 2%, p < 0.001), ingredients (100% v 19%, p < 0.001) and allergens (97% v 0%, p < 0.001) information immediately visible, though the other made HSRs more apparent (22% v 75%, p < 0.001). Both supermarkets displayed country-of-origin labels prominently (100% v 86%, p < 0.001)., Conclusions: Food product labelling varies in online supermarkets in Australia overall and between supermarkets, while the design of online stores resulted in differences in labelling visibility. The near-complete display of country-of-origin labels and differential application of HSRs to higher-scoring products may reflect their use as marketing tools. Our findings highlight an urgent need for food labelling regulations to be updated to better account for online retail food environments., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Background: 'Food is medicine' strategies aim to integrate food-based nutrition interventions into healthcare systems and are of growing interest to healthcare providers and policy makers. 'Medically Tailored Meals' (MTM) is one such intervention, which involves the 'prescription' by healthcare providers of subsidized, pre-prepared meals for individuals to prevent or manage chronic conditions, combined with nutrition education., Objective: This study will test the efficacy of an MTM program in Australia among participants with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and hyperglycemia, who experience difficulties accessing and eating nutritious food., Methods: This study will be a two-arm parallel trial (goal n = 212) with individuals randomized in a 1:1 ratio to a MTM intervention group or a control group (106 per arm). Over 26 weeks, the intervention group will be prescribed 20 MTM per fortnight and up to 3 sessions with an accredited dietitian. Controls will continue with their usual care. The primary outcome is glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c, %) and secondary outcomes include differences in blood pressure, blood lipids and weight, all measured at 26 weeks. Process and economic data will be analyzed to assess the feasibility, acceptability, scalability, and cost-effectiveness of the intervention. Recruitment commenced in the first quarter of 2023, with analyses and results anticipated to be available by March 2025., Discussion: Few randomized controlled trials have assessed the impact of MTM on clinical outcomes. This Australian-first trial will generate robust data to inform the case for sustained, large-scale implementation of MTM to improve the management of T2D among vulnerable populations., Anzctr: ACTRN12622000852752., Protocol Version: Version 1.1, July 2023., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Dr. Mozaffarian reports research funding from the National Institutes of Health, The Gates Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Vail Innovative Global Research, and the Kaiser Permanente Fund; personal fees from Acasti Pharma and Barilla; scientific advisory board, Beren Therapeutics, Brightseed, Calibrate, Elysium Health, Filtricine, HumanCo, Instacart Health, January Inc., and Perfect Day (ended: Day Two, Season Health, and Tiny Organics); stock ownership in Calibrate and HumanCo; and chapter royalties from UpToDate. All other co-authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The relationship between omega-3 fatty acids and atrial fibrillation (AF) remains controversial., Objectives: This study aimed to determine the prospective associations of blood or adipose tissue levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) with incident AF., Methods: We used participant-level data from a global consortium of 17 prospective cohort studies, each with baseline data on blood or adipose tissue omega-3 fatty acid levels and AF outcomes. Each participating study conducted a de novo analyses using a prespecified analytical plan with harmonized definitions for exposures, outcome, covariates, and subgroups. Associations were pooled using inverse-variance weighted meta-analysis., Results: Among 54,799 participants from 17 cohorts, 7,720 incident cases of AF were ascertained after a median 13.3 years of follow-up. In multivariable analysis, EPA levels were not associated with incident AF, HR per interquintile range (ie, the difference between the 90th and 10th percentiles) was 1.00 (95% CI: 0.95-1.05). HRs for higher levels of DPA, DHA, and EPA+DHA, were 0.89 (95% CI: 0.83-0.95), 0.90 (95% CI: 0.85-0.96), and 0.93 (95% CI: 0.87-0.99), respectively., Conclusions: In vivo levels of omega-3 fatty acids including EPA, DPA, DHA, and EPA+DHA were not associated with increased risk of incident AF. Our data suggest the safety of habitual dietary intakes of omega-3 fatty acids with respect to AF risk. Coupled with the known benefits of these fatty acids in the prevention of adverse coronary events, our study suggests that current dietary guidelines recommending fish/omega-3 fatty acid consumption can be maintained., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures The Fatty Acid Research Institute retrospectively provided a small honorarium to a subset of the analysts who participated in this study, but it had no role in the design, analysis, manuscript writing, nor decision to submit for publication. Detailed funding information for the individual cohorts can be found in the Supplemental Appendix, specifically Supplemental Table 4. None of the funders/sponsors played any role in the collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Dr O'Donoghue is a member of the TIMI Study Group, which has received institutional research grant support through Brigham and Women’s Hospital from Amgen, Novartis, Janssen, and AstraZeneca; and has received consulting fees from Amgen, Novartis, Janssen, and AstraZeneca. Dr Albert has received consulting fees from Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Novartis, and Element Science. Dr Morrow is a member of the TIMI Study group, which has received institutional research grant support through Brigham and Women’s Hospital from Abbott Laboratories, Amgen, Anthos Therapeutics, Arca Biopharma, AstraZeneca, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Daiichi-Sankyo, Eisai, Intarcia, Janssen, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Quark Pharmaceuticals, Regeneron, Roche, Siemens, The Medicines Company, and Zora Biosciences; and has received consulting fees from ARCA, InCarda, Inflammatix, Merck, Novartis, and Roche Diagnostics. Dr O’Keefe has a major ownership interest in Cardiotabs (a company that markets supplements including omega-3). Dr Mozaffarian, outside of the submitted work, has received research funding from the Gates Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the Vail Institute for Global Research; has received personal fees from Acasti Pharma, Barilla, Danone, and Motif FoodWorks; has served on the scientific advisory board of Beren Therapeutics, Brightseed, Calibrate, DayTwo (ended June 20, 2023), Elysium Health, Filtricine, Foodome, HumanCo, January Inc, Perfect Day, Season, and Tiny Organics; has stock ownership in Calibrate and HumanCo; and has chapter royalties from UpToDate. Dr Harris holds stock in OmegaQuant Analytics, LLC (a laboratory that offers blood fatty acid testing); and is on the Scientific Advisory Boards for the Schiff Institute Science and Innovation, Synspira, and the Seafood Nutrition Partnership. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Dietary sodium has a dose-response relationship with cardiovascular disease, and sodium intake in Sweden exceeds national and international recommendations. Two thirds of dietary sodium intake comes from processed foods, and adults in Sweden eat more processed foods than any other European country. We hypothesized that sodium content in processed foods is higher in Sweden than in other countries. The aim of this study was to investigate sodium content in processed food items in Sweden, and how it differs from Australia, France, Hong Kong, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States., Methods: Data were collected from retailers by trained research staff using standardized methods. Data were categorized into 10 food categories and compared using Kruskal-Wallis test of ranks. Sodium content in the food items was compared in mg sodium per 100 g of product, based on the nutritional content labels on the packages., Results: Compared to other countries, Sweden had among the highest sodium content in the "dairy" and "convenience foods" categories, but among the lowest in "cereal and grain products," "seafood and seafood products" and "snack foods" categories. Australia had the overall lowest sodium content, and the US the overall highest. The highest sodium content in most analyzed countries was found in the "meat and meat products" category. The highest median sodium content in any category was found among "sauces, dips, spreads and dressings" in Hong Kong., Conclusion: The sodium content differed substantially between countries in all food categories, although contrary to our hypothesis, processed foods overall had lower sodium content in Sweden than in most other included countries. Sodium content in processed food was nonetheless high also in Sweden, and especially so in increasingly consumed food categories, such as "convenience foods"., Competing Interests: JS reports stock ownership in Anagram kommunikation AB and Symptoms Europe AB, outside of the present study. The collection and categorization of Swedish data was conducted by the Department of Medical Sciences at Uppsala University in collaboration with the George Institute. The FS databases and mobile application was funded by the George Institute. FS has no commercial relationship with food manufacturers that affect the information in the databases or recommendation of products in the application. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Karlsson, Rådholm, Dunford, Wu, Neal and Sundström.)

Aim: To assess the nutritional quality of plant-based meat analogues in Australia, compared to equivalent meat products, and to assess levels of micronutrient fortification in meat analogues., Methods: This cross-sectional study used nutrition composition data for products collected in 2021 from major supermarkets in Australia. Nutritional quality was assessed using the Health Star Rating, energy (kJ), protein (g), saturated fat (g), sodium (mg), total sugars (g), and fibre content (g) per 100 g, and level of food processing using the NOVA classification. Proportion of products fortified with iron, vitamin B 12 and zinc were reported. Differences in health star rating and nutrients between food categories were assessed using independent t-tests., Results: Seven hundred ninety products (n = 132 plant-based and n = 658 meat) across eight food categories were analysed. Meat analogues had a higher health star rating (mean 1.2 stars, [95% CI: 1.0-1.4 stars], p < 0.001), lower mean saturated fat (-2.4 g/100 g, [-2.9 to -1.8 g/100 g], p < 0.001) and sodium content (-132 mg/100 g, [-186 to -79 mg/100 g], p < 0.001), but higher total sugar content (0.7 g/100 g, [0.4-1.1 g/100 g], p < 0.001). Meat analogues and meat products had a similar proportion of ultra-processed products (84% and 89%, respectively). 12.1% of meat analogues were fortified with iron, vitamin B 12 and zinc., Conclusion: Meat analogues generally had a higher health star rating compared with meat equivalents, however, the nutrient content varied. Most meat analogues were also ultra-processed and few are fortified with key micronutrients found in meat. More research is needed to understand the health impact of these foods., (© 2023 Dietitians Australia.)