Search Results (10)

Thermal insulation is essential in lowering the energy consumption of buildings. However, many fossil-based insulation and exterior cladding materials are derived from petrochemical components, which often have adverse ecological impacts. This study explores the effectiveness of integrating sustainable thermal insulation solutions into building design to reduce energy consumption and minimize ecological impact. Focusing on an energy-efficient breakfast house located in Van, Turkey, the project was modeled using Autodesk-Revit software (2023). A comprehensive analysis was conducted by generating eighty alternative scenarios, combining two distinct wall structures, eight fiber-based natural insulation materials, and five wood-based exterior cladding materials. The energy performance of each scenario was evaluated using IES-VE software (2024.1), focusing on annual total energy consumption and CO₂ emissions, while accounting for regional climatic conditions and targeted indoor comfort levels. To further refine the selection of optimal materials, a hybrid evaluation was performed using multi-attribute decision approaches, including LODECI, MAXC, and DEPART. These methods provided a systematic framework for comparing the performance of wood-based insulation materials across multiple criteria. In order to verify the accuracy of the proposed multi-attribute decision models, a comparative analysis has been undertaken with other multi-attribute decision methods (COPRAS, ARAS and WASPAS). The study highlights the technical feasibility of incorporating cost-effective, eco-friendly fiber-based and wood-based materials into building envelopes, demonstrating their potential to significantly enhance energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact. By combining advanced simulation tools with robust decision-making methodologies, this research offers a scientifically grounded approach to sustainable architectural design, providing important outputs for future applications in energy-efficient construction. Full article

Background: Habitual breakfast skipping is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and cardiometabolic diseases. However, the effects of skipping breakfast regularly versus irregularly on vascular endothelial function (VEF), a key marker of cardiovascular health, remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of eight-Day regular or irregular breakfast skipping on brachial artery VEF in healthy habitual breakfast eaters using a three-condition, randomized controlled crossover trial. Methods: Ten young healthy adults (seven females, three males) completed three randomized nine-Day trials: (1) Eat (three meals per day), (2) Skip (breakfast skipped on days 1–8, consumed on Day 9), and (3) Eat/Skip (alternating breakfast consumption and skipping). Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the right brachial artery was assessed at 7:45–55 am on days 1, 2, 5, and 9, expressed as the percentage change in the brachial artery diameter normalized to the shear rate area under the curve (Δ%FMD/SR_AUC). Blood samples were collected before and 30 min after breakfast or lunch for glucose, insulin, free fatty acids, and triglyceride analyses. Insulin resistance was estimated using the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance calculated from fasting glucose and fasting insulin values. Objective measurements of sleep, physical activity, and continuous glucose monitoring were obtained. Results: On Day 9, the Skip and Eat/Skip trials had significantly lower %FMD/SR_AUC and significantly higher levels of fasting plasma insulin than the Eat trial. Exploratory analyses within the Skip and Eat/Skip trials suggested a weak negative association between changes in %FMD/SR_AUC and fasting blood glucose and insulin from day 1 to day 9. Conclusions: These findings suggest that both regular and irregular breakfast skipping may impair early morning VEF, possibly through alterations in glucose metabolism, whereas regular breakfast consumption may help preserve VEF and support cardiovascular health. Clinical Trial Registry: Clinical Trial Registry: University Hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN000053117, registered 20 December 2023). Full article

Tactical athletes and military personnel engaged in intense exercise need to consume enough quality protein in their diet to maintain protein balance and promote recovery. Plant-based protein sources contain fewer essential amino acids (EAAs), while pork loin contains a higher concentration of EAAs and creatine than most other animal protein sources. This study aimed to determine whether the ingestion of plant-based or pork-based military-style meals ready-to-eat (MREs) affects recovery from and subsequent Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) performance. Methods: Twenty-three (n = 23) University Corps of Cadets members participated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, and crossover-designed study. Diets were prepared by a dietitian, food scientist, and chef to have similar taste, appearance, texture, and macronutrient content. The chef also labeled the meals for double-blind administration. Participants refrained from intense exercise for 48 h before reporting to the lab in a fasted condition with a 24 h urine sample. Participants donated a blood sample, completed questionnaires and cognitive function tests, and consumed a pre-exercise meal. After four hours, participants performed the ACFT according to military standards. Participants were fed three MREs daily while returning to the lab in a fasted condition at 0600 with 24 h urine samples after 24, 48, and 72 h of recovery. On day 3, participants repeated the ACFT four hours after consuming an MRE for breakfast. Participants resumed normal training and returned to the lab after 2–3 weeks to repeat the experiment while consuming the alternate diet. Data were analyzed using general linear model statistics with repeated measures and percent changes from baseline with 95% confidence intervals. Results: Results revealed that 3 days were sufficient for participants to replicate ACFT performance. However, those consuming the pork-based diet experienced less muscle soreness, urinary urea excretion, cortisol, inflammation, and depression scores while experiencing a higher testosterone/cortisol ratio and appetite satisfaction. There was also evidence of more favorable changes in red and white blood cells. Conversely, blood lipid profiles were more favorably changed when following a plant-based diet. Conclusions: These findings suggest that protein quality and the availability of creatine in the diet can affect recovery from intense military-style exercise. Minimally, plant-based MREs should include 6–10 g/d of EAA and 2–3 g/d of creatine monohydrate to offset dietary deficiencies, particularly in military personnel following a vegetarian diet. Registered clinical trial #ISRCTN47322504. Full article

Background: Rapid socio-economic developments confront China with a rising consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and ultra-processed drinks (UPDs). This study aims to evaluate their potential impact on diet transformation towards sustainability including nutrition, environmental sustainability, and diet-related cost. Methods: Dietary intake was assessed by 24 h recalls in 27,311 participants (age: 40.5 ± 19.7; female, 51.1%) in the China Health and Nutrition Survey 1997–2011. The nutrient quality, environmental sustainability (greenhouse gas emission (GHGE), total water use (TWU), land use (LU), and diet cost were assessed as diet-related sustainability indicators. Foods and drinks were classified according to the degree of processing based on NOVA. Two-level mixed effects models were applied to explore the secular trends of the sustainability indicators being nested within random effect (individual level). Results: UPFs and UPDs are less nutrient-dense, containing more energy, sodium, and added sugar compared to unprocessed or minimally processed foods and drinks (MPFs and MPDs). UPFs and UPDs were higher for GHGE and TWU but lower for LU. Costs of UPDs tripled those of MPDs. In the period of 1997–2011, the percentage of UPFs and UPDs per 2000 kcal increased for both sexes. The increase in UPFs and UPDs was associated with a lower nutrient quality but a higher environmental impact and diet cost. Conclusions: From 1997 to 2011, there was a significant increase in the consumption of UPFs and UPDs in China. This trend had negative impacts on both the nutrient quality and environmental impact; meanwhile, it led to increased diet costs. Policies to reduce the production and consumption of UPFs and UPDs should be reinforced by making alternatives for ultra-processed breakfast cereals, snacks, and alcoholic beverages available and acceptable. Additionally, instead of only focusing on high-UPFD consumers, attention is needed on the currently low-UPFD consumers as their consumption has been growing rapidly in the last decades. Full article

The United States (US) School Breakfast Program provides Breakfast After The Bell (BATB) to alleviate hunger, provide nutrition, and ensure students have a healthy start to the day. This study aims to review the evidence regarding the impact of BATB on students’ diet and academic outcomes, including participation, diet quality and consumption, body mass index (BMI) and weight status, attendance, classroom behavior, and academic performance. The articles were extracted from three electronic databases and published since the start of the literature through December 2022. Studies were peer-reviewed; quantitative research articles or government reports; and conducted in public or private elementary, middle, and high schools. Quality was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Thirty-seven studies were included in this review. This review found BATB increased school breakfast participation, improved diet quality, and improved classroom behavior particularly among students from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds and students eligible for free or reduced-price meals. The impact of BATB on BMI and weight status, academic achievement and attendance was mixed. This review is particularly timely given free school meals and updated school nutrition standards are being prioritized over the next decade in the US. Thus, it is important to evaluate the nutritional and educational outcomes of BATB. (PROSPERO registration: CRD42021289719). Full article

Ready-to-eat cereals (RTECs) have become a popular breakfast option claiming to provide important nutrients to children’s diets, despite being a source of excess sugar and, therefore, a health concern. Thus, food reformulation constitutes an important public health strategy that could benefit from inputs provided by nutrient profiling. This study aimed to assess the adequacy of the RTECs for children available in Portuguese supermarkets, applying three nutrient profile models (NPMs)—the nutrient profile model of the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe (WHO-EURO), the profile of the private-sector EU Pledge (EU-Pledge), and the national model developed by the Directorate-General of Health (NPM-PT)—in order to explore the potential for reformulation of the RTECs identified as not adequate and evaluate the impact of RTECs’ reformulation on the nutritional quality of Portuguese children’s diets. In total, 78 RTECs intended for children were assessed and two scenarios—current (not considering reformulation) and alternative (considering reformulation to accomplish the nutrient profile requirements)—were considered to assess the impact of reformulation on nutritional quality. Across all RTECs, only 5.1% could be promoted to children according to the considered NPMs. The most common nutrients requiring reformulation were sugar, saturated fatty acids (SFA), salt, and dietary fiber. The scenarios of reformulation considered could reduce the RTECs average content of total sugars, SFA, and salt by 43%, 8.7%, and 1.1%, respectively, and dietary fiber intake could be increased by 34%. Thus, these results support policies to implement reformulation strategies for developing healthier food products to be promoted to children. Full article

This article proposes an alternative tourism development approach that we have termed ‘rebalancing’, which is based on tourism development adopting Community-based Tourism (CBT) principles and characteristics whose hallmark is to give local control of the tourism sector to disadvantaged members of society. The article is based on extant literature and uses Hanoi as a case study to articulate the role of CBT against a backdrop of the growth and presence of large international hotel chains in Hanoi following the adoption of the Doi Moi policy. The increase in international hotel chains poses a high risk of an increase in leakages. The accommodation sub-sector and food sector are essential in tourism in Hanoi, as they are elsewhere. These provide small businesses the opportunity to participate in the name of inclusivity, empowerment, and poverty alleviation. For the authenticity of Hanoi and respecting its traditions and values, we propose a model of growth for Hanoi that includes food street vendors alongside large international hotel chains, large national (privately owned) hotels (nationally/locally owned), small independent national hotels (locally owned), bed and breakfast/guesthouse (locally owned), backpackers (locally owned), homestay (locally owned), ‘Albergo Diffuso’ (locally owned), LCBT accommodation (locally owned), CBT (Independently owned structures under an umbrella organization), and CBT (community-owned structures). It also suggests the retention of traditional architecture for the diversity and uniqueness of Hanoi. It recommends that the government should not promulgate legislation and policies that attempt to limit the scope of food street vending but rather empower food street vendors to grow and prosper. This should be done alongside specific legislation that sets minimum standards related to hygiene on the streets for inclusive growth and poverty alleviation. Full article

Early identification of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hypertension (HTN) risk may improve prevention and promote public health. Implementation of self-reported scores for risk assessment provides an alternative cost-effective tool. The study aimed to develop and validate two easy-to-apply screening tools identifying high-risk individuals for insulin resistance (IR) and HTN in a European cohort. Sociodemographic, lifestyle, anthropometric and clinical data obtained from 1581 and 1350 adults (baseline data from the Feel4Diabetes-study) were used for the European IR and the European HTN risk assessment index respectively. Body mass index, waist circumference, sex, age, breakfast consumption, alcohol, legumes and sugary drinks intake, physical activity and sedentary behavior were significantly correlated with Homeostatic Model Assessment of IR (HOMA-IR) and/or HTN and incorporated in the two models. For the IR index, the Area Under the Curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity for identifying individuals above the 75th and 95th of HOMA-IR percentiles were 0.768 (95%CI: 0.721–0.815), 0.720 and 0.691 and 0.828 (95%CI: 0.766–0.890), 0.696 and 0.778 respectively. For the HTN index, the AUC, sensitivity and specificity were 0.778 (95%CI: 0.680–0.876), 0.667 and 0.797. The developed risk assessment tools are easy-to-apply, valid, and low-cost, identifying European adults at high risk for developing T2DM or having HTN. Full article

Regular breakfast consumption has the potential to prevent the prevalence of NCDs and to improve the nutritional profile of diets. Given consumers’ interest in improving their diets, food suppliers are interested in introducing new cereal products making different health claims to capture consumers’ attention. The purpose of this study is threefold: first, it aims to understand whether UK food suppliers are working to increase the availability of breakfast cereals with healthy and nutritious attributes; second, it explores which companies are leading the launch of these products; and third, it assesses to what extent health and nutrition claims made by breakfast cereals have an impact on their market success. The study employs an assembled database combining data from Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD) and Kantar Worldpanel Dataset (KWDS) for the UK. A hazard-based duration model was used to analyse the success of the new products launched in the UK market in 2011 following them up to 2015. Our results reveal that UK suppliers broadened the number of breakfast cereals on offer in the period 2000 to 2018, with a particular focus on multigrain cereals, porridge and granola. Health and nutrition claims were added to 27% of these products. Although consumers welcome healthy alternatives such as muesli, the impact of positional claims on the success of newly developed breakfast cereals is claim-specific. No clear pattern regarding the impact of health and nutrition claims is identified. However, other elements such as celiac-friendly ingredients and UK origin do have a positive impact on the success of breakfast cereals. Full article

To develop an in vitro model to mimic the effects of meals equivalent to a day’s diet on tooth tissue loss (TTL). To identify how diet effects tooth wear and to test the efficacy of dental products designed to reduce tooth wear in a more realistic environment. A typical Friday diet was devised comprising: Breakfast then brushing, lunch, dinner then brushing. Groups of enamel samples were exposed to one meal, or all three in series, a control group was exposed to water and brushed. The daily cycle was repeated to represent two days’ consumption; TTL was quantified by non-contact profilometry. This pilot study highlighted adaptions that could be made to the model such as human enamel and saliva to further replicate natural eating habits. The sum of the TTL measured after Breakfast, lunch and dinner (bovine enamel specimens exposed to single meals) was less than that exhibited by the group of samples exposed to the series of meals but this difference was not significant (p = 0.09).In the absence and presence of brushing, TTL caused by breakfast and dinner was similar, but significantly greater than that caused by lunch (p < 0.05). While brushing increased TTL, this increase was not significant. It is possible to model a daily diet in vitro, and the data obtained confirms that the combination of food and drink affects the degree of TTL. This supports the further development of an in vitro model that includes alternative foodstuffs. This would aid understanding of the effects different diets have on TTL and could test new products designed to prevent TTL. Full article