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Nguyen, K.A.T.; Nguelifack, B.M.; Nguyen, T.A.T., and Jolly, C.M., 2023. African ocean health production function: Policy implications. Journal of Coastal Research, 39(3), 519–530. Charlotte (North Carolina), ISSN 0749-0208. The study used a two-stage production function, rank regression in the first stage, and probit and ordinary least squares regression in the second stage, to evaluate the effect of socio-economic, environmental, physical, and demographic factors on ocean health. The rank regression analysis coefficients were evaluated using a "t" test. Biodiversity, Tourism, Recreation, Fish Production, Livelihoods, and Sense of Place were all significant at p-value <.01, while carbon storage was significant at p-value <0.05. Artisanal Fisheries were significant at p-value <0.1. The variable Biodiversity had the highest elasticity (.43). A 1.0% increase in biodiversity is likely to increase the Ocean Health Index (OHI) score by 0.43%, while 1.0% increases in sense of place and coastal livelihoods will increase the OHI by 0.14% and 0.13%, respectively. The relative influence result suggests that the most important variables are Tourism and Recreation (27.6%), Natural Products (20.6%), Food Production (14.1%), Carbon Storage (11.0%), and Coastal Protection (4.8%). The probit model showed that human development index influenced ocean health. Development policies may consider the inclusion of changes in Tourism and Recreation, Fish Provision, and Carbon Storage to improve African ocean health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Habanera de Ciencias Médicas is the property of Universidad de Ciencias Medicas de La Habana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The water cycle in watersheds is vulnerable due to climate change; hence, the need for sustainable watershed management is increasing. This paper suggests a framework for a healthiness assessment of the water cycle to provide a guideline for systematic watershed management considering the previous and current states. The suggested framework aims to prioritize restoration and enhancement plans based on the graded healthiness of the water cycle elements by the watersheds. The framework is composed of two assessment procedures: a problem-focused assessment to identify problems such as flood, drought, and river depletion in the watershed and the highest priority assessment to select the watershed for enhancement and restoration plans. The healthiness assessment method for each metric is suggested based on the Korean Framework Act on Water Management. The framework was applied to four different watersheds in South Korea. The framework is proven to be an effective method to identify practical emerging problems for the water cycle in each watershed. The framework can contribute to providing technical information to detect the water problem of the watershed by objectively diagnosing the watersheds with various potential water problems via the healthiness assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Vulnerable populations are the most prone to diet-related disease. The availability, healthiness, and price of foods have established associations with diet-related disease in communities. However, data describing this in India are sparse, particularly in urban slums and rural areas. Aim: To quantify and compare availability, healthiness, and price of packaged and unpackaged foods and beverages in India, and to identify opportunities to improve diets and health of vulnerable populations. Methods: Nutrition data and price were collected on foods and beverages available at 44 stores in urban, urban slum, and rural areas in four states in India between May and August 2018. Healthiness was assessed using the Australasian Health Star Rating system and product retail prices were examined. Comparisons in the findings were made across state, community area type, and adherence to current and draft Indian food labeling regulations. Results: Packaged foods and beverages (n = 1443, 89%) were more prevalent than unpackaged (n = 172, 11%). Unpackaged products were healthier than packaged (mean Health Star Rating = 3.5 vs 2.0; p < 0.001) and lower in price (median price per 100 g/ml: 13.42 Indian rupees vs 25.70 Indian rupees; p < 0.001), a pattern observed across most community area types and states. 96% of packaged products were compliant with current Indian labeling regulations but only 23% were compliant with proposed labeling regulations. Conclusions: Unpackaged products were on average much healthier and lower in price than packaged foods and beverages. Food policies that support greater availability, accessibility and consumption of unpackaged foods, while limiting consumption of packaged foods, have enormous potential for sustaining the health of the Indian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus denoting an attribute, the neutral stimulus inherits that attribute (i.e., Attribute Conditioning; AC). The current experiments examined whether this effect is sensitive to cue competition, specifically blocking (Experiment 1, n = 245) and overshadowing (Experiment 2, n = 213), and whether personality traits can predict this effect ( n = 458). Participants were shown cartoon images of people (CSs) paired with healthy or unhealthy foods (USs) and completed the Big Five Inventory. An AC effect was evident-people paired with healthy foods were rated healthier than people paired with unhealthy foods. However, there was no evidence of cue competition or personality traits impacting the AC effect, although females displayed a stronger AC effect than males. These findings indicate that AC is a robust phenomenon of relevance to social learning processes but is insensitive to factors that influence other forms of conditioning., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

This research aimed to evaluate the effect of interdisciplinary educational interventions on children’s attitudes, knowledge, preferences, and perceptions about different nutrition labels. Four hundred and ten elementary school children, aged between seven and ten years, participated in the research. The children completed questionnaires on attitudes, knowledge, and preferences about nutrition labeling and on perceived healthiness of a food product considering different types of nutrition labels (Pre-Intervention). They then participated in educational interventions as a strategy to address nutrition labeling of foods (Intervention). Finally, the Pre-Intervention questionnaires were reapplied (Post-Intervention). The intervention improved children’s attitudes and knowledge about nutrition labeling. It also showed that this public has a greater preference for labels printed on the front of the food package. The label in the form of a warning was considered the most favorable for comparing the healthiness of the food product among children, while the table was the least preferred. It is concluded that interdisciplinary educational interventions are effective in improving children’s attitudes, knowledge, preferences, and perceptions about different nutrition labels on a food product. The front label model is the most suitable for food packaging aimed at children.

Ryegrass is one such cereal that has been underutilized in human nutrition despite its high nutritional and functional value due to the presence of phytochemicals and dietary fibers. Exploiting ryegrass for human consumption is an exciting option, especially for countries that do not produce wheat, as it is easily adaptable and overgrows, making it economically viable. This study evaluated the nutritional content of γ-aminobutyric acid and bioactive compounds (total soluble phenolic compounds) and the physicochemical and technological properties of partially substituting maize flour (MF) with sprouted whole ryegrass flour (SR) in developing extrusion-cooked breakfast cereals. A completely randomized design with substitutions ranging from 0 to 20% of MF with SR was employed as the experimental strategy (p < 0.05). Partial incorporation of SR increased the content of γ-aminobutyric acid and total soluble phenolic compounds. Using sprouted grains can adversely affect the technological quality of extruded foods, mainly due to the activation of the amylolytic enzymes. Still, ryegrass, with its high dietary fiber and low lipid content, mitigates these negative effects. Consequently, breakfast cereals containing 4 and 8% SR exhibited better physicochemical properties when compared to SR12, SR16, SR20, and USR10, presenting reduced hardness and increased crispness, and were similar to SR0. These results are promising for ryegrass and suggest that combining the age-old sprouting process with extrusion can enhance the nutritional quality and bioactive compound content of cereal-based breakfast products while maintaining some technological parameters, especially crispiness, expansion index, water solubility index, and firmness, which are considered satisfactory.

Consumers having a strong unhealthy = tasty (UT) belief are less likely to choose healthy food even though they recognize its health benefits, because they assume healthy food to be unpalatable. The aim of this study was to profile consumers according to their UT belief and specify the strength of the belief among a demographically representative consumer group. The other aim was to investigate the effect of UT belief on expectations of two food products representing either an unhealthy or a healthy image. A total of 1537 consumers participated in the online survey. The scale-based (1–7) mean for UT belief was 3.27 and related positively to male gender and food pleasure orientation and negatively to general health interest. The results indicate that a strong UT belief correlates with positive expectations of unhealthy food and with negative expectations of healthy food. UT belief seemed to increase expected food-associated guilt, but other strong food-related attitudes (health interest with unhealthy food and pleasure orientation with healthy food) reduced this effect. In practice, understanding the relationship between UT belief and personal factors and attitudes, and the importance of this belief to food expectations can assist in finding the tools to encourage consumers towards healthier food choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the antecedents of consequences of healthiness in the café business context. Additionally, this study attests to the moderating effect of one's concern for health (health concern) between healthiness and attitude. To attain a more vivid response, this research selected Starbucks coffeehouse as a case study. Hygiene, healthiness, and nutritional disclosure are the determinants of healthiness in the café business area. The consequences of healthiness are attitude and purchase intention for café products. Health concern is the moderating variable between healthiness and attitude in the context of café businesses. In order to test the association between attributes, a survey was used. Amazon Mechanical Turk was chosen to recruit survey participants. The valid observation for data analysis was 455 participants. For hypothesis testing, a structural equation model was implemented. Regarding the results, health concern is positively influenced by hygiene and organicness, but healthiness is negatively affected by nutritional disclosure. Moreover, it was found that health concern significantly moderates the relationship between healthiness and attitude, and attitude exerts a positive effect on purchase intention.

Understanding consumer decision making about what to eat is both complex, as multiple factors can drive food choice, and important, as food choice impacts overall health. This research examines an intuition at the crossroads of two important criteria for food decision making-healthiness and price-finding that consumers believe that healthier food is more expensive than less healthy food. While this relationship may be accurate in some cases, consumers overgeneralize this belief to contexts and product categories where it is not objectively true. As a result, the healthy = expensive intuition influences consumer decision making by impacting inferences of missing attributes and choice between alternatives. Further, consistent with dual process models, the intuition acts as a bias in shaping how consumers process information about health and price when consumers are processing heuristically, including altering both perceptions of how ''healthy'' a given ingredient is as a function of product price and the amount of information search consumers engage in when evaluating health claims, such that consumers have a higher standard of evidence when evaluating intuition-inconsistent claims. Overall, the healthy = expensive intuition has a powerful influence on consumer decision making, with significant implications for both consumers and marketers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Packaged foods have significantly expanded their market presence, with the utilization of vice–virtue bundles gaining momentum, particularly in the realm of vice-packaged foods. Consequently, understanding how consumers respond to vice-packaged food with vice–virtue bundles (i.e., vice-packaged food combined with virtue ingredients) becomes crucial. This research investigates this issue through four experiments employing a one-way between-subjects design, incorporating distinct stimuli and measures, and involving samples from diverse sources. In Experiment 1 (n = 172), Experiment 2 (n = 169), and the follow-up experiment (n = 153), variance analysis, chi-square test, and mediating analysis demonstrate that consumers are more inclined to purchase vice-packaged food with vice–virtue bundles owing to the perception of it being healthier than vice packaged food with vice–virtue bundles. Furthermore, Experiment 3 (n = 249) employs moderated mediation analysis, uncovering that both the heightened purchase intention for vice-packaged food with vice–virtue bundles and the mediating effect of perceived healthiness are attenuated among consumers with prevention (vs. promotion) focus. Beyond contributing to theories on packaged food consumption, vice–virtue bundles, and regulatory focus theory, these findings hold practical implications for packaged food marketing, promoting rational food choices, and enhancing healthier diets.

The change in consumers' lifestyle promoted "snackification" favouring the commercialisation of on-the-go products such as cereal bars (CBs). Manufacturers are encountering challenges to develop healthy, natural, tasty, and affordable CBs. This article focuses on production methods, the current and emerging market trends, and practical implications for developing new CBs. The future of the CBs industry is associated with finding the right balance between nutritional value, sensory attributes, naturalness, and sustainability. Manufactures have a toolbox with a large portfolio of ingredients and processing techniques to develop CBs that can be a meal substitute, a supplement, or a snack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surimi is a protein concentrate formed basically by fish myofibrillar proteins. For better quality conservation, natural or synthetic cryoprotectants, with emphasis on sucrose, sorbitol and/or sodium tripolyphosphate are added to surimi. Studies show that it is possible to replace these synthetic additives and offer a final product with healthier properties to the consumer. This review highlights the importance of reducing the use of synthetic additives in the conservation of surimi and suggests potential natural alternatives for the total or partial replacement of these artificial substances, as well as discussing the effects of different types of natural compounds on the quality characteristics of surimi gel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flatbreads are among the oldest foods throughout the world. They are affordable, familiar, and authentic foods with a long history in several countries. Their high versatility puts forward their use as a canvas of innovation to create new flavors. Flatbreads can be also considered vehicles for adding health-beneficial ingredients to improve the nutritional profile and sensorial properties, and add peculiar flavors. These products suit modern lifestyle by offering convenient and easy to prepare snacks or meals. The use of wholegrains and multigrains will keep trending upward to attract health-conscious consumers. Future opportunities for expansion rely on the use of natural, sustainable, and clean label ingredients, and addressing niche markets such as vegan/ vegetarians and consumers with intolerances and allergies. In this review, flatbreads formulations, types, and nutritional composition are reviewed. An in-depth market search was conducted to identify the main trends in new products development.

The environment, over the years, has been subjected to strong negative impacts caused by economic policies that have promoted an uncontrolled growth of urbanization in the cities and abusive exploration of the natural resources. In this context, developing socio-environmental indicators to subsidize the formulation of municipal public policies which consider, specifically, the environmental (in)salubrity of each neighborhood or locality of municipalities is imperative. The present paper presents the construction and application of an environmental health indicator for residential neighborhoods in two localities of Caruaru City, Pernambuco State. The data adopted in research were obtained from databases of City Hall institutions, from interviews with the population of the localities and water quality analyses. The results indicated that the neighborhoods analyzed presented characteristics of medium health; water supply, the disposal of solid waste, and socioeconomic aspects require attention and priority of public policies. In conclusion, the proposed indicator can be an instrument to assist in urban planning and environmental management of Brazilian municipalities, because it can guide the performance of public managers and the civil society to identify priority actions for improving the infrastructure of the most unhealthy neighborhoods.

Objective: To assess the price promotions offered by major quick service restaurant (QSR) chains in Australia from an obesity prevention perspective.Design: Cross-sectional audit of ten of the largest QSR chains in Australia. We collected information regarding temporary price promotions and 'combination deals' offered by each chain over thirteen consecutive weeks in 2019-2020. We assessed the type of promotions, the magnitude of discount, and the energy content and healthiness of items promoted (based on Victorian Government criteria).Setting: Melbourne, Australia.Participants: Ten major QSR chains.Results: Temporary price promotions (n 196) and combination deals (n 537 on regular menus, n 36 on children's menus) were observed across the ten selected QSR chains. In relation to temporary price promotions, the mean magnitude of discount for main menu items (n 75) was 41·7 %. The price reductions and energy content of combination deals varied substantially the by chain, the meal size and the sides/drinks selected as part of the 'deal'. When the lowest-energy options (e.g. small chips, small sugar-free drink) were included as part of each combination deal, the mean energy content was 2935 kJ, compared to 5764 kJ when the highest-energy options (e.g. large fries, large sugar-sweetened drink) were included. Almost all available products were classified as unhealthy.Conclusion: Price promotions are ubiquitous in major QSR chains in Australia and provide incentives to consume high levels of energy. The action to restrict price promotions on unhealthy foods and ensure lower-energy default items as part of combination deals should be included as part of efforts to improve population diets and address obesity in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic food, consumers and their buying behaviour are well examined fields of research, although there is a lack of consistent findings on consumers' perception about organic food's quality, in terms of healthiness, safety, and environmental sustainability, and on determinants of perceived quality. This study investigates how consumers perceive the quality of organic food, in terms of environmental sustainability, safety, and healthiness. The study also analyses how and to what extent perceived quality of organic food is influenced by the presence of information related to quality on food products' labels and consumers' socio-demographic profile. A survey has been conducted on a convenience sample of Italian consumers, recruited through a snowball sampling technique. An approach based on a Combination of Uniform and shifted Binomial random variables, named CUB model, is adopted to analyse consumers' perceptions in terms of two latent components, feeling and uncertainty. The CUB model approach is suitable for analyses that involve consumers perception. The results suggest that consumers perceive safety of organic food better than healthiness and environmentally sustainable attributes. Findings also highlight that the presence of specific information on food's label contributes to perceive organic food as healthier, safe, and environmentally sustainable: the more the details on food labels, the higher the consumers' perception. Furthermore, consumers' socio-demographic profile plays a significant role: males and females have a different perception of organic food and younger consumers tend to be more prone to buy and consume organic product.

This study aimed to use the raw extract of jambolão (Syzygium cumini L.) and potassium sorbate as antimicrobial components in cellulose acetate films and evaluate their potential for application as active packaging for sugar-free banana preserve. The films were prepared using the casting method and evaluated for thickness and inhibition potential. The efficiency of the films as active packaging, in situ, was evaluated through the enumeration of aerobic mesophiles and mold and yeast over 36 days of storage of banana preserves. Furthermore, in order to analyze the fungicidal effect of the films against banana preserve with an initial load of microorganisms, mold and yeast were counted for 25 days of storage. The results showed that the incorporation of crude jambolão extract increased the film thickness, and its inhibition potential was similar to the film with incorporated potassium sorbate. Furthermore, the film with crude jambolão extract reduced mold and yeast growth by up to 1 log cycle over 36 days of storage. Furthermore, the use of the film with potassium sorbate promoted the same effect as this preservative added directly to the fruit preserve and proved to be efficient even with relevant initial contamination. Thus, the use of these active packagings presents an opportunity for industries as they reduce health risks and improve the safety and quality of preserves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Pumpkin is a yellow or orange-colored vegetable with a mild flavor that stands out as a fiber and nutrient source. However, the products with pumpkins are still little explored in Brazil, due to high perishability in natura and to the lack of eating habits of regional baked goods. This study aimed to produce and characterize a pumpkin flour to be used as an ingredient in muffins, evaluate the technological, and sensory characteristics of these cakes, and select the most sensorially accepted muffin for nutritional composition evaluation. Three muffins were produced as following: one control (M0); and two containing 5 (M1) and 10 (M2) g/100 g of partial substitution of wheat flour by pumpkin flour, thus maintaining the other ingredients common to cakes. The technological characteristics of firmness, volume and color were evaluated. Sensory acceptance was assessed using an affective test on an unstructured 9-point hedonic scale. There were no significant differences in the firmness and image analysis (distribution, size, and pore area of the crumb) among the three muffins, however, M1 and M2 presented darker crust color, more orange crumb, and a lower volume compared to M0. The sensory acceptability of the muffins was considered as a criterion for selection for nutritional composition analysis. The muffins’ acceptance of M1 was better than M0, but without differences to M2. The consumers’ opinions were also considered, and M1 was selected for having greater acceptance. Nutritionally, M0 and M1 presented similar levels of proteins, digestible carbohydrates, and lipids, however, M1 showed a higher content of ash and total dietary fibers: 2.01 ± 0.03 and 1.57 g/100 g (dry basis), respectively. Thus, the pumpkin flour could be produced and used as a regional, enriched, and natural-colored ingredient for muffins or other bakery products, and therefore they had a socially positive impact on family farming.

Abstract Background Altering the availability of healthier or less-healthy products may increase healthier purchases, but evidence is currently limited. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of altering the absolute-and-relative availability of healthier and less-healthy products – i.e. simultaneously altering the number of options available and the proportion of healthier options – in hospital vending machines. Methods An adapted multiple treatment reversal design was used, altering products available in ten vending machines serving snack foods and/or cold drinks in one English hospital. Machines were randomised to one of two sequences for the seven 4-week study periods: ABCADEA or ADEABCA. In Condition A (study periods 1, 4 and 7) the proportions of healthier products were standardised across all machines, so that 25% of all snack slots and 75% of drink slots were healthier. In Condition B, 20% of vending machine slots were emptied by removing less-healthy products. In Condition C, the empty slots created in Condition B were filled with healthier products. Conditions D and E were operationalised in the same way as B and C, except healthier products were removed in D, and then less-healthy products added in E. Sales data were obtained from machine restocking records. Separate linear mixed models were conducted to examine the impact of altering availability on energy purchased (kcal) from (i) snacks or (ii) drinks each week, with random effects for vending machine. Results The energy purchased from drinks was reduced when the number of slots containing less-healthy drinks was decreased, compared to standardised levels (− 52.6%; 95%CI: − 69.3,-26.9). Findings were inconclusive for energy purchased from snacks when less-healthy snack slots were reduced (− 17.2%; 95%CI: − 47.4,30.5). Results for altering the number of slots for healthier drinks or snacks were similarly inconclusive, with no statistically significant impact on energy purchased. Conclusions Reducing the availability of less-healthy drinks could reduce the energy purchased from drinks in vending machines. Further studies are needed to establish whether any effects might be smaller for snacks, or found with higher baseline proportions of healthier options.

Le colonie marine, montane ed elioterapiche sono architetture a metà strada tra le strutture sanitarie e quelle educative, volute dal Partito Nazionale Fascista per la cura e la formazione dei giovani italiani. La differenza di committenza e condizioni insediative non consente d’individuare un modello edilizio con tratti unitari per questa nuova tipologia, che supera quella cupa dei centri ospedalieri per la cura della tubercolosi. Le colonie si caratterizzano formalmente per l’aspetto allegorico e ludico, che evoca l’immagine di aeroplani, navi, lettere dell’alfabeto e altro ancora. Gli impianti, però, sono anche complesse “macchine sanitarie” in cui sono messe a punto soluzioni distributive per la salubrità degli edifici, con l’ausilio di materiali moderni e tecniche edilizie innovative. Il contributo ripercorre l’evoluzione architettonica e tipologica degli edifici per la cura dalla tubercolosi da cui originano le colonie, focalizzando l’attenzione su due significativi esempi realizzati in Abruzzo nel Ventennio, uno marino e l’altro montano, al fine di restituire i caratteri originali della loro architettura, le vicende costruttive e i materiali utilizzati per renderli "salubri e belli". Healthy and beautiful. Italian Colonies during the Fascist Period: two Architectures between Abruzzi’s Mountain and Sea Seaside, mountain and heliotherapeutic colonies form a combined health and educational building typology encouraged by the National Fascist Party for the care and training of young Italians. Different commissioning authorities and environmental conditions prevent the adoption of any single model for a new architectural typology that going way beyond the gloomy nineteenth-century medical centres for tuberculosis. Characteristics are allegorical and recreational aspects evoking the images of aeroplanes, ships, letters of the alphabet. These structures, however, are also complex “health-care machines”, developing buildings arrangement to provide health-enhancing ways, including the use of innovatory materials and building techniques. The paper retraces the architectural and typological evolution of the buildings for the treatment of tuberculosis from which the colonies originate, focusing the attention on two of the marine and mountain colonies built in Abruzzo in the fascist period, in order to study its architecture, the construction events and the materials used to make them "healthy and beautiful".

Consumers having a strong unhealthy = tasty (UT) belief are less likely to choose healthy food even though they recognize its health benefits, because they assume healthy food to be unpalatable. The aim of this study was to profile consumers according to their UT belief and specify the strength of the belief among a demographically representative consumer group. The other aim was to investigate the effect of UT belief on expectations of two food products representing either an unhealthy or a healthy image. A total of 1537 consumers participated in the online survey. The scale-based (1–7) mean for UT belief was 3.27 and related positively to male gender and food pleasure orientation and negatively to general health interest. The results indicate that a strong UT belief correlates with positive expectations of unhealthy food and with negative expectations of healthy food. UT belief seemed to increase expected food-associated guilt, but other strong food-related attitudes (health interest with unhealthy food and pleasure orientation with healthy food) reduced this effect. In practice, understanding the relationship between UT belief and personal factors and attitudes, and the importance of this belief to food expectations can assist in finding the tools to encourage consumers towards healthier food choices.

Policy makers around the world are facing serious challenges in controlling citizens' obesity and healthiness, hence, they devote increased attention to the development of tools that communicate easily processable nutrition information. Front‐of‐package nutrition labels are one of such tools and have been used to signal the extent to which food items contain potentially unhealthy ingredients such as sugar or fat. In this research, we focus on sugar cues on three different food categories to investigate their impact on consumer choice. We compare two labels, one already used (traffic‐light) and one never used (sugar teaspoon): sugar teaspoons prove to be more effective than the previously used traffic‐lights in healthy product choices, but only for specific food categories. In two experiments, we find that sugar teaspoon labels indicating sugar content, as opposed to traffic‐light labels, are more effective in signaling sugar levels and thus, in helping consumers making healthier choices. We find that this is particularly relevant for food categories that have a simpler ingredient composition (i.e., whose healthiness relies more heavily on sugar). We finally propose processing fluency as the mechanism for the relation between sugar signals and product choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wearing a sanitary mask tended, in the main, to reduce the wearer's sense of perceived facial attractiveness before the COVID-19 epidemic. This phenomenon, termed the sanitary-mask effect, was explained using a two-factor model involving the occlusion of cues used for the judgment of attractiveness and unhealthiness priming (e.g., presumed illness). However, these data were collected during the pre-COVID-19 period. Thus, in this study, we examined whether the COVID-19 epidemic changed the perceived attractiveness and healthiness when viewing faces with and without sanitary masks. We also used questionnaires to evaluate beliefs regarding mask wearers. We found that the perception of mask-worn faces differed before versus after the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic. Specifically, mask-wearing improved wearers' sense of the attractiveness of faces, which were rated as less attractive when a mask was not worn after the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic. Furthermore, mask-worn faces were rated as healthier after the onset of the COVID-19. The proportion of respondents with negative associations regarding mask-wearing (e.g., unhealthiness) decreased relative to before the epidemic. We suggest that the weakening of this association altered the sanitary-mask effect with a relative emphasis on the occlusion component, reflecting the temporal impact of a global social incident (the COVID-19 epidemic) on the perception of facial attractiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Peru, the processes associated with population growth and the expansion of public assistance demanded the specialization of new technical knowledge for the planning and execution of sanitary works. In this context, sanitary engineering began occupying spaces in the programs to combat tropical diseases and basic urban and rural sanitation. Through the analysis of specialized engineering and health journals, as well as memoirs, reports, and other unpublished and published documents, this article examines the transformation of Peruvian health institutions and how this process permitted the gradual incursion of sanitary engineers into the public health field. At the same time, it analyzes the dynamics between national and international actors that allowed the institutionalization and professionalization of sanitary engineering between 1900 and 1962. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agri-food companies face the challenge that clean labels and organic are not possible for some processed foods – such as shelf-stable ready meals – with existing processing technologies. This study uses data collected via an online survey and estimates consumers' willingness to pay for the attributes organic, clean label, and processed with a new food technology in a ready meal. Based on previous literature, one would expect that consumers who prefer a clean label would also prefer a product that is certified organic. However, it was found that consumers who frequently purchase ready meals, prefer a clean label over the organic certification. Results from a latent class analysis identified three classes of consumers within the sample of respondents, the pro-organic and clean label consumer, the pro-clean label and new technology, and the indifferent consumer. The classes of consumers identified in this study, showed heterogeneous preferences towards the organic and clean label attributions, which emphasizes the need to complement the consumer preference assessment with a segmentation analysis. Our findings highlight the importance of technological innovations and the need of presenting consumers with complete information on the new food technologies to mitigate potential neophobias due to unfamiliarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taste and health are critical factors to be considered when choosing foods. Prioritizing healthiness over tastiness requires self-control. It has also been suggested that self-control is guided by cognitive control. We then hypothesized that neural mechanisms underlying healthy food choice are associated with both self-control and cognitive control. Human participants performed a food choice task and a working memory task during functional MRI scanning. Their degree of self-control was assessed behaviorally by the value discount of delayed monetary rewards in intertemporal choice. Prioritizing healthiness in food choice was associated with greater activity in the superior, dorsolateral, and medial prefrontal cortices. Importantly, the prefrontal activity was greater in individuals with smaller delay discounting (i.e. high self-control) who preferred a delayed larger reward to an immediate smaller reward in intertemporal choice. On the other hand, working memory activity did not show a correlation with delay discounting or food choice activity, which was further supported by supplementary results that analyzed data from the Human Connectome Project. Our results suggest that the prefrontal cortex plays a critical role in healthy food choice, which requires self-control, but not working memory, for maximization of reward attainments in a remote future., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Abstract Background Our environments shape our behaviour, but little research has addressed whether healthier cues have a similar impact to less healthy ones. This online study examined the impact on food choices of the number of (i) healthier and (ii) less healthy snack foods available, and possible moderation by cognitive load and socioeconomic status. Methods UK adults (n = 1509) were randomly allocated to one of six groups (two cognitive load x three availability conditions). Participants memorised a 7-digit number (7777777: low cognitive load; 8529713: high cognitive load). While remembering this number, participants chose the food they would most like to eat from: (a) two healthier and two less healthy foods, (b) six healthier and two less healthy foods, or (c) two healthier and six less healthy foods. Results Compared to being offered two healthier and two less healthy options, the odds of choosing a healthier option were twice as high (Odds Ratio (OR): 2.0, 95%CI: 1.6, 2.6) with four additional healthier options, while the odds of choosing a less healthy option were four times higher (OR: 4.3, 95%CI: 3.1, 6.0) with four additional less healthy options. There were no significant main effects or interactions with cognitive load or socioeconomic status. Conclusions This study provides a novel test of the impact of healthier vs. less healthy food cues on food choice, suggesting that less healthy food cues have a larger effect than healthier ones. Consequently, removing less healthy as opposed to adding healthier food options could have greater impact on healthier choices. Studies are now needed in which choices are made between physically-present foods.

Environmental disturbances and their consequences require constant studies to understand how communities and their ecological relationships respond to these processes. Through analysis of the host-parasite relationships, it is observed that the effect of these disturbances is variable and can change the physiology or behavior of organisms. Black spot disease, caused by endoparasitic helminths, is a pathology observed in natural environments, however, there is not much information about the consequences of this infestation. We separated the specimens from each stream into parasitized and nonparasitized groups, which were subjected to biometric analysis. The biometrics involved cysts count and weight-length measures, which were used to analyze the average relative condition factor. Additionally, we correlate these measures with the parasitic burden of infected individuals. Finally, the parasitized individuals were submitted to histological sections to recognize the parasite. The results demonstrate a low physiological condition in the parasitized group, when compared with non-parasitized groups from the same stream and from different streams. This suggests that pollution, in addition to effects of infestation worsen the fish condition. Besides, the parasite burden was negatively correlated with the condition factor, weight and length measures. We conclude that the parasite burden negatively affects Astyanax paranae individuals´ physiological condition and that trematodes also occur in polluted environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Registered Report, we assessed the utility of the affective priming paradigm (APP) as an indirect measure of food attitudes and related choice behaviour in two separate cohorts. Participants undertook a speeded evaluative categorization task in which target words were preceded by food primes that differed in terms of affective congruence with the target, explicit liking (most liked or least liked), and healthiness (healthy or unhealthy). Non-food priming effects were tested as a manipulation check, and the relationship between food priming effects and impulsive choice behaviour was also investigated using a binary food choice task. As predicted, priming effects were observed for both healthy and unhealthy foods, but there was no difference in the magnitude of these effects. This may suggest that the paradigm is most sensitive to affective, but not cognitive, components of attitudes (i.e., healthiness), but alternative theoretical explanations and implications of this finding are discussed. Food and non-food priming effects were observed in both reaction time (RT) and error rate (ER) data, but contrary to expectations, we found no association between food RT priming effects and choice behaviour. All findings from confirmatory analyses regarding RT and ER priming effects, and the absence of the expected correlations between priming effects and impulsive food choices, were successfully replicated in the online cohort of participants. Overall, this study confirms the robustness of the APP as an indirect measure of food liking and raises questions about its applied value for research of eating behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When evaluating food products, consumers rely on visual cues on packages to infer their healthiness and tastiness. We assumed that color, specifically color saturation, is one such cue, similarly relevant for both healthiness and tastiness inferences. We conducted three studies in which we manipulated the color of pictures of product packages. Participants viewed pictures from the category of snacks (Study 1a) and drinks (Studies 1b and 2), available at a supermarket's online store and rated each product on the dimensions of healthiness and tastiness. In two studies, we showed one group of participants product pictures only as grayscale images, whereas another group viewed the pictures in full color. In a third study, we showed participants product pictures once with increased and once with decreased color saturation. We consistently found a positive correlation between healthiness and tastiness. Presenting pictures of products as grayscale images weakened the healthy‐tasty correlation. Products with increased compared with decreased color saturation were rated as both healthier and tastier, mediated by the products' perceived freshness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People in urban and peri-urban areas enjoy better physical access to health facilities compared to those living in rural area. However, healthier natural environment is commonly absent in urban and its adjoining peri-urban areas. Premising on the competitiveness of health determinants outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO), this study has embarked upon comparing healthiness of different communities in a region as well as to ascertain the factor(s) regulating their healthiness related outcome. Relying on presurveyed 1397 household data spreading over an urban, two peri-urban, and eight rural localities in Mymensingh region, Bangladesh, the study has evaluated the communities' healthiness in views of both the conventional perspective and using a set of health determinants. Illness and disease manifestation as well as socio-economic status of the households were analyzed statistically to get communities' overall healthiness scenario. Later, comparison among the communities and contribution of different indicators were sought using a combined score index. In this study's context, it has been found that urban is healthier than rural followed by peri-urban community. Here, rural areas lack education the most that should be improved; peri-urban areas need better income opportunity; and urban area requires better water-supply and waste management facilities to improve their respective health status in a community sense. There is not a commonly accepted health metrics for community's comprehensive health assessment toward which this study sets a pathway. Besides, using the combined health index developed here, specific interventions required to improve community's healthiness and minimize the gap among them can easily be identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand of healthy foods for preventing non-communicable diseases has increased, and developments include ingredients with health effects, such as whole grain wheat and turmeric. Both are added in the present study as source of fiber and antioxidants in pasta. This work aimed to evaluate the effect of the addition of turmeric flour in pasta containing whole grain wheat flour and refined wheat flour on its fiber content, and technological and antioxidant properties. For this, there were made three control pastas with grain wheat flour ranging between 600 and 700 g kg-1. Additionally, seven turmeric pastas were prepared according to a linear experimental design (22), with three central points. Technological analyses included cooking test, color and texture measurement. A Principal Components Analysis was performed for selecting two formulations for further proximate and antioxidant capacities tests. The selected formulations were CP3 (70 WGF: 30 RWF) and TP3 (5 g TF, 60 WGF: 40 RWF), which presented similar technological properties and high average dietary fiber (74.3 g kg-1 ). TP3 presented the highest total phenolics content (534.46 ± 1.93 mg kg-1), DPPH• (5.70 ± 0.10 g kg-1 of Trolox Equivalent (TE), and ABTS (9.02 ± 0.58 g kg-1 of TE), with high retention of antioxidant capacity after cooking. TF promoted the color modification in pastas with WGF, accentuating yellow color, while keeping the cooking properties; it is therefore a natural ingredient that confers color and phenolic compounds in products containing WGF.

Many studies in the related literature have proven that the perception of flavor and healthiness can be affected by both the product’s intrinsic and extrinsic cues. Package designs, brands, colors, labels and other visual elements exert and influence consumers’ expectations and guide them toward food decisions. With the increasing initiatives promoted within Europe in support of the adoption of blockchain technology in supply chains and agri-food contexts, in the coming years, packages will be used with additional product information certified with the technology itself. Cueing packages with blockchain-certified information could affect consumers in their overall flavor and health perceptions, similarly to that previously demonstrated with other extrinsic cues. In the present study, we analyzed a sample of 310 primary grocery shoppers from Germany, Italy and the UK, demonstrating the effectiveness of technology-certified information on the package of animal milk in influencing consumers’ flavor and health perceptions and exploring the differences and similarities across the three countries and milk categories.

An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of enzyme-treated soy protein (ETSP) supplementation in low protein diets on growth performance as well as flesh sensory quality and healthiness in on-growing grass carp. A total of 540 on-growing grass carp (initial average weight 325.72 ± 0.60 g) were fed six diets, which included a normal protein diet (28% crude protein) and five low protein diets (26% crude protein) supplemented with graded levels of ETSP (0.0, 0.8, 1.2, 1.6, and 2.0%). The results showed that reducing dietary protein by 2% decreased percentage weight gain, feed intake, and flesh flavor (aspartic acid, glutamic acid, histidine, and 5′-inosinic acid contents) and healthiness-related indices (linolenic acid (LA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) contents and polyunsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids ratio). Under the condition of reducing dietary protein by 2%, 0.8–1.2% ETSP supplementation restored above parameters to levels equal or superior to those in 28% crude protein diet group. Although reducing dietary protein by 2% did not deteriorate flesh tenderness and juiciness, 0.8–1.2% ETSP supplementation in low protein diets also improved the two indices compared with 28% crude protein diet. Moreover, ETSP-improved flesh quality was partly related to increased muscle antioxidant enzymes activities and their mRNA levels. In addition, ESTP-enhanced antioxidant enzyme mRNA levels were partly associated with the upregulation of NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and target of rapamycin (TOR) signaling. Collectively, 0.8–1.2% ETSP supplementation in low protein diets improved growth performance as well as flesh sensory quality and healthiness in on-growing grass carp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]