Sustainable Horticultural Waste Management: Industrial and Environmental Perspective

Horticultural crops are highly nutritious and shared lion portion of our daily diet. These items are consumed in different ways according to their nature and processing processes. These days, a crucial concerning issue is arising globally to ensure nutrition security for huge population that leads to focus on production increase, quality improvement, food safety assurance, and processing strategies. Consequently, a large amount of waste generates in the processing industries, household kitchen, and supply chain of horticultural commodities that has led to a significant nutrition and economic loss, consequently creating environment pollution with extensive burden of landfills. However, these wastes showed magnificent potentiality of re-utilization in several industries owing to as rich source of different bioactive compounds and phytochemicals. Therefore, sustainable extraction methods and utilization strategies deserve the extensive investigations. This review paper extensively illustrates the horticultural waste generation options, sustainable recycling strategies, and potentiality of recycled products in different industries for betterment in population with the assurance of green environment and sustainable ecology.

Horned Melon (Cucumis metuliferus E. Meyer Ex. Naudin)—Current Knowledge on Its Phytochemicals, Biological Benefits, and Potential Applications

Recent studies reveal that numerous non-edible parts of fruits and vegetables, as well as food wastes, are a good source of phytochemicals that can be extracted and reintroduced into the food chain as natural food additives. Horned melon or kiwano (Cucumis metuliferus E. Mey. Ex. Naudin) is a fruit rich in various phytochemical components important in the daily diet. After primary processing, horned melon non-edible parts (e.g., peels and seeds) can represent raw materials that can be utilized in numerous applications. Among under-researched fruits, this study aims to present the potential of using horned melon edible and non-edible parts based on current knowledge on nutritional value, phytochemicals, biological activity, as well as biological benefits. Overall, this review concluded that the biological properties of horned melon are associated with the phytochemicals present in this fruit and its waste parts. Further studies should be conducted to identify phytochemicals and valorize all horned melon parts, assess their biological efficacy, and promote their potential uses in different health purposes.

Functional Foods for Treatment and Prevention of Obesity and Its Associated Disorders

Obesity has now become an epidemic affecting wide variety of population across the world. It is associated with a cluster of cardiovascular diseases and other related metabolic disorders such as diabetes, hypertension, and cancer which is mainly caused due to the dysbiosis in the energy intake and expenditure. Researchers have found a wide variety of functional foods from different sources which help in combating and prevention of obesity and its related diseases. Recent advancement in nutritional science has led to the development of several functional foods with low glycemic index. The present chapter highlights about the problems related to obesity and the importance of various functional foods which have great potential to be incorporated in our daily diet to curb the menace of obesity.

Maternal dietary diversity during lactation and associated factors in Palghar district, Maharashtra, India

Dietary adequacy and diversity during the lactation period are necessary to ensure good health and nutrition among women and children. Behavioral interventions pertaining to health and nutrition counselling during pregnancy and lactation are critical for awareness about dietary diversity. The issue assumes salience for marginalized communities because of the Covid-19 pandemic and associated economic and societal disruptions. This paper assesses the dietary patterns among 400 lactating mothers in the tribal-dominated district of Palghar in Maharashtra, India in 2020. The study is based on primary data regarding consumption of 10 food groups among women across 10 food groups based on 24-hour recall period. The primary outcome variable was binary information regarding Minimum Dietary Diversity defined as consumption from at least 5 food groups. Econometric analysis based on multilevel models and item-response theory is applied to identify food groups that were most difficult to be received by mothers during the early and late lactation period. We find that the daily diet of lactating mothers in Palghar primarily consists of grains, white roots, tubers, and pulses. In contrast, the intake of dairy, eggs, and non-vegetarian food items is much lower. Only Half of the lactating women (56.5 percent; 95% CI: 37.4; 73.8) have a minimum diversified diet (MDD). The prevalence of lactating women with MDD was higher among households with higher income (73.1 percent; 95% CI: 45.2; 89.9) than those in lower income group (50.7 percent; 95% CI: 42.3; 58.9). Lactating Women (in early phase) who received health and nutrition counseling services are more likely (OR: 2.37; 95% CI: 0.90; 6.26) to consume a diversified diet. Food groups such as fruits, meat, poultry, fish, nuts, and seeds were among the rare food items in daily diet. The dietary pattern lacking in fruits, nuts, and heme (iron) sources indicates more significant risks of micronutrient deficiencies. The findings call for improving dietary diversity among lactating mothers, particularly from the marginalized communities, and are driven by low consumption of dairy products or various fruits and vegetables. Among the different food items, the consumption of micronutrient-rich seeds and nuts is most difficult to be accessed by lactating mothers. Also, diet-centric counseling and informing lactating mothers of its benefits are necessary to increase dietary diversity for improving maternal and child nutrition.

KIDNEY STONE DISEASE AND OSTEOPOROSIS - TOPIC ISSUES OF COMORBIDITY

the prevalence of kidney stone disease (KSD) and osteoporosis (OP) increases every year. In the prevention of osteoporosis, it is important to consume a sufficient amount of calcium-rich foods in the daily diet, as well as the use of calcium. One of the important reasons for the insufficient use of calcium-containing products and medicines is the anxiety not only of patients, but, very importantly, of doctors as much as possible. This has serious justification, as nephrolithiasis occurs in approximately 5% of the population, and the risk of developing kidney stones during life is 8-10%. It is believed that secondary hyperparathyroidism, which is caused by hypocalcemia due to insufficient consumption of calcium-containing products and impaired renal function, leads to increased bone resorption, formation of kidney stone disease. It is important to consider that against the background of hypertensive, atherosclerotic kidney disease, tubulo-interstitial lesions of the kidneys with decreasing glomerular filtration rate decreases the synthesis of 1α-hydroxylase - an enzyme by which 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25 (OH) active D3, calcium) form of vitamin D3–1.25 dihydroxycholecalciferol (1.25 (OH) 2D3, calcitriol - D-hormone) and secondary hyperparathyroidism develops. In this case, the purpose of correction along with the treatment of urolithiasis (spa treatment, given the attendance of the presence of KSD, to carry out the distance lithotripsy), intake of active metabolites of vitamin D (should be started with low doses, independent of the initial PTH concentration, and then titrated based on the PTH response) conducting X-ray densitometry.

Evolution of Nutritional Habits Behaviour of Spanish Population Confined Through Social Media

Introduction: In Spain, on 14 March 2020, a state of alarm is declared to face the health emergency situation caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus, limiting the freedom of movement of people. The Spanish population is confined.Objective: With this situation, “NUTRITIONAL HEALTH IS NOT CONFINED” arises a research project that seeks to promote nutritional education based on the pattern of the Mediterranean diet (MD) using new computer technologies. It is about providing the population with the information of general interest about the promotion of a healthy diet through social networks and analysing the impact of its dissemination, in the form of a longitudinal intervention study of the Spanish nutritional evolution during confinement, with a daily survey format, and it is intended to assess food consumption during the period of confinement. Materials and methods: In total, 936 participants were asked every day. Short publications were published every day based on the scientific evidence (FAO, WHO, AECOSAN) through social media such as Instagram, accompanied by a questionnaire of 11 questions (yes/no) where it was intended to assess the evolution of daily consumption.Results and Discussion: The diffusion through social media has allowed to have a greater reach of the population. We observed that mood throughout confinement generally improves. There are certain eating habits from the MD that are well established in the daily diet of our population, such as the consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, dairy products, and eggs. It seems that enjoying good health is a growing concern in pandemic situations, which is why inappropriate behaviours such as “snacking” between meals or the consumption of processed foods such as snacks, industrial pastries, soft drinks, and sweets are avoided, increasing the amount of healthy food such as meat and fish. This study opens up future avenues of research promoting MD and implements new cohort nutritional databases, especially about young adult people, who are adept at navigating digital spaces and therefore using social media.

Metabolic Syndrome and PCOS: Pathogenesis and the Role of Metabolites

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine diseases among women of reproductive age and is associated with many metabolic manifestations, such as obesity, insulin resistance (IR) and hyperandrogenism. The underlying pathogenesis of these metabolic symptoms has not yet been fully elucidated. With the application of metabolomics techniques, a variety of metabolite changes have been observed in the serum and follicular fluid (FF) of PCOS patients and animal models. Changes in metabolites result from the daily diet and occur during uncommon physiological routines. However, some of these metabolite changes may provide evidence to explain possible mechanisms and new approaches for prevention and therapy. This article reviews the pathogenesis of PCOS metabolic symptoms and the relationship between metabolites and the pathophysiology of PCOS. Furthermore, the potential clinical application of some specific metabolites will be discussed.

Insufficient Lycopene Intake Is Associated With High Risk of Prostate Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study From the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2003–2010)

Although lycopene intake and risk of prostate cancer have been explored for decades, recent studies show that Non-Hispanic Black Prostate Cancer (PCa) patients benefit less than Non-Hispanic White patients from a lycopene intake intervention program. This study examined whether a lycopene intake-related racial disparity exists in reducing the risk of PCa in healthy adults. Data on healthy, cancer-free Non-Hispanic Black (NHB) men (n = 159) and Non-Hispanic White (NHW) men (n = 478) from the 2003 to 2010 NHANES dataset were analyzed. Total lycopene intake from daily diet, age, living status, race/ethnicity, education level, poverty income ratio, body mass index, and smoking status were studied as independent variables. The combination of total Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) level and the ratio of free PSA was set as criteria for evaluating the risk of PCa. Multivariable logistic regression was used in race-stratified analyses to compute odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) comparing high PCa risk with low PCa risk. We found, in the whole population, race/ethnicity was the only factor that influenced lycopene intake from the daily diet. NHB men consumed less lycopene than NHW men (3,716 vs. 6,487 (mcg), p = 0.01). Sufficient lycopene intake could reduce the risk of PCa (OR: 0.40, 95% CI: 0.18–0.85, p = 0.02). Men aged between 66 and 70 had high PCa risk (OR: 3.32, 95% CI: 1.12–9.85, p = 0.03). Obesity served as a protective factor against the high risk of PCa (OR: 0.25, 95% CI: 0.12–0.54, p = 0.001). NHW men aged between 66 and 70 had a high risk of PCa (OR: 4.01, 95% CI: 1.02–15.73, p = 0.05). Obese NHW men also had lower risk of PCa (OR: 0.18, 95% CI: 0.07–0.47 p = 0.001). NHB men had a high risk of PCa compared to NHW men (OR: 2.27, 95% CI: 1.35–3.81 p = 0.004). NHB men who were living without partners experienced an even higher risk of PCa (OR: 3.35, 95% CI: 1.01–11.19 p = 0.07). Sufficient lycopene intake from daily food could serve as a protector against PCa. Such an association was only observed in NHW men. Further studies are needed to explore the dose-response relationship between lycopene intake and the association of PCa risk in NHB men.

Dietary Vitamin C and Vitamin C Derived from Vegetables Are Inversely Associated with the Risk of Depressive Symptoms among the General Population

Vitamin C is a water-soluble antioxidant. Reducing the level of oxidative stress can alleviate depression. Therefore, we investigated the correlation between dietary vitamin C intake and the risk of depressive symptoms in the general population. Data from the 2007–2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used in our study. The dietary intake of vitamin C was assessed by two 24-h dietary recalls. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Logistic regression and restricted cubic spline models were applied to assess the relationship between dietary vitamin C intake and the risk of depressive symptoms. The multivariate adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of depressive symptoms for the highest vs. lowest category of dietary vitamin C intake and vitamin C intake derived from vegetables were 0.73 (0.58–0.91) and 0.73 (0.56–0.95). In subgroup analyses, dietary vitamin C intake was negatively correlated with the risk of depressive symptoms in females 18–39 years old and 40–59 year-old groups. A dose-response analysis showed that there was a nonlinear relationship between dietary vitamin C intake and the risk of depressive symptoms. Dietary vitamin C intake and vitamin C intake derived from vegetables were inversely associated with the risk of depressive symptoms among the general population. We recommend increasing the intake of vegetables in daily diet.

LACTOSE INTOLERANCE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF LACTOSE-FREE DAIRY PRODUCTS IN THIS CONDITION (Review)

The paper is a review of the importance of expanding the lactose-free dairy segment to give consumers the opportunity to consume milk and dairy products if they suffer from lactose intolerance. When there is a lactase deficiency in the body, in the small intestine lactose is not hydrolyzed, the volume increases and the fluidity of the intestinal contents increases, allowing lactose to reach the colon where it is fermented by colonic bacteria. Lactose intolerance is a condition that depending on the form developed will show different symptoms and consumers suffering from this disease may ingest amounts between 12-24 g of lactose consumed during a day, taking into account certain recommendations, compared to allergy to milk proteins, where the consumption of dairy products is prohibited. Due to the rich intake of important macro and micronutrients in human nutrition, dairy products cannot be missing from the daily diet. In this context, methods are proposed, in particular ultrafiltration, for obtain free lactose milk that does not affect its composition and properties. Consumers suffering from lactose intolerance should be properly informed about the lactose content in manufactured lactose-free dairy products. This can be done after using highperformance instrumental methods of analysis that can detect the lowest values of lactose content in dairy products.