scholarly journals Plant-Based Dietary Practices and Socioeconomic Factors That Influence Anemia in India

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 3538
Author(s):  
Rohil S. Bhatnagar ◽  
Olga I. Padilla-Zakour
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Intervention Strategy ◽  
Heme Iron ◽  
Dietary Factors ◽  
Dietary Practices ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Government Interventions ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Staple Foods

While rates of malnutrition have declined over the last decade in India due to successful government interventions, the prevalence of anemia remains high. Staple foods provide almost 70% of the daily iron intake. As staple foods are a rich source of phytate, this ingested iron is poorly absorbed. Currently, 59% of children below 3 years of age, 50% of expectant mothers and 53% of women aged 15–19 years are anemic. The most common intervention strategy has been through the use of iron supplements. While the compliance has been low and supplies irregular, such high rates of anemia cannot be explained by iron deficiency alone. This review attempts to fit dietary and cooking practices, field-level diagnostics, cultural beliefs and constraints in implementation of management strategies into a larger picture scenario to offer insights as to why anemia continues to plague India. Since the rural Indian diet is predominantly vegetarian, we also review dietary factors that influence non-heme iron absorption. As a reference point, we also contrast anemia-related trends in India to the USA. Thus, this review is an effort to convey a holistic evaluation while providing approaches to address this public health crisis.

The Importance and Bioavailability of Phytoferritin-Bound Iron in Cereals and Legume Foods

2007 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 152-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lönnerdal
Keyword(s):  
Iron Absorption ◽  
Proteolytic Enzymes ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Human Study ◽  
Heme Iron ◽  
Dietary Factors ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Staple Foods

Ferritin is present in several types of plants in low concentrations, but it is possible to enhance this content by plant breeding, or by inserting the gene for ferritin into staple foods. Since each ferritin molecule can bind thousands of iron atoms, this may be a sustainable means to increase the iron content of plants. Before launching such efforts it is important to determine whether ferritin-bound iron is bioavailable. We assessed this in vitro using Caco-2 cells and in vivo using radiolabeled ferritin and whole body counting in human subjects. In Caco-2 cells, we found that dietary factors affecting iron absorption, such as ascorbic acid, phytate, and calcium, had very limited effect on iron uptake from intact ferritin, suggesting that ferritin-bound iron is absorbed via a mechanism different from that of non-heme iron. Using in vitro digestion, we found that ferritin was relatively resistant against proteolytic enzymes. Binding of ferritin to Caco-2 cells was found to be saturable and the kinetics for binding characteristic for a receptor-mediated process. In human subjects, we found that iron absorption from animal ferritin was similar to that from ferrous sulfate, suggesting that iron is well absorbed from ferritin. We did not find any significant difference between iron absorption from ferritin reconstituted with high-phosphate (plant-type) and low-phosphate (animal-type) ferritin mineral, suggesting that plant ferritin-iron is bioavailable. In a subsequent human study we also found that iron from purified soybean ferritin given in a meal was as well absorbed as ferrous iron. In conclusion, iron is well absorbed from phytoferritin and may represent a means of biofortification of staple foods.

scholarly journals Virtual Reality Exercise as a Coping Strategy for Health and Wellness Promotion in Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zan Gao ◽  
Jung Eun Lee ◽  
Daniel J. McDonough ◽  
Callie Albers
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Intervention Strategy ◽  
Effective Intervention ◽  
World Health ◽  
Motor Ability ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Wellness Promotion

The December 2019 COVID-19 outbreak in China has led to worldwide quarantine, as recommended by local governments and the World Health Organization. Particularly affected are older adults (i.e., those aged ≥ 65 years) who are at elevated risk for various adverse health outcomes, including declines in motor ability and physical activity (PA) participation, increased obesity, impaired cognition, and various psychological disorders. Thus, given the secular increases in the older adult population, novel and effective intervention strategies are necessary to improve physical activity behaviors and health in this population. Virtual reality (VR)-integrated exercise is a promising intervention strategy, which has been utilized in healthcare fields like stroke rehabilitation and psychotherapy. Therefore, the purpose of this editorial is to synthesize recent research examining the efficacy and effectiveness of VR exercise in the promotion of favorable health outcomes among the older adults. Results indicate the application of VR exercise to facilitate improved physical outcomes (e.g., enhanced motor ability, reduced obesity), cognition and psychological outcomes. VR exercise has also been observed to be an effective intervention strategy for fall prevention in this population. Future research should employ more rigorous research designs to allow for a more robust quantitative synthesis of the effect of VR exercise on the preceding outcomes to elucidate which type(s) of VR-based PA interventions are most effective in promoting improved health outcomes among older adults. Findings from this study will better inform the development of technology-savvy PA programs for wellness promotion in older adults who practice social distancing and exercise from home under the unprecedented global health crisis.

scholarly journals Customization of Diet May Promote Exercise and Improve Mental Wellbeing in Mature Adults: The Role of Exercise as a Mediator

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 435
Author(s):  
Lina Begdache ◽  
Cara M. Patrissy
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Mental Distress ◽  
Rank Order ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Dietary Factors ◽  
Mental Wellbeing ◽  
Modifiable Risk Factors ◽  
Food Groups ◽  
Dietary Practices

Diet, dietary practices and exercise are modifiable risk factors for individuals living with mental distress. However, these relationships are intricate and multilayered in such a way that individual factors may influence mental health differently when combined within a pattern. Additionally, two important factors that need to be considered are gender and level of brain maturity. Therefore, it is essential to assess these modifiable risk factors based on gender and age group. The purpose of the study was to explore the combined and individual relationships between food groups, dietary practices and exercise to appreciate their association with mental distress in mature men and women. Adults 30 years and older were invited to complete the food–mood questionnaire. The anonymous questionnaire link was circulated on several social media platforms. A multi-analyses approach was used. A combination of data mining techniques, namely, a mediation regression analysis, the K-means clustering and principal component analysis as well as Spearman’s rank–order correlation were used to explore these research questions. The results suggest that women’s mental health has a higher association with dietary factors than men. Mental distress and exercise frequency were associated with different dietary and lifestyle patterns, which support the concept of customizing diet and lifestyle factors to improve mental wellbeing.

scholarly journals Epigenetic Influences in the Aetiology of Cancers Arising from Breast and Prostate: A Hypothesised Transgenerational Evolution in Chromatin Accessibility

ISRN Oncology ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis L. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Target Genes ◽  
Epigenetic Modification ◽  
Intervention Strategy ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Chromatin Accessibility ◽  
Dietary Factors ◽  
Heterocyclic Aromatic Amines ◽  
Tumour Suppressor Genes ◽  
Multistage Model ◽  
Migrant Populations

Epidemiological studies have consistently supported the notion that environmental and/or dietary factors play a central role in the aetiology of cancers of the breast and prostate. However, for more than five decades investigators have failed to identify a single cause-and-effect factor, which could be implicated; identification of a causative entity would allow the implementation of an intervention strategy in at-risk populations. This suggests a more complex pathoaetiology for these cancer sites, compared to others. When one examines the increases or decreases in incidence of specific cancers amongst migrant populations, it is notable that disease arising in colon or stomach requires one or at most two generations to exhibit a change in incidence to match that of high-incidence regions, whereas for breast or prostate cancer, at least three generations are required. This generational threshold could suggest a requirement for nonmutation-driven epigenetic alterations in the F0/F1 generations (parental/offspring adopting a more westernized lifestyle), which then predisposes the inherited genome of subsequent generations to mutagenic/genotoxic alterations leading to the development of sporadic cancer in these target sites. As such, individual susceptibility to carcinogen insult would not be based per se on polymorphisms in activating/detoxifying/repair enzymes, but on elevated accessibility of crucial target genes (e.g., oncogenes, tumour suppressor genes) or hotspots therein to mutation events. This could be termed a genomic susceptibility organizational structure (SOS). Several exposures including alcohol and heavy metals are epigens (i.e., modifiers of the epigenome), whereas others are mutagenic/genotoxic, for example, heterocyclic aromatic amines; humans are continuously and variously exposed to mixtures of these agents. Within such a transgenerational multistage model of cancer development, determining the interaction between epigenetic modification to generate a genomic SOS and genotoxic insult will facilitate a new level of understanding in the aetiology of cancer.

scholarly journals Limits to Change

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-113
Author(s):  
Roel Puijk
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Innovation Management ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Production Studies ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
External Pressures ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Main Programme ◽  
New Situation

Abstract Production studies have become popular over the past decade. Recent studies have analysed, amongst other things, innovation, management strategies and the effects of convergence on editorial processes. There have only been a few studies that have analysed what happened inside media organisations in the earlier transformative stages (outside the UK and the USA). This paper analyses how the Norwegian public service broadcaster (NRK) adapted to the loss of its monopoly and the beginning of competition during the mid-1980s. It provides a window into how the flagship of public service, the Enlightenment Department, dealt with the new situation. If one follows the production process of the main programme of the department (with the revealing working title ‘Flagship’) from its conception to its realisation as a weekly programme broadcast in prime time, this reveals how innovation at the time was restricted by organisational arrangements, internal values and external pressures. The programme makers included many elements that are still today considered to be advantageous in factual programming (humour, dramatization, popularisation, serialization, recognition, and even interactivity). Along the way several of these were changed: what had started as a proposal for a documentary series turned into something that was predominantly a discussion programme.

Tempering Hard Times: Integrating Well-Being Metrics Into Utility Analysis

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 554-568
Author(s):  
Aharon Tziner ◽  
Erich C. Fein ◽  
Assa Birati
Keyword(s):  
Management Strategies ◽  
Intervention Strategy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Utility Analysis ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Quantitative Models ◽  
Hard Times ◽  
Value Estimation ◽  
Financial Gains

AbstractThis article highlights the virtue of integrating well-being metrics (e.g., psychological well-being, perceived meaning) into aspects of utility analysis for the purpose of enhancing human resource management strategies and worker performance. We present the reader with a review of conceptual and practical developments in this field and examples of utility analysis calculations, while we advocate for the necessity of including well-being metrics in utility analysis for the 21st century. The basic thrust of this effort is to encourage the greater employment by managers of quantitative models that allow decision makers to generate all the factors needed to estimate long-term financial gains and/or losses before any intervention strategy is implemented in the workplace. As indicated, the use of quantitative models to estimate the net financial gains of using particular intervention strategies, accompanied with the value estimation of certain types of employee states (e.g., psychological well-being) and worker behaviors (e.g., employee turnover), can ultimately save companies from making gross tactical errors and, more positively, can assist management in promoting the organization's long-term economic goals in conjunction with the enhanced well-being of employees.

Is consumer forgiveness possible?

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 1567-1587 ◽  
Author(s):  
JungYun (Christine) Hur ◽  
SooCheong (Shawn) Jang
Keyword(s):  
Service Management ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Service Failure ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Service Failures ◽  
Recovery Strategies ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Hotel Managers

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how consumer forgiveness is formed by examining rumination and distraction by consumers in hotel service failures.Design/methodology/approachData were collected using a self-administered questionnaire in the USA. A total of 371 usable responses were obtained. Anderson and Gerbing’s two-step approach was used to assess the measurement and structural models.FindingsThis study suggests that rumination and distraction play significant roles in processing consumer forgiveness. Self-focused rumination and distraction increase consumer forgiveness, whereas provocation-focused rumination exacerbates the negative effects of service failure severity on consumer forgiveness. This study also shows that gender differences exist. Men were more likely than women to link self-focused rumination and distraction to their intentions to forgive a service provider.Practical implicationsThis study is helpful for hotel managers to understand the mechanisms of consumer forgiveness in service failures and develop effective recovery strategies. Managers should aim to lessen consumers’ provocation-focused rumination while encouraging self-focused rumination and distraction. In addition, because of the differences in the process of consumer forgiveness between men and women, it is critical to differentiate the two groups in designing targeted recovery strategies for service failures.Originality/valueThis study investigates consumer forgiveness as a behavioral outcome following service failures that may help consumers achieve psychological balance and allow service providers a chance to restore the broken relationship. This study adds new information for understanding consumer responses and provides a basis for effective service management strategies.

Effects of Diseases on Soybean Yields in the United States 1996 to 2007

2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen Wrather ◽  
Steve Koenning
Keyword(s):  
Soybean Cyst Nematode ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cyst Nematode ◽  
Disease Suppression ◽  
Stem Rot ◽  
Soybean Yield ◽  
Funding Agencies ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Soybean Diseases

Research must focus on management of diseases that cause extensive losses, especially when funds for research are limited. Knowledge of yield suppression caused by various soybean diseases is essential when prioritizing research. The objective of this project was to compile estimates of soybean yield suppression due to diseases in the USA from 1996 to 2007. The goal was to provide information to help funding agencies and scientists prioritize research objectives and budgets. Yield suppression due to individual diseases varied among years. Soybean cyst nematode suppressed USA soybean yield more from 1996 to 2007 than any other disease. Phytophthora root and stem rot ranked second among diseases that most suppressed yield seven of 12 years. Seedling diseases and charcoal rot also suppressed soybean yield during these years. Research and extension efforts must be expanded to provide more preventive and therapeutic disease management strategies for producers to reduce disease suppression of soybean yield. Accepted for publication 25 February 2009. Published 1 April 2009.

scholarly journals Psychosocial Experiences of HIV-Positive Women of African Descent in the Cultural Context of Infant Feeding: A Three-Country Comparative Analyses

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (19) ◽  
pp. 7150
Author(s):  
Josephine Etowa ◽  
Hilary Nare ◽  
Doris M. Kakuru ◽  
Egbe B. Etowa
Keyword(s):  
Infant Feeding ◽  
African Descent ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Feeding Practices ◽  
Black Mothers ◽  
Infant Feeding Practices ◽  
Psychosocial Experiences ◽  
Cultural Expectations ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Living With Hiv

Infant feeding among mothers of African descent living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a critical practice that is influenced by policies, cultural expectations, and the resultant psychosocial state of the mother. Hence, this paper draws insights from a broader infant feeding study. It provides insights into how guidelines on infant feeding practices, cultural expectations, migration, or geographic status intersect to influence the psychosocial experiences of mothers living with HIV. We compared psychosocial experiences of Black mothers of African descent living with HIV in Nigeria versus those in high-income countries (Canada and USA), in the context of contrasting national infant feeding guidelines, cultural beliefs about breastfeeding, and geographic locations. Survey was conducted in venue-based convenience samples in two comparative groups: (Ottawa, Canada and Miami-FL, USA combined [n = 290]), and (Port Harcourt, Nigeria [n = 400]). Using independent samples t-statistics, we compared the means and distributions of six psychosocial attributes between Black mothers in two distinct: Infant feeding groups (IFGs), cultural, and geographical contexts at p < 0.05. Psychosocial attributes, such as discrimination and stigma, were greater in women who exclusively formula feed (EFF) than in women who exclusively breastfeed (EBF) at p < 0.01. Heightened vigilance, discrimination, and stigma scores were greater in women whose infant feeding practices were informed by cultural beliefs (CBs) compared to those not informed by CBs at p < 0.001. Discrimination and stigma scores were greater among mothers in Canada and the USA than in Nigeria at p < 0.001. Heightened vigilance and perceived stress scores were less among women in Canada and the USA than in Nigeria at p < 0.001. The guidelines on infant feeding practices for mothers with HIV should consider cultural expectations and migration/locational status of mothers.

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