Excessive Food Research Articles

Sustainability assessment of surplus food donation: A transfer system generating environmental, economic, and social values

Retailers' food waste, often consisting of edible food, could be reduced, while simultaneously tackling food insecurity, through surplus food donations to vulnerable groups. However, sustainability assessments of food donations covering all three sustainability perspectives are scarce, hampering decision-makers in prioritizing donation as a food waste management measure. This Swedish case study assessed the environmental, economic, and social aspects of surplus food donation and examined trade-offs between the different sustainability perspectives. Methods included life cycle assessment, net economic benefit calculation, social life cycle assessment based on food security questionnaires, and nutritional assessments. The results showed that food donation was a way to reduce food waste benefitting the environment and adding economic and social value, to vulnerable people in particular. Despite substantial rebound effects offsetting some potential environmental savings, food bag donations outcompeted anaerobic digestion as a food waste management option in terms of environmental mitigation effect. Regarding trade-offs, accrued savings causing the rebound effects generated important social value for the donation recipients, by relieving their personal finances. Private and public investment was required to fund the donation units, but positive economic value was generated through valorization of surplus food. Food bag donations also showed potential to alleviate recipients' food insecurity and to contribute positively to recipients' nutrition intake. To realize the potential of surplus food donation, policy measures should be better aligned with the waste hierarchy. Despite some trade-offs and inability to solve the underlying problems of food insecurity, food donations have great short-term potential to contribute to a more sustainable society.

Biochemical effects of some preservatives on Glycine max in adult male albino rats

The food insecurity problem in Nigeria is largely due to the inability to preserve food surpluses after harvest. Post-harvest loss of grains account for between 5-25% forcing farmers’ use of some pesticides. This study examines the Biochemical effects of some preservatives on Glycine max in adult male albino rats. Glycine max (soya beans) sample was collected from Keffi Area of Nasarawa state, divided into five groups and preserved with Aluminum Phosphide, Dichlorvos (sniper), Wood-ash and Pepper while the fifth group was kept without preservative. A total of 36 adult male albino rats were obtained from the animal house of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, and acclimatized for two weeks. They were separated into the group of six (6) each and fed with a dietary intervention for 8 weeks. Group 1 (normal control) was animals administered Feed+ Water, max without preservative, Group 2 animals administered Feed+Water+Feed+Glycine max preserved with Aluminium Phosphide, Group 3 animals administered Feed+Water+Glycine max preserved with Sniper, Group 4 animals administered Feed+ Water+ Glycine max preserved with Pepper, Group 5 animals administered Feed+ Water+ Glycine max preserved with Wood-ash and Group 6 animals administered Feed+ Water+ Glycine max. The liver, kidney functions, lipid profiles and presence of C-reactive proteins were evaluated according to standard methods. The results showed statistically significance at p ≤ 0.05 with group fed Glycine max with preservative having the highest (145.383±3.300b) serum sodium concentration. There were elevated urea, creatinine, AST, ALT, and C-reactive protein concentration amongst the test groups for most of the preservatives. The study concludes that common preservatives used in the preservation of Glycine max have significant effects on serum biochemical parameters. Hence, study recommends further research to determine residual content of preservatives after grains preservation.

Realizing zero-waste value chains through digital twin-driven S&OP: A case of grocery retail

We posit that the zero-defect mindset from manufacturing is a crucial step in the direction of achieving zero-waste value chains. Using a reflective conversation approach within a food grocery retail case setting, we show how digital twin-supported sales and operations planning (S&OP) may be used as an intervention to predict and detect variabilities across the value chain to prevent and reallocate food surplus, allowing us to bring the zero-waste value chain concept to fruition. The contributions of this study include extending the zero-defect concept to value chains in grocery retail for addressing food waste and proposing the notion of digital twin-enabled planning as a means of improving upon the shortcomings of the traditional S&OP process.

Nutrition, size, and tempo

Nutrition is a prerequisite, but not a regulator of growth. Growth is defined as increase in size over time. The understanding of growth includes an understanding of the binary concept of physical time and individual tempo. Excess food causes tempo acceleration. Food restriction delays tempo. Tempo reflects the pace of life. It is a dynamic physical response to a broad spectrum of social, economic, political, and emotional (SEPE) factors and can affect life expectancy. Variations in tempo create distortions of the z-score patterns of height and weight. Illness or intermediate food shortage lead to intermediate halts in development and create short dips in the z-score patterns. Children who develop throughout life at delayed pace usually run at lower z-scores for height and weight, and show a characteristic adolescent trough; children who develop throughout life at faster than average pace usually run at higher z-scores and show a characteristic adolescent peak in their z-score patterns. During adolescence, almost half of the height variance is due to tempo variation. There is not one tempo for the whole body. Different organ systems grow and mature at different pace.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Natural Farming Practices for Chemical-Free Agriculture: Implications for Crop Yield and Profitability

The “Green Revolution” (GR) technology-induced agricultural intensification has transformed India from food scarcity to a food surplus country. However, this has also resulted into several adverse repercussions. Increased application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides with stagnating/declining crop productivity has dovetailed with uncertain market conditions and climate change effects which has resulted in un-remunerative agriculture. Consequently, farmers have fallen into the debt trap due to the rising cost of crop production apart from health hazards due to serious exposure to harmful chemical pesticides. Natural Farming (NF), an agro-ecological approach to farming is believed to be an effective way to counter some of these challenges. The present paper presents field-level farmers’ experiences of NF adoption in three states of India—Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. The study was conducted during February–March 2019 by surveying 295 NF adopted and 170 non-NF adopted farmers. It was found that NF practice has been followed by some farmers for more than 10 years but others have adopted during the recent past. There is variation in the practice followed by the NF farmers. There are farmers who are using Farm Yard Manure (FYM). A solid form of jeevamritha (liquid concoction of microbial inoculants) called as ghanajeevamritha was also found to be used by farmers in Andhra Pradesh. It was observed that non-NF yields are superior to NF yield without FYM. In most crops, however, NF with FYM had a greater yield than NF without FYM and non-NF farms. There has been a decrease in the variable cost and a marginal increase in the market price of NF produce. The study suggests that natural farming may be seen as one of the alternative practices which has potential to rejuvenate the agro-ecosystem, besides cost saving for the individual farmers.

Exploring the Opportunities and Challenges of ICT-Mediated Food Sharing in Japan

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have been identified as potential enablers for alternative forms of sharing surplus food to prevent food loss and waste. Food sharing platforms can also provide an entry point to the sustainability transition by encouraging its users to confront the systemic causes of unsustainable and inequitable food systems. The paper explores the opportunities and challenges of ICT-mediated food sharing platforms in Japan. A comparative case study of 10 food sharing platforms operating in Japan was drawn from a web content analysis and semi-structured interviews. A consumer-side analysis was conducted, based on a Japan-wide survey of 10,000 respondents, to understand consumers’ general attitudes towards ICT-mediated food sharing and identify key challenges and drivers for its expansion. This paper provides initial contributions to understanding the Japanese experience of ICT-mediated food sharing from both the supply and consumption sides. All investigated food sharing platforms embedded food waste reduction and sustainable objectives in their mission. However, a consumer-side survey suggests that participation in food sharing was mainly driven by price consciousness and convenience orientation. Distrust towards the safety of redistributed food and reluctance to engage in a sharing community were some of the main barriers identified to food sharing. Highlighting convergences and divergences between platforms and consumers was key to starting developing intervention designs towards expanding online food sharing and leading consumers’ behaviour change.

“Whoever Needs Food We’ll Feed Them One Way or the Other”: COVID-19 and Food Aid in Appalachian Kentucky

In one eastern Kentucky county, the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic downturn ushered in increases in federal and corporate aid. In response, families with school-aged children distributed excess food to friends and neighbors and donated food back to pantries they had previously utilized. In-depth, semi-structured interviews illuminate how public-private food aid amidst the COVID-19 pandemic was distributed to and within rural Kentucky communities and who was left out. I introduce the concept of networks of care, which comprise local systems of distribution among family, friends, and neighbors that challenge reliance on market labor for subsistence while demanding constant work to maintain. This paper argues that networks of care demonstrate the need and an extent infrastructure for large-scale distributive politics that compensate for this ongoing care work.

A Graph Algorithm to Eliminate Hunger and Food Waste by Matching Excess Food to Demand

Millions of tons of food from grocery stores go to waste every year in the US, while many people consistently depend on community food banks. Having a plan to transport food surplus to the needy will eliminate both food waste and hunger at the same time. This problem is modeled as a bipartite graph with one set of vertices representing food donors with certain excess food of various types, and the other set representing food banks with demand of different types of food, and a cost of transportation on each edge. We create four heuristic algorithms to find low-cost transportation plans that satisfy all food needs, and compare them in terms of plan cost and runtime. We find that the basic greedy algorithm does the best in both aspects.

Who Buys Surplus Meals? An Exploratory Survey in Danish Canteens.

Food waste has received increasing attention over the last decade, owing to its economic, environmental, and social impacts. Much of the existing research has investigated consumers' buying behaviour towards sub-optimal and upcycle food, but surplus meal buying behaviours are poorly understood. Thus, this study performed consumer segmentation through a modular food-related lifestyle (MFRL) instrument and determined consumers' buying behaviour towards surplus meals in canteens employing the theory of reasoned action (TRA). A survey was conducted using a validated questionnaire from a convenient sample of 460 Danish canteen users. Four food-related lifestyle consumer segments were identified by employing k-means segmentation: Conservative (28%), Adventurous (15%), Uninvolved (12%), and Eco-moderate (45%). The Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) analysis indicated that attitudes and subjective norms were significantly influencing surplus meal buying intention to further influence buying behaviour. Environmental objective knowledge was significantly influencing environmental concerns to further influence attitudes and behavioural intention. However, environmental objective knowledge had no significant influence on attitude towards surplus meals. Male consumers with higher education, those having higher food responsibility and lower food involvement, and convenience scores had higher surplus food buying behaviour. The results can be used to inform policymakers, marketers, business professionals, and practitioners to promote surplus meals in canteens or similar settings.

Perceived impact of quarantine period on food craving, power of food, and the Mediterranean Diet: The dark side of pandemic fear

This study was carried out to determine the effect of fear the pandemic on excessive food cravings, the strength of food and adherence to the Mediterranean diet in adults during the quarantine period. Data were collected on a total of 1117 adults, 870 women and 247 men, aged between 19 and 65 years, using a document to obtain general information, as well as employing anthropometric measurements and questions about health information. The Food Craving Scale (FCQ), the Power of Food Scale (PFS), the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Scale (MEDAS), the COVID-19 Fear Scale, and the Perception and Attitude About COVID-19 Scale were also adopted in the survey. Fear of COVID-19 score (F = 20.17 ± 5.52, M = 17.46 ± 5.79) and Perception and Attitude about COVID-19 scores were higher in females (169.55 ± 15.86) than in males (165.02 ± 16.51) (p < 0.001). A significant positive relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) with Food Craving (r = 0.182, p < 0.001), Power of Food (r = 0.083, p = 0.005), and COVID-19 Perception of Control (r = 0.074, p = 0.013) was detected. Mediterranean Diet Adherence showed a considerable positive correlation with age (r = 0.070, p = 0.020). Whilst BMI (β = 0.315) value affects excessive food cravings most, this value is identified by fear of COVID-19 (β = 0.174), an education level (β = 0.063), gender (β = −0.145) and age (β = −0.171) respectively. The quarantine period, which has various consequences vis-à-vis both social and economic aspects, also has a great impact on human health. That said, social isolation and distance cause sudden changes in the lives of individuals during the pandemic. In order to keep public health at the highest level in such cases, prospective studies are called for not only in the field of medicine and biological sciences but also on social and behavioral issues such as nutritional habits and lifestyle.

Food waste in EU countries

The biggest challenges of our time include meeting the demand growth resulting from the explosion in population growth and achieving sustainable management. In terms of food, the most significant problem is, on the one hand, that a large part of the population is hungry and, on the other hand, excessive food waste, which results not only in wasted food but also in wasted resources used for its production, transport, packaging and storage. Do to this the unconsumed food has a profoundly negative impact on the environment and the economy. There is a pressing need to prevent and reduce food waste to transition to a resource-efficient Europe. In this study, we would like to show how food waste changes in different countries, focusing on Europe. Our results show a significant discrepancy between Member States' data and where waste is generated. We find no significant correlation between GDP per capita and total food waste, but we find a moderately strong correlation between GDP per capita and restaurant waste at the point of generation.&#x0D; JEL code: M21

A Circular Economy Approach to Food Security and Poverty: a Case Study in Food Rescue in Sri Lanka

Food rescue has been identified as a sustainable approach in preventing wastage of surplus food and achieving food security. Although food insecurity is widely prevalent in developing countries, there is a paucity of research investigating food donations and rescue operations in these countries. This study focuses on surplus food redistribution activities from a developing country perspective. Specifically, the study analyses the structure, motivations, and limitations of the existing food rescue system in Colombo, Sri Lanka, by conducting a series of structured interviews with twenty food donors and redistributors. The food rescue system in Sri Lanka characterises a sporadic redistribution, and food donors and rescuers are mainly driven by humanitarian motives. The findings also reveal missing institutions — facilitator organisations and back-line organisations — in the surplus food rescue system. Food redistributors identified that inadequate food logistics and establishing formal partnerships as major challenges in food rescue operations. Establishing intermediary organisations such as food banks to provide the required food logistics, imposing food safety parameters and minimum quality standards required for surplus food redistribution, and community awareness programmes on food redistribution can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of food rescue operations. There is an urgent need to embed food rescue as a strategy to reduce food wastage and to enhance food security in existing policies.

Excessive Food Buying in Saudi Arabia Amid COVID-19: Examining the Effects of Perceived Severity, Religiosity, Consumption Culture and Attitude toward Behavior.

The current study builds on both the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to examine why consumers in Saudi Arabia engage in excessive food-buying behavior amid COVID-19. The study tests the direct impact of food consumption culture, perceived severity of COVID-19, and religiosity on excessive food-buying intentions and the indirect effect through attitudes toward excessive food buying. The results of the inner model using SmartPLS4 showed that the perceived severity of COVID-19 has a direct significant positive effect on attitudes toward excessive food buying and excessive food-buying intention. Despite food consumption culture being found to have no direct significant effect on excessive food-buying intention during the pandemic, it has a direct effect on attitudes toward excessive food buying. Surprisingly, religiosity was found to have a positive effect on consumers' attitudes and excessive food-buying intentions. The results confirm that consumers misunderstood Islamic religious principles regarding food consumption, which does not accept excessive buying or food waste. Attitudes toward excessive food buying were found to mediate the relationship between food consumption culture, perceived severity of COVID-19, religiosity, and excessive food-buying intention. The results of the study are discussed and implications are highlighted for academics and policymakers.

Association of diet quality during pregnancy with maternal glucose metabolism in Chinese women.

Overall diet quality during pregnancy has played an important role on maternal glucose metabolism. However, evidence based on the adherence to the dietary guideline is limited, especially for Asian populations. We aimed to examine the association between adherence to the Chinese dietary guideline measured by the Diet Balance Index for Pregnancy (DBI-P) and maternal glucose metabolism, including gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) status, fasting and 2-h plasma glucose. Data were obtained from the baseline survey of the Yuexiu birth cohort. We recruited 942 pregnant women at 20-28 weeks of gestation in 2017-2018. Dietary intakes during the past month were collected using a validated semi-quantitative FFQ. The scores of DBI-P were calculated to assess dietary quality. Lower absolute values of the scores indicate higher adherence to the Chinese dietary guidelines. All participants underwent a 75 g of oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Multiple linear regression and logistic regression were conducted. The Benjamini-Hochberg method was used to adjust multiple comparisons across DBI-P food components. The value of high bound score indicator, reflecting excessive total food intake, was positively associated with OGTT-2h glucose levels (β = 0·037, P = 0·029). After adjustment for multiple comparisons, the score of animal food intake was positively associated with OGTT-2 h glucose levels (β = 0·045, P = 0·045) and risk of GDM (OR = 1·105, P = 0·030). In conclusion, excessive total food intake was associated with higher postprandial glucose in pregnant women. Lower compliance with the dietary guideline for animal food was associated with both higher postprandial glucose and increased risk of GDM during pregnancy.

Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms Associating Obesity to Bone Loss.

Obesity is an alarming disease that favors the upset of other illnesses and enhances mortality. It is spreading fast worldwide may affect more than 1 billion people by 2030. The imbalance between excessive food ingestion and less energy expenditure leads to pathological adipose tissue expansion, characterized by increased production of proinflammatory mediators with harmful interferences in the whole organism. Bone tissue is one of those target tissues in obesity. Bone is a mineralized connective tissue that is constantly renewed to maintain its mechanical properties. Osteoblasts are responsible for extracellular matrix synthesis, while osteoclasts resorb damaged bone, and the osteocytes have a regulatory role in this process, releasing growth factors and other proteins. A balanced activity among these actors is necessary for healthy bone remodeling. In obesity, several mechanisms may trigger incorrect remodeling, increasing bone resorption to the detriment of bone formation rates. Thus, excessive weight gain may represent higher bone fragility and fracture risk. This review highlights recent insights on the central mechanisms related to obesity-associated abnormal bone. Publications from the last ten years have shown that the main molecular mechanisms associated with obesity and bone loss involve: proinflammatory adipokines and osteokines production, oxidative stress, non-coding RNA interference, insulin resistance, and changes in gut microbiota. The data collection unveils new targets for prevention and putative therapeutic tools against unbalancing bone metabolism during obesity.

Eating Habit as Lifestyle Predictors of Metabolic Syndrome in Coal Mining Workers

Introduction: Previous study was carried out in a company, obtaining the prevalence of metabolic syndrome cases by 21.58% with non-communicable diseases as the indicator. The cause of the metabolic syndrome is critical to understand in order to reduce the impact of acute non-communicable diseases. Excessive food consumption and low physical activity in office workers and coal mining workers are two risk factors that contribute to the development of metabolic syndrome. Therefore, current research was conducted aiming to identify the lifestyle aspects related to metabolic syndrome in coal mining companies in South Kalimantan. Methods: This study was carried out through analytical observational cross-sectional research. In this case, the data were collected using questionnaires. Exercise routines, cigarette smoking, and meal frequency were the research factors. In South Kalimantan, there are up to 70 employees of mining company, and 22 people of them were selected as the research subjects through purposive random sampling and inclusion criteria. Results: The indicators of metabolic syndrome in most of the respondents showed normal state. However, a small number of respondents were at risk of having the indicators of metabolic syndrome. Meanwhile, based on the statistical analysis, there is a lifestyle factor that correlates with the frequency of eating coconut milk-based chicken curry (1-2 times/week) with metabolic syndrome (p=0.045). Conclusion: Types of food cooked using coconut milk can trigger a person to have a risk of experiencing one or several of the metabolic syndrome indicators. Things that can be done to reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome associated with the frequency of habit of eating high-fat animal side dishes, including reducing the frequency of such food at night.

Karakteristik Anak Leukemia Limfoblastik Akut yang Menjalani Kemoterapi

This study aims to describe the characteristics of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia undergoing chemotherapy at Dr. M. Djamil Padang. This type of research is descriptive-analytic with a cross-sectional approach. The results showed that the characteristics of the respondents of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia were mainly school aged (6-12 years), totaling 16 respondents with a percentage of (72.7%). The characteristics of respondents based on gender are primarily male, namely as many as 15 respondents with a ratio of (68.15%). The features of respondents based on nutritional status were divided into three categories, including undernutrition which amounted to 3 respondents with a percentage (13.65%). Normal nutrition amounted to 12 respondents with a rate (of 54.55%), and excess food amounted to 7 respondents with a percentage (of 31.85 %). In conclusion, the description of the characteristics of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia undergoing chemotherapy is that the majority are school-age children (6-12 years), male, and in average (reasonable) nutritional status.&#x0D; &#x0D; Keywords: Children, Chemotherapy, Leukemia

Nutritional status and eating behavior of children with autism spectrum disorders in Vietnam: A case-control study.

Background: Atypical eating behaviors and feeding issues are common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Aim: This study aims to evaluate the nutritional status and eating behavior of the ASD and typically developing groups. Methods: A case-control study was conducted from January to April 2019 in Nghe An, Vietnam. A total of 93 children in each group participated in the study with their main caregivers. We applied the Children's Eating Behavior Inventory (CEBI) to evaluate the eating behaviors of children. Results: Overweight and obesity in ASD children accounted for 41.9%. The CEBI score and %CEBI of the ASD group was higher than that of the control group (104.0 ± 14.2 and 91.3 ± 8.3; 24.1 ± 21.4 and 5.0 ± 11.8, respectively). Most of the adverse mealtime behaviors of ASD children focused on excessive duration (52.7%), distraction (40.9%), and food refusal (39.8%). In total 88.2% of caregivers had to comfort their ASD children at every meal, followed by threatening, scolding, or punishing children if they refused to eat (57.0%). Conclusion: Being overweight/obese and having eating behavior difficulties were prevalent among ASD children in Vietnam. Safer alternatives, such as lifestyle measures and seeking help from a nutritional therapist, can help ASD children reduce weight and modify their erroneous feeding habits.

Enhanced incentive schemes for volunteers to distribute surplus food in smart cities

Food wastage is a major problem in today’s world and the distribution of food surplus is undoubtedly one of the leading solutions to the problem. Surplus distribution is widely practised across the globe and there are several communities for the same as well. However, the success of these movements are determined by the active participation of volunteers. In addition, volunteer availability is an issue that is dependent on several different factors. An incentive module for the volunteers can normalize the availability of the volunteers. Such incentive modules are prone to identity duplication attacks and the implemented solutions do not really encourage volunteer hierarchical structures. In this paper, an incentive module that resists identity duplication and promotes the hierarchical structure between volunteers is presented. In addition, an improved matching module to match the food donors to the receivers utilizing the available volunteers optimally is also proposed. For the simulation, we have used real data taken from a real life smart city context, namely, we have used the OPEN DATA BARCELONA at https://opendata-ajuntament.barcelona.cat/data/en/dataset/est-cadastre-carrecs-us and cast it to our simulation settings using Python libraries.

Effects of Nutritionally Induced Obesity on Metabolic Pathways of Zebrafish.

Human obesity has become a global epidemic that can lead to many metabolic diseases, including insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension and nonalcoholic fatty liver. The development of obesity is closely associated with excess food intake and energy imbalance, family history, lifestyle, psychology and other factors, but molecular mechanisms underlying the induction and development of obesity remain to be intensively studied under a variety of internal and external pathogenesis conditions. In this study, we generated two obesity models of zebrafish that were treated with a high-fat diet (HFD) or an overfeeding diet (DIO). Both HFD and DIO zebrafish exhibited higher levels of lipid accumulation, fat distribution, microvascular steatosis and ectopic accumulation of lipid droplets in liver and muscle than normal diet (NOD) fish. The comparison of transcriptome sequencing data for the livers of HFD, DIO and NOD groups identified common and specific genes and signaling pathways that are potentially associated with zebrafish obesity induced by HFD and/or DIO. These findings provide clues for further understanding the mechanisms of obesity development and preventing nutritionally induced obesity through targeting the common signaling pathways and biological processes.