What’s holding up the introduction of soya into the human diet in Latin America?

The introduction of soya into the human diet in Latin American countries suffers the same problem as foods with similar characteristics. The private industry soon finds that it is much easier to put “fun foods” into the market than it is to try to enrich a product and advertise the fact. Getting involved with the “heavy” subject of nutrition means having difficulties with the health authorities. There seems to be no national nutrition program working in Latin America that is truly effective in alleviating malnutrition. Causes for failure of programs are: substantial funding is spent in research, scientists work hard to solve malnutrition, then someone or something actively opposes introducing new soya technologies or there is an effective argument that a national program cannot be based on imported products. With a world population of 4,000 million and growing at a daily rate of 200,000, food and nutrition must have top priority in national planning.     

Restrictions on using soya proteins in foods in Latin America and the world

Potential applications of soybean protein in developing countries are generally very different from those in industrialized countries with the exception of foods demanded by state feeding programs. Hence, the way restrictions affect usage and consumption of soya proteins varies greatly in the two types of regions. This paper discusses those factors that can restrict the soybean protein usage related to acceptability, price and legislation. A general discussion of these factors is given, followed by a brief analysis of experiences in Latin America. This analysis illustrates the interactions existing among the three factors under consideration, and the important role that market development techniques and integrated food and nutrition policies may play in the promotion of highly nutritious and relatively low-cost foods that use soya proteins.     

The nutritional and health status of the Latin American woman

Latin America is a region where countries have various levels of socioeconomic development. Thus, the living standards and health status of its people differ significantly in the midst of a mosaic of social, ethnic, cultural and economic realities. Social inequalities and extreme poverty determine significant differences, not only in the magnitude of health indicators, but also in the type of pathology prevalent. People in the high socioeconomic levels are affected by nutritional diseases characterized by excessive food intake, while people from the low socioeconomic levels are affected by undernutrition and its associated pathology. Undernutrition occurs fundamentally among the age groups at higher risk in the population segments with low income, low food intake, illiteracy and poor access to the health care and preventive medicine centers. Among families exposed to undernutrition, women are usually in worse condition than men. This is due to the long working hours and the increased nutritional requirements caused by frequent gestations and prolonged lactation. It is estimated that one fourth of newborns in Latin America are affected by low birth weight, which has been associated to adolescent mothers, their excessive physical work, anemia, low maternal pregestational weight, low weight gain during gestation, and frequent maternal infections. Nutritional anemia due to iron deficiency is highly prevalent among pregnant women in Latin America. In some countries, the prevalence of folate deficiency during pregnancy appears to have increased significantly in the past 15 years and is becoming a nutritional problem that needs preferential attention. Diets generally are inadequate and, in the case of pregnant and lactating women, usually deficient in calories, protein, iron and folic acid. It is urgent that the health and nutritional status of Latin American women of low socioeconomic condition be given special attention, particularly mothers during gestation and lactation. Otherwise, women will not be able to altogether fulfill their important role in the home and within the family, nor will they successfully participate in the economic development of their countries.     

LATINFOODS

Food Composition Tables should be considered as national wealth and as valuable tools for utilization in food and nutrition, in nutritional therapy, in agricultural planning and production, in food guides, and in the food industry for the formulation of information on the product that appears in the label. They should, therefore, be considered as national wealth because they chemically describe the food resources of a country at a very high price, and are considered valuable tools due to their multiple applications. The countries present Tables were published between 1935 and 1961, with analytical data available at that time. So far the Tables have met their purpose, but due to changes that have occurred in raw materials, in analytical methodology, in the new knowledge acquired in nutrition, and in the relationships between food and diseases, in November 1986, representative groups of the Latin American and the Caribbean countries decided to create LATINFOODS. The objective of the program is to promote the development of data banks of foods of the Latin American countries, creating national multidisciplinary groups interested in data production, compilement, publication and utilization, and that eventually, may be homogeneously united to form a data bank for Latin America and the Caribbean Region. During the meeting in favor of the creation of LATINFOODS, detection was made of the constraints of the Food Composition Tables now used as well as the measures needed to correct such problems. These included the number of samples collected as well as the analytical methods used, and the number of nutrients. Due to the observed increase in production and distribution of new food products by the food industry, and to the increased association between foods and diseases, the food industry must participate not only in the generation of data, but in their utilization for food identification, nutrient contribution and nutritional education. Likewise, academic programs in Food Technology should extend the concepts of Food Science with special emphasis on food nutrient contents, to reach an adequate nutritional and health status for the Latin American population.     

拉美地区钾盐资源的分布及成矿规律分析

全球钾盐资源储量丰富但分布极不均衡,绝大部分钾盐资源集中在加拿大、俄罗斯等国。拉美地区已发现钾盐资源,多数为含钾卤水,少部分为地下固体钾盐,发现拥有钾盐资源的国家有巴西、阿根廷、玻利维亚、智利和秘鲁等国。通过对拉美地区钾盐资源分布及开发利用现状进行分析,总结了中国企业开展境外钾盐开发合作中的困境,并对拉美各国开展钾盐矿产资源勘查开发的可进入性及优先进入目的国进行了评价与讨论,这为中国地勘单位和企业到拉美进行钾盐勘查、开发投资提供科学指导。     

Fortification and enrichment of foods: considerations on their use for achieving nutritional goals

The diet should, ideally, provide adequate amounts of all nutrients. The traditional foods of many Latin American countries, however, must be fortified or enriched with certain nutrients to satisfy the needs of the whole population. These measures should be considered as temporary, until improvements are achieved in dietary diversification, economic conditions, nutrition education and food processing and storage. Restoration of nutrients lost during cooking or processing and equalization of new foods with the nutrients present in traditional foods, are also important. Conditions for a successful program of fortification or enrichment include a widespread and regular intake of the dietary vehicle, high bioavailability of the added nutrient, low costs of the nutrient and the fortified vehicle, central processing, organoleptic characteristics that ensure acceptability, stability of the product during storage and cooking, no risk of toxicity, and adequate control during the process, distribution, marketing and consumption of the fortified vehicle or food. Control measures must be supported by legal sanctions to those who do not comply with the norms for obligatory fortification or enrichment. Control measures must also identify the necessary modifications due to changes in dietary habits or public health interventions. In Latin America there are fortification and enrichment programs with various nutrients in which local diets are scarce. Many Latin American scientists have been pioneers in this field.     

Nutrition transition: a review of Latin American profile

The nutrition situation has evolved in different ways in Latin-American countries. The aim of the study was to analyze the nutritional change and some conditions within Latin America in the last years. An electronic and manual search of articles published between 1995 and 2005 was made, selecting those that included the nutritional situation of Latin American countries. Additionally, data was collected from national surveys and international reports including information since 1990. The countries have evolved through different transition stages. For example, an increase of excess of weight, particularly in adult women, which exceeded 30% in some countries also reached up to 70% in others. Equally worrisome was the over 6% obesity level in children in five of the countries surveyed. There is a tendency to diminish the deficit of weight with seven of nine countries displaying a reduction of women with low weight while stunting diminished globally. An increase of the caloric availability in 17 of 20 countries was also observed. The total population that lives under the poverty line has diminished in 9 of 13 countries although some exceeded 60%. Some indicators of sedentary lifestyle have increased, the number of cars has been increasing in all countries and similar figures are recorded with respect to television and personnel computers. The evolution of the nutritional status is reflected through the action of set factors, the most important of which being the increase in caloric ingestion and sedentary activities in an urbanized environment, the promotion of the use of technologies that limit physical activity. There is also a reduction in food insecurity due to a fall in poverty levels although social inequalities still persist.     

Nutritional pathology in Latin America and the Caribbean

The Latin American and Caribbean Region has different general characteristics as compared to other regions of the world. These peculiarities have determined certain food and nutritional problems which require specific programs and policies. Even though the universal coverage of basic needs is desirable, this is not the situation in the Region, and it is possible to identify integral vulnerable groups in every population. The study of problems related to food and nutrition requires a global and multidisciplinary approach considering ecological, economical, social and cultural factors affecting communities, especially marginal urban and rural populations. Nutritional diseases represent the last stages of the natural development of malnutrition, and although they are used as indicators of the nutritional situation, their magnitude always underestimate their real impact. It is in the large cities of Latin America that we can really understand the concept of malnutrition, which includes diseases related with both deficient and excessive food consumption. In fact, the development of sub-urban poor communities in large cities, short lactation period, low wages, low maternal schooling, soon lead to the development of under-nutrition in young urban populations. On the other hand, the interaction of urbanization, sedentary jobs, deficient food knowledge and excessive consumption of cheap foods, sometimes produces on the "survivors of under-nutrition" over-nutrition diseases, a problem which is acquiring more prevalence, especially in adults (obesity, diabetes and atherosclerosis). The real nutritional diseases in Latin America do not depend on the deficit or excess of a specific nutrient. The true causes are to be properly identified in order to state recommendations which benefit population groups, and not only reach academic purposes.     

INCAP'S policies and strategies for training and capacitation of human resources in food and nutrition

The activities of the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP), are focused according to the present food and nutrition situation of the Central American and Panamanian population, their conditioning factors and the prevailing political, economical and social context. According to the mandate of its Directing Council, INCAP has developed teaching activities in the field of food and nutrition at the subregional level, as a priority function. This function falls within the initiative of the plan of priority needs in health, promoted by the countries that integrate the Contadora group, the Central American area Governments and PAHO/WHO. The INCAP's human resources policy is centered on formation and training, which are closely linked to aspects such as holistic planning, recruiting, utilization and evaluation of human resources according to guidelines set up by the Central American countries and PAHO/WHO, in regard to the development of human resources in health and allied fields. The document herein discussed responds to the institutional objective of possessing an explicit guide to orient INCAP's technical cooperation in the programmatic area of human resources, pointing out priorities and fundamental aspects really effective in supporting the institutional development of the countries, thus contributing to the improvement of their food and nutrition situation. The experience accumulated by the Institute and the countries, in formation and training activities oriented to benefit the communities have also been considered in the present document. Likewise, strategies that guide the present and future actions according to the reality of the subregion have also been considered.     

Expanding the genetic potential of the soybean

The primary center of genetic dispersion of the soybean probably is in northeastern China. The soybean plant traveled from its area of origin to Korea and Japan in ancient times and to Europe and America more recently. Although soybeans were confined to the Far East for many centuries, the western world now produces more than 80% of the total, and the United States and Brazil are the main producers. The increased expansion of soybeans in Latin America is largely a result of the advances of genetic and agronomic technology, which have permitted the development of adapted cultivars and improved management systems for the subtropical and tropical areas of this region. The USDA soybean germplasm collection—particularly the gene bank maintained in Mississippi—has been the most important genetic resource for the developing commercial cultivars in Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador and Peru. Germplasm from other countries, e.g., Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, India, the Philippines and some African countries, also has contributed to the enrichment of the soybean gene pools in Latin America, mainly through the International Soybean Program (INTSOY). The International Soybean Variety Evaluation Experiment (ISVEX) of INTSOY has been planted in more than 1,200 locations and in more than 107 countries since 1973. In Latin America in 1978, this experiment was planted in 29 locations of 11 countries. The experiment was designed to (a) test the adaptation of cultivars, (b) compare local and introduced cultivars, (c) provide new germplasm for local breeding programs, (d) identify potential areas for soybean production, and (e) evaluate cultivar performance in different environments.     

拉丁美洲化妆品及盥洗用品市场营销

为了增强在世界贸易中的地位,拉丁美洲12个国家成立了南美洲国家联盟,简称UNASUR。区域组织问紧密的贸易关系,促进了化妆品市场的发展。虽然南美洲国家联盟还存在不少没有解决的难题,但是区域持续盈利发展态势,木地零售业的多样化,丰富的原材料市场,成功的直销世界,诠释了拉丁美洲趋于成熟的化妆品市场。     

Food guidelines and nutritional goals for aging

As a contribution to the formulation of food guidelines and nutritional goals for Latin America, this article examines the singular situation of the elderly, defined as those persons over 60 years of age. The projected data for the year 2025, published by the Population Department of the United Nations, show that this age group represents an important sector--6.4% of the population in 1980--that is growing. Some countries, however, do have a rate that is comparable to the United States, 11.3%, such as Argentina, 12.7%, and Uruguay, 14.8%, which is similar to that of Europe. Along with other comparative demographic information, the analysis covers some of the biological, physiological, pathological, and psychosocial characteristics that become more common in senescence. To a certain extent, these characteristics bear a direct or indirect relationship with the energy, protein, and nutrient content of the diet. This becomes more evident upon examining the causes of mortality and morbidity in the elderly, whose diseases are quite often chronic and degenerative. Those with the highest incidence, such as the cardiovascular ones--including cerebrovascular accidents, atherosclerosis, and hypertension--diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, anemias from lack of iron and folates, and some forms of cancer, reveal the influence of certain nutrients in their pathogenesis. Very few studies have been done on the over-70 age group to determine their requirements for energy, proteins, and various nutrients that serve as the basis for appropriate food guidelines. Usually, estimates are extrapolated from data on the 40-and-over age group. Some maintain that the variations for the elderly are small, but since this group is growing and is far from homogeneous, such a hypothesis must be tested. Following a review of recent literature, the article proposes a set of Food Guidelines and Nutritional Goals for persons over 60 in Latin America. It also recommends to countries interested in formulating their own guidelines how to proceed for the short, medium, and long terms. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the elderly are the most neglected group with reference to government programs, and most forgotten by society. They depend to a great extent on the labor force of each country. They suffer most frequently from chronic diseases and have the most need for medical care, they use a broad range of drugs that may interfere with the absorption and utilization of nutrients, as well as foods when may impair the bioavailability of drugs. They show the highest mortality rates, and, in a high proportion, require a normal diet.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

婴幼儿护理品市场

在全球婴幼儿护理品市场中，东欧和拉丁美洲带动着市场的增长。与此相反，在一些发达国家，包括北美、西欧、大洋洲和日本在内的婴幼儿护理品的销售额却增长缓慢，这主要因为这些国家出生率的下降。在婴幼儿护理品类别中，领先的制造商和零售商与政府和卫生机构联手，提高人们对防晒重要性的认识，推动了婴幼儿防晒品市场的增长。直销模式强劲增长，尤其是新兴市场，威胁着主要角色的统治地位，使竞争更加激烈。     

拉丁美洲化妆品市场展望

2010年拉丁美洲化妆品市场在巴西BRIC的带领下保持坚挺,并可能继续保持稳步增长。拉丁美洲各国的化妆品工业在2010年第1季度都有不同程度的增长,对化妆品工业市场今后的发展也都持乐观的态度。各国的化妆品公司正在寻求与拉丁美洲的合作,以求获得更大的发展。     

Levels of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Atmospheric Environment of Urban Areas in Latin America

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are chemical compounds considered as pollutants of high priority due to their carcinogenic potential. PAH can appear in water, soil or in the atmosphere as adsorbed on particulate material or in gas phase. An increased number of studies on atmospheric PAH in urban areas have been published in the last decade, especially in the last years. Anthropogenic sources are frequently mentioned to be responsible for the increased concentration of PAHs in the atmosphere of urban areas, which at the same time seems to depend on meteorological parameters. This research is focused on compiling information on PAH levels in Latin America and their relationship with typical meteorological variables from seasonal and tropical countries. Brazil is the country with the most number of bibliographies about this topic, followed by Argentina, Chile and Mexico. Scarce information was found for Colombia and Venezuela and none for the rest of Latin American countries. The majority of studies checked have evaluated the climatological parameters in relationship with the PAH concentration and their distribution, finding that it affects meaningfully their levels. The monitor campaigns in Brazil have been developed mainly in the southern cities, where PAHs are strongly influenced by the seasons and their proximity to the South Pole. Tropical countries such as Venezuela and Colombia showed moderate variation of PAH concentration through months. The main influential parameters are precipitation and direction/speed winds.     

Barriers and facilitators to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables in six countries in Latin America

Low intake of fruits and vegetables is among the risk factors for cardiovascular disease and some cancers. The countries have implemented policies to promote food consumption. Identifying the barriers perceived by people to consume it helps to recognize the resources that would be willing to exchange for benefits. The objectives of this study are to determine what factors are facilitators and barriers to increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables in six countries in Latin America, and a possible relationship between the 5 a day program and the food based dietary guidelines. This is a qualitative and field study. Techniques used were group interviews with health professionals and the media, and interviews with experts in food policy. The outstanding facilitators were television advertising campaigns promoting their use, and the existence of fruits and vegetables markets in the neighborhoods. Highlighted those obstacles were lack of public policies of advertising regulations and trade hooks of food, of self-sustainability, of funding for related programs, and of sociological research of the topic. The main barrier to the consumption of fruits and vegetables in these countries was the lack of policy support and related public policy, being a good advertising campaign vital to the success of programs that encourage consumption. The main relationship between the Dietary Guidelines and the 5 A Day Program is to both promote the consumption of vegetables and fruits.     

Changes in the patterns of food consumption in Latin America

Food consumption patterns have suffered important although not generalized changes in recent years. A series of factors favor these changes, such as variations in family income, rural-urban migration, increase of tertiary activities related to foods, and exposure to commercial propaganda. All of these factors, when compared among them, do not have the same impact or validity. Thus, while the first two induce changes in the food pattern, the last two guide the consumer to certain food products. Modernization of the food pattern in Latin America and the Caribbean has been inspired by the USA food pattern of the previous decade, which from the nutritional and economic points of view, does not prove to be desirable. The average USA diet is rich in both saturated and mono- and polyunsaturated fats, as well as in refined sugar and all types of additives. It is poor in carbohydrates, particular in those of the complex type; most of its protein is of animal origin. It may also be rich in salt and poor in fiber, as it is made up by well-diversified industrialized foods in their presentation, manufactured and marketed by a highly industrialized production-distribution capitalized structure. The adopted model is not in correspondence with out countries' natural resources; it produces a displacement of the consumption patterns based on autochthonous and/or traditional components, and induces an increase in food imports. Since Latin American countries are of poor economic resources, and the model renders expensive products, these are absorbed by the socioeconomic group able to pay for them and/or--intermittently--as a high-cost product by calorie delivered, by the poor groups who are most in need, a situation which would imply serious damage on the quality and quantity of their diet. Changes in food habits and in food consumption patterns are related to a certain socio-demographic process which cannot be stopped. Consequently, this process should be carefully analyzed and understood in order to contribute to channel it in the best possible manner and to protect the food and nutritional situation of the consumer. The expert in nutrition should therefore play an important role in those tasks of public benefit, fundamentally in the areas of regulation and normalization of the quality of new foods, as well as in the diffusion of information and education, at all levels, of the consumer.     

Techniques for the extraction of phytosterols and their benefits in human health: a review

This review summarizes the information on the health-promoting effects of phytosterols and the techniques for their extraction. The extraction and analysis processes of phytosterols are complex and have not been fully established. Phytosterols have significant roles in the areas of foods, nutrition, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Free phytosterols extracted from plant sources are widely used in fortified foods and dietary supplements. Most phytosterols are extracted from plant matrices using organic solvents which are health and environmental hazards. However, the application of supercritical fluid in the extraction of phytosterols has offered a promising green technology in overcoming the limitations of conventional extraction.     

Breast feeding in the etiology of diarrhea

Information derived from different anthropological studies carried out in Guatemala as part of the activities of the maternal and child health and nutrition project reveal that, according to popular beliefs, maternal milk plays a definite role in the etiology of diarrheal diseases in the lactating child. This paper presents information on popular classification of diarrheal diseases that differ from biomedical definitions of same. Different factors that may alter the quality of mothers' breast milk and that may cause gastrointestinal diseases in the lactating child are given in detail. The possibilities and limitations of the popular concept frame of "hot-cold", so common in the popular medical beliefs in Latin American populations, are also pointed out as an explanatory model. Lastly, implications of findings in this study are suggested for public health programs, especially for the communication and education programs on breast feeding, and for the application of the high-risk focus.     

Food colorants: their past,present and future

Whether we are purchasing fresh vegetables from a market stall, ready meals from the supermarket, eating at home or in a five‐star restaurant, we use colour to tell us what to expect in terms of taste, nutrition and safety. This review considers the techniques that have, over the years, been employed to modify the colour of our food, and the interactions of these techniques with issues of safety and nutrition. The demand for brightly coloured food resulted in the incorporation of some questionable inorganic and organic chemistry being used in food products. A limited number of synthetic dyes are still used in food today, but health concerns and the consumer‐driven demand for natural colorants has brought about a change in the way food is coloured. The proliferation of products with labels that state they contain “No artificial colours” on supermarket shelves suggests that the future of azo dyes and their various derivatives is strictly limited. Nature produces an abundance of colours and many of these are extracted and used as natural food colorants; however, they are subject to application limitations and stability problems. Significant research by academia and industry into methods to stabilise and expand the application possibilities for the various approved natural food colorants is ongoing, but most developments that food colour manufacturers proclaim are enhanced vehicles for delivering established natural pigments into food products.