Nutrition Today Research Articles

Desempenho econômico e zootécnico de frangos de corte submetidos à restrição alimentar quantitativa

Nutrition today accounts for approximately 75% of broiler production costs due to the large variety of ingredients contained in poultry feed. Commercial chicken breeds have been genetically selected for rapid weight gain, among other characteristics, thereby stimulating their voracious feeding behavior. However, this greater feed intake has not seen an attendant increase in the digestion capacity of the birds’ digestive system, thus interfering with feed conversion. The objective of this study to compare the performance of feed conversion, mortality rates, daily weight gain, carcass rejections, carcass and parts yields and the cost of ad libitum feeding of broiler chickens with those achieved through quantitative feed restriction (Cobb broiler diet table and 10% less than recommended in the table). The treatments were tested in three consecutive batches on a poultry farm with three aviaries. The results obtained indicated that quantitative feed restriction improves feed conversion and reduces daily weight gain and mortality rates, but affects neither carcass rejection rates nor carcass and parts yields. As for production costs, the kilogram of live chicken was 5.69% lower among birds that received controlled feed, following the diet recommended for the breed, and 7.38% in birds that received a 10% quantitative feed restriction compared to the Cobb broiler diet table. The results of this study indicate that the use of quantitative feed restriction programs, despite the lower daily weight gain of broiler chickens, can offer advantages because lower mortality rates and enhanced feed conversion compensate for this loss, thus significantly reducing production costs.

Nutrition Today: Nutrition/Health Communications: Teaching Sourcing, Vetting, Discerning

Nutrition and food science and other health science communicators have faced a number of significant challenges over the past several decades, as the information landscape has evolved. The growth of Web-based science communication sources and, especially, social media’s impact on information dissemination have thoroughly transformed what was once strictly the purview of science and health journals. To meet the changing challenges, the present authors have published a series of articles presenting guidance for communicators in navigating the evolving information environment. In response to a number of questions from colleagues about how to seek and evaluate sound scientific information and to address the growing online repository of dubious food and health recommendations, the authors are addressing in the present article some modern themes. In particular, the article focuses on communicators’ evolving needs: where to go for accurate science-based information—how to guide the public to sound health and nutrition information and also how consumers might vet information sites online and how the public can be encouraged to develop new critical science-consumption skills and practical skepticism in the face of competing “information” claims.

Should Pre-Weaning Calf Diets Include Forage?

The present review article aimed to update and address the biological consequences of forage supply to pre-weaned dairy calves. Early growth and development of a calf play a great role in lifelong performance of the animal. Comprehension of these stages is an important progress achieved in calf nutrition today. Health, milk-solid feed intake and rumen development are the most important factors related to calf growth in pre- and post-weaning periods. It is well understood that fermentation by-products of grain-based starter feeds are essential for increased growth and absorptive capacity of the rumen papillae. In pre-weaned calves, two major hypotheses exist regarding forage feeding. The first hypothesis describes that the rumen was not completely developed in pre-weaned calves and forage supply during this period might increase gut fill and hence, decrease starter intake. It is believed that depressed starter intake may limit energy intake and finally suppress calf growth rate. The second hypothesis indicates that rumen pH may decline as calf age and starter intake increases. Accordingly, forage supplementation into calf starter diets could prevent further rumen pH decline and subsequent negative consequences while improving starter intake and calf growth. Because research data regarding these hypotheses are controversial, there is no universally accepted standard for feeding calves with forage as a part of starter diets. Many factors, such as milk feeding method, grain, forage type and experimental conditions, could affect calf response to dietary forage. However, there is an evidence that limited consumption of forage may be beneficial on rumen health and behavior of calves consuming highly processed (pelleted or finely ground) starter feed in pre-weaning period.
 Keywords: Forage; Growth performance; Pre-weaned calf; Rumen development

Women in Nutrition Science: A Biographical Review.

The field of nutrition is in debt to a cadre of women who led the field through its formative years. This review highlights the contributions of these women that are gleaned through analysis of biographical articles published in The Journal of Nutrition. Forces emerged during the development of nutrition science, such as departments of home economics and the majority-female field of dietetics, that suggest women might be well represented in biographical articles in the field of nutrition. However, just 29 women have been the subject of biographical articles in The Journal of Nutrition representing 14.3% of the 202 biographical articles published to date - a percentage lower than scientific journals overall. This review explores these biographies to identify factors that facilitated and hindered careers and to highlight the manifold scientific contributions of women in nutrition science. This review looks toward the past to provide perspective and inspiration for those working in the field of nutrition today.

Knowledge and attitude of adolescents on probiotic foods and their consumption

The steady increase in awareness on healthy nutrition today coupled with the wish to keep the immune system strong has seen individuals turn to nutritional supplements and functional foods. Even though there has been a rapid increase in the production of probiotic products, no study has examined what adolescents know about probiotic dairy products, their attitude, or their consumption of the product. The present work therefore aimed to examine the consumption of probiotic foods among adolescents, and to investigate their knowledge of probiotics. The present work was conducted in four secondary schools located in three central districts of Ankara, and one central district of Istanbul in Turkey, involving 2,369 students attending the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. The scores of female and male adolescents who wanted to add probiotics into beverages were 44.4 and 55.6%, respectively. A statistically significant difference was observed in the demand for the addition of probiotics by gender (p < 0.01). The mean scores of sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students for the statement “probiotic foods are rich in nutrients” were M = 4.08, 3.97, and 3.90, respectively, with a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05). Recent studies also have proven the positive effect of probiotics consumption on diseases specifically seen in children such as infectious diarrhoea, antibiotic-associated diarrhoea, necrotising enterocolitis in very low birth weight infants, and childhood atopy.

The results of organoleptic assessment of a fermented milk product for functional nutrition

The problem associated with the gradual improvement in the quality of human nutrition today is one of the most important and urgent tasks. A balanced diet ensures diseases prevention, creates all the necessary conditions for the normal body development and its ability to withstand various adverse environmental factors. Dairy products have a significant biological value for human nutrition. Fermented milk products contain all the necessary constituent parts of milk, but at the same time in a more digestible form. The purpose of these studies was to conduct an organoleptic assessment of the developed functional fermented milk products. The organoleptic indicators of four samples of the developed product were assessed according to a standard 5-score scale by tasting with filling in tasting cards. A profilogram of the organoleptic indicators of the samples was created. The results showed that the best organoleptic indicators were in the sample with the addition of mint extracts, and the lowest indicators were in the sample with the basil extracts.

US Coronavirus Relief Package

Sheila Fleischhacker, PhD, JD, is adjunct professor of law, Georgetown University Law School, Washington, DC, and Editorial Board, Nutrition Today, Philadelphia, PA. The author has no conflicts of interest to disclose. Correspondence: Sheila Fleischhacker, PhD, JD, Georgetown University Law Center, 600 New Jersey Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20001 ([email protected]).

The development of technology of rickot cheese from whey, obtained using various coagulants

The problem of obtaining and rational use of whey proteins in human nutrition today is solved all over the world, traditional methods are being improved and new, more effective ways of processing milk whey, aimed at maximizing the withdrawal and use of its proteins, are being developed. The aim of the research was to develop the technology of albumin cheese ricotta from serum derived by the action of various coagulants. The raw material for cheese production was serum. For the study, two samples of cheese (with a threefold repetition) were made: Sample 1 - using serum formed during the fermentation of proteins with the participation of citric acid (normalized mixture + enzyme + citric acid); Sample 2 – using serum formed during protein mixing with the direct introduction of the fermentation culture (normalized mixture + enzyme + culture + calcium chloride). Determination of organoleptic and physico-chemical parameters in samples of albumin cheese, obtained from the developed technology, was carried out immediately after manufacture. The study of organoleptic characteristics of cheeses showed a similarity of indicators in samples 1 and 2. In particular, it was stated that pure, fresh taste and smell, with a specific albumin flavor, without foreign flavors and odors. Consistency in 1 sample was homogeneous, creamy, in 2 samples it was tender, but with a slight splinting. The color of the cheeses was white uniform throughout the mass. The lower acidity in the sample 2, which was at 17 °T, whereas in the sample 2 was higher – 20 °T. This, in particular, is explained by the use of citric acid for coagulation. The changes of microbiological parameters in the raw materials during storage, which consisted in the growth of the number of mesophilic anaerobic and optional aerobic microorganisms in two samples of cheese, were established. Given the permissible level of the number of mesophilic anaerobic and optional aerobic microorganisms in cheese not more than 1 × 105 CFU/g, the shelf life of two samples of cheese for 5 days. Indicators of titrated acidity during storage were correlated with changes in the number of mesophilic anaerobic and optional aerobic microorganisms. The mass fraction of moisture in the samples of cheese in the process of their storage decreased.

Fake Science/Nutrition News: Part 2—Trust

As has been widely explored in the literature, the evolving science-communication landscape has posed challenges to the credibility and trustworthiness of nutrition and health communicators. Especially, the Internet-mediated democratization of expertise, where every blogger and Web site owner becomes a subject-matter expert, has been problematic for communicators. This article, the second in a Nutrition Today series examining evolving communication issues in the digital age, explores the implications of the reported declining trust in science communications. The authors cite a new definition of trust, suggested at a National Academies of Science workshop, and they report recent survey findings on public trust. After a detailed discussion of the implications of these findings, the authors offer some guidance to nutrition and health communicators on meeting evolving trust challenges.

Creating and Sustaining a Healthy Food Environment in Hospitals Contracting With a Food Service Management Company

This article updates an article published in Nutrition Today in 2010, “Moving Toward Healthier Eating Environments in Hospitals” (2010;45(2):54–65). It seeks to provide advocates for healthy food environments who are employed by a hospital with a contract food service, with suggestions of the roles they can play in initiating and/or maintaining a healthy food environment. These suggestions come from the literature as well as interviews with professionals engaged in creating and sustaining an environment where the healthy choice is an easy choice—in the face of competing priorities and realities

ASN Article in Nutrition Today—November/December: Submit Your Research to Nutrition 2018

ASN Article in Nutrition Today—November/December: Submit Your Research to Nutrition 2018

Communicating Health and Nutrition Information After the Death of Expertise

This article reframes an issue first visited a decade ago in a Nutrition Today article about the decline in influence of the “gatekeepers” of scientific information. In the current “post-truth” era, characterized by an underskeptical view of “facts,” some observers have expressed fears that public trust in scientific and other expertise is on the decline or, worse, has evaporated altogether. With the ascendancy of Web-based analysis of everything from climate science to nutrition and food safety, these observers fear that actual scientists working in food and health no longer have influence in public discussions. The issue impacts not only scientific issues, but literally everything from pop culture, including music, books, movies, and the like, to highly technical fields such as health insurance and finance: all are subject to this “expertise devaluation” phenomenon. This article explores the arguments and reviews the communication landscape, offering insights into a new disciplined framework for how society, and specifically nutritionists, might extricate themselves from the current minimal trust environment.

Nutrition Gazette

Nutrition Today: January/February 2016 - Volume 51 - Issue 1 - p 3-4 doi: 10.1097/NT.0000000000000143

ASN Newsletter

Nutrition Today: January/February 2016 - Volume 51 - Issue 1 - p 1-2 doi: 10.1097/NT.0000000000000142

Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Reports

From the Archives of Nutrition Today® in Celebration of our 50th Year: 1985 Dietary Guidelines: PDF Only

Past Is Prologue

Johanna T. Dwyer, DSc, RD, is editor of Nutrition Today, a professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, and senior scientist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts. The author has no conflicts of interest to disclose. Correspondence: Johanna T. Dwyer, DSc, RD, Box 783, Frances Stern Nutrition Center, Tufts Medical Center, 800 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111 ([email protected]).

Ancient human microbiomes

Very recently, we discovered a vast new microbial self: the human microbiome. Our native microbiota interface with our biology and culture to influence our health, behavior, and quality of life, and yet we know very little about their origin, evolution, or ecology. With the advent of industrialization, globalization, and modern sanitation, it is intuitive that we have changed our relationship with microbes, but we have little information about the ancestral state of our microbiome, and we therefore lack a foundation for characterizing this change. High-throughput sequencing has opened up new opportunities in the field of paleomicrobiology, allowing us to investigate the evolution of the complex microbial ecologies that inhabit our bodies. By focusing on recent coprolite and dental calculus research, we explore how emerging research on ancient human microbiomes is changing the way we think about ancient disease and how archaeological studies can contribute to a medical understanding of health and nutrition today.

50 Years of Nutrition Today!

Johanna Dwyer, DSc, RD, is editor of Nutrition Today and Professor of Medicine and Nutrition at Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts. Editor has declared no conflicts of interest to disclose. Correspondence: Johanna Dwyer, DSc, RD, ([email protected]; [email protected]).

McCormick Science Institute Science Summit—Spices and Herbs

Johanna T. Dwyer, DSc, RD, is a professor of medicine and community health at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts. The author is a member of the McCormick Science Institute’s Scientific Advisory Council; owns stock in McCormick & Company, Inc; is the editor of Nutrition Today; and is a public trustee of ILSI North America. Correspondence: Johanna T. Dwyer, DSc, RD, Frances Stern Nutrition Center Box 783, Tufts Medical Center, 800 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111 ([email protected]).

Charlotte Biltekoff: Eating right in America—the cultural politics of food and health

In an article about Mayor Bloomberg’s court-challenged soda size limit—popularly known as the soda ban—on the food politics blog Civil Eats, Maureen Beach (2013) of the American Beverage Association posted the following comment: ‘‘Government regulation is the wrong approach to the obesity challenge. Education is the only effective tool. Education about balancing calories with physical activity will do more for fighting obesity than a new law that restricts consumer choice and hurts small businesses.’’ Here, ‘‘education’’ is invoked as a neutral and apolitical activity; in Eating Right in America: The Cultural Politics of Food and Health, Charlotte Biltekoff shows that nutrition education is, and always has been, anything but. In this book, Biltekoff presents four distinct nutrition education movements in the United States’ past and present: the ‘‘modern dietary reform’’ movement of the late 19th century, when the science of nutrition made it possible to quantitatively measure nutrients and empirically define a ‘‘good diet’’; the nutrition education component of World War II home front mobilization, which tied eating well to wartime patriotism; the ‘‘alternative food’’ movement and its focus on repudiating the industrial food chain and eating locally and organically; and the current campaign against obesity and the association between thinness and health. Biltekoff’s main argument is that an era’s particular ideas for eating right are not only an empirical set of rules for nutrition and health, but also a framework for good citizenship, and a way in which the middle class asserts its identity by contrasting its healthful behavior against that of an ‘‘unhealthy other.’’ Each nutrition education paradigm is given its own chapter; the movements are described in their historical context and the author shows how nutrition education reflects ideas of good citizenship and draws the boundaries of middle class identity. By examining the dietary reform movements with this template, Biltekoff highlights historical antecedents for the ways we think about and promote food and nutrition today. The final two chapters deal with present-day nutrition paradigms and Eating Right in America draws out the historical continuity between them and older styles of food education. Though the alternative food movement attempts to set itself apart by emphasizing both the pleasures of ‘‘good’’ food and the ethics of food choices, rather than focusing on calories and nutrients, Biltekoff notes that the rules provided for what to eat are ‘‘no less normalizing’’ (p 107) than the movements that came before. The chapter on the antiobesity movement illustrates the launch of the ‘‘war on obesity’’ in parallel to America’s war on terror after September 11, 2001. By drawing out the ways that being thin and fit were coded as a patriotic duty, the current moment in food instruction, in turn, mirrors the WWII-era National Nutrition Program. Although this book is successful in making the clear and well-argued point that nutrition education is a reflection of broader cultural anxieties around citizenship and class dynamics, it feels as though it is missing a chapter. Though presented as a history of nutrition education movements in America, it leaps rather quickly from the WWII-era National Nutrition Program to the late 20th and early 21st century concerns with alternative food and the antiobesity crusade. Though Eating Right in America includes a few paragraphs describing what the alternative food movement is actually an alternative to, the reader is left wondering about the role of nutrition education and dietary reformers during the massive changes in agriculture, food retail, and food industry product development from the 1950s to the 1990s. What food and health paradigms underscored the D. Kornfeld (&) GSAPP, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA e-mail: dk2453@columbia.edu