Educational intervention improves fruit and vegetable intake in young adults with metabolic syndrome components

Abstract

The FRUVEDomics study investigates the effect of a diet intervention focused on increasing fruit and vegetable intake on the gut microbiome, and cardiovascular health of young adults with/at risk for Metabolic Syndrome (MetS). It was hypothesized the recommended diet would result in metabolic and gut microbiome changes. The 9-week dietary intervention adhered to the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans and focused on increasing fruit and vegetable intake to equal half of the diet. Seventeen eligible young adults with/or at high risk of MetS, consented and completed preintervention and postintervention measurements, including anthropometric, body composition, cardiovascular, complete blood lipid panel, and collection of stool sample for microbial analysis. Participants attended weekly consultations to assess food logs, food receipts, and adherence to the diet. Following intention-to-treat guidelines all 17 individuals were included in the dietary, clinical, and anthropometric analysis. Fruit and vegetable intake increased from 1.6 to 3.4 cups of fruits and vegetables ( P < .001) daily. Total fiber ( P = .02) and insoluble fiber ( P < .0001) also increased. Clinical laboratory changes included an increase in sodium ( P = .0006) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ( P = .04). In the fecal microbiome, Erysipelotrichaceae (phylum Firmicutes) decreased (log2 fold change: −1.78, P = .01) and Caulobacteraceae (phylum Proteobacteria) increased (log2 fold change = 1.07, P = .01). Implementing a free living 9-week diet, with intensive education and accountability, gave young adults at high risk for/or diagnosed with MetS the knowledge, skills, and feedback to improve diet. To yield greater impact a longer diet intervention may be needed in this population.

Effects of the e-Motivate4Change Program on Metabolic Syndrome in Young Adults Using Health Apps and Wearable Devices: Quasi-Experimental Study

“…Many answered that there was an abnormal physical change when one fails to prevent MetS, and that exercise and diet improvement matter the most. Such answers are consistent with the results of Cornier and colleagues [ 16 ] and Clark and colleagues [ 21 ].…”

“…Previous studies on MetS intervention programs examined ubiquitous health (uHealth) nutrition education that focused on increasing fruit and vegetable intake [ 21 ] and community-based health education, both of which appeared effective [ 22 ]. The uHealth nutrition education initiative is an online self-monitoring program, and data are collected during each session, and are then analyzed cumulatively [ 21 ]. A previous cross-sectional study in rural Taiwan successfully reduced the mortality rate from MetS by applying an appropriate Health City plan [ 23 ].…”

The Gut Microbiome and Individual-Specific Responses to Diet

“…Several studies on dietary interventions to treat obesity and metabolic syndrome have reported various associations between microbiome parameters and treatment efficacy. However, their heterogeneous design, small sample sizes, and short-term intervention profoundly limit their translational potential ( 111 , 121 – 124 ). The same applies to a few studies assessing the low FODMAP diet (a diet low in fermentable carbohydrates) in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) ( 125 – 129 ).…”

Dietary Inflammatory Index is Associated with Excessive Body Weight and Dietary Patterns in Subjects with Cardiometabolic Risk

“…Moreover, a dietary pattern may be anti-inflammatory, as in the case of the Mediterranean diet, or be pro-inflammatory, such as Western diet, and therefore contribute to the prevention or development of CNCD [1,3,6,[14][15][16][17]. The DII was developed and validated in 2009 [8] and updated in 2014 [9] to evaluate the inflammatory effect of diet on health and disease.…”