Body dissatisfaction among middle-aged and older women

With the growing pervasiveness of mass media, individuals of all ages and both sexes are bombarded with images that glorify youthfulness, messages that tie self-worth to thinness, and products that promise youth and beauty forever. Aging women are vulnerable to these societal messages and experience strong pressures to maintain their youth and thinness. As the physiological changes that accompany normal aging move these women farther from the "ideal" image, body dissatisfaction may increase. These women are confronted with the impossible task of trying to defy the natural process of aging through a variety of means, including fashion, cosmetics, selective surgeries, and personal food choices. The resulting body image issues, weight preoccupation, and eating disturbances can lead to voluntary food restriction, depression, social withdrawal, lower self-esteem, and disordered eating, all of which can have a negative impact on quality of life and nutritional status. In this review we explore existing research on body dissatisfaction among middle-aged (30 to 60) and older (over 60) women, discuss the prevalence of body dissatisfaction, its predisposing risk factors, and the resulting eating and body maintenance behaviours, and examine implications for dietetic practice.     

Characterisation of phenolic extracts from olive pulp and olive pomace by electrospray mass spectrometry

Methanol extracts of olive pomace (two‐phase olive oil extraction) and olive pulp were analysed by reverse phase HPLC and the eluted fractions were characterised by electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry. This technique allowed the identification of some common phenolic compounds, namely, verbascoside, rutin, caffeoyl‐quinic acid, luteolin‐4‐glucoside and 11‐methyl‐oleoside. Hydroxytyrosol‐1′‐β‐glucoside, luteolin‐7‐rutinoside and oleoside were also detected. Moreover, this technique enabled the identification, for the first time in Olea europaea tissues, of two oleoside derivatives, 6′‐β‐glucopyranosyl‐oleoside and 6′‐β‐rhamnopyranosyl‐oleoside, and of 10‐hydroxy‐oleuropein. Also, an oleuropein glucoside that had previously been identified in olive leaves was now detected in olive fruit, both in olive pulp and olive pomace. With the exception of oleoside and oleuropein, the majority of phenolic compounds were found to occur in equivalent amounts in olive pulp and olive pomace. Oleoside was the main phenolic compound in olive pulp (31.6 mg g^?1) but was reduced to 3.6 mg g^?1 in olive pomace, and oleuropein (2.7 mg g^?1 in the pulp) almost disappeared (<0.1 mg g^?1 in the pomace). Both these phenolic compounds were degraded during the olive oil extraction process. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Inactivation efficacy of plasma-activated water: influence of plasma treatment time,exposure time and bacterial species

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of plasma treatment time, bacterial exposure time to PAW and bacterial species on the inactivation efficacy of plasma-activated water (PAW), with additional investigation of the inactivation mechanisms of PAW. Six bacterial species, including Listeria innocua, Staphyloccus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Shewanella putrefaciens and Aeromonas hydrophila were selected as the representative bacteria. The initial bacterial concentration was around 7 log CFU ml⁻¹ after mixing with PAW, and the inactivation efficacy was measured after different exposure times during the 4 °C storage. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the bacteria after PAW treatment were carried out to inspect the cell structure damage, and physicochemical properties of PAW, including pH, conductivity and long-living reactive species of H₂O₂, , and , were examined. The results showed that the inactivation efficacy of PAW was positively correlated with plasma treatment time and bacterial exposure time, and for the species examined in this study, the Gram-negative species were more sensitive to PAW than the Gram-positive species. Cell structure damage, including shrinkage, distortion, or holes, was observed after PAW treatment. The pH of PAW was acidified to 2.5–2.9, and conductivity was significantly increased to 518.0 μs cm⁻¹. and H₂O₂ were reduced during the 48 h storage, while an increased concentration was observed for . This study demonstrated that the processing parameters of plasma treatment time, exposure time and characteristics of bacteria can significantly affect the inactivation efficacy of PAW.     

Large-scale production of a hypoallergenic preparation of F(ab′)2 fragments from bovine colostrum

A method for the production of bovine colostral F(ab′)₂ fragments at pilot-plant scale was developed. Optimum yield of immunoglobulins in colostral whey was obtained after rennet treatment of first milking colostrum. Pepsin digestion was carried out directly on the colostral whey at pH 3·8 for 4 h, which led to the complete digestion of immunoglobulins into F(ab′)₂ fragments. Elimination of β-lactoglobulin, the main immunogenic protein, was achieved by anion exchange on Duolite A560 at pH 6·0. The preparation was diafiltered with a 5000 Da membrane and the retentate spray-dried. The powder obtained contained approximately 34% F(ab′)₂ fragments, with an antibody activity three times higher than the initial colostrum.     

Application of ATR-FTIR for a rapid and simultaneous determination of sugars and organic acids in apricot fruit

A simple, fast and accurate Fourier transform mid-infrared spectroscopy method was developed for simultaneously determining sugar and organic acid contents in apricot fruit slurries using the attenuated total reflectance. The potential of this method coupled with chemometric techniques based on partial least squares was assessed by comparison with currently used enzymatic determination of sucrose, glucose, fructose, malic acid and citric acid. Fruits of eight contrasted cultivars harvested at different ripening stages were used in this study and randomly divided in a calibration set (505 apricots) and in a validation set (252 apricots). The most suitable region was found in the range between 1500 and 900 cm⁻¹. Good prediction performances were obtained (R² ? 0.74 and RMSEP ? 18%). Results concerning the prediction of other quality traits such as firmness, skin colour, ethylene production, soluble solids content and titratable acidity were discussed.     

An Ecological Perspective of Listeria monocytogenes Biofilms in Food Processing Facilities

Listeria monocytogenes can enter the food chain at virtually any point. However, food processing environments seem to be of particular importance. From an ecological point of view, food processing facilities are microbial habitats that are constantly disturbed by cleaning and sanitizing procedures. Although L. monocytogenes is considered ubiquitous in nature, it is important to recognize that not all L. monocytogenes strains appear to be equally distributed; the distribution of the organism seems to be related to certain habitats. Currently, no direct evidence exists that L. monocytogenes-associated biofilms have played a role in food contamination or foodborne outbreaks, likely because biofilm isolation and identification are not part of an outbreak investigation, or the definition of biofilm is unclear. Because L. monocytogenes is known to colonize surfaces, we suggest that contamination patterns may be studied in the context of how biofilm formation is influenced by the environment within food processing facilities. In this review, direct and indirect epidemiological and phenotypic evidence of lineage-related biofilm formation capacity to specific ecological niches will be discussed. A critical view on the development of the biofilm concept, focused on the practical implications, strengths, and weaknesses of the current definitions also is discussed. The idea that biofilm formation may be an alternative surrogate for microbial fitness is proposed. Furthermore, current research on the influence of environmental factors on biofilm formation is discussed.