The impact of food allergy on household level

Adverse reactions to food can be caused by food hypersensitivity. Prominent examples include food allergy or food intolerance. Patients suffering from food hypersensitivity have inappropriate autoimmune system reactions to potentially harmless food components. Symptoms can vary from uncomfortable skin rashes to cardiovascular problems such as anaphylactic shock. To date, no general cure is available. As a consequence, the management of food allergy consists of allergen avoidance, which may cause negative consequences in terms of patient anxiety and their experience of quality of life. Furthermore, implementation of dietary restrictions can have a negative effect on the quality of life and economic functioning of not only the food allergic patient but also their family members. An important issue in the assessment of the impact of food hypersensitivity and food allergy is the assessment of the economic costs that accrue to afflicted consumers. This information will contribute to the prioritising of healthcare resources, as well as developing effective policies to insure consumer protection. It is also important to evaluate whether wellbeing and welfare are affected. If this is indeed the case, a question arises as how to best manage dietary avoidance strategies. The aim of the research reported in this thesis is to provide information salient to the assessment of the impact of food hypersensitivity and allergy on households with respect to costs (time and money), welfare, well-being, and information search strategies. A systematic review of the existing literature revealed that researchers had not yet developed and validated an instrument to measure the individual and household costs of food hypersensitivity and/ or allergy. This thesis describes the development of the “household costs of food allergy” questionnaire and the exploratory analyses applied to validate the instrument. Thereafter, the “household costs of food allergy” questionnaire was used on a large sample of clinician-diagnosed food hypersensitive patients to confirm these cost effects. This study was part of an epidemiological study to investigate the prevalence of food allergy and food intolerance in four European countries, data were collected in The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom. The respondents in this study were either diagnosed with food allergy or food intolerance. For the purposes of this discussion, the term food hypersensitivity will be used to indicate both diseases. Contrary to expectation, households with food hypersensitive respondents had significantly lower direct and indirect costs across all countries compared to households without food hypersensitive members. In addition, no differences in welfare between food hypersensitive respondents and respondents asymptomatic to foods were found. However, adult food hypersensitive respondents and their spouses reported significantly less happiness than respondents, or their spouses, who were asymptomatic. Thus, the results presented in this thesis do not support the commonly held belief of clinical researcher and patient organisations that all food allergies incur high costs to the individual. Given that an individual’s experience of quality of life is negatively impacted by food hypersensitivity, it is feasible that this might be improved by the implementation of more effective management strategies. As the primary viable management strategy involves avoidance of problematic foods, facilitating consumer choice in the retail environment may optimise risk management. The labelling preferences of food allergic consumers were investigated in two European countries, The Netherlands and Greece. At the time the research was conducted, food legislation had been developed to facilitate management of food allergens in order to protect food allergic consumers, rather than food intolerant consumers. For this reason, the research was confined to the study of the information needs of food allergic patients, and how this related to the current legislative situation. The research utilised ethnographic interviews with food allergic consumers during the course of shopping in a supermarket. The results suggest that current labelling practice is perceived to be inadequate for food allergic consumers if safe food choices are to be made. This is due to inappropriate use of fonts, colours with low contrasts and inconsistencies in the different languages, application of precautionary labelling, and lack of European and international harmonisation in labelling legislation. Based on these results, new information scenarios, such as uniform labelling, information booklet and ICT solutions, were developed and tested through an online survey. The results were used to develop prototype information delivery tools. An experiment was conducted to understand if the information delivery was in fact optimal, and to confirm if the additional attributes of the prototype tools were sufficient to facilitate allergen avoidance. The results suggested that the label should show the percentages of the allergens in the food product, as well as provide specific details about allergy management in the food chain, and use standardised symbols and standardised location of allergy information on the package. Additional visual and auditory warnings were also treated as being important for the ICT driven information delivery approaches, the results indicated that ICT methods are not appropriate replacements for effective food labelling on packaging, but may be used to supplement information provided by labels. To conclude, this thesis provides insight in the financial impact of food hypersensitivity, as well as the welfare and well-being. The “household costs of food allergy” questionnaire can be used by regulators and policy makers to prioritise healthcare resources, as well as to test the effectiveness of policy interventions. Limitations in current risk management strategies based on consumer information were also identified. The results of the consumer preferences studies can be used by policy makers and food industry to optimise the information delivery to food allergic consumers and therewith improve their quality of life. The combination of economic research and consumer research is relevant to investigate the dynamic impact of food allergy on individuals and their families. <br/

The main problems of food allergic consumers concerning food labeling: an ethnographic study

It has been estimated that 58% of children and 12% of the adults in developed countries are affected by food allergy, with symptoms ranging from discomfort to fatality. At present, avoidance of problematic foods is the only effective treatment strategy. As of November 25 th , 2005 food manufacturers in the EU are obliged to list 12 potentially allergic ingredients in food. Although the label is still not always fully understood by the consumer, or they get confused by precautionary labelling practices. This paper aims to gain insights into the information preferences of food allergic consumers regarding existing food labelling and additional information delivery systems. The results of this study will facilitate the development of best practices in information provision regarding food safety in the area of food allergy. In particular the research will elicit preferences for new ICT approaches to information delivery which can be focused on the individual needs of consumers. We argue that improved information supply will contribute to the quality of life of food allergic people.Food allergy, consumers, food labelling, information needs, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Rodent malaria-resistant strains of the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, have slower population growth than -susceptible strains

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Trade-offs between anti-parasite defence mechanisms and other life history traits limit the evolution of host resistance to parasites and have important implications for understanding diseases such as malaria. Mosquitoes have not evolved complete resistance to malaria parasites and one hypothesis is that anti-malaria defence mechanisms are costly.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We used matrix population models to compare the population growth rates among lines of <it>Anopheles gambiae </it>that had been selected for resistance or high susceptibility to the rodent malaria parasite, <it>Plasmodium yoelii nigeriensis</it>. The population growth rate of the resistant line was significantly lower than that of the highly susceptible and the unselected control lines, regardless of whether mosquitoes were infected with <it>Plasmodium </it>or not. The lower population growth of malaria-resistant mosquitoes was caused by reduced post blood-feeding survival of females and poor egg hatching.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>With respect to eradicating malaria, the strategy of releasing <it>Plasmodium</it>-resistant <it>Anopheles </it>mosquitoes is unlikely to be successful if the costs of <it>Plasmodium</it>-resistance in the field are as great as the ones measured in this study. High densities of malaria-resistant mosquitoes would have to be maintained by continuous release from captive breeding facilities.</p

Prevalence of the pathogenic chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, in an endangered population of northern leopard frogs, Rana pipiens

Background Emerging infectious diseases threaten naïve host populations with extinction. Chytridiomycosis, an emerging infectious disease of amphibians, is caused by the pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and has been linked to global declines in amphibians. Results We monitored the prevalence of Bd for four years in the Northern leopard frog, Rana pipiens, which is critically imperiled in British Columbia (BC), Canada. The prevalence of Bd initially increased and then remained constant over the last three years of the study. Young of the year emerging from breeding ponds in summer were rarely infected with Bd. Some individuals cleared their Bd infections and the return rate between infected and uninfected individuals was not significantly different. Conclusions The BC population of R. pipiens appears to have evolved a level of resistance that allows it to co-exist with Bd. However, this small population of R. pipiens remains vulnerable to extinction

Marktverkenning van biologische diervoeding : hoe denkt het baasje over biologisch honden- en kattenvoer?

Gezonde en duurzame voeding vinden veel consumenten niet alleen voor zichzelf steeds belangrijker, maar ook voor hun huisdier. Eigenaren zien honden en katten steeds vaker als volwaardig lid van het gezin en huishouden en vinden het belangrijk dat hun dier een goed en lang leven heeft. Biologische diervoeding zou heel goed in dit beeld kunnen passen en de vraag is wat honden- en katteneigenaren van biologische diervoeders vinden. LEI Wageningen UR is gevraagd dit te onderzoeken. De belangrijkste uitkomsten uit dit onderzoek zijn als volgt. De marktkansen voor het biologische product lijken niet heel groot. Veel mensen vinden het al snel te duur worden of vinden het voor hun dier 'een brug te ver'. Het EKO-keurmerk wekt op het diervoer vertrouwen want de meesten kennen dit keurmerk van de eigen humane voeding die gekocht wordt

Aardappeleters in de 21e eeuw: Mogelijkheden en kansen voor de biologische aardappel

Dit rapport vloeit voort uit onderzoek dat is gedaan voor een aantal bedrijven dat het LEI heeft gevraagd te achterhalen hoe biologische aardappelen beter geprofileerd kunnen worden. Om die vraag goed te kunnen beantwoorden, is het aankoop- en eetgedrag van aardappelen in het algemeen onder een groot aantal consumenten onderzocht. De inzichten die dat onderzoek heeft opgeleverd vormen de basis voor dit rapport. Het onderzoek is uitgevoerd binnen het cluster Biologische Landbouw en aangestuurd door Bioconnect

De Agrofoodmonitor: Maatschappelijke waardering van de Agro & Food sector

Deze Agrofoodmonitor beoogt de maatschappelijke waardering van de Agro & Food sector te definiëren, meetbaar te maken en aangrijpingspunten te identificeren die de waardering kunnen beïnvloeden. De aanleiding voor de agrofoodmonitor is de wens van de Agro & Food sector haar 'licence to operate' in Nederland te borgen en om duurzaam te groeien. Maatschappelijke waardering door burgers (consu-menten) is hiervoor een belangrijke voorwaarde. In deze monitor is maatschappelijke waardering gedefini-eerd als 'een houding tegenover de Agro & Food sector die positief of negatief kan zijn, en gebaseerd kan zijn op beredeneerde afwegingen en gevoelens'. Maatschappelijke waardering is een complex en dynamisch proces. Deze eerste meting van de Agro-foodmonitor is daarom ook een zoektocht naar de wijze waarop maatschappelijke waardering tot stand komt. Daarbij zijn ook onzekerheden, dilemma's en nieuwe vragen komen bovendrijven. Allereerst is een literatuurstudie uitgevoerd naar factoren die maatschappelijke waardering kunnen ver-klaren. Dit heeft geleid tot de ontwikkeling van een conceptueel model waarmee maatschappelijke waarde-ring kan worden geanalyseerd. Dit model is vervolgens vertaald in een vragenlijst waarmee maatschap-pelijke waardering en mogelijke verklarende factoren kunnen worden gemeten. De vragenlijst is voor-gelegd aan een representatieve steekproef van 3.290 respondenten. Omdat er tussen de agro-sectoren verschillen kunnen zijn in maatschappelijke waardering, evenals in factoren die bepalend zijn voor die maat-schappelijke waardering, is niet alleen de maatschappelijke waardering van de Agro & Food sector in zijn geheel gemeten, maar ook die van de afzonderlijke subsectoren: melkveehouderij, akkerbouw, tuinbouw, varkenshouderij, pluimveehouderij, supermarkten en voedingsmiddelenindustrie. Naast de kwantitatieve meting heeft er ook een kwalitatieve reflectie plaatsgevonden. Deze reflectie gaat dieper in op de thema's ambivalentie en strategische onwetendheid, omdat we vermoeden dat deze maatschappelijke waardering beïnvloeden. Deze reflectie is beschreven in het deelrapport Ambivalentie en strategische onwetendheid rond vlees

The Land — An Unused Opportunity for the Return and Production Reactivization of External Migrants

Autor članka ukazuje da se povratnici s privremenog rada u inostranstvu nedovoljno uključuju u sektor individualne poljoprivrede gdje bi na sopstveekonomski institut, nom gazdinstvu razvili modernu i masovnu proizsarajevo, jugoslavija vodnju za potrebe tržišta. Ni aktuelni vanjski migranti, oni koji su još uvijek na radu u inostranstvu ne planiraju svoju reaktivizaciju u agraru, odnosno ne vežu svoj povratak za poljoprivredu iz koje su najvećim dijelom krenuli u tuđinu. Razloga za takvo njihovo ponašanje veoma je mnogo i oni su razliičite prirode. Autor identifikuje, kako one koji su eksterne, tako i one koji su interne naravi. Nakon identifikacije činilaca koji nepovoljno utiču na obim i intenzitet povratka u agrar daju se prijedlozi mjera i akcija koje bi pomogle i podstakle povratak migranata (njihovih znanja, vještina i, naravno njihovog novčanog kapitala) u agrar.The author of the article shows that returnees from temporary work abroad are not adequately included in the sector of private farming, where they would on their own farms develop modern, mass and market production. The current external migrants, those who are still at work abroad, do not plan reactivization on the land, i.e. they do not intend to return to farming, which most of them left to go abroad. There are many and very varied reasons for this. The author identifies both external reasons, and also those of an internal nature. After showing which factors influence unfavourably the volume and intensity of the return to farming, he proposes measures and actions that would aid and influence the return of the migrants (their knowledge, their skill and, of course, their capital) into farming

<i>amoA</i> Gene Abundances and Nitrification Potential Rates Suggest that Benthic Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacteria and Not Archaea Dominate N Cycling in the Colne Estuary, United Kingdom

ABSTRACT Nitrification, mediated by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), is important in global nitrogen cycling. In estuaries where gradients of salinity and ammonia concentrations occur, there may be differential selections for ammonia-oxidizer populations. The aim of this study was to examine the activity, abundance, and diversity of AOA and AOB in surface oxic sediments of a highly nutrified estuary that exhibits gradients of salinity and ammonium. AOB and AOA communities were investigated by measuring ammonia monooxygenase ( amoA ) gene abundance and nitrification potentials both spatially and temporally. Nitrification potentials differed along the estuary and over time, with the greatest nitrification potentials occurring mid-estuary (8.2 μmol N grams dry weight [gdw] −1 day −1 in June, increasing to 37.4 μmol N gdw −1 day −1 in January). At the estuary head, the nitrification potential was 4.3 μmol N gdw −1 day −1 in June, increasing to 11.7 μmol N gdw −1 day −1 in January. At the estuary head and mouth, nitrification potentials fluctuated throughout the year. AOB amoA gene abundances were significantly greater (by 100-fold) than those of AOA both spatially and temporally. Nitrosomonas spp. were detected along the estuary by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) band sequence analysis. In conclusion, AOB dominated over AOA in the estuarine sediments, with the ratio of AOB/AOA amoA gene abundance increasing from the upper (freshwater) to lower (marine) regions of the Colne estuary. These findings suggest that in this nutrified estuary, AOB (possibly Nitrosomonas spp.) were of major significance in nitrification. </jats:p