Nutrients

Background: Maintaining favorable dietary quality may play an important role in disease prevention, and the mitigation of inflammation is considered a key mechanism. Although the association between dietary quality and inflammation has been reported, evidence from South Korea remains limited. Therefore, this study examined the association between the Korean Healthy Eating Index (KHEI) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels. Methods: We analyzed a nationally representative sample of 14,050 adults in South Korea. The 14-item KHEI was measured on a scale of 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better dietary quality, and was categorized into quartiles (Q1–Q4). Serum hs-CRP levels (mg/L) were categorized into low (<1), intermediate (1–<3), and high (≥3) categories. Multinomial logistic regressions were employed to determine the association of KHEI with hs-CRP levels, with the low hs-CRP group as the reference category. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated. Results: In the overall sample, 74.47%, 18.75%, and 6.78% of participants were classified as having low, intermediate, and high hs-CRP levels, respectively. Compared with the lowest KHEI quartile (Q1), participants in Q2, Q3, and Q4 had adjusted ORs (95% CIs) of 0.98 (0.85–1.14), 0.91 (0.78–1.05), and 0.75 (0.64–0.87), respectively, for intermediate hs-CRP levels. For high hs-CRP levels, participants in Q2, Q3, and Q4 had ORs (95% CIs) of 0.81 (0.65–1.01), 0.74 (0.58–0.93), and 0.68 (0.53–0.87), respectively, compared with Q1. Conclusions: Higher KHEI scores was associated with lower odds of having high hs-CRP levels. Prospective studies are needed to analyze the temporal relationship.

Background/Objectives: Fruit and vegetable intake remains below recommended levels, particularly among families facing socioeconomic constraints. School-based food access interventions may improve household dietary behaviors. This study evaluated the association between participation in the “Leket Health” school-based rescued produce distribution program and changes in parental fruit and vegetable intake, nutrition-related parenting practices, and household food security. Children’s fruit and vegetables intake was assessed as a secondary exploratory outcome. Methods: A non-randomized controlled cluster trial was conducted among parents (n = 281) of 4th–5th-grade students at three elementary schools in a peripheral town in Israel, with one school per study arm (three clusters in total). Schools were assigned to full intervention (biweekly fruit and vegetable boxes and nutrition education), partial intervention (boxes only), or control. Parent data were collected at baseline and after 7 months using both self-reported fruit and vegetable portions and a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), food security questionnaire, and parental behavior questionnaire. Child intake was assessed using a study-specific FFQ. Primary analyses used a complete-case approach, supplemented by an allocation-based multiple-imputation sensitivity analysis among 269 identifiable participants. The trial was not registered in a public registry. Results: A total of 70% of enrolled participants completed the study. The two parental intake measures yielded discordant findings: categorical changes in parent-reported daily fruit servings differed across study groups in the complete-case analysis (p = 0.028), whereas FFQ-derived fruit and vegetable intake (g/day) showed no statistically significant between-group differences. The overall parenting-practices score showed no statistically significant change (p = 0.770) or between-group difference (p = 0.297). Household food insecurity increased from 8.7% to 14.3% and worsened across all study arms, with no significant between-group difference in deterioration (p = 0.810). No primary dietary endpoint was prespecified. In the allocation-based multiple-imputation analysis, adjusted follow-up fruit intake was higher than control by 0.38 portions/day (95% CI 0.04–0.71) in the full-intervention arm and 0.25 portions/day (95% CI −0.10 to 0.61) in the partial-intervention arm; estimates were attenuated under more adverse assumptions regarding missing outcomes. In an exploratory post-allocation adherence analysis, each additional produce box collected was associated with 6.7% higher odds of a parent-reported increase in fruit intake (OR = 1.067, 95% CI 1.003–1.135; p = 0.040). Among intervention participants, parent-reported improvements in nutrition-related parenting practices were associated with parent-reported increases in household vegetable variety (OR = 2.219, 95% CI 1.057–4.656; p = 0.035). These exploratory associations do not establish intervention effects. The overall parenting-practices score showed no statistically significant change (p = 0.770) or between-group difference (p = 0.297). Household food insecurity increased from 8.7% to 14.3% and worsened across all study arms, with no significant between-group difference in deterioration (p = 0.810). Among children, no significant changes were observed in FFQ-derived intake. Conclusions: Program participation was associated with higher parent-reported fruit servings, although the magnitude of between-arm differences varied across missing-data assumptions. No significant changes were observed in parental vegetable servings or FFQ-derived fruit and vegetable intake among parents or children. Given the single-school-per-arm design, these findings should be interpreted as exploratory and require confirmation in studies with multiple schools per arm.

Background/Objective: Pediatric obesity represents a paramount problem for global health that affects children’s actual quality of life, dramatically compromising their future health. Obesity has been demonstrated to alter skeletal muscle, a highly plastic tissue with dimorphic characteristics, which changes during development, homeostasis, adaptive responses, and diseases. Since it is responsible for 80% of insulin-stimulated glucose uptake, its alteration establishes a vicious circle profoundly impacting overall metabolism. Although obesogenic diets are known to distinctly affect adult male and female muscles, scarce information is available on growing individuals. Therefore, we performed an exploratory analysis on the early effects of an obesogenic diet in murine muscles during maturation. Methods: We analyzed the transcriptome of tibialis anterior from C57BL/6J male and female mice, fed on a high-fat, high-sugar diet (HFHS) for 4 and 20 weeks starting at 3 weeks of age. Results: Experimental data revealed different HFHS-associated transcriptional patterns in female and male mice, within a background of sex-associated transcriptional differences across muscle maturation. Conclusions: These preliminary observations lay the groundwork for further investigation of the mechanisms underlying the differences in diet-associated transcriptional patterns between female and male skeletal muscle, with the ultimate goal of addressing obesity and its comorbidities.