Incidence of colorectal cancer has steadily increased in both the sexes and across all age groups during the last decades in Spain, in contrast with other countries where incidence decreased during this period. This increase is more marked among men, probably due to a high exposure to risk factors such as smoking, heavy drinking, overweight and diabetes. Annual age-adjusted mortality rates have increased in Spain during the period 1951-2000, but from that time until 2006 these rates have kept steady in males and fallen in females. When analyzing the evolution of exposure to behavioural factors during this period, known as risk or protective factors for colorectal cancer in Spain, notorious increases in tobacco and alcohol consumption, red and processed meats intake and a decreased ingestion of vegetables, cereals and beans were observed. Cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, red meats, poultry, fish, vegetables and fruit were highly, positively correlated with colorectal cancer incidence and mortality, and cereals and beans consumption showed strong, negative correlations. At the same time and during this period, physical exercise decreased and overweight, obesity and diabetes mellitus notably increased. Certain changes in diet and lifestyle can be attributed to the growth in income during the last decades, but the lack and delay in implementing legislative and educational measures by the State and Regional Governments during decades cannot be ignored. In colorectal cancer, a minimal time span of 10-15 years is necessary for changes in exposure to risk factors to be able to modify the incidence of the tumour. Therefore, the implementation of more vigorous legislative and educational measures in Spain against smoking, heavy drinking, red meat intake, sedentary lifestyle, overweight and others reviewed in this study, is urgent.

There is a great necessity for new methods of evaluation of dietary intake that overcome the limitations of traditional self-reporting methods. The objective of this study was to develop a new method, based on an app for mobile phones called e-EPIDEMIOLOGY, which was designed to collect individual consumption data for a series of foods/drinks, and to compare this app with a previously validated paper food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). University students >18 years of age recorded the consumption of certain foods/drinks using e-EPIDEMIOLOGY during 28 consecutive days and then filled out a paper FFQ at the end of the study period. To evaluate the agreement between the categories of habitual consumption for each of the foods/drinks included in the study, cross-classification analysis and a weighted kappa statistic were used. A total of 119 participants completed the study (71% female, 85/119; 29% male, 34/119). Cross-classification analysis showed that 79.8% of the participants were correctly classified into the same category and just 1.1% were misclassified into opposite categories. The average weighted kappa statistic was good (κ=.64). The results indicate that e-EPIDEMIOLOGY generated ranks of dietary intakes that were highly comparable with the previously validated paper FFQ. However, it was noted that further testing of e-EPIDEMIOLOGY is required to establish its wider utility.

Mobile and tablet apps, ubiquitous and pervasive computing, wearable computing and domotics for health.

This study aimed to analyze the incidence of colorectal cancer in 15 European countries in recent decades and the relationship between the incidence found and changes in dietary habits. Pearson's or Spearman's correlation coefficients were calculated by comparing incidence rates obtained from the International Agency for Research on Cancer for 1971-2002 with data on per capita consumption obtained from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations using 10-year delay intervals. Incidence rates increased in all countries except France in men and except Austria, Denmark, England and France in women. Of the dietary variables considered, there were marked increasing trends (linear regression coefficient, R ≥0.5) in red meat consumption in Germany (R = 0.9), Austria (R = 0.7), Finland (R = 0.8), Italy (R = 0.9), Poland (R = 0.5), Spain (R = 2.1), Sweden (R = 0.6), and the Netherlands (R = 0.7). Changes in dietary habits may be consistent with the observed trends in the incidence of colorectal cancer in the distinct European countries.

Daily routines may influence eating patterns; however, differences in intake on weekdays and at weekends have rarely been explored. Furthermore, these differences have not been analyzed among university students (a particularly interesting group among the younger generations). The aim of the study was to evaluate weekend–weekday variation in the Mediterranean diet among Spanish university students, while investigating the potential influence of age, gender, studies, body mass index, smoking status and physical activity status. A repeated-measurement 28-day cross-sectional observational study with self-reported dietary intake collected using the e12HR app was conducted. There were 361 participants: average age 20.6 years; 72.9% women; 58.2% students of Pharmacy; average BMI 21.9 kg/m²; 91.4% nonsmokers; 77.6% performed ≥150 min/week of physical activity. Outcome measurements were adherence to the Mediterranean diet (AMD) index and percentage of participants meeting recommendations for each food group on weekdays and at weekends. In all subgroups, Spanish university students’ global diet was associated with low AMD, with poorer diet quality (>12% reductions in mean scores of AMD index and >26% reductions in adequate adherence scores (≥9)) at weekends. In conclusion, weekend health behaviors of Spanish university students displayed less favorable eating behavior, making the weekend an important target for public health interventions aiming to improve dietary intake.

Mobile and tablet apps, ubiquitous and pervasive computing, wearable computing and domotics for health.