Fruit and Vegetables Within the Current Food Production System and Health

在全球范围内，水果和蔬菜或“一天五份”的信息是最广泛推广的饮食建议之一。除此之外，增加水果和蔬菜（FV）的摄入量与最佳健康状况和降低心血管疾病等慢性疾病的风险有关。然而，评估膳食脂肪摄入量面临许多挑战。一个主要的挑战是如何计算脂肪摄入量的信息。用于测量膳食中FV摄入量的传统方法经常存在虚报的问题，即参与者夸大或人为地夸大他们的摄入量。最近，也有证据表明，饮食方法本身可以影响最终的摄入量。目的：新的生物标志物方法可以更好地准确评估日常饮食摄入量，并将这种摄入量与健康结果联系起来。与此同时，人们往往只从食品的营养价值来看待食品，而不是从它们可能含有的化合物（包括生物活性物质或农药残留物）的总量来看待食品。很少有关于食物基质效应的整体研究，也很少有关于这种非营养素存在的数量的分类数据。翻译人员面临的最后一个挑战是，当被要求增加FV摄入量时，人们的表现如何。在增加脂肪摄入量的同时，人们还会做出哪些其他的饮食改变，以及在某种程度上，这些同时发生的改变是否也有助于已知的健康改善，这些都知之甚少。将进行一系列分析，以解决水果和蔬菜、饮食生物标志物和健康研究领域的一些不确定领域。因此，本博士将探讨：1)靶向生物标志物的测量是否有助于改善FV摄入的饮食评估？（对已分析的生物标志物数据进行统计分析）2)英国人口目前消费的FV的生物活性和农药含量是多少，包括考虑品种、储存和加工的影响？（系统回顾和新的基于食物的分析）3)(2)中观察到的生物活性物质和农药的差异对摄入水平和健康结果的可能影响是什么？（利用(2)中的数据对综合脂肪摄入量干预研究进行建模）当人们被要求增加脂肪摄入量时，他们会做出什么改变？这种增加的脂肪摄入量如何影响其他食物的选择？昆士兰大学全球食品安全研究所（生物科学学院和公共卫生中心）和雷丁市休·辛克莱人类营养研究所的研究人员进行了一系列对照饮食干预研究，其中测试了增加脂肪摄入量对一系列健康结果的影响，并记录了严格的饮食记录。这是一项迄今未得到充分利用的丰富资源。最近完成的一项饮食评估方法验证研究对FV摄入量进行了重点研究（n=100）。AFBI的研究人员已经收集了大量的数据和经验来量化FV中的生物活性浓度。总的来说，这提供了一个独特的资源来描述增加FV摄入量对生物标志物表达的影响，对饮食暴露于积极和消极属性以及饮食模式的影响。该项目将利用已经收集的数据（而不是目标生物活性量化）来解决一些研究问题，这些问题与我们对水果和蔬菜摄入量与人类健康结果之间关系的理解高度相关。该项目将由两名在水果、蔬菜和健康研究方面有着出色记录的营养研究人员、一名在饮食暴露评估和饮食模式分析方面具有丰富专业知识的第三名主管和一名专门从事生物活性和农药残留评估的化学分析师负责，他的重点是FV。

Globally, the message of fruit and vegetables or of '5 a Day' is one of the most widely promoted dietary recommendations. Beyond this, increased fruit and vegetable (FV) intake has been associated with optimal health and with reduced risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease. However, assessing dietary FV intake is compounded by many challenges. A chief challenge relates to how information about FV intake is calculated. Traditional methods used to measure dietary intakes of FV often suffer from over-reporting, whereby participants exaggerate or artificially inflate their intakes.Recently, evidence has also suggested that the dietary method itself can influence resultant intakes. Objective novel biomarker methods may better allow the accurate assessment of usual dietary intake and relate this intake to health outcomes.In parallel, FV are often viewed only in terms of their nutrient value rather than the totality of compounds they may contain (including bioactives or pesticide residues). There is little holistic research focusing on a food matrix effect within FV and disaggregated data on the quantities of such non-nutrients present. A final translator challenge relates to how populations behave when asked to increase FV intake. Little is known about what other dietary changes people make when increasing FV intake and whether, to some extent, these concurrent changes also contribute to the known health improvement.A series of analyses will be conducted which will address some areas of uncertainty in the area of fruit and vegetables, dietary biomarkers and health research. Therefore, this PhD will explore:1) Can measurement of targeted biomarkers help improve the dietary assessment of FV intake? (Statistical analysis of already analysed biomarker data)2) What is the current bioactive and pesticide content of FV currently being consumed by UK populations, including consideration of effect of cultivar, storage and processing? (Systematic review and new food-based analysis)3) What is the likely impact of differences in bioactives and pesticides observed in (2) on intake levels and health outcomes? (Modelling of pooled FV intervention studies using data from (2))4) When people are asked to increase FV intake what changes do they make and how does this increased FV intake affect other food choices? (Statistical analysis of pooled FV dietary intervention studies)Researchers in the Institute for Global Food Security (School of Biological Sciences and Centre for Public Health) at QUB and the Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition in Reading have conducted a series of controlled dietary intervention studies where the effects of increased FV intake on a range of health outcomes have been tested and rigorous dietary records recorded. This is a rich resource which has been under-utilised to date. It is complimented by a recently completed dietary assessment method validation study, conducted with a focus on FV intake (n=100). Researchers at AFBI have gathered considerable data and experience of quantifying bioactive concentrations in FV. Collectively this provides a unique resource to characterise the impact of increasing FV intake on biomarker expression, on dietary exposures to both positive and negative attributes and on dietary patterns.The project will utilise already-collected data (other than targeted bioactive quantification), to address a number of research questions highly relevant to our understanding of the link between fruit and vegetable intake and human health outcomes. It will be supervised by two nutrition researchers with an excellent track record in fruit and vegetable and health research, a third supervisor with strong expertise in dietary exposure assessments and dietary pattern analysis and a fourth supervisor, a chemical analyst, who specialises in bioactive and pesticide residue assessment, with a specific focus on FV.