No abstract

ABSTRACT. Objective. Dental caries is a common, chronic disease of childhood. The impact of contemporary changes in beverage patterns, specifically decreased milk intakes and increased 100% juice and soda pop intakes, on dental caries in young children is unknown. We describe associations among caries experience and intakes of dairy foods, sugared beverages, and nutrients and overall diet quality in young children.Methods. Subjects (n ‫؍‬ 642) are members of the Iowa Fluoride Study, a cohort followed from birth. Food and nutrient intakes were obtained from 3-day diet records analyzed at 1 (n ‫؍‬ 636), 2 (n ‫؍‬ 525), 3 (n ‫؍‬ 441), 4 (n ‫؍‬ 410), and 5 (n ‫؍‬ 417) years and cumulatively for 1 through 5 (n ‫؍‬ 396) years of age. Diet quality was defined by nutrient adequacy ratios (NARs) and calculated as the ratio of nutrient intake to Recommended Dietary Allowance/Adequate Intake. Caries were identified during dental examinations by 2 trained and calibrated dentists at 4 to 7 years of age. Examinations were visual, but a dental explorer was used to confirm questionable findings. Caries experience was assessed at both the tooth and the surface levels. Data were analyzed using SAS. The Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to compare food intakes, nutrient intakes, and NARs of subjects with and without caries experience. Logistic and Tobit regression analyses were used to identify associations among diet variables and caries experience and to develop models to predict caries experience. Not all relationships between food intakes and NARs and caries experience were linear; therefore, categorical variables were used to develop models to predict caries experience. Food and beverage intakes were categorized as none, low, and high intakes, and NARs were categorized as inadequate, low adequate, and high adequate.Results. Subjects with caries had lower median intakes of milk at 2 and 3 years of age than subjects without caries. Subjects with caries had higher median intakes of regular (sugared) soda pop at 2, 3, 4, and 5 years and for 1 through 5 years; regular beverages from powder at 1, 4, and 5 years and for 1 through 5 years; and total sugared beverages at 4 and 5 years than subjects without caries.Logistic regression models were developed for exposure variables at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years and for 1 through 5 years to predict any caries experience at 4 to 7 years of age. Age at dental examination was retained in models at all ages. Children with 0 intake (vs low and high intakes) of regular beverages from powder at 1 year, regular soda pop at 2 and 3 years, and sugar-free beverages from powder at 5 years had a decreased risk of caries experience. High intakes of regular beverages from powder at 4 and 5 years and for 1 through 5 years and regular soda pop at 5 years and for 1 through 5 years were associated with significantly increased odds of caries experience relative to subjects with none or low intakes. Low (vs none or high) intakes of 100% juice at 5 years were associated with decreased caries experience. In general, in...

Computer-administered food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) can address limitations inherent in paper questionnaires, by allowing very complex skip patterns, portion size estimation based on food pictures and real-time error checking. This manuscript evaluates a web-based FFQ, the Graphical Food Frequency System (GraFFS). Participants completed the GraFFS, six, telephone-administered 24-hr dietary recalls over the next 12 weeks, followed by a second GraFFS. Participants were 40 men and 34 women, ages 18–69, living in the Columbus, OH area. Intakes of energy, macronutrients and 17 micronutrients/food components were estimated from the GraFFS and the mean of all recalls. Bias (recalls minus the second GraFFS) was −9%, −5%, +4% and −4% for energy and percentages of energy from fat, carbohydrate and protein. De-attenuated, energy-adjusted correlations (inter-method reliability) between the recalls and the second GraFFS for fat, carbohydrate, protein and alcohol were 0.82, 0.79, 0.67 and 0.90; for micronutrients/food components the median was 0.61 and ranged from 0.40 for zinc to 0.92 for β-carotene. The correlations between the two administrations of the GraFFS (test-retest reliability) for fat, carbohydrate, protein and alcohol were 0.60, 0.63, 0.73 and 0.87; among micronutrients/food components the median was 0.67 and ranged from 0.49 for vitamin B12 to 0.82 for fiber. The measurement characteristics of the GraFFS were at least as good as those reported for most paper FFQs, and its high inter-method reliability suggests that further development of computer-administered FFQs is warranted.

No abstract

Background-Fructose consumption is rising and its malabsorption causes common gastrointestinal symptoms. Because its absorption capacity is poorly understood, there is no standard method of assessing fructose absorption. We performed a dose response study of fructose absorption in healthy subjects in order to develop a breath test to distinguish normal from abnormal fructose absorption capacity.