Assessing children’s diets is currently challenging and burdensome. Abbreviated FFQ have the potential to assess dietary patterns in a rapid and standardised manner. Using nationally representative UK dietary intake and biomarker data, we developed an abbreviated FFQ to calculate dietary quality scores for pre-school and primary school-aged children. UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (2008–2016) weekly consumption frequencies of 129 food groups from 4-d diaries were cross-sectionally analysed using principal component analysis. A 129-item score was derived, alongside a 12-item score based on foods with the six highest and six lowest coefficients. Participants included 1069 pre-schoolers and 2565 primary schoolchildren. The first principal component explained 3·4 and 3·0 % of the variation in the original diet variables for pre-school and primary school groups, respectively, and described a prudent diet pattern. Prudent diet scores were characterised by greater consumption of fruit, vegetables and tap water and lower consumption of crisps, manufactured coated chicken/turkey products, purchased chips and soft drinks for both age groups. Correlations between the 129-item and 12-item scores were 0·86 and 0·84 for pre-school and primary school-aged children, respectively. Bland–Altman mean differences between the scores were 0·00 sd; 95 % limits of agreement were −1·05 to 1·05 and −1·10 to 1·10 sd for pre-school and primary school-aged children, respectively. Correlations between dietary scores and nutritional biomarkers showed only minor attenuation for the 12-item compared with the 129-item scores, illustrating acceptable congruence between prudent diet scores. The two 12-item FFQ offer user-friendly tools to measure dietary quality among UK children.

Adherence to healthy diet principles and to cardiopreventive medication, both key behaviours in CVD prevention, is known to differ between women and men. Whether these adherence behaviours are differentially related among women and men has never been thoroughly assessed. The objective was to assess gender differences in the association between adherence to healthy diet principles and to cardiopreventive medication in adults free of CVD. This cross-sectional study included 268 women and 204 men from the CARTaGENE cohort (Québec, Canada) who were using antihypertensive and/or cholesterol-lowering medication. Adherence to healthy diet principles was assessed using the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI, %), calculated from a validated FFQ assessing diet in the 12-month preceding its completion. Medication adherence was assessed using the daily pharmacotherapy possession rate (DPPR, %), calculated from prescription claim data over the same 12-month period. In multivariable-adjusted analyses, an inverse association between AHEI and DPPR was observed among men (βAHEI for 10 % increment in DPPR = –0·65 %; 95 % CI −1·28 %, −0·03 %; P = 0·04), while it tended to be positive among women (β = 0·44 %; 95 % CI −0·11 %, 1·00 %; P = 0·12; Pgender×DPPR = 0·01). The negative association between AHEI and DPPR was stronger among men who never smoked or used cholesterol-lowering medication only. Among women, the positive association was stronger and statistically significant among those with obesity or using ≥ 3 medications simultaneously. Association between adherence to healthy diet principles and to cardiopreventive medication differs between women and men, with men potentially facing greater challenges in achieving optimal complementarity between these two behaviours.

This study examined the relationship between total body fat percentage (TBFP), trunk fat percentage (TFP), and urinary flow rate (UFR) using NHANES data (2011–2018) from 10 521 participants aged 18–59. Multivariable-adjusted regression models assessed associations between dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry-measured fat percentages and UFR. Results showed that increased TBFP and TFP were inversely associated with UFR (TBFP: β = −0·013, 95 % CI [–0·018, −0·007]; TFP: β = –0·014, 95 % CI [–0·018, −0·009]). Stratified analyses revealed gender differences: in males, higher TBFP and TFP correlated with lower UFR (TBFP: β = –0·011, 95 % CI [−0·019, −0·004]; TFP: β = –0·016, 95 % CI [−0·022, −0·009]), but this association was absent in males aged 18–35. In females, both TBFP and TFP were consistently linked to reduced UFR across all age groups (TBFP: β = −0·016, 95 % CI [−0·023, −0·008]; TFP: β = −0·012, 95 % CI [−0·019, −0·006]). These findings suggest that body and trunk fat accumulation negatively impact UFR, with stronger effects in females and age-dependent variations in males. Further research should explore mechanisms behind these disparities to guide targeted interventions.

Reduced exposure to sweet taste has been proposed to reduce sweet food preferences and intakes, but the evidence to support these associations is limited. This randomised controlled trial investigated the effects of a whole-diet sweet taste intervention for 6 d, on subsequent pleasantness, desire for and sweet food intakes. Participants (n 104) were randomised to increase (n 40), decrease (n 43) or make no change to (n 21) their consumption of sweet-tasting foods and beverages for 6 consecutive days. Pleasantness, desire to eat, sweet taste intensity and sweet food and beverage intakes were assessed on days 0 and 7. One hundred and two (98 %) participants completed the study, and self-reported adherence with the dietary interventions was moderate to good (M = 66–72/100 mm), with instructions to decrease sweet food consumption reported as more difficult than the other diets (smallest (t(81) = 2·45, P = 0·02, Mdiff = 14/100 mm, se = 2 mm). In intention-to-treat analyses, participants in the decreased sweet food consumption group reported higher sweet taste intensity perceptions at day 7 compared with day 0 (F(2101) = 4·10, P = 0·02, Mdiff = 6/100 mm, se = 2 mm). No effects were found for pleasantness (F(2101) = 2·04, P = 0·14), desire to eat (F(2101) = 1·49, P = 0·23) or any of the measures of sweet food intake (largest F(2101) = 2·53, P = 0·09). These results were confirmed in regression analyses that took self-reported adherence to the diets into account. Our findings suggest that exposure to sweet taste does not affect pleasantness, desire for or intakes of sweet-tasting foods and beverages. Public health recommendations to limit the consumption of sweet-tasting foods and beverages to reduce sweet food preferences may require revision.