Health: Edible advice

Assessing Support for Advantaged and Disadvantaged Groups: A Comparison of Urban Food Environments

Individuals from lower-socio-economic status (SES) communities have increased risk of developing obesity in developed countries such as Australia. Given the influence of the environment on dietary behaviour, this paper seeks to examine food environments in areas of differing social advantage. An established measurement tool (the NEMS-Nutrition Environment Measurement Survey), that captures aspects of support for healthy eating within restaurants (NEMS-R) and grocery/convenience stores (NEMS-S), was applied to both a high-SES and a low-SES suburb within Brisbane, Australia. The study found a significantly more supportive restaurant food environment in the high-SES suburb, with greater access to and availability of healthful foods, as well as facilitators for, reduced barriers to, and substantially more nutrition information for healthful eating. A higher number of outlets were found in the high-SES suburb, and later opening times were also observed. Overall, the results from stores (NEMS-S) suggest poor support for healthful eating across both suburbs. This study highlights how food environments in low-SES regions continue to be less supportive of healthful eating. Public health strategies must move beyond individual-focused strategies to ensure that our most disadvantaged, low-SES communities have an equal opportunity to access healthful foods.

Advising Consumption of Green Vegetables, Beef, and Full-Fat Dairy Products Has No Adverse Effects on the Lipid Profiles in Children

In children, little is known about lipid profiles and the influence of dietary habits. In the past, we developed a dietary advice for optimizing the immune system, which comprised green vegetables, beef, whole milk, and full-fat butter. However, there are concerns about a possible negative influence of the full-fat dairy products of the diet on the lipid profile. We investigated the effect of the developed dietary advice on the lipid profile and BMI (body mass index)/BMI-z-score of children. In this retrospective cohort study, we included children aged 1-16 years, of whom a lipid profile was determined in the period between June 2011 and November 2013 in our hospital. Children who adhered to the dietary advice were assigned to the exposed group and the remaining children were assigned to the unexposed group. After following the dietary advice for at least three months, there was a statistically significant reduction in the cholesterol/HDL (high-density lipoproteins) ratio (p < 0.001) and non-HDL-cholesterol (p = 0.044) and a statistically significant increase in the HDL-cholesterol (p = 0.009) in the exposed group, while there was no difference in the BMI and BMI z-scores. The dietary advice has no adverse effect on the lipid profile, BMI, and BMI z-scores in children, but has a significant beneficial effect on the cholesterol/HDL ratio, non-HDL-cholesterol, and the HDL-cholesterol.

Rat chromosome 8 confers protection against dyslipidemia caused by a high-fat/low-carbohydrate diet

BACKGROUND/AIMS

Recent studies have highlighted the importance of gene by diet interactions in contributing to risk factors of metabolic syndrome. We used a consomic rat panel, in which a chromosome of the Brown Norway (BN) strain is introgressed onto the background of the Dahl salt-sentitive (SS) strain, to test the hypothesis that these animals will be useful for dissecting gene by diet interactions involved in metabolic syndrome.

METHODS

We placed the parental SS and BN strains on a low-fat/high-carbohydrate (LF) or high-fat/low-carbohydrate (HF) diet for 22 weeks and measured several indices of metabolic syndrome. We then investigated the effect of diet in eight consomic rat strains.

RESULTS

We show that the HF diet resulted in significantly increased levels of fasting plasma cholesterol and triglycerides in the SS strain, with no effect in the BN. Both strains responded to the HF diet with slight increases in body weight. SSBN8 was the only consomic strain that resembled that of the BN, with low levels of fasting cholesterol and triglycerides even on the HF diet.

CONCLUSIONS

These results indicate that BN chromosome 8 harbors a gene or genes that confer protection against dyslipidemia caused by the HF diet.

Ethnopharmacology, food production, nutrition and biodiversity conservation: towards a sustainable future for indigenous peoples

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

It is becoming increasingly clear that ethnopharmacology cannot be disassociated from food production, human nutrition and the conservation of the biodiversity that constitutes its resource base.

AIM OF THE STUDY

This paper aims to provide a perspective of ethnopharmacology that explicitly extends the range of disciplines it covers so as to embrace food and nutrition and the biodiversity basis, both wild and agricultural, and also places it in the context of the dramatic changes to our planet that we are experiencing during a period of rapid global change and the impacts that these changes are having on human health and nutrition and on its resource base.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A review is made of recent initiatives and developments that show linkages between ethnopharmacology, agriculture, food production, nutrition and biodiversity conservation.

RESULTS

Ethnopharmacology, biodiversity, agriculture, food and nutrition are inextricably linked but suffer from compartmentalization and a lack of communication which have to be overcome if progress is to be made. Fortunately, a convergence of interest between the agricultural biodiversity and the biodiversity conservation sectors has emerged in recent years and there is an increased appreciation of the need to adopt a wider approach to human nutrition than the conventional agricultural model allows; there is also a greater awareness of the important role played by diversity of crops, especially local species, and consumption of wild species in achieving balanced nutrition. An increased recognition of the key role of local communities in managing agricultural biodiversity is evident. While ethnopharmacologists have expressed concern at the relentless loss of biodiversity, there has been little direct involvement but it is perhaps now time to consider a more proactive role. Attention is also drawn to the need to assess the implications of global change for ethnopharmacology.

CONCLUSIONS

Ethnopharmacologists need to take much more cognizance of the fate of the resource base - the plants, animals and microorganisms - and of the actions being undertaken under the auspices of treaties, such as the Conservation on Biological Diversity and its Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, to counter its degradation and loss. In addition, they should play a more active role in determining the actions needed to assess, monitor and conserve the resource base. Although it has been suggested that the 'golden days' of ethnopharmacology may be over, it is proposed that by embracing the challenges of broadening the remit so as to include the health aspects of wild biodiversity employed in nutrition, a new 'golden age' beckons. The paper concludes with some suggestions for action.