Culture-based prescribing to improve mental health: a scoping review protocol

Objective: The objective of this review is to investigate what is known about culture-based prescribing to improve mental health and well-being. Introduction: Culture-based prescribing, where a person is referred by a clinical professional to an arts or cultural activity aimed at improving mental health and well-being, is increasingly used as a community-based source of support. Although culture-based prescribing seems promising, the field is heterogeneous with respect to definition, underlying hypotheses, and cultural activity, and this hampers its further development and implementation. Inclusion criteria: We will consider publications that report on or explore culture-based prescribing to improve mental health and well-being for adults suffering from symptoms related to mental health conditions who are seeking care from any clinical professional. Methods: We will search 8 electronic literature databases for published or unpublished reports on culture-based prescribing, without time limits. We will also search for gray literature and screen reference lists of relevant reviews. No language restrictions will be applied during the screening process, but for data extraction, we will only extract studies in languages our team has proficiency in. The screening and data extraction will be performed by 2 reviewers, independently. Data analysis will be descriptive, with results tabulated separately for each subquestion. The results will be complemented with a narrative summary

Organic food and internal exposure to pollutants among Flemish adolescents

Abstract: Contrary to the initial hypothesis, Flemish adolescents who reported consuming organic food at least 7.5 times per week did not exhibit reduced internal exposure to the tested recently used pesticides. After adjustment for gender, age, country of origin, socioeconomic status, body mass index, consumption of high-fat foods and foods linked to organic food consumption, and concerning organochlorine derivatives and lead, additional adjustment for the duration of breastfeeding expressed in weeks, they displayed slightly elevated internal exposure to organochlorine derivatives, lead, methyl arsenate, and toxic relevant arsenic. A comparison was also made between the correlation of internal exposure to pollutants with the frequency of organic food consumption on one hand and the total consumption of equivalent products from all sources on the other. Regarding potatoes, vegetables, and fruits, no clear trends were observed. Regarding eggs, there was a trend towards higher internal exposures with organic food consumption, significant for trans-nonachlor, PCB118, and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, and marginally significant for glyphosate. For dairy, there was a trend towards higher internal exposures with organic food consumption, significant for perfluorononanoic acid and marginally significant for PCB153. Regarding nuts and seeds, the higher internal exposure to dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and the lower exposure to 3-phenoxybenzoic acid were marginally significant, while there was also a trend towards higher internal exposure to other pollutants with organic food consumption, significant for PCB118, PCB153, and sum PCBs, and marginally significant for trans-nonachlor. Concerning breakfast cereals and muesli, no clear trends were observed

Cultural prescribing to improve mental health: a scoping review protocol

A protocol for a scoping review on cultural prescribing for mental health