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BackgroundFood insecurity is associated with poor mental health among people living with HIV (PLHIV). This qualitative study explored the mental health experiences of PLHIV participating in a medically appropriate food support program.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted post-intervention (n = 34). Interview topics included changes, or lack thereof, in mental health and reasons for changes. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and double-coded. Salient themes were identified using an inductive-deductive method.ResultsPositive changes in mental health self-reported by PLHIV included improved mood and reduced stress, worry, and anxiety. Participants attributed these changes to: 1) increased access to sufficient and nutritious foods, 2) increased social support, 3) reduced financial hardship, 4) increased sense of control and self-esteem, and 5) reduced functional barriers to eating.ConclusionsMedically appropriate food support may improve mental health for some PLHIV. Further work is needed to understand and prevent possible adverse consequences on mental health after programs end.

Childhood undernutrition is a major health burden worldwide that increases childhood morbidity and mortality and causes impairment in infant growth and developmental delays that can persist into adulthood. The first weeks and months after birth are critical to the establishment of healthy growth and development during childhood. The World Health Organization recommends immediate and exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). In infants for whom EBF may not meet nutritional and caloric demands, early, daily, small-volume formula supplementation along with breastfeeding may more effectively avoid underweight wasting and stunting in early infancy than breastfeeding alone. The primary objective of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the efficacy of formula for 30 days among low birth weight (LBW) infants

Growth faltering among children during the first five years of life is a common problem among low and middle-income countries. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a nutrient-rich, food-based supplement given to Vietnamese rural women prior to and/or during pregnancy on the growth of their infants during first 24 months of life and to identify maternal and newborn factors associated with the infant's growth. This prospective cohort study included 236 infants born to mothers who had received nutritional advice or a food supplement from pre-conception to term or from mid-gestation to term as part of a prior randomized controlled trial. Infant anthropometry and feeding information were monitored monthly and the infant weight for age Z-score (WAZ), length for age Z-score (LAZ), and weight for length Z-score (WLZ) were assessed at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months of age using mixed-effects regression modeling. Compared to the non-supplemented mothers, infants born to mothers receiving food supplementation from mid-gestation to term had significantly higher WLZ only at 18 months (p = 0.03) and did not differ in other outcomes. Supplementation from pre-conception to term did not affect infant growth at any time point during the first 24 months. In the entire study cohort, maternal height and gestational weight gain were positively associated with the infant's WAZ and LAZ from 6 to 24 months of age. Programs designed to improve gestational weight gain among women performing demanding physical work throughout a reproductive cycle may improve postnatal infant growth. Trial registration: Registered Clinical Trials.Gov: NCT01235767.

Objective: The objectives of this study are to clarify the scientific definition of comfort food, identify which methodologies are being used in research on this topic and which factors are associated with the consumption of comfort food., Introduction: The consumption of comfort foods is subjective and influenced by individual experiences, as they are known and appreciated by the person. However, divergences about the definition of comfort food in the scientific literature reflect the heterogeneity of the methods used in the research, and consequently identification of possible factors associated with the consumption of this type of food, which can influence the knowledge about the consumption of these foods and their potential effects on the health of those who consume them., Inclusion Criteria: Works with a qualitative and quantitative approach published in full in indexed sources or in gray literature, available online in the databases consulted, without restriction on language or year of publication will be included., Methods: The protocol was built based on the methodological recommendations of the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) for scoping reviews and the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). The Participants, Concept and Context (PCC) mnemonic strategy was built: general population, comfort food concept and world context. Based on this, search strategies were developed for different databases. Instruments were also developed for recording documents, extracting data, justifying the exclusion of documents and not obtaining access to content. A Pilot Study was conducted to test the developed methodology and instruments. The protocol has been registered with the Open Science Framework (OSF) (https://osf.io/gnza4/). The results will be presented in the review resulting from this protocol in three ways: accounting of the documents will be recorded in a PRISMA Flow Diagram, the main information of the studies and their frequencies will be presented in a table, and the union of these outcomes will be presented visually in a Graphical Abstract., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Pereira et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Introduction: For years, heat treatment has been an essential method for ensuring mature food that meet the desired quality and safety characteristics. However, this process could lead to the formation of harmful compounds such as acrylamide. In this study we aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAPs) of the Lebanese population toward the potential risk associated with acrylamide., Materials & Methods: An online survey (n = 598) was conducted among residents in Lebanon aged 18 years and above. The survey was divided into five sections including participants' sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude and practice sections, and some questions related to consumer's preferences., Results & Discussion: The results showed that the majority of the participants had low food safety knowledge regarding acrylamide. Specifically, 82.9% of the consumers had no idea about the chemical, its formation, the foods with a high risk of acrylamide formation and the health risks associated with its exposure. Despite lack of knowledge, good domestic food practices (storage, pre-treatment) were noticed among participants. Moreover, the majority of consumers (> 80%) showed positive attitude towards proper acrylamide labeling. Participants with a bachelor's degree appeared to have a more positive attitude toward food safety compared to those with no qualifications (p<0.001)., Conclusion: Despite the high consumption of acrylamide by the consumers in Lebanon through fried potatoes, bread, and coffee, the majority have no idea about acrylamide's presence in food, its sources and its adverse health effects. Raising awareness among the public, involving policy makers in addressing the issue of clear labeling and encouraging the adoption of alternative practices to reduce acrylamide are all crucial to protect consumers' health in Lebanon and promote healthier food consumption habits., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Kalash et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Genome editing technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9 have been developed in the last decade and have been applied to new food technologies. Genome-edited food (GEF) is a crucial issue with those new food technologies. Thus, each country has established GEF governance systems to maximize benefits and minimize risks. These emphasize the importance of communicating about GEF to the public. The key concerns are understanding various viewpoints and value perspectives (framings) in science and technology and encouraging and opening communication with the public. Thus, it is essential to understand differences between the public and experts' interests and discuss various framings and effective communication with regard to GEF. Accordingly, this study involved administering a questionnaire to analyze the public's attitudes in Japan and identify gaps between these and expert opinions on GEF. A total of 4000 responses from the public and 398 responses from GEF experts were collected. The study found that the Japanese public has a "wait-and-watch" attitude toward GEF, and the demand for basic information on it is quite high. Moreover, they are apprehensive about proper risk governance systems for GEF. This is despite experts' emphasis on the adequacy of the mechanism, necessity of technology, and trust in the scientific community. Understanding gaps between the public and experts' opinions on and interests in GEF provides essential insight for effective communication and acts as the basis for appropriate governance of emerging science and technology., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Shineha et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Food security and dietary diversity, defined as providing either physical (availability) or economic (accessibility) access to food, are linked with access to and control over productive resources and is a highly-gendered phenomenon. In Nepal, labor out-migration has increased household income and may have increased people's ability to access diverse food either by increasing investment in agriculture or purchasing various food items from the market. However, the relationship between household dietary improvement and labor out-migration is complex. Drawing on a survey of 1,053 migrant households in three agroecological regions of Nepal, this paper disentangles this complex phenomenon by showing how household dietary diversity and women's dietary diversity are influenced by biophysical, social, economic, and cultural factors. The influence of the amount of remittances, land abandonment, and women confined to the house by household chores are some factors that policy makers should consider seriously in designing gender-sensitive nutrition policies. The expansion of women's agency contributes to enhancing dietary diversity and specifically women's dietary diversity at the household level; however, how these factors determine an individual's dietary diversity depends on intrahousehold dynamics and relations., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Gartaula et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Food waste is a routine and increasingly growing global concern that has drawn significant attention from policymakers, climate change activists and health practitioners. Amid the plurality of discourses on food waste-health linkages, however, the health risks from food waste induced emissions have remained under explored. This lack of evidence is partly because of the lack of complete understanding of the effects of food waste emissions from household food waste on human health either directly through physiological mechanisms or indirectly through environmental exposure effects. Thus, this systematic review contributes to the literature by synthesizing available evidence to highlight gaps and offers a comprehensive baseline inventory of food waste emissions and their associated impacts on human health to support public health decision-making. Four database searches: Web of Science, OVID(Medline), EMBASE, and Scopus, were searched from inception to 3 May 2023. Pairs of reviewers screened 2189 potentially eligible studies that addressed food waste emissions from consumers and how the emissions related to human health. Following PRISMA guidelines, 26 articles were eligible for data extraction for the systematic review. Findings indicate that emissions from food waste, such as hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, and volatile organic carbons, can affect human endocrine, respiratory, nervous, and olfactory systems. The severity of the human health effects depends on the gaseous concentration, but range from mild lung irritation to cancer and death. This study recommends emission capture technologies, food diversion programs, and biogas technologies to reduce food waste emissions., Competing Interests: Funding for this study was provided by Western University’s Undergraduate Student Research Internship in the form of a bursary. The funding does not interfere with the full and objective presentation, peer review, editorial decision-making, or publication of research submitted to PLOS ONE., (Copyright: © 2024 Rudziak et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

When pre-treated with social stimuli prior to testing, dogs are more susceptible to human influence in a food preference task. This means, after a positive social interaction they are more willing to choose the smaller amount of food indicated by the human, as opposed to their baseline preference for the bigger amount. In the current study we investigate if and how various forms of social interaction modulate choices in the same social susceptibility task, testing dogs with varying early life history (pet dogs, therapy dogs, former shelter dogs). In line with previous studies, dogs in general were found to be susceptible to human influence as reflected in the reduced number of "bigger" choices in the human influence, compared to baseline, trials. This was true not only for pet dogs with a normal life history, but also for dogs adopted from a shelter. Therapy dogs, however, did not uniformly change their preference for the bigger quantity of food in the human influence trials; they only did so if prior to testing they had been pre-treated with social stimuli by their owner (but not by a stranger). Pet dogs were also more influenced after pre-treatment with social stimuli by their owner compared to ignoring and separation; however after pre-treatment by a stranger their behaviour did not differ from ignoring and separation. Former shelter dogs on the other hand were equally influenced regardless of pre-treatment by owner versus stranger. In summary these results show that dogs' social susceptibility is modulated by both interactions immediately preceding the test as well as by long term social experiences., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Kis et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

This study aimed to investigate the serum metabolomic profile of obese and lean cats as well as obese cats before and after energy restriction for weight loss. Thirty cats, 16 obese (body condition score 8 to 9/9) and 14 lean (body condition score 4 to 5/9), were fed a veterinary weight loss food during a 4-week period of weight maintenance (L-MAINT and O-MAINT). The 16 obese cats were then energy restricted by a 60% energy intake reduction with the same food for a 10-week period (O-RESTRICT). Fasted serum metabolites were measured using nuclear magnetic resonance and direct infusion mass spectrometry after the maintenance period for L-MAINT and O-MAINT cats and after the energy restriction period for O-RESTRICT and compared between groups using a two-sided t-test. Obese cats lost 672 g ± 303 g over the 10-week restriction period, representing a weight loss rate of 0.94 ± 0.28% per week. Glycine, l-alanine, l-histidine, l-glutamine, 2-hydroxybutyrate, isobutryric acid, citric acid, creatine, and methanol were greater in O-RESTRICT compared to O-MAINT. There was a greater concentration of long-chain acylcarnitines in O-RESTRICT compared to both O-MAINT and L-MAINT, and greater total amino acids compared to O-MAINT. Glycerol and 3-hydroxybutyric acid were greater in O-MAINT compared to L-MAINT, as were several lysophosphatidylcholines. Thus, energy restriction resulted in increased dispensable amino acids in feline serum which could indicate alterations in amino acid partitioning. An increase in lipolysis was not evident, though greater circulating acylcarnitines were observed, suggesting that fatty acid oxidation rates may have been greater under calorie restriction. More research is needed to elucidate energy metabolism and substrate utilization, specifically fatty acid oxidation and methyl status, during energy restriction in strict carnivorous cats to optimize weight loss., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. CG held the Nestle Purina Professorship in Companion Animal Nutrition at the Ontario Veterinary College at the time of manuscript drafting, is the owner of Grant Veterinary Nutrition Services and consults with Simmons Pet Food. MT is currently employed by Royal Canin. The study was conducted before this employment during MT’s Doctor Veterinary Sciences Degree at the Ontario Veterinary College. HG declares that they have participated in paid internships and engagements with pet food companies within Canada. AKS is the Champion Petfoods Chair in Canine and Feline Nutrition, Physiology and Metabolism, consults for Champion Petfood, was previously employed by P&G and Mars Pet Care, serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for Trouw Nutrition, and has received honoraria and research funding from various commodity groups, pet food manufacturers, and ingredient suppliers. AV is the Royal Canin Veterinary Diets Endowed Chair in Canine and Feline Clinical Nutrition and declares that they serve on the Health and Nutrition Advisory Board for Vetdiet. AV has also received honoraria and research funding from various pet food manufacturers and ingredient suppliers. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials., (Copyright: © 2024 Grant et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Over the past decade, the impact of low food security on student well-being and academic performance has become a growing concern at institutions of higher education across the U.S. This mixed methods study adds to the growing body of evidence on the association between student socio-demographic and economic characteristics and food security. An online survey covering food access, student well-being, and housing security was sent to 35,337 undergraduate and graduate students at a large southeastern land grant university. A total of 2,116 complete responses were received; a 6% response rate. The survey responses also included 176 written statements by students. The survey found that 16% of both undergraduate and graduate students had low or very low food security, as defined by a modified USDA food security measure. The socio-demographic and economic characteristics that were linked to a higher likelihood of low food security included: having a GPA of less than 3.0, having a disability, being an international student, being a first-generation student, being a transfer student, going into debt to pay for food, being a Black or African American student, having poor mental health, having uncertain living arrangements, and having no medical insurance. Recommendations for enhancing student access to food, housing, and mental health services are discussed., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Hall et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

ObjectivesTo describe the food environments experienced by American Indians living on tribal lands in California.MethodsGeocoded statewide food business data were used to define and categorize existing food vendors into healthy, unhealthy, and intermediate composite categories. Distance to and density of each of the composite food vendor categories for tribal lands and nontribal lands were compared using multivariate linear regression. Quantitative results were concurrently triangulated with qualitative data from in-depth interviews with tribal members (n = 24).ResultsAfter adjusting for census tract-level urbanicity and per capita income, results indicate there were significantly fewer healthy food outlets per square mile for tribal areas compared to non-tribal areas. Density of unhealthy outlets was not significantly different for tribal versus non-tribal areas. Tribal members perceived their food environment negatively and reported barriers to the acquisition of healthy food.ConclusionsUrbanicity and per capita income do not completely account for disparities in food environments among American Indians tribal lands compared to nontribal lands. This disparity in access to healthy food may present a barrier to acting on the intention to consume healthy food.

Microindentation of fresh biological tissues is necessary for the creation of 3D biomimetic models that accurately represent the native extracellular matrix microenvironment. However, tissue must first be precisely sectioned into slices. Challenges exist in the preparation of fresh tissue slices, as they can tear easily and must be processed rapidly in order to mitigate tissue degradation. In this study, we propose an optimised mounting condition for microindentation and demonstrate that embedding tissue in a mixture of 2.5% agarose and 1.5% gelatin is the most favourable method of tissue slice mounting for microindentation. This protocol allows for rapid processing of fresh biological tissue and is applicable to a variety of tissue types., Competing Interests: This research is funded by the Irish government through the Irish Research Council Enterprise Partnership Scheme in association with Becton Dickinson (EPSPG/2020/467). This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials., (Copyright: © 2024 McCarthy et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Objectives: Providing advice to consumers in the form of labelling may mitigate the increased availability and low cost of foods that contribute to the obesity problem. Our objective was to test whether making the source of the health advice on the label more credible makes labelling more effective., Methods and Measures: Vending machines in different locations were stocked with healthy and unhealthy products in a hospital. Healthy products were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (i) a control condition in which no labelling was present (ii) a low source credibility label, "Lighter choices", and (iii) a high source credibility label that included the UK National Health Service (NHS) logo and name, "NHS lighter choices". Unhealthy products received no labelling. The outcome measure was sales volume., Results: There were no main effects of labelling. However, there were significant interactions between labelling, vending machine location and payment type. For one location and payment type, sales of products increased in the high credibility label condition compared to control, particularly for unhealthy products, contrary to expectations., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that high source credibility health labels (NHS endorsement) on food either have little effect, or worse, can "backfire" and lead to effects opposite to those intended. The primary limitations are the limited range of source credibility labels and the scale of the study., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Griffiths et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Food production is at the heart of global sustainability challenges, with unsustainable practices being a major driver of biodiversity loss, emissions and land degradation. The concept of foodscapes, defined as the characteristics of food production along biophysical and socio-economic gradients, could be a way addressing those challenges. By identifying homologues foodscapes classes possible interventions and leverage points for more sustainable agriculture could be identified. Here we provide a globally consistent approximation of the world's foodscape classes. We integrate global data on biophysical and socio-economic factors to identify a minimum set of emergent clusters and evaluate their characteristics, vulnerabilities and risks with regards to global change factors. Overall, we find food production globally to be highly concentrated in a few areas. Worryingly, we find particularly intensively cultivated or irrigated foodscape classes to be under considerable climatic and degradation risks. Our work can serve as baseline for global-scale zoning and gap analyses, while also revealing homologous areas for possible agricultural interventions., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Jung et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

This study investigated the effects of animated food consumption on human psychology. We developed a movable, edible robot and evaluated the participants' impressions induced by the visualization of its movements and eating of the robot. Although several types of edible robots have been developed, to the best of our knowledge, the psychological effects associated with the eating of a robot have not been investigated. We developed a pneumatically driven edible robot using gelatin and sugar. We examined its perceived appearance and the participants' impressions when it was eaten. In the robot-eating experiment, we evaluated two conditions: one in which the robot was moved and one in which it was stationary. Our results showed that participants perceived the moving robot differently from the stationary robot, leading to varied perceptions, when consuming it. Additionally, we observed a difference in perceived texture when the robot was bitten and chewed under the two conditions. These findings provide valuable insights into the practical applications of edible robots in various contexts, such as the medical field and culinary entertainment., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Nakata et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Many pet owners make food choices for their pets that are similar to those they make for themselves, and food characteristics such as the presence of preservatives can influence this decision. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is a tool used to predict intentions and behavior and can be an important indicator for the pet food industry. The aim of this study was to investigate pet owner behavior regarding food with or without preservatives, based on the behavior prediction of TPB. A questionnaire was distributed with questions related to direct (attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) and indirect (behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and intentions) measures for the analysis of TPB. For the statistical analysis the structural equation modeling (SEM) was used. The correlation between owner behavior and the behavior imposed on their dog's diet was evaluated by paired T test or paired Wilcoxon test according to variables' adherence or not to normality, respectively. A total of 1,021 answers were evaluated after the inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied. The results indicated that TPB was effective in predicting the intentions (r2 = 0.58 for dogs and r2 = 0.59 for owners) and behavior (r2 = 0.58 for dogs and r2 = 0.57 for owners) regarding the intake of diets without preservatives. It was observed that owners are more concerned with the diet of their dogs than their own and they believe that the intake of preservatives can be prejudicial to the health of their dogs (p<0.001). However, owners trust more in pet food manufacturers than human food manufacturers (p<0.001). Therefore, it can be concluded that TPB can be an important tool to understand consumer behavior towards their dog food, and that the industry should intensify its approach on safety of preservatives in pet food, since many owners still believe they can be prejudicial to dogs., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Pedrinelli et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Conflict between humans and black bears (Ursus americanus) occurs throughout North America with increasing public demand to replace lethal management with non-lethal methods, such as aversive conditioning (AC). AC aims to teach animals to associate negative stimuli with humans or their infrastructure. We sought to test the efficacy of AC using radio-collared black bears in Whistler, British Columbia, by monitoring individuals and assigning those in conflict with people to control or treatment groups. We measured wariness using overt reaction distance, displacement distance, and reaction to researchers before, during and after executing 3-5-day AC programs that consisted of launching projectiles at bears in the treatment group. We also assessed predictors of successful AC events (i.e., leaving at a run), changes in bear use of human-dominated habitat during the day and at night, and the effects of including a sound stimulus to signal the beginning and end of AC events. Among treated bears, overt reaction distance increased by 46.5% and displacement distance increased by 69.0% following AC programs, whereas both overt reaction distance and displacement distance decreased over time among control group bears. Each additional AC event during the previous 30 days increased likelihood of bear departure in response to researcher presence by 4.5%. The success of AC events varied among individuals, declined with distance to cover, and increased with exposure to previous AC events. Projectiles launched from guns were slightly more effective at causing bears to displace compared to those launched from slingshots, and sound stimuli decreased the likelihood of a successful AC event. AC did not alter diurnal use by bears of human-dominated habitat. Our results suggest that AC effectively increases short-term wariness in black bears but does not alter bear use of human-dominated spaces, highlighting the importance of proactive attractant management and prevention of food conditioning., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Homstol et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The emergence of craft specialisation is a key area of interest for archaeologists investigating the socio-economic history and development of past societies. In southwest Asia, as elsewhere, the origins of craft specialisation have been associated with the emergence of surplus food production, households and social stratification. We present evidence for nascent skilled production of green stone beads at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) site Shubayqa 6, northeast Jordan. Thousands of pieces of debitage, roughouts and finished beads exhibit signs of standardised production that was probably geared towards exchange. This hints towards incipient skilled craft production that was likely part-time and seasonal. We therefore argue that the appearance of specialist artisans in this autonomous and non-hierarchical society has no correlation with surplus food production, households, or social stratification., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Thuesen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The work addresses current knowledge gaps regarding causes for correlations between environmental and biomarker measurements and explores the underappreciated role of variability in disaggregating exposure attributes that contribute to biomarker levels. Our simulation-based study considers variability in environmental and food measurements, the relative contribution of various exposure sources (indoors and food), and the biological half-life of a compound, on the resulting correlations between biomarker and environmental measurements. For two hypothetical compounds whose half-lives are on the order of days for one and years for the other, we generate synthetic daily environmental concentrations and food exposures with different day-to-day and population variability as well as different amounts of home- and food-based exposure. Assuming that the total intake results only from home-based exposure and food ingestion, we estimate time-dependent biomarker concentrations using a one-compartment pharmacokinetic model. Box plots of modeled R2 values indicate that although the R2 correlation between wipe and biological (e.g., serum) measurements is within the same range for the two compounds, the relative contribution of the home exposure to the total exposure could differ by up to 20%, thus providing the relative indication of their contribution to body burden. The novel method introduced in this paper provides insights for evaluating scenarios or experiments where sample, exposure, and compound variability must be weighed in order to interpret associations between exposure data.

Dietary self-monitoring is a behaviour change technique used to help elicit and sustain dietary changes over time. Current dietary self-monitoring tools focus primarily on itemizing foods and counting calories, which can be complex, time-intensive, and dependent on health literacy. Further, there are no dietary self-monitoring tools that conform to the plate-based approach of the 2019 Canada Food Guide (CFG), wherein the recommended proportions of three food groups are visually represented on a plate without specifying daily servings or portion sizes. This paper explored the perceptions of end-users (i.e., general public) and Registered Dietitians of iCANPlateTM-a dietary self-monitoring mobile application resembling the CFG. Qualitative data were collected through virtual focus groups. Focus group questions were based on the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behaviour (COM-B) theoretical framework to explore perceptions of using the CFG and currently available dietary self-monitoring tools. The prototype iCANPlateTM (version 0.1) was presented to gain feedback on perceived barriers and facilitators of its use. Focus group discussions were audio recorded and verbatim transcribed. Trained researchers used thematic analysis to code and analyze the transcripts independently. Seven focus groups were conducted with Registered Dietitians (n = 44) and nine focus groups with members from the general public (n = 52). During the focus groups, participants mainly discussed the capabilities and opportunities required to use the current iteration of iCANPlateTM. Participants liked the simplicity of the application and its capacity to foster self-awareness of dietary behaviours rather than weight control or calorie counting. However, concerns were raised regarding iCANPlateTM's potential to improve adherence to dietary self-monitoring due to specific characteristics (i.e., insufficient classifications, difficulty in conceptualizing proportions, and lack of inclusivity). Overall, participants liked the simplicity of iCANPlateTM and its ability to promote self-awareness of dietary intakes, primarily through visual representation of foods on a plate as opposed to reliance on numerical values or serving sizes, were benefits of using the app. Findings from this study will be used to further develop the app with the goal of increasing adherence to plate-based dietary approaches., Competing Interests: None to declare., (Copyright: © 2023 Kheirmandparizi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The market for the halal food and beverage industry sector has experienced rapid growth in recent years, which indicate excellent investment opportunities. This paper examine the effect of Technical Efficiency (TE) on firm value in 5 selected influential countries in halal food and beverage sector based on Global Islamic Economy Report 2020. Two steps estimation was used to run the data, using the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) model to determine the company's TE and panel data to test the effect of TE through firm value. The results show that Indonesia has the highest score for TE (62%), followed by Pakistan (59%), South Africa (57%), Malaysia (55%), and Singapore (52%), which means, in general, there is inefficiency in allocating resources over 38% up to 48% and needs to be improved by halal food and beverage companies in. Regarding panel data, all countries sample except Pakistan highlight that TE significantly affect company value. It indicates that the crucial part of managing efficiency can be a sign in stock market performance. The result shows that company managers should set efficiency strategies to their business process for creating sustainability and increase their value in the capital market. As for investors, this TE can be used as an indicator before choosing company stocks; if the company is efficient, then it is worthy of being one of the portfolio assets. Form the government side, the finding can help them to set appropriate policy setting to boost halal food and beverages industry such as giving subsidy or incentive to increase the efficiency ability of halal food and beverage companies and identify the industry's strength by comparing the result of TE between 5 countries., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Rusmita et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Soil quality is an important determinant of soil-use efficiency in the Loess Plateau. However, there is no in-depth study on the soil quality of the Loess Plateau. The present study compared the quality of the 0-20 cm soil layer (T0-20) and the 20-40 cm soil layer (T20-40) from the Guyuan region located in the Loess Plateau. The analysis revealed that T0-20 had a higher content of total N, total P, available P, and organic matter, and the activities of microbial enzymes, especially β-grape-glycosidase (β-GC) and sucrase (SC), than T20-40, indicating that soil quality in T0-20 was better than T20-40. Amplicon sequencing found that Pseudombrophila from Ascomycota was the most abundant microbial species and significantly differed between T0-20 (34.2%) and T20-40 (48.7%). This species and another 19 microbial species, such as Ceratobasidiaceae and Mortierellaceae, determined the diversity of soil microorganism. Further analysis of the phenotype and other parameters of pepper seedlings subjected to P. capsici infection isolated from test soil revealed that decreased organic matter content in deep soil layer is related to happening of pepper blight, and 3 h after infection was the critical time point for infection. The peroxidase (POD) activity increased after P. capsici infection and was positively correlated with infection time, suggesting this enzyme may be an indicator of pepper blight occurrence. These findings provide a theoretical foundation for planning pepper blight management and crop cultivation strategies in the Guyuan region., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Hou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Mobile diet apps assist in tracking nutritional intake and managing healthy eating diets. Effective diet apps incorporate specific population-tailored behavior change strategies (BCS) for user engagement and adherence to healthy diets. Malaysians have their unique behaviors and customs surrounding food and diet. This study aims to explore the perceptions, views, and experiences of healthy Malaysian adults with diet monitoring apps, by focusing on the BCS that engages users to use diet mobile apps and adhere to a healthy diet. A qualitative approach utilizing semi-structured in-depth interviews was conducted using a topic guide based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and trigger materials. Twenty interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Five themes emerged from the data, which are; instilling self-awareness, closed online group support, shaping knowledge, personalization, and user-friendly design. Influence by one's social circle and attractiveness of app features may initiate users' interest and help them engage with mobile diet apps, but the app's ability to raise awareness of progress and impart useful knowledge help them adhere and comply to a healthier diet in the long run. The results from this study may help improve the behavior change strategy features of mobile diet apps for Malaysian adults., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Abdul Khalil et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

An upsurge in global food prices in 2008 led to significantly higher food prices across the developing world. Global commodity prices have since declined but still remain volatile, but at the same time local food prices remain high in many countries. This study examines the potential impacts of the rise in food prices on poverty-income based poverty and calorie-based poverty- focusing on Pakistan, and its rural and urban areas. For this purpose, we used HIES data collected in three waves 2005-06, 2007-08 and 2010-11. Price elasticities are computed using binary Logistic regression method. The study results show that price of wheat, rice, milk, meat, fruit, pulses appear to distinguish the status of a household. Price elasticities shows that urban households are hit harder than rural households in calorie-poverty model. Overall, rising food prices are likely to lead higher poverty in Pakistan, as the negative impact on net consumers outweighs the benefits to producers. Therefore, effective strategy for eliminating poverty is far more concerned with price increases. Safety net programs can be more effective, but geographic targeting and other investments to strengthen safety nets are necessary to ensure that fewer people are affected by future crises. Government policies oriented towards relieving the food price pressure on the Pakistani poor should aim at lowering the prices of wheat, rice, eggs, oil, milk, and chicken., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Shabnam et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Sea cucumbers, belonging to the phylum Echinodermata, are known to possess valuable bioactive compounds that have medicinal properties. In several countries, such as Korea, China, and Japan, they are cultured in the aquaculture industries for food and medicinal purposes. Research has shown that different species of sea cucumbers each possesses unique medicinal values. As a result, we strive towards finding species with better health resilience in aquaculture system to be cultured for nutritional and medicinal purposes. In this paper, we compared the physiological and immunological parameters of three species of sea cucumbers, Cucumaria frondosa (C. frondosa), Isostychopus badionotus (I. badionotus), and Pentacta pygmaea (P. Pygmaea) from the waters of the eastern United States as they have not been studied extensively. Four different cells of sea cucumbers, phagocytic, red spherule, white spherule, and vibratile cells, that contribute to their immunity were counted. C. frondosa exhibited the highest concentrations of phagocytic cells, white spherule cells, and vibratile cells, compared to the two other species. Due to its high phagocytic cell concentration, the highest phagocytic capacity was seen in C. frondosa although it was not statistically significant. We also observed that C. frondosa had the highest total cell count and the highest concentration of coelomic protein among the three species. Lastly, C. frondosa possessed the highest lysozyme activity. Taken together, we concluded that C. frondosa is the best of the three species compared to be reared in the aquaculture systems for use in the food and biomedicine industries due to its immunological and physiological properties., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Win et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Spatial learning is a complex cognitive skill and ecologically important trait scarcely studied in crustaceans. We investigated the ability of the Pacific (Ecuadorian) hermit crab Coenobita compressus, to learn an allocentric spatial task using a palatable novel food as reward. Crabs were trained to locate the reward in a single session of eleven consecutive trials and tested subsequently, for short- (5 min) and long-term memory 1, 3 and 7 days later. Our results indicate that crabs were able to learn the location of the reward as they showed a reduction in the time required to find the food whenever it was present, suggesting a visuo-spatial and olfactory cue-guided task resolution. Moreover, crabs also remember the location of the reward up to 7 days after training using spatial cues only (without the food), as evidenced by the longer investigation time they spent in the learned food location than in any other part of the experimental arena, suggesting a visuo-spatial memory formation. This study represents the first description of allocentric spatial long-term memory in a terrestrial hermit crab., Competing Interests: Authors have NO competing interests., (Copyright: © 2023 Vargas-Vargas et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Food aesthetics influences affective dimensions (valence and arousal) and subsequent emotional and behavioural responses in images presented in more traditional form, almost rustic in some cases, to the signature dishes of haute cuisine. However, the visual impact of images of haute cuisine dishes on consumers' affective and emotional responses compared to traditional dishes is still understudied., Methods: We recorded electrodermal activity, ocular movements and self-report affect of 35 volunteers while they performed a picture viewing paradigm using images of haute cuisine food, traditional food, and non-food. Additionally, the moderating role of age was examined., Results: Our results showed that subjects had higher feelings of pleasure and arousal toward images of food (haute cuisine and traditional dishes) compared to non-food images. However, no difference in self-report affect, physiological and behavioural responses was found between haute cuisine and traditional dishes. Interestingly, a moderating effect of age was revealed, reporting that younger participants had greater feelings of pleasure and shorter eye-to-screen distance towards traditional food than haute cuisine., Conclusions: As a whole, our findings suggest that food aesthetics could at least partially affect consumers' affective and emotional responses. Interestingly, physiological responses to food pictures seemed to be relatively independent of approach/avoidance motivational states, supporting the assumption that traditional visual restaurant menus with attractive images might be insufficient for eliciting intense positive emotions. This study also contributes to advancing the understanding of the role that age plays in emotional impact when images of haute cuisine dishes are presented to consumers., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Rosa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Knowledge of the spatial requirements of a species is fundamental to understanding its environmental requirements. However, this can be challenging as the size of a species' home range can be influenced by ecological factors such as diet and size-dependent metabolic demands, as well as factors related to the quality of their habitat such as the density and distribution of resources needed for food and shelter. Until recently, the genus Petauroides was thought to include only a single species with a widespread distribution across eastern Australia. However, a recent study has provided genetic and morphological evidence supporting Petauroides minor as a distinct northern species. Previous studies have focused on the ecology of P. volans, but there has been inadequate research on P. minor. Data on home range and habitat use were obtained for both species using a combination of techniques including GPS collar locations, radiotelemetry, and spotlighting and comparisons were made using consistent methodology. Home range sizes of P. minor (4.79 ha ± 0.97 s.d., KUD .95) were significantly larger than those of P. volans (2.0 ha ± 0.42 s.d., KUD .95). There were no significant differences between male and female home range sizes in either species. Both species showed site-specific preferences for tree species and for larger diameter trees for both forage and shelter. Tree size and biomass/ha were significantly greater in the P. volans study sites than the P. minor study sites and there was a negative correlation between home range size and eucalypt biomass. Larger home range size is likely driven by the substantial differences in biomass between northern (tropical) and southern (temperate) eucalypt-dominated habitats affecting the quality and quantity of resources for food and shelter. Understanding landscape use and habitat requirements within each species of Petauroides can provide important information regarding limiting factors and in directing conservation and management planning., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 McGregor et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Access to informal fresh food markets plays a vital role in household food security and dietary quality in transitioning rural economies. However, it is not well understood if market access also improves child nutrition and if the improvement applies to all socioeconomic groups. In this secondary research study, we combined a national listing of food markets (n = 503) with a national household survey to examine the associations of market access with diet and height across wealth groups in children aged 6 to 23 months in rural Cambodia. All children under two years of age with dietary data (n = 1537) or anthropometry data (n = 989) were selected from the household survey. Food markets were geocoded using Google Maps or villages' geographical coordinates publicly available in the Open Development Mekong data platform. Regression calibration was then used to estimate household distance to the nearest market. Descriptive results indicated a highly uneven distribution of food markets with median household distance to the nearest markets ranging between 4 km (IQR: 3-8 km) in the lowland areas and 9 km (IQR: 4-17 km) in the highland areas. Results from the multivariate linear regressions showed that distance to the nearest market was modestly associated with child dietary diversity score (β: -0.17; 95% CI: -0.29, -0.05) but it was not related to child height-for-age z-score, and that household wealth did not modify the associations between distance to markets and child dietary diversity score. These findings suggest that improving access to food markets alone might not lead to meaningful improvement in child diet. Detailed surveys on household food acquisition are needed to clarify the role of food markets relative to other food sources such as subsistence fisheries, subsistence gardening and mobile food traders., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Duong et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: The worldwide prevention of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a significant health challenge. Plant-based dietary patterns are a series dietary habits that emphasized foods derived from plant sources more and from animal foods less. Now, no consensus exists on the effects of plant-based dietary patterns on the incident of GDM., Objective: This study aimed to estimate the effects of plant-based dietary patterns on the risk of developing GDM., Methods: This systematic review was conducted following the checklist of PRISMA. Six electronic databases including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wangfang, and Chinese Scientific Journals Database were searched from inception to November 20, 2022. A fixed or random effect model was used to synthesize results of included studies. Then, subgroup analysis, meta-regression and sensitivity analysis were performed to assure the reliability and stability of the results., Results: Ten studies including 32,006 participants were identified. The results of this study showed that the better adherence to the plant-based dietary patterns was related to the lower risk of developing GDM (RR = 0.88[0.81 to 0.96], I2 = 14.8%). The slightly stronger association between plant-based diets and the risk of developing GDM was found when healthy plant-based dietary pattern index was included in pooled estimate (RR = 0.86[0.79 to 0.94], I2 = 8.3%), compared with that unhealthy one was included (RR = 0.90[0.82 to 0.98], I2 = 8.3%)., Conclusion: The plant-based dietary patterns are associated with a lower risk of developing GDM. Furthermore, healthy plant-based dietary patterns are more recommended than unhealthy one. It is significant to help medical staff to guide pregnant women to choose reasonable diets., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Zhu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Investigating the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of various industry types is critical for promoting the high-quality transformation and development of China's industry. This study combined the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic method, the random forest-based importance assessment method, and the geographically weighted regression method to determine the spatial distribution characteristics of four industry types and their influencing factors. The results revealed that the raw material industry was primarily concentrated in the surrounding districts and counties of Linyi and Qingdao. The food and light textile industry was mainly concentrated in the surrounding districts and counties of Qingdao, and a few were concentrated in some counties of Linyi. The processing and manufacturing industry was also concentrated in the surrounding districts and counties of Qingdao, and a few were concentrated in the belt regions connecting Jinan, Zibo, and Weifang. The high-tech industry was mainly concentrated in the surrounding districts and counties of Jinan and Qingdao. The key spatial influencing factors of the four industry types were different. The number of employees in the secondary industry and road density were most important in determining the spatial distribution of the raw material industry. The financial environment and number of research institutions were most important to the spatial distribution of the food and light textile industry. The gross domestic product and number of medical facilities were most important to the spatial distribution of the processing and manufacturing industry. Urbanization rate, number of research institutions, and gross domestic product were most important to the spatial distribution of the high-tech industry. Geographically weighted regression analysis revealed that the impact intensity of these key factors on the industry exhibits significant spatial heterogeneity. Taken together, these results are useful for formulating the development strategy for each industrial type in different regions., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Zhang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Nutritional labels aim to support people to make informed healthy food choices, but many people do not understand the meaning of calories on food labels. Another approach is to provide calorie information with an interpretation of what the calorie content of food means for energy expenditure, known as physical activity calorie equivalent (PACE) labelling. PACE aims to illustrate how many minutes of physical activity are equivalent to the calories contained in food/drinks. This study investigated the views of the public about the possible implementation of PACE labelling., Methods: Data was obtained from a nationally representative sample of adults in the United Kingdom and collected by UK Ipsos KnowledgePanel. Panellists are recruited via a random probability unclustered address-based sampling method. 4,000 panellists were randomly invited to participate and asked to compare their views about traffic light and PACE labelling preferences and behaviour parameters., Results: Data were analysed descriptively and using logistic and multinomial regression analyses. 2,668/4,000 (67%) of those invited participated. More participants preferred traffic light (43%vs33%) than PACE labelling, but more reported PACE was easier to understand (41%vs27%) and more likely to catch their attention (49%vs31%). More participants thought PACE was more likely to help them avoid high calorie food than traffic light labelling (44%vs28%). Physically active (3-4 or 5+ days/week) respondents were more likely to report PACE would catch their attention than traffic light labelling, compared with less active participants (weighted adjusted relative risk ratio = 1.42 (1.00-2.00) and 1.45 (1.03-2.05 respectively)). Perceived overweight was the most predictive factor (weighted adjusted OR = 2.24 (1.19 to 4.20)) in whether PACE was considered useful in helping people decide what to eat/buy., Conclusion: The public identified value to their health in labelling food with PACE information. PACE labelling may be a useful approach to complement current approaches to food labelling., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Daley et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Social learning is highly adaptive in transmitting essential information between individuals in many species. While several mechanisms have been observed, less is known about how much animals can remember. However, results on observational spatial memory among caching species, i.e. a form of social learning allowing individuals to remember and pilfer food caches made by others, suggest that this ability correlates with their social organization. Both wolves and their domesticated form, dogs, are social species known to make food caches, and previous studies have shown that they both can use observational spatial memory abilities to find hidden food. In order to test how much socially transmitted information wolves and dogs can remember, we tested both species in a task requiring them to find 4, 6 or 8 caches after they observed a human hiding food items, or after a control condition where they could not observe the hiding. We found that both wolves and dogs retrieved more caches and were more efficient for the first few caches if they observed the hiding than in the control condition, suggesting that they did not simply rely on scent to find the rewards. Interestingly, wolves outperformed dogs irrespective of whether the caching could be observed or not. We suggest that this result is due to a difference in motivation/persistence between wolves and dogs rather than observational spatial memory., Competing Interests: No authors have competing interests., (Copyright: © 2023 Vetter et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Many different solid food pellets are available as reinforcers for rodents in operant behavior tests. Different reward formulations have not been compared, so it is unclear whether mice show strong preferences for different rewards and whether such preferences are consistent within or across sex and background strain. Here we show that mice have strong preferences for two balanced diet food rewards over sucrose pellets, and preference for one balanced diet pellet formulation over another, in a simultaneous choice test using a low effort fixed ratio operant test. All mice, of both sexes and both CD1 and C57 background strains, showed the same strong preferences among these three types of reinforcers. In contrast, flavorings added to the reward pellets had relatively small and more variable effects on preference. The preference for balanced diet pellets over sucrose pellets was seen also in the total numbers of rewards consumed in low effort tests with food pellets or only sucrose pellets available. However, progressive ratio testing showed that mice worked harder for sucrose pellets than for the preferred balanced diet pellets. These findings indicate that reinforcers with similar and very different preference profiles are readily available and that testing with different rewards can produce different, and sometimes unexpected, results., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.)

Background: The number of empty nest elderly in China has gradually increased in recent years. There is growing concern about the physical and mental health of this population as empty nest elderly are commonly at the risk of compromising health, home safety and quality of life. This study reported the health and well-being of empty nest elderly with regards to their health status, depression and satisfaction, lifestyle as compared to non-empty nest elderly in China., Methods: Data was collected from the 2018 follow-up interviews of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey. We included 4,630 empty nest elderly and 6,188 non-empty nest elderly. Chi-square Test and Logistic Regression were used to compare the differences between these two groups., Results: As compared to the non-empty nest elderly, there was higher proportion of empty nest elderly who suffered from dyslipidemia, diabetes, chronic lung diseases, heart attack (27.0% vs. 25.0%; 16.6% vs. 15.1%; 19.4% vs. 16.4%; 26.3% vs. 23.4%, P < 0.05). The empty nest elderly had higher proportion of participants who drank more than once a month (25.3% vs. 23.9%, P < 0.05), who felt satisfied with their marriage (71.6% vs. 66.2%, P < 0.001), who were satisfied with their children's relationship (85.2% vs. 83.2%, P < 0.001). However, these significances disappeared in the Logistic Regression analysis (P > 0.05)., Conclusion: Our study showed that significant between-group difference was found between empty nest elderly and non-empty nest elderly in their health and wellbeing. However, disappearance of such difference in the multivariable analysis may indicate improved health and wellbeing among the empty nest elderly. Even though our study still suggested the importance of improving the health, lifestyles and family dynamics of the elderly and promoting the integration of health and social care for the elderly, especially among the empty nest elderly., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Xu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The development of the green food industry can not only meet people's demand for high-quality food and promote the sustainable development of the ecological environment but also carry the additional expectation of realizing rural revitalization. Based on the data of Heilongjiang province from 2000-2021, we examined the dynamic effects of price fluctuations and Internet penetration on the green food industry using a system dynamics model. The empirical results showed that both price fluctuations and Internet penetration affect people's demand for green food, which in turn affects the development of the green food industry. The inhibitory effect of price fluctuation on green food industry is more obvious in the early stage of green food industry development, and Internet penetration always significantly promotes the development of green food industry. Moreover, the Internet penetration can effectively mitigate the negative impact of price fluctuation on the green food industry, and the impact becomes more significant with the increase of Internet penetration. The results of this study can help promote the sustainable development of the green food industry., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Zhang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

We examine how socio-demographic factors, spending habits, and characteristics of the retail food environment affect household expenditure across all food and beverage categories by store outlet in the United States. The six outlets considered are grocery stores, convenience stores, discount stores, club stores, drug stores, and dollar stores. The source of data for this analysis is the Nielsen Homescan Panel over the period between 2011 and 2015. We employ a dynamic correlated random effect Tobit model to incorporate habitual purchasing behavior as well as a novel method to deal with zero observations using the inverse hyperbolic sine transformation. The results suggest that habitual spending behavior undoubtedly is a key factor in affecting food and beverage expenditures across all store outlets. Additionally, household size, age, urbanization, education, race, ethnicity, and region are drivers of household food and beverage expenditures across the six store outlets., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Lee, Capps. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The deterioration of the environment, shortage of resources, and frequent occurrence of food safety issues have made people increasingly concerned about themselves while maintaining their health and protecting the environment through food. Organic food, as a healthy and eco-friendly option, is gradually gaining attention. Based on the value-belief-norm theory, this study explores why individuals consume organic food and the range of factors that lead to this consumer behavior. This study adopted a cross-sectional design and collected quantitative data from conveniently selected 300 youth participants in Bangladesh using an online survey. The findings revealed that health values and motivation have a significant positive effect on healthy eating beliefs, which, together with the awareness of the consequences, affect personal norms toward organic food consumption. Personal norms also have a significant positive effect on organic food consumption behavior among Bangladeshi youth. Finally, trust on organic food positively moderates the effect of personal norms on organic food consumption. The findings of this study are expected to foster the development of a comprehensive framework to promote programs and policies focused on organic and healthy food consumption culture among youth in developing nations., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Yang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

We estimated the caloric contribution of minimally processed foods, processed culinary ingredients, processed foods and ultra-processed foods in Brazilian farmers' diets and their association with the nutritional profile of the diet. It is an epidemiological study of cross-sectional, analytical and quantitative design with 740 farmers adults of Southeastern Brazil. Food intake data were obtained by applying three 24-hour recalls and were classified according to the degree and purpose of processing. The largest caloric contribution came from the group of minimally processed foods (64.7%), followed by ultra-processed foods (17.7%), processed culinary ingredients (12.4%), and processed foods (5.2%). Individuals in the fourth quartile of caloric contribution from minimally processed foods showed lower energy consumption (β -0.16, P<0.001) and greater consumption of all 15 micronutrients analyzed. In contrast to what was identified for this food group, the higher caloric contribution from ultra-processed foods was associated with a greater caloric content of the diet (β 0.17, P<0.001) and lower consumption of all 23 analyzed nutrients. Therefore, the caloric contribution from the consumption of ultra-processed foods in the rural area is still lower than the national average. However, measures aimed at delaying isocaloric exchanges for the group of ultra-processed foods must be carried out, maintaining the local food culture, since this group had worse nutritional levels. In addition, incentives to the greater consumption of minimally processed foods should be carried out, due to their nutritional quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conditional stimuli (CS) that are paired with reward can be used to motivate instrumental responses. This process is called Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT). A recent study in rats suggested that habitual responses are particularly sensitive to the motivational effects of reward cues. The current experiments examined this idea using ratio and interval training in mice. Two groups of animals were trained to lever press for food pellets that were delivered on random ratio or random interval schedules. Devaluation tests revealed that interval training led to habitual responding while ratio training produced goal-directed actions. The presentation of CSs paired with reward led to positive transfer in both groups, however, the size of this effect was much larger in mice that were trained on interval schedules. This result suggests that habitual responses are more sensitive to the motivational influence of reward cues than goal-directed actions. The implications for neurobiological models of motivation and drug seeking behaviors are discussed.

The contribution of nutrients from animal pollinated world crops has not previously been evaluated as a biophysical measure for the value of pollination services. This study evaluates the nutritional composition of animal-pollinated world crops. We calculated pollinator dependent and independent proportions of different nutrients of world crops, employing FAO data for crop production, USDA data for nutritional composition, and pollinator dependency data according to Klein et al. (2007). Crop plants that depend fully or partially on animal pollinators contain more than 90% of vitamin C, the whole quantity of Lycopene and almost the full quantity of the antioxidants β-cryptoxanthin and β-tocopherol, the majority of the lipid, vitamin A and related carotenoids, calcium and fluoride, and a large portion of folic acid. Ongoing pollinator decline may thus exacerbate current difficulties of providing a nutritionally adequate diet for the global human population.

BackgroundPavlovian conditioning plays a critical role in both drug addiction and binge eating. Recent animal research suggests that certain individuals are highly sensitive to conditioned cues, whether they signal food or drugs. Are certain humans also more reactive to both food and drug cues?MethodsWe examined cue-induced craving for both cigarettes and food, in the same individuals (n = 15 adult smokers). Subjects viewed smoking-related or food-related images after abstaining from either smoking or eating.ResultsCertain individuals reported strong cue-induced craving after both smoking and food cues. That is, subjects who reported strong cue-induced craving for cigarettes also rated stronger cue-induced food craving.ConclusionsIn humans, like in nonhumans, there may be a "cue-reactive" phenotype, consisting of individuals who are highly sensitive to conditioned stimuli. This finding extends recent reports from nonhuman studies. Further understanding this subgroup of smokers may allow clinicians to individually tailor therapies for smoking cessation.

Element bioaccessibility consists of the fraction of the element that is mobilized from food matrices into digestive extractants. The degree of bioaccessibility of a toxic metal is a fundamental consideration in estimating its bioavailability. In addition, gaining a better understanding of the essential elements released into the gastro intestinal fluids allows a more thorough assessment of the health benefits of food matrices in the field of nutrition science. In the present study, an in vitro digestion model simulating gastro-intestinal digestion (GID) was used to investigate the bioaccessibility of stable elements in mixed leaf salad and 210Po in various foods (meat, seafood, vegetables). The simulation was carried out over three phases: after a pre-treatment with a saliva solution, raw and cooked seafood samples were subjected to a complete simulated gastrointestinal digestion (gastric digestion followed by bile-pancreas digestion). The 210Po bioaccessibility was found to range from 16.2±9.39% to 62.8±17.7% and from 6.26±2.15% to 67.5±13.1% for raw and cooked food respectively. Moreover, bioaccessibility could not be determined for As, Cd, Ce, Co, Cr, Hg, La, Pb, Sb, Sn, Te, Th, Tl, Ti, U. It proved to be poor (1–16%) for Al, Fe and S; fair (40–50%) for Cu, P, and Si; and high (>50%) for Ba, Ca, K, Mg, Mn, Ni, Rb, Sr, Zn. The results show that bioaccessibility varies according to the chemical form of the element in the food as well as the matrix composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundThe typical Western diet is not balanced in methyl nutrients that regulate the level of the methyl donor S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and its derivative metabolite S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), which in turn may control the activity of certain methyltransferases. Feeding rodents with amino acid defined and methyl-imbalanced diet decreases hepatic SAM and causes liver cancers. RIZ1 (PRDM2 or KMT8) is a tumor suppressor and functions in transcriptional repression by methylating histone H3 lysine 9.Methodology/principal findingsHere we show that a methyl-balanced diet conferred additional survival benefits compared to a tumor-inducing methyl-imbalanced diet only in mice with wild type RIZ1 but not in mice deficient in RIZ1. While absence of RIZ1 was tumorigenic in mice fed the balanced diet, its presence did not prevent tumor formation in mice fed the imbalanced diet. Microarray and gene expression analysis showed that, unlike most of its related enzymes, RIZ1 was upregulated by methyl-balanced diet. Methyl-balanced diet did not fully repress oncogenes such as c-Jun in the absence of RIZ1. Higher RIZ1 activity was associated with greater H3 lysine 9 methylation in RIZ1 target genes as shown by chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis.Conclusions/significanceThe data identify RIZ1 as a critical target of methyl-balanced diet in cancer prevention. The molecular understanding of dietary carcinogenesis may help people make informed choices on diet, which may greatly reduce the incidence of cancer.

Various produce including cantaloupe, caramel-coated apples, and packaged salads, have been recognized in recent years as vehicles for listeriosis, a human foodborne disease caused by intracellular pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. Our knowledge regarding the role of these foods in L. monocytogenes virulence, however, is limited. Understanding their role in modulating L. monocytogenes virulence can be useful in risk assessments and for developing control measures. In this study, we employed the Galleria mellonella larvae model to evaluate virulence potential of fifteen clinical, environmental and food isolates of L. monocytogenes, related to three major outbreaks, after growth on different foods. The non-human pathogen Listeria innocua was also included in the panel. Strains were inoculated in parallel in 5ml of brain heart infusion (BHI) broth, and on the surfaces of cantaloupe and apple fragments (5g each) at about 105 colony forming units (CFU)/ml/fragment. One set of inoculated broth and food fragments was incubated at 10°C for 5 days while the second set was kept at 25°C for 3 days. L. monocytogenes cells were recovered from the fruits and BHI, washed twice, re-suspended in saline, and used to inoculate G. mellonella larvae at final concentrations of 106 and 105 CFU/larva. The larvae were incubated at 37°C and monitored for mortality (LT50—time taken to kill 50% of the larvae) and phenotypic changes over seven days. L. monocytogenes grown on cantaloupe and apple flesh surfaces resulted in higher virulence than when grown in BHI. L. monocytogenes infection at 106 CFU/larvae resulted in an average LT50 of ≤ 30, 36 and 47 hours on cantaloupe, apples and BHI, respectively. These results represent a 2.5–4-fold increased mortality compared with an LT50 ≥120 hours in larvae infected with the same doses of L. innocua grown in corresponding matrices. Similar trends were also recorded with doses of about 105 CFU /larvae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active Brownian particles (ABPs) are physical models for motility in simple life forms and easily studied in simulations. An open question is to what extent an increase of activity by a gradient of fuel, or food in living systems, results in an evolutionary advantage of actively moving systems such as ABPs over non-motile systems, which rely on thermal diffusion only. It is an established fact that within confined systems in a stationary state, the activity of ABPs generates density profiles that are enhanced in regions of low activity, which is thus referred to as 'anti-chemotaxis'. This would suggest that a rather complex sensoric subsystem and information processing is a precondition to recognize and navigate towards a food source. We demonstrate in this work that in non-stationary setups, for instance as a result of short bursts of fuel/food, ABPs do in fact exhibit chemotactic behavior. In direct competition with inactive, but otherwise identical Brownian particles (BPs), the ABPs are shown to fetch a larger amount of food. We discuss this result based on simple physical arguments. From the biological perspective, the ability of primitive entities to move in direct response to the available amount of external energy would, even in absence of any sensoric devices, encompass an evolutionary advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Objectives: This study described the development of a parent food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for measuring diets of young children over the past month and the validation of this FFQ against three non-consecutive 24 hour recalls. Subjects/Methods: Food and nutrient intakes from a 68-item FFQ were compared with three non-consecutive 24 hour recalls in a follow-up cohort of children aged 1.5, 3.5 and 5.0 years old. Data from both methods were available for 231, 172 and 187 participants at ages 1.5, 3.5 and 5.0 years, respectively. Results: Out of 11 nutrients, four (protein, fat, fibre, iron), two (Vitamin C, folate) and three (protein, vitamin C and folate) nutrients showed good-acceptable outcome for 2 out of 3 group-level validation tests at ages 1.5, 3.5 and 5.0 years, respectively. Of 26 food groups, good-acceptable outcome for 2 out of 3 group-level validation tests was revealed for two, four and six food groups at ages 1.5, 3.5 and 5.0 years, respectively. For individual-level validation tests, all nutrients showed good-acceptable outcome for 2 out of 3 individual level tests across three time points, except for folate at age 1.5 years and energy intake at age 3.5 years. Most food groups (22 out of 26) at age 1.5 years and all food groups at both ages 3.5 and 5.0 years showed good-acceptable outcome for 2 out of 3 individual-level validation tests. Conclusions: At all three time points, the FFQ demonstrated good-acceptable validity for some nutrients and food groups at group-level, and good-acceptable validity for most nutrients and food groups at individual-level. This quantitative FFQ is a valid and robust tool for assessing total diet of young children and ranking individuals according to nutrient and food intakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]