Search Results (1,604)

Background: Edible insects constitute a highly nutritious, environmentally sustainable and culturally significant food resource with considerable potential to contribute to food system transformation within academic and broader societal contexts. Although global interest in entomophagy continues to increase, there remains limited research exploring the knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and consumption practices of university populations within rural South African settings. Methods: Three concurrent cross-sectional quantitative studies were conducted at the University of Venda (UNIVEN), located in Thohoyandou, Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Study 1 evaluated the knowledge, attitudes and consumption patterns of edible insects among 200 students. Study 2 examined knowledge and utilisation of edible insects among 390 students. Study 3 investigated knowledge and perceptions regarding edible insects among 200 university staff members. Structured questionnaires covering socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and food frequency practices were administered across all studies. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 28 through descriptive statistics, frequencies and percentages. Analyses were descriptive only; no inferential testing, factor analysis or regression was undertaken, and the three studies are compared as a descriptive synthesis rather than pooled into a single dataset. Results: Findings across all study groups demonstrated high levels of awareness regarding edible insects, with awareness reported by 85% of participants in Study 1 and 100% in Study 2, and 98% of staff members acknowleded the ecological importance of insects. Mopane worms (Gonimbrasia belina), termites and grasshoppers emerged as the most recognised and frequently consumed edible insect species. Consumption prevalence was notably high, reported at 91% in Study 1 and 69.2% in Study 2 and 66.3% among staff in Study 3. General attitudes towards entomophagy were largely favourable, with 41% of students expressing excitement about edible insect consumption and 91.1% of staff supporting the commercialisation of edible insects. Key barriers influencing consumption included religious restrictions (25.1%, reported in Study 2 only; participants with religious dietary prohibitions were excluded at sampling in Studies 1 and 3, limiting cross-study comparability of this barrier), cultural taboos (3%), inadequate market availability and limited awareness regarding nutritional benefits. Staff members further demonstrated positive environmental and sustainability perceptions, with 84.1% recognising edible insects as environmentally beneficial and viable future food sources. Conclusions: Across three independent cross-sectional studies conducted at the University of Venda, broadly similar patterns of awareness, attitudes, perceptions and edible insect consumption were observed. Although the studies differed in sampling and measurement, they consistently suggest that edible insects remain culturally accepted among many students and staff. Nevertheless, challenges relating to nutritional literacy, market accessibility and policy integration continue to limit broader adoption. Strengthening nutrition education initiatives and incorporating edible insects into institutional food systems may enhance the contribution of edible insects towards food security, sustainable protein provision and nutrition sustainability within Limpopo Province and beyond. Full article

Livestock production in Africa occurs across highly heterogeneous agroecological and management environments, ranging from extensive pastoral and mixed crop–livestock systems to intensive enterprises. These systems are characterized by seasonal and spatial variation in feed resources, reliance on locally available forage and agricultural by-products, climatic stress, endemic diseases, and the use of indigenous and locally adapted breeds. Such conditions create distinctive microbiome–host interactions that remain poorly represented in global livestock omics research. Although the gut microbiome is central to nutrient utilization, immune function, metabolic homeostasis, and resilience, the functional mechanisms linking microbial communities, diet, host physiology, and productivity in African livestock remain insufficiently characterized. African systems are particularly underrepresented in integrated microbiome–metabolomics datasets, longitudinal studies, and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled predictive models, limiting the development of context-specific precision nutrition strategies. This review examines the integration of metabolomics and AI with microbiome and host data to advance precision livestock nutrition within an African and One Health context. It identifies both substantial constraints and strategic opportunities. Limited research infrastructure, high-quality regional datasets, computational capacity, and specialized expertise remain major barriers. Conversely, Africa’s diversity of livestock breeds, feed resources, agroecological conditions, and naturally occurring resilience phenotypes provides an important opportunity to identify microbiome–metabolite signatures associated with feed efficiency, disease resilience, climate adaptation, and product quality. Emerging metabolomics and computational capacity, particularly in South Africa, could support regional research networks and continental data infrastructures. Furthermore, the review proposes an Africa-specific approach that develops locally grounded, scalable, and resource-sensitive precision nutrition strategies, strengthening antimicrobial stewardship, animal health, food safety, climate resilience, sustainable livestock production, and broader One Health objectives. Full article

Background/Objectives: This study examines the effectiveness of calorie labeling on restaurant menus by investigating how visual attention is allocated between calorie information and food cues. Although calorie labeling policies are widely implemented, prior research suggests limited impact on reducing energy intake. Methods: Using eye-tracking technology, this study explored how menu design factors (specifically visual food cues) influence attention. Results: Results from a within-subject experiment (N = 82) indicated that calorie labels received significantly fewer visual fixations (in terms of frequency and duration) when food images were present. Conversely, calorie labels did not reduce attention to food cues, highlighting an asymmetry in attentional allocations. Interestingly, restricted eaters were associated with more frequent attention to calorie labels but not with longer sustained attention to those labels. Conclusions: Overall, findings suggest that the motivational responses elicited by food cues undermine the effectiveness of calorie labeling by diverting attention away from nutritional information, limiting its utility as a public health intervention. Full article

Behavioural nudges modify choice architecture to steer food choices without removing alternatives or substantially changing economic incentives. This critical narrative review synthesises 62 sources from behavioural public policy, public health nutrition, food ethics, and sustainable food-system governance. It distinguishes healthy food nudges, sustainable food nudges, green nudges, and responsible food-system interventions, and compares availability, placement, defaults, labels, digital architecture, and mixed policy packages. The evidence shows that nudges influence immediate food selection, but effects are heterogeneous and weaker for sustained environmental outcomes. Price instruments address affordability, nudges address attention and convenience, and boosts strengthen decision competence; none can substitute for the others. Ethical acceptability requires a transparent, calibrated opt-out process, equity monitoring, disclosure of commercial motives, democratic accountability, and integration with structural policy. Public institutions and profit-driven digital platforms therefore require different governance safeguards. Nudges are most defensible as components of coordinated food-system policy rather than stand-alone solutions. Full article

For decades, industrial trans fatty acids (iTFAs) have remained a critical focus of the scientific community, the food industry, and regulatory authorities because of their well-established role in the development of cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, and chronic systemic inflammation. Rather than providing a descriptive overview, this review critically synthesizes current evidence on the elimination of industrial TFAs by integrating health, technological, regulatory, and sustainability perspectives into a comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis. The review outlines the biochemical characteristics and dietary sources of trans fatty acid isomers, highlighting the continuing scientific debate regarding the differential health effects of industrially produced and naturally occurring ruminant-derived TFAs. It also examines the evolution of scientific evidence that led to major regulatory actions by international organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Commission, resulting in legally binding restrictions that have substantially reduced industrial TFA intake and improved public health. Particular emphasis is placed on the critical assessment of current fat reformulation strategies, considering not only their technological functionality but also their nutritional quality, long-term metabolic implications, and contribution to sustainable food systems. Full hydrogenation, fractionation, chemical and enzymatic interesterification, and oleogelation are comparatively evaluated with respect to their advantages, limitations, and potential technological, nutritional, and environmental trade-offs. In addition, lipid microencapsulation is discussed as an emerging strategy for protecting oxidation-sensitive polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), thereby facilitating their incorporation into functional foods while maintaining nutritional quality. Unlike previous reviews that primarily focus on health outcomes or individual processing technologies, this review systematically integrates the sustainability dimensions of alternative fat modification approaches, including resource efficiency, energy consumption, clean label product development, and circular economy principles. Furthermore, it identifies current knowledge gaps related to the long-term metabolic safety, industrial scalability, and environmental performance of emerging lipid technologies. By combining these complementary perspectives, the review provides a comprehensive interdisciplinary synthesis that supports evidence-based fat reformulation and offers practical guidance for researchers, food manufacturers, and policy makers seeking to develop safer, nutritionally improved, technologically functional, and environmentally sustainable lipid systems. Full article

Obesity is currently recognized as a global epidemic and contributes to numerous health complications. It is strongly associated with poor dietary habits, including the widespread availability and consumption of high-calorie foods. We conducted a narrative review of publications from major biomedical databases addressing obesity treatment and public-health interventions. One of the strategies for managing obesity is lifestyle modification—balanced diet and regular physical activity—supported by pharmacological and psychological treatment, and, in selected patients, metabolic and bariatric surgery. Beyond patient-level care, public-health-oriented measures should be considered, including taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages, restriction on advertising of unhealthy foods, regulation of the school food environment, front-of-pack nutrition labelling, mandatory food reformulation, subsidies and incentives for healthy foods, urban-planning policies that promote physical activity, and policies that expand access to bariatric surgery. A comprehensive approach integrating clinical care with public-health policy is likely to yield more effective outcomes than either alone. Full article

Despite growing evidence on sustainable food systems and children’s food choice behaviours, a persistent gap remains between research findings and their implementation in local institutional contexts, particularly in schools. Existing approaches often address behavioural, implementation, or governance dimensions separately, limiting real-world applicability. This conceptual review aimed to develop a theoretically grounded and practice-informed conceptual framework explaining how science–local government partnerships can support sustainable food system interventions in schools. An integrative conceptual approach was applied, combining a targeted narrative review of literature on sustainable food systems, consumer behaviour, and school-based interventions; theoretical integration of behavioural and implementation frameworks, including the COM-B model and Self-Determination Theory; and practice-informed implementation insights from a large-scale municipal nutrition education programme implemented in primary schools in Warsaw, Poland. Framework development involved component identification, domain synthesis, and model integration. The resulting Integrated Science–Policy–Practice (ISPP) Model integrates five interrelated components: Knowledge Translation, Institutional Embedding, Sustainability-Oriented Behavioural Activation Mechanisms, Multi-stakeholder Integration, and Feedback Loops. The model provides a system-level explanation of how evidence-informed interventions can be embedded within local governance structures and translated into mechanisms that may support responsible food-related behaviours. It offers implications for research, policy, and practice in sustainable school food systems. Full article

Insects are fundamental to ecosystem functioning and human welfare, yet their multifaceted contributions to ecological services, food security, rural livelihoods, and cultural heritage remain insufficiently represented in mainstream scientific research and policy. Despite growing global recognition of insect decline and the potential of entomophagy to address food system challenges, integrated evidence linking global ecological knowledge with community-level indigenous practices is lacking, particularly in sub-Saharan African contexts. A narrative bibliometric review was conducted through systematic searches of Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed databases, supplemented by FAO, IPBES, and MDPI Insects repositories. Searches were conducted between January 2024 and May 2026 using keyword combinations spanning entomophagy, ecosystem services, insect decline, indigenous knowledge and edible insects in Africa. Four thematic dimensions are synthesised: (1) ecological services, (2) nutritional value and food security, (3) economic contribution and livelihoods, and (4) socio-cultural and ethnomedicinal significance. The Venda region of Limpopo Province emerges as a compelling case study of how insect–human relationships intersect with biodiversity conservation, food security, and rural development. Actions include integrating indigenous knowledge with scientific research, strengthening sustainable community-based insect harvesting practices, and incorporating edible insects into South Africa’s food, nutrition, and biodiversity policies in alignment with global sustainability and biodiversity goals. Full article

Background: Pediatric cardiometabolic health in the United States is declining, driven by rising rates of obesity, prediabetes, and type 2 diabetes. School lunch programs provide a unique opportunity to influence children’s dietary behaviors, reaching millions of students across diverse socioeconomic backgrounds each day. Increasing the availability of plant-based meals in school lunch programs may help reduce modifiable cardiometabolic risk factors and serve as a cost-effective, population-level strategy to promote long-term cardiovascular health. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional narrative policy review of school lunch programs across all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Publicly available state statutes, regulations, school nutrition guidance, government reports, and educational resources were systematically reviewed to identify official statewide policies or guidance explicitly supporting plant-based or vegetarian meals. Jurisdictions were classified as providing either Explicit Support or Not Specified according to predefined coding criteria. We also assessed whether jurisdictions specified the frequency of plant-based meal offerings. Results: Only 3 of 51 jurisdictions (5.9%)—California, the District of Columbia, and Illinois—provided explicit statewide support for plant-based meal options. The remaining 48 jurisdictions (94.1%) did not explicitly promote or support plant-based meals in official statewide school nutrition policies or guidance. No jurisdiction mandated the frequency of plant-based meal offerings, although the District of Columbia provided non-binding guidance encouraging regular inclusion. Conclusions: Explicit statewide support for plant-based or vegetarian school meals remains rare in the United States. Strengthening state-level policies and developing standardized guidance on the inclusion and frequency of plant-based meals in school lunch programs may represent a feasible population-level strategy to improve dietary quality and reduce future pediatric cardiometabolic risk. Full article

Access to safe, nutritious, and sustainable food remains a major challenge in many Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), where food insecurity, malnutrition, and foodborne diseases frequently coexist. Despite growing recognition of the interconnections between food safety, nutrition security, and sustainability, monitoring systems often assess these dimensions separately, limiting the effectiveness of policy interventions. This study conducted a structured methodological review and framework development study of indicators used to monitor food safety, nutrition security, and sustainability within food systems, with particular emphasis on LMIC contexts. Peer-reviewed literature and internationally recognized monitoring frameworks, drawn from Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, and institutional repositories including FAO, WHO, World Bank, and GAIN, were systematically reviewed, yielding 75 sources encompassing 54 peer-reviewed articles and 21 institutional reports, from which 47 indicators were identified and assessed. Indicators were evaluated according to relevance, data availability, methodological robustness, and policy actionability. The review identified a core set of ten operationally relevant indicators, including the Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS), Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W), Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), foodborne disease burden indicators, cost of a healthy diet, and post-harvest loss rates. Building on these findings, an integrated indicator selection framework is proposed to support context-specific monitoring and decision-making in LMICs. The results suggest the value of a One Health approach that links human, animal, and environmental health, and three One Health interface indicators, antimicrobial resistance prevalence in food chain isolates, zoonotic disease incidence attributable to food, and pesticide residue exceedance rate in fresh produce, are explicitly integrated into the proposed framework with LMIC-specific implementation pathways. A key limitation of this review is that it did not employ formal systematic methods and may not have exhaustively identified all relevant indicators across the full breadth of the published literature. Full article

Front-of-pack nutrition labeling systems have become important tools for improving consumer understanding of nutritional information and supporting healthier food choices. Among these systems, Nutri-Score has emerged as one of the most widely implemented nutrient profiling models in Europe. Based on the Food Standards Agency Nutrient Profiling System, Nutri-Score summarizes selected nutritional characteristics of foods through a simplified five-level color-coded scale. A growing body of evidence indicates that Nutri-Score improves consumers’ ability to compare products, supports healthier purchasing decisions, and may encourage product reformulation. Epidemiological studies have reported associations between dietary patterns characterized by less favorable nutrient profile scores and increased risks of chronic diseases and mortality. Despite these strengths, important scientific and conceptual questions remain. This review examines the principles of nutrient profiling and assesses how effectively food quality can be represented by a limited set of nutritional criteria. Particular attention is given to nutrient reductionism, the use of the standardized 100 g reference, food matrix effects, the relationship between nutrient profiling and food processing, the influence of hedonic drivers and health claims on consumer behavior, and the growing importance of environmental contaminants as dimensions of food quality not captured by current algorithms. Future food evaluation systems may benefit from integrating complementary information related to food structure, processing characteristics, dietary context, and emerging insights from systems nutrition. Full article

Background: Perceived characteristics of the food environment may influence individuals’ dietary practices and health outcomes. This study analyzed associations between social and housing conditions, food environment perception, and food security, and their associations with maternal and child nutritional status. Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted between 2022 and 2023 with 314 participants in Vitória de Santo Antão, Pernambuco, Brazil. Socioeconomic variables, housing conditions, perceptions of domestic and community food environments, food security, and anthropometric indicators were assessed using generalized structural equation modeling (GSEM, p < 0.05). Results: Better social and housing conditions were associated with a more favorable perception of the domestic food environment (β = 0.79; 95% CI: 0.23–1.34) and lower food insecurity severity (β = −1.05; 95% CI: −1.62 to −0.48). No significant associations were observed between the domestic food environment and food insecurity, nor between the community food environment and the remaining model variables. No significant indirect associations were identified, indicating no mediation through food environment perceptions. Greater food insecurity severity was positively associated with maternal BMI (β = 0.19 95% CI: 0.002–0.37), and maternal BMI was positively associated with child BMI-for-age (β = 0.25 95% CI: 0.09–0.39). Conclusions: Social and housing conditions play a central role in shaping food security and nutritional outcomes, while food environment perception showed limited relevance. These findings reinforce the need for intersectoral public policies addressing social inequalities and promoting healthy eating. Full article

Introduction: Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are characterized by high levels of additives such as sugars, fats, and preservatives and, due to their composition, represent a major public health concern, being associated with several adverse effects, including impacts on the immune system. People living with HIV (PLHIV) present immune dysfunctions resulting from viral infection and may therefore be particularly vulnerable to the effects of UPF consumption. In this context, investigating this association is necessary to support healthcare strategies and improve assistance for PLHIV. Objective: To investigate the relationship between UPF consumption and the lymphocyte profile of PLHIV. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. PLHIV receiving outpatient follow-up care for at least six months participated in the study and were categorized according to UPF consumption (≤2 times/week; >2 times/week). Sociodemographic data, UPF consumption assessed through a food frequency questionnaire, anthropometric measurements, and blood samples were collected. Association, comparison, and correlation tests were performed, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05. After adjustment, lymphocyte percentage remained independently associated with UPF consumption. Results: A total of 92 PLHIV participated in the study, with a mean age of 43.0 ± 12.0 years. PLHIV with higher UPF consumption presented lower counts of CD3+ lymphocytes (p = 0.03), CD45+ lymphocytes (p = 0.01), and total lymphocytes (p = 0.03) compared to those with lower UPF consumption. UPF consumption was negatively correlated with CD3+ (r = −0.21; p = 0.04), CD4+ (r = −0.20; p = 0.05), CD45+ (r = −0.23; p = 0.02), and total lymphocyte counts (r = −0.25; p = 0.01). No associations were found between sociodemographic or clinical variables and UPF consumption among PLHIV (p > 0.05). Conclusions: High UPF consumption was associated with lower lymphocyte counts in PLHIV, suggesting a potential association between dietary patterns and immune status. Therefore, the implementation of public health policies and nutritional follow-up is necessary to reduce UPF consumption and promote healthy eating among PLHIV. Full article

Background/Objectives: Accurate assessment of dietary behaviors is essential for understanding their impact on health and guiding nutritional policies. Given the escalating prevalence of noncommunicable diseases in the MENA region, the availability of culturally adapted and psychometrically validated Arabic-language instruments is essential for accurate health assessment. This systematic review aims to identify and evaluate studies that have translated, adapted, or validated dietary behavior measurement instruments into Arabic. Methods: Following the PRISMA guidelines and registered in PROSPERO (CRD420251157552), a search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Studies including the validation, translation, or adaptation of instruments into Arabic among Arabic-speaking populations were included. Methodological quality was assessed using the COSMIN checklist. Results: Thirty-two studies were included, published between 2006 and 2025, primarily in Lebanon (n = 14) and Saudi Arabia (n = 6). The instruments measured various concepts: dietary intake, diet quality, eating disorders, etc. While internal consistency and structural validity were frequently assessed with adequate methodological quality, content validity, measurement error, and responsiveness were either under-reported or failed to meet COSMIN standards. Conclusions: Despite an increasing volume of publications, the methodological quality of Arabic instrument validation remains heterogeneous, with significant gaps in the assessment of longitudinal properties. Efforts are needed to improve the rigor of adaptation processes and to evaluate key properties such as responsiveness in order to ensure reliable tools for research and clinical practice in the MENA region. Full article

Background: Food Balance Sheets (FBS) are widely used to assess national food availability, monitor nutrition transitions, and support food and nutrition policies. However, methodological revisions may influence the comparability of food availability estimates and nutrient supply indicators over time. This study aimed to examine the methodological evolution of Portuguese FBS between 1963 and 2024 and to assess its implications for nutrition surveillance and food system monitoring. Methods: A retrospective documentary analysis was conducted using all official Portuguese FBS published by the National Statistics Institute between 1963 and 2024. Methodological characteristics were systematically compared across six reporting periods, including institutional frameworks, data sources, food classification systems, nutritional indicators, food availability equations, food loss estimation procedures, and nutrient conversion methods. Results: Substantial methodological developments were identified over the six-decade period. Portuguese FBS evolved from relatively simple food supply accounting systems towards increasingly standardized frameworks aligned with the Food and Agriculture Organization Supply and Utilization Accounts methodology. Major changes included the incorporation of food losses, animal feed, industrial uses, and seed utilization into food availability calculations; the expansion of reported nutritional indicators from energy, protein, and fat to include carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals; and the progressive refinement of food classification systems. More recent editions also introduced additional nutritional indicators, enhancing the characterization of food availability and nutrient supply. These developments may have contributed to expanding the nutritional scope of Portuguese FBS, strengthening methodological standardization, and improving alignment with international standards. Conclusions: Over the last six decades, Portuguese FBS have undergone substantial methodological modernization and increasing alignment with international standards. Although FBS remain indirect measures of food consumption, their evolution has strengthened their value for population-level food availability analyses, nutrition surveillance, food system monitoring, and evidence-informed policymaking. The findings also highlight the importance of considering methodological changes when interpreting long-term trends in food availability and nutrient supply. Full article