Production and Marketing of Low-Alcohol Wine

Moderate wine consumption may be associated with specific health benefits and a healthy lifestyle. However, increased amounts of ethanol are cytotoxic and associated with adverse health outcomes. Alcohol reduction in wine might be an avenue to reduce alcohol related harm without forcing consumers to compromise on lifestyle and benefit from positive aspects of moderate consumption. The aim of this review is to give an overview of viticultural and pre and post fermentation methods to produce low-alcohol wine, and to summarize the current evidence on the consumer acceptance and behaviour related to low-alcohol wine. Strategies for the labelling and marketing of wines with reduced alcohol content are discussed

Improvement of meal composition by vegetable variety

Abstract Objective Our physical environment influences our daily food choices unconsciously. Strategic changes in the food environment might therefore be potential measures to influence consumers' food selection towards better nutrition, without affecting the consumers' freedom of choice. The present study aimed to examine whether increased vegetable variety enhances healthy food choices and improves meal composition. Design A randomised experiment. Setting Participants were instructed to serve themselves a lunch from a buffet of food replicas. Individuals were randomly assigned to one of three food combinations: condition A - cooked carrots, pasta and chicken; condition B - cooked green garden beans, pasta and chicken; condition AB - carrot sticks, green garden beans, pasta and chicken. Two one-vegetable conditions were compared with one two-vegetable condition. Data from Zurich, Switzerland, were analysed using one-way ANOVA. Subjects Ninety-eight students (fifty-three men; mean age 22·8 (sd 2·2) years, minimum = 19 years, maximum = 29 years). Results Participants who could choose from two vegetables derived significantly more energy (141 kJ) from vegetables compared with participants in the one-vegetable condition (104 and 84 kJ, respectively). Furthermore, in the two-vegetable condition, the relative energy of the meal derived from vegetables (10·9 %) increased significantly compared with the one-vegetable condition (8 % and 6·1 %, respectively). The total energy content of the meal (mean 1472 (sd 468) kJ) was not affected by the experimental manipulation. Conclusions Having a choice of vegetables increases a person's tendency to choose vegetables and leads to the selection of a more balanced meal. Serving an assortment of vegetables as side dishes might be a simple and effective strategy to improve food selectio

Nutrients for Money: The Relationship between Portion Size, Nutrient Density and Consumer Choices

Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for chronic disease and in the past 40–50 years portion sizes of offered foods, especially energy-dense, nutrient poor varieties, have dramatically increased along with global rates of overweight and obesity. Studies have shown that offering larger portion sizes result in increased food intake, known as the ‘portion size effect’. This is likely due to consumption norms, the expected satiation and satiety of larger portions and the effect of unit bias. In addition, inconsistencies between serving sizes on nutrition information labelling compared to national dietary guidelines, makes it difficult for consumers to estimate and select appropriate portion sizes. Consumers find larger portion sizes more appealing due to their perceived value for money however, the nutritive value of the food is most often not acknowledged. Nutrient profiling models, which classify foods based on their nutrient density per unit cost may help consumers make healthier food choices. This narrative review aims to provide an overview of the portion size effect and discusses the application of nutrient profile score-based labels as a means of promoting nutrient density as value for money to influence consumer choices

A Bibliometric Review of Digital Nudging within Digital Food Choice Environments

People increasingly make choices about their food intake in digital environments (e.g., online food delivery, online grocery shopping, online school canteens). Given the critical role of diet quality as a key driver for non-communicable disease, it is vital to understand how to design such systems to facilitate healthy food choice through digital nudging. To better understand the impact of digital technologies on food choice, we need to understand the knowledge structure of previous literature. A systematic review of literature identified 83 relevant publications which have been included in this study. Bibliometric analyses were used to map out the knowledge structure, historical roots, and evolution. Reference year spectroscopy, co-word analysis and co-citation analysis were used. Findings show digital nudging is a rapid growing field with strong historical roots in psychology. Additionally, current literature is utilizing psychological theories during the development of digital technologies aimed at nudging consumers towards healthier food options

Consumer Understanding, Perception and Interpretation of Serving Size Information on Food Labels: A Scoping Review

Theincreaseinpackagedfoodandbeverageportionsizeshasbeenidentifiedasapotential factorimplicatedintheriseoftheprevalenceofobesity. Inthiscontext,theobjectiveofthissystematic scopingreviewwastoinvestigatehowhealthyadultsperceiveandinterpretservingsizeinformation on food packages and how this influences product perception and consumption. Such knowledge is needed to improve food labelling understanding and guide consumers toward healthier portion size choices. A search of seven databases (2010 to April 2019) provided the records for title and abstract screening, with relevant articles assessed for eligibility in the full-text. Fourteen articles met the inclusion criteria, with relevant data extracted by one reviewer and checked for consistency by a second reviewer. Twelve studies were conducted in North America, where the government regulates serving size information. Several studies reported a poor understanding of serving size labelling. Indeed, consumers interpreted the labelled serving size as a recommended serving for dietary guidelines for healthy eating rather than a typical consumption unit, which is set by the manufacturer or regulated in some countries such as in the U.S. and Canada. Not all studies assessed consumption; however, larger labelled serving sizes resulted in larger self-selected portion sizes in three studies. However, another study performed on confectionary reported the opposite effect, with largerlabelledservingsizesleadingtoreducedconsumption. Thelimitednumberofincludedstudies showedthatlabelledservingsizeaffectsportionsizeselectionandconsumption,andthatanylabelled serving size format changes may result in increased portion size selection, energy intake and thus contribute to the rise of the prevalence of overweight and obesity. Research to test cross-continentally labelled serving size format changes within experimental and natural settings (e.g., at home) are needed. In addition, tailored, comprehensive and serving-size-specific food literacy initiatives need to be evaluated to provide recommendations for effective serving size labelling. This is required to ensure the correct understanding of nutritional content, as well as informing food choices and consumption, for both core foods and discretionary foods. Keywords: serving size; portion size; food labeling; nutrition facts label; back of pack; front of pack; health framin

Vegetable variety: an effective strategy to increase vegetable choice in children

Abstract Objective Most children do not meet the recommended intake of vegetables. Variety was identified as a potential factor to increase children's intake of these foods, as it was shown that variety was effective in improving meal composition in adults. Because younger children are suggested to be more responsive to internal satiation signals than to external food-related cues compared with adults, it is not clear whether variety is effective to improve meal composition in 7- to 10-year-old children. Design Experiment. Setting Children were assigned one of three different fake food buffets containing pasta, chicken, and either one vegetable (carrots or beans) or two vegetables (carrots and beans). The children were asked to serve themselves a meal that they would like to eat for lunch from the given selection. Subjects One hundred children (fifty-two boys; mean age 8·8 (sd 1·1) years). Results Children given the two-vegetable choice served themselves significantly more energy from vegetables (mean 64 (sd 51) kJ, 10·9 (sd 9·4) %) compared with children who were offered only either carrots (mean 37 (sd 25) kJ, 5·9 (sd 6·5) %) or beans (mean 38 (sd 34) kJ, 5·6 (sd 6·3) %). The total energy of the meal was not increased, indicating that children chose a more balanced lunch when offered more vegetables. Conclusions School-aged children are responsive to food-related cues and variety is effective in increasing their vegetable choice. Serving an assortment of vegetables in school cafeterias might be a simple and effective strategy to improve children's nutritio

The Impact of Nutrition and Health Claims on Consumer Perceptions and Portion Size Selection: Results from a Nationally Representative Survey

Nutrition and health claims on foods can help consumers make healthier food choices. However, claims may have a ‘halo’ effect, influencing consumer perceptions of foods and increasing consumption. Evidence for these effects are typically demonstrated in experiments with small samples, limiting generalisability. The current study aimed to overcome this limitation through the use of a nationally representative survey. In a cross-sectional survey of 1039 adults across the island of Ireland, respondents were presented with three different claims (nutrition claim = “Low in fat”; health claim = “With plant sterols. Proven to lower cholesterol”; satiety claim = “Fuller for longer”) on four different foods (cereal, soup, lasagne, and yoghurt). Participants answered questions on perceived healthiness, tastiness, and fillingness of the products with different claims and also selected a portion size they would consume. Claims influenced fillingness perceptions of some of the foods. However, there was little influence of claims on tastiness or healthiness perceptions or the portion size selected. Psychological factors such as consumers’ familiarity with foods carrying claims and belief in the claims were the most consistent predictors of perceptions and portion size selection. Future research should identify additional consumer factors that may moderate the relationships between claims, perceptions, and consumption

A methodological proposal to estimate changes of residential property value: case study developed in Bogota

This article is an empirical study of residential land values in the vicinity of the TransMilenio system (Bus Rapid Transit, BRT) in Bogota´ (Colombia). The results have been established through impact evaluation by means of nonparameteric approaches (Propensity Score Matching, PSM) and econometric approaches (Spatial Hedonic Price, SHP) indicating that access to the BRT system generates benefits on the change of property value

Development of the Home Cooking EnviRonment and Equipment Inventory Observation form (Home-CookERITM): An Assessment of Content Validity, Face Validity, and Inter-Rater Agreement

Introduction: Quantifying Home Cooking EnviRonments has applications in nutrition epidemiology, health promotion, and nutrition interventions. This study aimed to develop a tool to quantify household cooking environments and establish its content validity, face validity, and inter-rater agreement. Methods: The Home Cooking EnviRonment and equipment Inventory observation form (Home-CookERI™) was developed as a 24-question (91-item) online survey. Items included domestic spaces and resources for storage, disposal, preparation, and cooking of food or non-alcoholic beverages. Home-CookERITM was piloted to assess content validity, face validity, and usability with six Australian experts (i.e., dietitians, nutrition researchers, chefs, a food technology teacher, and a kitchen designer) and 13 laypersons. Pilot participants provided feedback in a 10 min telephone interview. Home-CookERI™ was modified to an 89-item survey in line with the pilot findings. Inter-rater agreement was examined between two trained raters in 33 unique Australian households. Raters were required to observe each item before recording a response. Home occupants were instructed to only assist with locating items if asked. Raters were blinded to each other’s responses. Inter-rater agreement was calculated by Cohen’s Kappa coefficient (κ) for each item. To optimize κ, similar items were grouped together reducing the number of items to 81. Results: Home-CookERITM had excellent content and face validity with responding participants; all 24 questions were both clear and relevant (X2 (1, n = 19; 19.0, p = 0.392)). Inter-rater agreement for the modified 81-item Home-CookERI™ was almost-perfect to perfect for 46% of kitchen items (n = 37 items, κ = 0.81–1), moderate to substantial for 28% (n = 23, κ = 0.51–0.8), slight to fair for 15% (n = 12, κ = 0.01–0.5), and chance or worse for 11% of items (n = 9, κ ≤ 0.0). Home-CookERITM was further optimized by reduction to a 77-item version, which is now available to researchers. Conclusion: Home-CookERI™ is a comprehensive tool for quantifying Australian household cooking environments. It has excellent face and content validity and moderate to perfect inter-rater agreement for almost three-quarters of included kitchen items. To expand Home-CookERI™ applications, a home occupant self-completion version is planned for validatio

A Review of CAM for Procedural Pain in Infancy: Part I. Sucrose and Non-nutritive Sucking

There is increasing concern regarding the number of painful medical procedures that infants must undergo and the potential risks of alleviating infant pain with conventional pharmacologic agents. This article is Part I of a two-part series that aims to provide an overview of the literature on complementary and alternative (CAM) approaches for pain and distress related to medical procedures among infants up to six weeks of age. The focus of this article is a review of the empirical literature on sucrose with or without non-nutritive sucking (NNS) for procedural pain in infancy. Computerized databases were searched for relevant studies including prior reviews and primary trials. The most robust evidence was found for the analgesic effects of sucrose with or without NNS on minor procedural pain in healthy full-term infants. Despite some methodological weaknesses, the literature to date supports the use of sucrose, NNS and other sweetened solutions for the management of procedural pain in infancy