Search Weight Loss Topics:

Page 41«..1020..40414243..5060..»

Home » Diets that Work » Page 41

New FAO-led food security and nutrition report for Europe and Central Asia elaborates on the costs of a healthy diet

12 May 2021, Budapest, Hungary - Although severe hunger has not been a major issue in Europe and Central Asia in the past 20 years, the region is in part facing an increase of moderate food insecurity - understood as irregular access to nutritious and sufficient food -, while also dealing with the widespread rapid growth of obesity, challenging its ability to achieve food security and improved nutrition, as outlined in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2.

Lowering the costs of healthy diets can be crucial to achieving better nutrition and sustainability.

According to the Europe and Central Asia Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed serious threats to food security and nutrition, especially for low-income and vulnerable populations in the region.

The annual report, produced jointly by FAO, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), provides a comprehensive analysis of the topic, including all forms of malnutrition, current dietary patterns, and the costs of diets for individuals, society, and the planet.

Of particular concern in Europe and Central Asia overall is the rapidly worsening situation in some countries of Central Asia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Caucasus, which is keeping the region as a whole from achieving the 2030 targets of the SDGs on the prevalence of severe and moderate food insecurity.

"The past 12 months have shown that our health and the functioning of our agrifood systems are fundamental - and that more effort is needed," said Vladimir Rakhmanin, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative. "We all - including decision makers, the development community, civil society, academia, the private sector and individuals - have to do our part to achieve the Zero Hunger goal, food security and improved nutrition, leave no one behind and promote sustainable agriculture."

"Reducing hunger and malnutrition calls for a life-cycle approach, with special attention paid to children, adolescent girls, mothers and other vulnerable groups," said John Aylieff, WFP Regional Director, Asia and the Pacific. "Zero Hunger is not just about having a belly full. It requires us to work across sectors - from agriculture and social protection to education and health - to ensure a healthy, balanced diet that's also affordable and accessible for all."

"Depending on their production and location, farmers in the region have been particularly hit by the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular in countries with economies in transition," stressed Olga Algayerova, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and UNECE. "I call on governments to deploy adequate financial support to farmers. I also invite them to make full use of the UN trade facilitation and border-crossing procedures to keep borders open to facilitate the flow of goods, in particular essential products such as fresh food."

Countries are making headway in the eradication of child stunting and wasting and low birth weight, but an opposite tendency is recorded for anaemia and exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life. In all countries of the region, gaps exist in the policy framework for the prevention of obesity and iron deficiency anaemia.

"UNICEF acknowledges the important breakthroughs countries have achieved concerning child stunting, wasting and low birth weight. However, without a redoubling of effort, the region will not meet 2025 and 2030 commitments on childhood obesity, anaemia and exclusive breastfeeding," said Afshan Khan, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia and Special Coordinator for the Refugee and Migrant Response in Europe. "Affordable, healthy diets are the basis of food security and nutrition outcomes, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the vulnerability of children's nutrition. We have evidence to share with policymakers and food suppliers to take action to improve diets and mobilize health, education and social systems to scale up nutrition results for children."

The prevalence of overweight and obesity is a major problem, even among children, with alarmingly high rates in most countries of the region. According to the World Health Organization, the prevalence of overweight among children aged 6-9 is the highest in Mediterranean countries.

"People living with obesity have an increased risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes," said Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe. "COVID-19 has also highlighted how fragile food systems can be - and how important it is to ensure that all people, no matter where and how they live, have access to safe, healthy and sustainable food. For the WHO European region, this is vital, given the alarming situation with obesity - a chronic complex disease in itself and a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases in the region."

Additionally, the region is strongly affected by challenges imposed by the overconsumption of foods high in salt, fat and sugar and the underconsumption of fruits and vegetables. This calls for structural changes in food production and consumption within current food systems. WHO data show that unhealthy diets account for an estimated 86 percent of deaths and 77 percent of the disease burden in the region.

When developing national food security and nutrition strategies, FAO recommends that countries consider the environmental and climate impacts of the reference diet - which is currently not included - and increase education on that.

"The impacts of climate and environmental changes increasingly challenge current governance efforts," said Milan Daci, WMO Chief for Europe. "Policies are needed that support sustainable land management, reduce air pollution, ensure the supply of food for vulnerable populations, reduce crop loss and limit greenhouse gas emissions associated with agriculture. World Meteorological Organization activities on long-term monitoring; sharing of data, information and knowledge; and improved context-specific forecasts and analysis are vital support to alleviation of the impacts of climate and environmental changes."

Fang also pointed at the disadvantageous composition of food available in the markets of Europe and Central Asia. As revealed in the regional overview, the availability of animal-based foods is above the world average, while the consumption of vegetables, pulses and fish is below the world average. Increased attention to a nutrition-sensitive agriculture facilitating healthy diets would be required. The European Green Deal and From Farm to Fork initiatives are policy frameworks that could facilitate change.

"The main conclusion is that despite good progress in diversifying and moving food availability in the right direction, there is a need to reorient food production and trade systems to enable healthy diets," said Cheng Fang, an FAO economist and the main author of the report. "This may require additional efforts in consumer education and incentives to increase the consumption of fruits and fish, among other foods, to achieve sustainable and healthy nutrition strategies in these countries."

The costs of healthy diets

Healthy diets are generally expensive, as they cost five times more, on average, than diets that cover only the basic energy needs through a starchy staple, according to the FAO report and based on the analysis of food cost/affordability data from 14 selected countries in Europe and Central Asia.

Cost drivers include trade, public expenditures and investment policies throughout agrifood supply chains. To counter their impacts, FAO and the World Food Programme advocate for nutrition-sensitive investments, targeted interventions and social protection policies and programmes to increase the affordability of healthy diets in a sustainable manner. To this end, the experience of Armenia with nutrition-sensitive social protection measures is presented in the report.

"The benefits of a nutritious diet affect not only individuals, but also the society as a whole," said Fang, "and the costs of a nutritious diet are also borne by the entire society."

Overall, the total costs associated with healthy diets are much lower than the costs of current consumption patterns. Were the population to shift to healthy diets, it is projected that direct and indirect health costs would be reduced up to 97 percent and the social cost of greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by 41-74 percent, according to data from projects in the examined countries. These benefits could potentially increase over time with innovation and the adoption of new technologies involving climate-smart agriculture.

"The momentum created by the pandemic offers us a chance to rethink our agrifood systems, among other issues, and to set off a transformation for better food and nutrition at less cost to the environment. The UN Food Systems Summit convened this fall by the UN Secretary-General, gives us all an excellent opportunity to address this important issue," said Rakhmanin.

More:
Europe and Central Asia: Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2020 - Affordable Healthy Diets to Promote Health and Address all Forms of...

IGD (Institute of Grocery Distribution) has joined forces with the University of Leeds and the Food and Consumer Goods Industry to identify practical ways to make healthy and sustainable diets attractive and accessible for UK consumers.

The organisations health team is working with leading retailers and manufacturers, and researchers at the University of Leeds, to trial a series of interventions such as product placement, signage and recipes to see what truly drives consumers to change their diets long-term.

IGD last summer convened a healthy and sustainable diets project group to collaboratively identify and test strategies that could encourage people to make healthier, more sustainable food and drink choices. Members of the project group have already begun to trial some of those strategies in real-life settings, in a set of research interventions being rigorously designed and implemented by IGDs chosen research partner, the University of Leeds, through its Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA) and Consumer Data Research Centre.

To analyse the results, the team from LIDA will capture and measure sales data from each intervention, enabling the project group to see exactly what is going on in peoples shopping baskets and assess what levers truly drive long-term behaviour change.

As part of this work, IGD has also launched a brand-new hub of inspiring industry insight on healthy and sustainable diets, bringing together a wealth of resources in one place, where the results of the trials with LIDA will also be housed: igd.com/shiftbehaviour.

Hannah Pearse, head of nutrition at IGD, said: As part of our Social Impact ambition, we want to make healthy and sustainable diets easy for everyone, by leading industry collaboration and building greater knowledge of what really works. Our Appetite for Change research tells us that 57 per cent of people are open to changing their diets to be healthy and more sustainable, and they welcome help to do it. But we also know that people dont like to be told what to do and information alone is unlikely to change behaviour.

We believe consumers will make this transition if we make it easier for them; thats why we are delighted to be partnering with our industry project group and our research partners at the University of Leeds, to pilot this series of interventions over the coming months. The team at LIDA are experts in capturing, storing and analysing big data and have a variety of academic specialties that will be critical for this work.

Dr Michelle Morris, who leads the Nutrition and Lifestyle Analytics team at LIDA, says: I am passionate about helping our population move towards a diet that is both healthier and more sustainable. I believe that unlocking the power of anonymous consumer data, collected by retailers and manufacturers, is a really important step towards this goal. Working with IGD and its members to evaluate their healthy and sustainable diets programme is very exciting testing strategies to change purchasing behaviour and evaluating the wider impact of these changes.

The members involved in the voluntary trials are testing five behavioural levers, as identified through IGDs Appetite for Change research series: Signposting signage and messaging to highlight better choices Placement prime positioning (in-store and online) Product availability and appeal Influence influencers and recipe inspiration Incentivisation incentivising trial

This project takes us one step further towards realising our longer-term ambition, to establish what levers truly inspire sustained behaviour change and help our industry scale up those interventions to create wide-reaching social impact, Pearse added.

As we roll out these interventions with our industry partners, it will be fascinating to see what results come back. We will share our findings as to what does and doesnt work publicly and widely, to inspire others to adopt our best practice, so together we can drive tangible, positive change.

See the rest here:
IGD strives to boost healthy eating - Fruitnet

Everyone wants to know the magic formula to reduce pig diet costs. With corn and soybean prices skyrocketing, its a hard question without an easy answer, experts say.

Byproducts will be of great value as an energy source in replacing corn, David Rosero, technical officer for The Hanor Company, said during the North Carolina State University Virtual Swine Research Forum. But, youll see as corn price increases, so will the cost of other ingredients.

Rosero encourages producers to not only consider which ingredients could make feed rations less expensive, but also to consider which ingredients or technologies could create more value for the pigs.

If we understand how ingredients work into our diets and where we can create more gain, for instance, or retain more pigs as full-value pigs, I think that will be better for the economics as well, Rosero explained.

Three nutritionists shared their recommendations when it comes to reducing diet costs and finding ways to improve profitability.

JD: Most all feed ingredients are riding the wave of higher prices. As more cattle go to grass, we typically see softening of higher fiber, lower energy ingredients such as wheat midds. Work with suppliers and know opportunities in wheat midds, soy hulls, DDGS, as supply and prices allow to lower costs.

DR: I would look into byproducts with high lipid levels as good energy sources. A good example will be dried distiller grains with solubles (DDGS), when its lipid level was high. However, I recommend that we look further than crude feed cost, and evaluate the value of feed ingredients and their nutrient input to marginal profitability during this specific time where weight gain is highly valuable.

HS: We still can use DDGS and bakery meal in pretty much the entire country. In some areas, there is access to hominy feed or corn germ meal. In areas where these ingredients are available, they should be utilized. Wheat midds or soybean hulls can also be used in sow diets to cut costs. It may also be economical to reduce soybean meal in the diets and add more crystalline amino acids but that depends on the cost of corn that will then increase in the diet. The economics of this substitution are different among producers depending on their corn situation. Additives that can enhance growth and/or feed efficiency are also valuable because of the high feed prices. Consider direct-fed microbials, copper, acidifiers and other additives that may improve feed conversion rate. The economics of using these additives increases in times with high feed costs.

JD: If feeding added fat, review to verify that it is economical, as in most situations in the Midwest it is not even with high market prices. Manage market weights to the ideal range for your packer and feed costs. Pay extra attention to feeder adjustment to reduce feed wastage. Optimize grain particle size to the lowest level possible that does not cause flowability issues in your feed system. Finally, review diet nutrient specifications to assure pigs are not being overfed amino acids.

DR: I would focus on inefficiencies in the system related to nutrition. Our feeding methods need attention to make sure we are not overfeeding sows and feeding growing pigs the right diet phase. During this time, I will also recommend focusing attention on the revenue side. Increasing the throughput will maximize profit and minimize losses. Are there areas in our systems that are limiting either the number of pigs that we sell or their weight?

HS: Check all feeders, bins and transport lines to make sure there is no feed wastage. Adjust feeders frequently to make sure pigs dont waste feed into the pit.

More from Farm Journal's PORK:

Cost-Cutting Measures Take the Sting out of High Feed Prices

High Feed Costs? Review Your Health Program

Read the original post:
3 Experts Share Tips to Lower Feed Costs and Improve Profitability - Pork Magazine

As part of its ambition to make healthy and sustainable diets easy for everyone, the Health from IGD team has joined forces with leading retailers and manufacturers, and researchers at the University of Leeds, to trial a series of interventions to see what truly drives long-term behavioural change.

Last summer, IGD convened a healthy and sustainable diets project group to collaboratively identify and test strategies that could encourage people to make healthier, more sustainable food and drink choices. Members of the project group have already begun to trial some of those strategies in real-life settings, in a set of research interventions being rigorously designed and implemented by IGDs chosen research partner, the University of Leeds, through its Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA) and Consumer Data Research Centre.

To analyse the results, the team from LIDA will capture and measure sales data from each intervention, enabling the project group to see exactly what is going on in peoples shopping baskets and assess what levers truly drive long-term behaviour change.

As part of this work, IGD has also launched a brand-new hub of inspiring industry insight on healthy and sustainable diets, bringing together a wealth of resources in one place, where the results of the trials with LIDA will also be housed: igd.com/shiftbehaviour.

Hannah Pearse, Head of Nutrition at IGD, said: As part of our Social Impact ambition, we want to make healthy and sustainable diets easy for everyone, by leading industry collaboration and building greater knowledge of what really works. Our Appetite for Change research tells us that 57%1of people are open to changing their diets to be healthy and more sustainable, and they welcome help to do it. But we also know that people dont like to be told what to do and information alone is unlikely to change behaviour.

We believe consumers will make this transition if we make it easier for them; thats why we are delighted to be partnering with our industry project group and our research partners at the University of Leeds, to pilot this series of interventions over the coming months. The team at LIDA are experts in capturing, storing and analysing big data and have a variety of academic specialties that will be critical for this work.

Dr Michelle Morris, who leads the Nutrition and Lifestyle Analytics team at LIDA, says: I am passionate about helping our population move towards a diet that is both healthier and more sustainable. I believe that unlocking the power of anonymous consumer data, collected by retailers and manufacturers, is a really important step towards this goal. Working with IGD and its members to evaluate their healthy and sustainable diets programme is very exciting testing strategies to change purchasing behaviour and evaluating the wider impact of these changes.

The members involved in the voluntary trials are testing five behavioural levers, as identified through IGDs Appetite for Change research series:

Rachel Hackett, Group Sustainability Director at 2 Sisters Food Group and co-chair of IGDs Healthier and Sustainable Diets project group, says: As part of this exciting project, food businesses will explore how to help consumers make healthier and more sustainable dietary choices through simple interventions that encourage changes in behaviour. Working with experts at IGD and the University of Leeds, we will be able to determine which of these have the most impact, bringing about lasting positive dietary changes, and share these insights across the industry.

Joanne Lunn, Health Manager at Waitrose and co-chair of IGDs Healthier and Sustainable Diets project group, said:"We know that many shoppers want to enjoy a healthier and more sustainable diet, and retailers can play a key role in helping them to do so. This collaboration brings together experts from across the industry to find the most effective ways to help customers make more informed choices."

IGDs Hannah Pearse adds: This project takes us one step further towards realising our longer-term ambition, to establish what levers truly inspire sustained behaviour change and help our industry scale up those interventions to create wide-reaching social impact.

As we roll out these interventions with our industry partners, it will be fascinating to see what results come back. We will share our findings as to what does and doesnt work publicly and widely, to inspire others to adopt our best practice, so together we can drive tangible, positive change.

Visit IGDs brand-new hub of inspiring industry insight and resources to drive change in your organisation and to find out more about our healthy and sustainable diets work.

For media enquiries please contact Sarah Burns [emailprotected] / t: 07483 094027.

Notes to editors:

1Source: IGD, Appetite for Change: how have consumer attitudes to healthy and sustainable diets changed in the wake of Covid-19 September 2020,

2Source: Public Health England in association with the Welsh Government, Food Standards Scotland and the Food Standards Agency in Northern Ireland

3Source: The Carbon Trust (2016) The Eatwell Guide: Modelling the Health Implications of Incorporating New Sugar and Fibre Guidelines

See more here:
IGD collaborates with food and consumer goods industry and University of Leeds to shift people towards healthier, more sustainable diets - IGD

Ever since he was a child, Kevin Curry would pray for God to "fix" him and take away his sadness.

"Everything feels good, but I don't feel good," Curry said. "Why is that? Why is it sunny outside and everybody wants to go and play? The only thing that I want to do is run back inside and go up under my bed and just be there."

His depression -- paired with losing his job and girlfriend -- felt so inescapable in his late 20s, he decided to end his life.

"I remember mapping out everything perfectly," said Curry, pausing as he started to choke up. "I was putting together all my finances. I was writing my notes, writing my letters."

"It was so calculated that I researched how to cut my wrist, and I had drawn Sharpie marks on my arms for how to actually do it."

When one of his oldest friends reached out to get together that night, Curry accepted.

"It was the perfect ending to what I was preparing."

While hanging out with his friend, Curry's phone rang.

It was a counselor he had only seen a few times. He hadn't spoken to her in weeks.

"And she says, 'Hey, I am breaking all kinds of protocol here. But for some reason you have been on my mind very, very heavily. Will you come in and see me tomorrow?'" Curry recalled. "It was just such a random call."

He put his suicide plan on hold and went to the appointment. In the past, the therapist only asked superficial questions. This time she went deep, questioning Curry about his drinking, dreams and mental health.

"And as I was talking to her, she says, 'What are those marks on your arm?' She saw the Sharpie marks," Curry said.

His eyes welled up before he could continue.

"I started to tell her what I was feeling. And I have never unpacked that before with anybody. And all this time, I've been raised in church, and for some reason I had convinced myself that God didn't really care about me. That he just kind of (had) forgotten (me). That my faith wasn't strong enough to really overcome these feelings about ending my life."

The counselor's response was the turning point for Curry.

"She says, 'Well, if you had the common cold, wouldn't you take some cold medicine? If you had the flu wouldn't you go down to CVS and take something?' And I was like, 'Of course.' And then she said, 'Sometimes people just need a little bit more help. And there's nothing wrong with you and there's nothing wrong with your faith either.'"

Curry felt like a weight had lifted off his shoulders. He was diagnosed in 2010 with depression and anxiety. Therapy and medication helped him feel better, but he wanted to look better, too.

The Dallas resident started working out three hours a day, five days a week. But it wasn't working. After a few months, his physique remained unchanged.

"It's a realization that everybody will come to know and that is this, that you can never outtrain a poor diet," he explained. "That's what kind of started my true journey into transforming my entire life."

A personal trainer put Curry on a strict diet and he lost some weight. But he gained the pounds back as soon as he veered off plan.

"I live in the South," he said. "We love soul food every Sunday after church and Mexican food at least three times a week here in Texas."

Curry, who graduated from the University of Texas and has a Master of Public Policy from Harvard, figured he had the smarts to learn how to eat healthy without giving up the food he loved.

"I went over to a half price bookstore and bought every single book they had about nutrition," he said with a laugh. "And I just began to consume the content. And then I started to cook."

In the summer of 2012, he began posting his dishes on social media, hoping to get free advice on his diet.

"And all of a sudden, seemingly like overnight, people just began to send me all of these questions and praise for the stuff that I was doing," Curry smiled. "And I realized there are more people out there like me who are trying to eat healthy and want delicious food but don't want a boring, bland diet."

"And that's what created Fit Men Cook ... a global community of people dedicated to living healthier and happier lives."

Today, Curry continues to spread his influence on social media with more than 2 million followers on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube combined. He also published a cookbook, has two meal prep apps (FitMenCook and MealPrepPro) and recently added a line of spices to his repertoire.

Despite his success, Curry admitted he still has low moments.

"One thing I have learned is to allow myself to be human and know I'm not going to feel 100 percent every single day of the year. And that was the hardest thing for me to get because I felt that, well, now that I'm feeling better, this should be permanent. No. Sometimes you just don't feel that well. Sometimes the circumstances of life just kind of begin to compound themselves."

For those struggling with depression and anxiety, Curry suggested six strategies that work for him:

And it's important to do everything in moderation.

"Try to find one thing that you can do differently. Just for one week," he said. "We're so quick to try to change everything, overhaul our entire life, because everything is going to be perfect right away. Life doesn't work like that. ... You've got to do it little by little by little."

Advice to live by, according to one determined survivor.

"My biggest accomplishment each year is learning how to cope with everything, all of the pressure, society and life. And not going back to '2010 Kevin' and the way that he handled it," Curry said. "I'm really proud of myself. Kevin, you're alive and you won. You beat the year."

Read the original here:
Kevin Curry's depression almost killed him. Food, fitness and fortitude brought him back - WTVA

Most digital nutritional programs are geared toward young adults working to establish healthy eating patterns as they begin to navigate the world independently. But that doesnt mean that older adults couldnt benefit from some help, too.

Thats the thinking that led a team of Northeastern students to make geriatric nutrition the subject of this years Husky Health Innovation Challenge. In the case competition, put on by healthcare innovation club ViTAL, teams of students pitched original digital solutions to help geriatric patients meet their nutritional health needs over the span of just two weeks last month. It all culminated on March 27 in a single-day eventPitch Daywhich is reminiscent of the television show Shark Tank, with finalist teams presenting their business plans to a panel of judges who then rank the top proposals.

Among the top proposals this year were a Snapchat-style app to help users plan and track their meals, a voice assistant system to connect users with nutritional support, and a subscription snack box tailored to each customers individual nutritional needs.

Nutrition is a major factor that plays into a lot of chronic health conditions as well as a lot of other conditions that people experience older in their lives that can significantly change their quality of life, says Elisa Danthinne, a fifth-year industrial engineering student at Northeastern, who is the director of special events at the healthcare innovation club and led the planning team for the challenge.

A team of Northeastern students devised EatRight, a Snapchat-like app for senior citizens that serves as a food diary, meal planner, connection to dieticians, and provides other nutritional support services. Their business plan was honored in the 2021 Husky Health Innovation Challenge. Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University

This year, the Husky Health Innovation Challenge wasnt just for Huskies. The student-organized competition was expanded to include undergraduate students from across the Boston area.

There arent opportunities like the Husky Health Innovation Challenge specifically for undergraduates in the Boston area, says Danthinne. We wanted to model our competition off of what graduate institutions were doing, and make the competition more collaborative and accessible for all undergraduates from the first competition in 2019, she says. But it wasnt until this year, when university life moved online and her team had two previous competitions under their belts, that the challenge was expanded.

And it was quite the turnout. Representing eight different schools, 87 students entered the third Husky Health Innovation Challenge, up from 23 and 25 during the first two competitions.

I think it pushed us a lot harder than if it was just at Northeastern, says Eva Kuruvilla, a second-year student at Northeastern who studies cellular and molecular biology and healthcare systems engineering. It also made the second place win feel more gratifying.

Kuruvilla was part of a Northeastern team that proposed a business plan for a telehealth platform that the team called EatRight, which placed second in the competition. The app, which is designed with seniors in mind, offers users tailored nutrition recommendations, printable grocery plans that factor in local store options, personalized communication with a dietician, a personal food diary, and weekly health questionnaires.

The proposed company also would integrate partnerships with other organizations that provide food delivery, nutrition supplements, companionship, and volunteers to help with tasks such as grocery shopping. In order to best support the most vulnerable populations, EatRights funding model would be based in Medicare.

The team that placed first in the competition was made up of Boston University students. They pitched a voice-powered system to support older adults in nutrition and to fortify social connection for food accountability.

It was a great experience, says Ben Reydler, a junior studying business administration at B.U. I thought it was hosted by some organization, it was so professional, all of the emails, all of the branding, and I get to the Pitch Day and its completely student-led and I thought, this is awesome. The experience inspired him to start something similar at BU, he says.

The challenge didnt only foster friendly rivalries between universitiesit also served as a way to bring Boston-area college students together. We tried to match people throughout schools so that we could foster collaborations and so that it wouldnt feel like we were pitting schools against each other, says Megha Gupta, a fourth-year student studying neuroscience at Northeastern who led the external communications and outreach effort on the organizing team for the challenge.

But for one team, that cross-collegiate collaboration came naturally. Elizabeth Si, a first-year student at Northeastern studying political science and economics, didnt hear about the competition through her own, hosting university. Shreya Nair, a first-year student at Harvard University, spotted the advertisement and immediately thought of the opportunity to work with her longtime friend. The pair teamed up, recruited another classmate of Nairs, and they placed thirdas the only entirely freshman team among the finalists.

Their proposal, Sage Snacks, is a monthly delivery of snacks selected to serve individual customers nutritional needs. The box would contain a wide variety of snacks to help eaters broaden their own options and an informational card detailing the nutritional value and contextualizing that information in terms of how it benefits their bodies. But the service wouldnt stop there. The company would also host monthly virtual group meals so that members could socialize with one another to alleviate loneliness and hold eaters accountable.

The top three teams all earned cash prizes that the challenge organizers hope will be put toward turning these ideas into a reality. But, says Christopher Han, a fourth-year neuroscience major at Northeastern and executive director of ViTAL, the point of the competition is just to get students thinking about geriatric nutrition and practicing putting together a business plan and pitch.

You cant solve geriatric nutrition in one case competition, Han says. But I think just being able to think big, and think forward, and understand that you definitely wont have all the answers, but you should definitely try And any effort toward improving healthcare is a good effort.

For media inquiries, please contact media@northeastern.edu.

Here is the original post:
They designed a Snapchat-like nutrition app with their grandparents' diet in mind - News@Northeastern

CBD products are among the hottest items you can buy at grocery stores everywhere right now. Derived directly from the hemp plant, cannabidiol (CBD) has been shown to help people alleviate chronic pain, manage stress levels, and even improve sleep.

Since the market for CBD products is quickly becoming vast, we wanted to call out just five products that recently debuted that you may have missed. From dissolvable powder to squares of chocolate, here are the five new best CBD products to add to your diet right now.

And after, don't miss This Is the Best Supermarket in America, New Survey Says!

Every morning you take your vitamins in the form of either a capsule, supplement, or chewable gummy, right? Now, you can add your CBD gummy with THC to the morning mix as well thanks to Medterra's True Full Spectrum citrus gummies. Or, if you prefer to take your CBD before bed, you can try the brand's Deep Sleep Berry gummy to help lull you into a deep slumber.

Don't missThe Worst Foods for a Good Night's Rest, According to Sleep Experts!

If you'd rather take your daily dose of CBD in the form of a capsule, consider trying Nuleaf's plant-based CBD soft gels, which contains 15 milligrams a piece of a full spectrum of naturally occurring, synergistic cannabinoids and terpenes.

Compounding pharmacist Chris Adlahka founded Elevated Wellness in an attempt to "break through the clutter" of untested and unregulated CBD products. Among his latest releases includes a flavorless, water-soluble powder that consumers can put into their morning cup of coffee, tea, or even blend in their smoothie. You could even cook with it!

Um, who doesn't appreciate eating a square of chocolate from time to time (every day)? As of December 2020, FIVE CBD began offering two varieties of Full Spectrum CBD chocolates (milk chocolate and sea salt dark chocolate) each of which packs 50 milligrams of CBD and 2 milligrams of THC. Get your chill on with one of these sweet treats.

The question is, do you prefer mint chocolate or citrus? Medterra's new line of Full Spectrum CBD Drops now includes 2 milligrams of THC so you can take a deeper dive into the CBD experience.

For more, be sure to check outCBD for Anxiety: Does It Work?

More here:
5 Best New CBD Products to Add to Your Diet | Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

Aquaculture, which involves farming fish, shellfish and aquatic plants, is one of the fastest growing food sectors worldwide and it supplies about half of the fish that people consume globally. In Europe, aquaculture production reached a 10-year high in 2017 due to increased farming of fish species such as salmon, sea bass and bluefin tuna.

Fish meal and oils from small fish like sardines and anchovies used to be the main source of feed for farmed fish. But plant-based sources of protein, such as soybeans or corn, have become more widely used in the past decade partly for environmental reasons.

Fish stocks have become a limited resource and they're actually protected in certain areas, said Dr Morten Tnsberg Limborg, an associate professor in evolutionary genomics at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. So there has been a transition to using more and more raw materials from plants.

Its not well understood, however, how changing the diet of farmed fish affects their health and growth.

Fish such as salmon and trout, for example, are predatory and hunt other fish for food in nature. There have been some issues with trying to turn them into vegans, said Jacob Agerbo Rasmussen, a PhD student at the University of Copenhagen. Eating soybean-based meals, for example, often reduces their growth since dietary fibres are hard to digest.

Furthermore, there is a recent trend of adding probiotics - cultures of live bacteria - to fish feed with the intention of boosting gut health and growth. But their effect isnt well understood. Anything that happens inside the gut in terms of the bacteria in there, and the effect of the added bacteria, is just a big black box, said Dr Tnsberg Limborg. It hasnt really been possible to study what happens before.

Bacteria

Dr Tnsberg Limborg and Agerbo Rasmussen have taken steps towards that by investigating the composition of bacteria in the gut of specific species as part of the Happy Fish project. They used new tools, such as a technique that allowed them to look at the genetics of bacteria in the gut, to describe the different types of bacteria present and how they interact.

In one experiment, the team analysed the gut bacteria of rainbow trout and Atlantic salmon, two species that are widely farmed, and European whitefish. The trout and salmon were from different aquaculture facilities while the whitefish was from a wild population. They were surprised to find that a single bacteria was highly-dominant in all the fish. We always talk about millions of bacteria in the gut of humans, said Agerbo Rasmussen. In predatorial salmonid fish, however, one type of bacteria is often dominant and present in very low amounts, he says.

It is generally assumed that gut bacteria in fish are a product of their surroundings, where the same bacteria would be found in the water they are swimming in. But Dr Tnsberg Limborg thinks their results suggest this isnt the case since the fish came from different environments. He thinks instead that the bacteria may have coevolved with the fish and there could be a symbiotic relationship involved where there is some sort of long-term interaction between them. It seems very unlikely to get that by chance, he said.

The low quantity of bacteria could be related to the temperatures of their environment. Agerbo Rasmussen suspects that the cold water they live in could play a role. These bacteria are most likely slow growers and it takes a long time (for them) to colonise in the gut, he said.

To try to find out whether more diverse gut bacteria have an impact, they ran studies with probiotics. They fed three groups of rainbow trout different types of feed. The first group was fed a standard feed while the second was given the same feed with added probiotics. The third group received the same diet as the second group supplemented with a dietary fibre which is thought to have added benefits for the probiotic supplements.

There have been some issues with trying to turn them into vegans.

Jacob Agerbo Rasmussen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Probiotics

Preliminary results suggest that feeding them probiotics did have an effect. Although there wasnt a big difference in their growth, there was a change in the bacteria in their gut, where other bacteria became dominant. Its still unclear whether this is beneficial for the fish. There was a shift in nutrient uptake as well, where probiotic bacteria seemed to boost a rainbow trouts ability to digest fat.

The work is a first step to better understanding the role of added probiotics in fish feed. Previously, fish farmers would only measure whether fish grew better when bacteria supplements were incorporated but now they are showing that the effect is far more complex. Our results will not lead to a different way of feeding farmed fish tomorrow, said Dr Tnsberg Limborg. But the project has demonstrated a whole new toolbox to analyse and understand the gut microbiome of these fish.

Defining the nutritional requirements of different species of farmed fish is also needed to optimise feed. Salmon and trout have been the pioneering species in fish farming so guidelines formulated for them are often applied to other types of fish. It became apparent that they are not the same, said Dr Katerina Moutou, an associate professor of vertebrate biology at the University of Thessaly in Greece and coordinator of the PerformFISH project.

Dr Moutou and her colleagues are focussing on determining the particular nutritional needs of gilthead sea bream and European sea bass as part of the project. They are also exploring alternative sources of protein and lipids that can be used in fish feed, such as raw materials of marine origin like algae. Their ultimate goal is to come up with new feeds that have more efficient feed conversion rates, where less feed would be required to grow a kilogram of fish. This is important for the environment and the economic sustainability of companies, said Dr Moutou.

Diets

So far, the team has managed to gain insight into some of the nutritional requirements of sea bream and sea bass. Several experiments with sea bream were performed to determine recommended dietary levels of certain vitamins such as A, K, D and B12 as well as copper, manganese and selenium, essential dietary minerals. They determined, for example, that supplementing plant-based diets with a small amount of selenium would promote the growth of young sea bream. Similarly, diets low in fishmeal and fish oils should be supplemented with vitamin A to improve a fishs growth and liver health. However, adding too much of the vitamin could be toxic to sea bream although higher levels are tolerated by sea bass.

They also conducted experiments where they investigated whether sea bream could adapt to novel diets, specifically looking at how they metabolise fat. One trial was conducted with fish raised for breeding purposes where different groups were fed diets with varying quantities of fish oil. They found that genetic differences would determine how fast the offspring of parents fed on a diet free of fish oil would grow when they were also raised on feed without fish oil. We are trying to identify the genetic recipe of those fish that deal with new ingredients in a better and more efficient way, said Dr Moutou. In this way, breeding and feeding will go side by side.

The team is working with fish feed companies who have already started applying their findings. They are now able to formulate fish feed for sea bream and sea bass based on revised nutritional requirements, where initial results from tests in fish farms suggest that the supplemented diets are more efficient. The new guidelines should help companies select appropriate new substitutes for fish meal and fish oils, including local ingredients which should further help with sustainability. I think this has been very important and also increased the palette of proposed alternative ingredients, said Dr Moutou.

The next step will be to further optimise how much and when fish are fed by using technology such as sensors to monitor their feeding behaviour. This move towards precision aquaculture would allow fish farmers to adjust feeding rates depending on different factors that influence their consumption patterns, such as the time of year. That would decrease wasted food, said Dr Moutou. Its going to be part of what we call the fourth industrial revolution in aquaculture.

The research in this article was funded by the EU. If you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.

Visit link:
Plant-based, probiotics and vitamins: what new diets mean for farmed fish health - Horizon

But it was what Cleveland said behind the podium that turned heads on Friday.

I dont know if its a specific diet, Cleveland said, asked about his unusual diet. You eat what you got in the freezer from the fall.

Had a few squirrels freeze-dried in there, get a little hungry, aint got no deer meat left, fry you up a squirrel or two and just go eat that.

https://www.si.com/nfl/ravens/news/ravens-rookies051421

Clevelands quest to win the starting job at left guard is one of the teams storylines this fall, per the Raven Country website.

The Baltimore Sun noted that, With the NFL Players Association pushing rookies to skip rookie minicamps and other voluntary offseason workouts, the Ravens class of draft picks and undrafted signings isnt obligated to attend.

But attendance was near perfect at the first wave of minicamps around the league, an acknowledgment that most rookies stand to benefit from on-field instruction.

The Sun stated that Cleveland is a bruising interior lineman on a team that needs them, and provided evidence that coach John Harbaugh is thinking the same thing.

Thats a big, strong, powerful guy that likes to rough people up, he said to The Sun, and thats how we want to play

Excerpt from:
'Big, strong,' Ben Cleveland dishes on squirrel diet in Baltimore - DawgNation

If you live on a noisy street or a busy city, youre dealing with sound on the regular. Research has found that chronic low levels of noise can lead to things like trouble sleeping, which can then trigger stress. Noise can also directly stress you out if youre conscious of it (because, hello, who likes to go about their day to the soundtrack of jackhammers?). What tends to be the most stressing is noise thats less predictable and high-pitched, psychologist Frank Ghinassi, PhD, president and CEO of Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, tells Health. So basically, any noise youd hear in an urban setting. It can be frustrating to concentrate and that can lead to more energy to work against that frustration, he says. Noise specifically triggers a stress response in your amygdala, the part of your brain that regulates emotion, psychologist John Mayer, PhD, host of the Anxietys a B!tch podcast, tells Health. Your amygdala learns over time what sounds might signal impending danger, he explains. When one is detected, the amygdala triggers a release of cortisol. Cue the stress.

More:
What Causes Stress? 21 Reasons You're Stressed | Health.com - Health.com

Page 41«..1020..40414243..5060..»

Home » Diets that Work » Page 41