Consumer Awareness and Perception on Mineral and Vitamin Supplements to Boost Immunity Against COVID-19

COVID-19 have been widespread all over the world. Mineral supplementation and Vitamin intake may help to reduce the severity of the common cold. This study determines the Knowledge, Attitude, And Practices of Consumers About Mineral and Vitamin Supplementation to boost immune system for COVID-19. 178 Participants who lived in the NCR Bubble particularly Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, and Bulacan., 18-years old and above were chosen by convenience sampling. To get the appropriate data needed, the researchers divided the questionnaire into 4 parts such as Demographics, Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices using likert scale. Descriptive analysis of frequencies and percentages for demographic characteristics, KAP assessment and likewert interpretation was applied. The respondents' knowledge, attitude, and practices toward micronutrient supplementation were evaluated. Results showed that the respondents have a very good understanding, belief, and practice of mineral supplementation and vitamin intake to boost the immune system. Before the pandemic, 178 respondents did not take mineral supplements; nevertheless, 58 respondents (32.58 percent) took vitamins, and 117 respondents (65.73%) took both mineral and multivitamin supplements. On the other hand, 61 (34.27%) respondents took vitamins, while 120 (67.42%) respondents took both mineral and vitamin supplements during the pandemic. In addition, the intake of these supplements increased during pandemic. Self-willingness (28.65%) was the most common response to factors linked with mineral and vitamin consumption prior to the pandemic, whereas doctor's prescription was the most common response during the pandemic (44.94%). The level of micronutrient supplementation practiced by the respondents was also applied because they knew and believed that it could reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection.

Development of mixed feed technology for poultry using sorghum

The article presents the results of research on the use of sorghum grain for laying hens. An examination of the literature data on substances with poor digestibility in the composition of sorghum has been carried out. The physical and technological properties and chemical composition of unconventional components grain sorghum and safflower meal have been studied. Recipes of protein and vitamin supplements for laying hens using sprouted sorghum and safflower meal have been developed.

Efficacy and safety of vitamin supplements with resveratrol in diabetic macular edema: Long-term results of a comparative study

Purpose To investigate the adjunct efficacy and safety of vitamin supplements, including resveratrol, in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) treated with intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial factor (anti-VEGF) agents. Methods Participants in this prospective study were 45 patients with DME, who were treated with either intravitreal anti-VEGF injections (n = 23, Group I) or with combination of intravitreal anti-VEGF injections and vitamin supplements, including resveratrol (n = 22, Group II). All patients underwent visual acuity measurement, slit-lamp examination and spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) at baseline and monthly after the loading phase of three-monthly anti-VEGF injections, following a PRN protocol. Results There was a statistically significant improvement in visual acuity in both groups at month 12 compared to baseline, although the mean change in visual acuity did not differ between the two groups (p = 0.183). Accordingly, there was a statistically significant decrease in central retinal thickness in both groups at month 12 compared to baseline, while the mean difference in central retinal thickness was significantly greater in the “combination” group. The mean number of intravitreal anti-VEGF injection was less in Group II (6.45 ± 1.12 in Group II vs. 7.39 ± 1.31 in Group I, p = 0.018). Conclusions Vitamin supplements with resveratrol was found to be an effective adjunct to intravitreal anti-VEGF injections in patients with DME, offering better anatomic restoration with less injections at the 12-month follow-up.

Supplement intake in half-marathon, (ultra-)marathon and 10-km runners – results from the NURMI study (Step 2)

The primary nutritional challenge facing endurance runners is meeting the nutrient requirements necessary to optimize the performance and recovery of prolonged training sessions. Supplement intake is a commonly used strategy by elite and recreational distance runners to meet nutritional recommendations. This study was conducted to investigate the patterns of supplement intake among different groups of distance runners and the potential association between supplement intake and sex, age, running and racing experiences.In a cross-sectional design, from a total of 317 runners participating in this survey, 119 distance runners were involved in the final sample after data clearance, assigned into three groups of 10-km runners (n = 24), half-marathoners (n = 44), and (ultra-)marathoners (n = 51). Personal characteristics, training and racing experiences, as well as patterns of supplement intake, including type, frequency, and dosage, were evaluated by questionnaire. Food Frequency Questionnaire was implemented to assess macronutrient intake. ANOVA and logistic regression were used for statistical analysis.While 50 % of total distance runners reported consuming supplements regularly, no differences between distance groups in consumption of carbohydrate/protein, mineral, or vitamin supplements were observed (p > 0.05). In addition, age, sex, running and racing experience showed no significant association with supplement intake (p > 0.05). Vitamin supplements had the highest intake rate in runners by 43 % compared to minerals (34 %) and carbohydrate/protein supplements (19 %).The present findings provide a window into the targeted approaches of long-distance runners as well as their coaches and sport nutrition specialists when applying and suggesting sustainable nutritional strategies for training and competition.Trial registration: ISRCTN73074080. Retrospectively registered 12th June 2015.

The Perception of Vitamins and Their Prevalence in Fortified Food and Supplements in Japan

Most vitamins are primarily ingested from foods. However, it has been reported that intakes of some vitamins do not meet the nutrition reference values even in high-income countries. In this case, vitamin-fortified foods and/or vitamin supplements are helpful to fix insufficient/deficient status. However, it is not clear whether consumers are aware of their nutritional status or whether they use these products efficiently. To address this issue, we conducted an online cross-sectional questionnaire survey among 14,741 Japanese adults (over 20 years old, 7489 males and 7252 females) concerning the perceptions and prevalence of vitamin-fortified food and/or vitamin supplements. Differences in distribution among groups were compared using the chi-squared test. According to dietary habits, 33.2% of the participants consumed a well-balanced diet every day, but 25.5% could not because of time (41.6%) or money (36.9%) constraints. The perception of each vitamin varied: the highest was for vitamin C (93.2%) and the lowest was for biotin (41.9%). In addition, only a portion of the participants believed that they took sufficient amounts of each vitamin; the highest was vitamin C (22.3%) and the lowest was biotin (5.2%). Despite this situation, most did not use vitamin-fortified food and/or vitamin supplements due to economic reasons. Among vitamin-fortified food and/or vitamin supplement users, the purposes for the usage of these products were varied, such as maintaining health (80.5%), supplementation of nutrients (47.8%), beauty-related purposes (27.5%), and to prevent infectious disease (23.2%). To remedy nutritional status in individuals, it is important to improve not only consumer awareness but also the environment, which can lead consumers to use acceptable vitamin products without any burden.

1234Smoking, infectious mononucleosis, early-life exposures and risk of progressive-onset Multiple Sclerosis: a case-control study

Background Risk factors in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) have been identified in samples that contain predominantly cases with relapse-onset MS (ROMS). It is unknown whether the risk factors differ in people with a progressive-onset MS (POMS). Methods The case-control study included 147 POMS cases, 264 ROMS cases and 558 community controls. Questionnaires were used to collect information on smoking, infections, breastfeeding and vitamin use in early life. Logistic regression was used to examine associations. Odds ratios (ORs) were adjusted for age, sex and latitude band. Results Compared with controls, POMS cases were more likely to have smoked ≥20 pack-years (AOR 2.83, 1.53-5.24) and ROMS cases were more likely to have ever been a smoker (AOR 1.48, 1.09-2.01). POMS cases (AOR 1.75, 1.05-2.93) and ROMS cases (AOR 1.74, 1.21-2.49) were both more likely to have had infectious mononucleosis. In childhood, POMS cases were less likely to use vitamin supplements (AOR 0.52, 0.30-0.91) or being breastfed (AOR 0.49, 0.31-0.79). Conclusions Smoking and infectious mononucleosis are associated with increased risk of both POMS and ROMS. Vitamin supplements in early life and being breastfed are associated with reduced risk of POMS, but there is no association in ROMS. Key messages POMS and ROMS share some commonly known risk factors. Some protective factors were identified in POMS that were not observed in ROMS.

Substantiation of a Promising Design and Technological Scheme of a Multicomponent Dispenser-Mixer

Currently, one of the main tasks facing animal husbandry is to ensure the conservation of land to provide the population with high-quality livestock products, as well as to increase the productivity and productivity of each livestock. The correct implementation of this task primarily depends on the creation of a solid feed base. This, in turn, is possible due to the improvement and introduction of feed production technologies that do not depend on natural conditions. The technology of mixed feed production is a set of operations (grinding, dosing, mixing, etc.) performed in a certain sequence. As a result of these operations, feed is obtained from the raw materials (grain components, mineral additives, vitamins, salts, etc.) with the parameters specified in accordance with its recipe. The creation of a multicomponent dispenser-mixer capable of preparing grain mixtures in a continuous flow with high uniformity of dosing and mixing requires research and development work and is caused by the need of agricultural enterprises for such dispensers-mixers. In the technological line under study, the feed components are alternately crushed and loaded into the mixing unit. The processing line is equipped with an electronic weighing system that allows you to accurately dose the components of compound feeds and accumulate data on grain consumption. The raw materials for the preparation of compound feeds are cereals, as well as protein and vitamin supplements. The system of feeding protein and vitamin supplements is carried out by an auger, which ensures their supply to the mixing zone even with their minimum amount. The fineness of the grinding is regulated by replacing the sieve in the crusher.