The Association Between Bangladeshi Adults’ Demographics, Personal Beliefs, and Nutrition Literacy: Evidence From a Cross-Sectional Survey

Background: Poverty and health illiteracy, combined with inappropriate systems to track disease and infection rates, contribute to children-and-mothers’ poor adherence to nutrient-rich foods intake in Bangladesh. Although risk factors for child and pregnant women malnutrition have been explored, the relationship between Bangladeshi adults’ nutrition literacy and their demographics and personal beliefs remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between adults’ nutrition literacy, demographics and personal beliefs in a large sample of Bangladeshi adults. Methods: Four hundred adults from two districts (Dhaka and Chattogram) of Bangladesh participated in a cross-sectional survey. Data were collected by interviews using a structured questionnaire containing the Nutrition Literacy Scale. Multiple linear regression models were employed to analyze associations between nutrition literacy and related factors. Results: The mean nutrition literacy score was 21.6 (SD: 3.7; range: 11–32) on a scale of 32. Multiple linear regression revealed that being a businessman (β = 1.66, p = 0.013) or private employee (β = 1.08, p = 0.030), having a higher family income (β = 1.17, p = 0.009), and a higher educational level were positively associated with higher nutrition literacy scores compared to their counterparts. Participants who had ever completed a nutrition-related course (β = 4.95, p < 0.001), and who perceived themselves as having a need for accessing nutrition-related information were positively associated with the higher nutrition literacy compared to their counterparts. Conclusion: Findings from this study suggest the need for an integrated response plan involving educational interventions and accessible dietary plans targeting adult populations to enhance their nutritional literacy

Quality Aspects of Paddy Dried in Two Stage Drying Employing Fluidized Bed Drying, Tempering Followed by Fixed Bed and Sun Drying Method: Quality evaluation of paddy dried by two stage drying technique

This study aimed to investigate the impact of two options of two stage drying technique: (a) Fluidized bed drying, tempering and followed by sun drying method and (b) Fluidized bed drying, tempering and followed by fixed bed drying method on quality of BRRI Dhan28 rice variety in terms of head rice yield (HRY). Moist paddy was dried in fluidized bed dryer (FBD) as first stage drying to reduce moisture from 25-27% to 18-19% using drying temperatures of 120, 130, and 150°C at bed thicknesses of 8, 10, and 12 cm. The samples were immediately tempered and dried in second stage drying by fixed bed dryer using 40±1°C temperature maintaining bed thickness as 30 cm for the further reduction of moisture to 13-14% (wb). Sun drying method was followed as second stage drying and for complete drying of control sample also. In addition, head rice yield was also compared to existing industrial paddy drying complexes. The results revealed that HRY of rice samples obtained from different drying methods was comparable. It is interesting that the HRY obtained in the first option was again better than the control and even existing industrial drying method. The highest HRY (65.57%) of milled rice was obtained in the first option and comparatively lower (53.43%) in the second option of two stage drying. On the other hand, the samples dried in the sun drying and industrial drying using Louisiana State University (LSU) dryer yielded 52.77% and 51.25% HRY, respectively. Therefore, the two stage drying technique can be used for drying of high moisture paddy to obtain quality dried rice

Metabolic Evidence on Vintage Effect in Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) Plants

Abstract Recent metabolomics studies have reported diverse metabolites of tea depending on tea (Camellia sinensis) cultivars, cultivation conditions and geographical location. However, these studies were limited the effects of these conditions on metabolome of tea leaves in a single year. We explored the year-to-year variations in leaf metabolome of two tea (C. sinensis) cultivars over a period of five successive years from 2015 to 2019 to determine vintage tea products, such as in grapes or wines, and showed a clear metabolic differentiations of fresh tea leaves. Also, the best conditions of climate were suggested through an association of rainfall and sun-expose time with the metabolism of theanine in taste- or flavor-rich tea cultivar and of catechin compounds in EGCG3″Me-rich tea cultivar, thereby providing the potential vintage tea tailored to the cultivar. Since vintage wine is derived from grapes grown in a year under good climatic conditions, which provides high quality of wine in the best year, the current result highlights important information relevant to tea metabolome associated with climatic conditions in a specific year and the manufacture of vintage tea with unique quality. Graphical Abstrac

Association between Nutrition Literacy and Bangladeshi Adults’ Healthy Eating Behaviors: Evidence from the Nutrition Literacy Study 2021

Al Banna MH, Hamiduzzaman M, Kundu S, et al. Association between Nutrition Literacy and Bangladeshi Adults’ Healthy Eating Behaviors: Evidence from the Nutrition Literacy Study 2021. Healthcare. 2022;10(12): 2508.This study investigated the association between healthy eating behaviors and nutrition literacy in a sample of Bangladeshi adults. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 400 adults from two districts of Bangladesh (Dhaka and Chattogram). Data were generated by in-person interviews using a structured questionnaire. The Nutrition Literacy Scale and National Dietary Guidelines for Bangladesh were used to assess nutrition literacy and healthy eating behaviors, respectively. Multiple linear regression models were used to observe the association. The mean score for healthy eating behavior was 21.8 (SD = 4.8, Range: 5–33) on a scale of 34. A moderate positive correlation was found between nutrition literacy and healthy eating behavior of participants (r = 0.28, p < 0.001). The adjusted regression model showed that a 1 unit increase in nutrition literacy reflected an increase in the healthy eating behavior score of participants by 0.22 units (β = 0.223, p < 0.001). Findings showed an association between nutrition literacy and eating behaviors in Bangladeshi adults. Future research could be carried out to establish a causal relationship that may help inform the necessity of educational interventions for Bangladeshi adults to assist with meeting national nutrition-related targets