Maira Bes-Rastrollo

Universidad de Navarra | UNAV · Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health

Noncommunicable diseases, particularly cardiovascular disease (CVD), represent a significant global public health challenge, with unhealthy diets as a major risk factor. This study investigates the association between adherence to the Planetary Health Diet proposed by the EAT-Lancet Commission and CVD risk. Methods: Utilizing data from the Seguimie...

Background and Objectives: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is one of the most common medical conditions in pregnancy, with adverse effects on maternal and neonatal outcomes. Evidence suggests a beneficial effect of plant-based dietary patterns, rich in foods derived from plant sources and low in animal foods, on type 2 diabetes; however, their...

Consumption of plant-based diets, including vegan diets, necessitates attention to the quality of the diet for the prevention and early detection of nutritional deficiencies. Within the VEGANScreener project, a unique brief screening tool for the assessment and monitoring of diet quality among vegans in Europe was developed. To provide a standardiz...

The Mediterranean diet (MD) has been shown to be a healthy dietary pattern (DP), and lately it is increasingly being studied as a sustainable DP. The aim of this study is to analyze whether the MD is a sustainable and healthy DP accounting for its carbon footprint, water footprint (WF), land use (LU), and/or energy use, based on the existing scient...

Introduction: no previous large prospective studies have assessed the global quality of macronutrients in association with the risk of overweight/obesity. Objective: to prospectively assess the association of an overall macronutrient quality index (MQI) with weight change and the incidence of overweight/obesity in the Seguimiento Universidad de...

Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with a higher risk of multiple diseases, including cardiovascular disorders. The purpose of this study was to examine the potential association between predicted levels of serum 25(OH)D and the risk of new-onset hypertension in a large Mediterranean cohort. A validated 136-item food frequency questionnaire w...

Purpose The quality, rather than the quantity, of carbohydrate intake may play a major role in the etiology of obesity-related cancers (ORCs). We assessed the association between a previously defined carbohydrate quality index (CQI) and the risk of developing ORCs in the “Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra” (SUN) cohort. Methods A total of 18,446...

Purpose Consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) has increased despite potential adverse health effects. Recent studies showed an association between UPF consumption and some gastrointestinal disorders. We evaluated the association between UPF consumption and peptic ulcer disease (PUD) in a large Spanish cohort. Methods We conducted a prospectiv...

Background: Physical activity (PA) is a modifiable protective factor against hypertension, but the optimum intensity of PA for prevention of hypertension remains unknown. It has been suggested that total energy expenditure is the crucial factor while intensity is non-differential provided it is moderate or above. Yet it is possible that higher inte...

Background: Plant-based diets are not inherently healthy. Similar to omnivorous diets, they may contain excessive amounts of sugar, sodium, and saturated fats, or lack diversity. Moreover, vegans might be at risk of inadequate intake of certain vitamins and minerals commonly found in foods that they avoid. We developed the VEGANScreener, a tool de...

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship of ultra-processed food (UPF) intake with the incidence of glaucoma in a large sample of Spanish university graduates followed prospectively. Methods: Prospective cohort study using data from the SUN Project. A final sample of 19,225 participants (60.1% women) was included in this stu...

Objective: This article aims to estimate the differences in environmental impact (greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions, land use, energy used, acidification and potential eutrophication) after one year of promoting a Mediterranean diet (MD). Methods: Baseline and 1-year follow-up data from 5800 participants in the PREDIMED-Plus study were used. Each part...

Purpose Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with multiple chronic diseases, including metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes (T2D). The aim of the study was to analyze the association between validated predicted serum vitamin D status and the risk of developing T2D in a large prospective cohort based on a Mediterran...

Tobacco and alcohol co‐use are two major lifestyle modifiable risk factors. Understanding the determinants of both behaviors helps to develop interventions to prevent these exposures. However, previous studies have focused on predictors of individual tobacco or alcohol use. This study aims to explore the potential predictors of tobacco and alcohol...

Background Consumption of plant-based diets, including vegan diets, necessitates attention to the quality of the diet for the prevention and early detection of nutritional deficiencies. Within the VEGANScreener project, a unique brief screening tool for the assessment and monitoring of diet quality among vegans in Europe was developed. To provide a...

Background The adoption of plant-based and vegan diets is on the rise, paralleling heightened awareness of animal welfare, environmental issues related to climate change, and potential health concerns associated with consumption of animal-source foods. However, plant-based diets are not inherently healthy. Similar to omnivorous diets, they may cont...

Background A major barrier to a healthy diet may be the higher price of healthy foods compared to low-quality foods. Objectives This study aimed to assess the association between the monetary cost of food and diet quality in Spanish older adults at high risk of cardiovascular disease. Methods Cross-sectional analysis was carried out in Spanish ol...

Background Metabolic syndrome (MetS) has become a growing risk factor of some non-communicable diseases. Increase of greenhouse gas emissions affects the planet. Aims To assess the association between MetS severity and amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted in an adult population. Design Cross-sectional study (n = 6646; 55-76-year-old-men; 60-75-...

Objectives: Novel findings indicate links between unhealthy lifestyles and depression based on active inflammatory processes. Thus, identifying participants with poor habits could reveal differences in trends of incident depression. This study aimed to examine the association between an objective lifestyle assessment, as measured by the Lifestyle...

The assignment of foods to one of four categories proposed by the Nova framework may be challenging in the absence of information on how these foods were prepared and their specific composition. A three-step iterative approach can make the categorization process more efficient and transparent, thereby increasing the accuracy of Nova estimates.

Background and aims: The association between changes in ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption and cardiometabolic risk (CMR) factors remains understudied. We evaluated the association between changes in UPF consumption over 12 months of follow-up and changes in CMR factors in adults diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. Methods: We analysed data f...

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – EU funding. Main funding source(s): European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) and Spanish Ministry of Health. Introduction Previous research has identified a potential relationship between sleep patterns and atrial fibrillation (AF). Short daytime napping is a widespread healthy...

Background: Dietary patterns can produce an environmental impact. Changes in people's diet, such as the increased consumption of ultra-processed food (UPF) can not only influence human health but also environment sustainability. Objectives: Assessment of the impact of 2-year changes in UPF consumption on greenhouse gas emissions and water, energ...

Vitamin D is an essential nutrient to be consumed in the habitual dietary intake, whose deficiency is associated with various disturbances. This study represents a validation of vitamin D status estimation using a semi-quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), together with data from additional physical activity and lifestyle questionnaires....

(1) Background: Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) affects over a third of the United States population, and has similar prevalence in Europe. Dietary approaches to prevention are important. Coffee consumption has been inversely associated with mortality and chronic disease; however, its relation to the risk of MetS is unclear. We aimed to investigate the a...

Background: Binge-drinking is one of the alcohol drinking patterns with the worst health consequences. Nonetheless, binge-drinking is highly prevalent. The perceived benefits that motivate it are ultimately related to subjective well-being. In this context, we analyzed the relationship between binge-drinking and quality of life. Methods: We eval...

The global incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) has been steadily increasing in recent decades. The Mediterranean dietary pattern has shown a preventive effect on the risk of T2D. Evaluating the association between bioactive compounds such as phenolic compounds (PC) in a Mediterranean cohort could help to better understand the mechanisms implicated i...

Alcohol drinking patterns may determine the risk of hypertension and may also modify the detrimental effect of high alcohol intake. We prospectively evaluated the effect of the Mediterranean alcohol-drinking pattern and its interaction with the amount of alcohol consumed on the incidence of arterial hypertension. In the “Seguimiento Universidad de...

Background Research related to sustainable diets is is highly relevant to provide better understanding of the impact of dietary intake on the health and the environment. Aim To assess the association between the adherence to an energy-restricted Mediterranean diet and the amount of CO 2 emitted in an older adult population. Design and population...

Background: Most of the available epidemiological evidence on alcohol and chronic disease agrees on recommending alcohol abstention to young people, but some controversy exists about the most appropriate recommendation for alcohol abstention for people of older ages. A growing body of evidence suggests that the pattern of alcohol consumption is li...

Background: Previous studies regarding antioxidant consumption and glaucoma have shown contradictory results. The aim of this study was to analyze the combined effect of the consumption of three vitamins (A, C and E) on the incidence of glaucoma in the SUN Project. Methods: For this study, 18,669 participants were included. The mean follow-up wa...

Overheating in dwellings is a global concern that is increasing due to global warming and more frequent and extreme heatwaves. This study assesses the relationship between different building parameters (built period, floor level, orientation, window area and solar shading) and compares indoor overheating hours during summer in twelve apartments mon...

Several studies have tried to analyse the association between all-cause mortality and different risk factors, (especially those which are modifiable, such as smoking, diet or exercise), to develop public health preventive strategies. However, a specific analysis of predictors of premature and late mortality is needed to give more precise recommenda...

Background and aims Front-of-Pack (FoP) nutrition labelling has been established as a policy, empowering consumers to choose healthy food options for preventing diet-related non-communicable diseases. This study aimed to evaluate the association between the nutrient profile underlying the Chilean warning label score and all-cause mortality and to c...

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) includes a spectrum of liver alterations that can result in severe disease and even death. Consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) has been associated with obesity and related comorbidities. However, the link between UPF and NAFLD has not been sufficiently assessed. We aimed to investigate the prospectiv...

This paper investigates the relationship between indoor air quality (IAQ) and overheating in a temperate climate in Spain (Cfb attending to Koppen-Ggeiger classification), in dwellings located in residential buildings and without cooling systems. Twelve dwellings were selected among different Spanish building regulatory periods and quality of const...

Background Some large prospective studies on olive oil consumption and risk of chronic disease suggested protective effects. Objective We conducted an outcome-wide systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies and randomized controlled trials (RCT) assessing the association between olive oil consumption and the primary risk of...

Objective To investigate the association between different versions of a provegetarian food pattern (FP) and micronutrient inadequacy Design Cross-sectional analysis. Dietary intake was assessed at baseline through a validated 136-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Participants were classified according to groups of different versions of a p...

Background Helping consumers to improve the nutritional quality of their diet is a key public health action to prevent cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The modified version of the Food Standard Agency Nutrient Profiling System Dietary Index (FSAm-NPS DI) underpinning the Nutri-Score front-of-pack label has been used in public health strategies to ad...

Obesity is associated with a higher risk of several types of cancer, grouped as obesity-related cancers (ORC). Vitamin D deficiency is more prevalent in obese subjects, and it has been suggested to play a role in the association between obesity and cancer risk. The aim of the study was to analyze the association between vitamin D intake and the sub...

Healthy and unhealthy lifestyles are tightly linked to general health and well-being. However, measurements of well-being have failed to include elements of health and easy to interpret information for patients seeking to improve lifestyles. Therefore, this study aimed to create an index for the assessment of general health and well-being along wit...

Purpose In several studies, exploratory dietary patterns (DP), derived by principal component analysis, were inversely or positively associated with incident type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, findings remained study-specific, inconsistent and rarely replicated. This study aimed to investigate the associations between DPs and T2D in multiple cohorts a...

The aim of the study was to investigate the association between pre-gestational carbohydrate quality index (CQI) and the incidence of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM). Data from the “Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra” (SUN) cohort were used, which includes 3,827 women who notified at least one pregnancy between December 1999 and December 2019....

The health benefits of plant-based diets have been reported. Plant-based diets found in Spain and other Mediterranean countries differ from typical diets in other countries. In the Mediterranean diet, a high intake of phenolic compounds through olives, olive oil, and red wine may play an important role in cardiovascular prevention. Prospective stud...

Purpose To assess the association between a score appraising adherence to the PaleoDiet and the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in a Mediterranean cohort. Methods We included 18,210 participants from the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) cohort study. The PaleoDiet score comprised six food groups promoted within this diet (fruit, nuts,...

Background: The relationship between modifiable risk factors, such as diet and lifestyle, and glaucoma remains controversial. We analyse the effect of the Mediterranean lifestyle (ML) on glaucoma incidence in the "Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra" (SUN) Project. Methods: The SUN Healthy Lifestyle Score (SHLS) includes 10 healthy habits: never...

Background Recent lifestyle changes include increased consumption of highly processed foods (HPF), which has been associated with an increased risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). However, nutritional information relies on the estimation of HPF consumption from food-frequency questionnaires (FFQ) that are not explicitly developed for this purp...

Exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) may influence telomere length (TL), which is considered as a marker of biological age associated with the risk of chronic disease. We hypothesized that dietary exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins could affect TL. Our aim was to evaluate the association of dietary exposure to PCBs...

Background: Media outlets influence social attitudes toward health. Thus, it is important that they share contents which promote healthy habits. The Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) is associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk. Analysis of tweets has become a tool for understanding perceptions on health issues. Methods: We investigated tweet...

Background: Siesta has been associated with increased incidence of cardiovascular disease but the mechanism remains unclear. New studies into the relationship between siesta and metabolic syndrome have identified siesta length as a crucial differential, suggesting that siesta less than 40 min is associated with decreased risk of metabolic syndrome...

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a nutritional intervention to promote fruit and vegetable (FV) intake. Design A randomised controlled community trial was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a 7-month nutritional intervention and to promote FV intake, separately and together. All participants attended physical exercise sessions. T...

Background Myopia is a highly prevalent disorder, and one of the first causes of blindness. In turn, alcohol consumption has been shown to be a risk factor for many diseases and a main contributor to the global burden of disease. However, no studies have investigated the relationship between alcohol intake and myopia. Our aim was to prospectively a...

Background & aims The specific association of olive oil consumption with coronary heart disease (CHD) or stroke has not been totally established. Objective: to examine whether olive oil consumption is associated with subclinical atherosclerosis, the risk of total cardiovascular disease (CVD), CHD, and stroke. Methods Three cohorts were included: A...

The COVID pandemic has strongly affected daily life both in Spanish schools and worldwide. Providing the best environmental conditions for children allowing face-to-face learning with healthy and safe indoor spaces is a challenge. In the present study, empirical research about how these environmental conditions change with COVID is presented compar...

Students spend at least 6 hours per day in a classroom so it is important to ensure adequate indoor environmental conditions in these spaces. This is especially relevant due to the proven relationship of indoor temperature and air quality with the feeling of tiredness, school performance and health of students. Currently, interest in this topic has...

Purpose Coffee is rich in compounds such as polyphenols, caffeine, diterpenes, melanoidins and trigonelline, which can stimulate brain activity. Therefore, the possible association of coffee consumption with cognition is of considerable research interest. In this paper, we assess the association of coffee consumption and total dietary caffeine inta...