Programs to prevent obesity in school children 5 to 10 years old: a review

Introduction and objective: The aim of the present study was to conduct a systematic review over the previous 15 years of the scientific studies that have been published with the objective of increasing the levels of physical activity, improve health and reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity in school children between ranging between the ages of 5 to 10 years. Material and methods: 28 studies were found: 2 systematic reviews, 2 articles describing on the methodological processes and 24 articles on intervention. You can distinguish two types of interventions: on the one hand those interventions focused on increasing the levels of physical activity, and on other hand those interventions that also introduce some educational and nutrition assessment. Results: The analysis of the results shows that 47.3% of the interventions evaluated BMI and observed significant improvements, 44.4% of the programs that assessed body composition have also seen significant improvements, 40% of the interventions that evaluated the waist-to-hip index observed improvements and 50% of the interventions that evaluated the sum of folds noted also significant improvements. In relation to bettering the physical condition of the subjects, it was shown that 45% of the intervention that assessed the cardiovascular endurance found significant improvements and in 66.6% of the procedures that evaluated the effects on strength have also seen significant improvements. Finally, changes in eating habits or increased knowledge of food and nutrition was observed at 66.6%

Optimizing an Enzymatic Extraction Method for the Flavonoids in Moringa (<i>Moringa oleifera</i> Lam.) Leaves Based on Experimental Designs Methodologies

Moringa oleifera Lam. is known to have significant antioxidant properties. Because of this, the development of an optimal extraction method is crucial to obtain pharmacological products based on the bioactive compounds produced by this tree. Through a Plackett–Burman and a Box–Behnken design, enzymatic extraction conditions (temperature, agitation, solvent pH and composition, sample-to-solvent ratio, enzyme-to-sample ratio and extraction time) have been optimized using normalized areas (UA/g) as response variable and relative mass (mg/g) as quantification variable. Extractions were performed in an incubator, where all the extraction conditions could be digitally controlled. Thus, 58.9 °C, 50 rpm, 4.0 pH, 32.5% EtOH, 0.2 g sample in 15 mL solvent and 106 U/g were established as the optimal extraction conditions for the extraction with a mix of pectinases coming from Aspergillus niger. Under these optimal conditions, two-minute extractions were performed and evaluated through a single factor design. The enzymatic extraction method demonstrated its suitability to produce extracts with good antioxidant power (antioxidant activity 4.664 ± 0.059 mg trolox equivalent/g sample and total phenolic compounds 6.245 ± 0.101 mg gallic acid equivalent/g sample). The method was also confirmed to have good repeatability (1.39%) and intermediate precision (2.37%) levels