Introduction: Non-milk extrinsic sugar {NMES} intake among children in Scotland fails to meet dietary recommendations, which is likely to contribute to dental decay and weight gain. Children's physical activity, which contributes to energy balance, also fails to meet recommended targets. Aim: To develop and evaluate a classroom based educational intervention to improve knowledge of NMES and energy balance in children aged 10-12 years. Methods: Following development of an intervention, consisting of two educational sessions, one on NMES and one on physical activity and energy balance, a cluster-randomised trial was conducted with 268 children in 15 primary schools {8 controls}. Children completed questionnaires to assess their knowledge of NMES and energy balance and levels of physical activity at baseline and 4, 10 and 34 weeks post intervention. Intake of NMES was assessed at baseline, and at weeks 10 and 34 using a food frequency questionnaire. After the intervention, focus groups were conducted to explore children's views and opinions of NMES and the educational sessions. Results: At baseline children had limited knowledge of NMES. Post intervention, the intervention group had a significantly higher knowledge than the control group, but this declined by 34 weeks. Knowledge of energy balance between the groups was not significantly different post intervention. No changes in NMES intake or physical activity were observed post intervention. Focus groups highlighted that children did not consider health to be a priority for dietary choice. They thought it was important to learn about NMES, but were disinclined to reduce their intakes. Conclusions: Despite improved knowledge of N MES and the health consequences of excess consumption, children are unlikely to change dietary behaviour when it requires over-riding their taste preferences. Education helps children to understand healthy lifestyle behaviours, but following this, environmental changes may be necessary to facilitate behaviour change.

Low levels of physical activity and unhealthy dietary behaviours have been associated with poor health in adolescents, leading to an increased risk of chronic disease in adulthood. These behaviours are modifiable and since adolescents spend a significant amount of time in school this provides an increasingly popular setting for physical activity and dietary interventions. A systematic review of school-based interventions aimed at changing physical activity and/or dietary behaviours in adolescents was conducted. The aim was to identify successful interventions, identify effective intervention components, behavioural theories and techniques which may have facilitated interventions success and assess reporting quality. Fifteen studies were included in the review; two dietary only, seven physical activity only and six physical activity combined dietary interventions. Diet only interventions were not successful. Interventions aimed at only physical activity behaviours were the most successful, with education combined with environmental adaptations identified as being most effective. Physical activity only interventions aimed specifically at girls were generally successful. Physical activity interventions aimed at both boys and girls tended to be more effective at improving the behaviours of boys only. Interventions aimed at both physical activity and diet showed some evidence of gender differences with boys increasing physical activity behaviours and girls improving dietary behaviours. Studies based on a theory which considered environmental influences appeared more effective. No specific behaviour change techniques were identified with studies reporting significant results. The reporting of intervention design/methodology was of moderate quality. The heterogeneity of the studies made it difficult to generalise which interventions were most effective. Education combined with environmental adaptations appeared effective at changing physical activity behaviours in both boys and girls. Further research into dietary interventions is required, especially in boys. The quality of study reporting needs to improve to facilitate the identification of the active components/techniques implemented within interventions.

The osteological material under study consists of 510 skeletal remains dating from the Early Neolithic (6000 BC) to the Early Iron Age (1100-700 BC). It comes from nine different cemeteries and burial locations extending from the coastal to the inland areas of the study region. The current thesis attempts to explore two major issues: 1) the reconstruction of aspects of life history and 2) the treatment and manipulation of the deceased as revealed by the human skeletal remains. With regard to the former, the investigation of demographic parameters, patterns of health and oral status as well as diet have been considered. In short, local conditions defined by environmental and social constraints probably affected the general quality of life reconstructed for the study populations. There is an overall tendency however, towards declining levels of health and oral status in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age populations, while certain assemblages provide high levels of infant and child mortality, possibly associated with a type of anaemia. There is also a substantial involvement of the upper skeleton in work patterns, possibly related to activities such as food acquisition, processing and preparation. Meanwhile, the evidence for dietary patterns from the Neolithic-Early Bronze Ages to the Late Bronze-Early Iron Ages is consistent with an overall shift from a high reliance on meat consumption to a diet based on carbohydrate foodstuffs. The evaluation of the manipulation of the deceased, alongside the evidence for mortuary differentiation through time, reveals a striking transformation from the practice of single inhumations in the Early Bronze Age to multiple/secondary burials in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age assemblages, suggesting a shift in emphasis from individual to lineage-group identity. Furthermore, the integration of biological inferences with the evidence of mortuary behaviour provides further insights into sex roles and the position of subadults, otherwise invisible, in the living community.

This paper deals with stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen on skeletal remains from the medieval cemetery in Västerhus, Jämtland. Samples from seven different individuals were analyzed, taken from both teeth and bone tissue. Previous studies suggest that there are connections between social status and diet, that a consumption of meat was directly connected to a higher status. Furthermore, burial customs and zoning based on social strata has been discussed. The stable isotope results showed almost no connection between diet, social status and the placement of the graves within the churchyard. This with the exception of two groups: one group made out of five individuals who have been buried within the church, and one segregated group made out of five individuals buried far away from the church building. It can also be concluded, based on this study and previous ones that the people buried at Västerhus cemetery was a homogenous group whose diets mainly consisted out of meat and vegetable feed of terrestrial origin.

No description available.

The aim of this thesis is clear up patient access to diabetes mellitus. The studied areas are eating habits, access to physical activity and health treatment, which are directly related to the disease. The chapter on diabetic diet will bring knowledge about the monthly cost of food in these patients. This analysis answers the question, whether the amount of the monthly cost of diabetic diets is higher than the cost of food of a person with a rational diet.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, School of Physiology in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Medicine. Johannesburg, 2014 / Sedentary lifestyles and poor dietary choices are the major cause of the global increase in the prevalence of obesity and metabolic dysfunction in children. The high cost and limited access to conventional drugs by poor communities make them depend on ethnomedicines. Terminalia sericea (T. sericea) contains phytochemicals that give its extracts hypolipidaemic and hypoglycaemic properties hence its use in ethnomedicine to treat diabetes mellitus. Using weanling Wistar rat pups fed a high fructose diet to model growing children exposed to high-sugar diets, this study sought to evaluate the effects of aqueous T. sericea leaf extracts on their growth performance, glucose homeostasis, visceral morphometry and their general health profile. Forty 21-day old male Wistar pups were randomly allocated to five treatment regimens. Each group had ad libitum access to a commercially supplied rat chow. Group 1 pups were given plain drinking water and plain gelatine cubes, group 2: 12% fructose solution and plain gelatine cubes, group 3: 12% fructose solution and gelatine cubes containing fenofibrate at a dosage of 100 mg.kg-1 per day, group 4: 12% fructose solution and gelatine cubes with a low dose (100 mg.kg-1 per day) of the T. sericea extract and group 5: 12% fructose solution and gelatine cubes with a high dose (400 mg.kg-1 per day) of the T. sericea extract. The pups were maintained on the regimens for 12 weeks after which they under went an oral glucose tolerance test. Fasting blood metabolite content was then determined after which the rats were killed and tissues collected for visceral morphometrical, linear growth and surrogate markers’ of health determinations. T. sericea extracts had no negative effect on growth performance (body mass and indexes of long bone growth) but rats given fenofibrate had lighter empty carcasses and shorter tibiae. vi The administration of T. sericea extracts neither improved glucose homeostasis nor caused derangement of glucose handling by rats given a high fructose diet following an oral glucose challenge. However, the administration of fenofibrate to rats given a high fructose diet resulted in decreased glucose handling following an oral glucose challenge. With the exception of the administration of fenofibrate which resulted in a significantly high (P < 0.05) fasting blood glucose concentration, treatment regimens had no effect on fasting blood glucose, triglyceride and cholesterol concentrations. Rats given fructose with either plain gelatine cubes or low T. sericea dose had significantly higher (P < 0.05) liver lipid content compared with the control treatment. Administration of T. sericea extracts to rats given a high fructose diet had no effect on the GIT, other abdominal viscera and markers of general health. The administration of fenofibrate to rats given a high fructose diet caused increased relative mass of GIT organs (stomach, small intestine and caecum), increased absolute mass of other viscera (liver and kidney); increased serum phosphorus and alkaline phosphatase concentration. Results from the study revealed that administration of a high dose of aqueous T. sericea leaf extracts has potent phytochemicals properties that has helped to prevent high fructose diet-induced deposition of fat in the in the liver (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease), without compromising growth, visceral morphometry and general health of growing Wistar rats.

Estudos sobre as necessidades protéicas tem sido realizados pela determinação das perdas endógenas obrigatórias de nitrogênio encontrado na urina, fezes, pele, etc. quando a dieta não contém proteína e por estudos de balanço nitrogenado. Esta última metodologia é influenciada por fatores como dieta, digestão, absorção e depende também de patologia que possam comprometer a utilização de nitrogênio. Estudos a respeito do assunto tem sido intensa e extensivamente recomendados e discutidos pela Organização Mundial da Saúde. A maioria deles foram realizados em indivíduos adultos normais nos países mais desenvolvidos e seus resultados são, muitas vezes, extrapolados para indivíduos vivendo em diferentes ambientes, portadores de diferentes patologias e recebendo as mais variadas dietas. / Protein requirements may be estimated by 1) the amount of nitrogen lost through urine, faeces and skin of a person consuming a diet providing little or no nitrogen, this is measurement of the endogenous nitrogen; 2) direct estimation of nitrogen requirement obtained by measureing the lowest protein intake at whick nitrogen equilibrium can be achieved. This methodology has been recognized by the World Health Organization and has been carried out in healthy persons. Their results have been made extensive to other people, including sick individuals.

A surpreendente descoberta de uma assembléia de anuros terrícolas extremamente abundante, sintópica à fauna peculiar de lagartos, serpentes e anfisbenas, numa localidade dos mares de areia do médio Rio São Francisco (estado da Bahia, Brasil) motivou: (1) o estudo do uso de alimento e eletividades na dieta dos anuros locais, (2) a investigação de evidências de adaptação na sua dieta ao ambiente desafiador das dunas e (3) a avaliação do possível impacto que os anuros causam na assembléia sintópica de Squamata anteriormente estudada. O uso de alimento e as eletividades na dieta das três espécies de anuros mais abundantes, assim como suas variações ontogenéticas, foram descritas e premissas sobre adequação das estimativas de uso e disponibilidade de recursos alimentares foram testadas. Evidências de adaptação nas dietas dos anuros às dunas foram feitas comparando-se sua dieta com as de espécies filogeneticamente próximas. As estimativas de uso e de disponibilidade utilizadas foram consideradas adequadas. Bufo granulosus apresentou eletividade positiva por formigas. Pleurodema diplolistris e Physalaemus albifrons apresentaram ambos eletividade positiva por besouros e eletividade negativa por cupins e por formigas, respectivamente. Não houve variação ontogenética nos tipos de presa consumidas por nenhuma das espécies estudadas e isso não pôde ser atribuído à avaliação de uma pequena extensão de tamanhos dos anuros. Variações ontogenéticas no tamanho das presas foram observadas apenas para B. granulosus e P. diplolistris. Não houve evidência de apomorfia na dieta de B. granulosus e não houve dados disponíveis suficientes para realizar essa análise para P. diplolistris. As apomorfias registradas na dieta de P. albifrons podem ser explicadas por interações competitivas com outros componentes da herpetofauna local. Os anuros não parecem causar impacto forte sobre a assembléia de Squamata sintópica, devido a divergências nas eletividades por alimento e nos horários de atividade entre a maioria deles e grande parte desse padrão divergente parece ter se estabelecido antes da formação dessa assembléia. A eletividade positiva por formigas de B. granulosus e do tropidurídeo Tropidurus psammonastes pode apontar interação competitiva contemporânea entre eles, devido a suas grandes abundâncias locais. No entanto, é necessário haver indícios de limitação de recursos para levantar tal hipótese, porque a divergência nos horários de atividade deles impede competição por interferência. Mas formigas são abundantes na área. / The discovery of an extremely abundant anuran terrestrial assemblage, that is syntopic to a peculiar fauna of lizards, snakes, and worm snakes, in a locality at the sand dune fields of the Middle São Francisco River (Bahia state, Brazil) motivated: (1) the study of food use and electivities of local anurans, (2) investigations about evidences of adaptation in anurans’ diet to the challenges of a semi-arid environment, and (3) the assessment of the impact caused by anurans on the Squamata syntopic assemblage already studied. Food use, food electivities, and ontogenetic variation in diet of the three most abundant anuran species were described, and premises about the adequacy of the used estimates of food use and food availability were tested. Evidences of adaptation in diet were assessed by comparison of the diet of anurans from the dunes and that of phylogenetically related species. Estimates of food use and availability were considered suitable. Bufo granulosus showed positive electivity for ants. Pleurodema diplolistris and Physalaemus albifrons had both positive electivities for beetles and negative electivities for termites and ants, respectively. No species changed the types of prey it consumed during ontogeny and this was not a spurious result of a narrow range of anurans size analyzed. B. granulosus and P. diplolistris ate bigger preys as they grew. There was no evidence of adaptation in B. granulosus diet and insufficient data precluded this analysis with P. diplolistris diet. Apomorphies registered in P. albifrons diet can be explained by ecological contemporary interactions with local herpetofauna components. Anurans do not seem to cause a big impact on Squamata syntopic species, because in general anurans and squamates show divergent food electivities and/or activity times. Moreover, most of this divergent pattern has probably evolved before the establishment of the current assemblage. Coincident positive electivities for ants of B. granulosus and the tropidurid Tropidurus psammonastes can be an indicative of contemporary competitive interactions between them, principally because they are very abundant at the dunes. But evidence of limiting resources are necessary to rise this hypothesis because divergent activity times preclude interference competition, but ants are very abundant at the dunes.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries