The recommendation to eat diverse types of foodstuffs is an internationally accepted recommendation for a healthy diet. The importance of dietary variety is based on several studies that have shown that diverse diets are accompanied by positive health outcomes. However, the definition and measurement of healthy food diversity are often criticized in the literature. Nutritional studies generally use count indices to quantify food diversity. As these measures have considerable disadvantages, several nutritionists have called for a precise definition and measurement of food diversity. This study aimed to develop a new healthy food diversity indicator. This index is based on a distribution measure mainly applied in economic and ecological studies. It considers 3 aspects important for healthy food diversity: number, distribution, and health value of consumed foods. We have validated the new index using energy-adjusted correlations with diet quality indicators. A comparison with selected traditional diversity indices revealed that the new indicator more appropriately reflected healthy food diversity.

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Traffic light (TL) labels that inform consumers regarding product safety have received increasing attention in different fields. Behind the background of behavioural economics, this paper presents the results of a split-sample choice experiment conducted in Germany to evaluate the impact of TL labelling on purchases of food and financial products. We hypothesize that consumers experience different levels of involvement with these two types of products, leading to different recommendations regarding the use of TLs. The results show that TLs affect consumer purchases of both product groups by focusing their attention on specific product attributes. For food, whereas the low-fat attribute has no significant impact on food choices that do not include TLs, this attribute has a positive impact on choices once it is signalled with a TL label. The positive evaluation of the organic production attribute of a food product without a TL decreases when the same product is labelled with a TL. In the case of financial products, TLs significantly reinforce the impact of all characteristics on choice probability. TLs also generate a halo effect with regard to return variance. Although consumers demonstrate different levels of involvement for the two types of products, involvement does not always impact the evaluation of attributes. Compared with less involved consumers, more involved consumers exhibit more heterogeneous evaluations of the return variability attribute in the case of the financial product and the organic attribute in the case of the food product.

BackgroundAdolescence is an important life stage for the development of dietary preferences and health behaviour. Longitudinal studies indicated that cardiovascular status in adolescence predicts cardiovascular risk marker values in adulthood. Several diet quality indices for adolescents have been developed in the past, but literature concerning associations between indices and biomarkers of dietary exposure and cardiovascular status is rather sparse. Hence, the aim of this study was to analyse associations of dietary indices with biomarkers of dietary exposure and cardiovascular status.MethodsFor the present analysis, data from the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS 2003–2006) were used. The analysis included 5,198 adolescents, aged 12 to 17 years. The Healthy Food Diversity Index (HFD), the Healthy Nutrition Score for Kids and Youth (HuSKY), the Indicator Food Index (IFI) and a simple fruit/vegetable intake index were derived from food frequency questionnaire information to indicate a healthy diet. Adjusted mean values for homocysteine, uric acid, CRP, total cholesterol, HDL-C, ferritin, HbA1c, folate, vitamin B12 and BMI were calculated using complex-samples general linear models for quintiles of the different indices. Furthermore, the agreement in ranking between the different indices was calculated by weighted kappa. All statistical analyses were conducted for boys and girls separately, and were adjusted for potential confounders.ResultsFolate was positively associated with the HFD, the HuSKY, and fruit/vegetable intake for both boys and girls and with IFI for boys. Among girls, positive associations were seen between vitamin B12 and the IFI and between diastolic blood pressure and the IFI as well as fruit/vegetable intake. A negative association was found between homocysteine and the HFD, the HuSKY, and the IFI for both boys and girls and with fruit/vegetable intake for boys. Among boys, uric acid and HbA1c were negatively and prevalence of obesity positively associated with the IFI.ConclusionsOverall, the indices, even the simpler ones, seem to have a similar general capability in predicting biomarkers of dietary exposure. To predict risk of cardiovascular disease dietary indices may have to be more specific.

New developments in nutrigenetic research and the European regulation 1924/2006 on health claims have spurred interest in developing and marketing functional food designed for personalized nutrition. Personalized nutrition uses genetic information regarding a person's health risk profile. Specifically adapted nutrition recommendations are claimed to help reducing disease risk. An internet survey was conducted in December 2007 using a sample of 452 randomly selected adults in Germany. The survey instrument assesses if consumers would be willing to participate in genetic risk profiling, if they are interested in personalized nutrition advice and if they desire functional food products adapted to their individual nutrigenetic profile. In addition, we estimate the acceptance of functional food products designed to reduce the risk of cardio-vascular diseases. Consumers have a positive attitude towards the testing of their genetic profile to be used in nutrient advice. About 45 % of the sample would agree to such a test and like to obtain a personalized advice on nutrition. Similarly, more than 40 % of the sample showed a positive willingness to buy the proposed functional food products. Given these results, the concept of personalized nutrition seems promising. However, several challenges remain regarding targeted nutrition advice and food marketing.