The consumption of acidophylus drinks and yogurts in selected population of pupils in years 2004 and 2008

The aim of this paper was to compare the frequency of consumption and the amount of consumed acidophylus drinks and yogurts at 427 respondents from various schools at the age between 12 and 26 years in two monitored years. 223 males and 204 females participaded at the survey. The questionaire again confirmed low level of yogurts and acidophylus drinks consumption. The consumption of white yogurts was confirmed only by 2 % of questioned pupils. Fruit yogurts are more popular among pupils and it is necessary to say that we registred the increase of fruit yogurts consumption in year 2008, mainly in cream fruit yogurts. The daily consumption of these increased with male population from 14.8 % in year 2004 to 26.2 % in year 2008. The significant increase of consumtption occured also with female population of half-fat yogurts and the similar trend was also niticed in low-fat fruit yogurts, mainly within the female population. The consumption of clabber, acidophylus drinks and buttermilk, according to our survey in year 2008 went up  in comparison with year 2004 in male population by 8.3 % and with female population by 9.5 %. Based on the monitored frequency of consumption a few times per week we detected growing trend in yogurt and acidophylus beverages, which we evaluate as the positive sing

Development of milk consumption and marketing analysis of its demand

The strategy of most households is to eliminate the negative effects of economic changes related mainly to the economic crisis by mobilizing available resources and reducing costs, but which cloud lead to a decrease in food consumption and changes in consumption patterns. Pensions and prices are factors that shape the demand for food and other estates. Both of these factors guarantee the economic viability of nutrition. Paper analyzes the development of the of milk consumption and level of its substitution by milk products. There was quantified the elasticity of demand and  estimated own price elasticity and income elasticity. For the past 17 years, consumption of milk, except cheese, cottage cheese, sour milk products and butter, decreased. Expressed by linear regression model in recent years (since 1995) in Slovakia occurred overall reduction in the consumption of milk and dairy products by an average of 0.988 kg per capita per year. This development was mainly conditioned by the annual descent of demand for milk, as its consumption with little variation in average decreased annually by up to 1.88 kg per capita. This development is largely due to the increase of milk prices and especially the increasing supply of a wide range of quality and flavored sour milk and cheese products. Acidified milk product consumption in recent observed years increased and is expressed by the average growth factor of 0.6748 kg per capita per year. Prognosis with a five percent risk of error of estimate could increase their consumption up to 13.936 kg per capita in 2014. Consumption of cheese and curd should the increase the current trend by an average of 0.0476 kg per person and would be able to achieve the level of consumption of 11.03 kg per capita in 2014

Changes of plasma lipids in relation to the regular consumption of bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus L.)

In this work we studied the impact of regular consumption of bilberries on the lipid profile and triglycerides in the blood plasma. The research involved 18 women (average age 49.7) and 7 men (average age 52.8), who consumed 150 g of bilberries three times a week for 6 weeks. Based on these results, we can conclude that the average total cholesterol levels of women decreased from 5.65 mmol.l-1 at the beginning of research to 5.11 mmol.l-1. At end of the study, the average total cholesterol was 5.47 mmol.l-1. Similar results were found in the LDL cholesterol - the level of cholesterol of the second blood collection dropped from 4.06 mmol.l-1 to 3.70 mmol.l-1 and at the end of  the study it increased again to 4.00 mmol.l-1. We observed a slight increase in HDL choleserol (by 0.07 mmol.l-1) and reduction of triglycerides (by 0.16 mmol.l-1). The total cholesterol monitored men due to the regular consumption of bilberries decreased by 0.36 mmol.l-1, LDL cholesterol by 0.31 mmol.l-1, HDL cholesterol by 0.49 mmol.l-1 and triglycerides by 0,49 mmol.l-1. The improvement of triglycerides and lipid profile in blood plasma of monitored subjects can by evaluated positively. The observed data confirm the biological activity of bilberries and the effectiveness of their use in prevention and comprehensive treatment of cardiovascular diseases

Antioxidant potential in selected species of small berry fruits

In our research, the antiradical activity (% inhibition DPPH) as quality indicator of selected species of small berry fruits were observed. The analysis of their antiradical activity have shown that the highest values of inhibition of DPPH were found in blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) (78.95 %) and lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.) (68.89 %). The lowest values were found in bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) from area Stará Ľubovňa (50.54 %) and red currant (Ribes rubrum L.) (51.51 %). Between all selected species were recorded statistically significant difference (P < 0.01). Generally, small berries are consumed because of their attractive colour and special taste. The objective of this research is to highlight on their the health benefits because are considered one group of the richest sources of natural antioxidants with higher antiradical activity.Keywords: small berries, antiradical activity, antioxidants, DPP

The occurence of risk factors of cardiovascular diseases and the effect of selected dietary habits on the lipid profile and body mass index

In a group of 204 randomly selected patients hospitalized in the Cardiocentre Nitra, of which 63 were women (30.88%) and 141 men (69.12%), we evaluated the prevalence of modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and the impact of dietary habits on the lipid profile and body mass index (BMI). We have recorded a high prevalence of risk factors, especially overweight and obesity, where 87.3% of women and 92.91% of men had BMI ≥25. Normal weight was observed only in 12.70% of women and in 7.09% of men. In the study group up to 60.32% of women and 57.45% of men had blood pressure higher than ≥130/85 mmHg. More than half of the respondents were simultaneously overweighted or obese together with high blood pressure occurence. The total cholesterol level higher than 5.2 mmol/Ll was recorded in 41.24% of women and 34.75% of men. There was statistically significant difference between men and women (P &lt;0.05) in the prevalence of low HDL cholesterol to the detriment of men while the value below 1.3 mmol/L was recorded in 31.75% of women and the value lower than 1.1 mmol/L in 52.48 % of men. Values of triglycerides (TG) ≥1.7 mmol/L were recorded in 28.57% of women and in 35.42% of men. Fasting blood glucose levels ≥5.6 mmol/L were recorded in up to 68.25% of women and 71.63% of men. There was not statistically significant difference (P &gt;0.05) in the occurrence of increased levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure and glycemia according to gender. We found out that most of the respondents consumed food 3-4 times per day, i.e. 53.97% of women and 60.99% of men. Food intake for five to six times a day was reported only by 28.57% of women and 19.15% of men. The number of daily meals was significantly reflected in the BMI values in men who consumed food 1-2 times a day compared to the men who ate 3-4 meals daily (P &lt;0.001). We detected lower BMI values in women with more frequent food consumption, however the difference was not statistically significant. While assessing the nutritional history, we have recorded frequent consumption of meat and meat products which are consumed by 49.21% of women and 60.28% of men (P &lt;0.001) more than four times a week, while more than 30% of women and men consume them daily. On the contrary, women consume fish more often, while 53.97% of women and 48.23% of men consume it 1 to 2 times a week. Although fruit and vegetable are part of daily diet of almost all patients, it is insufficient in portions of one or two pieces a day compared with dietary recommendations. We noticed significantly higher BMI (P &lt;0.05) in men who consume sweetened beverages, than men who consume mostly non-sweetened beverages

Dietary patterns and lifestyle of patients with myocardial infarction

Civilization diseases, including cardiovascular, are major health problems in current modern society. Numerous studies provided sufficient evidence that variety of risk factors are involved in cardiovascular diseases formation. Of the most important is the lifestyle that largely contributes to our health, up to 50 - 60%. Lifestyle includes all modifiable risk factors that together affect the development of these diseases. In our study we searched and evaluated the nutritional parameters and lifestyle of patients hospitalized in Cardiocentre Nitra. In order to obtain the necessary information we chose the questionnaire method. In our survey 194 patients were included, of which 155 were men (79.89%) and 39 (20.11%) women. These patients were hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction diagnosis. The vast majority of patients had overweight and obesity caused by improper eating habits. The high prevalence of overweight, BMI in the range 25 - 30 kg/m2, was also confirmed as statistically significant, p &lt;0.05 (P=0.02). BMI over 25 kg/m2 was present in 85% of men and 80% of women. The consumption of selected food commodities with evidence of a positive or negative impact on the emergence of acute myocardial infarction was not statistically significant (p &gt;0.05) when evaluating dietary habits. But we can confirm too frequent consumption of chicken at the expense of other types of meat and relatively frequent consumption of fish (once a week). We recorded the preference of semi-skimmed dairy products, but also high and inappropriate consumption of full-fat dairy products in men and women (37% and 17.8%, respectively). Daily intake of fruits and vegetables was in 85.9% of women and 64.7% of men. Everyday intake of bread and pastries was confirmed by 100% of respondents. Lifestyle was evaluated according to the presence of smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and physical activity. Up to 60.5% of men and 26.4% of women admitted smoking, while 34.6% of men and 7.5% women ended up with the habit after myocardial infarction. The excessive alcohol consumption was not detected in the study group. Approximately 67% of men and 56% of women carry out an easier walking and moderate physical activity while taking into account their health status

ANALYSIS OF BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE SUBSTANCES IN BILBERRY (VACCINIUM MYRTILLUS L.) IN SELECTED NATURAL LOCALITIES OF SLOVAK REPUBLIC

The aim of this study was to analyze the association between enteritis and pneumonia during first months of life and subsequent growth and milk production traits of these animals. A total of 1327 calves were followed in this study. Calves were divided into three groups: Group A) healthy calves; Group B) calves that suffered from the enteritis one or more times from the birth to 6 th month of age; and Group C) calves that suffered from birth to 6th month of age from the pneumonia. Subsequently all animals were observed at the following age stages: calves, heifers and cows. For all groups (age stages) the body weight and daily weight gain in calves (in the breeding period from birth to 6th month of age), the weight and daily weight gain weight in heifers (in the breeding period from 7 th to 25 th month of age) and production parameters of cows in the first lactation (milk in kg, fat in kg and protein in kg) was recorded. Calves in Groups B and C exhibited lower average daily gain (690.40 g, SD = 186.18, N.S. and 636.80 g, SD = 221.19, P < 0.05 respectively) than healthy calves (Group A, 703.91 g, SD = 223.48). Heifers in Group B exhibited increased the daily weight gain (830.01, SD = 73.57, N.S.) compared to healthy animals (Group A, 828.31, SD = 89.16). The general hypothesis regarding the negative effect of the enteritis (in breeding age animals that suffer from disease) on growth in the Simmental breed has not been confirmed. Heifers that had suffered with the pneumonia (Group C) showed significantly lower average daily gain (784.64, SD = 102.96, P < 0.05) than heifers in group A and B. In the evaluation of milk production in the first lactation, average production of 5800 kg per lactation (SD = 3.96) was recorded in Group A cows. Cows in Group B in the first lactation produced the 5977 kg of milk per lactation on average (SD = 4.31). Cows from Group C in first lactation produced lowest amount of milk during the first lactation period (5674 kg, SD = 3.87), but difference among A, B and C group was not significant

Effect of thermal pasteurization and high pressure processing on bioactive properties in strawberry juice

In the current food industry, companies often offer new and revolutionary processing methods that allow to improve food properties. A prominent technology is High Pressure Processing (HPP), a non-thermal technology that arises as an alternative to the traditional thermal pasteurization (TP). With HPP it is possible to obtain food and drinks similar to the raw food while improving important nutritive and functional properties. Since strawberries are very important fruit in the human diet, the aim of this study was to study the effect of HPP and TP on selected qualitative-quantitative parameters of strawberry juices (HPSJ - High Pressure Strawberry Juice/TPSJ - Thermal Pasteurized Strawberry Juice). It seems that strawberries can have a positive effect on human health due to their high content in beneficial nutrients. From monitored parameters, significant differences (p &lt;0.001) were found between juices in the following parameters: antioxidant activity, β-carotene and zeaxanthin content. Higher antioxidant activity (1547.60 ±4.89 mg AA.L-1 FM vs. 1424.72 ±10.66 mg AA.L-1 FM) and zeaxanthin (1.34 ±0.11 μg.mL-1 FM vs. 0.89 ±0.08 μg.mL-1 FM) was found in HPSJ, comparatively to TPSJ. The content of β-carotene was higher in TPSJ (156.28 ±2.13 μg.mL-1 FM) than in HPSJ (122.02 ±4.28 μg.mL-1 FM). Results related to the polyphenols content showed significantly higher values (p ˃0.01) in HPSJ, compared to TPSJ (1100.04 ±17.16 mg GAE.L-1 FM vs. 1002.66 ±17.16 mg GAE.L-1 FM). The difference in the content of lutein (TPSJ 8.84 ±0.57 μg.mL-1 FM; HPSJ 8.17 ±0.13 μg.mL-1 FM) was not significant (p ˃0.05)

Benefits of sea buckthorn juice consumption in women of productive age with hypercholesterolemia

Background. Sea buckthorn contains almost 200 nutrients and bioactive substances, including phenolic compounds such as flavonoids, vitamins, proteins, amino acids, minerals, alkaloids, chlorophyll derivatives, amines, organic acids, fatty acids and phytosterols. Human and animal studies suggest that sea buckthorn may have a variety of beneficial effects: cardioprotective, antiatherogenic, antioxidant, anticancer, immunomodulatory, antibacterial, antiviral and antiinflammatory. Objective. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of regular consumption of 100% sea buckthorn juice on the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases in women of productive age with hypercholesterolemia. Material and Methods. A clinical study involved 19 women with a mean age of 54.06 ±2.97 years who consumed 50 mL of sea buckthorn juice daily for 8 weeks. Anthropometric and biochemical parameters in blood serum were monitored before the start of sea buckthorn consumption and after 8 weeks of consumption. Body composition was determined using an multifrequency analyzer InBody720. Routine biochemical analyzes were performed by standard methods in an accredited laboratory of the University Hospital by automatic biochemical analyzer BioMajesty JCA-BM6010/C. Statistical comparison between individual measurements was performed using a paired t-test, using Statistica Cz version 10 (TIBCO Software, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, USA). Results. We observed significant decrease of body weight, body mass index (P0.05). After the intervention, we observed decrease of orosomucoid, immunoglobulin A, immunoglobulin G, immunoglobulin M (P<0.001) and C-reactive protein (P<0.01). Conclusions. The obtained results support the hypothesis that the daily consumption of sea buckthorn juice for eight weeks could contribute to the beneficial effects of reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases, such as the reduction of body and visceral fat, LDL-C, CRP and the increase of HDL-C

Chemical structure of european bison musculus longissimus dorsi at different stages of age

The aim of this study was to investigate the chemical composition of musculus longissimus dorsi muscle in European bison (Bison bonasus) of the age 6, 9, 12 and 14 years. In m. longissimus dorsi water content was from 74.90 g (group until 6 years of age) until 75.70 g.100 g-1 (group until 12 years of age). Non statistically significant differences (P≥0.05) were found between groups of age. In m. longissimus dorsi the protein content was statistically significant during aging (P≥0.05) of the European bison from 21.23 (group until 12 years of age) until 22.34 g.100 g-1 (group until 14 years of age). The protein content is comparable with the values of steers and bulls of different breeds of cattle feedlot and meat buffalo. The m. longissimus dorsi fat content of European bison was represented from 1.26 g (group until 12 years of age) to 2.11 g.100 g-1 (group until 9 years of age), without statistical differences (P≥0.05) between groups of age. Fat levels are comparable with American bison fat levels and European bison meat from this perspective be regarded as high dietary, maybe. Tendency increasing of fat content in muscle with increasing age of animals was not confirmed (P≥0.05) but was confirmed that this variable indicator has the greatest potential impact nutrition. Energy value in 100 g m. longissimus dorsi was from 402.81 kJ (group until 12 years of age) to 447.07 kJ.100 g-1 (group to 9 years of age). The energy value in 100 g muscle was recorded only statistical differences (P≤0.05) in the group 9 and 12 years of age. Experiment results confirmed that the European bison meat is good article and possible supplement in the diet and the human food chain especially in states where the farm is kept in a manner respectively, as a delicacy, because it contains low representation of fat, what ultimately increases its particular dietary value, moving it from this perspective, even before the beef meat