Helmut Heseker

• Paderborn University

Background: An elevated core temperature (Tcore) increases the risk of performance impairments and heat-related illness. Internal cooling (IC) has the potential to lower Tcore when exercising in the heat. The aim of the review was to systematically analyze the effects of IC on performance, physiological, and perceptional parameters. Methods: A syst...

Background Reducing the intake of total fat, saturated fatty acids (SFA) and dietary cholesterol was a cornerstone of dietary guidance in past decades. This emphasis shifted recently from lowering the intake of total fat to focusing on the quality of dietary fat intake, the avoidance of industrial trans-fatty acids (TFA), and the substitution of SF...

Background Reducing the intake of total fat, saturated fatty acids (SFA) and dietary cholesterol was a cornerstone of dietary guidance in past decades. This emphasis shifted recently from lowering the intake of total fat to focussing on the quality of dietary fat intake, the avoidance of industrial trans-fatty acids (TFA), and the substitution of S...

Introduction: We conducted a scoping review of dietary guidelines with the intent of developing a position paper by the "IUNS Task force on Dietary Fat Quality" tasked to summarize the available evidence and provide the basis for dietary recommendations. Methods: We systematically searched several databases and Web sites for relevant documents p...

Introduction: We conducted a scoping review of systematic reviews (SRs) on dietary fat intake and health outcomes in human adults within the context of a position paper by the "International Union of Nutritional Sciences Task force on Dietary Fat Quality" tasked to summarize the available evidence and provide dietary recommendations. Methods: We...

This position statement represents the current state of scientific knowledge regarding the recommended fat intake in ambitious recreational and high level sports. It also addresses dietary strategies (fat-loading methods) and food supplements that are designed to influence fat metabolism during physical exercise. No recommendation has so far been e...

This position paper deals with safety aspects of the use of dietary supplements (DS) in sports. DS are legally classified as foodstuffs and may contain vitamins, minerals and other substances with a nutritional or physiological effect. In the case of other substances with a nutritional or physiological effect, it is currently not specifically regul...

This position paper represents the current scientific recommendations for fluid management in sports. Sporting activities should always be commenced with a balanced fluid level (apparent by urine color, which is light yellow in the case of balanced fluid level). The loss of fluids during exercise depends on numerous factors such as the state of exe...

An adequate intake of minerals and vitamins is essential for health and performance of athletes. Depending on the type of sport and the intensity and scope of physical performance, as well as individual factors (such as dietary behavior, perspiration rate and composition of perspiration), athletes may be at increased risk of suboptimal micronutrien...

Athletes expend greater amounts of energy as a result of their training. However, these amounts vary during the competition year and are influenced by such factors as the training period and intensity. Measuring energy expenditure is a complex process that is often achieved through indirect calorimetry. A calculation is possible when certain limita...

Adequate intake of high quality proteins and amino acids is essential for the body in order to build up structures such as muscle, tendons, ligaments and bone. Protein intake also regulates and affects various metabolic processes, including hormonal regulation. Accordingly, proteins and amino acids are, to varying extents, able to stimulate or inhi...

Carbohydrates are an important source of energy during physical exercise. Carbohydrates lead to a higher energy yield and higher energy flux per liter of oxygen than the oxidation of fatty acids. However, the storage capacity for carbohydrates in liver and muscles is limited. Therefore, athletes performing prolonged endurance or intermittent high-i...

Nutritional care and nutritional status may differ in older persons receiving informal (IC) or professional (PC) home care and further depend on the living situation, but little is known in this regard. In this analysis of a cross-sectional multicenter study, type of care, living situation, and nutritional care were enquired in 353 older adults (≥6...

Global sourcing of food may lead to variability in concentrations of contaminants or pesticide residues. It would be important to incorporate origin influences in dietary exposure assessment. To characterise uncertainties, substance concentrations from GFM (German Food Monitoring), chosen based on the highest CV (coefficient of variation), and food...

Global trade influences food supply and the geographical origin is an important aspect of food safety. Available origin information is limited by food labelling and reporting in German Food Monitoring (GFM). GFM data on different exemplary food items was used to investigate whether information on the origin is available as per the mandatory food la...

Cocoa contains aluminium and cadmium as environmental contaminants while concentrations are supposed to be country of origin-related. Integrating origin in dietary exposure assessment could refine calculations. Averages or higher percentiles of concentrations in cocoa powder from German Food Monitoring (GFM) and cocoa consumption from the German Na...

Background: Following a timely update process, the nutrition societies of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (D-A-CH) revised the reference values for the intake of protein in 2017. The Working Group conducted a structured literature search in PubMed considering newly published papers (2000- 2017). Summary: For infants < 4 months, the estimated v...

Background: In January 2017, the nutrition societies of -Germany, Austria and Switzerland revised the reference values for sodium and chloride intake. Methods: For adults, the estimated value for sodium intake was derived on the basis of a balance study. The estimated values for children and adolescents were extrapolated from this estimated valu...

Background: The nutrition societies of Germany, Austria and Switzerland have revised the reference values for potassium intake in January 2017. Methods: For adults, the estimated value was based on the 24-h urinary potassium excretion and on preventive considerations regarding hypertension and stroke. The estimated values for children and adoles...

Objective: To date, no study has examined the nutritional status and disease burden of elderly home-care receivers living in Germany. Aim of this cross-sectional study was, first, to assess disease burden and nutritional status, denoted in anthropometrics, and, second, to investigate associations between anthropometrics and disease burden. Design:...

This scientific statement from the German Nutrition Society (DGE) summarises evidence-based knowledge regarding the association between salt intake and the prevention of nutrition-related diseases. This knowledge is brought together with recent data on salt intake in Germany as well as with descriptive epidemiological data on cardiovascular disease...

This scientific statement from the German Nutrition Society (DGE) summarises evidence-based knowledge regarding the association between salt intake and the prevention of nutrition-related diseases. This knowledge is brought together with recent data on salt intake in Germany as well as with descriptive epidemiological data on cardiovascular disease...

Background: The nutrition societies of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are the joint editors of the ‘reference values for nutrient intake’. They have revised the reference values for the intake of thiamin, riboflavin, and niacin and published them in February 2015. Methods: All three vitamins have important functions as part of energy metabolism....

The German, Austrian and Swiss nutrition societies are the joint editors of the 'reference values for nutrient intake'. They have revised the reference values for the intake of selenium and published them in February 2015. The saturation of selenoprotein P (SePP) in plasma is used as a criterion for the derivation of reference values for selenium i...

The D-A-CH reference value (D-A-CH arises from the initial letters of the common country identification for the countries Germany (D), Austria (A) and Switzerland (CH)) for folate equivalents had been set at 400 μg/d for adults in the year 2000. By that time, the prevention of cardiovascular diseases through reduction of homocysteine was considered...

Objectives To compare the prognostic value of the revised Mini Nutritional Assessment short form (MNA-SF) classification with that of the long form (MNA-LF) in relation to mortality and functional change in community-dwelling older adults receiving home care in Germany. DesignMulticenter, 1-year prospective observational study. SettingCommunity. Pa...

To get a more realistic estimation of food additive intake for toddlers and children a German database on occurrence of food additives was created. It uses consumption data of two recent national nutrition surveys for toddlers and children in combination with qualitative information of food additive occurrence in the consumed food. The information...

Former guest workers in Germany who stayed on after retirement are now older than 70 years. Nursing homes (NH) are broadening their offer to meet specific requirements of this population. The nutritional status and related problems of the older ethnic minority group living in German NH has so far not been investigated. The aim of this study was, th...

Ernährung und Bewegung sind Elemente, die im Rahmen der schulischen Gesundheitsförderung einen wichtigen Stellenwert einnehmen. In vielerlei Hinsicht können sie körperliches und geistiges Wachstum, Lern- und Leistungsfähigkeit, physische und psychische Balance, Persönlichkeitsentwicklung unterstützen und fördern und nicht zuletzt zu Routinen und „g...

Objectives: The aims of this work were (a) to provide a detailed description of the association between nutritional (Mini Nutritional Assessment; MNA®) and functional status in a sample of older adults receiving home care, using both questionnaire- and performance-based functional methods, and (b) to investigate the impact of different MNA subscal...

Objectives: In nursing homes malnutrition among residents is widespread. Because residents place part of their personal freedom of choice into institutional hands, institution-specific factors may influence nutritional status of residents. Design: Multi-centre cross-sectional study. Setting: 10 nation-wide German nursing homes. Participants:...

This paper describes the outcome of the workshop 'Deriving Micronutrient Recommendations: Updating Best Practices' which took place in Brussels in April 2012. The workshop was organised jointly by the European Micronutrient Recommendations Aligned (EURRECA) Network of Excellence and the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe. Th...

Germany is not a country with vitamin deficiency. In Germany, vitamin deficiency diseases are extremely rare in otherwise healthy adults. However, if a population group exhibits unhealthy nutritional behaviour, this can never be balanced by taking vitamin preparations or other food supplements. On the one hand, there is the lack of benefit. On the...

Germany is not a country with vitamin deficiency. In Germany, vitamin deficiency diseases are extremely rare in adults who are otherwise healthy. Typical studies have shown that the reference values for most vitamins are reached by most persons living in private households. In other words, supplies are adequate. The exceptions are as follows: folic...

Neural tube defects (NTD) are common congenital malformations leading to severe disability or even death. The causes of NTD are multifactorial, including genetic predisposition, nutritional and environmental risk factors, and other maternal conditions. Some countries have introduced mandatory or at least voluntary folic acid fortification as an eff...

The nutritional IQ test contains 40 questions, covering a wide variety of aspects of nutritional knowledge. Both questions from older survey instruments and current questions are included. The results of the evaluation of a representative sample show that the nutritional knowledge of the German population is really good in some areas, but rather de...

Although trans fatty acids of natural origin have obviously been a part of our diet for a long time, exposure to trans-fatty acids has changed with the industrial hardening of vegetable oils. Trans fatty acids of natural origin are found in milk fat and in the meat of ruminants and products made from them. They are produced primarily through biohyd...

Although trans fatty acids of natural origin have obviously been a part of our diet for a long time, exposure to trans-fatty acids has changed with the industrial hardening of vegetable oils. Trans fatty acids of natural origin are found in milk fat and in the meat of ruminants and products made from them. They are produced primarily through biohyd...

Some countries have introduced mandatory folic acid fortification, whereas others support periconceptional supplementation of women in childbearing age. Several European countries are considering whether to adopt a fortification policy. Projections of the possible beneficial effects of increased folic acid intake assume that the measure will result...

To compare the food consumption and nutrient intakes of German children and adolescents in the 1980s with present dietary habits. Two cross-sectional representative surveys, the German National Food Consumption Study (Nationale Verzehrsstudie, NVS) from 1985-8 and the nutrition module 'EsKiMo' of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey f...

A systematic literature search was performed to establish whether even moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy is associated with disturbances in the course of the pregnancy or development of the child, namely increased risks of early death, stillbirth, congenital malformations, body measurements, cognitive development and child behaviour. Fo...

The nutritional IQ measures the many facets of nutritional knowledge and integrates both questions from old questionnaire instruments and highly current issues. The evaluation algorithm was developed on the basis of a representative survey of the German population from 14 years of age. The classification was analogous to the well known intelligence...

Der Jodmangel ist ein naturbedingtes Phänomen und das Strumavorkommen ist in zahlreichen Ländern weltweit endemisch – so auch in Deutschland.Als Mittel der Wahl empfiehlt die Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) die Jodsalzprophylaxe, d. h. die bedarfsgerechte Anreicherung von Speisesalz mit Jod. Die Verwendung von Jodsalz erfolgt in Deutschland freiw...

The nutritional status of “young” and healthy pensioners is basically not very different from that of adults who are still working. Overweight, obesity and the connected illnesses resulting from these are the main problems associated with nutrition and health in this group. These pensioners can get about normally or almost normally, are good on the...

Folate supply of the population may be improved by increased consumption of foods naturally high in folate in compliance with the recommendations of the German Nutrition Society. In view of the present dietary and lifetime habits, however, it will take a while -medium or even long-term - to achieve this goal for the majority of the population. Alte...

In Germany, folate supply in a large part of the population is below the recommended intake of 400 μg folate equivalents/day. An inadequate supply is associated with an increased risk of a low folate status - a risk factor for different diseases including cardiovascular diseases, neural tube defects, and possibly cancer, cognitive disturbances and...