Nutrient density, the vitamin or mineral content of a food or diet per unit energy, has long been a useful concept in the nutritional sciences. However, few nutritionists have applied the idea in quantitative, population-based nutrition planning and assessment. This paper discusses the conceptual issues related to the calculation of a nutrient density value that, if consumed, should meet the nu...

OBJECTIVE Assess the effect of ostracism and social connection-related activities on adolescents' motivation to eat and their energy intake. METHODS Participants (n = 103; M age = 13.6 years) were either ostracized or included when playing a computer game, Cyberball. Next, they wrote about their friend (social-connection), watched television (distraction), or completed Sudoku puzzles (cogniti...

Decreased caloric and other nutrient intake can complicate the course of both mild and serious illness. With proper case selection, providing parenteral nutrition (PN) can improve clinical outcome, reduce hospitalization time, and reduce the cost of patient care. Many pharmacy facilities can compound PN formulations; with proper staff training and patient monitoring resources, PN can be adminis...

Background To examine predictors of increasing overweight among children in two developing countries. Methods Primary school children (6-10 y at baseline, n = 336) and their caregivers.Longitudinal data were collected in 2012, with follow-up 18 months later. Data on children's height, weight and dietary intake were collected within 8 primary public schools in Trinidad and 7 schools in St. Kit...

The issue of estimating usual intake distributions using daily intake data as collected by nationwide food consumption surveys is discussed. Of interest are not only the usual nutrient intake distributions based on food intake alone, but also the total nutrient intake distributions that must be based on information on food and supplement consumption. The problems of estimating usual food intake...

OBJECTIVE Examine the effect of weekday exposure over 6 months to different lunch sizes on energy intake and body weight in a free-living sample of working adults. METHODS Adults (n = 233) were randomly assigned to one of three lunch size groups (400 kcal, 800 kcal, and 1,600 kcal) or to a no-free lunch control group for 6 months. Weight and energy intake were measured at baseline, and months...

In many polygynous ruminant species, males decrease their food intake considerably during the rut. To explain this phenomenon of rut-reduced hypophagia, two main hypotheses, the Foraging-Constraint Hypothesis and Energy-Saving Hypothesis, have been proposed. In our research, we assessed the behavioral strategy of goitered gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa) through the rutting period. According to ...

Estimation of the prevalence and secular trends in paediatric obesity in Europe is impeded by methodological problems in the definition of obesity and the paucity of data sets that mirror the demographic, cultural and socioeconomic composition of the European population. The available prevalence data show that paediatric obesity is increasing throughout Europe but the patterns vary with time, a...

One in three children in Estonia aged 6–13 is overweight or obese. Pricing policies, including the taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), has been recommended by WHO as one policy measure that can lower the consumption of SSBs and reduce obesity and the burden of obesity-related diseases. 89.2% of Estonian school children drink SSBs and it is known that the average daily energy consumpti...

The foraging of yearling baboons (Papio cynocephalus) was studied in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. The nutrient content of the diets of individual females was compared with the composition of energy-maximizing optimal diets. Energy in the diets of all individuals fell appreciably short of their respective optima. Nonetheless, linear combinations of just two variables, protein intakes in excess...