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Food behaviour is governed by different kinds of motivations, some of individual nature and others related with the external food environment. This study investigated the eating motivations in sixteen countries with respect to commercial and marketing influences on food choices. The questionnaire survey was developed between September 2017 and June 2018, via online tools, targeting a convenience sample of residents in sixteen countries (Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and the United States of America). The number of valid responses received was 11, 919 participants. The data were treated using SPSS software, and the main statistical techniques used included exploratory factor analysis, evaluation of internal reliability through Cronbach’s alpha, cluster analysis (hierarchical and k-means) and logistic regression. The results obtained showed two groups of people: low motivated and notably motivated consumers. The results showed high asymmetries between countries, with highest percentage of highly motivated consumers in Egypt and the lowest percentage of highly motivated in Portugal. It was further observed that consumers more influenced by commercial and marketing aspects (the notably motivated) tend to be women, young, single, less educated, less likely to be professionally active, and those who live mostly in rural or suburban areas. Less exercise and overweight are also factors associated with greater propensity for commercial and marketing motivations. Furthermore, health problems such as shellfish or gluten intolerance, hypertension and high cholesterol confer less propensity to be in the segment of the notably motivated consumers. In conclusion, this work highlighted the role of geographic, sociodemographic and lifestyle factors as food choice determinants.

Food behaviour is governed by different kinds of motivations, some of individual nature and others related with the external food environment. This study investigated the eating motivations in sixteen countries with respect to commercial and marketing influences on food choices. The questionnaire survey was developed between September 2017 and June 2018, via online tools, targeting a convenience sample of residents in sixteen countries (Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and the United States of America). The number of valid responses received was 11,919 participants. The data were treated using SPSS software, and the main statistical techniques used included exploratory factor analysis, evaluation of internal reliability through Cronbach’s alpha, cluster analysis (hierarchical and k-means) and logistic regression. The results obtained showed two groups of people: low motivated and notably motivated consumers. The results showed high asymmetries between countries, with highest percentage of highly motivated consumers in Egypt and the lowest percentage of highly motivated in Portugal. It was further observed that consumers more influenced by commercial and marketing aspects (the notably motivated) tend to be women, young, single, less educated, less likely to be professionally active, and those who live mostly in rural or suburban areas. Less exercise and overweight are also factors associated with greater propensity for commercial and marketing motivations. Furthermore, health problems such as shellfish or gluten intolerance, hypertension and high cholesterol confer less propensity to be in the segment of the notably motivated consumers. In conclusion, this work highlighted the role of geographic, sociodemographic and lifestyle factors as food choice determinants. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The adequate intake of dietary fibres is essential to human health. Hence, this work intended to evaluate the level knowledge of about food fibres and investigate what factors might be associated with it. It was undertaken a descriptive cross-sectional study on a sample composed of 6,010 participants from ten different countries. The survey was based on a questionnaire of self-response, approved and complying with all ethical issues. The data collected were subjected to factor analysis and cluster analysis techniques. Validation was made by splitting the data set into two equal parts for confirmation of the results. Factor analysis allowed concluding that ten from the 12 variables used to measure the knowledge about dietary fibre should be grouped into two dimensions or factors: one linked to health effects of dietary fibre (α =0.854) and the other to its sources (α =0.644). Cluster analysis showed that the participants could be divided into three groups: Cluster 1 – Good knowledge both about sources and health effects of dietary fibre; Cluster 2 – Good knowledge about the sources of dietary fibre but poor knowledge about its health effects; Cluster 3 – Poor knowledge both about sources and health effects of dietary fibre. The data was appropriate for analysis by means of factor and cluster analysis, so that two factors and three clusters were clearly identified. Moreover, the cluster membership was found varying mostly according to country, living environment and level of education but not according to age or gender. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Introduction: Dietary fibre (DF) is recognized as healthy for long, so that health claims are allowed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) due to its proved benefits, extended but not only confined to many diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Objective: This work intended to analyse the level of information about DF in 10 countries, situated in Europe, Africa and South America. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was undertaken through a survey based on a questionnaire of self-response applied to a sample of 6010 participants. The data were lately treated by factor and cluster analyses, including validation methodologies. Results: Factor analysis showed that ten of the twelve items used to assess the knowledge about DF could be arranged into two factors: one related to health effects (α =0.854) and the other to the sources (α =0.644). Furthermore, cluster analysis showed that the participants could be divided into three groups: 1) Good knowledge about sources and health effects of DF; 2) Good knowledge about the sources of DF but poor knowledge about the health effects; 3) Poor knowledge about the sources and health effects of DF. Conclusions: The results clearly allowed identifying two factors and three clusters, and the variables that most influenced cluster membership were country, living environment and level of education. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

It is well known that dietary fibre (DF) is recognized as very important to maintain health and prevent some chronic diseases. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the level of knowledge about the effect for the human body derived from ingesting DF. For that purpose, a descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of 6010 participants, from 10 countries. The results obtained were compiled into a variable that accounted for the general level of knowledge, and this showed that globally the level of information about the benefits of DF was acceptable (average score of 3.54+/-0.5, on a scale from 1 to 5). Some of the variables considered from the study were gender, level of education, living environment and country, for which significant differences were found between groups. The highest level of knowledge was found for women, with university degree, from Portugal and living in urban areas. As a conclusion, it was possible to see that, in general, the participants in the study were quite well informed about the benefits of DF for the improvement of human health.

Dietary fibre (DF) has been recognized as a major determinant for improvement of health. Hence the means of information through which people become aware of its benefits are crucial. This work aimed at studying the sources of information about DF, as a means to educate people about aspects related to healthy eating. Factors such as gender, level of education, living environment or country were evaluated as to their effect on the selection of sources and preferences. For this, a descriptive cross-sectional study by means of a questionnaire, applied to a non-probabilistic sample of 6010 participants from 10 countries in different continents (Europe, Africa and America), answered after informed consent by all participants. For the analysis were used several descriptive statistics tools, crosstabs and chi square test to assess the relations between some of the variables under study. The results showed that mostly the information about DF comes from the internet, but the participants recognize that television might be a most suitable way to disseminate information about DF. The results also indicated differences between genders, levels of education, living environments and countries. The internet, the preferred source of information, got highest scores for Hungary, for urban areas, for university level of education and for female gender. The radio, the least scored source of information, was preferred in Egypt, for men and with lower education (primary school). As a conclusion, people get information through the internet due to easy access. However, it is to some extent a risk given the impossibility to control de information made public on the internet. The role of health centers and hospitals as well as schools should definitely be increased, as a responsible way to ensure correct information.

Lipid oxidation is one of the major degradation reactions in heated oils, which results in a significant loss of quality. Microwave heating is commonly applied in both domestic cooking and food catering. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was recently utilized to assess thermoxidative stability of vegetable oils subjected to conventional heating; however, few reports have dealt with the application of this technique to the evaluation of thermal properties of microwave heated oils and, to the authors’ knowledge, this aspect has not been faced in olive oils yet. The aim of this work was to evaluate the influence of exposure time to microwave heating on DSC thermal properties of three commercial categories of olive oil for direct human consumption (extra virgin olive oil (EVOo), olive oil (Oo), pomace olive oil (POo)). Oil samples were placed in 250 mL open flasks, microwaved (at 2450 MHz, 0.72 kW) for 1.5, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 min, and then cooled to 25°C in the darkness before analysis. Temperatures reached by the oils were determined immediately after microwaving with calibrated K-type thermocouples. Thermograms of the heated oils were obtained by means of DSC (DSC Q100, TA Instruments, New Castle, DE) by cooling from 30 to -80°C at 2°C/min, holding 3 min at -80°C and heating from -80 to 30°C at 2°C/min. Enthalpy (H, J/g), onset (Ton), and offset (Toff) temperatures of the transitions were obtained. Chemical oxidative parameters of the oils (free acidity, peroxide value (POV) and p-anisidine value (PAV)), were also measured. Thermo-oxidation affected the crystallization process of both EVOo and POo, significantly increasing the transition enthalpy and shifting Ton towards higher temperatures. Moreover, crystallization occurred over a larger temperature range, probably due to the interaction of lipid oxidation molecules and free fatty acids with triacylglycerol crystals. This may be related to the higher increase of PAV and free acidity in EVOo and Poo, as compared to Oo. The lineshape of the melting curves significantly changed in EVOo and POo; in fact, the smaller endothermic event peaked at higher temperature and slowly disappeared with increasing treatment- time. On the contrary, Oo exhibited few changes in its thermal properties, induced by the microwave process.

The EC Council of Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1513/2001) have recently redefined commercial categories of olive oil and olive-pomace oil to avoid misleading of consumers and operators and to preserve high-quality products. DSC has proven to be able to differentiate monovarietal extra virgin olive oil and good correlation between thermal properties and chemical composition has been reported. The aim of this work was to characterize different commercial olive oils by means of DSC cooling and heating thermograms. Samples of extra virgin olive oil, refined olive oil, olive oil, refined olive-pomace oil and olive-pomace oil were analyzed by means of DSC (DSC Q100, TA Instruments, New Castle, DE). All samples were cooled from 30 to -80°C at 2°C/min, held at -80°C and heated from -80 to 30°C at 2°C/min. Enthalpy (H, J/g), onset (Ton), and offset (Toff) temperatures, as well as range of transitions, were obtained. Crystallization profiles of all samples showed two well defined exothermic events, a minor one at about -15°C and a major one at about -39°C. Crystallization of pomace oils had significantly lower enthalpy that the other samples, starting at higher temperature and developing over a larger range of temperature. Heating profiles exhibited more marked differences. Two well defined endothermic events were observed at about -6 and 7°C. Lineshapes of the melting event peaking at higher temperature, were found to be different for the various olive oil categories. An additional endothermic peak at lower temperature was found in the refined olive oil, while the other oils exhibited an exothermic event which was more pronounced in pomace samples. Both refined oils displayed higher melting enthalpy and larger range of transition than their corresponding blends with virgin oil.