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The global economy in recent decades has experienced frequent shocks. Many regions must improve their competitiveness and value-added to deal with this. One of them is in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where a rise in agricultural value-added (AVA) can produce more jobs than in other sectors. It is necessary to consider increasing AVA in the MENA region. Hence, the aim of this study is identifying the determinant factors of AVA in the MENA region. We employed 13 countries in the MENA region as samples in this study. The study's data spans 45 years, from 1975 to 2019. Static panel data regression analysis was employed in this study. AVA can growth by increasing the irrigated land, credit, and human capital. Meanwhile, growing inflation and economic globalization will reduce AVA. Therefore, we recommend that countries in the MENA region have to increase irrigation infrastructure, expand agricultural credit availability, encourage farmers to get a good education, improve research and development, control inflation, and find the best way to implement economic globalization.

Abstract Share of national food products in retail is a frequent subject of policy debates. Local food is often associated with national security, sustainability, and support of local economy, contributing to value-added production, employment, rural development, and preservation of local food culture. Despite its importance, relevant academic literature about the proportion of national food in retail is basically non-existent. This paper presents a unique study that fills this gap and gives an account of the proportion of the main national food products in the Hungarian retail sector. The study presents a comprehensive picture of the food supply situation of the 10 largest retail chains in Hungary in the second half of 2020 for 16 key product categories (representing 67% of total food sales in value in the country), based on the experience of research that covered the physical examination of nearly 40 thousand individual food products. The study found that 70.85% of the analysed food products were supplied by domestic companies. Proportion of national products was higher for fresh food (meat, milk, perishable meat and milk products, eggs, fruits, and vegetables) and honey, while imports were dominant in higher value-added categories. Domestic chains had 15.37% points more local products in stock than international ones. The exact results can be used for benchmarking between companies and sectors, indicating comparative advantages and disadvantages, and provide solid basis for economic development plans.

The growing use of redundant claims on food products pose a risk for organic and functional food producers among others, as it can mislead consumers in their products’ evaluations. Redundant claims refer to marketing statements that highlight qualities or attributes that are expected or should be inherent to the product. Previous studies reveal that consumers are generally willing to pay more for redundantly claimed products. In this study, preferences are analyzed for organic, functional, and redundantly labeled apple juice among specific consumer groups, namely young and old adults. To elicit individual monetary preferences a lab experiment and a field study were conducted with 147 younger (average age: 21 years) and 131 older participants (average age: 70 years), in both studies an incentive compatible technique was applied. Results showed that either younger and older consumers are willing to pay higher prices for organic, functional, and redundantly claimed apple juices. Perceived healthiness was a significant factor in increasing preferences for all the added valued products in the case of younger participants, but health only influenced preferences of organic and functional apple juice among older participants. Preferences of redundantly claimed and organic products were similar in the case of young participants, as functional and redundantly claimed juices preferences in the case of older participants.

ABSTRACTBackground YouTube is one of the most widespread social media channels, which is of growing importance in science communication and health education. The validity of medical and health-related information available on YouTube cannot be assured, and videos often contain potentially misleading or inaccurate information. Communication on sport nutrition may have a profound effect on the change in nutrition behavior among athletes, so evidence-based nutrition information must reach athletes. The main goal of the research is to evaluate the quality, reliability, and applicability of sports nutrition YouTube videos as educational material for athletes.Methods A descriptive cross-sectional design was applied, and a systematic search was performed on YouTube. The quality and reliability of the videos were evaluated by applying the most frequently used and highly reliable scoring systems in the literature (e.g., DISCERN, Global Quality Score, and JAMA criteria) and a sports nutrition-specific scoring system (SNSS). Descriptive statistical analyses, two-sample t-test, Spearman correlation, Kruskal – Wallis, and Mann – Whitney U test were used to evaluate the results. A total of 114 YouTube videos met the inclusion criteria.Results In 25% of the videos, the sports nutrition information was presented by a dietitian, while in two-thirds, coaches and athletes and other professionals shared sports nutrition knowledge. In terms of video content, the three most common topics were nutrition and health (33%), special diets (21%), and the training diet (17%). For the majority of the videos that received low GQS, JAMAS, DISCERN, and SNSS scores, the accuracy and quality of the analyzed YouTube videos on sports nutrition were inadequate. Videos uploaded by dietitians achieved significantly higher DISCERN, JAMAS, GQS, and SNSS scores. The GQS, SNSS, and DISCERN scores of videos from sports organizations, nonprofit organizations, and independent user sources were lower compared to videos uploaded by academic and professional organizations. Popular sport nutrition videos among users that contain personal stories or the experiences of athletes were deemed less reliable by experts or showed lower educational quality. Henceforth, we found a negative correlation between video popularity and JAMAS, GQS, and SNSS scores.Conclusion This study revealed that sports nutrition videos on the YouTube video platform show low accuracy and reliability. Professionals working with athletes need to consider misconceptions from sports nutrition videos in their nutrition counseling practice. Due to the popularity of the videos, professionals and professional organizations could use YouTube as an online educational tool to increase the nutrition knowledge of athletes.

Background The tool kits of bibliometrics and science mapping provide a standard methodology to map the knowledge base of specific fields of science. The aim of the present research is the analysis of the recent international trends of sport nutrition science, as well as the primary identification of the research topics and results of sport nutrition science via enhanced bibliometric methods for the 2000–2018 time period. Methods Altogether, 3889 publications were included in this study. We identified the most relevant sport nutrition topics by running a community detection algorithm on the proximity network constructed via network text analysis. The key issues and key concepts of sport nutrition topics as well as their relations were evaluated via network analysis. Besides, we carried a chronological analysis of topics out and a scientometric evaluative analysis was also created. Results We identified the four main basic groups from which the 18 most characteristics topics were analyzed. The 18 topics are the following: ‘soccer and physiology’, ‘carbohydrate metabolism’, ‘muscle physiology: alkalosis and acidosis’, ‘muscle mass gain and dietary supplementation’, ‘fluid balance and hydration’, ‘dietary intake and nutrition knowledge’, ‘determination of energy need of athletes’, ‘bone health and female athlete triad’, ‘hydration strategy’, ‘body weight management’, ‘nutritional strategies and human skeletal muscle’, ‘dietary supplementation of nitrates’, ‘oxidative stress and dietary supplement use’, ‘dietary supplement use and doping’, ‘oxidative stress and inflammation and dietary antioxidants’, ‘exercise adaptation and nutritional strategies’, ‘gut microbiota’, ‘celiac disease’. Regarding the size of the topic, researches on sport nutrition science have put the focus on the following three groups: ‘muscle mass gain and dietary supplementation’, ‘carbohydrate metabolism’, ‘oxidative stress and dietary supplement use’. The greatest scientific impact can be ascribed to the following topics: ‘nutritional strategies and human skeletal muscle’, ‘dietary supplementation of nitrates’, ‘body weight management’, and ‘gut microbiota’. Conclusions Scientific output on sport nutrition has continuously been rising between 2000 and 2018. The ratio of topics related to sport nutrition but predominantly connected to basic research has decreased significantly within all publications. The results of this study confirm the role of science mapping in the identification of specific research topics and primary research directions in the field of sport nutrition science.

Due to the high proportion of impulse purchases and the short time devoted to purchase decisions, packaging and other extrinsic attributes are becoming increasingly important in demonstrating the health benefits of a functional food item to consumers as plausibly as possible. Our research aims at identifying the role of extrinsic features (claims related to ingredients and health claims, organic or domestic origin, as well as the shape and color of packaging), gathered in the course of in-depth literature analysis, in the case of a functional smoothie. Our online consumer questionnaire was completed by 633 respondents, and the answers were assessed by choice based conjoint analysis. Our results show that each examined attribute plays a role in the assessment of health effects. The color blue has the biggest impact on making the consumer believe in the health benefits of the product. This is followed by the indication of organic origin, then the statement emphasizing the natural quality of the ingredients. The assessment of the specific extrinsic attributes is affected by consumers’ general health interest level, their involvement with food items, and their various demographic features.

The exponentially growing quantity of nutrition information creates a new situation and challenge for every stakeholder, from athletes, coaches and nutritionists to policymakers. To measure the perception of the information environment related to healthy eating, the diet information overload scale was developed. The scale consists of eight items, measuring the perceived importance of pieces of information overload on Likert-type scales. The objective of the study was to test the applicability and validity of the diet information overload scale among athletes. A cross-sectional validation study was conducted with elite athletes (n = 177). To validate each item of the scale, we applied Cronbach’s alpha test, and the inner consistency of the scale was analyzed with linear correlation coefficients of the different variables. To evaluate the relationship between question groups, we applied factor analysis. The different fit indices showed a good fit to the model; the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) value was 0.09 and the Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) value was 0.84. The indicators of reliability (α based upon the covariances = 0.81) produced suitable results; thus, the sport nutrition information overload scale showed high reliability and applicability. Based on the sport nutrition information overload scale, further analysis could be carried out on how to optimize the content of key pieces of sport nutrition-related information.

It is evident that the modification of dietary patterns is a necessary precondition of disease prevention and health improvement. Changing nutritional habits also has deep-rooted consequences on the environmental burden. The majority of similar previous studies have analyzed the change in greenhouse gas emissions against theoretical modifications in current food consumption. The analysis on the effect of diet on the water footprint is also gaining in importance, since water supply is a critical global issue. Based on current nutritional patterns of a Central European country—Hungary—as well as dietary recommendations and scientific literature, we generated six dietary scenarios and determined the consequences of these on green (originally from precipitation) and blue (sourced from surface or groundwater) water consumption and dietary quality. Compared to the baseline scenario (current local nutritional pattern) of both genders, based on the integrated aspect of water footprint and dietary quality, the most disadvantageous scenario was the ketogenic (ca. −2% in dietary quality, +18% in blue water footprint, and +16% in green water footprint) and the most advantageous was the sustainable scenario (ca. +9% in dietary quality, −42% in green water footprint, and −29% in blue water footprint). As a summary it can be stated, that (1) there is no clear linear relationship between the “healthiness” and water footprint of different diets, but (2) a more balanced diet, which integrates nutritional and environmental considerations could decrease the environmental burden in an efficient way.

The interest of consumers is the consumption of healthy food, whereas the interest of food manufacturers is that consumers recognize the produced “healthier” food items on the shelves, so they can satisfy their demands. This way, identifying the factors that influence the perceived healthiness of food products is a mutual interest. What causes consumers to consider one product more beneficial to health than another? In recent years, numerous studies have been published on the topic of the influence of several health-related factors on consumer perception. This analysis collected and categorized the research results related to this question. This review collects 59 articles with the help of the search engines Science Direct, Wiley Online Library, MDPI and Emerald Insight between 1 January 2014 and 31 March 2019. Our paper yielded six separate categories that influence consumers in their perception of the healthiness of food items: the communicated information—like FoP labels and health claims, the product category, the shape and colour of the product packaging, the ingredients of the product, the organic origin of the product, and the taste and other sensory features of the product.

It is well-documented that fitness trainers could play an important role in the nutrition-related behaviour of their clients based on their personalised nutrition-related counselling activities, but there are considerable concerns all over the world about the level of their knowledge to become nutritional coaches. In the framework of the current study based on qualitative (focus-group interviews) and quantitative (questionnaire and analysis of responses by multivariable methods, as well as structural equation modelling) methods, it has been proven that (1) theoretically, both the trainers and the dietitians acknowledge the importance of cooperation in the optimisation of coaching efficiency and advisory work due to some “professional jealousness” and differences in professional background, as well as in culture, so it is hard to find a common platform for cooperation, especially in market segments characterised by relative low levels of purchasing power; (2) due to lack of regulation, there is a high heterogeneity of professional competences of trainers in general and their nutritional competences, in particular; (3) the majority of trainers do not have an objective picture on his/her effective nutritional knowledge, and they often offer a much wider scope of services (e.g., nutritional counselling for clients with chronic diseases) which are well beyond their professional knowledge and (4) the dietary guidelines have not become an integral part of professional knowledge, even at the level of specialists. To improve the current—in some cases, dangerous—situation, the following steps should be taken: (1) enhancement of the level of professional qualification of future trainers, integrating the practice-oriented approaches and emphasising the role of teamwork by simulation-based practices; (2) highlighting in a clear way the professional and ethical boundaries of the activities of trainers and (3) working out an efficient incentive system for the continuous professional development of trainers.

Our research explores the methods consumers would consider using in order to prevent non-communicable diseases, with consuming functional food products being one of these methods. Previous research has pointed out the importance of missing information such as which diseases worry consumers and what they would use to avoid them. We conducted a personal survey with 1027 people in Hungary about 13 diseases and four prevention methods. We analyzed the results with descriptive statistical methods, binary logistic regression, and random forest. According to our results, the highest proportion of worried respondents think it is justified to consume functional foods for the prevention of digestive problems, a weakened immune system, and high cholesterol level. Our results help to characterize the target group for these three diseases. Completed education plays a key role in choosing functional foods to prevent a weakened immune system. Those with tertiary education are the most likely to choose this prevention method. With the other two diseases, age played a crucial role. All age groups over 36 would be more likely to choose functional foods to prevent digestive problems, whereas in case of high cholesterol level, the 36−50 age group would be more likely to apply this method.

This study has revealed the role of a new factor, perceived correspondence of health effects, in consumer acceptance of functional foods. Using a web survey of 1016 people, we hypothesized and verified the following: when an ingredient does not occur naturally in the carrier but the consumer assigns the same health effect to it as to the carrier, the product’s acceptance will be more positive than it would be if an identical health effect was not associated with the carrier and the functional ingredient. Factors influencing consumer acceptance were examined via binary logistic regression models. According to the results, if a functional food developer fortifies the carrier with an ingredient that does not occur naturally in the carrier, the product can expect higher acceptance if the health effects perceived by consumers are properly matched. In general, it has been found that expected taste and awareness of the product were decisive in all demographic and income groups, whereas perceived correspondence of health effects had a lesser, but still positive influence on acceptance.

School lunch nutrition standards are an important carrier of messages on healthy eating and an efficient way of changing the nutritional behaviour of new generations. Many countries in Europe have a compulsory system of school meals; the Hungarian government also wanted to take action in order to improve the nutrition requirements of the school catering service. The Hungarian Ministry of Human Resources established some limits in the school catering system. However, increasing public pressure forced the legislating organ to considerably modify this regulation. The aim of this study is to analyse the causes of this failure, based on a conceptual framework of institutional economics and a strategic modelling of different institutes by examining the results of 72 interviews (33 experts, 26 parents and 13 teachers) conducted with representatives of different stakeholders. The results highlight the lack of preparation for the introduction of the new regulatory framework, as well as the inefficient communication between the different stakeholders. In order to support children in eating healthfully, a complex nutrition education program and continuous dialogue is needed between teachers, parents, catering staff and the government.