Estimación de la ingesta de polifenoles y contaminantes alimentarios en diferentes poblacionesmujeres embarazadas y niños

Abstract

Today, food is one of the fundamental elements to support optimal health. Globally, there are a multitude of challenges, from food security and access to food, to help the food system become more sustainable. But the most important challenge is fighting against obesity and undernutrition. Strategies are being developed to combat this challenge such as the reduction of consumption of ultra-processed foods, the decrease the concentration of contaminants in food, the promotion of healthy dietary patterns or the increase in the consumption of antioxidant compounds are being developed. The most vulnerable groups of people, such as pregnant women and children, need to be targeted in particular. To reach these goals, reliable tools such as dietary records, food databases or dietary software are needed to help create a more personalised nutrition. The general objective of this doctoral thesis was to create and validate different dietary tools that can be used to estimate the intake of antioxidant compounds such as polyphenols or the concentration of contaminants from food in a reliable way, especially in the most vulnerable populations such as pregnant women and children. It could be demonstrated that the developed tools permitted a precise estimation of the intake of polyphenols and contaminants from food processing. The results were comparable with the results described by other studies. Associations were found between a high intake of contaminants and weight gain or health deterioration. It was also possible to demonstrate that, in general, a high intake of polyphenols was associated with a better state of health. Finally, it was possible to correlate antioxidant dietary patterns or the Mediterranean Diet with a high intake of polyphenols in different populations.