title: Nutritionists' Health Study cohort: a web-based approach of life events, habits and health outcomes.
abstract: Non-communicable chronic diseases (NCCDs) represent a burden for public health. Alongside the established cardiometabolic risk factors such as high blood pressure and disorders of glucose and lipid metabolism, living habits and nutritional status at different stages of life are seen as contributors to this scenario. Gut microbiota composition and subclinical inflammation have been pointed out as underlying mechanisms of NCCDs. Studies involving health professionals have brought relevant contributions to the knowledge about risk factors. Technological advances facilitate data collection and analysis for big samples. A web-based survey addressed to collect data from a cohort study, which is able to identify NCCDs risk factors, is highly desirable. The objective of the Brazilian Nutritionists' Health Study (NutriHS) is to gather online information on early life events, daily habits, emergent cardiometabolic risk factors and health outcomes of a specific subset of the Brazilian population.
  
  
  
  NutriHS, developed at the School of Public Health-University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, is a research initiative that enrols undergraduates of nutrition courses from Brazilian universities and graduated volunteers. A web-based self-administered system was designed to collect health-related data. After fulfilling online questionnaires (socioeconomic, early life events and lifestyle data), participants are invited to a clinical visit for physical examination and laboratory procedures (blood sampling, faeces collection and body composition). At a 3-year interval, they will be invited to repeat similar procedures.
  
  
  
  The NutriHS research protocol was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee and is providing promising data which contribute to the understanding of pathophysiological links between early life events, body composition, gut microbiota, and inflammatory and metabolic risk profile. The combination of a friendly tool with the innovative purposes of NutriHS offers a remarkable resource for testing hypotheses about mechanisms of nutrition-related diseases and further planning of preventive programmes in public health.
authors: Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors: Luciana Gavilan Dias
authors: 0000-0001-6380-6544
authors: LG
authors: Folchetti
authors: Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors: Isis Tande da
authors: IT
authors: Silva
authors: Department of Preventive Medicine, Federal University of Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors: Bianca de
authors: Bd
authors: Almeida-Pititto
authors: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors: Sandra Roberta G
authors: SR
authors: Ferreira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003144:Communication Barriers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000073296:Noncommunicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011634:Public Health / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D057566:Self Report; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D017216:Telemedicine
keywords: Nutritionists’ Health Study; cardiometabolic risk factors; early-life events; gut microbiota; web-based system