Insulin resistance (IR) in childhood plays a key role in the development of metabolic changes in adulthood, therefore, it is important to diagnose it early. We aimed to investigate studies that evaluated the TyG index for prediction of IR risk and other cardiometabolic risk factors, as well as, the proposed cutoff points in childhood and adolescence. This is a systematic review elaborated according to the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes (PRISMA). The search was performed in Lilacs, PubMed and CAPES Journal Portal, using the terms “TyG index OR triglyceride-glucose index OR triglyceride and glucose index AND children OR adolescent*”. Eight articles were included in this review. All were cross-sectional studies with individuals aged ≥2 and ≤20 years old, from the United States, Korea, Mexico, Brazil, and Iran. We concluded that the TyG index was positively associated with other IR prediction methods and appears to be advantageous for predicting IR risk and other cardiometabolic risk factors in children and adolescents (review registration: PROSPERO CRD42018100726).

To evaluate the association between dietary patterns and cardiometabolic risk factors in children and adolescents. This article followed the recommendations of PRISMA, which aims to guide review publications in the health area. The article search strategy included searches in the electronic databases MEDLINE via PubMed, Scopus, and LILACS. There was no date limitation for publications. The descriptors were used in English according to MeSH and in Portuguese according to DeCS. Only articles on dietary patterns extracted by the a posteriori methodology were included. The question to be answered was: how much can an "unhealthy" dietary pattern influence biochemical and inflammatory markers in this population? The studies showed an association between dietary patterns and cardiometabolic alterations. The patterns were characterized as unhealthy when associated to the consumption of ultraprocessed products, poor in fiber and rich in sodium, fat, and refined carbohydrates. Despite the associations, in several studies, the strength of this association for some risk markers was reduced or lost after adjusting for confounding variables. There was a positive association between "unhealthy" dietary patterns and cardiometabolic alterations in children and adolescents. Some unconfirmed associations may be related to the difficulty of assessing food consumption. Nevertheless, studies involving dietary patterns and their association with risk factors should be performed in children and adolescents, aiming at interventions and early changes in dietary habits considered to be inadequate.

To perform a review of studies of food consumption and nutritional adaptation in Brazilian infants pointing the main findings and limitations of these studies. The articles were selected from Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (Lilacs) (Latin-American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and Science Direct in Portuguese and in English. The descriptors were: "food consumption", "nutritional requirements", "infant nutrition" and "child". The articles selected were read by two evaluators that decided upon their inclusion. The following were excluded: studies about children with pathologies; studies that approached only food practices or those adaptation of the food groups or the food offert; and studies that did not utilize the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI). Were selected 16 studies published between 2003 and 2013. In the evaluation of the energy consumption, four studies presented energetic consumption above the individual necessities. The prevalence of micronutrients inadequacy ranged from 0.4% to 65% for iron, from 20% to 59.5% for vitamin A, from 20% to 99.4% for zinc, from 12.6% to 48.9% for calcium and from 9.6% 96.6% for vitamin C. The food consumption of Brazilian infants is characterized by high frequencies of inadequacy of micronutrients consumption, mainly iron, vitamin A and zinc. These inadequacies do not exist only as deficiencies, but also as excesses, as noted for energetic consumption.

The Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII^®) is a tool developed for quantifying the dietary inflammatory potential of individuals’ diets, with the goal of assessing the effect of diet-associated inflammation on health outcomes. With most studies focusing on adults, little is known about the consequences for health of a more proinflammatory diet early in life. Hence, this study analyzed the available evidence on the association between the DII or the children’s C-DII (C-DII^TM) and cardiometabolic risk and inflammatory biomarkers in children and adolescents. This systematic review was based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The search was performed at the LILACS, ScienceDirect, Cochrane and PubMed databases, without any restriction regarding the dates of the publications. A total of six observational studies qualified; including three cross-sectional and three longitudinal studies focused on children and adolescents between 3 and 18 years of age representing both sexes. All papers found a positive association between the DII or C-DII with cardiometabolic markers. These included adiposity (i.e., BMI, waist and hip circumference, waist-to-height ratio and fat mass index), and/or to inflammatory biomarkers (interleukins 1, 2 and 6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interferon gamma, and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1). In conclusion, findings currently available in the literature indicate that a proinflammatory diet is associated with a higher risk of early development of cardiometabolic and inflammatory changes during childhood. Also, the findings show the applicability of the DII and C-DII in epidemiological studies and underscore the need for strategies to encourage healthy, anti-inflammatory diets to prevent chronical illnesses. Systematic Review Registration Number (PROSPERO: CRD42019123939).

Curcumin is the main phenolic compound in turmeric. It has been investigated recently due to its numerous medicinal properties and health benefits. However, few studies assessed the effects of curcumin supplementation on physical activity practice. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to assess the available evidences with human beings about the potential effects of curcumin supplementation on sport and physical exercise. This systematic review was conducted within the period from January to February, 2019, following the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes (PRISMA) guidelines. The LILACS, Medline, SciELO and PubMed databases were used for the search, with no publication date limit. The following terms, with the respective Boolean operators, were searched: “curcumin” AND sports; “curcumin” AND exercise; curcumin AND “aerobic exercise”; “curcumin” AND “resistance exercise”; “curcumin” AND “endurance exercise”; “curcumin” AND “strength exercise”. Eleven papers were selected for this review. Most of the studies displayed positive effects of the curcumin supplementation for athletes and physical exercise practitioners, and no side effects were reported. Participants supplemented with curcumin displayed reduced inflammation and oxidative stress, decreased pain and muscle damage, superior recovery and muscle performance, better psychological and physiological responses (thermal and cardiovascular) during training and improved gastrointestinal function. Curcumin supplementation appears to be safe and beneficial for sport and physical exercise in human beings. PROSPERO (CRD42019126763).

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the frequency of deficiency/insufficiency of vitamin D in adolescents and its relationship to overweight and metabolic disorders.Design: Cross-sectional study. Nutritional status was assessed by BMI according to WHO recommendations. Dietary intake was evaluated using a 3 d dietary record. The biochemical evaluation comprised measurements of serum lipids, lipoproteins, glucose, insulin, calcidiol (25(OH)D) and parathyroid hormone. Insulin resistance was calculated using the homeostasis model assessment. Body composition and blood pressure were assessed.Setting: Fifteen schools (eight public and seven private) in the central city of Juiz de Fora, Brazil.Subjects: The analysis included a study population of 160 adolescents (seventy-seven eutrophic and eighty-three overweight) aged 15 to 17 years.Results: Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency was observed in 1·25 and 70·6 % of adolescents, respectively. Serum 25(OH)D levels were statistically lower in adolescents with weight excess, abdominal obesity, hypercholesterolaemia, higher levels of parathyroid hormone, insulin resistance, hyperinsulinaemia and hypertension (P< 0·05). Lower BMI and waist circumference were observed in the third (highest) tertile of vitamin D intake for all adolescents. The high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency is primarily nutritional and reflects a low vitamin D intake.Conclusions: Our results support the negative association among serum 25(OH)D levels and vitamin D intake with non-skeletal outcomes in Brazilian adolescents. Vitamin D fortification of foods and/or the use of vitamin D supplements need to be considered to raise vitamin D intake in the adolescent population, even in a sunny country like Brazil.