Examining Elementary School Children’s Knowledge about Food and Nutrition in Southwestern Ontario, Canada

Purpose: Knowledge is fundamental to helping children make nutritional choices that support lifelong healthy behaviours. This study (i) investigates elementary school children’s knowledge about food and nutrition and (ii) identifies sociodemographic factors influencing children’s reported knowledge. Methods: In 2017–2019, a survey was administered to 2443 students (grades 5–8) at 60 schools across southwestern Ontario, Canada, and a parent survey was used to validate self-reported sociodemographics. Multiple regression was used to analyse children’s knowledge scores and related sociodemographic factors. A total knowledge score was calculated by summing correct responses derived from 46 individual questions in the student survey. Results: Mean total knowledge score was 29.2 out of a possible 46 points (63.5% correct). Students demonstrated some knowledge and awareness of strategies to encourage fruit and vegetable consumption, healthy food selection, nutrition, and food preparation skills, although knowledge of food guide recommendations and locally sourced produce were limited. Female sex, family income, and rurality were associated with higher knowledge scores. Conclusions: Results provide insight regarding strengths and gaps in elementary-school children’s food and nutrition knowledge. Poor performance of students on specific food guide-related questions suggests that the general guidance of the 2019 Canada’s Food Guide might be better understood by children and adolescents.

Peningkatan Pengetahuan Ibu Tentang Gizi Seimbang Untuk Mencegah Permasalahan Gizi Pada Balita di Kabupaten Jember

One of the characteristics of a developed nation is a nation that has a high level of health, intelligence and work productivity. These three things are strongly influenced by the state of nutrition. Nutritional problems in Indonesia are currently included in the triple burden of nutrition status. The prevalence of stunting under five in Indonesia is included in the chronic category, which is 30.8%. The direct cause of nutritional problems in toddlers is due to an unbalanced diet. Balanced nutrition is a food composition from a variety of food ingredients that contain nutrients needed by the body, both in quality and quantity. One of the efforts to prevent nutritional problems in toddlers is to empower parents of toddlers through increasing the knowledge of mothers of toddlers. The role of the mother is very important for toddlers to fulfill balanced nutrition because the level of knowledge about nutrition will affect the food selection process and family eating behavior. Therefore, this community service program is to carry out balanced nutrition counseling activities that aim to increase the knowledge of mothers of toddlers about balanced nutrition to prevent nutritional problems in toddlers. The target of this activity is mothers of children under five at Posyandu Catleya 19. The implementation of this activity was attended by mothers of children under five at Posyandu Catleya 19, posyandu cadres, and coordinating midwives. Counseling on balanced nutrition begins with pretest activities, then continues with material presentation, discussion and question and answer, and then closes with posttest. In this activity, mothers of children under five are given a balanced nutrition module which contains material on balanced nutrition and recipes that can be applied in daily feeding of children under five. The results of the activity evaluation showed that 76.3% of mothers under five experienced an increase in knowledge after counseling.

Application of the extended theory of planned behavior to street-food consumption: testing the effect of food neophobia among Indian consumers

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to find out how food neophobia, perceived risk and perceived value affect their consumers' attitude and consumption intention toward street-food, when researching tourists' food consumption.Design/methodology/approachThe framework is tested using primary data collected from 445 tourists drawn from a main urban center of Jammu situated in northern India. Structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was used to analyze data using partial least squares (PLS) method.FindingsFindings of the study provide evidence that perceived value of the street-food vendor through word of mouth (WoM) positively influenced tourists 2019 attitudes and intention to consumer street-food, while food neophobia lead to negative attitude and intention to consume. The findings further indicate that a significant negative relationship exists between perceived risk and intention to consume street-food.Originality/valueAlthough several studies have been conducted in the past related to the food experiences of tourists at various destinations, the current study is the first attempt to offer an Asian perspective on and fresh insights into factors affecting tourists' street-food selection in unfamiliar environments. The paper is useful for both practitioners and academicians interested in tourist consumption behavior and food tourism, as it would help in developing effective marketing and operational strategies to develop tourism through street-vending management.

Digital Nudging for Online Food Choices

When people search for what to cook for the day, they increasingly use online recipe sites to find inspiration. Such recipe sites often show popular recipes to make it easier to find a suitable choice. However, these popular recipes are not always the healthiest options and can promote an unhealthy lifestyle. Our goal is to understand to what extent it is possible to steer the food selection of people through digital nudging. While nudges have been shown to affect humans' behavior regarding food choices in the physical world, there is little research on the impact of nudges on online food choices. Specifically, it is unclear how different nudges impact (i) the behavior of people, (ii) the time they need to make a decision, and (iii) their satisfaction and confidence with their selection. We investigate the effects of highlighting, defaults, social information, and warnings on the decision-making of online users through two consecutive user studies. Our results show that a hybrid nudge, which both involves setting a default and adding social information, significantly increases the likelihood that a nudged item is selected. Moreover, it may help decreasing the required decision time for participants while having no negative effects on the participant's satisfaction and confidence. Overall, our work provides evidence that nudges can be effective in this domain, but also that the type of a digital nudge matters. Therefore, different nudges should be evaluated in practical applications.

A Pilot Cross-Sectional Study on Oral Health and Nutritional Status of Institutionalized Older Adults: A Focus on Sarcopenia

The global population aged over 60 will double by 2050. This pilot cross-sectional study aims at evaluating nutritional and oral health status and the prevalence of sarcopenia in older adults living in an Italian residential aged care facility. Thirty-two adults aged ≥ 65 years were included. Individual sociodemographic data and nutritional and oral health data were collected. For sarcopenia diagnosis, muscle mass, physical performance, muscle strength and anthropometric parameters were recorded. Participants underwent a nutritional screening and a dental examination. Mini Nutritional Assessment and masticatory mixing ability test were performed. The results showed that men recorded a hand strength significantly higher than that of women, 25.5 ± 7.2 Kg vs. 12.8 ± 5.9 Kg (p < 0.01), respectively. Gait speed test showed that only 20.8% of the participants had a speed of more than 0.8 m/s. A strong negative correlation between masticatory performance and the number of missing teeth was detected (r = −0.84, 95% C.I. [−0.92; −0.69], p < 0.01). Overall, a high percentage of institutionalized older adults were diagnosed as being sarcopenic. Poor oral health in older adults is a major general health problem as it may restrict both food selection and nutrient intake, representing a risk factor for sarcopenia, although longitudinal studies are needed to confirm this relationship.

Exploration On Definition And The Components of Food And Nutrition Literacy Among Junior Secondary School Students: A Qualitative Study

Background: Food and nutrition literacy (FANLit) has been proposed to promote healthy diet behaviour and is believed to decrease the prevalence of overweight, obesity and chronic disease. However, the perspective of junior secondary school students, aged 12-15 years and stakeholders on FANLit is not well-defined. This study aims to explore the definition and the components of FANLit.Methods: This qualitative study were carried out in Health region 2 includes Phitsanulok, Sukhothai, Tak, Uttradit and Pethchboon province. 49 participants were recruited from national and regional levels of Thailand. Data were collected by in-depth interview and focus group discussion using semi-structured questionnaire. Interview data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis.Results: FANLit is defined as an individual’s level of knowledge and skills (fundamental, interactive and critical) that relates to food and nutrition to make appropriate food selection and nutrients. Four themes of FANLit were identified as follows: 1) food and nutrition knowledge (Subthemes: food knowledge, food understanding, nutrition knowledge, and nutrition understanding), 2) functional food and nutrition literacy (Subthemes: accessing to food and nutrition information, food selection, food preparation, daily food and nutrition planning and management), 3) interactive food and nutrition literacy (Subthemes: communication with others, sharing and discussion), and 4) critical food and nutrition literacy (Subthemes: information used in decision making, healthy food selection, effective budgeting.Conclusions: The results provide beneficial information regarding FANLit definition which is the initial stage to develop the assessing instrument and the intervention to improve FANlit in the adolescent group.

FAKTOR YANG BERHUBUNGAN TOTAL FOOD LOSS AND WASTE (FLW) PADA KARYAWAN PT. CAMILOPLAS JAYA MAKMUR SELAMA PANDEMI COVID-19

The implementation of large-scale social restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic has made employees do their work at home so they spend more time ordering food online. This will lead to bad habits that cause food loss and waste (FLW) because the food available at home if not consumed will be wasted. This study aims to determine the factors related to total food loss and waste (FLW) in PT Camiloplast Jaya Makmur employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research method is quantitative with a design cross-sectional. Engineering samples total sampling.The analysis of this study used the chi-square. Data were collected using the FLW behavior questionnaire and the form estimated food record 3x24 hours. The results showed that there was a relationship between age (p=0.000, OR=14,385) and gender (p=0.000, OR=20,855) to total food loss and waste (FLW) but there was no relationship between knowledge (p=0,139), income (p=0,826), food selection (p=0,332), lifestyle (p=0,486), frequency of eating (p=0,492) and meal times including breakfast (p=1,000), lunch (p=0,346), and dinner (p=0.476 to the total food loss and waste (FLW). Therefore, employees are expected to be wiser in ordering food online and endeavor to make a list of food to be purchased in order to minimize the occurrence of food loss and waste (FLW).

Food selection by the northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons (Nomascus annamensis), northern Cambodia

<p>Tropical regions have extremely high plant diversity, which in turn supports a high diversity of animals. However, not all plant species are selected by animals as food sources, with some herbivores selecting only specific plants as food as not all plants have the same nutrient make up. Animals must select which food items to include in their diets, as the amount and type of nutrients in their diet can affect lifespan, health, fitness, and reproduction. Gibbon populations have declined significantly in recent years due to habitat destruction and hunting. Northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbon (Nomascus annamensis) is a newly described species, and has a limited distribution restricted to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. The northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons play an important role in seed dispersal, yet little is currently known about this species, including its food selection and nutritional needs. However, data on food selection and nutritional composition of selected food items would greatly inform the conservation of both wild and captive populations of this species. This study aims to quantify food selection by the northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons by investigating the main plant species consumed and the influence of the availability of food items on their selection. The study also explores the nutritional composition of food items consumed by this gibbon species and identifying key plant species that provide these significant nutrients. A habituated group of the northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons with five members located in northern Cambodia was studied for 12 weeks during the dry season, and focal animal sampling was used to observe individual feeding behaviours. Four main activity categories were recorded including resting, feeding, travelling and socializing. Phenological data was recorded from transect lines, and plant densities from 20 vegetation plots inside the home range of this group of gibbons were also measured. Seventy-four plant samples from 20 tree and liana species that were consumed by this group of gibbons were collected for nutritional analyses. These samples were initially dried in sunlight, and then oven dried before levels of protein, total non-structural carbohydrates, lipids, fibres and condensed tannins were measured at the Nutritional Ecology Lab at Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York. The northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbon individuals spent most of the time resting, followed by feeding, travelling and socializing. Their main diet was fruit, supplemented with young leaves, flowers, mature leaves, and occasionally insects. Individuals selected food from 37 plant species, but predominately fed on just 16 of these species. The three most-consumed species were fruit from Ilex umbellulata (tree), Ficus. sp (liana), and young leaves from Lithocarpus elegans (tree). There was a significant relationship between feeding time and the availability of flowers, indicating that flowers were actively selected for when present. However, there was no significant relationship between feeding time and the availability of fruit or young leaves. Only a small number of plants bore fruit, with very low densities in the home range of this gibbon study group, but these plants produced a large abundance of fruit. These findings clearly indicate that fruit is the main diet for northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons in the dry season, with young leaves, flowers, mature leaves and insects acting as secondary food sources. The northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons selected only a small number of specific plants in their territory for food sources, indicating that any selective logging targeting these plant species would reduce food availability, and restrict the diet of these animals. Fruits consumed by the northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons were rich in carbohydrates and lipids, while young leaves were richest concentration of protein. Mature leaves had a high moisture content, whereas flowers contained condensed tannins more often than other plant tissues. All plant tissues consumed had similar amount of fibres. Generally, the food items consumed had higher concentrations of carbohydrate than protein or lipids. The overall diet of this group of gibbons was low in lipids. These results indicate that northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbon consumed food items with high concentrations of carbohydrate, and only selected a few food sources with high level of protein. Overall, these findings have contributed important knowledge that can be used for long-term conservation of this gibbon species. There are a small number of key food species in the home range which need special protection. The northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons consumed food items from different plant species, and as a consequence, all plant species selected play an important role for nutritional requirements by this gibbon species. When considering feeding requirement by the northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons for captive breeding programs, diets should include fruit, which is rich in carbohydrates, and young leaves, which have high levels of protein.</p>

Food selection by the northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons (Nomascus annamensis), northern Cambodia

<p>Tropical regions have extremely high plant diversity, which in turn supports a high diversity of animals. However, not all plant species are selected by animals as food sources, with some herbivores selecting only specific plants as food as not all plants have the same nutrient make up. Animals must select which food items to include in their diets, as the amount and type of nutrients in their diet can affect lifespan, health, fitness, and reproduction. Gibbon populations have declined significantly in recent years due to habitat destruction and hunting. Northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbon (Nomascus annamensis) is a newly described species, and has a limited distribution restricted to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. The northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons play an important role in seed dispersal, yet little is currently known about this species, including its food selection and nutritional needs. However, data on food selection and nutritional composition of selected food items would greatly inform the conservation of both wild and captive populations of this species. This study aims to quantify food selection by the northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons by investigating the main plant species consumed and the influence of the availability of food items on their selection. The study also explores the nutritional composition of food items consumed by this gibbon species and identifying key plant species that provide these significant nutrients. A habituated group of the northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons with five members located in northern Cambodia was studied for 12 weeks during the dry season, and focal animal sampling was used to observe individual feeding behaviours. Four main activity categories were recorded including resting, feeding, travelling and socializing. Phenological data was recorded from transect lines, and plant densities from 20 vegetation plots inside the home range of this group of gibbons were also measured. Seventy-four plant samples from 20 tree and liana species that were consumed by this group of gibbons were collected for nutritional analyses. These samples were initially dried in sunlight, and then oven dried before levels of protein, total non-structural carbohydrates, lipids, fibres and condensed tannins were measured at the Nutritional Ecology Lab at Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York. The northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbon individuals spent most of the time resting, followed by feeding, travelling and socializing. Their main diet was fruit, supplemented with young leaves, flowers, mature leaves, and occasionally insects. Individuals selected food from 37 plant species, but predominately fed on just 16 of these species. The three most-consumed species were fruit from Ilex umbellulata (tree), Ficus. sp (liana), and young leaves from Lithocarpus elegans (tree). There was a significant relationship between feeding time and the availability of flowers, indicating that flowers were actively selected for when present. However, there was no significant relationship between feeding time and the availability of fruit or young leaves. Only a small number of plants bore fruit, with very low densities in the home range of this gibbon study group, but these plants produced a large abundance of fruit. These findings clearly indicate that fruit is the main diet for northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons in the dry season, with young leaves, flowers, mature leaves and insects acting as secondary food sources. The northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons selected only a small number of specific plants in their territory for food sources, indicating that any selective logging targeting these plant species would reduce food availability, and restrict the diet of these animals. Fruits consumed by the northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons were rich in carbohydrates and lipids, while young leaves were richest concentration of protein. Mature leaves had a high moisture content, whereas flowers contained condensed tannins more often than other plant tissues. All plant tissues consumed had similar amount of fibres. Generally, the food items consumed had higher concentrations of carbohydrate than protein or lipids. The overall diet of this group of gibbons was low in lipids. These results indicate that northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbon consumed food items with high concentrations of carbohydrate, and only selected a few food sources with high level of protein. Overall, these findings have contributed important knowledge that can be used for long-term conservation of this gibbon species. There are a small number of key food species in the home range which need special protection. The northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons consumed food items from different plant species, and as a consequence, all plant species selected play an important role for nutritional requirements by this gibbon species. When considering feeding requirement by the northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons for captive breeding programs, diets should include fruit, which is rich in carbohydrates, and young leaves, which have high levels of protein.</p>

Ultrastructural Variations of Antennae and Labia Are Associated with Feeding Habit Shifts in Stink Bugs (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae)

The family Pentatomidae (stink bugs) is one of the largest groups in Heteroptera, containing many important pests and natural enemies. They exhibit highly diversified feeding habits and related structural modifications, but the key morphological characteristics associated with feeding habit radiation remain unclear. In the current study, we address this question by analyzing morphological variations of feeding related organs. We compare the ultrastructures of antennae and mouthparts across the chosen 17 species in Pentatomidae, representing both plant feeders and predators from four subfamilies. A strong association between ultrastructural adaptation and feeding habit transition has been revealed. The long, sharp, and hook-like mandibular teeth and maxillary barbs are exclusively present in predatory Pentatomidae, suggesting their tight association with the shift of feeding habit from phytophagy to predation. Significant differences between phytophagous and predatory species are also found in antennal and labial sensilla types and arrangements, implying their important function in food selection. Our data identify a series of key morphological structures associated with feeding habit variations among stink bugs, which will facilitate future studies on adaptive evolution of feeding habits, utilization, and population control of economic species in Pentatomidae as well as in other heteropteran lineages.