Editorial

Citation

Blades, M. (2012), "Editorial", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 42 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2012.01742daa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Nutrition & Food Science, Volume 42, Issue 4

Recently the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN) published its fourth annual Nutritional Screening Week report. During this week all patients admitted to hospital have nutritional screening undertaken and any malnutrition status detected. The report revealed that malnutrition is not as commonly believed just a problem amongst the older generation but is actually also affecting 26 per cent of those aged between 20 and 29 years admitted to hospital. As malnutrition has a considerable impact on health and well being, not to mention recovery, it is imperative this is both detected and managed.

One of the keys to management is enabling people to eat food because they want to as the food appears appetising and appropriate. With this in mind I have attended various exhibitions and related seminars all of which provide information and inspiration.

The Care show included all aspects of support for those providing care in residential settings. Food service, training on nutrition and food safety, standards on care plus separate ideas on foods were included. Hotelolympia covered the whole gamut of the hospitality industry with a particular focus on culinary expertise with world-class chefs competing against one another. Food Expo is a massive show with numerous examples of various foods of all types, equipment and seminars.

This edition of Nutrition and Food Science provides papers on a plethora of subjects.

Fruit and vegetable intake in Mauritius and how this is associated with ethnicity and socio-demographic factors shows some interesting factors plus ideas on how to improve intake of these important foods which could be helpful to others.

The glycemic index (GI) of foods is important especially in those with diabetes, hypoglycaemia and involved in sport. Rice is often considered to be a food which has a higher GI and this paper provides GI values for different types of rice and products.

Religious fasting and the way it helps to improve hyperlipidaemia indicates how lipid profiles of subjects were improved by fasting as occurred during Ramadan.

Nutritional and sensory properties of poundmix. Such foods are made from local crops like cassava, yam and breadfruit. This paper shows how such foods can be improved by the simple addition of various local ingredients.

Chicken sandwiches are a popular fast food snack and available throughout the world. This paper from Bangladesh on the comparative analysis in the macro and micro-nutrient of bakery products shows the range of values found in the foods.

Kefir is a fermented milk product widely consumed in Greece where it had been consumed for many years. At times it has been advocated for patients with cancer, and gastrointestinal disorders. This paper examines the anticancer activities of Kefir.

Protein is needed for growth and this paper on the free amino acid content of infant formulae indicates the amino acid content of various commercial infant formulae found in the USA.

Characterisation and fatty acid profile of the oils from Amazon nuts and walnuts gives up to date information on nuts which could be useful as a beneficial snack food.

Mabel Blades