To estimate the prevalence of nutrition security and examine its association with community food environment factors, including food access and affordability. This cross-sectional study used data from the 2012-2013 National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey, including its restricted-use Geography Component (FoodAPS-GC). Household nutrition security measure was derived by combining self-assessed food security and self-rated diet quality indicators into four categories: food secure with high diet quality (FSHD), food secure with low diet quality (FSLD), food insecure with high diet quality (FIHD), and food insecure with low diet quality (FILD). Only FSHD households were considered nutrition secure. Multinomial logit analysis identified factors associated with nutrition security. 4,685 households with primary respondents aged 20 years or older. Nationally representative sample of US households. Approximately 31.0% of households were classified as nutrition insecure, including 15.0% as FSLD, 9.3% as FIHD, and 6.7% as FILD. The remaining 69.0% were nutrition secure (FSHD). Nutrition insecurity was significantly associated with younger age, lower educational attainment, lower income, obesity, smoking, and poorer self-rated health. Food environment factors, including low geographic access to food and higher local food prices, were not significantly associated with nutrition security. Relying on someone else's car to reach a primary food store was linked to higher odds of nutrition insecurity. The proposed nutrition security measure can be used to monitor nutrition security in national surveys. Comprehensive measures of the food environment are needed to understand its relationship with nutrition security and to guide targeted policy interventions.

Household consumption is a key measure of well-being in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where agriculture remains the primary livelihood, and food represents a substantial share of household total consumption expenditures. This paper introduces a new harmonized dataset of food consumption value by food categories and acquisition sources for 16 sub-Saharan African countries from 2008 to 2021. The dataset is constructed from consumption modules of large-scale, nationally representative household surveys collected by the World Bank and each country's National Statistical Office. It adds value to these surveys by standardizing indicators, including monetizing non-market consumption, generating food item-level estimates, and making the processing code and record-level microdata publicly available for replication and use by researchers. The dataset facilitates valid cross-country comparisons of food consumption over time and can be merged with other satellite and climate data datasets for additional analysis of the drivers and impacts of food consumption in LMICs. Additionally, an indicator dashboard and visualizations have been created to make the estimates accessible to policymakers and the public.

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are shown to promote disease. Research shows high UPF intake with food insecurity and SNAP participation. However, no research has quantitatively examined UPF acquisitions (which includes purchases) by food insecurity and SNAP status in US households. This analysis examines food insecurity and SNAP participation with UPF acquisitions for home consumption. Food insecurity was assessed through the ten-item Adult Food Security Survey. Household SNAP participation was considered affirmative if any member of the household reported receiving SNAP benefits. Household UPF acquisitions/purchases for home consumption (as a percentage of total energy acquired/purchased) were determined by the NOVA classification system. Multivariable linear regressions adjusted for household sociodemographic characteristics quantified associations between food insecurity and SNAP participation with UPF acquisitions for home consumption in US households. The USA. 3949 households from the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey. 15·5 % and 13·9 % of US households experienced marginal food security and food insecurity, respectively. Adjusted means for UPF acquisition for home consumption across food security and SNAP categories ranged from 53·2 % to 57·0 %. Marginal food security was associated with 3·8 % higher UPF acquisitions for home consumption (P = 0·0039) compared with households with high food security. However, there was no association with food insecurity or SNAP. UPF acquisitions for home consumption were high for US households across food security and SNAP categories. Marginal food security was associated with higher UPF acquisitions for home consumption in US households. However, we observed no associations between food insecurity and SNAP participation with UPF acquisitions. More research on drivers of this association for households with marginal food security should be conducted.

Flow velocity is a key environmental factor that exerts multifaceted effects on fish growth and adaptation. Through long-term natural selection, fish have evolved adaptability to specific flow conditions, which not only relate to oxygen supply and food acquisition but also play a decisive role in reproduction, development, and population maintenance. To investigate the genomic mechanisms through which hydrodynamic environments drive divergence in closely related species, we focused on two sister species, Hemiculter bleekeri and Hemiculter leucisculus, which are adapted to contrasting flow regimes. We generated high-quality, chromosome level telomere-to-telomere (T2T) genomes and integrated comparative genomic analyses, we investigated the genetic basis underlying body shape regulation and reproductive strategies, aiming to decipher the adaptive evolutionary patterns of these species in response to differing hydrodynamic conditions from an integrated genotype phenotype perspective. We integrated PacBio HiFi, Hi-C, and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) ultra-long read sequencing data to construct high-quality T2T reference genomes for both species. The final genome assemblies are 0.998 Gb for H. bleekeri and 1.05 Gb for H. leucisculus, with each species possessing 24 chromosomes and all chromosomal sequences assembled into single contigs. Contig N50 values reached 40.45 Mb and 40.66 Mb, respectively, and both assemblies are gap-free. BUSCO assessments yielded completeness scores of 99.34% for both genomes, confirming their high continuity and accuracy. Integrated morphometric and genomic analyses revealed distinct adaptive strategies in two Hemiculter Species. H. bleekeri has evolved a streamlined body, underpinned by expansions in body shape related genes, and a pelagic egg strategy. In contrast, the adhesive egg strategy of H. leucisculus is supported by expansions in adhesion-related gene families. This divergence reflects adaptation to distinct flow velocity. By combining high-quality chromosome-level T2T genomes with morphometric and comparative genomic approaches, this study establishes a comprehensive framework for understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying adaptive evolution in freshwater fishes inhabiting contrasting flow velocity.

Housing costs and food purchasing characteristics: The role of SNAP participation and SNAP purchasing power.

Behavioural plasticity in a solitary foraging ant: Effect of experience and food distribution.

To analyze the sustainability of the food system in the Belém Metropolitan Region, based on the interface between public institutional purchasing policies (National School Feeding Program and Food Acquisition Program), considering local production, the profile of spending, the appreciation of family farming, and the principles of climate justice. The analysis of the National School Feeding Program was based on data from the School Census (profile of schools and students) and invoices from the Accountability Management System (amounts and types of food from family farming), both from 2022. The food was classified into 12 groups. The characterization of family farming and the data from the Food Acquisition Program were based on reports on urban and peri-urban agriculture and the mapping of settlements. The Belém Metropolitan Region has 929 public schools and 390,552 students. In 2022, the municipalities allocated 31 million reais to the National School Feeding Program, of which 43.5% came from family farming, exceeding the legal target. Fruit accounted for the largest amounts invested, followed by vegetables and spices. In the Food Acquisition Program, the Abril Vermelho (Red April) settlement sold 28 tons of food, especially fruit, vegetables, and tubers, with pumpkin and cassava root being the foods with the highest volume, and spring onions and pepper the ones with the highest financial value. Production prioritized permanent crops, agro-ecological practices and culturally significant foods. The results show the potential of the National School Feeding Program and the Food Acquisition Program in the Belém Metropolitan Region to strengthen family farming, promote healthy and sustainable eating, value regional products, and contribute to environmental recovery. These policies represent strategic instruments for integrating food security and climate justice, by promoting low-impact local production, recognizing inequalities, and increasing the resilience of food systems, in line with the COP30 objectives.

For millions of adults with mobility limitations, eating meals is a daily challenge. A variety of robotic systems have been developed to address this societal need. These robots serve as a proxy for the human’s arm: the user inputs the food they want to eat, and the robot autonomously picks up that food and brings it to the user’s mouth. Unfortunately, end-user adoption of robot-assisted feeding is limited, in part because existing devices are unable to seamlessly grasp, manipulate, and feed diverse foods. Recent works seek to address this issue by creating new algorithms for food acquisition and bite transfer. In parallel to these algorithmic developments, however, we hypothesize that mechanical intelligence will make it fundamentally easier for robot arms to feed humans. We therefore propose Kiri-Spoon, a soft utensil specifically designed for robot-assisted feeding. Kiri-Spoon consists of a spoon-shaped kirigami structure: when actuated, the kirigami sheet deforms into a bowl of increasing curvature. Robot arms equipped with Kiri-Spoon can leverage the kirigami structure to wrap-around morsels during acquisition, contain those items as the robot moves, and then compliantly release the food into the user’s mouth. Overall, Kiri-Spoon combines the familiar and comfortable shape of a standard spoon with the increased capabilities of soft robotic grippers. In what follows, we first apply a stakeholder-driven design process to ensure that Kiri-Spoon meets the needs of caregivers and users with physical disabilities. We next characterize the dynamics of Kiri-Spoon, and derive a mechanics model to relate actuation force to the spoon’s shape. The paper concludes with three separate experiments that evaluate (a) the mechanical advantage provided by Kiri-Spoon, (b) the ways users with disabilities perceive our system, and (c) how the mechanical intelligence of Kiri-Spoon complements state-of-the-art algorithms. Our results suggest that Kiri-Spoon advances robot-assisted feeding across diverse foods, multiple robotic platforms, and different manipulation algorithms.

The UK food system has been subject to a range of external pressures over recent years, and particularly influenced by austerity policies, the Covid‐19 pandemic, exit of the UK from the European Union, geopolitical instability, increasing energy prices, and cyber attacks. These disturbances have resulted in high levels of inflation and a cost‐of‐living crisis, presenting challenges to household budgets and food affordability. Support structures that have traditionally supported pensioner age households (PAH) to access food, such as community lunch clubs and meals on wheels services, have been adversely affected by austerity measures, and thus have been in decline since 2010. Many community lunch groups which were forced to close during the pandemic have not re‐opened. This article explores how disruptions to the food system have impacted how PAH interact with the food places and spaces they have traditionally relied on. The challenges presented by food system disruptions are explored through a secondary analysis of and critical reflection on data from four empirical qualitative studies undertaken in the south‐east of England over the past decade. This secondary analysis focuses on place, in particular, in relation to changes in food acquisition practices. Both the studies and exploration are underpinned by a theoretical framework developed to model food system vulnerability in later life. The studies include an ethnographic study exploring the vulnerability of older people in the UK food system undertaken before the pandemic, two studies exploring food practices undertaken during the pandemic, and a study undertaken post‐pandemic examining the use of food aid by older people. These studies demonstrate how the places PAH use to source food are in flux. The cost‐of‐living crisis has led to an increase in the number of older people using food aid such as food larders, social supermarkets/pantries supplying surplus food, and community cafes producing low‐cost or free food. However, these sources do not meet all their food needs and are supplemented by purchasing food from supermarkets. This increases the complexity of the food environment PAH on lower incomes engage with and could amplify their risk of being food insecure. Governments and food providers need to be better prepared for future major disruptions to the food system, and be particularly aware of, and be prepared to support, the needs of PAH.

This study explores the integration of food biodiversity and Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and Local Communities (LCs) into public food procurement (PFP). Using a primarily qualitative approach, it combines a scoping review with a case study of the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) and the Food Acquisition Program (PAA) across six municipalities in the eastern Amazon, Brazil. Common barriers included rigid procurement guidelines, culturally inappropriate menus, and erosion of traditional knowledge, reflecting the marginalisation of IPs and LCs, as well as food biodiversity. Compared to the PNAE, the PAA exhibited stronger inclusion of IPs and LCs by integrating diverse foods, implementing “Indigenous” and “traditional” procurement modalities, and fostering social engagement. In the PNAE, culturally adapted menus for IPs and LCs were absent; however, the presence of unprocessed menu items positively correlated with food biodiversity. Strategies such as institutionalising hybrid governance, participatory mechanisms, and social participation can strengthen IPs and LCs and biodiversity, providing pathways for PFP to support equitable, resilient, and culturally grounded food systems while addressing global food system challenges.

Capturing data for foods purchased and acquired from away-from-home places in the Second National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS-2) Field Test

Sauropods were the most gigantic land animals that ever lived on the Earth, and dominated herbivorous niches in many terrestrial ecosystems from the Jurassic to the end of the Cretaceous. Other than their great size, the elongated neck was the most remarkable feature of the sauropod bauplan and has been suggested as a key factor underpinning their evolutionary success. The necks of dicraeosaurid sauropods are particularly unusual, exhibiting extremely long neural spines and often being relatively short for sauropod necks, raising questions about their feeding strategies. In this regard, there are still many unknowns regarding the structure and function of the sauropod neck, especially concerning the soft tissues. Craniocervical muscles are particularly important, since they are responsible for the movement of the head relative to the neck, strongly implicated in the feeding behavior. The braincase of Amargasaurus cazaui, a dicraeosaurid from the Lower Cretaceous of Argentina, represents a chance to reconstruct the craniocervical muscles in a sauropod and, in turn, shed light on the feeding behavior. In this study, the insertions of the muscles are reconstructed using the extant phylogenetic bracket (EPB) approach, based on the anatomy of extant archosaurs and then compared with other studies performed on other groups of dinosaurs. There are several differences due to the disparity in the identification of the attachment areas and/or differences in the homologies of the muscles of the extant archosaurs. In the light of our findings, we discuss the high and low browsing modes for food acquisition and propose a three-step mechanism to explain the importance of the craniocervical muscles during animal feeding. This contribution represents the first complete reconstruction of the neck muscles inserting in the occiput for Dicraeosauridae.

Jellyfish are considered the most energetically efficient swimmers to have ever existed, so their propulsion mechanism can be researched to improve our own underwater vehicle designs. These unique animals need to be very efficient because of their nontraditional bodily components, and because most consume limited food while they prey passively during swimming. Jellyfish accomplish their efficiency through vortex propulsion. The contraction of a jellyfish’s bell generates a vortex ring as it swims, which due to its axial symmetry we will simplify into two dimensions using two point vortices. We model these vortices using a system of differential equations, for which parameters can be selected to adjust their strength, location, and direction of rotation. To numerically solve the system, we use the fourth order Runge-Kutta method in MATLAB. The first goal of the project is to examine the jellyfish's propulsion and maneuvering mechanism, which involves creating simulations for various parameter values in the system of differential equations. Secondly, we study the material transport in the vicinity of jellyfish and its implication on food acquisition. Massless particles are inserted into the fluid flow to observe how the jellyfish and these particles in its environment move through the water as affected by the vortices. To work towards these goals, we have implemented bell shapes to represent moon jellyfish, Pacific sea nettles, cannonball jellyfish, and lion’s mane jellyfish to provide a breadth of bell shapes and sizes. Each of these bell shapes serve as a barrier to material transport, so the jellyfish can capture particles from the surrounding environment. These results have significant implications for fields such as biomimetic engineering, enabling improvements to sub-aquatic vehicle efficiency and reliability, especially in cases when speed is not a priority.

This paper details the integration of open-source databases on food production and consumption, pesticide use, water and land use, and nutrient supply, segmented by year and region. The process of extracting, transforming, and loading information was divided into four phases: 1) water and land use, harvest, and nutrient metrics; 2) pesticide and crop records; 3) pesticide residues with legal limits and their environment risk; 4) food acquisition and consumption by region and year. This effort resulted in 48 years of agrifood system data from 114 datasets across eight public platforms, providing a comprehensive view of the variations in agricultural production and consumption in Brazil.

This study takes children as the research subjects to explore the rationality of integrating food and agriculture education with serious games, thereby consolidating children’s agricultural knowledge, fostering agricultural skills, and developing healthy eating habits. Based on the game mechanics of serious games, combined with children’s cognitive and behavioral characteristics, this study identifies the core indicators of food and agriculture education, refines them into specific design elements, constructs a serious game design model for children’s food and agriculture education, and conducts usability evaluation through the design of corresponding game interfaces. The contextual and incentive properties of serious game mechanics are crucial factors in enhancing children’s acquisition of food and agriculture knowledge, skills, and healthy eating habits. The game design integrating food and agriculture education with serious games can significantly improve the level of children’s food and agriculture education, and has important guiding value for promoting the design and development of children’s educational games.

BackgroundUrbanisation and food system transformations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are reshaping local food retail environments, influencing diets and nutrition outcomes. The expansion of ultra-processed products (UPPs) and changing food outlet landscapes are key drivers of the triple burden of malnutrition across LMICs, including rising rates of obesity and related non-communicable disease (NCD). Yet, qualitative insights into how local communities interact with evolving food retail environments remains limited.MethodsA qualitative study in three urban communities of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, between September 2018 and April 2019. A total of 45 semi-structured interviews lasting between 35 min and 1.5 h were conducted with individuals primarily responsible for household food purchasing and preparation, supported by transect walks to map food outlet types. Data were analysed iteratively, combining emic perspectives with pre-determined themes based on established urban food environments and food systems frameworks.ResultsParticipants accessed a wide range of formal and informal food retail outlets. Food acquisition strategies were diverse and dynamic, with respondents often relying on multiple outlets for different product types. Five main themes emerged as key drivers of food retail outlet choice: economic reasons, convenience, produce quality, product variety, and personal or social relationships with vendors. Supermarkets were visited infrequently and mainly used for bulk or non-perishable purchases, while markets and other traditional outlets were preferred for daily needs due to perceived freshness, affordability, and trust in sellers.ConclusionFindings highlight the complexity of urban food acquisition in LMIC settings, where residents navigate diverse food retail options shaped by economic, social, and contextual factors. Informal vendors remain central to everyday food access across socio-economic groups, pointing to the need for context-specific public health policies and programmes that do not assume a linear transition toward formalisation, but instead work with existing informal structures. Interventions should aim to regulate the availability and marketing of UPPs, support healthier retail environments across all outlet types, and leverage trust, familiarity, and local networks in shaping dietary behaviours through bottom-up approaches.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-025-23574-7.

Purpose This study assessed preference shifts for salmon products with different processing levels during the recent pandemic in the UK. For home consumption, the degree of processing is related to the time required for preparation, an indicator of convenience and one of the most important determinants of food acquisition and consumption practices. Design/methodology/approach This study hypothesized that consumers preferred less processed salmon over more processed salmon during the pandemic, as indicated by the significant increase in Google search results for salmon-related queries. Descriptive analysis was conducted, and then hedonic price models were estimated to investigate how Google search results affected price premiums of salmon product attributes during the pandemic. Findings The descriptive analysis shows that consumers bought more natural salmon than prepared salmon during the pandemic, which aligns with the internet search results. The empirical results indicate that, during the pandemic, consumers strongly preferred less processed salmon, which was reflected in their willingness to pay for product attributes. Google Trends variables were negatively associated with natural salmon prices and positively associated with prepared salmon prices prior to the pandemic but showed no effect during the pandemic. Originality/value This study contributes to the existing research on the impact of COVID-19 on food demand by examining shifts in consumer preferences across products with different processing levels. It is also likely the first study to use Google Trends to explore such changes. The findings further support marketing strategies that emphasize product differentiation either under normal conditions or during external shocks.

Abstract Interactions between organisms of different trophic levels are not only involved in the functioning of aquatic systems such as rivers but also crucial to maintaining taxonomic and functional diversity. This study aimed to evaluate the diversity of benthic cyanobacteria and their role as facilitating species for the colonization of benthic macroinvertebrates (MIB) in tropical mountain rivers with varying ecological conservation statuses. We sampled ten river segments in central Mexico, assessing physical and chemical parameters and collecting macroscopic cyanobacterial growths. A taxonomic and morphofunctional characterization was conducted for both biological groups, while a land-use change index (CDI) was calculated to assess the ecological quality of the sites. The analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) showed that cyanobacterial taxa are the factor that determines significant differences in the composition of MIB assemblages, with Cricotopus, Tanytarsini, Simulium, and Baetis being the most representative taxa according to the similarity percentage analysis (SIMPER). We also constructed an interactions network comprising eight cyanobacterial and 32 MIB taxa. The dominance of dipterans reflects substrate specialization, while the prevalence of collector morphologies suggests indirect food acquisition. While MIB were observed in unilateral associations with filamentous cyanobacteria, they formed multilateral associations with colonial species. Cricotopus showed a preference for both Nostoc tlalocii and Cyanoplacoma aff. regulare, revealing nonexclusive mutualistic relationships. This study demonstrated that cyanobacteria are important substrates for MIB to complete their life cycle, including the use of different species that are similar in their level of organization and therefore thallus morphology. This interaction network demonstrates adaptability, with some interactions being nonexclusive. Substrate turnover and voltinism in MIB may be linked to resiliency in the face of habitat changes caused by anthropogenic activities in the studied river basins.

ABSTRACTThe evolution of camouflage has led to many examples of organisms mimicking their environment to remain undetected or unseen. Camouflage likely results in strong selective pressures to resemble the environment as it increases Darwinian fitness in both predators and prey, having the potential to result in ecomorphs, which are morphologies that convergently evolve to function in specific environments. Whether the evolution of camouflage in ambush predators results in ecomorphs can be determined by examining the linear morphology and function of the raptorial forelegs among Mantodea (i.e. praying mantises), as the acquisition of food may vary based upon the microhabitat mimicked. We hypothesize that the evolution of camouflage constrains a species' diet based upon available prey in the habitat mimicked, resulting in the evolution of ecomorphs for prey capture. We analyzed over 200 3D high-speed prey capture attempts among ten species, three families and four camouflage strategies. Using principal component analyses to reduce dimensionality of dependent traits and phylogenetic mixed models, our results suggest that the evolution of camouflage does not result in ecomorphs based on raptorial foreleg linear morphology. We also found that camouflage strategy had a significant effect on one kinematic axis, and relatively strong phylogenetic signal but minimal effect of morphology on strike kinematics. Lastly, we recognize two new quantitatively and qualitatively distinguishable hunting strategies in Mantodea. Our results suggest that phylogeny and camouflage shape the versatility of raptorial forelegs in prey capture, which may allow mantises to diversify in their camouflage strategies to exploit different ecological niches, regardless of phylogeny or morphology.

No Breakfast? physiological effects of morning food deprivation in spotted munia (Lonchura punctulata).