January Summary

While this was the only article to select for January I felt that it was still worth our time to look at and discuss in detail. One aspect that really impressed me about this study was the size. Data from 4,928 adolescents (2,495 boys, 2,433 girls) was used which is considered a large study in my eyes. The second component that I was surprised to find was the amount of data they have gathered from each participant. This study did struggle however since even the ‘high’ consumption group was still relatively low, >0.5 oz equivalents/ day. This in its self is an important finding highlighting the overall low whole grain consumption of the age group.

Question 1

A 24 hr recall may have been the easiest way to assess intake in this sample like Stephanie first mentions. Kathy agrees and states that it might have been a necessary evil for a study that size. Jamie infers that research can sometimes be a give and take, the more participants the shorter a dietary assessment tool needs to be, the less participants the more detailed and accurate (weekend and week days) the tool can be. In this case Emily does not believe the trade off produced the best outcome. An overwhelming amount of you led by Brooke, Amanda, and Angela feel that the FFQ was the way to go. Kelsey and Taylor also feel that a FFQ would have been more appropriate for the nature of this study (grouping whole grain intake into "none", "low", and "high"), and would have been just as time efficient. I agree since the study was looking for whole grain consumption not the overall diet, playing into the strength of a FFQ. This method would also remove the variable of an ‘atypical’ day which may portray even the biggest whole grain advocates insufficient (maybe like a Saturday).

The benefits and drawbacks of food record/logs used in research were detailed by Joci, Erin and Molly. Nate was the first to acknowledge, and many agreed, that consistency is a necessity in designing a study and that by using 24 hr recalls for some and a two day average for others failed to achieve that consistency in this study.

Emily brought up the point that a smaller sample might have been useful which gained interest from Michela and Kathy as a method of accuracy to compare results to the NHANES results.

Interesting to note, we all want a large sample study to be able to make generalizations and reflect the population but it was also mentioned that smaller samples allow the researcher more freedom to use “most accurate” tools.

Question 2

Stephanie, Jamie, Molly and others viewed 0.5 oz of whole grains per day still important, stating that little is better than nothing. Many commented that no matter how small the amount it is still starting point and every little bit helps.

Brooke first mentioned, and many agreed, that if someone is making an effort to eat the recommended three servings of whole grains they are probably also making other healthy food choices. The diet as a whole may be the most beneficial. Alana said it very well, “that the “group effort" of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals will aid in preventing chronic disease”. Ali also addresses other possible non-dietary factors, like exercise, that could help to reduce many negative risk factors.

Many coincided with Nate and feel, “that 3 servings of whole grains with little other processed grains per day is enough to help improve someone’s risk for chronic disease development.” Emily points out that three servings would definitely make a difference in the adolescences who are not consuming any whole grains

Lastly, Taylor mentions another study that looks at whole grain consumption of adult women http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/121/20/2162.full.pdf+html. This study further breaks down consumption into quintiles and uses a FFQ. At first glance this is a superior set up to our study of the month. Maybe the high volume of participants in this study actually hindered the results rather than enhancing them.

Question 3

Many view this population as the perfect age group to look at preventative education focusing on an overall healthy plate and definitely touching on whole grains. Michela believed that the earlier the educations the better. Amanda, Jordan, Emily and Joci agree with Michela's early education due to the high incidence of obesity and type 2 diabetes in younger children today.

The overall nutrition education method that many of you would implement would be to encourage a general health diet with more fruit and vegetable consumption while educating the adolescents of portion sizes. Kathy commended Jamie, for making the point about peer pressure among this population and the skewed views of what is healthy. I would agree that education is needed on healthy eating before fad diets, like boycotting the evil carbs, or other unhealthy eating habits develop.

Taylor, brings up an interesting concept that could have spark a research possibility. A possible dinner table conversation stated by Taylor, "Hey mom, did you know that instead of white rice, we could eat brown rice, and it would count as a whole grain?" would be effective for the whole family, if everyone was eating around the table. Unfortunately, this is not as common as decades before. A study looking at whole grain consumption and the amount of weekly family meals could be an interesting correlation study.

Nate continued to pick on the authors for the poor design of this study :). Like many others, I also agree with Nate that the age group of 12-19 years old might be to broad of a sample due to drastic life changes that occur during the teenage years.

Thank you Brooke for commenting, “I do wonder if it is appropriate to focus on the correlation with disease. I do believe that correlation between whole grains and weight status could make an appropriate study because these effects could take place more immediately. But chronic diseases, although they are showing up in more adolescents, may not yet have taken affect in all individuals at such a young age.”

I feel that if this same population is not looked at to see if chronic diseases were actually developed, then we will not have any answers as to if their whole grain consumption played a factor.

Great job everyone.