This thesis begins with a background chapter which explores the current diabetes epidemic and examines the role of obesity and oxidative stress as causative factors. Current dietary recommendations for prevention of type 2 diabetes are critically evaluated. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to determine the independent role of fruit and vegetables in preventing diabetes. Convincing benefit for greater consumption of green leafy vegetables was demonstrated. An insignificant trend towards benefit was observed for fruit and vegetables. The Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Glucose Control Study (FIVE) is a sub study of the Let’s Prevent Diabetes Study. FIVE includes cross sectional analysis of baseline plasma vitamin C, (a biomarker for fruit and vegetable intake) from 2101 participants. FIVE further includes 12 months analysis of individuals with impaired glucose regulation, randomised to receive group education or usual care. Results demonstrate 29% of the population consumed at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Fewer South Asian individuals met the recommendation compared to White Europeans (21% vs. 30% p = 0.003). Each additional piece of fruit or vegetable consumed (21.8μmol/l plasma vitamin C) was associated with a reduction of 0.04% in HbA1c, 0.05mmol/l in fasting and 0.22mol/l in 2 hour blood glucose. Participants who consumed 5 portions a day compared to those who did not, had a 24% associated reduced risk of being diagnosed with impaired glucose regulation (OR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.59 to 0.98). At 12 months follow up those receiving lifestyle education had greater levels of plasma vitamin C compared to those in the usual care arm (36.1μmol/l (SD 20.7) vs.29.9μmol/l (SD 20.3)). No statistical difference in mean change between intervention arms was seen. The thesis provides novel, robust nutritional biomarker data from a large at risk, multi ethnic population. Results support recommendations to promote fruit and vegetables in the diet to prevent diabetes. The potential for tailored advice on increasing green leafy vegetables among those at risk of diabetes should be investigated further.

The objective of this study was to discover the effect of high power direct contact ultrasound on drying rates of apple, celery root, carrot and potato. For this purpose ultrasonic generator with 24 kHz frequency was used and amplitude and pulse mode values were chosen as 40%, 70%, 100%, and 0.4, 0.7, 1.0, respectively. The temperature of drying air was 30&deg / C, 40&deg / C and 50&deg / C and the velocity was kept at 3.9 m/s. The samples used were 13.5 mm in diameter with 5.0 mm thickness. It is found that ultrasound assisted drying increased the drying rate for the selected produce at all the drying conditions used the degree of which depended on the structural properties of samples. Accordingly, the most suitable drying conditions were found to be amplitude 100%, pulse mode 1.0 and 30&deg / C for celery root, amplitude 100%, pulse mode 1.0 and 30&deg / C for apple, amplitude 70%, pulse mode 1.0 and 50&deg / C for carrot and amplitude 70%, pulse mode 0.7 and 50&deg / C for potato. Data obtained were treated with respect to some mathematical models that describe the drying kinetics of samples. In this respect, Page and Modified Page models were the best to represent the drying rates in all cases. Further, the results showed that the effect of ultrasound on drying rate increased in the order of apple&gt / celery root&gt / carrot&gt / potato. That order can be attributed to the structure and composition where presence of air pockets has enhancing and sugar and starch have reducing effects.

Across Australia and other developed nations, morbidity and mortality follows a socioeconomic gradient whereby the lowest socioeconomic groups experience the poorest health. The dietary practices of low socioeconomic groups, which are comparatively less consistent with dietary recommendations, have been thought to contribute to the excess morbidity and mortality observed among low socioeconomic groups, although this phenomenon is not well understood. Using a socioecological framework, this thesis examines whether the local food retail environment and confidence to cook contribute to socioeconomic differences in fruit and vegetable purchasing. To achieve this, four quantitative analyses of data from two main sources were conducted. The food retail environment was examined via secondary analysis of the Brisbane Food Study (BFS) and confidence to cook was examined in a cross-sectional study designed and carried out by the author. The first three manuscripts were based on findings from the BFS. Briefly, the BFS was a multilevel cross-sectional study, designed to examine determinants of inequalities, that was conducted in Brisbane in the year 2000. A stratified random sample was taken of 50 small areas (census collection districts, CCDs) and 1003 residents who usually shopped for their households were interviewed face-to-face using a schedule that included a measure of fruit and vegetable purchasing and three socioeconomic markers: education, occupation and gross household income. The purchasing measure was based on how often (never, rarely, sometimes nearly always or always) participants bought common fruits and vegetables for their households in fresh or frozen form, when in season. Food shops within a 2.5 km radius of the CCDs in which survey respondents lived were identified and audited to determine their location, type, their opening hours, and their price and availability of a list of food items. The first publication demonstrated there was minimal to no difference in the availability of supermarkets, greengrocers and convenience stores between areas that were most and least disadvantaged, in terms of the number of shops, distance to the nearest shop, or opening hours. Similarly, the second publication showed the most disadvantaged and least disadvantaged areas had no large or significant difference in the price and availability of fruits and vegetables within supermarkets, greengrocers and convenience stores, but small differences were consistently apparent, such that on average, low socioeconomic areas had lower prices but also lesser availability than more advantaged areas. The third submitted manuscript presents results of multilevel logistic regression analyses of the BFS data. While there were some associations between environmental characteristics and fruit and vegetable purchasing, environmental characteristics did not mediate socioeconomic differences in purchasing the fruit and vegetable items since there was no substantial socioeconomic patterning of the price or availability of fruits and vegetables. The fourth submitted manuscript was based on the cross-sectional study of cooking skills. A stratified random sample of six CCDs in Brisbane was taken and 990 household members ‘mostly responsible’ for preparing food were invited to participate. A final response rate of 43% was achieved. Data were collected via a self-completed questionnaire, which covered household demographics, vegetable purchasing (using the same measure employed in the BFS for continuity), confidence to prepare these same vegetables, and confidence to cook vegetables using ten cooking techniques. Respondents were asked to indicate how confident they felt (ranging from not at all- to very- confident) to prepare each vegetable, and to use each technique. This fourth study found respondents with low education and low household income had significantly lower confidence to cook than their higher socioeconomic counterparts, and lower confidence to cook was in turn associated with less household vegetable purchasing. Collectively, the four manuscripts comprising this thesis provide an understanding of the contribution of food accessibility, affordability and cooking skills to socioeconomic differences in fruit and vegetable purchasing, within a socioecological framework. The evidence provided by this thesis is consistent with a contributory role of confidence to cook in socioeconomic differences in fruit and vegetable purchasing, but is not definitive. Additional research is necessary before promoting cooking skills to improve population nutrition or reduce nutritional inequalities. An area potentially useful to examine would be how cooking skills integrate with psychosocial correlates of food and nutrition, and socioeconomic position. For example, whether improvement of cooking skills can generate interest and knowledge, and improve dietary behaviours, and whether a lack of interest in food and nutrition contributes to a lack of both fruit and vegetable consumption and cooking skills. This thesis has demonstrated that an inequitably distributed food retail environment probably does not contribute to socioeconomic variation in fruit and vegetable purchasing, at least in contemporary Brisbane, Australia. Findings are unlikely to apply to other time periods, rural and regional settings, and perhaps other Australian cities as residential and retail development, and the supply and pricing of produce vary substantially across these dimensions. Overall, the main implication for public health is that interventions targeting the food supply in terms of ensuring greater provision of shops, or altering the available food and prices in shops may not necessarily carry a great benefit, at least in major cities similar to Brisbane. Future studies of equitable food access may need to look beyond mapping the distribution of shops and prices, perhaps to more personal and subjective facets of accessibility and affordability that incorporate individuals’ perceptions and ability to access and pay for foods.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, 2008. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Despite the modernization of retail and urban growth, free trade shows continue to be a space of sociability in an economic, social and cultural dynamic. The central problem of the research was to understand if the communication interactions adopted by the FLV (fruits, vegetables and greens) marketers have influenced the perception of the customers under the market compound, in the free fair of Paripiranga-BA. The city fair takes place on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the configuration of this work is limited to researching the marketers and shoppers who circulate in commerce earlier in the week, that is, on Tuesdays. The fundamental hypothesis of the work, oriented to the marketers selling fruits and vegetables was due to the preference of the customers for free markets, to have the belief that the foods sold there are always fresh and of superior quality, besides being negotiable. This space of commerce is generally the heart of the fair, place of greater flow of customers and with a high degree of communication and marketing. The justification for studying this outdoor trade comes from its historical representativeness through symbolic elements that reflect the memory and cultural value of the region, also highlighting the commercial movement, since the city is located on the border between Sergipe and Bahia, A large number of marketers from the surrounding regions of the two States. The main objective of the research was to evaluate the communication interactions of the fruit, vegetable and greens vendors (FLV), at the point of sale, based on the perception of the customers before the market compound, at the free fair of the city of Paripiranga-BA. The theoretical framework of marketing management (marketing concept, customer value, marketing compound, commodities and service marketing) and communication (questions of communication interactions: popular, verbal and non-verbal) was adopted for this clipping. Methodologically, participant observation techniques and interviews were carried out. It was a 15-month ethnographic study of the marketing and communications practices of 8 (eight) marketers with anthropological perspective (sociability, photographs and notes in field journals) and an analysis of the consumption behavior of 65 (sixty five) customers. The results obtained through observation, dialogue with the marketers and records of images revealed that verbal communication through orality becomes more evident in the negotiation process, modifying the way of communicating, organizing and selling, because the products Commercialized in the segment of FLV (fruits, vegetables and greens) are not fresh due to the movement of the fair to other fairs. / Apesar da modernização do varejo e crescimento urbano, as feiras livres continuam sendo um espaço de sociabilidade em uma dinâmica econômica, social e cultural. O problema central de pesquisa foi entender se as interações comunicacionais adotadas pelos feirantes de FLV (frutas, legumes e verduras) tem influenciado à percepção dos fregueses sob o composto mercadológico, na feira livre de Paripiranga-BA. A feira da cidade acontece às terças e sextas-feiras e a configuração desse trabalho limitou-se a pesquisar os feirantes e fregueses que circulam no comércio no início da semana, ou seja, às terças-feiras. A hipótese fundamental do trabalho, orientadas aos feirantes que comercializam frutas, legumes e verduras foi devido à preferência dos fregueses por feiras livres, terem a crença de que os alimentos ali comercializados são sempre frescos e de qualidade superior, além de negociáveis. Esse espaço do comércio é geralmente o coração da feira, local de maior fluxo de fregueses e com um elevado grau comunicacional e mercadológico. A justificativa para estudar esse comércio ao ar livre provém da sua representatividade histórica por meio de elementos simbólicos que traduzem a memória e valorização cultural da região, destacando também a movimentação comercial, pois a cidade fica localizada na divisa entre Sergipe e Bahia, reunindo assim, um grande número de feirantes das regiões circunvizinhas dos dois Estados. O objetivo principal da pesquisa foi avaliar as interações comunicacionais dos feirantes FLV (frutas, legumes e verduras), no ponto de venda, a partir da percepção dos fregueses diante do composto mercadológico, na feira livre da cidade de Paripiranga-BA. Para esse recorte foi adotado referencial teórico da administração mercadológica (conceito do marketing, valor para o cliente, composto de marketing, commodities e marketing de serviço) e comunicação (questões de interações comunicacionais: popular, verbal e não verbal). Em termos metodológicos, foram realizadas as técnicas de observação participante e entrevistas. Tratou-se de um estudo etnográfico que durou 15 meses sobre as práticas mercadológicas e comunicacionais de 8 (oito) feirantes com olhar da antropologia (sociabilidade, fotografias e anotações em diários de campo) e uma análise do comportamento de consumo de 65 (sessenta e cinco) fregueses. Os resultados obtidos por meio de observação, diálogo com os feirantes e registros de imagens revelaram que a comunicação verbal através da oralidade se torna mais evidente no processo de negociação, modificando a maneira de se comunicar, se organizar e vender, pelo fato de os produtos comercializados no segmento de FLV (frutas, legumes e verduras) não serem frescos devido ao deslocamento dos feirantes para outras feiras.

Contexte : Au Canada, de nombreuses personnes issues de la migration sont confrontés à l’insécurité alimentaire (IA), une problématique préjudiciable à la qualité de l’alimentation. Un nombre croissant d’organismes de dépannage alimentaire incluent des programmes visant l’amélioration des compétences alimentaires. Toutefois, la relation entre l’IA et la qualité de l’alimentation des migrants demandeurs d’aide alimentaire et la potentielle modification d’effet par les compétences alimentaires ont été peu étudiés. Objectif : Examiner l’association entre le niveau d’IA, les compétences alimentaires et la qualité de l’alimentation chez les demandeurs d’aide alimentaire issus de la migration. Méthode : Les données sont extraites d’un sous-échantillon de la cohorte PARCOURS, constitué de nouveaux utilisateurs de banques alimentaires migrants au Québec (n=224) au recrutement. Les variables d’intérêt ont été mesurées à l’aide de questions adaptées de l’Enquête sur la santé de collectivités canadiennes. Des analyses linéaires multiples basées sur des familles de modèles ont été menées pour chaque indicateur de qualité de l’alimentation soient la consommation de fruits et légumes (FL) et la variété. Résultats : Au sein de l’échantillon, le score de variété moyen était de 16/20 et la consommation médiane de FL était de 3 fois par jour. Une fois ajusté, le niveau d’IA n’était associé ni à la consommation de FL ni à la variété de l’alimentation. Aucune modification d’effet par les compétences alimentaires a été observée. Conclusion : Chez les migrants demandeurs d’aide alimentaire, leur niveau d’IA n'est pas associé à la qualité de leur alimentation peu importe leurs compétences alimentaires. / Background: Many people with a migrant background in Canada face food insecurity (FI), an issue with detrimental outcomes on diet quality. A growing number of food assistance services, which remain the principal intervention supporting Canadians living in food-insecure households, now include programs aiming to improve food skills. However, little is known about the relationship between FI and diet quality of migrants using food assistance services as well as the potential effect modification of food skills on this association. Objective: To examine the association between FI levels, food skills, and diet quality among migrant food assistance beneficiaries. Method: Data were drawn from a subsample of the PATHWAY study at baseline, including new food bank users with an immigrant background in Quebec (n=224). Variables of interest were measured using questions adapted from the Canadian Community Health Survey. Multiple linear regressions were performed for each food quality indicator, namely fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption and diet variety, based on predefined families of models. Results: Among participants, the median frequency of FV consumption was three times per day, and the mean score for variety reached 16/20. When adjusted, FI levels were not associated with either FV consumption or diet variety among food assistance users with a migrant background. No effect modification by food skills was observed. Conclusion: Among migrants seeking food aid, their FI level is not associated with the quality of their diet, regardless of their dietary skills.