| Knowledge about folate and the contribution of nutrient supplements to the intake of folic acid and vitamin B12 in Australian adults in 1995 and 1996
Mark A. Lawrence, Ingrid H.E. Rutishauser and Janine L. Lewis
Abstract The present paper reports knowledge about folate and the contribution of supplements to the intake of folic acid and vitamin B12 in Australian adults during 1995 and 1996. Data were obtained from two population survey monitor surveys conducted in a sample of 5422 adults in 1995–96. The surveys were designed to complement food intake data from the 1995 National Nutrition Survey and to provide an estimate of total folate intake prior to the implementation of voluntary fortification of foods with folic acid. The proportion with knowledge about folate increased with education level and socioeconomic status and was greater in women than men. It was also greater in those who were married, and in those residing in Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory than in other states and territories. Five per cent of men and 10% of women had taken a supplement containing folic acid on the previous day. The equivalent figures for vitamin B12 were 7.5% for men and 12.5% for women. On average, intake of folic acid from supplements was 11 micrograms per day for men and 28 micrograms per day for women and intake of vitamin B12 was 2.6 micrograms per day for men and 4.5 micrograms per day for women. For individuals who consumed a supplement containing folic acid on the day before the survey the median folic acid contribution was 200 micrograms. In 1995 and 1996 only one in two adult Australians had heard of folate and only one in ten women of child-bearing age had taken a supplement containing folic acid. (Aust J Nutr Diet 2001;58:12–18)
Family food environments as determinants of preschool-aged children’s eating behaviours: implications for obesity prevention policy. A review.
Karen Campbell and David Crawford
Abstract Children’s eating behaviours are fundamental to their health. Dietary surveys indicate that children’s food consumption is likely to promote a range of diet-related diseases, including overweight and obesity, which are associated with a range of psychosocial and physical disorders. With the prevalence of overweight and obesity rapidly increasing, opportunities for informed prevention have become a focus of strategy. Diet is recognised as important in the genesis of obesity. We present data that demonstrate that eating behaviours are likely to be established early in life and may be maintained into adulthood. We review literature that shows that children’s eating behaviours are influenced by the family food environment. These findings suggest that the family environment should be considered in developing obesity prevention strategy for children, yet the current strategy focuses primarily on the school environment. Those factors in the family environment that appear to be important include: parental food preferences and beliefs, children’s food exposure; role modelling; media exposure; and child-parent interactions around food. However, the existing data are based on small scale and unrepresentative US samples. At a population level, we have few insights regarding family food environments and consequently little information about how such environments influence children’s eating behaviours and thus their risk for obesity. We suggest research that may promote a better understanding of the role of family food environments as determinants of children’s eating behaviour, and consider the implications for obesity prevention in Australia. (Aust J Nutr Diet 2001;58:19–25)
Viewpoint
Sugar: is there a need for a dietary guideline in Australia?
Peter Williams
(Aust J Nutr Diet 2001;58:26–31)
Sugar: why Australia should retain a dietary guideline
Rosemary Stanton
(Aust J Nutr Diet 2001;58;31–36)
Food preferences of inpatients in an Australian teaching hospital – what has happened in the last 12 years?
Suzanne Kennewell and Maria Kokkinakos
Abstract The aim of this study was to survey the food preferences of patients in a large teaching hospital in Australia and to compare the results to a similar study conducted in 1986. Possible differences between genders also were examined. Five hundred and twenty-four patients completed a food preferences survey, using a nine-point hedonic scale, to indicate how much they liked or disliked 223 different food items. Fresh fruit, poultry and red meat remained the most popular food classes. Nine of the 15 most popular individual food items were fresh fruit. Significant differences were found between the food preferences of males and females for a number of food classes and individual food items. Compared to the 1986 results there appears to be a greater preference for nutritionally desirable items, more food from various cultures and more traditionally gourmet or ‘novel’ foods. It is hoped that the results of this survey may assist other nutrition and food service staff plan menus for Australian hospital patients. (Aust J Nutr Diet 2001;58:37–44)
Lipid composition of farmed versus wild silver perch (Bidyanus bidyanus): theoretical impact on a human diet
Belinda J. Hunter, Geoff L. Allan and David C. K. Roberts
Abstract Regular consumption of fish is seen as an important contribution to the reduction of risk of a number of diet-related chronic diseases. The current status of wild fisheries is necessitating a move to intensive fish farming. This has begun and there is an active aquaculture industry within Australia. However, the quality of the fish with respect to human health remains to be determined. Can intensive farming produce fish with the equivalent health aspects to those caught in the wild? This paper reports on the effect feed modification can have on growth and final lipid composition of silver perch (Bidyanus bidyanus). Silver perch fingerlings (small fish approximately 6 g in weight) were analysed as fillets or whole. The whole fingerlings had a higher fat content than the fillets, 6.2% and 4.3% (wet weight) respectively, while n-3 fatty acids were found to be in slightly higher quantities in the whole fish. For market-size fish, differences in total fat and fat types were found between farmed (the predominant form of silver perch sold) and wild silver perch. Fillets of farmed silver perch had a higher total fat content (7.9%) but a lower total n-3 fatty acid composition (0.8 g) than the wild variety (5.4% and 1.4 g respectively). In the wild the extra n-3 fatty acids were in the form of the precursor (linolenic acid) rather than the metabolically active docosahexaenoic acid. Replacement of a lean beef meal with a silver perch meal in a model menu resulted in changes in the total fat, fat type and cholesterol content of the diet. Modelling changes in plasma cholesterol concentrations produced a theoretical fall of up to 0.3 to 0.4 mmol/L when 175 g of fillet from wild or farmed silver perch was substituted for lean red meat in a daily menu. The results of this study have implications for public health and for data contained in food tables representing the average quantity and composition of fish as eaten. (Aust J Nutr Diet 2001;58:45–50)
Oat beta-glucan lowers total and LDL-cholesterol
Sylvia Pomeroy, Richard Tupper, Marja Cehun-Aders and Paul Nestel
Abstract Several soluble polysaccharides have been shown to have cholesterol-lowering properties and to have a role in prevention of heart disease. Major sources of one such polysaccharide (beta-glucan) are oats and barley. The aim of this study was to examine the effects on plasma lipid concentrations when beta-glucan derived from a fractionated oat preparation was consumed by people with elevated plasma lipids. A single-blind, crossover design compared plasma cholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipoproteins and low density lipoproteins (LDLs) in 14 people; in the order of low, high and low beta-glucan supplemented diets, each of three weeks duration. For the high beta-glucan diet, an average intake of 7 g per day was consumed from cereal, muffins and bread. The background diet remained relatively constant over the three test periods. Differences during the interventions were calculated by one-way repeated measures analysis of variance. Where treatments were found to be significantly different, pairwise multiple comparison procedures (Tukey Test) were carried out between the high beta-glucan and each of the low beta-glucan phases and there was a highly significant difference between treatments for plasma cholesterol (P = 0.009) and for LDL-cholesterol concentrations (P < 0.001). The differences in plasma cholesterol (6.42 ± 0.7, 6.14 ± 0.53, 6.44 ± 0.67 mmol/L) and LDL-cholesterol (4.59 ± 0.59, 4.17 ± 0.58, 4.52 ± 0.65 mmol/L) between high beta-glucan and each of the low beta-glucan treatments were significant (P < 0.05). The effect on LDLs (9% lower) is among the highest reported. The results of this study confirm that beneficial reductions in plasma cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol concentrations can be obtained with beta-glucan incorporated into a variety of foods. (Aust J Nutr Diet 2001:58:51–55)
Insight
GPs and nutrition: what they want and how they want it. A GP nutrition education project.
Debbie Richards and Geoff Mitchell
Abstract The aim of this project was to improve general practitioners’ (GPs) ability to manage the nutritional care of their patients through cooperation with a dietitian. The project was developed, implemented and evaluated by the project dietitian in collaboration with 80 GPs who were members of the Ipswich and West Moreton Division of General Practice in Queensland during 1996. As part of the project, a manual with accurate, up-to-date nutrition information and patient education resources was developed. The project dietitian personally delivered the nutrition resource manual to GPs, and also presented brief behaviour modification strategies suitable for use in the general practice setting. One follow-up visit was conducted during the project. Behaviour modification strategies were revisited at the follow-up session. A questionnaire was administered soon after the initial visit and again at six months and 45 GPs completed both questionnaires. Six months after the first visit, GPs reported improved confidence in their ability to provide specific nutrition information (P = 0.004) and to recommend specific dietary changes (P = 0.02), as well as reporting an increase in the use of patient education material (P = 0.001). Further evaluation is required to determine whether the use of a purpose-written nutrition manual, and employment of a dietitian as a professional representative, has an impact on long-term nutrition counselling in the general practice setting. However, the full project already has been implemented in a rural division of general practice and another division has purchased the resource manual. (Aust J Nutr Diet 2001;58:56–59) |
Australian Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics, Volume 58, Number 1, March 2001