BLACKSBURG, Va. – Researchers at Virginia Tech have developed a new tool that assesses beverage quality and cardiometabolic risk.
They found that there are associations between Healthy Beverage Index (HBI) scores and favorable lipid profiles, hypertension risk among men, and C-reactive protein levels, leading to the conclusion that the HBI score could be a valuable took in evaluating beverage intake quality and health impact in adults.
The study is published in the July edition of the Journal of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Researchers developed an algorithm, similar to the Healthy Eating Index-2010, by using recommendations for total beverage energy, fluid requirements, and consuming within recommended limits for beverage subgroups depending on the beverage’s fat or sugar content.
The final scoring system had 10 components, and was applied to the average of two days of 24-hour dietary intake data for adults from the 2005-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Elements examined included regression models stratified by sex and body mass index multivariable used in cross-sectional association between the HBI score and cardiometabolic outcomes.
Results indicated that each 10-point higher HBI score is associated with lower risks for hypertension for both sexes, a high fasting insulin level, high fasting glucose level, and high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level in women and obese men, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level in women, and high C-reactive protein level in men.
The Researchers involved in the study suggest ongoing studies be done to further assess health improvements based upon following the HBI in beverage choices and habits.
http://www.andjrnl.org/article/S2212-2672(15)00542-0/fulltext