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In most African countries, the prevalence of industrially produced trans-fatty acids (iTFA) in the food supply is unknown. We estimated the number and proportion of products containing specific (any hydrogenated edible oils) and non-specific (vegetable fat, margarine, and vegetable cream) ingredients potentially indicative of iTFAs among pre-packaged foods collected in Kenya and Nigeria. We also summarized the number and proportion of products that reported trans-fatty acids levels and the range of reported trans-fatty acids levels. In total, 99 out of 5668 (1.7%) products in Kenya and 310 out of 6316 (4.9%) products in Nigeria contained specific ingredients indicative of iTFAs. Bread and bakery products and confectioneries in both countries had the most foods that contained iTFAs-indicative ingredients. A total of 656 products (12%) in Kenya and 624 products (10%) in Nigeria contained non-specific ingredients that may indicate the presence of iTFAs. The reporting of levels of trans-fatty acids was low in both Kenya and Nigeria (11% versus 26%, respectively, p < 0.001). With the increasing burden of ischemic heart disease in Kenya and Nigeria, the rapid adoption of WHO best-practice policies and the mandatory declaration of trans-fatty acids are important for eliminating iTFAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased consumption of unhealthy processed foods, particularly those high in sodium, is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. The nutrition information on packaged foods can help guide consumers toward products with less sodium and support government actions to improve the healthiness of the food supply. The aims of this study were to estimate the proportion of packaged foods displaying nutrition information for sodium and other nutrients specified by Nigerian nutrition labelling regulations and to determine the amount of sodium in packaged foods sold in Nigeria using data from the nutritional information panel. Data were collected from November 2020 to March 2021 from in-store surveys conducted in supermarkets in three states. A total of 7039 products were collected. Overall, 91.5% (n = 6439) provided only partial nutrition information, 7.0% (n = 495) provided no nutritional information, and only 1.5% (n = 105) displayed a nutrient declaration that included all nutrients specified by 2019 Nigerian regulations. Some form of sodium content information was displayed for 86% of all products (n = 6032), of which around 45% (n = 2689) expressed this as 'salt' and 59% (n = 3559) expressed this as 'sodium', while a small number of food products had both 'salt' and 'sodium' content (3.6%). Provision of sodium or salt information on the label varied between food categories, ranging from 50% (vitamins and supplements, n = 2/4) to 96% (convenience foods, n = 44/46). Food categories with the highest median sodium content were 'meat and meat alternatives' (904 mg/100 g), 'sauces, dressings, spreads, and dips' (560 mg/100 g), and 'snack foods' (536 mg/100 g), although wide variation was often observed within categories. These findings highlight considerable potential to improve the availability and consistency of nutrition information on packaged products in Nigeria and to introduce further policies to reduce the amount of sodium in the Nigerian food supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Health Star Rating (HSR) is an interpretive front-of-pack labelling system that rates the overall nutritional profile of packaged foods. The algorithm underpinning the HSR includes total sugar content as one of the components. This has been criticised because intrinsic sugars naturally present in dairy, fruits, and vegetables are treated the same as sugars added during food processing. We assessed whether the HSR could better discriminate between core and discretionary foods by including added sugar in the underlying algorithm. Methods: Nutrition information was extracted for 34,135 packaged foods available in The George Institute's Australian FoodSwitch database. Added sugar levels were imputed from food composition databases. Products were classified as 'core' or 'discretionary' based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines. The ability of each of the nutrients included in the HSR algorithm, as well as added sugar, to discriminate between core and discretionary foods was estimated using the area under the curve (AUC). Results: 15,965 core and 18,350 discretionary foods were included. Of these, 8230 (52%) core foods and 15,947 (87%) discretionary foods contained added sugar. Median (Q1, Q3) HSRs were 4.0 (3.0, 4.5) for core foods and 2.0 (1.0, 3.0) for discretionary foods. Median added sugar contents (g/100 g) were 3.3 (1.5, 5.5) for core foods and 14.6 (1.8, 37.2) for discretionary foods. Of all the nutrients used in the current HSR algorithm, total sugar had the greatest individual capacity to discriminate between core and discretionary foods; AUC 0.692 (0.686; 0.697). Added sugar alone achieved an AUC of 0.777 (0.772; 0.782). A model with all nutrients in the current HSR algorithm had an AUC of 0.817 (0.812; 0.821), which increased to 0.871 (0.867; 0.874) with inclusion of added sugar. Conclusion: The HSR nutrients discriminate well between core and discretionary packaged foods. However, discrimination was improved when added sugar was also included. These data argue for inclusion of added sugar in an updated HSR algorithm and declaration of added sugar as part of mandatory nutrient declarations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unhealthy diets are underpinned by the over-consumption of packaged products. Data describing the ingredient composition of these products is limited. We sought to define the ingredients used in Australian packaged foods and beverages and assess associations between the number of ingredients and existing health indicators. Statements of ingredients were disaggregated, creating separate fields for each ingredient and sub-ingredient. Ingredients were categorised and the average number of ingredients per product was calculated. Associations between number of ingredients and both the nutrient-based Health Star Rating (HSR) and the NOVA level-of-processing classification were assessed. A total of 24,229 products, listing 233,113 ingredients, were included. Products had between 1 and 62 ingredients (median (Interquartile range (IQR)): 8 (3–14)). We identified 915 unique ingredients, which we organised into 17 major and 138 minor categories. 'Additives' were contained in the largest proportion of products (64.6%, (15,652/24,229)). The median number of ingredients per product was significantly lower in products with the optimum 5-star HSR (when compared to all other HSR score groups, p-value < 0.001) and significantly higher in products classified as ultra-processed (when compared to all other NOVA classification groups, p-value < 0.001). There is a strong relationship between the number of ingredients in a product and indicators of nutritional quality and level of processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The General Allotment Act of 1887, also known as the Dawes Act, established the legal basis for the United States government to break up remaining tribally-owned reservation lands in the U.S. by allotting individual parcels to tribal members and selling the remaining "surplus." This research explores the processes involved in mapping these historical allotments and describes a method to automatically generate spatial data of allotments. A custom geographic information systems (GIS) tool was created that takes tabular based allotment land descriptions and digital Public Land Survey (PLSS) databases to automatically generate spatial and attribute data of those land parcels. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota was used as the initial study area to test the mapping technique, which resulted in successfully auto-mapping over 99.1% of allotted lands on the reservation, including the smallest aliquot parcels. This GIS technique can be used to map any tribal lands or reservation with allotment data available, and currently it can be used to map over 120 individual reservations using publicly available data from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kumeyaay people were historically hunter-gatherers with a strong relationship with their natural resources. Due to various processes, such as missionary colonization, agrarian reform, and the definition of the border between the USA and Mexico in 1838, the Indigenous populations faced reduced mobility within their territory and modified their lifestyles, highly related to landscape and plants. One of their strong traditional practices associated with plant resources, basket-making, has likewise changed. Today, this activity is one of the most important sources of income for many of the families in the community. Nevertheless, this is being now threatened by the loss of vegetation cover, from which they obtain primary basket-making material and is now far from being environmentally and economically sustainable. An interdisciplinary group is addressing this problem from a multidisciplinary perspective and through a participatory methodological approach based on community mapping to enable the integration of local and scientific knowledge and to create vegetation management and conservation actions. Community-based Indigenous mapping has proven to be a powerful tool for the integration of traditional knowledge and its various dimensions, and knowledge integration between traditional and scientific knowledge has been successful. The project allowed for plant population analysis and adequate decision-making regarding natural resources management and conservation. The methods developed in this research represent significant progress in the development of internal capacities and empowerment of the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private-label products, products owned by supermarkets, are a growing area of the food supply. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of an intervention that provided an Australian supermarket ('intervention supermarket') with comparative nutrition data to improve the healthiness of their private-label range. Between 2015 and 2016, the intervention supermarket received reports that ranked the nutritional quality of their products against competitors. Changes in the nutrient content (sodium, sugar, saturated fat, energy and Health Star Rating) of products from the intervention supermarket between 2015 and 2018 were compared against changes achieved for three comparators (private-label products from two other supermarkets and branded products). The intervention supermarket achieved a significantly greater reduction in the sodium content of their products relative to all three comparators, which ranged between −104 and −52 mg/100 g (all p < 0.05). Conversely, the three comparators each achieved a greater relative reduction in the sugar content of their products by between −3.5 and −1.6 g/100 g (all p < 0.05). One of the comparators also had a greater relative reduction in the saturated fat and energy content of their products compared to the intervention supermarket (both p < 0.05). There were negligible differences in the Health Star Rating of products between the intervention supermarket and comparators (all p > 0.05). Providing comparative nutrition information to a supermarket may be ineffective in improving the healthiness of their private-label products, likely due to competing factors that play a role in the decision-making process behind product reformulation and product discontinuation/innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The US food supply is dominated by highly-processed packaged food and beverage products that are high in energy, saturated fat, sugar, and salt. We report results of a cross-sectional assessment of the 2018 US packaged food and beverage supply by nutritional composition and indicators of healthfulness and level of processing. Data were obtained through Label Insight's Open Data database, which represents >80% of all food and beverage products sold in the US over the past three years. Healthfulness and the level of processing, measured by the Health Star Rating (HSR) system and the NOVA classification framework, respectively, were compared across product categories and leading manufacturers. Among 230,156 food and beverage products, the mean HSR was 2.7 (standard deviation (SD) 1.4) from a possible maximum rating of 5.0, and 71% of products were classified as ultra-processed. Healthfulness and level of processing varied substantially by category (range: HSR 1.1–3.9; 0–100% ultra-processed) and manufacturer (range: HSR 0.9–4.6; 26–100% ultra-processed). The US packaged food and beverage supply is large, heterogeneous, highly processed, and generally unhealthy. The wide variability in healthfulness and level of processing demonstrates that opportunities exist, through reformulation or replacement, for large-scale improvements to the healthfulness of the US packaged food and beverage supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]