A cross-sectional study of US rural adults’ consumption of fruits and vegetables: do they consume at least five servings daily?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Rural residents are increasingly identified as being at greater risk for health disparities. These inequities may be related to health behaviors such as adequate fruits and vegetable consumption. There is little national-level population-based research about the prevalence of fruit and vegetable consumption by US rural population adults. The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence differences between US rural and non-rural adults in consuming at least five daily servings of combined fruits and vegetables.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cross-sectional analysis of weighted 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS) data using bivariate and multivariate techniques. 52,259,789 US adults were identified as consuming at least five daily servings of fruits and vegetables of which 8,983,840 were identified as living in rural locales.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Bivariate analysis revealed that in comparison to non-rural US adults, rural adults were less likely to consume five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables (OR = 1.161, 95% CI 1.160-1.162). Logistic regression analysis revealed that US rural adults consuming at least five daily servings of fruits and vegetables were more likely to be female, non-Caucasian, married or living with a partner, living in a household without children, living in a household whose annual income was > $35,000, and getting at least moderate physical activity. They were also more likely to have a BMI of <30, have a personal physician, have had a routine medical exam in the past 12 months, self-defined their health as good to excellent and to have deferred medical care because of cost. When comparing the prevalence differences between rural and non-rural US adults within a state, 37 States had a lower prevalence of rural adults consuming at least five daily servings of fruits and vegetables and 11 States a higher prevalence of the same.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This enhanced understanding of fruit and vegetable consumption should prove useful to those seeking to lessen the disparity or inequity between rural and non-rural adults. Additionally, those responsible for health-related planning could benefit from the knowledge of how their state ranks in comparison to others vis-à-vis the consumption of fruits and vegetables by rural adults---a population increasingly being identified as one at risk for health disparities.</p

Ingestion of plastic and non-plastic microfibers by farmed gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio) at different life stages

Environmental pollution by plastic particles is of major global concern, as a potential threat to aquatic organisms and ecosystems. The accumulation of microplastics in freshwater and marine environments has strong ecological implications due to their long persistence, potential toxicity, and ability to adsorb other pollutants, acting as vectors of pathogens. Nevertheless, while the number of studies on the presence of microplastics in the wild fish increased, less attention has been paid to the farmed fish species. Here, we investigated the occurrence of microparticles in the digestive tracts of Sparus aurata and Cyprinus carpio at different life stages and reared by an intensive and semi-intensive production system, respectively. Our results showed the presence of natural microfibers and microplastics, with microfibers (~ 90%) being the dominant type. In both fish species, the presence of microparticles was not revealed at larval stage. Fry and adult S. aurata specimens showed microfiber abundances of 0.21 and 1.3 items/individual, respectively. A lower load of microparticles (p &lt; 0.05) occurred in fry (0.06 items/individual) and adult C. carpio specimens (0.25 items/individual). As to the chemical composition of the micro-items, natural (20%), semi-synthetic (28%), and single or blended synthetic fibers (52%) were identified in S. aurata. Linen, rayon, lyocell, cotton: polyester and polyester (12.5% concentration for each polymer) fibers were identified in C. carpio, while PTFE (37.5%) was present as fragments. Rayon was the most frequent chemical type (21.2%). The polymer composition of the extracted microparticles showed significant differences between the fish species analysed (p &lt; 0.05). Notably, a considerably lower contamination level of synthetic polymers (average 0.11 items/individual) was detected in the farmed fishes compared with the data obtained in other studies on feral ones. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study reporting the plastic and the non-plastic microfiber contamination in the farmed S. aurata and C. carpio at different life stages