Journal of Nutrition and Food Security
Volume:3 Issue: 4, Oct 2018

Application of growth indicators taken from other countries can cause misdiagnosis of underweight and stunting. In this study we compared the trend of anthropometric growth indicators between the elementary school students of Yazd with the international standards. The study population of this retrospective cohort study consisted of 591 primary school children in Yazd (285 girls and 306 boys) who were selected by multistage random sampling. The studied indicators were physical growth height, weight and body mass index (BMI) recorded in the participants' health certificate within the five years of primary school education. Furthermore, we compared the results with the WHO standards. The 3rd and 50th weight-for-age percentiles were roughly compatible with the WHO percentiles, but the 97th percentile was higher than it. All height-for-age percentiles for boys and girls, except for those who were 11 years, were higher than the WHO percentiles. The 3rd and 50th BMI percentiles for girls up to seven years of age were lower than the WHO percentiles; whereas, the 50th percentile for participants who aged seven years and older and the 97th percentile, except for those who aged 11 years, were higher than the WHO percentiles. The 3rd and 50th BMI percentiles for boys up to nine years of age were lower than the WHO percentiles, but the 50th percentile for those who aged nine years and over as well as the 97th percentile for all ages were higher than the WHO percentiles. The weight and BMI indicators obtained in this study were different from the WHO standards. This highlights the need for development and use of native reference curves regarding the anthropometric indicators for children in Iran

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of premature death in the 21st century. Dietary factors, such as high salt intake, are related to increased risk of CVDs{Akpolat, 2009 #21}. One of the main sources of dietary salt is bread. On the other hand, salt content is a quality indicator of bread. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the salt content in a variety of consumed breads in Yazd city, Iran. This study was a cross sectional research conducted in Yazd. The list of the bakeries obtained from their industry office. Ten percent of about 600 bakeries in Yazd (62 bakeries; 2 samples in each bakery) were selected using simple random sampling based on sample frame of ID number of each bakery. Finally, 9 types of bread included in this study. Sodium content was measured using flame photometer method. Salt content in breads was reported in each 100 g bread. It was found that Nan-Taftoon Tanuri is the most popular bread among traditional breads in Yazd (45.2%). It had significantly more salt than Nan-Fantezi and Nan-Sangak (P < 0.02). Also, Nan-Sangak had the least salt among traditional breads. However, the mean salt of traditional breads was more than the standard level (1g salt/100g bread (P < 0.0001). The current study showed that the mean salt content of traditional breads was significantly more than the standard level. Furthermore, Nan-TaftoonTanuri had significantly more salt than others, such as Nan-Fantezi and Nan-Sangak

To prevent or inhibit the growth of pathogenic microorganisms and food spoilage factors, many studies have been done by using natural preservatives. The aim of study was to investigate the effect of different concentrations of lysozyme and Nisin on the growth rate and also to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal cocentratiin (MBC) of these combinations on the bacteria of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimorium and Listeria monocytogenes. In this study, various concentrations of lysozyme and Nisin were set in form of alone concentration and in combination concentrations
(0, 19.53, 39.06, 78.13, 156.25, 312.5, 625, 1250, 2500, 5000) in vitro conditions and 6 pH 5.5, 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5, and 8. Microdilution method at 24°C was done and the combined effect on bacteria growth was read by using ELISA reader. The results showed that lysozyme was less effective on Escherichia coli and Nisin was less effective on Listeria monocytogenes. Moreover, combining lysozyme and Nisin at low pH decreased the MIC. The results of the study showed that the effect of combining lysozyme and Nisin on Staphylococcus aureus is above all other bacteria and at low pH reduces the MIC

Malnutrition in children including lower nutrient intakes or high density food intakes is of recent world concerns; therefore, determining a simple index that reveals the diet adequacy might be an advantage. This cross-sectional study was done among 233 children aged 2-5 years old. A 24-hour dietary questionnaire was used to calculate mean adequacy ratio (MAR), naturally nutrient rich (NNR) and energy density (ED) via related formula. A significant negative trend was observed for the relationship between the MAR and the Z-score of height for age. Significant positive relations were observed between the Z-score of body mass index (BMI) for age and the Z-score of weight for height as well as the Z-score of weight for age and the Z-score of height for age. In contrast, a significant negative correlation was between the energy density and MAR (all P < 0.05). According to the Z-score based on the NNR, MAR and ED, these three indices might be widely used to determine the adequacy of food intakes especially among children

Nowadays, natural antioxidants are used to replace synthetic antioxidants for delaying or preventing the oxidation of edible oils. In this study, phenolic compounds and antioxidant properties of methanol extracts of Spirulina microalgae (Arthrospira platensis) were measured. Phenolic content was measured by Folin–Ciocalteau method and antioxidant activity was measured by the 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method. Also, spirulina microalgae as natural antioxidant, was added to sesame oil for improving its oxidative stability. The effects of methanol extract of these microalgae in four concentrations (0, 500, 1000 and 2000 ppm) and synthetic antioxidants of butylated hydroxyl anyzole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) in two levels (100 and 200 ppm) in retarding the sesame oil oxidation were examined. The results showed that spirulina extract had 50.54 mg gallic acid/g samples total phenols and antiradical activity (84.38%). By increasing the concentration of the extracts, the oxidation process decreased. Methanol extract at 1000 ppm concentration had the highest antiradical activity than other concentrations and its antiradical activity was alike the synthesis antioxidant of BHA. By Increasing of storage period, peroxide values in 500 and 1000 ppm of spirulina extracts first increased then decreased and in other treatment increased. During storage time thiobarbituric acid index increased. However, this increase was higher in control treatment than others. According to the stated content, it can be said that methanol extracts of spirulina have appropriate antioxidant properties and spirulina can be used as a natural antioxidant to improve the oxidative stability of sesame oil

Spirulina platensis is a photosynthetic microalgae with fibrous filamentous that belongs to the cyanobacteria family. In this study, we investigated the effects of ethanol and methanol extracts as well as the powder of spirulina platensis microelements on the sensory and texture properties of the bread. In order to determine the texture characteristics, we applied a texture analyser and conducted the Texture Profile Analysis test (Double-Density Compression). Sensory evaluation (hedonic scale 1−5) of the samples was performed by 10 trained panelists. The results showed that use of spirulina microalgae in the formulation of bread altered the tissue properties significantly compared with the control sample. Addition of the spirulina decreased the hardness of the bread compared to the control sample. Moreover, addition of the methanol extract resulted in the highest adhesiveness, while addition of ethanol extract and spirulina microalgae powder led to the highest springiness rate among the samples. The highest and lowest amounts of gumminess were observed in bread samples containing spirulina microalgae powder and control treatments, respectively. The control sample received the highest score regarding all of the sensory features. Samples with spirulina powder received the lowest sensory properties. We can produce spirulina fortified bread with desirable nutritional and sensory characteristics

Fiber is a carbohydrate, which is neither completely digested nor absorbed in the small intestine, but may be fermented and plays a key role in the human health. We investigated the beneficial effects of fiber on major chronic diseases. It was extracted the relevant articles by searching the PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Scopus databases using the following keywords: dietary fiber, carbohydrate fermentation, short chain fatty acids, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, constipation, and appetite. In this research, a variety of studies were investigated including prospective cohort, case-control, cross-sectional, and clinical trial. The thematic relation of these studies was evaluated by reviewing their titles and abstracts. From a total of 123 articles, 27 related studies with appropriate design and reliable information were selected and reviewed. Considering the selected studies, 13 were clinical trials, 10 articles were cohort, one was case-control, and three studies were cross-sectional. The studies investigated the beneficial effects of fiber on cardiovascular diseases (N = 4), type 2 diabetes (N = 8), appetite control and body weight (N = 3), colorectal cancer (N = 4), breast cancer (N = 2), immune system (N = 3), and constipation (N = 3). According to the results of this study, fiber reduces the rate of gastrointestinal discharges; this in turn leads to decrease of the glucose uptake and increases the satiety. More fiber consumption was associated with improvement of the immune system, weight control, reduction of the cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, colon cancer, and breast cancer. Regular consumption of fiber has beneficial health outcomes. However, these benefits depend largely on the types of the consumed fiber and the individual who intakes them

Previous studies have investigated the associations between dietary patterns and male infertility, but found contradictory results. So, this meta-analysis was conducted to examine the association between dietary patterns and male infertility. An electronic search was conducted to identify the studies over association between dietary patterns and male infertility. The western and healthy dietary patterns were selected in this regard. The random-effect model was used to compute the summary risk estimates. We found eight articles, of which five (n = 7679 participants) were included in our meta-analysis. This meta-analysis determined that the western dietary patterns containing high levels of processed, meat, high-fat dairy, and low levels of vegetables, fruit, and whole grains could significantly reduce the sperm concentration (MD = -0.07, P = 0.01). However, no significant relationship was observed between this dietary pattern and the sperm motility and morphology (MD = 0.01, P = 0.71, MD = 0.2, P = 0.39, respectively). Moreover, regarding the healthy dietary pattern, which contains high level of fruit, vegetables, whole grain, low-fat dairy, as well as low level of red meat and processed food, no significant relationship was observed (sperm concentration: MD = 0.11, P = 0.11, morphology: MD = -0.02, P = 0.42 and motility: MD = 0.35, P = 0.09). Findings of our meta-analysis suggested that the western dietary patterns could decrease the sperm concentration and reduce male fertility. Further prospective studies are required to confirm this result