Classification of psychiatric symptoms using deep interaction networks: the CASPIAN-IV study

Identifying the possible factors of psychiatric symptoms among children can reduce the risk of adverse psychosocial outcomes in adulthood. We designed a classification tool to examine the association between modifiable risk factors and psychiatric symptoms, defined based on the Persian version of the WHO-GSHS questionnaire in a developing country. Ten thousand three hundred fifty students, aged 6–18 years from all Iran provinces, participated in this study. We used feature discretization and encoding, stability selection, and regularized group method of data handling (GMDH) to classify the a priori specific factors (e.g., demographic, sleeping-time, life satisfaction, and birth-weight) to psychiatric symptoms. Self-rated health was the most critical feature. The selected modifiable factors were eating breakfast, screentime, salty snack for depression symptom, physical activity, salty snack for worriedness symptom, (abdominal) obesity, sweetened beverage, and sleep-hour for mild-to-moderate emotional symptoms. The area under the ROC curve of the GMDH was 0.75 (CI 95% 0.73–0.76) for the analyzed psychiatric symptoms using threefold cross-validation. It significantly outperformed the state-of-the-art (adjusted p < 0.05; McNemar's test). In this study, the association of psychiatric risk factors and the importance of modifiable nutrition and lifestyle factors were emphasized. However, as a cross-sectional study, no causality can be inferred.

Computer-aided Diagnosis of Psychiatric Distress in Children and Adolescents Using deep Interaction Networks: The CASPIAN-IV Study

Early diagnosis of psychiatric disorders among children can reduce the risk of adverse psychosocial outcomes in adulthood. We aimed to design a computer-aided screening tool to examine the association between modifiable risk factors and psychiatric disorders in a developing country. Ten thousand three hundred fifty students, aged 6–18 years from all Iran provinces, participated in this study. We used feature discretization and encoding, stability selection, and regularized group method of data handling (GMDH) to classify the comprehensive risk factors to depression (the prevalence of 20.1%), worriedness (23.7%), and emotional problems (11.1%). Self-rated health was the most important feature. The selected modifiable factors were eating breakfast, screentime, salty snack for depression, physical activity, salty snack for worriedness, (abdominal) obesity, sweetened beverage, and sleep-hour for emotional problems classification. The area under the ROC Curve (AUC) of the GMDH was 0.88 [CI 95%: 0.87-0.89], 0.79 [0.77-0.80], and 0.70 [0.68-0.72] for depression, worriedness, and emotional problem outcomes, respectively. The GMDH provided a deep interaction network to introduce important features that univariate modeling had not identified. It significantly outperformed the state-of-the-art (adjusted p <0.05; McNemar's test). It is thus a promising new psychiatric screening tool for children and adolescents.

A Cross-Sectional Survey of Salty Snack Consumption among Serbian Urban-Living Students and Their Contribution to Salt Intake

This study investigated the behavior of urban-living students related to the salty snacks consumption, and their contribution to salt daily intake. A cross-sectional survey on 1313 urban-living students (16–25 years, 61.4% university students and 38.6% high school students) used a pre-verified questionnaire created specifically for the study. The logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the factors influencing snack consumption. The results of salt content and the snack consumption frequency were used to evaluate snack contribution to salt intake. All subjects consumed salty snacks, on average several times per week, more often at home and slightly more during periods of intensive studying, with 42% of the participants reporting to consume two or more packages per snacking occasion. Most of the participants consumed such products between main meals, but 10% of them took snacks immediately after the main meal. More high-school students than university students were in the “high snack group” (p < 0.05). The most frequently consumed salty snacks were those with the highest content of salt. Salt intake from snack products for a majority of participants ranged between 0.4 and 1 g/day. The research revealed younger age, home environment and significant contribution to salt intake as critical points in salty snack consumption among urban-living students important for the better understanding of their dietary habits.

Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) authorization of discount variety stores: leveraging the private sector to modestly increase availability of healthy foods

Background Many lower-income communities in the United States lack a full-line grocery store. There is evidence that the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) increases the availability of healthy foods in stores. One national discount variety store chain (DVS) that is often located in low-income neighborhoods became an authorized WIC vendor in 8 pilot stores. Objectives The objective of this study was to evaluate how implementing WIC in DVS pilot stores affected sales of healthy, WIC-eligible foods. Methods We used DVS sales data and difference-in-differences regression to evaluate how WIC authorization affected sales of WIC-eligible foods in 8 DVS pilot stores, compared with 8 matched comparison stores. Results DVS added 18 new WIC-approved foods to become an authorized vendor. Results indicate that becoming a WIC vendor significantly increased sales of healthy, WIC-eligible foods that DVS carried before authorization. WIC implementation in DVS led to a 31-unit increase in sales of the original WIC foods per week on average (P &lt; 0.01). Lower socioeconomic status, assessed using a summary measure, is associated with increased sales of WIC foods. Yet sales of non-WIC eligible foods (e.g., salty snack foods, candy bars, soda, and processed meats) were not affected by WIC authorization. Conclusions Encouraging DVS stores to become WIC-authorized vendors has the potential to modestly increase DVS sales and the availability of healthy foods in low-income neighborhoods. If WIC authorization is financially viable for small-format variety stores, encouraging similar small-format variety stores to become WIC-authorized has the potential to improve food access.

The role of socio-economic factors in food consumption of Portuguese children and adolescents: results from the National Food, Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey 2015–2016

This study aimed to evaluate the association between socio-economic factors and the food consumption of a young population. Participants were from the Portuguese National Food, Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (IAN-AF 2015–2016) aged from 3 to 17 years (n 1153). Food consumption was assessed using two non-consecutive days of food diaries in children and two 24-h recalls for adolescents. A latent class analysis (LCA) was used to classify children’s socio-economic status (socio-economic composite classification (SCC)), categorised in low, middle or high. The associations between socio-economic variables and food consumption were evaluated through linear or logistic regression models, weighted for the Portuguese population distribution. A positive association was found between belonging to a higher level of SCC and consumption of fruits and vegetables (FV), by children (β = 2·4, 95 % CI 1·1, 3·8) and by adolescents (β = 52·4, 95 % CI 9·6, 95·3). A higher SCC, but particularly higher maternal education, was positively associated with consumption of ‘white meat, fish and eggs’. Both higher SCC and parental education were positively associated with salty snack consumption in the adolescents’ group. In conclusion, children and adolescents with higher educated parents and belonging to a high socio-economic level have a higher daily intake of FV and white meat, fish and eggs. Socio-economic factors play an important role in justifying differences in the food consumption of children and adolescents and must be considered in future interventions. The relationship between higher socio-economic position and salty snack consumption in adolescents needs to be further explored in other populations.

Losing Glow of FMCG Brands(A Sustainability Challenge for FMCG Sector)( A pilot Research Conducted in Vidarbha During April-19 to August-2019)

It has seen that FMCG consumers are becoming indifferent towards the essential categories of the brands. Such brands have become undifferentiated in their minds. The concept of brands is getting redundant in their minds for products from essential categories like Soaps, Tooth Paste, Detergents, Confectionary, Salty Snack Food, Chocolates etc. This can prove to be a big sustainability challenge for the brand members from essential categories of FMCG brands. The researcher empirically observed during his visits to various retail outlets both from urban & rural areas during his observational research that the FMCG consumers are getting confused about purchasing a specific brand of routine FMCG product. They buy either any brand considering that all brands are same or buy a product due to the available offers. The higher the offer is the more would be the temptation of buyers toward them. If not then the buyers try to go for still available economical option or at last will go for smaller pack size. If nothing is available then only they will buy top branded FMCG product. This research tries to ascertain this fact and tries to measure the shift (if at all is there) in quantitative terms.

Oral Lubrication Matters: Effects on Satiety

As overeating, overweight and obesity remain public health concerns, it is crucial to design satiety-enhancing foods that suppress appetite and lower snack intake. Existing research identifies oro-sensory targets to promote satiation and satiety within the &ldquo;satiety cascade&rdquo; yet it remains unclear as to whether it is &lsquo;chewing&rsquo; or &lsquo;oral lubrication&rsquo; that might amplify satiation signals.Here we have combined techniques from experimental psychology, food material science and mechanical engineering to measure the role of chewing and lubrication using novel, model foods as preloads on subjective appetite and intake of a salty snack. Three mint flavoured hydrogels were engineered to vary in their texture (fracture stress) and lubrication (inverse of friction coefficient) properties, and a control group received a mint tea. Results showed that snack intake was suppressed by 32% after eating the low chewing/high lubricating preload as compared to the high chewing/low lubricating preload (p&lt;0.05). No other significant effects were found for snack intake. Hunger ratings decreased from t1 to t3 (p&lt;0.05), however differences between conditions were subtle and not significant. Thus, this proof-of-concept study demonstrates that manipulating oral lubrication is a promising new construct to reduce snack intake that merits future research in the oro-sensory satiety domain.

Fatty acid composition including trans-fatty acids in salty snack foods from Serbian market

The rapid increase in the consumption of salty snack products has led to increased concern about their composition and nutritional value. The aim of this study was to investigate the fat content and fatty acid profile in salty snack products from the Serbian market. A total of 58 different snack products from 3 categories (Baked products, Chips & flips products, Cereal products) were analyzed. The fatty acid composition was determined using gas chromatography. Total fat content ranged from 3.1 % in expanded rice to 35.7 % in potato chips. Palmitic, oleic and linoleic acids constituted > 80 % of all fatty acids (FAs) in categories Baked products and Chips & flips. Linoleic acid was more abundant in the category Cereal products (15.5?49.3 %). The trans-FAs elaidic (C18:1 - 9t) and linolelaidic FAs (18:2 - 9t, 12t) were identified in 66 % of the products. The flips products had the highest average t-FAs content (16.3 %), followed by flips group (9.3 %). Potential t-FAs intake from 100 g of analyzed products was in range 0.1?4.9 g. This study provided a large database on saturated fatty acids and t-FAs content in salty snack products and indicated that by consuming only one package of some products, the t-FAs intake could surpass the recommended maximum of 1 % of daily energy.

Comparative Study of a New Dietary Screener to Assess Food Groups of Concern in Children

Background: Although there are several valid and reliable dietary screeners to measure child intake patterns, there is a paucity of brief assessment tools targeting under- and overconsumed foods. Objective: To compare the Fueling Learning through Exercise study (FLEX) dietary questionnaire, a screener designed to assess consumption patterns in third to fifth graders, to a validated dietary assessment tool. Methods: The FLEX dietary questionnaire was developed to assess fruit, vegetable, snack, and beverage consumption and was compared to the Block Kids Food Screener (BKFS). Correlations were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient. Agreement was assessed using Bland-Altman plots. Results: The sample (n = 63) had mean age of 9.9 years (SD 0.7). Most participants were non-Hispanic white (70%) and eligible for free/reduced price lunch (57%). Correlations between food group categories were significant for all groups ( P < .05) except fruits ( r = 0.51) and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) ( r = 0.21). We found moderate-to-strong correlations between reported vegetable, salty snack, sweet snack, total beverage, milk, and fruit juice consumption (0.62, 0.59, 0.69, 0.47, 0.48, and 0.46, respectively). The FLEX screener reported systematically higher mean servings per day (0.24-1.1) compared to the BKFS (0.05-0.51). Conclusion: Based on these correlations, the FLEX dietary questionnaire performs similarly to a validated tool in assessing intake of under- and overconsumed food groups in a diverse third to fifth grade population. Overall serving size discrepancies are likely due to more relevant food items on the FLEX questionnaire and a more child-friendly format. This study highlights the need to update older diet screeners to reflect current child consumption patterns.