Evaluation of Dietary Intake and Food Insecurity: A Case Study on Selected Households from Lahore,Pakistan

Background: Food insecurity consistently challenges middle-income countries, including Pakistan. The aim of this study was to evaluate the dietary food intake of the households in the selected location through a semi-structured questionnaire. Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out among 500 households comprised 2094 participants to investigate dietary intake and status of food insecurity. Furthermore, socio-demographic and weekly dietary food intake was collected through a semi-structured questionnaire in 2019. Those households who assent to participate were included in the study. Results: Mean household size was 5.80±2.05 comprised 49.27% male and 50.61% female. Six food types were commonly consumed in the study population. Among these foods (g/capita/day) starch remained at the top 734.43 followed by fruits 256.02 and vegetables 89.77. These data highlighted limited dietary diversity and reduced dietary intake. The energy intake (per capita/day) from the food basket, contribution of the starch was the highest 32.37% versus protein 14.43%, milk 14.08%, vegetables 1.31%, and fruit 7.79% with an overall calories intake 81.08% from all food groups except tea. Finally, of the 500 households, 42.4% people were below the poverty line, 41.8% people at the poverty line, and 15.8% people were above the poverty line. Conclusion: The results showed that dietary intake of the participants was below the reference intake, demonstrating food insecurity and unbalanced diet.

Valuation of Country Food in Nunavut Based on Energy and Protein Replacement

Communicating value across the pluralities of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems requires attention to economy and environment, food and wildlife, and the health of the people and that of the land. Valuation of distinct entities is always difficult but often essential to describe collective wealth and well-being, to quantify trade-offs, and to consider compensation when one is compromised for another. Here we estimate the replacement value of Nunavut country food by combining information on the amount and nutritional composition of harvested country food with the nutritional content and local price of store-bought food. Comparing the five-year average of energy and protein available in reported harvest to recommended dietary allowances indicates that 17 of 21 Nunavut communities harvest enough country food to satisfy the protein requirements of all community members. Nunavut’s country food system annually harvests five million kg of protein-rich food from across the territory, which would cost $198 million to purchase as store-bought protein, with a replacement value between $13.19 and $39.67 per kg depending on energy versus protein replacement and the inclusion versus exclusion of store-bought food subsidies. These valuations are higher than most previous estimates of local food value because they are more reflective of the energy and nutrient richness of country food and the high price of store-bought food in northern communities. The country food system is priceless in many, profound ways; better awareness of its energy and protein cost of replacement, together with the breadth of its nutritional and cultural value, may help to ensure local food systems are prioritized in northern food security and economic development initiatives.

Effect of protein content on the thermal effusivity of foods

The availability of thermophysical properties of both foods and their constituents is of considerable importance to the industry. The thermal effusivity is one of the less explored thermophysical parameters. It governs the penetration of heat into materials and is defined as the square root of the product of thermal conductivity of the material, volume-specific heat capacity, and density. This paper describes the application of a relatively new inverse photopyroelectric method (IPPE) to determine thermal effusivity of dehydrated whey protein isolate and egg white powder versus protein content. In both cases the effusivity values decreased linearly with increasing protein content. One percent increase in protein content of whey protein isolate and egg white lead to 6.5 and 7.2 Ws1/2 m−2 K−1 decrease in effusivity values, respectively.

The PROMOTe study: targeting the gut microbiome with prebiotics to overcome age-related anabolic resistance: protocol for a double-blinded, randomised, placebo-controlled trial

Background Loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength occurs with increasing age and is associated with loss of function, disability, and the development of sarcopenia and frailty. Dietary protein is essential for skeletal muscle function, but older adults do not anabolise muscle in response to protein supplementation as well as younger people, so called ‘anabolic resistance’. The aetiology and molecular mechanisms for this are not understood, however the gut microbiome is known to play a key role in several of the proposed mechanisms. Thus, we hypothesise that the gut microbiome may mediate anabolic resistance and therefore represent an exciting new target for ameliorating muscle loss in older adults. This study aims to test whether modulation of the gut microbiome using a prebiotic, in addition to protein supplementation, can improve muscle strength (as measured by chair-rise time) versus protein supplementation alone. Methods The study is a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial, with two parallel arms; one will receive prebiotic and protein supplementation, and the other will receive placebo (maltodextrin) and protein supplementation. Participants will be randomised as twin pairs, with one twin from each pair in each arm. Participants will be asked to take supplementation once daily for 12 weeks in addition to resistance exercises. Every participant will receive a postal box, containing their supplements, and the necessary equipment to return faecal, urine, saliva and capillary blood samples, via post. A virtual visit will be performed using online platform at the beginning and end of the study, with measures taken over video. Questionnaires, food diary and cognitive testing will be sent out via email at the beginning and end of the study. Discussion This study aims to provide evidence for the role of the gut microbiome in anabolic resistance to dietary protein. If those who take the prebiotic and protein supplementation have a greater improvement in muscle strength compared with those who take protein supplementation alone, this would suggest that strategies to modify the gut microbiome may reduce anabolic resistance, and therefore potentially mitigate sarcopenia and frailty in older adults. Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT04309292. Registered on the 2nd May 2020.

Improved DNA-versus-Protein Homology Search for Protein Fossils

Protein fossils, i.e. noncoding DNA descended from coding DNA, arise frequently from transposable elements (TEs), decayed genes, and viral integrations. They can reveal, and mislead about, evolutionary history and relationships. They have been detected by comparing DNA to protein sequences, but current methods are not optimized for this task. We describe a powerful DNA-protein homology search method. We use a 64×21 substitution matrix, which is fitted to sequence data, automatically learning the genetic code. We detect subtly homologous regions by considering alternative possible alignments between them, and calculate significance (probability of occurring by chance between random sequences). Our method detects TE protein fossils much more sensitively than blastx, and > 10× faster. Of the ~7 major categories of eukaryotic TE, three have not been found in mammals: we find two of them in the human genome, polinton and DIRS/Ngaro. This method increases our power to find ancient fossils, and perhaps to detect non-standard genetic codes. The alternative-alignments and significance paradigm is not specific to DNA-protein comparison, and could benefit homology search generally.

EFFECTS OF SEVERE ENERGY VERSUS PROTEIN DEPRIVATION DURING GESTATION OF REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE AND BLOOD METABOLITES OF GILTS

Diets designated as high energy, high protein (HEHP), low energy, high protein (LEHP), high energy, low protein (HELP) and low energy, low protein (LELP) were fed to gilts from breeding through farrowing. Feeding rates were 1.82 (HEHP, HELP) or 0.68 kg (LEHP LELP) of diet per gilt per day. Diets were calculated to provide 6.6 (HEHP, HELP) or 2.2 Meal (LEHP, LELP) of digestible energy and 272 (HEHP, LEHP) or 60 g (HELP, LELP) of protein per gilt per day. Protein contents of the HEHP, LEHP, HELP and LELP diets were 15, 40, 3.3 and 9%. All sows and their progeny were treated similarly after farrowing. Gilts on the high energy diets (HEHP, HELP) gained significantly more weight during gestation than the gilts on the low energy diets (LEHP, LELP). Farrowing percentages were 100, 100, 80 and 40% for the HEHP, HELP, LEHP and LELP gilts respectively. Average litter size, birth weight, number of pigs weaned per litter or weaning weights were not significantly different among treatments. At the same stages of gestation, there were no significant differences among treatments in plasma glucose levels but plasma glucose significantly increased (P<0.05) in all treatments with advancing pregnancy. Serum albumun concentrations were significantly lower (P<0.05) in the HELP group than in the other groups by the end of gestation. The data indicate that lowering protein intake during gestation may be one way of reducing feed costs without impairing reproductive performance.

A Worldwide Hotspot Analysis on Food Loss and Waste, Associated Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Protein Losses

Reducing food loss and waste (FLW) is prioritized in UN sustainable development goals (SDG) target 12.3 to contribute to “ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns”. It is expected to significantly improve global food security and mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Identifying “hotspots” from different perspectives of sustainability helps to prioritize the food items for which interventions can lead to the largest reduction of FLW-related impacts. Existing studies in this field have limitations, such as having incomplete geographical and food commodity coverage, using outdated data, and focusing on the mass of FLW instead of its nutrient values. To provide renewed and more informative insights, we conducted a global hotspot analysis concerning FLW with its associated GHG emissions and protein losses using the most recent data (the new FAO Food Balance Sheets updated in 2020). The findings of this research are that there were 1.9 Gt of FLW, 2.5 Gt of associated GHG emissions, and 0.1 Gt of associated protein losses globally in 2017. The results of the FLW amounts, GHG emissions, and protein losses per chain link are given on the scale of the entire world and continental regions. Next to this, food items with relatively high FLW, GHG emissions, and protein losses are highlighted to provide the implications to policymakers for better decision making. For example, fruits and vegetables contribute the most to global FLW volumes, but the product with the highest FLW-associated GHG emissions is bovine meat. For bovine meat, FLW-associated GHG emissions are highest at the consumer stage of North America and Oceania. Oil crops are the major source of protein losses in the global food chain. Another important finding with policy implications is that priorities for FLW reduction vary, dependent on prioritized sustainability criteria (e.g., GHG emissions versus protein losses).

The Basis of Peracetic Acid Inactivation Mechanisms for Rotavirus and Tulane Virus under Conditions Relevant for Vegetable Sanitation

ABSTRACT We determined the disinfection efficacy and inactivation mechanisms of peracetic acid (PAA)-based sanitizer using pH values relevant for vegetable sanitation against rotavirus (RV) and Tulane virus (TV; a human norovirus surrogate). TV was significantly more resistant to PAA disinfection than RV: for a 2-log10 reduction of virus titer, RV required 1 mg/liter PAA for 3.5 min of exposure, while TV required 10 mg/liter PAA for 30 min. The higher resistance of TV can be explained, in part, by significantly more aggregation of TV in PAA solutions. The PAA mechanisms of virus inactivation were explored by quantifying (i) viral genome integrity and replication using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and (ii) virus-host receptor interactions using a cell-free binding assay with porcine gastric mucin conjugated with magnetic beads (PGM-MBs). We observed that PAA induced damage to both RV and TV genomes and also decreased virus-receptor interactions, with the latter suggesting that PAA damages viral proteins important for binding its host cell receptors. Importantly, the levels of genome-versus-protein damage induced by PAA were different for each virus. PAA inactivation correlated with higher levels of RV genome damage than of RV-receptor interactions. For PAA-treated TV, the opposite trends were observed. Thus, PAA inactivates each of these viruses via different molecular mechanisms. The findings presented here potentially contribute to the design of a robust sanitation strategy for RV and TV using PAA to prevent foodborne disease. IMPORTANCE In this study, we examined the inactivation mechanisms of peracetic acid (PAA), a sanitizer commonly used for postharvest vegetable washing, for two enteric viruses: Tulane virus (TV) as a human norovirus surrogate and rotavirus (RV). PAA disinfection mechanisms for RV were mainly due to genome damage. In contrast, PAA disinfection in TV was due to damage of the proteins important for binding to its host receptor. We also observed that PAA triggered aggregation of TV to a much greater extent than RV. These studies demonstrate that different viruses are inactivated via different PAA mechanisms. This information is important for designing an optimal sanitation practice for postharvest vegetable washing to minimize foodborne viral diseases.