Exploring Validity and Reliability of U.S. Adult Food Security Module (AFSSM) among Malay Young Adult

Food insecurity problem is growing public health concern worldwide. Thus, the estimation of the prevalence of food insecurity especially among the younger generation is important. Hence, reliable and valid instrument to access it prevalence is needed especially in Malaysia. A cross-sectional study consisted of n=149 participants were selected. The Cronbach’s alpha and exploratory factor analysis were done to evaluate reliability and validity of the questionnaire. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient indicated acceptable internal consistency for all scores. Exploratory factor analysis showed low-to-high loading. The U.S. food security module is reliable and valid to assess the prevalence of food insecurity among young Malay population.© 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies, Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: Validity; reliability; food security; young adult

The use of nutrition label on food purchasing decision among university students in Kuantan, Malaysia

Nutrition label provides nutrition status of the pre-packaged foods and is very useful for people when making decision for healthy foods. However, there is a lack of awareness among Malaysians regarding the use of nutrition label when purchasing foods. Hence, a cross sectional study among tertiary students (IIUM) was conducted. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between gender, attitude and knowledge of the tertiary students with the use of nutrition labeling. Assessment s were done by distributing 25-item questionnaires composed of pair-wise, open-ended and 5-item Likert scale questions to the subjects. The prevalence of level of nutrition knowledge and attitudes were determined. Our analysis showed that 95 students(57.6%) were moderately making use of the nutrition label. There was no significant difference between gender and the use of nutrition label on food purchasing decision among these students. There was also no association between knowledge and the use of nutrition label on food purchasing decision among them. However, there was significant association between attitude and the use of nutrition label on food purchasing decision among the students(p= 0.001, r= 17.842). Our results show that attitude is the key factor in regards with the use of nutrition label while gender and knowledge has no effect on the use of nutrition label on food purchasin

Automatic fruits identification system using hybrid technique

In this work, a combination of artificial neural network (ANN), Fourier descriptors (FD) and spatial domain analysis (SDA) has been proposed for the development of an automatic fruits identification and sorting system. Fruits images are captured using digital camera inclined at different angles to the horizontal. Segmentation is used for the classification of the preprocessed images into two non-overlapping clusters from which shape boundary and signatures are estimated using FD and SDA technique. Furthermore, color information obtained from the extracted red-green-blue color components of the fruits images during ANN training process is used in accurately detecting the color of such a fruit. The two independent paths are then combined for fruits sorting and identification purposes. The performance of the developed hybrid system has been evaluated at three different angles of camera inclination from which an accuracy of 99.1% was obtained

Automatic fruits identification system using hybrid technique

In this work, a combination of artificial neural network (ANN), Fourier descriptors (FD) and spatial domain analysis (SDA) has been proposed for the development of an automatic fruits identification and sorting system. Fruits images are captured using digital camera inclined at different angles to the horizontal. Segmentation is used for the classification of the preprocessed images into two non-overlapping clusters from which shape boundary and signatures are estimated using FD and SDA technique. Furthermore, color information obtained from the extracted red-green-blue color components of the fruits images during ANN training process is used in accurately detecting the color of such a fruit. The two independent paths are then combined for fruits sorting and identification purposes. The performance of the developed hybrid system has been evaluated at three different angles of camera inclination from which an accuracy of 99:1% was obtained

Knowledge and practices on food safety among secondary school students in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

The issue of food safety is an issue that is discussed widely, but cases of food poisoning in particular, are still continuing. This may be associated with their own level of knowledge and practices on food safety. This study was aimed to examine the level of food safety knowledge and practices from two secondary school students, to investigate the association between food safety knowledge and practices with gender, to identify the correlation between food safety knowledge levels with practices and to compare the difference of knowledge and practices level between both of the school. Information concerning demographic, food safety knowledge and practices were collected using self administered questionnaire. 339 students comprising 202 male and 197 female from two schools were randomly selected to answer the questionnaire provided. Analyzed data obtained stated that knowledge on food safety was good for both school and their also practiced on food safety by 79.1% included in good practice range. Results also showed that a high level of food safety knowledge and practices was possessed by both groups, male and female students in quite similar value of means. Correlation between food safety knowledge and practices on food safety indicated, there was a small positive correlation with [r = 0.148, n = 221, p<0.05] for Sekolah Tinggi Arab Maahad and [r = 0.053, n = 178, p<0.5] for Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Gelang Patah

Health risk factors and health promoting behaviour among medical and non-medical students

Students in tertiary level education are mostly young adults that are transiting from the teenage years to adulthood. Since there is less restriction as compared to their teenage years, university and college students might involve in risky behaviours that may affect their health, social and academic performance. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate and identify the differences of health risk factors and health promoting behaviour that have been practiced by students in Malaysia. A cross sectional study was conducted using closed-ended questionnaires distributed to university and college students via emails. The results showed that 77.0% students claimed they have no health problem. However 49.0% of the non-medical students did not know whether they have normal BMI. Among the medical students, 62.0% rarely do physical exercise even though most are seriously concern about their fat consumption (95.0%). Only 30.0% of the total students have awareness of wearing seat belt. For health promoting behaviour, 33.0% of female students have never perform breast self examination (BSE), while 65.0% of male students have never perform testicular self examination (TSE). These findings confirmed that there are differences in health risk factors and health promoting behaviour that have been practiced by the students

Physicochemical and antioxidant characteristics of Baccaurea angulata fruit juice extract

The purpose of this study was to explore the physicochemical and antioxidant characteristics of Baccaurea angulata fruit juice extract. Freeze-dried whole fruit (FDWF), freeze-dried berry (FDB), and freeze-dried skin (FDS) of B. angulata were analyzed for total phenolic, total flavonoid, total anthocyanin, and antioxidant activities. FDS recorded the highest moisture and ash content, protein, total fat, and water activity, compared to FDWF and FDB. FDS also contained the highest total phenolic, total flavonoid, and total anthocyanin, while FDWF recorded the highest in scavenging xanthine oxidase (35.9%) and ferric reducing activity (44.9 μM TE/g). FDS, however, showed the highest DPPH (102.66 mg AA/100 g) and TEAC (847.46 mg TE/100 g) values. DPPH, TEAC and FRAP were strongly correlated with total phenol (r = 0.979; 0.948; 0.997) and total flavonoid (r = 0.987; 0.960; 0.992). Total anthocyanin had no correlation with DPPH and TEAC, but moderately with FRAP (r = 0.734). Physicochemical and antioxidant characteristics of B. angulata may indicate that this fruit may impart health benefits when consumed and can be suggested as a good source for nutraceutical beverages.Keywords: Antioxidant properties, Baccaurea angulata, freeze-dried fruit, nutritional composition, physicochemical.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(34), pp. 5333-533

Effect of acute stevia consumption on blood glucose response in healthy Malay young adults (Kesan pengambilan stevia akut ke atas tindak balas glukosa darah dalam kalangan orang melayu dewasa yang sihat)

Previously, researchers had initiated investigation to find an alternative drug that can treat diabetes mellitus without dragging patients into more complicated health problems. After many studies, they found a new and high potential plant-based drug named stevia that is able to reduce diabetic patients’ blood glucose. This study aimed to determine the effect of stevia on blood glucose of healthy subjects. The study was carried out by comparing the glycemic response between sucrose and stevia (500 and 1000 mg) among 32 subjects aged between 18 and 23 years old. Subjects were required to fast 8 to 10 h prior to each test which was done on different days. Finger prick test were done on 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min to construct a blood sugar response curve for 2 h period. There is a significant difference between the glycemic response of sucrose and stevia 500 mg. Sucrose significantly increased the post prandial blood glucose while stevia 500 mg reduced blood glucose after 30 min of consumption. Sucrose also produced higher glycemic response at min-30 when compared with stevia 1000 mg. There is no significant difference between the glycemic response of stevia of different dose, 500 and 1000 mg. No dose-dependent effect was observed in this study. In conclusion, stevia does not raise blood glucose significantly when consumed in short period. Stevia is effective to be used by healthy people to maintain blood glucose even when consumed in short length of time