Beyond individual responsibility towards healthy food choices: A qualitative study among Pakistani women in Hong Kong

While biomedical understandings of food and diet coupled with discourses on individual responsibility towards healthy food choices are nowadays prominent, other social and cultural meanings attached to food and diet are largely devalued. The limits of such a reductionist approach are more evident when related to the experiences of migrant and ethnic populations, whose alternative knowledge(s) and practices about food and health are especially neglected. A multicultural city with a public healthcare system inherited from the British colonial times and largely shaped by biomedical ideas of health, Hong Kong offers a lens into the limits of such a reductionist approach. Due to their vulnerability in the context of Hong Kong as shaped by intersecting social identities, 72 women from Pakistan were recruited to be our community partners in a community-based participatory action research project to investigate their health needs and concerns. 12 focus group discussions were conducted, exploring their experiences of "healthy" food and overweight especially related to their encounters with the Hong Kong public healthcare system, as these issues emerged as key health concerns within the community. Four major themes emerged: unmet expectations of care, health is beyond the individual, constraints to a healthy diet in the context of migration, and beyond health: food as care for diasporic women. This study highlights the limit of a reductionist approach to healthy food as merely based on nutrition and individual responsibility. It stresses the need of a counter-discourse in the field of public health, emphasizing not only alternative cultural ideas of health and food, but also enlarging the field of health in biomedical terms to embrace "care" and acknowledging the structural constraints shaping migrant and ethnic population's vulnerability in making "healthy" food choices.

Food and beverage selection in children's sports arenas in Norway: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE

To assess the selection of foods and beverages in children's sports arenas in Norway.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study design with a digital questionnaire was used. Descriptive statistics were used to present the results. Moreover, Pearson's χ2 tests examined the factors that could aid in distinguishing clubs with healthy or unhealthy consumables.

SETTING

Children's sports clubs in Norway.

PARTICIPANTS

Representatives from 301 children's sports clubs in Norway answered the questionnaire between September and November 2021.

RESULTS

In total, 89·4% of the participating sports clubs (n 301) offered soda drinks with sugar. Most of the sports clubs (88 %) reported to offer batter-based cakes such as pancakes and waffles and 63·8 % offered cakes. Furthermore, 47·5% sold hot dishes with processed meat, such as hamburgers and hot dogs. More than 80% of the sports clubs offered sweets and snacks, while 44·5% did not offer fruits, vegetables and/or berries. Notably, the important factors that distinguished sports clubs with healthier food selections from those with unhealthier selections were the presence of guidelines for the food offered and purchase agreements with food suppliers.

CONCLUSIONS

Educational, governmental guidelines for the promotion of healthy eating and establishing agreements with suppliers of healthier foods could help to overcome barriers to unhealthy food selection.

Adolescents' experiences with the food selection at the sports arena in the area of Oslo, Norway: a focus group study

OBJECTIVE

To investigate adolescents' experiences with the food selection at the sport arena.

DESIGN

Four focus group interviews were conducted with 4-6 participants each. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were coded in NVivo and the analysis was guided by thematic analysis.

SETTING

Adolescents from handball and football clubs in Oslo and Viken, Norway, participated in the study.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of nine boys (11-14 years old) and ten girls (11-14 years old) participated in the study.

RESULTS

We identified four main themes: interest for healthy food; experiences with the food selection at the sports arena; factors influencing participants' food choices at the sports arena and expectations related to a healthy food selection at the sports arena. Adolescents across the focus groups experienced the food selection at the sports arena as unhealthy. Price, marketing and availability of unhealthy food were important factors that influenced their food choices at the sports arena. The trainer appeared to motivate the participants to eat healthy.

CONCLUSIONS

Participants wished for a healthier food selection at the sports arena. Cost of food emerged as a factor that influenced their food choices. Our study also indicates that marketing of unhealthy food and beverages should be restricted, to influence adolescence food choice towards healthier alternatives.

COVID-19 and diet: efforts towards a balanced diet and sustainable nutrition among university students in Pakistan

Nutrition is an important aspect of a healthy lifestyle for all individuals, including adolescents. The objective of this cross-sectional descriptive survey study was to investigate university students' awareness of immunity enhancing foods, food nutritive values, and eating practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 839 university students from four different universities in Pakistan participated in the study from October 2021 to January 2022, 397 of which were male and 442 were female. A total of 419 students were studying in medical disciplines while 420 were non-medical students. The students had significant knowledge (p < 0.05) about COVID-19, and nutritional habits were seen in both medical and non-medical students. Results showed that medical students (n-201) were slightly more aware of immunity-enhancing foods and the nutritive values of foods compared to engineering students (n-79). However, eating practices were generally poorly adopted by all of the university students. Male and female students were not significantly different in their mean replies to questions on the nutritive value of food or in their eating habits. Healthy eating practices will aid university students in preventing illnesses connected to nutrition as well as enhancing their immune systems and nutritional well-being both during and post-pandemic. In light of these results, suggestions and implications for nutritional advice and education were explored.

The combined effect of front-of-package labels and influencer recommendations on food choice decisions

Many governments have adopted front-of-pack nutrition labels (FOP labels) that give advice about how healthy a product is. An increasing number of digital food influencers are also informing consumers about the nutritional quality of products and promoting healthy consumption. In this context, the current study analyzes how both sources of information come together to affect purchase intention. Drawing on congruence theory, we propose that the influencer's recommendation reinforces the effect of the FOP label when there is congruence between the two; however, consumers clearly prefer to follow the recommendation of the influencer over the FOP label when the information sources are non-congruent. We develop a between-subjects experimental design in which the level of congruence between the two information sources is manipulated. The effect of the influencer on purchase intention is mediated by the credibility of the FOP label. A second study confirms the superiority of the influencer effect observed in the first study.

Technology and functional insights into the nicotinamide mononucleotide for human health

Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), a naturally occurring biologically active nucleotide, mainly functions via mediating the biosynthesis of NAD⁺. In recent years, its excellent pharmacological activities including anti-aging, treating neurodegenerative diseases, and protecting the heart have attracted increasing attention from scholars and entrepreneurs for production of a wide range of formulations, including functional food ingredients, health care products, active pharmaceuticals, and pharmaceutical intermediates. Presently, the synthesis methods of NMN mainly include two categories: chemical synthesis and biosynthesis. With the development of biocatalyst engineering and synthetic biology strategies, bio-preparation has proven to be efficient, economical, and sustainable methods. This review summarizes the chemical synthesis and biosynthetic pathways of NMN and provides an in-depth investigation on the mining and modification of enzyme resources during NMN biosynthesis, as well as the screening of hosts and optimization of chassis cells via metabolic engineering, which provide effective strategies for efficient production of NMN. In addition, an overview of the significant physiological functions and activities of NMN is elaborated. Finally, future research on technical approaches to further enhance NMN synthesis and strengthen clinical studies of NMN are prospected, which would lay the foundation for further promoting the application of NMN in nutrition, healthy food, and medicine in the future. KEY POINTS: • NMN supplementation effectively increases the level of NAD⁺. • The chemical and biological synthesis of NMN are comprehensively reviewed. • The impact of NMN on the treatment of various diseases is summarized.

Behavior toward on-farm food safety: Commercial and exporter pistachio growers

Consumers' demand for high-degree food safety obliges the producers to respect health principles and enhance their product quality in the manufacturing process. Food safety refers to the conditions and practices that preserve food quality in order to prevent contamination and foodborne illnesses. This study aimed to investigate farmers' behavior toward on-farm food safety in Iran. So a survey study was conducted on the research population composed of commercial and exporter pistachio growers in Iran of whom 120 were selected. This paper reports the results of this exploratory study to conceptualize the measurement of pistachio growers' farm food safety using the theory of planned behavior. Structural equation modeling (partial least squares) was used to draw the research models and the relationships between latent variables and indicators. The findings revealed a statistically significant relationship between intention and self-efficacy. The intention is one of the most important variables in determining the planned behavior that has the greatest impact on behavior. Future research on this topic is recommended to use more variables that affect farmers' decision-making processes to form a strong opinion in predicting their behavior. It is crucial to consider some effective interventions such as providing large-scale training and community awareness programs for pistachio growers, particularly with the help of mass media, adopting suitable policy-making for on-farm food safety, and specifically supporting pistachio growers for the implementation of GAP-related practices.

Mucilage polysaccharide as a plant secretion: Potential trends in food and biomedical applications

Current trends are shifting away from using synthetic compounds in favor of discovering new natural component sources that will allow them to create goods that are healthful, environmentally friendly, sustainable, and profitable. The food industry, in light of these trends, has opted to look for safe natural ingredients that will allow the production of low-fat, artificial-additive-free, gluten-free, prebiotic, and fortified foods. Similarly, the pharmaceutical and medical industries have attempted to apply natural ingredients to address the challenges related to biomaterials more efficiently than synthetic ingredients. Against this background, plant mucilage has proven to be a polysaccharide with excellent health features and technological properties, useful for both food and biomedical applications. Many studies have shown that its inclusion in different food matrices improves the quality of the products obtained under appropriate reformulations. At the same time, plant mucilage has been indicated to be a very interesting matrix in biomedical field especially tissue engineering applications since it has been emerged to favor tissue regeneration with its highly biocompatible structure. This concise review discusses the most recent advances of the applications of plant mucilage in different foods as well as its recent use in biomedical field. In this context, firstly, a general definition of mucilage was made and information about plant-based mucilage, which is frequently used, about the plant parts they are found in, their content and how they are obtained are presented. Then, the use of mucilage in the food industry including bakery products, meat emulsions, fermented dairy products, ice cream, and other foods is presented with case studies. Afterwards, the use of plant mucilage in the biomedical field, which has attracted attention in recent years, especially in applications with tissue engineering approach such as scaffolds for tissue regeneration, wound dressings, drug delivery systems and pharmaceutical industry was evaluated.

'My Mom Got Influenced by Yours': The persuasiveness of mom influencers in relation to mothers' food assessments and decisions

Childhood obesity is a worldwide health problem with a range of short- and long-term health and social consequences; however, the World Health Organization (WHO) argues that this epidemic is preventable and reversible. The biggest dietary gatekeepers of children are their parents and more specifically mothers, whose attitudes and consumption choices are nowadays often affected by the opinions of influencers on social network sites (SNSs). Using two experimental studies, the current paper investigates how mothers' food assessments and decisions for their children are affected by sponsored posts on social media. The first study adopted a two-level between-subjects experiment (N = 81), which showed that mothers like sponsored Instagram posts better when they are posted by a mom influencer (i.e. a mother who accumulated a large following on social media and often engages in sponsored partnerships with brands) compared to a brand. This consequently positively affected source credibility, post engagement, purchase intention and the child appropriateness of the food. In the second experiment, a two-by-two between-subjects design (N = 169) showed that while a typical mom influencer is perceived as less effective in promoting food compared to an expert (i.e. a pediatric nutritionist) mom influencer due to lower credibility, a typical mom influencer is more efficient in promoting unhealthy foods through higher influencer-brand congruence.

Adding more portion-size options to a menu: A means to nudge consumers to choose larger portions of healthy food items

We propose and find that the extremeness aversion bias when choosing portion-sizes is stronger for healthy food as compared to unhealthy food items. In two studies (and a follow-up) we find that adding an extra-large option to a standard menu of small, medium, and large portions increases the choice share of the larger portion-sizes; but more so for healthy food than for unhealthy food. Furthermore, we find evidence for the lay belief that larger portions of healthy food do not have incremental health costs. When health costs of the larger portions of healthy food were made salient by providing calorie information, the above effects disappeared. These findings show (1) a boundary condition to the extremeness aversion effect when choosing portion sizes, and (2) imply that this bias can act as a nudge to increase the consumption of healthy food.

Evaluating the implementation and customer acceptability of a sugar-sweetened beverage reduction initiative in thirty Australian aquatic and recreation centres

OBJECTIVE

To assess the feasibility of implementation and customer perspectives of a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) reduction initiative across YMCA Victoria aquatic and recreation centres.

DESIGN

Two data sources were used to assess implementation and customer acceptability. Photo audits were used to assess the type of drinks available for purchase 6 months prior to initiative implementation and 6 months after, in thirty centres. Change in the range of SSB targeted for removal, non-targeted SSB, as well as drinks classified as 'red' (limit), 'amber' (choose carefully) and 'green' (best choice), was reported. Customer surveys were conducted in three centres to assess acceptability and awareness of the initiative. Inductive and deductive thematic analysis was used to analyse customers' perspectives of the initiative.

SETTING

30 aquatic and recreation centres in Victoria, Australia.

PARTICIPANTS

806 customers.

RESULTS

At post-implementation, 87 % of centres had removed targeted SSB. 'Red' drinks reduced by an average of 4·4 drink varieties compared to pre-implementation (11·9 varieties) and 'green' drinks increased by 1·4 varieties (3·2 varieties pre-implementation). Customers were largely unaware of the SSB-reduction initiative (90 %) but supported YMCA Victoria in continuing the initiative (89 %), with many believing it would support children in making healthier choices.

CONCLUSIONS

Implementation of an initiative that limited SSB availability across a large number of aquatic and recreation centres was feasible and considered acceptable by customers. Customers frequently mentioned the importance of protecting children from consuming SSB.

Development of a functional synbiotic beverage fortified with different cereal sprouts and prebiotics

Abstract

The study was devoted to developing a novel synbiotic beverage based on with millet, rye and alfalfa sprouts with a mixed culture of Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum. In this regard, the influences of incorporated prebiotics inulin and oligofructose on probiotics viability during the refrigerated storage (4 ± 1 °C, 28 days) as well as under the simulated gastric condition were investigated. The characteristics such as microbial viability, physicochemical properties (viscosity, pH, titrable acidity and radical scavenging activity) and sensorial evaluation were assessed. The synbiotic beverage produced contained 10⁸ CFU ml^-1 for L. casei, with a good survival throughout the storage period (10⁸ CFU ml^-1) and L. plantarum at sufficient levels (10⁶ CFU ml^-1) after about 21 days. Inulin and oligofructose promoted the growth of the strains and their viability under cold storage while conferring higher sensory scores. In this context, the beverages demonstrated acceptable sensory attributes. The viability (bacterial survival) of over 55% for all the strains was achieved under simulated gastric condition. Therefore, the introduced fermented beverage was a good food matrix from the viability of probiotics as well as under the gastric condition and sensory characteristics.

Graphic abstract

Finally, the chance to eat healthily: Longitudinal study about food consumption during and after the first COVID-19 lockdown in Italy

With the COVID-19 outbreak, structural constraints and social psychological factors changed the dietary habits of many people. This two-wave longitudinal study performed in Italy aimed to explore people’s perceptions of changes in healthy and unhealthy food consumption before and during the first lockdown and the possible persistence of such changes after its official end, as a function of the number of people cohabiting, negative emotion activation, and individual eating styles. A total of 728 Italian adults completed self-reported food consumption measures and related psychological variables at both time points. In the lockdown period, participants reported an increase in healthy food consumption and involvement in cooking and a decrease in the consumption of junk food. This general pattern was stronger for both young and restrained eaters. The intensity of negative emotions and the number of cohabitants were not associated with the examined behaviour. In the post-lockdown period, the new consumption pattern acquired during the confinement was partially discontinued: participants cut down their healthy food consumption as well as their involvement in food preparation, but they continued to reduce their junk food intake. These results suggest that people’s food consumption patterns can easily improve when the situation is favourable (e.g., more time and opportunities for cooking healthy meals) and offer an interesting theoretical contribution to understanding the factors useful in promoting healthy eating, in the event of a future outbreak.

Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) position statement: provide funding for incentive programs to expand healthy food offerings in SNAP-authorized small food stores

Individuals and families with limited access to healthy foods often experience increased risk for poor diet and chronic disease. Low-income communities are more likely to have a large number of small food stores (e.g., corner stores and dollar stores) compared to higher-income communities. Since many of these small food stores participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), increasing healthy food offerings in these stores may expand healthy food retail in low-income communities. We recommend the provision of funding for incentive programs that encourage SNAP-authorized small food stores in low-income communities to expand their healthy food offerings. This programming should (a) provide seed grants to store owners to develop or reconfigure store infrastructure, (b) offer store owners technical assistance and educational materials on marketing strategies for promoting healthy food items to customers, and (c) give a tax break to SNAP-authorized small food stores in low-income communities that maintain a predetermined minimum stock of U.S. Department of Agriculture-recognized staple foods.

The peak of health: The vertical representation of healthy food

As expressed by the "Healthy is Up" metaphor, conceptual metaphor theory argues that the representation of health is commonly associated with high verticality because, typically, people stay upright when they are healthy whereas illness may force them to lie down. Along this line of argument, this research is the first to empirically explore the metaphorical representation of healthy food in terms of verticality. Across five experiments (N = 714), this article first demonstrates that people are faster to pair healthy food with up than down in an implicit association test (Study 1, supporting a metaphorical congruency effect). Then, it shows that people associate healthy food with high verticality and unhealthy food with low verticality by placing healthy food up high and unhealthy food low down along the vertical axis, and by preferring a food pyramid that depicts healthy food at the top rather than at the bottom (Studies 2a, 2b and 3, supporting an abstract-to-concrete effect). Last, this research finds that people judge a food product as healthier when it is pictured from an upward-looking angle than when it is pictured from a downward-looking angle (Study 4, supporting a concrete-to-abstract effect). Further analyses test the interaction between individual differences in self-control and the effects of the "Healthy is Up" metaphor in Studies 2a, 2b, 3 and 4. The article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of this research.

HANA: A Healthy Artificial Nutrition Analysis model during COVID-19 pandemic

Background and objective

The impact of diet on COVID-19 patients has been a global concern since the pandemic began. Choosing different types of food affects peoples’ mental and physical health and, with persistent consumption of certain types of food and frequent eating, there may be an increased likelihood of death. In this paper, a regression system is employed to evaluate the prediction of death status based on food categories.

Methods

A Healthy Artificial Nutrition Analysis (HANA) model is proposed. The proposed model is used to generate a food recommendation system and track individual habits during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure healthy foods are recommended. To collect information about the different types of foods that most of the world's population eat, the COVID-19 Healthy Diet Dataset was used. This dataset includes different types of foods from 170 countries around the world as well as obesity, undernutrition, death, and COVID-19 data as percentages of the total population. The dataset was used to predict the status of death using different machine learning regression models, i.e., linear regression (ridge regression, simple linear regularization, and elastic net regression), and AdaBoost models.

Results

The death status was predicted with high accuracy, and the food categories related to death were identified with promising accuracy. The Mean Square Error (MSE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and R² metrics and 20-fold cross-validation were used to evaluate the accuracy of the prediction models for the COVID-19 Healthy Diet Dataset. The evaluations demonstrated that elastic net regression was the most efficient prediction model. Based on an in-depth analysis of recent nutrition recommendations by WHO, we confirm the same advice already introduced in the WHO report¹. Overall, the outcomes also indicate that the remedying effects of COVID-19 patients are most important to people which eat more vegetal products, oilcrops grains, beverages, and cereals - excluding beer. Moreover, people consuming more animal products, animal fats, meat, milk, sugar and sweetened foods, sugar crops, were associated with a higher number of deaths and fewer patient recoveries. The outcome of sugar consumption was important and the rates of death and recovery were influenced by obesity.

Conclusions

Based on evaluation metrics, the proposed HANA model may outperform other algorithms used to predict death status. The results of this study may direct patients to eat particular types of food to reduce the possibility of becoming infected with the COVID-19 virus.

Taming the pandemic? The importance of homemade plant-based foods and beverages as community responses to COVID-19

Household responses to COVID-19 in different corners of the world represent the primary health care that communities have relied on for preventing and mitigating symptoms. During a very complex and confusing time, in which public health services in multiple countries have been completely overwhelmed, and in some cases even collapsed, these first-line household responses have been quintessential for building physical, mental, and social resilience, and for improving individual and community health. This editorial discusses the outcomes of a rapid-response preliminary survey during the first phase of the pandemic among social and community contacts in five metropolises heavily affected by the COVID-19 health crisis (Wuhan, Milan, Madrid, New York, and Rio de Janeiro), and in twelve rural areas or countries initially less affected by the pandemic (Appalachia, Jamaica, Bolivia, Romania, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Georgia, Turkey, Pakistan, Cambodia, and South Africa). We summarized our perspectives as 17 case studies, observing that people have relied primarily on teas and spices ("food-medicines") and that there exist clear international plant favorites, popularized by various new media. Urban diasporas and rural households seem to have repurposed homemade plant-based remedies that they use in normal times for treating the flu and other respiratory symptoms or that they simply consider healthy foods. The most remarkable shift in many areas has been the increased consumption of ginger and garlic, followed by onion, turmeric, and lemon. Our preliminary inventory of food medicines serves as a baseline for future systematic ethnobotanical studies and aims to inspire in-depth research on how use patterns of plant-based foods and beverages, both "traditional" and "new", are changing during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Our reflections in this editorial call attention to the importance of ethnobiology, ethnomedicine, and ethnogastronomy research into domestic health care strategies for improving community health.

Facilitators and barriers to healthy food selection at children's sports arenas in Norway: a qualitative study among club managers and parents

Objective:

To investigate club managers’ and parents’ experiences with food selection at handball halls in order to identify facilitators and barriers to the availability of healthy food.

Design:

Individual interviews with club managers (n 6) and focus groups (n 5) with parents (n 21) were conducted. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, transcripts were coded in NVivo and the analysis was guided by thematic analysis.

Setting:

Interviews were conducted at five handball clubs with varying socio-economic user populations and sizes in the area of Oslo, Norway.

Participants:

The club managers were responsible for food selection at the handball clubs. The participating parents had one or two active children between the ages of 6 and 12 years who took part in the clubs.

Results:

The club managers and parents generally described food selection at the handball halls as unhealthy and wanted a healthier selection of food. The club managers’ primary barriers to providing a healthier food selection included the potential to lose profits, limited facilities and time to prepare these foods. The parents often valued unhealthy food, as they believed that it supported the social environment and served as a reward for the children. Trainers were perceived as important role models for the promotion of healthy eating. The participants thought that national guidelines could facilitate healthy food environments in sports arenas.

Conclusion:

Healthier food options in sports settings could be facilitated through national guidelines that describe healthy foods and establish who is responsible for providing healthy food selections.

The effect of enzymatically treated ripe banana flour on the sensory quality and glycemic response of banana-wheat flour composite muffins

Banana are the most consumed fruit worldwide, due to their good flavour and nutritional characteristics; however, when the banana is very or over ripe, the acceptability by the consumer decreases, and in many cases the fruit must be discarded. An alternative to consume these fruits and revalue these discards is their use as a food ingredient. The presence of bioactive compounds gives added value to this type of ingredients; therefore, using methods, such as enzymatic treatment, that increase their presence is of great interest. In this work a commercial pectinase (Viscozyme L) was applied in a flour produced from whole overripe banana; then, the treated flour was used to elaborate a baked product. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of the incorporation of an enzymatic treated overripe banana (Musa cavendishii) flour in the sensory evaluation of muffins and, to stablish if the consumption of this food produce an effect on glycaemic response against a control food. The enzyme application produces an increment of 52% of antioxidant activity with a value of 12,791.6 μmolTE/100 g, and a presence of 4.5% RS instead 3.5% in non-treated flour. The sensory evaluation study was conducted with 4 products, using an untrained panel; selecting a muffin with 50% of wheat flour replaced with the banana treated one. This one contains 9.49% of dietary fibre. The glycaemic response study was conducted with 20 healthy volunteers, using as control a 100% wheat flour product, non-observing significant differences between both products. This work contributes to the knowledge about the potential use of a food discard as an ingredient of a food of massive consumption.

Nutritional and functional potential of pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) pulp and pequi (Caryocar brasiliense Camb.) peel flours

The purpose of this paper was to develop and characterize pumpkin pulp flour (Cucurbita moschata) and pequi peel flour (Caryocar brasiliense Camb.) in order to evaluate their nutritional and functional potential for the development of healthier products. The flours were developed and characterized by proximal composition, sodium, total sugars, phenolic compounds and carotenoids content, and in vitro antioxidant capacity by ABTS, FRAP and β-carotene/linoleic acid system methods. The means and the standard deviations were calculated for all data. Pearson correlation analysis between phenolics and antioxidant activities results was carried out, using SPSS Statistics 17.0 software. The pumpkin pulp flour presented high levels of dietary fiber (21.95 g/100 g), total sugars (51.88 g/100 g), protein (11.08 g/100 g) and carotenoids (249.04 μg/g), low levels of sodium (27.28 mg/100 g), and high antioxidant capacity by the β-carotene/linoleic acid system (73.00% protection). The pequi peel flour presented high levels of dietary fiber (42.09 g/100 g) and phenolic compounds (20,893.73 mg GAE/100 g), low levels of sodium (22.84 mg/100 g), and high antioxidant capacity by ABTS (2105.18 μM trolox/g), FRAP (6292.11 μM ferrous sulfate/g) and β-carotene/linoleic acid system (92.94% protection) methods. Both flours can be used for the development of healthy foods.

Barriers and facilitators to implementing a healthier food outlet initiative: perspectives from local governments

OBJECTIVE

Local governments have integral roles in contributing to public health. One recent focus has been on how local governments can impact community nutrition by engaging food service outlets to improve their food offer. The Healthier Catering Commitment (HCC) is an initiative where London local governments support takeaways and restaurants to meet centrally defined nutrition criteria on their food options. Using the case of HCC, the current study aims to provide (1) practical learnings of how local governments could facilitate and overcome barriers associated with implementing healthy food service initiatives in general, and (2) specific recommendations for enhancements for HCC.

DESIGN

Key informant, semi-structured interviews were conducted with local government staff involved in HCC, exploring barriers and facilitators to HCC implementation in food businesses. A thematic analysis approach was used, with results presented according to a logic pathway of ideal implementation in order to provide practical, focused insights.

SETTING

Local governments implementing HCC.

PARTICIPANTS

Twenty-two individuals supporting HCC implementation.

RESULTS

Facilitators to implementation included flexible approaches, shared resourcing and strategically engaging businesses with practical demonstrations. Barriers were limited resources, businesses fearing negative customer responses and low uptake in disadvantaged areas. Key suggestions to enhance implementation and impact included offering additional incentives, increasing HCC awareness and encouraging recruited businesses to make healthy changes beyond initiative requirements.

CONCLUSIONS

In order to facilitate the implementation of healthy food initiatives in food outlets, local governments would benefit from involving their environmental health team, employing community-tailored approaches and focusing on supporting businesses in disadvantaged areas.

Transfer and bioaccumulation of mercury from soil in cowpea in gold mining sites

In this study, we evaluated the phytoremediation ability of three different genotypes of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) grown on mercury-contaminated soils from gold mining areas. In particular we compared a native genotype with two commercial lines L-019 and L-042. The plants were cultivated in soils amended at different concentrations of Hg (i.e. 0.2, 1, 2, 5 and 8 mg kg^-1). After three months exposure, we determined plant growth, seed production, and Hg accumulation in different plant tissues (root, leaf, seed and stem). Indices of soil-plant metal transfer such as translocation, bioconcentration and bioaccumulation factors were calculated. Results showed that the native variety presented the highest seed production (3.8 g), however the highest plant biomass (7.9 g) was observed in line L-019, both on Hg-contaminated soil of 1 mg kg^-1. The different plant tissues differed in terms of Hg concentration (root > leaf > stem). In the highest treated soil, the line L-042 accumulates higher Hg in both roots and leaves, while line L-019 accumulates more metal in stems. In line L-019, Hg concentrations in the fruit showed significant differences being higher in the valves than in the seeds. The transfer factors were generally lower than 1 and indicates the low accumulation of Hg by cowpeas. The estimated daily Hg intake through cowpea consumption showed values far below the threshold of 0.57 μg kg^-1 dw day^-1 recommended by the World Health Organization. Our results show cowpea V. unguiculata as a good protein-rich food substitute of Hg-contaminated fish for populations living near gold mining sites.

Educational differences in healthy, environmentally sustainable and safe food consumption among adults in the Netherlands

OBJECTIVE

To assess the differences in healthy, environmentally sustainable and safe food consumption by education levels among adults aged 19-69 in the Netherlands.

DESIGN

This study used data from the Dutch National Food Consumption Survey 2007-10. Food consumption data were obtained via two 24-h recalls. Food consumption data were linked to data on food composition, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe) and concentrations of contaminants. The Dutch dietary guidelines (2015), dietary GHGe and dietary exposure to contaminants were used as indicators for healthy, environmentally sustainable and safe food consumption, respectively.

SETTING

The Netherlands.

PARTICIPANTS

2106 adults aged 19-69 years.

RESULTS

High education groups consumed significantly more fruit (+28 g), vegetables (men +22 g; women +27 g) and fish (men +6 g; women +7 g), and significantly less meat (men -33 g; women -14 g) compared with low education groups. Overall, no educational differences were found in total GHGe, although its food sources differed. Exposure to contaminants showed some differences between education groups.

CONCLUSIONS

The consumption patterns differed by education groups, resulting in a more healthy diet, but equally environmentally sustainable diet among high compared with low education groups. Exposure to food contaminants differed between education groups, but was not above safe levels, except for acrylamide and aflatoxin B1. For these substances, a health risk could not be excluded for all education groups. These insights may be used in policy measures focusing on the improvement of a healthy diet for all.

Body, Soul and Spirit, an adaptation of two evidence-based interventions to promote physical activity and healthy eating among adults in churches in Lagos Nigeria: a three-arm cluster randomized controlled pilot trial

BACKGROUND

Physical inactivity and unhealthy eating are two leading behavioral risk factors contributing to preventable non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Evidence-based interventions (EBI) using community-engaged approaches to address these risks abound in high-income countries. Comparatively, evidence of such interventions is sparse in low- and middle-income countries, where NCD mortality is greater. This paper describes the protocol for the development of the cultural adaptation and pilot testing of a combination of two EBI (i.e., Body and Soul and the Healthy Body Healthy Spirit), in church-based settings in Lagos, Nigeria. In addition, we describe the development of the inclusion of an additional component, i.e., faith-based text messages, into one of the treatment arms. Our objective is to assess the feasibility of developing and implementing the adapted interventions with the ultimate aim of developing a fully powered trial.

METHODS

This pilot study will assess the design and implementation of a three-arm cluster-randomized pilot trial in 12 randomly selected Anglican churches (4 in each arm). First, we will design a cultural adaptation of the two EBI's to form a multifaceted combined intervention known as the Body Soul and Spirit. The second treatment arm, i.e., Body Soul and Spirit Plus, will retain all the components of Body Soul and Spirit with the inclusion of faith-based text messages using mobile phones. Participants in the control arm will receive information leaflets designed to increase physical activity and healthy food consumption. The outcome measures include participant recruitment and retention, program participation and satisfaction, and data collection completion rates. The outcomes for the proposed definitive trial will be the number of servings of fruit and vegetables and minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day will be assessed at baseline, 3 and 6-month follow-up. Implementation outcomes will be assessed using qualitative and quantitative methods.

DISCUSSION

The study will enhance the understanding of how best to design and implement behavioral interventions in church-based settings using community-based participatory approaches. It will also inform the development of a definitive randomized controlled trial.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Pan African Clinical Trials Registry on 12th July 2018. PACTR201807136835945. Available at https://pactr.samrc.ac.za/TrialDisplay.aspx?TrialID=3481.

Data on the potential of nutrition-information apps from a consumer behaviour perspective

This paper presents data on the influence of the use of a nutrition-information app (Edo) on healthy eating. The methodology adopted included a baseline (t0) and a follow-up online questionnaire (t1). The first survey was sent to 7000 consumers who had already downloaded the app. This survey collected data on users’ perceived healthiness of their own diet, food purchasing habits, sociodemographic information, concern for appearance, perception of the Health Belief Model constructs, and objective and perceived healthy food knowledge. The follow-up survey (t1) was sent to the respondents who had used the app for 12 weeks. It collected data on app satisfaction, recommended additional app features, consumers’ perception on the Health Belief Model constructs, and consumers’ objective and perceived healthy food knowledge. Data elaboration included two factor analyses elaboration, one for t0 data and one for t1 data. The aim was the identification of constructs as latent factors of the data. The value of each construct was calculated and compared between t0 and t1. The data presented in this article can help the replication of studies about similar apps and enhance the cooperation among app developers, consumer behaviour scientists, nutritionists and marketing experts for apps development. For conclusion and interpretation of data, the original article can be consulted (DOI:10.1016/j.foodres.2019.108766).

The unhealthy = tasty belief is associated with BMI through reduced consumption of vegetables: A cross-national and mediational analysis

Obesity is one of the greatest public health challenges of modern times and its prevalence is increasing worldwide. With food so abundant in developed countries, many people face a conflict between desires for short-term taste and the goal of long-term health, multiple times a day. Recent research suggests that consumers often resolve these conflicts based on their lay beliefs about the healthiness and tastiness of food. Consequently, such lay beliefs can play critical roles not just in food choice but also weight gain. In this research, we show, across six countries and through mediation analysis, that adults who believe that tasty food is unhealthy (the Unhealthy = Tasty Intuition, or "UTI"; Raghunathan, Naylor, & Hoyer 2006) are less likely to consume healthy food, and thereby have a higher body mass index (BMI). In Study 1, we conducted a cross-sectional survey in five countries (Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, India, and the UK), and found that greater strength of belief in UTI was associated with higher BMI, and this relationship was mediated by lower consumption of fruits and vegetables. The observed patterns largely converged across the sampled Western and Asian-Pacific countries. In Study 2, we teased apart the mediating role of vegetable versus fruit consumption and also addressed the issue of reversed causality by predicting BMI with a measure of UTI belief taken 30 months previously. We found that vegetable consumption, but not fruit consumption, mediated the association between UTI belief and BMI. Our findings contribute to the literature by showing how lay beliefs about food can have pervasive and long-lasting effects on dietary practices and health worldwide. Implications for public policy and health practitioners are discussed.

Fatty Acid Profile, Total Carotenoids, and Free Radical-Scavenging from the Lipophilic Fractions of 12 Native Mexican Avocado Accessions

Mexico is the world's largest producer, exporter, and consumer of avocados. "Hass" avocado is the most commercialized cultivar, while the native Mexican avocado varieties have been displaced. Thus, studies regarding their chemical and nutraceutical characterization are scarce. We studied the total lipid content, fatty acid profile, carotenoid content, and free radical-scavenging activity of the fruit pulp from 12 accessions of the native Mexican avocado (Persea americana var. drymifolia). The results show that the chemical and nutraceutical characteristics depend on the accession type. The total lipid content ranged from 13.22 to 23.41%. The major saturated fatty acid in all the avocado accessions was palmitic acid (15.54-22.68%). Monounsaturated fatty acids, like oleic (56.58-74.19%), linoleic (5.62-16.85%) and linolenic (0.63-2.85%) acids were the most abundant unsaturated fatty acids in all the native Mexican avocado accessions. The total carotenoid content (1.57 to 7.83 mg eq. of β-carotene 100 g-¹ fresh weight) and the free radical-scavenging activity (7.58-88.62 mMol trolox equivalent 100 g^-1 fresh weight) also varied significantly (p < 0.05) among accessions. Native Mexican avocados have a great nutraceutical potential due to their high content of omega-9, omega-6, and omega-3 fatty acids and carotenoids. These compounds have been reported to display antioxidant activities and protect against cardiovascular diseases.

Assessment of nutrition-focused mobile apps' influence on consumers' healthy food behaviour and nutrition knowledge

The research explored if a nutrition-information app influences consumers' healthy food behavior and whether consumers improve their knowledge towards healthy food. Diet and nutrition apps are among the most popular health and fitness apps used by an increasing number of mobile device users. The analyzed app reads the product labels. Then it assesses the quality of ingredients and nutritional values based on user's personal data, such as age and physical activity level, and recommends healthier food alternatives. Scientific evidence of the effectiveness of nutrition-information apps for promoting consumers' healthy food behavior is still limited. The theoretical framework of the study is grounded in constructs from Health Belief Model (HBM) and Trans-theoretical Model (TTM) theories. Data were collected from consumers that spontaneously downloaded an existing nutrition-information app. Out of the 7000 consumers contacted, 143 respondents filled in both the baseline and follow-up questionnaires. The questionnaires included items deriving from the HBM and TTM theoretical constructs adopted, that is self-reported stage of change, susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, self-efficacy, cues to action, perceived and objective healthy food knowledge. The average age of respondents is 38 year-old and the sample of respondents is well distributed in terms of level of education, gender, income, working status, and geographical distribution. Findings of the study showed that nutrition-information apps can be effective in overcoming what consumers perceive as personal limitations in approaching healthy food. This is particularly evident among consumers that are building their motivation and concretely planning actions in favor of healthy eating. In particular, using a nutrition-information app decreases the perception of the barriers to healthy food eating. Users have a higher perceived personal strength and self-confidence in approaching healthy food. App users improved their objective and subjective knowledge of healthy food. The results confirmed the effectiveness of the theoretical framework. The results support that family members and friends play a specific role in healthy food behavior inclination. This suggests the inclusion of an additional theoretical construct, the social and family influence construct, when assessing the effectiveness of nutrition-information apps. To improve nutrition-information app effectiveness, the recommendation is that consumer behavior scientists, marketing researchers, nutritionists, and app developers cooperate in the apps design.

Association between orthorexia nervosa, eating attitudes and anxiety among medical students in Lebanese universities: results of a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the study was to evaluate the association between orthorexia nervosa (ON) tendencies and behaviors, eating attitudes (EAT) and anxiety among a representative sample of medical students in the Lebanese universities.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study, conducted between May 2018 and January 2019, enrolled 627 medical students using a proportionate random sample from all seven faculties of medicine in Lebanon. The ORTO-15 scale was used to evaluate ON tendencies and behaviors among participants. Scores below 40 indicate the presence of ON. The Eating Attitude Test-26 and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating A (HAM-A) scales (yielding a psychic and a somatic subscale scores) were used to assess eating attitudes and anxiety, respectively. It is noteworthy that the sum of the EAT items 6, 7, 16 and 17 responses yielded the EAT score that would predict ON.

RESULTS

The results of a linear regression, taking the ORTO-15 score (15 items) as the dependent variable and the EAT total score, the summated score of the EAT items that predict ON and the psychic and somatic anxiety subscales scores as independent variables, showed that a higher EAT score (β = - 0.094) was significantly associated with lower ORTO-15 scores (more orthorexia tendencies and behaviors); whereas, a higher psychic anxiety subscale score (β = 0.117) was significantly associated with higher ORTO-15 scores (lower orthorexia tendencies and behaviors).

CONCLUSION

This suggests a link between eating disorders and ON which is beyond ON tendencies observed in eating disorders but ON individuals simultaneously have lesser psychological distress and anxiety.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level 5, cross-sectional descriptive study.

Correlates of orthorexia nervosa among a representative sample of the Lebanese population

INTRODUCTION

Orthorexia nervosa (ON), or the pathological preoccupation and "fixation on healthy food" has been emerging as a new eating disorder. A limited amount of literature exists today on the prevalence of ON. The objective of the current study was to assess factors associated with ON tendencies and behaviors among a representative sample of the Lebanese population.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study, conducted between January and May 2018, which enrolled 811 participants from all Lebanese governorates. The ORTHO-15 scale was used to evaluate ON tendencies and behaviors among participants. Scores below 40 indicate the presence of ON.

RESULTS

The results showed that 589 (75.2%) participants had ON tendencies and behaviors. The results of the multivariable analysis taking the ORTHO-15 score as the dependent variable, showed that female gender (Beta = - 0.739), starving to lose weight (Beta = - 0.859), convincing others to follow a diet (Beta = - 0.971), thinking that eating out is unhealthy (Beta = - 0.931) and increased EAT (eating attitudes test) scores (Beta = - 0.087) were associated with higher level of orthorexia tendencies and behaviors (lower ORTHO-15 scores).

CONCLUSION

A highly unexpected prevalence of ON tendencies and behaviors was found in our sample. The Lebanese population might have high preoccupation behavior towards healthy and proper nutrition. Social awareness and behavioral intervention programs are warranted to follow a healthy diet and lifestyle behaviors, and consequently overcome ON.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level 5, cross-sectional descriptive study.

Smart food policy for healthy food labeling: Leading with taste, not healthiness, to shift consumption and enjoyment of healthy foods

Smart food policy models for improving dietary intake recommend tailoring interventions to people's food preferences. Yet, despite people citing tastiness as their leading concern when making food choices, healthy food labels overwhelmingly emphasize health attributes (e.g., low caloric content, reductions in fat or sugar) rather than tastiness. Here we compared the effects of this traditional health-focused labeling approach to a taste-focused labeling approach on adults' selection and enjoyment of healthy foods. Four field studies (total N = 4273) across several dining settings in northern California in 2016-2017 tested whether changing healthy food labels to emphasize taste and satisfaction rather than nutritional properties would encourage more people to choose them (Studies 1-2), sustain healthy purchases over the long-term (Study 3), and improve both the perceived taste of and mindsets about healthy foods (Study 4). Compared to health-focused labeling, taste-focused labeling increased choice of vegetables (OR = 1.73, 95% CI: 1.32, 2.26), salads (OR = 2.06, 95% CI: 1.06, 4.06), and vegetable wraps (OR = 3.09, 95% CI: 1.73, 5.65) in Studies 1-2. In Study 3, taste-focused labeling sustained vegetarian entrée purchases over a two-month period, while health-focused labeling led to a 45.1% decrease. In Study 4, taste-focused labeling significantly enhanced post-consumption ratings of vegetable deliciousness and improved mindsets about the deliciousness of healthy foods compared to health-focused labeling. These studies demonstrate that taste-focused labeling is a low-cost strategy that increased healthy food selection by 38% and outperforms health-focused labeling on multiple smart food policy mechanisms.

Change in the implementation of healthy nutrition and physical activity best practices in Minnesota early care settings: A longitudinal cohort study (2010-2016)

The goal of the 'Healthy Start, Healthy State' study was to describe changes in the implementation of healthy nutrition and physical activity (PA) best practices in early child care and education (ECE) settings from 2010 to 2016. A cohort of 215 Minnesota licensed center- and family/home-based providers completed a survey describing 15 nutrition and 8 PA best practices that they "already do" in 2010 and again in 2016 were analyzed in 2016. There was a significant net implementation rate increase for 15 best practices (10 nutrition, 5 PA) in centers and 12 best practices (8 nutrition, 4 PA) in family/home-based programs. The 2010 nutrition and PA scores were negatively associated with mean change in 2016 indicating the decreased potential for improvement among sites with more best practices already implemented in 2010. Adjusted for 2010 nutrition score and other factors, centers implemented, on average, 1.45 more nutrition best practices from 2010 to 2016 than family/home based programs, and CACFP participating programs implemented, on average, 1.7 more nutrition best practices from 2010 to 2016 than non-CACFP participants. Urbanicity, provider education, and provider years of experience were not significantly associated with 2010-2016 change in nutrition score. The mean PA score change had a small but significant increase for each additional year of provider ECE experience after adjusting for the 2010 score. State-level surveillance of implemented best practices in ECE settings is useful. Findings identify opportunities for stakeholders to respond with targeted technical support and training and to consider potential future policy levers.

Arguments Used in Public Comments to Support or Oppose the US Department of Agriculture's Minimum Stocking Requirements: A Content Analysis

BACKGROUND

In 2016, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Retailer Rule proposed several changes for SNAP-authorized retailers, including: requiring retailers to have at least 85% of their food sales come from items that are not cooked or heated on site before or after purchase; requiring stores to stock seven varieties of qualifying foods from four staple food groups; requiring stores to carry perishable foods in three of the four staple groups; requiring stores to carry six units of qualifying foods at all times (depth of stock); disqualifying multiple ingredient foods and accessory foods from counting toward depth of stock requirements.

OBJECTIVES

To better understand arguments used to support or oppose the USDA's proposed rule that all SNAP-authorized retailers carry more nutritious foods.

DESIGN

We conducted a qualitative content analysis of a random sample of public comments posted to the US Federal Register (a publicly available database) in response to the USDA's proposed rule.

PARTICIPANTS/SETTING

A random sample of 20% of all public comments submitted by individuals and organizations to the US Federal Register were analyzed (n=303) for this study.

RESULTS

Three main themes were discussed: 1) arguments used in opposition to the rule; 2) arguments used in support of the rule; and 3) facilitators to assist stores in implementing the rule. Some of the subthemes included focusing on definitions used in the rule, reduced food access caused by stores leaving the SNAP program, lack of space and equipment for healthy foods, and the potential for increasing healthy food access.

CONCLUSIONS

Nutrition and dietetics practitioners may be tasked with working with stores to implement healthy changes. Nutrition and dietetics practitioners must understand the role that the USDA has in food policy. In addition, understanding how federal food policy influences the environments in which dietetics professionals' clients are making food choices is important.

Prevalence and characteristics of orthorexia nervosa in a sample of university students in Italy

AIMS

Orthorexia nervosa (ON) has been recently defined as a pathological approach to feeding related to healthiness concerns and purity of food and/or feeding habits. This condition recently showed an increasing prevalence particularly among young adults. In order to investigate the prevalence of ON and its relationship with gender and nutritional style among young adults, we explored a sample of students from the University of Pisa, Italy.

METHODS

Assessments included the ORTO-15 questionnaire and a socio-demographic and eating habits form. Subjects were dichotomized for eating habits (i.e. standard vs vegetarian/vegan diet), gender, parents' educational level, type of high school attended, BMI (low vs high vs normal BMI). Chi square tests were performed to compare rates of subjects with overthreshold ORTO-15 scores, and Student's unpaired t test to compare mean scores between groups. Two Classification tree analyses with CHAID growing method were employed to identify the variables best predicting ON and ORTO-15 total score.

RESULTS

more than one-third of the sample showed ON symptoms (ORTO-15 ≥ 35), with higher rates among females. Tree analyses showed diet type to predict ON and ORTO-15 total score more than gender.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results seem to corroborate recent data highlighting similarities between ON and anorexia nervosa (AN). We propose an interpretation of ON as a phenotype of AN in the broader context of Feeding and eating disorders (FEDs) spectrum.

Oats in healthy gluten-free and regular diets: A perspective

During the 20th century, the economic position of oats (Avena sativa L.) decreased strongly in favour of higher yielding crops including winter wheat and maize. Presently, oat represents only ~1.3% of the total world grain production, and its production system is fragmented. Nonetheless, current interest is growing because of recent knowledge on its potential benefits in food, feed and agriculture. This perspective will serve as a further impetus, with special focus on the recently valued advantages of oats in human food and health. Five approved European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) health claims apply to oats. Four relate to the oat-specific soluble fibres, the beta-glucans, and concern the maintenance and reduction of blood cholesterol, better blood glucose balance and increased faecal bulk. The fifth claim concerns the high content of unsaturated fatty acids, especially present in the endosperm, which reduces the risks of heart and vascular diseases. Furthermore, oat starch has a low glycemic index, which is favourable for weight control. Oat-specific polyphenols and avenanthramides have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Thus, oats can contribute significantly to the presently recommended whole-grain diet. Next to globulins, oats contain a small fraction of prolamin storage proteins, called 'avenins', but at a much lower quantity than gluten proteins in wheat, barley and rye. Oat avenins do not contain any of the known coeliac disease epitopes from gluten of wheat, barley and rye. Long-term food studies confirm the safety of oats for coeliac disease patients and the positive health effects of oat products in a gluten-free diet. These effects are general and independent of oat varieties. In the EU (since 2009), the USA (since 2013) and Canada (since 2015) oat products may be sold as gluten-free provided that any gluten contamination level is below 20ppm. Oats are, however, generally not gluten-free when produced in a conventional production chain, because of regular contamination with wheat, barley or rye. Therefore, establishing a separate gluten-free oat production chain requires controlling all steps in the chain; the strict conditions will be discussed. Genomic tools, including a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker array and a dense genetic map, have recently been developed and will support marker-assisted breeding. In 2015, the Oat Global initiative emerged enabling a world-wide cooperation starting with a data sharing facility on genotypic, metabolic and phenotypic characteristics. Further, the EU project TRAFOON (Traditional Food Networks) facilitated the transfer of knowledge to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to stimulate innovations in oat production, processing, products and marketing, among others with regard to gluten-free. Finally, with focus on counteracting market fragmentation of the global oat market and production chains, interactive innovation strategies between customers (consumers) and companies through co-creation are discussed.

Study on attitudes of students of Islamic Azad University Tehran Medical Branch toward food safety, 2016

BACKGROUND

Given the importance of high-quality healthy food for humans, contamination control is the most important concern for healthy staff.

AIM

To determine the attitudes of students at Islamic Azad University (Tehran Medical Branch) toward food safety.

METHODS

This cross-sectional and analytic-descriptive study was conducted on 326 students of Azad University of Medical Sciences in 2016. A self-made questionnaire consisting of 40 questions was used. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed using internal consistency method (Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.80). After collecting data, we use descriptive statistical indexes (mean and standard deviation) among demographic variables and the level of knowledge to describe and analyze the data. The participants' attitudes and operation are measured by Spearman tests, and the analytical results are given using SPSS version 20.

RESULTS

According to the findings, 55.3, 30 and 14.7 percent of students had high, moderate and low attitude scores toward food safety, respectively. In addition, male and female students had equal attitudes toward food safety, and no significant relationship between sex and attitude was observed a significant difference (p>0.05), but between educational levels (p=0.008) and ages (p=0.001) of students significance was a positive correlation.

CONCLUSIONS

Due to the low attitudes score of about half of the students of Islamic Azad University Tehran Medical Branch toward food safety, it can be claimed, food safety training in this community is required.

Orthorexia nervosa and self-attitudinal aspects of body image in female and male university students

BACKGROUND

The present study was designed to investigate orthorexia nervosa, or the phenomenon of being preoccupied with consuming healthy food. Specific aims were to explore relationships between orthorexia features and attitudes towards body image, fitness and health in normal weight female and male university students with high levels of healthy food preoccupation, i.e. orthorexia nervosa.

METHODS

Participants were 327 female (N = 283) and male (N = 44) students aged 18 to 25 years. All participants completed the Polish adaptation of the 15-item questionnaire assessing orthorexia eating behaviours (the ORTHO-15) and the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (the MBSRQ). Relationships between scores on the ORTHO-15 and MBSRQ were explored in the 213 students who had high levels of preoccupation with a healthy food intake (68.55% women and 43.18% men, respectively).

RESULTS

There were no statistically significant differences in the levels of orthorexia behaviours between females and males. In female students with orthorexia nervosa, preoccupation with consuming healthy food was significantly correlated with the MBSRQ subscale scores for overweight preoccupation, appearance orientation, fitness orientation, health orientation, body areas satisfaction and appearance evaluation. Conversely, in male students with orthorexia nervosa there were no correlations between orthorexic behaviours and the MBSRQ subscales. In female students with orthorexia nervosa multivariable linear regression analysis found high body areas (parts) satisfaction, low fitness orientation, low overweight preoccupation and low appearance orientation were independent predictors of greater fixation on eating healthy food. In male students, we found that aspects of body image were not associated with preoccupation with healthy eating.

CONCLUSION

A strong preoccupation with healthy and proper food was not associated with an unhealthy body-self relationship among Polish female student with orthorexia nervosa.