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Flavouring substances may be naturally present in a food and/or intentionally added. It is essential to have a method to estimate exposure that is rapidly performed and does not underestimate exposure. Recently, a new approach for flavouring, the “Added Portions Exposure Technique” (APET), was proposed by the European Food Safety Authority. This paper explains step by step this technique using furaneol as case study. APET's main advantage is that it allows the assessment of dietary exposure in adults, children and infants, from both added flavourings and from flavourings naturally contained in food, and considering both acute and chronic exposure.

Background and aims Italian National Food Consumption Survey, INRAN-SCAI 2005–06, is the third national food consumption survey performed in Italy. This study describes energy and nutrient intakes in Italy. Methods and results A national cross-sectional food consumption survey was conducted using consecutive 3-day food records between October 2005 and December 2006. A sample of 3323 males and females aged 0.1–97.7 years living in private households was investigated. Individual food records were converted into energy and nutrient intakes with the use of recently updated national food composition databases. For each subject, intakes of energy and of 27 nutrients were calculated, including six minerals (i.e., iron, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and zinc) and 10 vitamins (i.e., thiamine, riboflavin, vitamin C, vitamin B 6 , retinol, β-carotene, vitamin A as retinol equivalents (REs), vitamin E, vitamin D and vitamin B 12 ). On average, 36% of calories appeared to derive from fat (11% from saturated fatty acids) and 45% from available carbohydrates (15% from soluble carbohydrates). Conclusions The results of the INRAN-SCAI 2005–06 survey in terms of nutrient intakes provide an important piece of information for nutrition surveillance of the population and may also be used to identify priorities for further research.

Quantification of estragole content in commercial fennel herbal teas was carried out in order to allow for a more accurate estimate of the dietary exposure to estragole. A simple and rapid analytical method, based on Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction and GC-MS, was developed for this purpose. Fennel teas obtained from different types of commercial products were analysed. Concentration levels ranged from 241 to 2058 μg L(-1) in teas from teabags, from 9 to 912 μg L(-1) in diluted instant teas, from 251 to 1718 μg L(-1) in teas from not packaged seeds. Based on these data and considering the daily consumption of three portions of herbal tea, a maximum exposure to estragole for adults of 10 μg/kg bw/day was calculated. The relatively high level observed in diluted instant teas of some brands deserves attention since these products are designed for infant consumption. Estimated exposure in infants was up to 51 μg/kg bw/day for teas from teabags, and up to 23 μg/kg bw/day for instant teas. A generalization of the use of suitable technologies in production processes of instant teas could substantially reduce the exposure to estragole in the vulnerable population groups (infants, young children, pregnant and breastfeeding women) who consume these products.

In this study, the use of recombinant estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha)-based affinity columns was reported, for the isolation and the identification of estrogenic substances present in complex matrices, focusing on bioactive compounds present in foodstuff. The capability of affinity columns to trap high, but also low-affinity radio-labelled ligands (17beta-estradiol, genistein and bisphenol A) was demonstrated. Three pooled samples of infant formulas (milk-based, hypoallergenic and soy-based formulas for infants aged 0-4 months) from a EU market basket were prepared by the CASCADE Network of Excellence. After determining the estrogenic activity of these food samples, human recombinant ERalpha ligand binding domain (LBD) based affinity columns combined with suitable analytical methods (high resolution LC-MS/MS) were used to identify the bioactive compounds present in the soy-based formula extract, namely phytoestrogens (genistein and daidzein) involved in the agonistic activity measured. Incubations of genistein with liver microsomes were carried out and the extracts analysed following the same protocol, demonstrating that hERalpha affinity columns can also be used for trapping active metabolites. This approach combining bioluminescent cell lines with this useful tool based on hERalpha-LBD affinity columns thus allowed the purification and the concentration of both known and unknown estrogenic ligands prior to investigation of their structure using LC-MS.

In a previous study, Italian female teenagers regular consumers of sugar free soft drinks and table-top sweeteners were suggested to have a higher intake of intense sweeteners than other teenagers. A food frequency questionnaire designed to identify adolescents who were high consumers of these food products was filled in by a randomly extracted sample of teenagers (n=3982) living in the District of Rome (Italy) in year 2000. A consumer survey was then carried out in a randomly extracted sub-sample of males and females and in all females who reported high consumption of sugar-free soft drinks and/or table-top sweeteners. A total of 362 subjects participated in a detailed food survey by recording, at brand level, all foods and beverages ingested over 12 days. For each sugar-free product, producers provided the concentration of intense sweeteners (saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame K and cyclamate). No intake in excess of the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) was observed. Also medicines and supplements were taken into account and these did not result in a large impact on chronic exposure to intense sweeteners. The intake levels did not exceed the ADI even under a worst case scenario which was performed to take into consideration a hypothetical future substitution of all regular food products with their sugar-free version. It can be concluded that, with the observed current consumption patterns and occurrence levels, the risk of an excessive intake of intense sweeteners by Italian teenagers is extremely low.

To get a more realistic view of exposure to food chemicals, risk managers are getting more interested in stochastic modelling as an alternative to deterministic approaches based on conservative assumptions. It allows to take into account all the available information in the concentration of the chemical present in foods and in food consumption patterns. Within the EC-funded “Montecarlo” project, a comprehensive set of mathematical algorithms was developed to take into account all the necessary components for stochastic modelling of a variety of food chemicals, nutrients and ingredients. An appropriate computer software is being developed. Since the concentration of food chemicals may vary among different brands of the same product, consumer behaviour with respect to brands may have an impact on exposure assessments. Numeric experiments were carried out on different ways of incorporating indicators of market share and brand loyalty in the mathematical algorithms developed within the stochastic model of exposure to intense sweeteners from sugar-free beverages. The 95th percentiles of intake were shown to vary according to the inclusion/exclusion of these indicators. The market share should be included in the model especially if the market is not equitably distributed between brands. If brand loyalty data are not available, the model may be run under theoretical scenarios.

The three recent EU directives which fixed maximum permitted levels (MPL) for food additives for all member states also include the general obligation to establish national systems for monitoring the intake of these substances in order to evaluate their use safety. In this work, we considered additives with primary antioxidant technological function for which an acceptable daily intake (ADI) was established by the Scientific Committee for Food (SCF): gallates, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and erythorbic acid. The potential intake of these additives in Italy was estimated by means of a hierarchical approach using, step by step, more refined methods. The likelihood of the current ADI to be exceeded was very low for erythorbic acid, BHA and gallates. On the other hand, the theoretical maximum daily intake (TMDI) of BHT was above the current ADI. The three food categories found to be main potential sources of BHT were "pastry, cake and biscuits", "chewing gums" and "vegetables oils and margarine"; they overall contributed 74% of the TMDI. Actual use of BHT in these food categories is discussed, together with other aspects such as losses of this substance in the technological process and percentage of ingestion in the case of chewing gums.

Introduction et but de l’etude L’activite physique est un determinant important de la sante chez l’enfant et l’adolescent. La cognition integre memoire, vitesse de reaction, attention et concentration, ces 2 derniers etant particulierement important chez l’enfant car indispensables aux processus de comprehension et d’apprentissage. Plusieurs etudes ont suggere que l’activite physique ameliorait les fonctions cognitives. Le but de notre travail etait d’evaluer la relation entre l’activite physique et la capacite d’attention chez des adolescents. Materiel et methodes L’etude comprenait 273 adolescents (126 garcons, 147 filles) âges de 12,5 a 17,5 ans, ayant participe a l’etude HELENA ( http://www.helenastudy.com ). L’activite physique quotidienne a ete mesuree avec un accelerometre pendant 7 jours. Les adolescents ont realise le test D2 qui evalue la capacite d’attention. L’association entre l’activite physique et la capacite d’attention a ete etudiee par analyse multivariee apres ajustement sur des facteurs de confusion (l’âge, l’indice de masse corporelle et le niveau d’education des parents). La methode des courbes ROC a ete utilisee pour determiner des seuils d’activite physique en fonction de la capacite d’attention. Resultats Le temps passe en activite physique moderee ou moderee a vigoureuse etait positivement correle a la capacite d’attention (p Conclusion Les resultats de ce travail montrent une association positive entre l’AP et la capacite d’attention chez l’adolescent. L’activite physique moderee a vigoureuse pourrait ameliorer les capacites d’attention chez les adolescents, qui est une composante importante de la fonction cognitive. Cela suggere donc que promouvoir l’activite physique moderee et vigoureuse peut etre benefique pour la fonction cognitive de l’adolescent.