Low quality infant cereals sold in low-income countries: study

January 1, 2017

Boston, Jan 1: Parents, take note! Infant cereals sold in lower-income countries may lack of consistency in nutritional content, researchers have warned after analysing over hundred commercially available premixed foods from around the world.

infant The first global analysis of infant cereals sold in lower-income countries by researchers from Tufts University in the US highlights the need for basic quality assurance services to improve nutritional consistency and healthy growth of infants from six to 24 months of age.

For parents around the world, premixed infant cereals - also known as complementary foods - can be a vital source of the solid food needed for healthy child growth after six months of age, when infants outgrow the nutrients provided by breast milk alone.

"Premixed complementary foods can be extremely effective at protecting infants against malnutrition and stunted growth," said William Masters, professor at Tufts University.

"In countries where we sampled, some products can readily meet children's needs, but others fall far below requirements for both macro- and micronutrients," said Masters.

"Our results are a call to action for establishing and enforcing nutritional quality standards, which would help ensure access to lower-cost, higher-quality products and enable parents to meet their infants' needs more easily," he said.

Childhood malnutrition is the main cause of stunted growth, a serious and irreversible condition that puts affected individuals at greater risk for illness and death throughout their lives.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), children with stunted growth can have delayed mental development and poor school performance, which in turn affects economic productivity at the national level.

Nearly half of all deaths in children under age five are related to undernutrition, which is particularly widespread in Africa and Asia, according to UNICEF.

With the assistance of collaborators around the world, researchers purchased and analysed samples of locally produced complementary foods over a six-month period in 2014, from 21 African and Asian countries and from Haiti.

All are defined as low- and middle-income countries by the World Bank.

Each product was blind-tested for nutritional content within a month of purchase by an independent commercial laboratory based in the US.

On average, products met basic calorie and protein benchmarks for complementary foods as published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the WHO.

However, only 15 per cent met benchmarks for fat content, and under 25 per cent met standards for iron and zinc - two essential nutrients not present in sufficient levels in breast milk for healthy infant growth after six months of age, the critical time point for introducing solid foods.

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Spraying disinfectants can be 'harmful', says WHO

Agencies

May 17,2020

Geneva, May 17: Spraying disinfectant on the streets, as practised in some countries, does not eliminate the new coronavirus and even poses a health risk, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Saturday.

In a document on cleaning and disinfecting surfaces as part of the response to the virus, the WHO says spraying can be ineffective. "Spraying or fumigation of outdoor spaces, such as streets or marketplaces, is... not recommended to kill the Covid-19 virus or other pathogens because disinfectant is inactivated by dirt and debris," explains the WHO.

"Even in the absence of organic matter, chemical spraying is unlikely to adequately cover all surfaces for the duration of the required contact time needed to inactivate pathogens." The WHO said that streets and pavements are not considered as "reservoirs of infection" of Covid-19, adding that spraying disinfectants, even outside, can be "dangerous for human health".

The document also stresses that spraying individuals with disinfectants is "not recommended under any circumstances".

"This could be physically and psychologically harmful and would not reduce an infected person's ability to spread the virus through droplets or contact," said the document.

Spraying chlorine or other toxic chemicals on people can cause eye and skin irritation, bronchospasm and gastrointestinal effects, it adds.

The organisation is also warning against the systematic spraying and fumigating of disinfectants on to surfaces in indoor spaces, citing a study that has shown it to be ineffective outside direct spraying areas.

"If disinfectants are to be applied, this should be done with a cloth or wipe that has been soaked in disinfectant," it says.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus, the cause of the pandemic that has killed more than 300,000 people worldwide since its appearance in late December in China, can attach itself to surfaces and objects.

However, no precise information is currently available for the period during which the viruses remain infectious on the various surfaces.

Studies have shown that the virus can stay on several types of surfaces for several days. However, these maximum durations are only theoretical because they are recorded under laboratory conditions and should be "interpreted with caution" in the real-world environment.

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Low fruit, vegetable intake makes people vulnerable to anxiety: Study

Agencies

February 27,2020

Washington D.C, Feb 27: New research shows that adults who have low fruit and vegetable intake are more likely to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.

"For those who consumed less than 3 sources of fruits and vegetables daily, there was at least at 24% higher odds of anxiety disorder diagnosis," says the lead author of the Canadian Longitudinal Study, Karen Davison, who is a health science faculty member, nutrition informatics lab director at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, (KPU) and North American Primary Care Research Group Fellow.

"This may also partly explain the findings associated with body composition measures. As levels of total body fat increased beyond 36%, the likelihood of anxiety disorder was increased by more than 70%," states co-author Jose Mora-Almanza, a Mitacs Globalink intern who worked with the study at KPU.

"Increased body fat may be linked to greater inflammation. Emerging research suggests that some anxiety disorders can be linked to inflammation," says Davison.

In addition to diet and body composition measures, the prevalence of anxiety disorders also differed by gender, marital status, income, immigrant status and several health issues.

An important limitation of the study was that the assessment of anxiety disorders was mostly based upon self-reporting of a medical diagnosis.

"It is estimated that 10% of the global population will suffer from anxiety disorders which are a leading cause of disability," says Karen Davison

"Our findings suggest that comprehensive approaches that target health behaviours, including diet, as well as social factors, such as economic status, may help to minimize the burden of anxiety disorders among middle-aged and older adults, including immigrants," she concluded.

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