Can children use the A-not a test?

Sensory scientists have adapted several sensory methods to fit children's cognitive abilities. Although several discrimination methods have been reported with children, the A-not-A test has not been studied yet. The aims of this work were to: (i) evaluate the feasibility of using the A-Not-A test with school-aged children, and (ii) compare how the framing of the question (overall differences vs. differences in liking) may influence the results. A total of 126 children were involved in the study. They participated in three sessions, each composed of a familiarization task with a visual stimuli and sample tasting with one of three dairy products (vanilla milk desserts, chocolate-flavored milk, and vanilla-flavored yogurt). Half of the children evaluated the samples in terms of overall differences and the other half in terms of differences in liking. Results from the familiarization step showed that children correctly identified the visual reference in the A-not-A test regardless of how the question was framed, suggesting that they were able to understand the methodology. In the case of tasting samples, children were significantly more likely to correctly identify the reference in two of the three studied dairy products, when the question was based on liking, as compared to the framing based on overall differences.publishedVersio

Xornadas 8M Muller e emprendemento: as nosas referentes

Pódese atopar máis información sobre as Xornadas 8M e a resolución de pósters premiados na páxina web da Facultade de Economía e Empresa da Universidade da Coruña.[Resumo] Con motivo do Día Internacional da Muller 8M, dende a Oficina para a Igualdade de Xénero (OIX) da Facultade de Economía e Empresa (FEE) da Universidade da Coruña (UDC) temos celebrado as Xornadas 8M “Muller e Emprendemento: As Nosas Referentes”. Dende a OIX quixose facer fincapé no eido do traballo e a muller, como tema institucional. As mulleres atóparonse ao longo do desenvolvemento da súa labor profesional diversas problemáticas como a brecha salarial, a precariedade, os teitos de cristal, a conciliación laboral e familiar... Superar os atrancos que nos fomos atopando as mulleres supuxo e supón unha demostración de fortaleza, constancia e tenacidade e máis en tempos de crise. Dende a FEE, quixemos renderlle unha homenaxe a todas as mulleres emprendedoras aportando a nosa perspectiva económico-financeira, pois consideramos que a comunidade universitaria, e a sociedade en xeral, precisan referentes femininas inspiradoras que aposten por unha cultura emprendedora comprometida con valores sociais. As Xornadas desenvolvéronse dende o día 8 de marzo do 2022 ata o día 11 de marzo do 2022, na Facultade de Economía e Empresa, coa conferencia inaugural en formato mixto (presencial e virtual), exposición de pósters na entrada da facultade e clausura das xornadas o 11 de marzo. O alumnado contou con tempo para a elaboración e entrega de pósters dende o 16 de febreiro ata o 7 de marzo, nos que o animamos a contarnos a historia dunha muller emprendedora da súa familia e do legado que deixou ás novas xeracións. Nesta publicación recollemos os pósters participantes e gañadores das Xornadas 8M. Agardamos con esta publicación e co desenvolvemento das Xornadas, prestar un servizo á educación, á Universidade, e por suposto á sociedade.https://fee.udc.es/post/posters-das-xornadas-8m-muller-e-emprendemento-as-nosas-referentes

Parenthood as a Window of Opportunity for Dietary Changes: Perspectives From Uruguayan Parents

Research on behavioral and social science has demonstrated that transitions throughout a person’s life course, as the life event of becoming a parent, represent an opportunity for dietary changes. However, research in this area has been mostly restricted to developed European and North American countries and has shown ambiguous results. The present work aimed to gain an in-depth understanding on the changes in eating habits caused by the transition to parenthood and to explore factors influencing those changes in Uruguay, a Latin American country. Forty-two in-depth interviews with Uruguayan parents from diverse social-economic backgrounds were conducted. The narrations by the interviewees evidenced mostly positive changes during three stages in the transition: pregnancy, the first months with the baby, and the beginning of complementary feeding. Most informants perceived changes mainly in terms of increased consumption of fruits, vegetables, and pulses; increased consumption of homemade meals; and decreased consumption of ultra-processed foods, fast foods, and fried foods. Reasons for these changes included adaptation of meals to the child’s needs and schedule, feeling of responsibility for the child’s health, and willingness to be a good role model. Factors influencing changes in eating habits were identified in some levels of the socioecological model and included socioeconomic status; price of fruits, vegetables, and fish; low accessibility of good quality fish; perceived time pressure; father’s low interest on healthy eating; social support; and access to nutrition information. Findings suggest that parenthood represents a window of opportunity for favorable changes in eating habits. However, barriers constraining those changes should be addressed by stakeholders

Assessing population exposure to phthalate plasticizers in thirteen Spanish cities through the analysis of wastewater

Phthalates are widely used plasticizers that produce endocrine-disrupting disorders. Quantifying exposure is crucial to perform risk assessments and to develop proper health measures. Herein, a wastewater-based epidemiology approach has been applied to estimate human exposure to six of the mostly used phthalates within the Spanish population. Wastewater samples were collected over four weekdays from seventeen wastewater treatment plants serving thirteen cities and ca. 6 million people (12.8 % of the Spanish population). Phthalate metabolite loads in wastewater were transformed into metabolite concentrations in urine and into daily exposure levels to the parent phthalates. Considering all the sampled sites, population-weighted overall means of the estimated concentrations in urine varied between 0.7 ng/mL and 520 ng/mL. Very high levels, compared to human biomonitoring data, were estimated for monomethyl phthalate, metabolite of dimethyl phthalate. This, together with literature data pointing to other sources of this metabolite in sewage led to its exclusion for exposure assessments. For the remaining metabolites, estimated concentrations were closer to those found in urine. Their 4-days average exposure levels ranged from 2 to 1347 μg/(day∙inh), exceeding in some sites the daily exposure thresholds set for di-i-butyl phthalate and di-n-buthyl phthalate by the European Food Safety Authority.Financial support. This study was supported by MCIU/AEI (projects CTM2016-81935-REDT, CTM2017-84763-C3-1-R, CTM2017-84763-C3-2-R, CTM2017-84763-C3-3-R, and CEX2018-000794-S), Galician Council of Culture, Education and Universities (ED481D 2017/003 and ED431C2017/36), Generalitat Valenciana (projects Prometeo/2018/155 and Prometeo/2019/040) and Universitat Jaume I (project UJI-B2018-55). Several of the above mentioned projects are cofunded by FEDER/ERDF. Sampling, sample and data provision and/or analytical support: Viaqua and Concello de Santiago de Compostela, EMAYA (Palma), Jordi Palatsi from Aqualia (Lleida WWTP), Cristian Mesa and Angela Vidal from Aigues de Barcelona (Barcelona WWTP), Iñigo González (Consorcio de Aguas de Bilbao-Bizkaia), the Public Entity of Wastewater Treatment (EPSAR) of the Generalitat Valenciana and especially Fernando Llavador. Luis Aceiton, Enrique Albors, Angel Jiménez, Maria José Tarrega, Sonia Tristante and all the personal of the WWTPs (Aguas de Valencia, Spain), are acknowledged for their help with the sampling. Sociedad de Fomento Agrícola Castellonense (FACSA, Castellon), and especially WWTP operators Santiago Querol and Sara Gargallo are acknowledged for providing wastewater samples from Castellón, as well as Subdirección General de Gestión del Agua, Ayuntamiento de Madrid, for allowing the collection of samples from Madrid centro.Peer reviewe

Cross-modal interactions as a strategy for sugar reduction in products targeted at children: Case study with vanilla milk desserts

The high availability of products with high sugar content, particularly among those targeted as children, has been identified as one of the factors that contribute to the childhood obesity epidemic. For this reason, product reformulation has been recommended as one of the strategies that can be implemented to achieve short-term reductions in children’s sugar intake. In this context, the objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using cross-modal (taste-odor-texture) interactions as a strategy for reducing the sugar content of products targeted at children, using milk desserts as case study. A series of 5 vanilla milk desserts were formulated: a control sample with 12% added sugar and 4 sugar-reduced samples (7% added sugar) prepared following a 2 × 2 experimental design by varying vanilla (0.4% and 0.6% w/w) and starch (4.3% and 4.7% w/w) concentrations. A total of 112 children (8–12 years old) tasted the desserts and performed a dynamic sensory characterization task using either temporal check-all-that-apply or temporal dominance of sensations. In addition, they assessed the overall liking of all samples. Results showed that sugar-reduced samples did not significantly differ from the control sample in terms of their average overall liking scores. However, individual differences in children’s hedonic reaction were found; three clusters of children with distinctive liking patterns were identified. The increase in vanilla and starch concentration led to an increase in overall liking for over 80% of the children. Sensory dynamic profiles revealed significant but subtle differences among samples. Results from the present work suggest that cross-modal interactions could contribute to minimizing the sensory changes caused by sugar reduction, which could enable to achieve larger reductions if implemented in the context of gradual sugar reduction programs.acceptedVersio

Can children use temporal sensory methods to describe visual and food stimuli?

Sensory scientists have adapted several sensory methods to fit children’s cognitive abilities according to their different developmental stages. Although children have been reported to be able to use sensory methods to describe foods and beverages, published applications are limited to static characterizations. In this context, the objective of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of using two dynamic methods (temporal check-all-that-apply -TCATA- and Temporal dominance of sensations -TDS-) for sensory characterization with children. A video featuring colored circles (varying in size, appearing and disappearing) was used to convey the idea of temporal perception and to familiarize children with the methods. A series of six vanilla milk desserts was used in the tasting session. A total of 102 children (8 to 12 years old) recruited from two Uruguayan schools participated in the study. They were randomly divided in two groups, each of which used one of the methods. Results showed that TCATA and TDS allowed capturing the dynamics in the video. However, TCATA provided a more detailed description of how the colored circles evolved with time than TDS. In the case of the milk desserts samples, both methodologies showed similar results regarding the most relevant sensory characteristics. However, children mostly used them as static methods. In the TDS task, children dithered for long before selecting a new attribute, which points towards difficulties in evaluating dominance. Results from the present work suggest that refinements are needed to make TCATA and TDS methods applicable with children for characterizing food stimuli.acceptedVersio

Sugar reduction in products targeted at children: Why are we not there yet?

Sugar intake among children has raised concern worldwide as it exceeds nutritional recommendations. Sugar contributes to the daily energy intake, without providing additional nutritional value and is associated with several negative health outcomes. Sugars added to foods during industrial processing have been identified as the main source of sugar in children's diets. The present work critically discusses the role of the food industry in contributing to children's excessive sugar intake worldwide, and the strategies that have been encouraged or implemented to reduce the sugar content in products targeted at children. The risk of the current sugar reduction practices in products targeted at children is discussed based on recent scientific evidence. Children's heightened preference for sweetness may not justify the availability of highly sugary products for children. Although research suggests that children readily accept less sweet products, there is still some wariness in the food industry to reduce sweetness intensity. This has strengthened the use of non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS), focusing on maintaining the sweetness level. However, emerging evidence suggests that this may not be the best approach.publishedVersio

Sugar reduction in products targeted at children: Why are we not there yet?

Sugar intake among children has raised concern worldwide as it exceeds nutritional recommendations. Sugar contributes to the daily energy intake, without providing additional nutritional value and is associated with several negative health outcomes. Sugars added to foods during industrial processing have been identified as the main source of sugar in children's diets. The present work critically discusses the role of the food industry in contributing to children's excessive sugar intake worldwide, and the strategies that have been encouraged or implemented to reduce the sugar content in products targeted at children. The risk of the current sugar reduction practices in products targeted at children is discussed based on recent scientific evidence. Children's heightened preference for sweetness may not justify the availability of highly sugary products for children. Although research suggests that children readily accept less sweet products, there is still some wariness in the food industry to reduce sweetness intensity. This has strengthened the use of non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS), focusing on maintaining the sweetness level. However, emerging evidence suggests that this may not be the best approach.publishedVersio

Co-creation of a healthy dairy product with and for children

Children's involvement in new product development may contribute to ensure that healthy alternatives meet their wants and needs. Co-creation is a potential approach to bridge the world of the child and the grown-up product developer. In this context, the objective of the present work was to explore the potential of a co-creation approach with children to develop a healthy dairy product. A total of 52 school-aged children (54% girls, 6–13 year old) recruited from an after-school club in Montevideo (Uruguay) participated in co-creation workshops. Two sessions were carried out. In the first session, children developed a dairy product using a set of ingredients and proposed strategies to promote their product. Children showed a high level of engagement during the activity and provided actionable ideas for product development. Three key factors drove the product formulation (familiarity, hedonics, and healthiness), whereas common communication strategies were proposed by the participants to promote their products. In the second session, children evaluated four products developed by the researchers based on children’s ideas. The products showed high overall liking scores (5.9 to 7.9) despite the inclusion of novel and healthy ingredients and the lower sugar content compared to similar commercial products available in the Uruguayan marketplace. These results show the potential of involving children in the co-creation of healthy dairy products. Considering the lack of published studies regarding the use of co-creation approaches with children in the food domain, the present work provides useful insights for the implementation of co-creation to develop innovative products with and for children.acceptedVersio

Can consumer segmentation in projective mapping contribute to a better understanding of consumer perception?

In projective mapping tasks assessors create an overall representation of the similarities and differences among samples by relying on a process of synthesis for analyzing and processing sensory information. Individual differences in consumers’ information processing and preference patterns could strongly affect which sensory characteristics they consider more relevant for estimating similarities and differences among samples. Therefore, low-dimensional consensus configurations (obtained via MFA or GPA) may not represent the perception of some consumer segments. This could lead to inaccurate conclusions about consumers’ sensory perception of the products or at least to the loss of valuable information about the perception of some consumer groups. In this context, the aims of the present work were to explore consumer segmentation in projective mapping. Datasets from nine studies with 81–102 consumers were analyzed to explore consumers’ segmentation. Through applying hierarchical cluster analysis on consumers’ coordinates in the first four dimensions of the MFA, between 2 and 4 groups of consumers were identified in each study. Sample configurations and consumers’ descriptions strongly differed among the groups, indicating heterogeneity in the relative relevance they gave to the sensory characteristics of the samples for estimating the similarities and differences among samples. In all cases it was observed that the consensus configuration was highly similar to the configuration of one of the groups, which was not necessarily the larger but the one with the highest explained variance by the first dimension of the MFA. These results suggest the need to explore segmentation when analyzing data from projective mapping tasks, and to further study the relationship between consumers’ holistic perception of products and preference patterns.submittedVersio