Childbirth is a major life-changing event, this period is an opportunity to improve eating habits. The aim of this longitudinal study was to identify and characterise dietary changes in women according to their parity status. Dietary intake data from 4194 women of childbearing age included in the NutriNet-Santé cohort were derived using a FFQ, administered in 2014 and 2018, distinguishing between organic and conventional food consumption. Women were classified into four groups: ‘previous children’, ‘multiparous’, ‘primiparous’ and ‘nulliparous’. Multi-adjusted ANCOVA models were used to estimate the changes according to the parity group. Changes in food consumption towards a more plant-based, healthier and organic diet were observed in all four groups of women, although to various degrees. In multivariable models, ‘Nulliparous’ women showed a greater improvement in terms of ‘sustainable’ food consumption than ‘previous children’ women. ‘Primiparous’ women significantly increased their energy intake (+349 (269–429) kcal/d) and their consumption of dairy products (+30 (3–56) g/d), and they significantly decreased their consumption of alcohol (–23 (–32–15) g/d), coffee and tea (–107 (–155–60) g/d). Regarding organic food, ‘nulliparous’ women increased their consumption more than ‘previous children’ and ‘primiparous’ women were those who were most frequently in the top quintile of organic food increase. Although there were dietary changes in all groups of women according to their parity, childless women have a shift moving towards a more sustainable diet. Women who had a first child reduced their alcohol and caffeine consumption.

Despite significant economic growth over the past decades, poor nutritional status in India is a serious concern. The social transformation led by growth in income influences both the composition of food and the quality of diet consumed. Against this backdrop of changing lifestyles and the rise in obesity and non-communicable diseases, in this study, we examined changes in diet quality and the critical socio-economic correlates of this quality from 1983 to 2012 using three rounds of nationally representative surveys providing information on food consumption for more than 100 000 households in each round. We constructed diet quality indices at the household level using deficient and excess intake of macro and micronutrients compared with the recommended daily allowances (RDA) for different age-sex groups of the Indian population. We found that in relation to the RDA, fat consumption increased over time while protein and energy consumption decreased. The average diet quality index improved in the rural sector while it deteriorated in the urban sector. Caste and religion are significant correlates of the diet quality index. The deficiency index of nutrients decreased for poor households as they get richer; however, it increased with affluence level for the non-poor. It is suggested that the Indian Government may play a more proactive role in implementing coherent national policies in trade, food and agriculture to protect public health by promoting the demand for a healthy diet.

The comparison of the effects of all forage offering methods would be particularly useful information in modeling growth performance and rumen fermentation of dairy calves. Therefore, this study attempted to evaluate the effects of methods of oat hay provision on growth performance, rumen fermentation and biochemical blood indices of dairy calves during preweaning and postweaning periods. At birth, 40 female Polish Holstein-Friesian calves (3 days of age; 39.6 ± 0.39 kg BW) were randomly assigned to four treatment groups differing in the access to chopped oat hay: CON (control, starter without oat hay), OH (starter feed containing 10% DM basis oat hay), OH-FC (starter feed containing 10% DM basis oat hay and oat hay fed as free-choice provision in different buckets) and FC (starter feed and oat hay fed as free-choice provision in different buckets). The calves were weaned on day 56, and then the study continued until day 84. Intakes of starter feed and oat hay were recorded daily, whereas BW and hip height (HH) on day 3 and then every 14 days. Samples of blood were collected on the initiation of experiment and then every 14 days, and rumen contents on day 28, 56 and 84. No treatment effects were found for starter, starch, CP, total DM intake, average daily gain, feeding efficiency, change in HH, ruminal fluid pH, concentrations of ruminal propionate and NH3-N, concentrations of urea nitrogen and non-esterified fatty acids in the blood. There were differences between treatments in terms of ruminal total volatile fatty acids and molar concentrations of acetate, butyrate and acetate to propionate ratio; highest in OH and OH-FC groups, especially during the postweaning period. On the other hand, lower concentrations of iso-valerate were found in OH and OH-FC groups on day 56 and 84. The concentrations of IGF-I throughout the experiment and β-hydroxybutyrate during the postweaning period in the blood were influenced by treatment, with the greatest values observed in OH and OH-FC calves. Results of this study indicate that starter feed containing chopped oat hay improves rumen fermentation parameters, which might allow successful transition from preruminant to mature ruminant state. Also, providing chopped oat hay with pelleted starter feed seems to be a better method than free-choice supplementation.

Emerging evidence shows that desaturase 5 (Δ5), the key regulator in the synthesis of highly unsaturated long-chain fatty acids (HUFA), is modulated by factors including adiposity, diet and insulin resistance. We explored the association of these factors in a cross-sectional study within a high-risk Cree population. Anthropometric measures and fasting blood glucose and insulin were analysed. Δ5 was estimated as the 20 : 4n-6:20 : 3n-6 ratio in erythrocyte membranes. The setting of the present study was the Mistissini community in the Cree Territory of Québec, Canada with ninety-eight female and sixty-eight male subjects aged 20–88 years. Obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) was prevalent across age groups. Δ5 was inversely associated with BMI (Spearman's correlation coefficient (rs) − 0·175; P = 0·03) and positively associated with age (rs 0·593; P < 0·0001), which was driven by age-related increases in dietary intake of n-3 fatty acids and decreases in 20 : 3n-6. Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was significantly inversely associated with Δ5 in age-adjusted linear regression analyses in normoglycaemic individuals (β − 2·110 (se 0·566); P < 0·001), whereas no association was observed among glucose-intolerant individuals (interaction term P = 0·03). In contrast, there were no significant interactions indicating differences in the slope for each of the adiposity measures in their associations with Δ5. The present study indicates that the dietary transition of reduced consumption of fish among younger Cree may compound the effects of obesity and emerging insulin resistance which, in turn, could reduce bioavailability of HUFA n-3 (through reduced Δ5 activity). Also, the study suggests that disease progression is an important consideration when evaluating correlates of Δ5 activity in observational studies.

As part of the rapid socio-cultural transition observed in Arctic populations, the Inuit diet is changing. We present original data derived from the baseline Inuit Health in Transition cohort study regarding biological levels of n-3 fatty acids and trans-fatty acids (TFA), lipids with opposite health effects found respectively in traditional marine diets and recently introduced low-quality imported foods. A total of 524 Inuit from the Disko Bay area (Greenland) and 888 Inuit from the fourteen communities of Northern Québec (Nunavik) participated in the study. We measured the fatty acid profile of erythrocyte (RBC) membrane phospholipids (PL) as a surrogate for individual intakes. Moreover, the contribution of store-bought foods to energy intakes was assessed through dietary questionnaires. Our results show that while n-3 fatty acid levels were slightly lower in Nunavik (9·4 % of RBC membrane PL) than in Greenland (12·1 %), TFA levels were on average nearly thrice as high in Nunavik Inuit (1·20 %) as they were in Greenlanders (0·43 %). Moreover, younger Nunavik Inuit accumulated higher intakes of TFA and lower intakes of n-3 fatty acids. Finally, the average proportion of energy derived from store-bought foods was high in both groups (77·5 % and 83·5 %), especially in youth. Our results call for action to rehabilitate and recover access to country foods and point to the importance for Nunavik and the entire circumpolar world to follow the example of Denmark and Greenland, which imposed a maximum content of 2 g/100 g fat on industrially produced trans-fats in 2003.