PRESERVING WATER QUALITY IN AGRICULTURE: BIOBED ROTATION TO VERTICAL

Up to 95% of the contamination of surface water by pesticides comes from on-farm point sources in connection with washing and preparation operations. This contamination is a growing concern for environment and human health. Because of their efficiency, their low cost and their friendly and simple use, Biobeds were recognized as the best tool to treat these pesticide effluents. Assuming a single passage of the effluent through the Biobed followed by release of the percolate, the research focused on the efficiency of the depuration after a single percolation. Accounting for unknown hazards such as metabolites and bound residues leads, however, local rules in Europe to enjoin a recycling of the effluent until full evaporation to prevent any release in the environment. Managed as such, we show that the Biobeds are waterlogged and no longer perform the elimination of the effluent. This induces large hazards of either direct volatilization or effluent release, and goes with increased costs, dissatisfaction or demotivation of the farmers, thus jeopardizing the development of this solution. Accounting for these new depuration conditions leads to a new Biobed paradigm, namely optimization of the transpiration of the water rather than optimization of the single percolation depuration, which leads to sharp changes in Biobed forms, content and management. Moreover, the corresponding new system shows larger performance, decreased space and maintenance requirements, and improved aesthetics. This is shown in the present study based on compared monitoring of the systems performance, hydrodynamics and substrate conditions during use.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Aporte de aminoácidos esenciales en mezclas alimenticias de origen vegetal por métodos computacionales

En la actualidad existen personas que optan por una alimentación mayormente vegetariana, sin embargo, la limitante sería la calidad proteica de los alimentos de origen vegetal, por ello es necesario identificar alimentos y sus mezclas las cuales cumplan con el requerimiento aminoacídico. El objetivo de la investigación fue determinar, por métodos computacionales, el aporte aminoacídico de combinaciones entre cereales, granos andinos y leguminosas, por el método PDCAAS. A su vez se logró optimizar las mejores mezclas proteicas de acuerdo con el patrón de referencia sugerido por la FAO. Los alimentos seleccionados fueron: arroz, avena, Kiwicha, Tarwi, cañihua, quinua, Maiz, soya, garbanzo, lenteja y haba, las cuales se combinaron en 67 mezclas (corridas), siendo 26 mezclas significativas, ya que cumplían con el patrón de referencia de adultos y escolares, luego se obtuvieron 95 mezclas optimas en base a referencia del grupo etario de 0.5 años, estas presentaron alimentos predominantes como la quinua, Kiwicha, soya y lenteja, en base a estos alimentos se realizó una segunda optimización obteniendo 94 mezclas optimas finales, expresadas en rangos, teniendo como mayor influyente en las mezclas, siendo su uso de kiwicha: 0-54%; quinua: 32-64%; soya: 3-44% y lenteja 0-33%, cumpliendo con el requerimiento en lisina 58 mg/g, Aminoácidos azufrados 31mg/g, treonina 34 mg/g y triptófano 10mg/g. En conclusión, se resaltó la importancia del contenido y aporte de aminoácidos esenciales en la dieta, adicional estas mezclas pueden ser destinadas a la sustitución en diferentes áreas como panificación, bebidas, análogos, entre otros.JULIACAIngeniería de Industrias AlimentariasProcesamiento, seguridad y gestión en la industria alimentari

Food choice determinants and perceptions of a healthy diet among Italian consumers

Healthy food choices are crucial for a healthy lifestyle. However, food choices are complex and affected by various factors. Understanding the determinant factors affecting food choices could aid policy-makers in designing better strategies to promote healthy food choices in the general public. This study aims to evaluate the food choice motivations and to segment consumer groups, according to their food choice motivations, in a sample of 531 Italian consumers (collected by convenience sampling), through offline and online survey platforms. K-means cluster analysis was applied to identify consumer groups using six food choice motivation categories (health, emotional, economic and availability, social and cultural, environmental and political, and marketing and commercial). The results suggest that the strongest determinants for the food choices of Italian consumers are Environmental factors and Health. Two consumer profiles were identified through the segmentation analysis: Emotional eating and Health-driven consumers. The respondents were found to have a good awareness of what comprises a healthy diet. There is a potential market for healthy and sustainable food products, especially products with minimal or environmentally friendly packages. Food labels and information strategies could be promoted as tools to assist consumers to make healthy food choices

Factors Affecting the Body Mass Index in Adolescents in Portuguese Schools

The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children is increasing; hence, it was aimed to assess the Body Mass Index (BMI) in school children aged from 10 to 18 years for girls and to 17 for boys, as well as to identify the factors influencing BMI. This study included 742 students who answered a questionnaire previously approved for application in schools. The results showed some sociodemographic factors associated with BMI classes: age, school year, practicing high competition sport, being federate in a sport or having a vegetarian diet. The educational factors associated with BMI classes included only seminars given at school by a nutritionist. Behavioural factors significantly associated with BMI included: learning in classes, playing in the open air, reading books or use of internet. As conclusion, the results demonstrated that several factors affect BMI, and hence some actions could be taken in order to change them so as to reduce the prevalence of overweight, namely reinforcing the role of school and a more active participation of nutritionists in the education of the adolescents

Romanian Population Perception about Food Risk Behavior Starting from their Social and Cultural Profile

Our goal was to assess the Romanian’s food behavior according to their socio-cultural profile, in order to identify food behavior at risk and implement educational prevention methods. We performed a study based on the assessment of lifestyle and social aspects, based on an international project validated questionnaire of 26 questions, applied online in 2018 to a group of 821 adults, in Romania. The results underlined that socio-economic status was a contributing factor in food choices, people with low socio-economic status opted for low-price food, especially the elderly (40%). Regarding the preference for eating alone related to gender, both the female respondents (37.8%) and the males (50.6%) mostly disagreed, with statistical significance for males (p<0.022), also males were more influenced about what other people are eating (p<0.045). It is needed to implement new educational strategies, both in schools and adults communities, in order to reduce the risks for future chronic diseases

Food behavior, social aspects and nutritional status in Romania

George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology, Targu Mures, Romania, CI&DETS/CERNAS Research Centres, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Campus Politécnico, Viseu, PortugalIntroduction. Health status is directly linked with nutritional status, life style and food behaviour. There are 4 Health Indicators: Health Conscience, Health Information Orientation, Health-Oriented Beliefs, and Healthy Activities. People who are health conscious have a positive attitude towards preventive measures such as healthy eating. Health information refers to the extent to which an individual is willing to seek health information. At the cognitive level, health orientation is manifested in the field of health beliefs, which refers to the specific cognitions held by individuals about health behaviors. Also, health-oriented individuals are more likely to engage in healthy activities than other people in the population. The four aspects of the health orientation mentioned suggest the differences between individuals in the context of their sources of information in the health field. Our aim was to evaluate connections between social characteristics, nutritional status data and food behaviour, in a Romanian population sample. Material and methods. We followed a qualitative cross-sectional study based on screening of 751 Romanian adults from different regions of our country, which was carried out in 2018. We used a validated questionnaire from an international project, based on 26 specific questions, filled in online, regarding their nutritional and social data completed by their attitudes and information towards food behaviour. In our group, 68.7% were women, one quarter had over 50 years old, 82.3% were from urban areas and almost 2/3rds were higly educated. Results. We obtained a positive correlation between demographic parameters and the BMI, also healthy food behaviors were more frequent at women versus man. On the opposite, the confidence of men upon the information about healthy eating from the internet was higher than that of women. The number of hours/day spent watching TV or in front of the computer was positively correlated with age and also with their BMI. A high education level was significantly positively associated with healthier choices regarding nutrition practices. Health status in relation with nutritional status showed us that the most concerned group for their diet was those who suffered from different pathologies especially cardiovascular disorders. We obtained no significant associations among BMI, environment, current professional activity, responsibility for eating, and physical activity. Conclusions. Nutritionists, specialists in medicine, and food stakeholders should promote healthy diets through adequate sources of information aimed at target groups. Multidisciplinary teams should develop a more efficient strategy to motivate people to make healthy eating choices and improve population food behavior

Food choices as influenced by environmental concerns: study involving participants from 16 countries

The activities related to food production, processing, handling, transportation, storage and disposal of food products have an important impact on sustainability. Hence, people's food choices also contribute for the definition of the extension of this impact and therefore this work aimed at studying some motivations that influence people's eating habits. This was an observational, cross-sectional study, undertaken on a non-probabilistic sample of 11960 participants form 16 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Romania, United States of America). The survey was undertaken by means of a questionnaire of self-response, applied only to adult citizens. The results obtained indicated that a great number of participants admit to shape their food choices according to some environmental concerns, like, for example, they prefer foods from the season or those that comply with sustainable processing and packaging. Regarding the food surplus, this seems a priority to avoid at home, but not so much when it comes to restaurants. Factor analysis indicated two types of concerns: Purely Environmental Concerns (PEC) and Sustainability allied to Quality Concerns (SQC), and cluster analysis showed that 54% of the participants tend to make their food choices considering both types of concerns, which is very expressive and positive towards sustainability of the food chain

Influence of sociodemographic factors on eating motivations - modelling through artificial neural networks (ANN)

This study aimed at investigating the influence of some sociodemographic factors on the eating motivations. A longitudinal study was carried conducted with 11960 participants from 16 countries. Data analysis included t-test for independent samples or ANOVA, and neural network models were also created, to relate the input and output variables. Results showed that factors like age, marital status, country, living environment, level of education or professional area significantly influenced all of the studied types of eating motivations. Neural networks modelling indicated variability in the food choices, but identifying some trends, for example the strongest positive factor determining health motivations was age, while for emotional motivations was living environment, and for economic and availability motivations was gender. On the other hand, country revealed a high positive influence for the social and cultural as well as for environmental and political and also for marketing and commercial motivations.This is the peer-reviewed version of the following article: Guine, R. P. F.; Ferrao, A. C.; Ferreira, M.; Correia, P.; Mendes, M.; Bartkiene, E.; Szucs, V.; Tarcea, M.; Matek-Sarić, M.; Cernelić-Bizjak, M.; Isoldi, K.; EL-Kenawy, A.; Ferreira, V.; Klava, D.; Korzeniowska, M.; Vittadini, E.; Leal, M.; Frez-Munoz, L.; Papageorgiou, M.; Djekić, I. Influence of Sociodemographic Factors on Eating Motivations - Modelling through Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition 2020, 71 (5), 614–627. [https://doi.org/10.1080/09637486.2019.1695758]

Water activity in liquid food systems : A molecular scale interpretation

Water activity has historically been and continues to be recognised as a key concept in the area of food science. Despite its ubiquitous utilisation, it still appears as though there is confusion concerning its molecular basis, even within simple, single component solutions. Here, by close examination of the well-known Norrish equation and subsequent application of a rigorous statistical theory, we are able to shed light on such an origin. Our findings highlight the importance of solute-solute interactions thus questioning traditional, empirically based “free water” and “water structure” hypotheses. Conversely, they support the theory of “solute hydration and clustering” which advocates the interplay of solute-solute and solute-water interactions but crucially, they do so in a manner which is free of any estimations and approximations