Eat, Read, Learn | October 2024

NS Dietitians: Check out the DNNS Facebook page for more new foods, thought-provoking reads, and continuing education opportunities – and please share your own contributions as well!

If you have comments or suggestions, you can reach Meredith at meredith.lapp@gmail.com

EAT - Pumpkin Everything of Course!

Canadian Thanksgiving brings on the start of full-on pumpkin season! Join DNNS at Riverbreeze Farm on Oct 26 to pick out your pumpkin, then check out Canadian Food Focus’ comprehensive resource on how to prepare pumpkins in all kinds of sweet and savoury uses. For pumpkin twists on trendy nutrient-dense recipes (high-protein overnight oats, or pumpkin smoothies, anyone?)

check out The Oregon Dietitan’s cozy pumpkin recipes for 2024.

READ

A new publication from the Canadian Malnutrition Task Force

highlights the current impact of malnutrition in Canadian health

care, particularly among the youngest and oldest Canadians. This

paper calls out the shocking statistics that 34% of older Canadians

are “on the cusp” of malnutrition, including up to 50% of long-term

care residents and admitted adult hospital patients. This creates

additional stress on the larger health-care system as malnourished

patients may require longer/more frequent admissions and

increasingly complex care needs fueled by malnutrition require increased resource from both professional and family care providers. The seven CMTF recommendations include mandating collection

and reporting of data metrics related to malnutrition, expanding Canada’s Healthy Eating Strategy, unlocking access to medical foods (ONS/formulas) via Pharmacare coverage, and increased prevalence

of Registered Dietitians in all levels of healthcare provision, including supports for more RD involvement

in long-term care and remote communities.

LEARN - Does the Body Roundess Index (BRI) give insight into future cardiovascular risk?

It is well recognized that body mass index (BMI) cannot be used as an individual diagnostic alone, as it doesn’t take into account body composition or distribution of adipose tissue. A novel metric, the Body Roundness Index, attempts to bring waist circumference into the

conversation – and, notably, removes weight entirely. BRI has been noted in research for over a decade, but a recent paper published in JAMA in June 2024 uses data from over 30,000 American adults to demonstrate a link between higher BRI and subsequent all-cause mortality, with a special focus on cardiovascular/metabolic disease risk. This metric imagines the human body as an ellipse, with the long axis representing height and the short axis representing waist circumference. Higher waist circumference maps a more spherical ellipse, which indicates likelihood of

greater visceral adiposity and therefore potentially higher future mortality. There are barriers to bringing BRI into mainstream practice – obtaining accurate waist measurements requires in-person assessment and can feel invasive to patients; and using the term “roundness” as a human measurement is problematic. But just like BMI before it, BRI could be used as an early indicator that a patient would benefit from earlier/more frequent screenings for chronic conditions associated with visceral obesity.

Follow the DNNS Facebook group for more new foods, thought-provoking reads, and continuing education opportunities – and please share your own contributions as well!

Curated by Meredith Lapp, RD

If you have a blog, book, or online course that you would like to share with your fellow network members, please forward information to Meredith at meredith.lapp@gmail.com