Improved Quantification of Prostaglandins in Biological Samples by Optimizing Simultaneously the Relationship Eicosanoid/Internal-Standard and Using Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Although a wide variety of articles on quantification of eicosanoids by using internal standards are published every year, little has been done on how much internal standard should be added. This article demonstrates that the application of experimental design enables estimating the interaction eicosanoid/internal-standard and to select confidently an optimal amount of internal standard and a response factor (RF) for the analysis of eicosanoids in a high number of samples, where the amount of sample is limited and the unknown levels of eicosanoids are spanned in a wide range of concentrations. The results revealed that the interaction eicosanoid/internal-standard is an important factor that affects the validity of the RF and subsequently the accuracy of the analysis

Improved Quantification of Prostaglandins in Biological Samples by Optimizing Simultaneously the Relationship Eicosanoid/Internal-Standard and Using Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Although a wide variety of articles on quantification of eicosanoids by using internal standards are published every year, little has been done on how much internal standard should be added. This article demonstrates that the application of experimental design enables estimating the interaction eicosanoid/internal-standard and to select confidently an optimal amount of internal standard and a response factor (RF) for the analysis of eicosanoids in a high number of samples, where the amount of sample is limited and the unknown levels of eicosanoids are spanned in a wide range of concentrations. The results revealed that the interaction eicosanoid/internal-standard is an important factor that affects the validity of the RF and subsequently the accuracy of the analysis.acceptedVersio

Staff feeding practices, food neophobia, and educational level in early education and care settings: A cross-sectional study

publishedVersionPaid Open Acces

Association between sociodemographic determinants and health behaviors, and clustering of health risk behaviors among 28,047 adults : a cross-sectional study among adults from the general Norwegian population

Background: Understanding the associations between health behaviors and which subgroups are at risk of developing health risk behaviors is vital knowledge to develop effective public health interventions to reduce the high prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The objective of the study was to assess the association between physical activity, diet, tobacco use, and alcohol consumption and sociodemographic determinants (sex and education), and to examine clustering patterns of these health behaviors. Method: Data was collected from an online self-reported questionnaire from the Norwegian public health survey conducted in 2019. The study sample consisted of 28,047 adults (≥18 years old) from Agder county in Southern Norway. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analysis were used to determine the association between sex and education according to physical activity, diet, tobacco use and alcohol consumption. Linear regression was used to examine the association between educational level and number of health risk behaviors, and cluster analysis were performed to determine cluster patterns. Results: Females were more likely than men to meet the national public health recommendations for diet (p<0.001), tobacco use (p<0.01), and alcohol consumption (p<0.001). High education was associated with meeting the recommendations for each of the four health behaviors and with a lower risk of having three or four health risk behaviors simultaneously. Furthermore, clustering of health risk behaviors was observed in five of the sixteen health behavior patterns. Conclusion: Our findings show a higher risk of having multiple health risk behaviors for males and individuals with low education, and these subgroup findings could inform public health policy and be target goals in future publicpublishedVersio

Food and health teachers’ experience of online teaching of a practical school subject during the initial Corona lockdown

When the Norwegian authorities closed all schools with immediate effect on March 12th 2020 due to Coronavirus, teachers had to find new strategies for educating their pupils online. Food and health are a compulsory subject in Norwegian primary and lower secondary schools, where the main focus is on practical cooking lessons. We hypothesised that practical subjects like food and health would be difficult to perform online. Therefore, we aimed to investigate how food and health teachers carried out their teaching and evaluated the pupils in this challenging situation. A short online survey was developed. An invitation to respond was sent by email to all primary and lower secondary schools containing a link to the survey. The survey included questions about the teachers’ digital tools, how they communicated with the pupils, and how pupils documented their work. A total of 817 food and health teachers responded, and 710 of them completed the full survey. After excluding teachers who had only answered the demographic questions, we ended up with 751 participants. Most teachers taught food and health in 5th-7th grade (44%) and 8th-10th grade (51%). Only 5 % were teaching at 1st-4th grade. 86% of the respondents were women. The most widely used teaching tool used for online teaching was videos found on the internet, closely followed by digital learning platforms. Regarding documentation of the pupils’ work, photos and log were most frequently used. Written communication in digital platforms and video conference was the most preferred tools for keeping contact with the pupils. Although most of the teachers stated that they had changed a lot on both their planned teaching and teaching practice, the majority did not find the teaching, follow-up nor assessment of the pupils too challenging, and most of them were satisfied with their teaching.publishedVersionPaid open acces

Rammefaktorenes påvirkning for gjennomføring av skolelunsj i norske skoler

Over the course of 1st to 10th grade, every school student will consume nearly 2,000 lunches, and how schools plan this meal can be of great importance to the students. This chapter addresses various factors related to planning and providing the daily lunch meal in Norwegian school with the research question: Which promotive and inhibitive framework factors influence the implementation of school lunch in Norwegian primary and lower secondary school? Physical factors such as kitchen equipment, kitchens and dining rooms are important for the success of food and meals in school, depending on the type of school meal provision plan. Resource factors, such as staffing, and organizational factors are also important, as well as pedagogical and student factors. This chapter discusses promotive and inhibitive framework factors for the implementation of school lunches at Norwegian primary and lower secondary schools, primarily via the national professional guidelines for food and meals in schools. Today’s practice is also reviewed, and knowledge gaps as well as opportunities for new thinking and practical examples from the Norwegian context are presented.publishedVersio

Betydningen av mat og måltider for læring i grunnskolen

While primary and lower secondary school students in Norway have a relatively healthy diet, there are some weaknesses. Not all students eat breakfast at home/school or lunch at school. The school is an important arena for universal food and meal efforts targeting all students, which is important for their learning in the short and long term. Through a narrative/traditional review, this article investigates the research question: What impact do food and meals have on learning in primary and lower secondary schools? We focus on how food and meals affect concentration, school performance/results and social learning. Systematic reviews show that breakfast is important for short-term concentration and school results. Likewise, school lunch is associated with improved dietary quality, school attendance and academic achievement. School meals also impact social learning, e.g. eating routines, communication/friendship and broader societal issues of identity and connection to the community. Possibilities for promoting these outcomes in the Norwegian school system are presented, focusing on current curricula and policy documents. There is potential to strengthen the focus on food and meals, as well as the connection between food and learning in schools.publishedVersio

Duodenal administered seal oil for patients with subjective food hypersensitivity: an explorative open pilot study

Short-term duodenal administration of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)-rich seal oil may improve gastrointestinal complaints in patients with subjective food hypersensitivity, as well as joint pain in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The aim of the present explorative pilot study was to investigate whether 10-day open treatment with seal oil, 10 mL self-administrated via a nasoduodenal tube 3 times daily, could also benefit nongastrointestinal complaints and quality of life (QoL) in patients with subjective food hypersensitivity. Twenty-six patients with subjective food hypersensitivity, of whom 25 had irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), were included in the present study. Before and after treatment and 1 month posttreatment, patients filled in the Ulcer Esophagitis Subjective Symptoms Scale (UESS) and the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS) for gastrointestinal symptoms and subjective health complaints (SHC) inventory for nongastrointestinal symptoms in addition to short form of the Nepean dyspepsia index (SF-NDI) for evaluation of QoL. Compared with baseline, gastrointestinal, as well as nongastrointestinal, complaints and QoL improved significantly, both at end of treatment and 1 month posttreatment. The consistent improvements following seal oil administration warrant further placebo-controlled trials for confirmation of effect

Short-term duodenal seal oil administration normalised n-6 to n-3 fatty acid ratio in rectal mucosa and ameliorated bodily pain in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

BACKGROUND: A high dietary intake of n-6 compared to n-3 fatty acids (FAs) may promote the production of pro-inflammatory eicosanoids and cytokines. In two recent studies, short-term (10-day) duodenal administration of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid rich seal oil ameliorated joint pain in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Using unpublished data from these two studies we here investigated whether normalisation of the n-6 to n-3 FA ratio in blood and tissues by seal oil administration was associated with improved health related quality of life (HRQOL) as assessed by the generic short-form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire. RESULTS: In the first pilot study, baseline n-6 to n-3 FA ratio in rectal mucosal biopsies from 10 patients with IBD (9 of those had joint pain) was significantly increased compared with that in 10 control patients without IBD or joint pain. Following seal oil administration, the n-6 to n-3 FA ratio of the IBD-patients was significantly lowered to the level seen in untreated controls. In the subsequent, randomized controlled study (n = 19), seal oil administration reduced the n-6 to n-3 FA ratio in blood similarly and also the SF-36 assessed bodily pain, while n-6 FA rich soy oil administration had no such effect. CONCLUSION: In these two separate studies, short-term duodenal administration of seal oil normalised the n-6 to n-3 FA ratio in rectal mucosa and improved the bodily pain dimension of HRQOL of patients with IBD-related joint pain. The possibility of a causal relationship between n-6 to n-3 FA ratio in rectal mucosa and bodily pain in IBD-patients warrants further investigations

Wow! They really like celeriac! Kindergarten teachers' experiences of an intervention to increase 1-year-olds' acceptance of vegetables

Abstract Exposure to varied foods in early life is important for short- and long-term health and development. Strategically introducing toddlers to new vegetables is not a common practice in Norwegian kindergartens. Therefore, we developed, conducted, and evaluated a web-based cluster randomised kindergarten intervention, Pre-schoolers’ Food Courage 2.0. The purpose of the current qualitative study was to explore kindergarten teachers' experience of implementing this intervention and what they thought facilitated the positive impact of the intervention reported in the quantitative evaluation. Ten individual telephonic interviews with kindergarten teachers who took part in the intervention study were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. Data were transcribed verbatim and subjected to thematic analysis. Five main themes were identified: 1) One-year-olds love food and renewal of the menus was inspiring; 2) One-year-olds are surprisingly willing to try and accept novel foods; 3) Novel food at meals stimulate social interaction; and 4) The Sapere method is a fun and explorative activity for 1-year-olds. These four themes were the features perceived as the effective elements of the intervention by the kindergarten teachers. The fifth main theme was: 5) Sustained impact on kindergarten teachers’ practices and beliefs. The kindergarten teachers found the intervention easy to implement, and they were surprised by the foods 1-year-olds like and how the intervention increased their food acceptance. This age window of opportunity seems to be underused in kindergartens. By using the strategies described in the intervention, kindergarten staff effectively took advantage of this opportunity and consequently, child and kindergarten staff behaviour in relation to food was enhanced. Interventions targeting healthy feeding practices may potentially have a long-term public health impact by increasing food variety and vegetable intake in toddlers.publishedVersio