Inorganic nitrate consumption represents a simple strategy for targeting cardiovascular disease risk factors. Future studies investigating the long-term effects of inorganic nitrate on cardiovascular disease outcomes are warranted.

As a strategy for early childhood obesity prevention, a variety of dietary behavior and physical activity policies and guidelines published by leading health agencies and early childhood education and care (ECEC) licensing and accreditation bodies exist. Given the potential diversity in recommendations from these policies, this narrative review sought to synthesize, appraise and describe the various policies and guidelines made by organizational and professional bodies to highlight consistent recommendations and identify opportunities to strengthen such policies. An electronic bibliographic search of seven online databases and grey literature sources was undertaken. Records were included if they were policies or guidelines with specific recommendations addressing dietary behavior and/or physical activity practice implementation within the ECEC setting; included children aged >12 months and <6 years and were developed for high income countries. Recommended dietary behavior and physical activity policies and practices were synthesized into broad themes using the Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity framework, and the quality of included guidelines appraised. Our search identified 38 eligible publications mostly from the US and Australia. Identified guidelines were largely consistent in their recommendation and frequently addressed the physical and sociocultural environment and were well-aligned with research evidence. Broader consideration of policy and economic environments may be needed to increase the impact of such policies and guidelines within the ECEC setting.

Iron deficiency (ID) is the most prevalent nutrient deficiency within the developed world. This is of concern as ID has been shown to affect immunity, thermoregulation, work performance and cognition. Animal flesh foods provide the richest and most bioavailable source of dietary (haem) iron, however, it is unclear whether low animal flesh diets contribute to ID. This systematic review aimed to investigate whether a higher consumption of animal flesh foods is associated with better iron status in adults. CINAHL, Cochrane, EMBASE and MEDLINE were searched for published studies that included adults (≥18 years) from developed countries and measured flesh intakes in relation to iron status indices. Eight experimental and 41 observational studies met the inclusion criteria. Generally, studies varied in population and study designs and results were conflicting. Of the seven high quality studies, five showed a positive association between animal flesh intake (85–300 g/day) and iron status. However, the optimum quantity or frequency of flesh intake required to maintain or achieve a healthy iron status remains unclear. Results show a promising relationship between animal flesh intake and iron status, however, additional longitudinal and experimental studies are required to confirm this relationship and determine optimal intakes to reduce ID development.

Objective:To explore if better diet quality scores as a measure of adherence to the Australian Dietary Guidelines (ADG) and the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) are associated with a lower incidence of hypertension and non-fatal CVD.Design:Prospective analysis of the 1946–1951 cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH). The Australian Recommended Foods Score (ARFS) was calculated as an indicator of adherence to the ADG; the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) measured adherence to the MedDiet. Outcomes included hypertension and non-fatal CVD. Generalised estimating equations estimated OR and 95 % CI across quartiles of diet quality scores.Setting:Australia, 2001–2016.Participants:1946–1951 cohort of the ALSWH (n 5324), without CVD, hypertension and diabetes at baseline (2001), with complete FFQ data.Results:There were 1342 new cases of hypertension and 629 new cases of non-fatal CVD over 15 years of follow-up. Multivariate analysis indicated that women reporting better adherence to the ARFS (≥38/74) had 15 % (95 % CI 1, 28 %; P = 0·05) lower odds of hypertension and 46 % (95 % CI 6, 66 %; P = 0·1) lower odds of non-fatal CVD. Women reporting better adherence to the MDS (≥8/17) had 27 % (95 % CI 15, 47 %; P = 0·0006) lower odds of hypertension and 30 % (95 % CI 2, 50 %; P = 0·03) lower odds of non-fatal CVD.Conclusions:Better adherence to diet quality scores is associated with lower risk of hypertension and non-fatal CVD. These results support the need for updated evidenced based on the ADG as well as public health nutrition policies in Australia.

CVD is the leading cause of death worldwide, a consequence of mostly poor lifestyle and dietary behaviours. Although whole fruit and vegetable consumption has been consistently shown to reduce CVD risk, the exact protective constituents of these foods are yet to be clearly identified. A recent and biologically plausible hypothesis supporting the cardioprotective effects of vegetables has been linked to their inorganic nitrate content. Approximately 60-80 % inorganic nitrate exposure in the human diet is contributed by vegetable consumption. Although inorganic nitrate is a relatively stable molecule, under specific conditions it can be metabolised in the body to produce NO via the newly discovered nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway. NO is a major signalling molecule in the human body, and has a key role in maintaining vascular tone, smooth muscle cell proliferation, platelet activity and inflammation. Currently, there is accumulating evidence demonstrating that inorganic nitrate can lead to lower blood pressure and improved vascular compliance in humans. The aim of this review is to present an informative, balanced and critical review of the current evidence investigating the role of inorganic nitrate and nitrite in the development, prevention and/or treatment of CVD. Although there is evidence supporting short-term inorganic nitrate intakes for reduced blood pressure, there is a severe lack of research examining the role of long-term nitrate intakes in the treatment and/or prevention of hard CVD outcomes, such as myocardial infarction and cardiovascular mortality. Epidemiological evidence is needed in this field to justify continued research efforts.