Regina M Fisberg

• Associate Professor
• Professor (Associate) at University of São Paulo

Introduction Cardiometabolic diseases, a major global health concern, stem from complex interactions of lifestyle, genetics, and biochemical markers. While extensive research has revealed strong associations between various risk factors and these diseases, latent confounding and limited causal discovery methods hinder understanding of their causal...

Background/Objectives: There is a lack of empirical studies of out-of-pocket health expenditures associated with dyslipidemias, which are major cardiovascular risk factors, especially in underrepresented admixed populations. The study investigates associations of health costs with lipid traits, GWAS-derived genetic risk scores (GRSs), and other car...

Recent studies suggest that plasma inflammatory biomarker concentrations may represent valuable indicators for the diagnosis and prognosis of mental disorders. At the same time, metabolic alterations may contribute to the development and progression of systemic low-grade inflammation. Background/Objectives: This study evaluated the association betw...

The rise in obesity and related chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) during recent decades in Brazil has been associated with increases in the financial burden and risk of impoverishment due to out-of-pocket (OOP) health expenditure. Thus, this study investigated trends and predictors associated with impoverishment due to health expenditure, in...

Objective This study aimed to estimate the daily energy intake and overconsumed nutrients for adolescents and young adults concerning public health based on the food source, eating location, and occasion. Methods This study constituted a cross-sectional analysis of the 2015 Health Survey of São Paulo focusing on Nutrition with 707 adolescents (n=5...

Resumo O objetivo foi investigar a associação entre fatores sociodemográficos e comportamentais e a ocorrência da obesidade entre 2014 e 2021 em adultos da cidade de São Paulo, Brasil. Realizou-se estudo prospectivo com 1.241 adultos paulistanos, com 18 anos ou mais, participantes da coorte Inquérito de Saúde de São Paulo (ISA) - Atividade Física e...

Background Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) comprise major causes of death worldwide, leading to extensive burden on populations and societies. Alterations in normal lipid profiles, i.e., dyslipidemia, comprise important risk factors for CVDs. However, there is lack of comprehensive evidence on the genetic contribution to dyslipidemia in highly admix...

Citation: Pereira, J.L.; de Souza, C.A.; Neyra, J.E.M.; Leite, J.M.R.S.; Cerqueira, A.; Netto, R.C.M.; Soler, J.M.P.; Rogero, M.M.; Sarti, F.M.; Fisberg, R.M. Genetic Ancestry and Self-Reported "Skin Color/Race" in the Urban Admixed Population of São Paulo City, Brazil. Genes 2024, 15, 917. Abstract: Epidemiological studies frequently classify grou...

Background Women’s Dietary Diversity Score (WDDS) is an indicator of dietary diversity, a key component of diet quality in women of reproductive age (WRA). Limited information is available regarding its applicability in other population groups. Objective To examine the ability of the Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W) of 5-food groups cut...

A ascensão da internet acelerou o processo de com-partilhamento de notícias e informações, sendo o Instagram uma das redes sociais mais utilizada globalmente. Conteúdos sobre alimentação e nutrição são comumente divulgados nesses aplicativos e, apesar de serem amplamente consumidos pela população, nem sempre possuem embasamento científico. Sendo as...

The Mediterranean dietary pattern (MPD) has shown promise in preventing low-grade systemic inflammation (LGSI). This study tested if a high adherence to the MDP by younger and older Brazilian adults is associated with lower LGSI and investigated which Mediterranean food components may contribute to these associations. We performed a secondary study...

Background: modifiable risk factors related to lifestyle have possible low-cost interventions and, although potentially relevant in defining the epidemiological profile of the population and being associated with decreased early mortality from cardiovascular disease, these are not being monitored so that they can be assessed globally. So, the purpo...

The challenges in the characterization of the nutritional quality of grain foods comprise obstacles to public health actions toward promotion of healthier grain-based foods. The present study investigated how carbohydrate metrics related to glycemic index (GI), glycemic load (GL), and warning labels of grain foods consumed by individuals living in...

Introduction: Intake of omega-3 fatty acids (ω–3) may protect against CVD, but this evidence was generated from studies with limited ethnic diversity, and thus, findings may not be generalizable to wider populations, especially those with low habitual intake of ω–3. This study aimed to investigate the association between ω–3 in erythrocyte membrane...

Assessing dietary inadequacies can contribute to understanding the nutritional vulnerabilities of a country. This study aimed to investigate nutrient intakes and micronutrient inadequacies in the Brazilian adult population, with an interest in different age subgroups. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 1812 individuals aged 19 to 65 years fr...

Several dietary quality indexes (DQIs) have been proposed to investigate adherence to a healthy diet. However, only a few studies have been conducted to investigate their association with high blood pressure (BP) in Brazil. In the present work, we examine the association between four established DQIs—2020 Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2020), Dietary Ap...

Abstract: Background and Objectives: Dietary vitamin E intake has high rates of inadequacies in Latin America, which may be potentially associated with increased cardiovascular risk. The objective of this study was to compare vitamin E intake and plasma vitamin E concentrations among cardiovascular disease risk factor (CVDR) groups from adults livi...

Assessing dietary inadequacies can contribute to understanding the nutritional vulnerabilities of a country. This study aimed to investigate nutrient intakes and micronutrient inadequacies in the Brazilian adult population, with an interest in different age subgroups. Cross-sectional study with 1812 individuals aged 19 to 65 years from a population...

Background Latin American countries have shifted from traditional diets rich in micronutrients to a Westernized diet rich in high energy-dense foods and low in micronutrients. Objective This study aimed to determine the prevalence of adequate micronutrient intakes in urban populations of 8 Latin American countries. Method Micronutrient dietary in...

Inflammaging refers to the low-grade systemic inflammation that occurs with aging present in chronic non-communicable diseases. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are potential biomarkers for these diseases in older adults. This study aimed to assess the expression of 21 circulating miRNAs and their associations with inflammatory biomarkers in older adults. This c...

Este manual tem por objetivo auxiliar na obtenção de dados de pesquisa sobre a ingestão de suplementação alimentar, visando a coleta de informações de forma mais específica, completa e abrangente.

Introduction Early menarche is associated with obesity, and metabolic and mental health risks, among other diseases. Thus, it is relevant to identify modifiable risk factors of early menarche. Some nutrients and foods have been linked to pubertal timing, but how menarche relates to overall dietary patterns is unclear. Methods The aim of this study...

Different dietary indexes are proposed to investigate adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD). However, they are based on different methodologies, and limited research has compared them to each other, particularly in non-Mediterranean populations. We aimed to compare five indexes intended to measure adherence to the MD. The sample was composed of...

Evidence on what people eat globally is limited in scope and rigour, especially as it relates to children and adolescents. This impairs target setting and investment in evidence-based actions to support healthy sustainable diets. Here we quantified global, regional and national dietary patterns among children and adults, by age group, sex, educatio...

Cost-effectiveness analysis of diets may comprise an important tool to promote food security; however, studies show divergent evidence regarding the relationship between diet quality and cost in diverse populations. Thus, this study assesses differences in cost-effectiveness ratios regarding adherence to nutritional recommendations using data repre...

microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate several metabolic pathways and are potential biomarkers for early risk prediction of metabolic syndrome (MetS). Our aim was to evaluate the levels of 21 miRNAs in plasma according to MetS components and sex in adults. We employed a cross-sectional study of 192 adults aged 20 to 59 years old from the 2015 Health Survey of...

Background & aims: We aimed to estimate the prevalence of the inadequate intake and status of magnesium, zinc, and vitamins A, C, E, and D and identify factors associated with micronutrient deficiency in serum/plasma among residents of São Paulo, Brazil. Methods: Data from 824 individuals aged ≥14 years were obtained from the 2015 ISA-Nutrition,...

Background /Aims: To investigate the accuracy of ten different predictive equations to estimate resting energy expenditure (REE) in a sample of Brazilian older adults and develop a predictive equation for estimating REE based on body composition data. Methods A cross-sectional study with thirty-eight Brazilian older adults aged 60-84 years, who ha...

My presentation aimed to analyze the plasma expression of miR-30a according to the presence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and to identify associations with the consumption of sugary beverages and cardiometabolic biomarkers in elderly participants of Isa-Nutrição 2015.

Objectives Carbohydrate quality remains a concept under development in the field of Nutrition, and different methods have been proposed to assess healthfulness of carbohydrate-providing foods. The study investigated the relationships between carbohydrate metrics and glycemic index (GI) of grain foods. Methods The investigation was based on data fr...

Objectives To evaluate costs and effectiveness of diets of adult individuals in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in relation to the adherence to nutritional recommendations, estimating incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of diets according to nutritional quality. Methods Observational study based on cross-sectional individual level data representat...

Objectives To evaluate differences in factors associated with obesity, considering self-reported color-ethnicity information in comparison with genomic ancestry in admixed Brazilian population. Methods Data from 563 free-living unrelated individuals aged ≥12 years (mean = 47; min. = 12; max = 93) of cross-sectional population-based Health Survey o...

Objectives Dyslipidemia is involved in the pathophysiology of chronic diseases (CD) through several processes such as inflammation. Considering the dearth of knowledge on inflammatory biomarkers and the increasing prevalence of dyslipidemia in Brazil, this study aimed at the identification of lipid and inflammatory profiles across age groups in Sao...

Objectives To estimate the prevalence of inadequate vitamin D intake and status among residents in the urban area of Sao Paulo municipality, Brazil, and to verify the factors associated with this status. Methods Data from 288 individuals ≥19 years old were obtained from the cross-sectional study 2015 Health Survey of Sao Paulo with a focus on Nutr...

Background: Economic dimension comprises important determinants of food choices, particularly income and prices. Aim: Identification of the influence of food prices and diet costs on the consumption of food groups considered protection and risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases. Methods: Food groups classification follows the proposal of “What w...

To test five different methods to detect misreporting in comparison to doubly labeled water in a sample of older adults. A cross-sectional study with thirty-eight Brazilian community-dwelling older adults aged 60–84 years, who had their total energy expenditure measured by doubly labeled water (TEEDLW). Dietary data were collected by two 24 h recal...

Objectives To perform temporal evaluation of folate and vitamin B12 status and their associated factors in a Brazilian population exposed to mandatory fortification. Methods Data from the cross-sectional population-based studies 2008 and 2015 Health Surveys of São Paulo, including individuals ≥ 20 years, both sexes, N = 549 in 2008 and N = 610 in...

Little is known about how behaviors to control weight are associated with diet quality among youth from low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this study was to examine associations between efforts to control weight (ECW) and diet quality among Brazilian adolescents and young adults. Methods: Data from 731 participants (17.89±4.92 years, 51.1...

Background: Misreporting of energy intake (EI) in self-reported dietary assessment is inevitable, and even less is known about which food items are misreported by low-middle income adolescents. We evaluated the prevalence of misreporting of energy intake and its relationship with nutrients and food intake. Methods: We analyzed 24 h dietary recal...

PurposeUnderstanding whole-grain intake and its associated factors is essential to tackle the double burden of malnutrition faced by Latin American countries. This study aimed to characterize total and whole grain intake in Latin American countries and to investigate foods contributing to these intake in the region. Methods Data were obtained from...

Objective: To evaluate associations between snacking and energy, nutrients and food source, and identify the contribution of snacking across age, sex, weight status and lifestyle behaviors among adolescents and young adults. Methods: Sub-sample was calculated from the population-based cross-sectional study 2015-Health Survey of São Paulo (ISA-Capi...

Alcohol consumption is a modifiable risk factor for non-communicable diseases. This study aimed to characterize alcohol consumers at the nutritional, anthropometric, and sociodemographic levels. Data from 9218 participants from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela participating in “Latin American Health and N...

Diversos estudios epidemiológicos y de intervención apuntan a una asociación fuerte y consistente entre la ingesta excesiva de azúcares y el riesgo de desarrollar caries dentales y enfermedades crónicas no transmisibles. El objetivo fue describir los 10 principales alimentos que contribuyen a la ingesta de azúcares añadidos en muestras representati...

My presentation aimed to analyze the plasma expression of microRNA-16 and -376a according to the body mass index (BMI) and to identify the presence of associations with anthropometric parameters and inflammatory biomarkers in elderly participants of the population-based study Isa-Capital

Background Little is known about breakfast habits of the Latin American (LA) population to support nutritional recommendations for a balanced breakfast in this region. Objective To evaluate the nutritional composition of breakfast in LA and to propose recommendations for a balanced breakfast. Design This multicenter cross-sectional study evaluate...

Health and nutrition surveys usually comprise detailed information on health characteristics and food consumption of certain population groups; however, the lack of data collection on the food prices may pose challenges for the estimation of the diet costs for the comprehensive analysis of food demand. The Household Budget Survey (HBS) represents a...

Background Food portion size estimation is an important source of error in obtaining dietary data. While food portion photos are known to aid the food portion estimation, the validation of photos are required. Objective This study aimed at evaluating the bias and associated factors in quantifying the size of food portions eaten during lunch, and e...

Resumo O objetivo foi avaliar se a qualidade da dieta varia de acordo com a adequação da ingestão de água em residentes de São Paulo. Trata-se do Inquérito de Saúde de São Paulo, estudo transversal de base populacional. A ingestão de água total (potável, de bebidas e de alimentos) foi avaliada por meio de dois recordatórios alimentares de 24h e que...

In January 2019, Health Canada released a revised Canada’s Food Guide (CFG). This study aimed to understand the perceptions of the 2019 CFG among Canadian parents with children aged 2–12 years. From October 2019–January 2020, 8 focus groups with parents from Southwestern Ontario were conducted using a semi-structured interview script focused on und...

Child healthcare has been a priority subject in several programs and public policies developed over the decades. However, initiatives implemented seem insufficient to overcome the challenges regarding the integral development and improvement of the nutritional status of children in Brazil. The initial developmental stages of a child include pregnan...

Objective: To evaluate the validity of self-reported body mass and height measurements in adolescents, adults and older adults according to sex, age, leisure-time physical activity level, nutritional status, and cardiometabolic risk factors. Methods: The study included 856 subjects, aged 12 years or older, who participated in the São Paulo Healt...

Objetivo: Avaliar associações entre lanches e consumo de energia, nutrientes e fontes alimentares e identificar seus contribuintes por idade, sexo, status de peso e comportamentos de estilo de vida entre adolescentes e jovens adultos. Métodos: Subamostra calculada a partir do estudo de base-populacional transversal Inquéritos de Saúde de São Paulo...

Poor health and diet quality are associated with living within a low socioeconomic status (SES). This study aimed to investigate the impact of SES on diet quality and body mass index in Latin America. Data from the “Latin American Health and Nutrition Study (ELANS)”, a multi-country, population-based study of 9218 participants, were used. Dietary i...

PurposeTo investigate the relationships between bone measures, vitamin D status and markers of glucose metabolism among diabetic and non-diabetic adults.Methods Cross sectional study with 298 adults (mean age 57.5 years, SD = 14.8; 44.3% male, 16.9% diabetic) participants of the Health Survey–São Paulo (ISA-Capital) 2014–2015. Blood samples were co...

Objectives To verify the relationship between circulating miRNA (16, 363, 375, 486, and let7c) expression and risk factors for metabolic syndrome (MetS) in adults. Methods A cross-sectional population-based study including 192 adults without acute inflammatory diseases, cancer, or using medication that would affect the main outcomes. The BioMarkTM...

Objectives To evaluate the relationship of plasma expression of miR-122, -375, -139, 15-a and -let7c with insulin resistance and factors related to metabolic syndrome (MetS) in adolescents. Methods Data from 188 adolescents aged 12–19 years participating in a cross-sectional population-based study were analyzed, all non-smokers, without acute infl...

Objectives To estimate and to compare the prevalence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol in the population of São Paulo city, according to different diagnostic criteria. Methods Data were collected at households during the cross-sectional population-based Health Survey of São Paulo with focus in Nutrition (ISA-Nutrition) perform...

Objectives To evaluate the plasma expression of miR-30a, miR-130b, miR-376a and miR-let7c according to the presence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and body mass index (BMI) in older adults and assess their association with metabolic biomarkers. Methods Data from 193 older adults (68.0 ± 11.0 years; 52.3% female) of the 2015 Health Survey of São Paul...

Objectives To evaluate associations between circulating miRNAs and lipid profiles with household income, medication and health care expenditures per capita in residents of Sao Paulo municipality, Brazil. Methods As part of the Health Survey of São Paulo (ISA-Capital), a population-based study, we collected blood samples of 573 healthy individuals...

Objectives: To investigate the association between joint diseases (JD) and common mental disorders (CMD) in women at ages related to menopause. Study design: Cross-sectional, population-based study (São Paulo City Health Survey, SP, Brazil). The sample was composed of 1191 women, 40 years and older. Main parameters investigated: Dependent vari...

Anemia is a worldwide concern. This cross-sectional population-based study examined the prevalence of iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) among residents of São Paulo (n = 898; 12–93 years), considering sociodemographic factors, dietary iron inadequacy, and food contributors to iron intake. Blood cell count and iron biomarkers were quantified. Dietary iro...

Objective: To analyze the prevalence of physical inactivity and the average time of practice of total physical activity and by domains (leisure and commuting), according to gender, age group and schooling, between 2003 and 2015, in residents of the urban area of the city of São Paulo. Methods: Data from Household Health Surveys in the Municipali...

Poor diet, sedentary behaviors, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) and alcohol intake seem to co-exist in complex ways that are not well understood. The aim of this study was to provide an understanding of the extent to which unhealthy behaviors cluster in eight Latin America countries. A secondary aim was to identify socio-demographic characteristics...

Increased consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods can lead to inadequate intakes of shortfall nutrients, including vitamin A, D, C, and E, dietary folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and fiber. The objective was to examine the prevalence of inadequate intake of shortfall nutrients and identify food sources of shortfall nutrients i...

My presentation was about the plasma expression of microRNA-122 according to the presence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and aimed to identify the presence of associations with cardiometabolic biomarkers in elderly participants of the Isa-Capital population-based study.

Objective: To quantify the energy, nutrients-to-limit and total gram amount consumed, and identify their top food sources consumed by Latin Americans. Design: Data from The Latin American Study of Nutrition and Health (ELANS). Setting: ELANS is a cross-sectional study representative of eight Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colom...

Objective Given the high disease burden associated with the low intake of whole grains, modelling studies that estimate the impact of dietary strategies to increase more healthful grain foods consumption are essential to inform evidence-based and culturally-specific policies. This study investigated the potential nutritional impact of replacing sta...

Research comparing the adherence to food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) across countries with different socio-economic status is lacking, which may be a concern for developing nutrition policies. The aim was to report on the adherence to FBDGs in high-income (HIC) and low-and-middle-income countries (LMIC). A systematic review with searches in si...

Purpose: To examine associations between preschoolers’ diet quality and parent and child socio-demographic variables. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis with 117 preschoolers. Parents reported socio-demographics and their children’s diet using 3-day food records. Diet quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) 2015. Linear regression...

PurposeStudies of migrants can improve understanding of the environmental influence on the risk of chronic diseases. In continental countries, internal migration has been associated with changes in diet and health status. The objective of this study is to assess differences in diet quality and the cardiometabolic risk profile between migrants and t...

PurposeThe study assessed associations between inflammatory markers, as cytokines, adhesion molecules and unmetabolized folic acid (UMFA) among a population exposed to mandatory fortification.Methods Data were collected from a cross-sectional population-based survey (n = 302) conducted in São Paulo City, Brazil. UMFA was assayed by a modified affin...

Background Many studies have investigated the association between the built environment and physical activity behavior in urban settings. However, most of the studies conducted in low- and middle-income countries were cross-sectional, which are limited to identify behavioral determinants. We propose a prospective cohort study to verify the relation...

It is well recognized that sleep and food intake exhibit 24-h patterns and disturbances of these patterns can lead to health problems. Cross-sectional and prospective studies suggest that diet quality and eating behaviors are negatively affected by short sleep duration. Adolescence is a particularly vulnerable period for the emergence of inadequate...

Accurate estimation of energy requirements is crucial for health maintenance and prevention of malnutrition in older adults. This study aimed to assess the accuracy of predictive equations for estimating energy requirements in older adults and to test the validity of new predictive equations for this age group. This is a cross-sectional study inclu...