scholarly journals A Review of Dietary Zinc Recommendations

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 443-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalind S. Gibson ◽  
Janet C. King ◽  
Nicola Lowe

Background: Large discrepancies exist among the dietary zinc recommendations set by expert groups. Objective: To describe the basis for the differences in the dietary zinc recommendations set by the World Health Organization, the US Institute of Medicine, the International Zinc Nutrition Consultative Group, and the European Food Safety Agency. Methods: We compared the sources of the data, the concepts, and methods used by the 4 expert groups to set the physiological requirements for absorbed zinc, the dietary zinc requirements (termed estimated and/or average requirements), recommended dietary allowances (or recommended nutrient intakes or population reference intakes), and tolerable upper intake levels for selected age, sex, and life-stage groups. Results: All 4 expert groups used the factorial approach to estimate the physiological requirements for zinc. These are based on the estimates of absorbed zinc required to offset all obligatory zinc losses plus any additional requirements for absorbed zinc for growth, pregnancy, or lactation. However, discrepancies exist in the reference body weights used, studies selected, approaches to estimate endogenous fecal zinc (EFZ) losses, the adjustments applied to derive dietary zinc requirements that take into account zinc bioavailability in the habitual diets, number of dietary zinc recommendations set, and the nomenclature used to describe them. Conclusions: Estimates for the physiological and dietary requirements varied across the 4 expert groups. The European Food Safety Agency was the only expert group that set dietary zinc recommendations at 4 different levels of dietary phytate for adults (but not for children) and as of yet no tolerable upper intake level for any life-stage group.

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (3_suppl3) ◽  
pp. S430-S453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Hotz

The assessment of dietary zinc intakes is an important component of evaluating the risk of zinc deficiency in populations, and for designing appropriate food-based interventions, including fortification, to improve zinc intakes. The prevalence of inadequate zinc intakes can describe the relative magnitude of the risk of zinc deficiency in the population and identify subpopulations at elevated risk. As a cornerstone to evaluating the adequacy of population zinc intakes globally, a set of internationally appropriate dietary reference intakes must be defined. The World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization/International Atomic Energy Agency (WHO/FAO/IAEA) and the Food and Nutrition Board/US Institute of Medicine (FNB/IOM) have presented estimated average requirements (EAR) for dietary zinc intake, and, more recently, the International Zinc Nutrition Consultative Group (IZiNCG) presented a revised set of recommendations for international use. A prevalence of inadequate zinc intakes greater than 25% is considered to represent an elevated risk of population zinc deficiency. As the requirement estimates are derived from smaller, clinical studies and, for children, most components of the estimates are extrapolated from data for adults, it was desirable to evaluate their internal validity. The estimated physiological requirements for adult men and women appear to adequately predict zinc status as determined by biochemical indicators of status and/or zinc balance. With the use of data from available studies, the reported prevalence of low serum zinc concentration and the estimated prevalence of inadequate zinc intakes predict similar levels of risk of zinc deficiency, particularly among pregnant and nonpregnant women. Conformity between these two indicators is less consistent for children, suggesting that further data and/or direct studies of zinc requirements among children are needed.


F1000Research ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 276
Author(s):  
Ranjit Singh

The author asks for the attention of leaders and all other stakeholders to calls of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Institute of Medicine (IOM), and the UK National Health Service (NHS) to promote continuous learning to reduce harm to patients. This paper presents a concept for structured bottom-up methodology that enables and empowers all stakeholders to identify, prioritize, and address safety challenges. This methodology takes advantage of the memory of the experiences of all persons involved in providing care. It respects and responds to the uniqueness of each setting by empowering and motivating all team members to commit to harm reduction. It is based on previously published work on “Best Practices Research (BPR)” and on “Systematic Appraisal of Risk and Its Management for Error Reduction (SARAIMER)”. The latter approach, has been shown by the author (with Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) support), to reduce adverse events and their severity through empowerment, ownership and work satisfaction. The author puts forward a strategy for leaders to implement, in response to national and international calls for Better health, Better care, and Better value (the 3B’s of healthcare) in the US Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  This is designed to enable and implement “A promise to learn- a commitment to act”.  AHRQ has recently published “A Toolkit for Rapid-Cycle Patient Safety and Quality Improvement” that includes an adapted version of SARAIMER.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Yucuma ◽  
Angie K. Puerto ◽  
Manuela Tellez ◽  
Alejandro Jadad

UNSTRUCTURED What is ‘medicine’? To answer this question, published definitions or conceptualizations were sought through adapted search strategies of Google Scholar, Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; Top-11 English dictionaries; and the websites of top-ranked medical schools, all 113 members of the World Medical Association, the US Institute of Medicine, the World Federation for Medical Education and the World Health Organization up to March 2020. Three articles in scholarly journals, all of the dictionaries and none of the medical schools, associations, or institutions provided a definition or conceptualization. No source described a systematic, replicable process to capture the meaning of ‘medicine’. Bold, systematic, and replicable initiatives are needed to fill this gap, as a means to guide the contributions of the medical profession, governments, academia, and corporations; to separate medicine from other professions, and to clarify its role in the creation and preservation of health beyond the chemical-mechanical view of patients and their diseases as humanity goes through the COVID-19 pandemic and enters ‘the next normal’.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2324
Author(s):  
Sueny Andrade Batista ◽  
Elke Stedefeldt ◽  
Eduardo Yoshio Nakano ◽  
Mariana de Oliveira Cortes ◽  
Raquel Braz Assunção Botelho ◽  
...  

In the fight against foodborne diseases, expanding access to information for different groups is needed. In this aspect, it is crucial to evaluate the target audience’s particularities. This study constructed and validated an instrument containing three questionnaires to identify the level of knowledge, practices, and risk perception of food safety by low-income students between 11 and 14 years old. The following steps were used: systematic search of the databases; conducting and analyzing focus groups; questionnaires development; and questionnaires analysis. After two judges’ rounds, the final version was reached with 11 knowledge items, 11 practice items, and five risk perception items. The content validation index values were higher than 0.80. The adopted methodology considered the students’ understanding and perceptions, as well the appropriate language to be used. Besides, it allowed the development of questionnaires that directly and straightforwardly covers the rules set by the World Health Organization for foodborne disease control called Five Keys to Safer Food (keep clean; separate raw and cooked; cook thoroughly; keep food at safe temperatures; and use safe water and raw materials). Its use can result in a diagnosis for elaborating educational proposals and other actions against foodborne illness in the most vulnerable population.


Author(s):  
Elliot P. Cowan

Observation: Outbreak situations require in vitro diagnostics (IVDs) to identify those who are infected and to track the infectious agent in the population. However, such IVDs are typically not available and must be developed. In addition, the process of IVD development, assessment, and implementation are very time and resource intensive. Recognising the extraordinary public health need for IVDs in an outbreak situation, streamlined processes are needed to provide tests that meet the standard of a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness in the shortest amount of time. These IVDs are designated for outbreak use.Addressing Issues: This paper presents a pathway to the outbreak use of IVDs that can be considered by countries experiencing an outbreak situation. It takes into account recognition of the outbreak, product development, regulatory evaluation, implementation, and monitoring of the outbreak-use test. Streamlined assessment programmes for emergency-use tests have been established by the US Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization. These programmes take into account test requirements for the country in which the outbreak exists. Therefore, countries can consider adopting these tests without the need to conduct expensive and time consuming assessments, such as performance studies. Key responsible parties are identified for each step of the pathway, recognising that transparency and communication among all parties are critical.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanif Abdul Rahman ◽  
Wegdan Bani Issa ◽  
Mohammad Rababa ◽  
Deeni Rudita Idris ◽  
Khadizah H. Abdul-Mumin ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new tool called the elderly caregiver questionnaire for COVID-19 (ECQC-24) that helps to assess caregiver attributes toward best possible care for elderly during this pandemic. Design/methodology/approach ECQC-24 was developed based on international team of experts and draw upon latest advice from reliable governing bodies such as World Health Organization and the US Centre of Disease Control. Psychometric analysis was applied to ensure the newly developed ECQC-24 is valid and reliable. Findings Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.72 to 0.87, and construct validity by exploratory factor analysis was acceptable. The results provide good estimates for the reliability and validity of ECQC-24. Originality/value More evidence is urgently needed to better inform clinicians, health and social policymakers and related stakeholders and organizations involved in caring for the elderly. ECQC-24, the manual to use and analyzing tools are freely available for download and use at https://sites.google.com/view/the-elderly-caregiver-covid19/home.


2012 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Rocos ◽  
LJ Donaldson

INTRODUCTION Surgical fires are a rare but serious preventable safety risk in modern hospitals. Data from the US show that up to 650 surgical fires occur each year, with up to 5% causing death or serious harm. This study used the National Reporting and Learning Service (NRLS) database at the National Patient Safety Agency to explore whether spirit-based surgical skin preparation fluid contributes to the cause of surgical fires. METHODS The NRLS database was interrogated for all incidents of surgical fires reported between 1 March 2004 and 1 March 2011. Each report was scrutinised manually to discover the cause of the fire. RESULTS Thirteen surgical fires were reported during the study period. Of these, 11 were found to be directly related to spirit-based surgical skin preparation or preparation soaked swabs and drapes. CONCLUSIONS Despite manufacturer's instructions and warnings, surgical fires continue to occur. Guidance published in the UK and US states that spirit-based skin preparation solutions should continue to be used but sets out some precautions. It may be that fire risk should be included in pre-surgical World Health Organization checklists or in the surgical training curriculum. Surgical staff should be aware of the risk that spirit-based skin preparation fluids pose and should take action to minimise the chance of fire occurring.


2020 ◽  
Vol 96 (5) ◽  
pp. 1281-1303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Norrlöf

Abstract COVID-19 is the most invasive global crisis in the postwar era, jeopardizing all dimensions of human activity. By theorizing COVID-19 as a public bad, I shed light on one of the great debates of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries regarding the relationship between the United States and liberal international order (LIO). Conceptualizing the pandemic as a public bad, I analyze its consequences for US hegemony. Unlike other international public bads and many of the most important public goods that make up the LIO, the COVID-19 public bad not only has some degree of rivalry but can be made partially excludable, transforming it into more of a club good. Domestically, I demonstrate how the failure to effectively manage the COVID-19 public bad has compromised America's ability to secure the health of its citizens and the domestic economy, the very foundations for its international leadership. These failures jeopardize US provision of other global public goods. Internationally, I show how the US has already used the crisis strategically to reinforce its opposition to free international movement while abandoning the primary international institution tasked with fighting the public bad, the World Health Organization (WHO). While the only area where the United States has exercised leadership is in the monetary sphere, I argue this feat is more consequential for maintaining hegemony. However, even monetary hegemony could be at risk if the pandemic continues to be mismanaged.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 1057-1057
Author(s):  
Lucía Pienovi ◽  
Carmen Donangelo ◽  
Cecilia Severi

Abstract Objectives To compare the relationship between maternal weight gain during pregnancy and anthropometric indices of Uruguayan children under 4 years examined by two different criteria for adequate pregnancy weight gain: Atalah et al. (AEA) widely used in Latin America and Institute of Medicine (IOM). Methods Descriptive study of data from the First National Survey of Child Health, Nutrition and Development of Uruguay (ENDIS) of children (n = 1602; age 24.3 ± 10.6 months) recruited in 2013. Weight and height of the children were measured. Child birth weight (BW) and pregnancy weight gain (PregWG) were reported at the interview. PregWG was classified as adequate or excessive according to AEA and IOM criteria. Z scores for weight-for-age (WAZ), height-for-age (HAZ), weight-for-height (WHZ) and body mass index-for-age (BAZ) of the children were obtained from the Growth Patterns of World Health Organization. Results Prevalence of excessive PregWG was higher based on AEA (51.2%) compared to IOM (38.9%) criteria (P < 0.001). Excessive PregWG was associated with higher child BW compared to adequate PregWG using both criteria (AEA: 3361 ± 525 g and 3203–550 g, IOM: 3379 ± 543 g and 3224–534 g, respectively) (P < 0.001). Prevalence of macrosomic BW (>4000 g) with excessive PregWG was similar using AEA (10%) and IOM (12%). WAZ was higher with excessive compared to adequate PregWG using AEA (0.52 ± 1.07 and 0.32 ± 1.66, respectively) (P < 0.005) but not different by using IOM (0.51 ± 1.08 and 0.37 ± 1.55, respectively) (P = 0.057). HAZ was lower with excessive compared to adequate PregWG based on AEA (−0.4 ± 1.12 and −0.23 ± 1.10, respectively) (P = 0.001) but not different based on IOM (−0.7 ± 1.15 and −0.18 ± 1.09, respectively) (P = 0.057). WHZ and BAZ did not differ by PregWG categories using AEA or IOM. Conclusions Prevalence of excessive weight gain during pregnancy was higher using AEA compared to IOM criteria. However, only subtle differences in the associations between adequacy of pregnancy weight gain and child anthropometric indices were observed when using AEA or IOM criteria. Funding Sources Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Uruguay.


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