Associations between food insecurity and the severity of psychological distress among African-Americans.

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Allen, Nickolas L; Becerra, Benjamin J; Becerra, Monideepa B

2018-07-01

Little research exists on the association between food insecurity and mild to moderate psychological distress (MPD) among Black/African-Americans. In this study, we assess the relationship between food insecurity with and without hunger to that of both MPD and serious psychological distress (SPD) among this population. 2009 and 2011/2012 adult public-use data from African-American respondents of the California Health Interview Survey were utilized for this study (n = 4003). Descriptive statistics were utilized to identify prevalence of psychological distress among sociodemographic and mental-health associated variables. Bivariate analyses were conducted between these variables and psychological distress using survey-weighted chi-square analyses. To evaluate the association between psychological distress, our primary exposure variable of food security, and other variables, we utilized survey-weighted multinomial logistic regression. Prevalence of mild to MPD was higher among those reporting food insecurity while SPD was highest for those with food insecurity and hunger. Results of multinomial logistic regression analysis demonstrate that while MPD was significantly associated with food insecurity, Black/African-Americans with food insecurity and hunger displayed over sixfold odds of higher serious psychological distress, as compared to those living at or above 200% federal poverty level. Our findings add to this growing segment of the literature on psychological distress and food insecurity. Further focus should be placed on improving the efficacy and reach of both formal and informal food support networks to improve the collective health and well-being of poor Black/African-American communities.

Caregiver perceptions of the food marketing environment of African-American 3–11-year-olds: a qualitative study

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Baskin, Monica L; Herbey, Ivan; Williams, Ronnie; Ard, Jamy D; Ivankova, Nataliya; Odoms-Young, Angela

2014-01-01

Objective To assess caregivers’ perceptions of the extent to which the food marketing environment influences food consumption among African-American children (aged 3–11 years) in order to generate potential strategies to make the marketing environment more favourable to healthier eating. Design Individual semi-structured interviews with caregivers were conducted by trained community leaders to ascertain their awareness of and perceptions about food marketing environments contributing to African-American children’s food consumption. Setting Six predominantly African-American communities in metro Birmingham, Alabama, USA with high proportions of school-age children and lower-income residents. Subjects Caregivers (n 25) were predominantly female (93 %) and either parents/guardians (64 %) or grandparents (28 %) of African-American children aged 3–11 years. Caregiver mean age was 43 years and 46% had lived in their current residence for over 10 years. Results Caregivers reported all aspects of the food marketing matrix as supporting unhealthy eating among African-American youth. Child preference for foods higher in fat and sugar, lower pricing of less healthy foods, limited access to healthier food retailers and targeted advertisements were particularly influential on the food selection, acquisition and consumption of children. Company loyalty, corporate sponsorship of local events and conflicts over parental v. food company responsibility contributed to less consensus about the overall impact (positive or negative) of food companies in African-American communities. Conclusions While caregivers perceived aspects of their food marketing environments as primarily contributing to unhealthy eating among African-American children, framing the demand for changes in the food marketing environments of African-American youth may be particularly challenging. PMID:23830058

Perceived value in food selection when dining out: comparison of African Americans and Euro-Americans.

Science.gov (United States)

Vinci, Debra M; Philipp, Steven F

2007-06-01

This descriptive study compares African Americans' and Euro-Americans' perceived value of food selection pertaining to cost, portion size, and meal satisfaction when eating away from home. A stratified sample was drawn from a southern U.S. metropolitan area (N= 1,011; 486 African American, 525 Euro-American). Analysis showed no difference between African-American and Euro-American adults by sex or how often they dined out. These two groups significantly differed across years of education, age, and answering 14 of 18 rated statements on value perceptions. African-Americans' value perceptions were influenced more by lower cost foods and larger portion sizes than those of Euro-Americans. For meal satisfaction, African Americans were more likely to agree with statements that indicate preferring foods high in energy and low in essential micronutrient density. This study supports the need for more investigation.

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development - Vol ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. ... Chemical composition, functional and baking properties of wheat-plantain ... Role of fatty acids of milk and dairy products in cardiovascular diseases: A review · EMAIL FREE ...

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development - Vol ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2009) ... EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT ... Micronutrient deficiencies in food aid beneficiaries: A review of seven African countries. ... Efficacy of traditional maize (Zea mays L.) seed storage methods in western Kenya.

Use of irradiation to improve the safety and quality of ethnic South African foods. Part I: Combined edible coating and irradiation treatment on sensory and microbiological quality of moist beef biltong

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Minnaar, A.; Nortje, K.; Parry-Hanson, A.M.A.; Buys, E.M.

2009-01-01

South Africa is a multicultural country with different eating habits and food preferences. Traditional African foods such as bovine tripe form a part of the diet of black South Africans. These foods are laborious to prepare, not generally available commercially, and have a limited shelf life. Other popular ethnic foods in South Africa include meat products such as biltong, an intermediate moisture dried raw meat product. Moist beef biltong has the potential to cause food poisoning. The application of irradiation alone or in combination with other technologies can help solve these problems. Lean moist beef biltong (47% moisture, 3.7% NaCl, 1.5% crude fat, water activity 0.92) can be irradiated with doses up to 10 kGy without adversely affecting sensory acceptability, provided that the irradiation is performed under vacuum conditions and that the biltong is exposed to aerobic conditions after irradiation to dissipate off odour volatiles. However, low dose irradiation (≤4 kGy) was perceived to be more acceptable and preferable by consumers. Gamma irradiation of moist beef biltong (53.6% moisture, 1.91% NaCl, water activity 0.979) at doses between 4 and 5 kGy was adequate to ensure safety from Staphylococcus aureus even if contamination levels as high as 10 7 CFU/g were initially present. However, doses up to 5 kGy were insufficient to prevent yeast and mould spoilage if initial fungal contamination levels were high (>10 3 CFU/g). Casein-whey protein edible coatings did not inhibit microbial growth on moist beef biltong, probably owing to diminished oxygen barrier properties resulting from the very high moisture content of the biltong. Ready-to-eat bovine tripe can be irradiated up to 9.3 kGy without affecting the consumer acceptance adversely. Gamma irradiation at a target dose of 9 kGy significantly reduced total bacteria counts and aerobic spore counts and extended the shelf life of ready-to-eat bovine tripe to at least 14 d at both 5 and 15 deg. C when aerobic

Food addiction prevalence and concurrent validity in African American adolescents with obesity.

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Schulte, Erica M; Jacques-Tiura, Angela J; Gearhardt, Ashley N; Naar, Sylvie

2018-03-01

Food addiction, measured by the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS), has been associated with obesity, eating-related problems (e.g., bingeing), and problematic consumption of highly processed foods. Studies on this topic have primarily examined adult samples with an overrepresentation of White individuals, and little is known about addictive-like eating in adolescents, particularly African American adolescents who exhibit high rates of obesity and eating pathology. The current study examined the prevalence of food addiction and its convergent validity with percent overweight, eating-related problems, and self-reported dietary intake in a sample of 181 African American adolescents with obesity. Approximately 10% of participants met for food addiction, measured by the YFAS for children (YFAS-C). YFAS-C scores were most strongly associated with objective binge episodes (OBE), though significant relationships were also observed with objective overeating episodes (OOE), percent overweight relative to age- and sex-adjusted body mass index (BMI), and, more modestly, subjective binge episodes (SBE). YFAS-C scores were also related to greater consumption of all nutrient characteristics of interest (calories, fat, saturated fat, trans fat, carbohydrates, sugar, added sugar), though most strongly with trans fat, a type of fat found most frequently in highly processed foods. These findings suggest that the combination of exhibiting a loss of control while consuming an objectively large amount of food seems to be most implicated in food addiction for African American adolescents with obesity. The present work also provides evidence that individuals with food addiction may consume elevated quantities of highly processed foods, relative to those without addictive-like eating. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The way forward | Bouis | African Journal of Food, Agriculture ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 17, No 2 (2017) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Dietary patterns, food groups, and rectal cancer risk in Whites and African-Americans.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Christina Dawn; Satia, Jessie A; Adair, Linda S; Stevens, June; Galanko, Joseph; Keku, Temitope O; Sandler, Robert S

2009-05-01

Associations between individual foods and nutrients and colorectal cancer have been inconsistent, and few studies have examined associations between food, nutrients, dietary patterns, and rectal cancer. We examined the relationship between food groups and dietary patterns and risk for rectal cancer in non-Hispanic Whites and African-Americans. Data were from the North Carolina Colon Cancer Study-Phase II and included 1,520 Whites (720 cases, 800 controls) and 384 African-Americans (225 cases, 159 controls). Diet was assessed using the Diet History Questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Among Whites, non-whole grains and white potatoes were associated with elevated risk for rectal cancer whereas fruit, vegetables, dairy, fish, and poultry were associated with reduced risk. In African-Americans, high consumption of other fruit and added sugar suggested elevated risk. We identified three major dietary patterns in Whites and African-Americans. The high fat/meat/potatoes pattern was observed in both race groups but was only positively associated with risk in Whites (odds ratio, 1.84; 95% confidence interval, 1.03-3.15). The vegetable/fish/poultry and fruit/whole grain/dairy patterns in Whites had significant inverse associations with risk. In African-Americans, there was a positive dose-response for the fruit/vegetables pattern (P(trend) pattern (P(trend) dietary patterns with rectal cancer risk differ between Whites and African-Americans, highlighting the importance of examining diet and cancer relationships in racially diverse populations.

Questionnaire survey of the pan-African trade in lion body parts

OpenAIRE

Williams, Vivienne L.; Loveridge, Andrew J.; Newton, David J.; Macdonald, David W.

2017-01-01

The African lion is in decline across its range, and consumptive utilisation and trade of their body parts and skins has been postulated as a cause for concern. We undertook a pan-African questionnaire and literature survey to document informed opinion and evidence for the occurrence of domestic and international trade and consumption in African lion body parts across current and former range states. Sixty-five people from 18 countries participated in the online questionnaire survey (run from...

Perceptions of the food marketing environment among African American teen girls and adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Bibeau, Wendy S; Saksvig, Brit I; Gittelsohn, Joel; Williams, Sonja; Jones, Lindsey; Young, Deborah Rohm

2012-02-01

Obesity disproportionately affects African American adolescents, particularly girls. While ethnically targeted marketing of unhealthful food products contributes to this disparity, it is not known how African Americans perceive the food marketing environment in their communities. Qualitative methods, specifically photovoice and group discussions, were used to understand perceptions of African American adults and teen girls regarding targeted food marketing to adolescent girls. An advisory committee of four students, two faculty, and two parents was formed, who recruited peers to photograph their environments and participate in group discussions to answer "what influences teen girls to eat what they do." Seven adults and nine teens (all female) participated in the study. Discussions were transcribed, coded, and analyzed with ATLAS.ti to identify common and disparate themes among participants. Results indicated that adults and teens perceived the type of food products, availability of foods, and price to influence the girls' choices. The girls spoke about products that were highly convenient and tasty as being particularly attractive. The adults reported that advertisements and insufficient nutrition education were also influencers. The teens discussed that the places in which food products were available influenced their choices. Results suggest that the marketing of highly available, convenient food at low prices sell products to teen girls. Future work is needed to better understand the consumer's perspective on the food and beverage marketing strategies used. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Determinants of seasonal changes in availability of food patches for elephants (Loxodonta africana in a semi-arid African savanna

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Bruce W. Clegg

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Loss of biodiversity caused by impact of elephants (Loxodonta africana on African woodlands may require a management response, but any action should be based on an understanding of why elephants choose to utilise trees destructively. Comprehension of elephant feeding behaviour requires consideration of the relative value of the plant groups they may potentially consume. Profitability of available food is partly determined by the time to locate a food patch and, therefore, as a foundation for understanding the influence of food availability on diet selection, key controls on the density of grass, forb, and browse patches were investigated across space and time in a semi-arid African savanna. Density of food patches changed seasonally because plant life-forms required different volumes of soil water to produce green forage; and woody plants and forbs responded to long-term changes in soil moisture, while grasses responded to short-term moisture pulses. Soil texture, structure of woody vegetation and fire added further complexity by altering the soil water thresholds required for production of green forage. Interpolating between regularly-timed, ground-based measurements of food density by using modelled soil water as the predictor in regression equations may be a feasible method of quantifying food available to elephants in complex savanna environments.

African Americans’ Access to Healthy Food Options in South Los Angeles Restaurants

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, LaVonna Blair; Sloane, David C.; Nascimento, Lori Miller; Diamant, Allison L.; Guinyard, Joyce Jones; Yancey, Antronette K.; Flynn, Gwendolyn

2005-01-01

Objectives. We examined availability and food options at restaurants in less affluent (target area) and more affluent (comparison area) areas of Los Angeles County to compare residents’ access to healthy meals prepared and purchased away from home. We also considered environmental prompts that encourage the purchase of various foods. Methods. We designed an instrument to assess the availability, quality, and preparation of food in restaurants. We also assessed advertisements and promotions, cleanliness, and service for each restaurant. We assessed 659 restaurants: 348 in the target area and 311 in the comparison area. Results. The nutritional resource environment in our target area makes it challenging for residents to eat healthy away from home. Poorer neighborhoods with a higher proportion of African American residents have fewer healthy options available, both in food selections and in food preparation; restaurants in these neighborhoods heavily promote unhealthy food options to residents. Conclusions. Environment is important in understanding health status: support for the healthy lifestyle associated with lower risks for disease is difficult in poorer communities with a higher proportion of African American residents. PMID:15798128

The context for choice: health implications of targeted food and beverage marketing to African Americans.

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Grier, Sonya A; Kumanyika, Shiriki K

2008-09-01

Targeted marketing of high-calorie foods and beverages to ethnic minority populations, relative to more healthful foods, may contribute to ethnic disparities in obesity and other diet-related chronic conditions. We conducted a systematic review of studies published in June 1992 through 2006 (n = 20) that permitted comparison of food and beverage marketing to African Americans versus Whites and others. Eight studies reported on product promotions, 11 on retail food outlet locations, and 3 on food prices. Although the evidence base has limitations, studies indicated that African Americans are consistently exposed to food promotion and distribution patterns with relatively greater potential adverse health effects than are Whites. The limited evidence on price disparities was inconclusive.

The Context for Choice: Health Implications of Targeted Food and Beverage Marketing to African Americans

Science.gov (United States)

Grier, Sonya A.; Kumanyika, Shiriki K.

2008-01-01

Targeted marketing of high-calorie foods and beverages to ethnic minority populations, relative to more healthful foods, may contribute to ethnic disparities in obesity and other diet-related chronic conditions. We conducted a systematic review of studies published in June 1992 through 2006 (n = 20) that permitted comparison of food and beverage marketing to African Americans versus Whites and others. Eight studies reported on product promotions, 11 on retail food outlet locations, and 3 on food prices. Although the evidence base has limitations, studies indicated that African Americans are consistently exposed to food promotion and distribution patterns with relatively greater potential adverse health effects than are Whites. The limited evidence on price disparities was inconclusive. PMID:18633097

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development - Vol ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. ... Improvement of Injera shelf life through the use of chemical preservatives · EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ... DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT. KM Mbae, C Kiiyukia, GM Kenji, 6490-6502 ...

Politics of predation: food distribution and women | Alliyu | African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Emergent on the African conception of food as a significant human physiological need which in most cases defines poverty; this paper discussed the possibility of unique political participation based on the effectiveness of Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Within the context of these conceptual issues, women in ...

Culture and Food Practices of African American Women With Type 2 Diabetes.

Science.gov (United States)

Sumlin, Lisa L; Brown, Sharon A

2017-12-01

Purpose The goals of this descriptive ethnographic study were to (1) describe the day-to-day selection, preparation, and consumption of food among African American women (AAW) with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM); (2) identify their typical food selections and consumption practices when dining out at restaurants and at social gatherings (ie, church functions, holidays); (3) highlight the valued behaviors and beliefs that influence these women's food practices; and (4) determine how social interactions influence those food practices. Methods Symbolic interactionism, a sensitizing framework, guided this study. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit 20 AAW from 35 to 70 years of age diagnosed with T2DM who shopped and prepared meals for their families and attended church functions where food was served. Data collection consisted of one-on-one interviews and observations of participants during church fellowship dinners, grocery shopping, and food preparation. A social anthropological approach to content analysis was used to describe behavioral regularities in food practices. Results Informants exhibited a constant struggle in food practices, particularly within the home setting. Difficulties in making dietary modifications resulted from conflicts between the need to change dietary practices to control diabetes and personal food preferences, food preferences of family members, and AAW's emotional dedication to the symbolism of food derived from traditional cultural food practices passed down from generation to generation. Conclusions African American women are the gatekeepers for family food practices, holding the keys to healthy dietary practices. This study helps to fill the research gap regarding cultural dietary food practices within this population.

Efficacy of iron-biofortified crops | Boy | African Journal of Food ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 17, No 2 (2017) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Values expressed through intergenerational family food and nutrition management systems among African American women.

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Ahye, Brenda A; Devine, Carol M; Odoms-Young, Angela M

2006-01-01

This grounded theory investigation aimed to understand intergenerational family roles and the food management strategies of African American women from a social-ecological perspective. Thirty women from 10 low/moderate-income 3-generation urban families participated in interviews covering roles, health, nutrition, and food management strategies. Four dynamic family systems for managing food and nutrition emerged from qualitative data analysis. Participants expressed values of responsibility, social connections, caretaking, reward, and equal opportunity, and fulfilling responsibilities for family care, connections, and finances. These values and systems provide a basis for culturally appropriate, interpersonal-level nutrition interventions among African American women that build on family structures, needs, and resources.

Food insecurity, overweight and obesity among low-income African-American families in Baltimore City: associations with food-related perceptions.

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Vedovato, Gabriela M; Surkan, Pamela J; Jones-Smith, Jessica; Steeves, Elizabeth Anderson; Han, Eunkyung; Trude, Angela Cb; Kharmats, Anna Y; Gittelsohn, Joel

2016-06-01

To examine associations between food insecurity, excess body weight, psychosocial factors and food behaviours among low-income African-American families. Cross-sectional survey of participants in the baseline evaluation of the B'More Healthy Communities for Kids (BHCK) obesity prevention trial. We collected data on socio-economic factors, food source destinations, acquiring food, preparation methods, psychosocial factors, beliefs and attitudes, participation in food assistance programmes, anthropometry and food security. We used principal component analysis to identify patterns of food source destinations and logistic regression to examine associations. Fourteen low-income, predominantly African-American neighbourhoods in Baltimore City, MD, USA. Two hundred and ninety-eight adult caregiver-child (10-14 years old) dyads. Of households, 41·6 % had some level of food insecurity and 12·4 % experienced some level of hunger. Food-insecure participants with hunger were significantly more likely to be unemployed and to have lower incomes. We found high rates of excess body weight (overweight and obesity) among adults and children (82·8 % and 37·9 % among food insecure without hunger, 89·2 % and 45·9 % among food insecure with hunger, respectively), although there were no significant differences by food security status. Food source usage patterns, food acquisition, preparation, knowledge, self-efficacy and intentions did not differ by food security. Food security was associated with perceptions that healthy foods are affordable and convenient. Greater caregiver body satisfaction was associated with food insecurity and excess body weight. In this setting, obesity and food insecurity are major problems. For many food-insecure families, perceptions of healthy foods may serve as additional barriers to their purchase and consumption.

African American and Latino low income families' food shopping behaviors: promoting fruit and vegetable consumption and use of alternative healthy food options.

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Fish, Caitlin A; Brown, Jonisha R; Quandt, Sara A

2015-04-01

Minority families often reside in neighborhoods with few supermarkets or alternative healthy food options (e.g., farmers markets, community gardens), making fresh produce difficult to obtain. This qualitative study identified factors influencing fruit and vegetable shopping and use of alternative healthy food options. Forty-eight minority women with children completed interviews regarding food shopping habits and use of and attitudes toward alternative healthy food options. Interviews were subjected to thematic analysis. Produce shopping was motivated by costs and family preferences. For African American women, poor cooking skills restricted the variety of fruits and vegetables purchased. Latinas were receptive to alternative healthy food options, but did not use them because these sources were inconvenient. African American women were not receptive to them. Improving cooking skills and perceptions of acceptable foods may be as important as increased access to promote greater consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Restaurant foods, sugar-sweetened soft drinks, and obesity risk among young African American women.

Science.gov (United States)

Boggs, Deborah A; Rosenberg, Lynn; Coogan, Patricia F; Makambi, Kepher H; Adams-Campbell, Lucile L; Palmer, Julie R

2013-01-01

The prevalence of obesity is disproportionately high in African American women, and consumption of fast foods and sugar-sweetened soft drinks is also especially high among African Americans. We investigated the relation of intakes of sugar-sweetened soft drinks and specific types of restaurant foods to obesity in the Black Women's Health Study. In this prospective cohort study, 19,479 non-obese women aged 21-39 years at baseline were followed for 14 years (1995-2009). Dietary intake was assessed by validated food frequency questionnaire in 1995 and 2001. Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association of intakes of restaurant foods and sugar-sweetened soft drinks with incident obesity. Higher intakes of burgers from restaurants and sugar-sweetened soft drinks were associated with greater risk of becoming obese. The associations were present in models that included both factors and adjusted for overall dietary pattern. The HR of obesity in relation to restaurant burger consumption of > or = 2 times/week compared with or = 2 drinks/day compared with obesity among young African American women.

The food and meal pattern in the urban African population of the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A cross sectional dietary study, utilising the 24 hour recall method, was conducted among 983 African adults aged 15 to 64 years resident in the Cape Peninsula during 1990. An evaluation of the dietary intake pattern revealed a diet confined to a relatively narrow range of foods, but little evidence of nutrient-empty food ...

Using a Household Food Inventory to Assess the Availability of Traditional Vegetables among Resettled African Refugees.

Science.gov (United States)

Gichunge, Catherine; Somerset, Shawn; Harris, Neil

2016-01-18

A cross-sectional sequential explanatory mixed methods study was conducted among household food preparers to examine the association between home availability and consumption of traditional vegetables among resettled African refugees living in Queensland, Australia. Home availability of traditional African vegetables was associated with age, having a vegetable garden, employment status, and having a supermarket in the local neighborhood. Food preparers from homes with low vegetable availability were less likely to consume the recommended number of vegetable servings. Barriers faced in the food environment included language, lack of availability of traditional vegetables and lack of transport. All of these aspects contributed to the study findings that both individual and food environment characteristics may play a role in access to and availability of food and vegetable consumption of resettled refugees. Consumption of traditional foods among the resettled refugees continues post resettlement.

"Doing Difference" and Fast Food Consumption: Patterns Among a Sample of White and African American Emerging Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Wade, Jeannette M

2018-04-01

Previous research has demonstrated that frequent consumption of fast food is linked to obesity and that trends in both are disparate across race and sex categories. Contextualizing race- and sex-related factors that structure fast food consumption in emerging adulthood is a much-needed contribution to social research. Specifically, this study uses the "doing difference" framework, to examine the frequency of fast food consumption in a sample of White and African American (18-25 years old). According to the framework, social inequalities are reproduced through dramaturgical performances of race, class, and gender. Results of this suggest that feminine gender orientation and education serve as protective factors, while African American race and male sex serve as risk factors. African American women emerged as especially high risk given their higher prevalence of traditionally masculine traits.

Measuring food availability and access in African-American communities: implications for intervention and policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Odoms-Young, Angela M; Zenk, Shannon; Mason, Maryann

2009-04-01

Obesity is a major public health concern in the U.S. As compared to whites, minority populations are disproportionately at risk, with the highest prevalence rates of overweight and obesity occurring among African American women. Although researchers and policymakers argue that environmental approaches have the greatest potential to reverse the rising prevalence of obesity, critical gaps remain in our understanding of the complex mechanisms that underlie the associations between neighborhood food environments and weight status. A major challenge has been the need for reliable and valid measures to assess aspects of the neighborhood food environment that encourage or inhibit healthful eating behaviors and weight management. Investigators have made considerable gains in the development of tools and approaches to measure neighborhood food environments overall, but few studies focus on the specific challenges and issues associated with characterizing neighborhood food environments in communities of color. This paper highlights important considerations for measuring food environments in African-American neighborhoods and their implications for developing programmatic and policy solutions to reduce racial disparities in overweight.

ASSOCIATION OF FOOD SECURITY AND HOUSEHOLDDEMOGRAPHICS IN A SOUTH AFRICAN TOWNSHIP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tshediso Joseph Sekhampu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Researchshowsthatfoodinsecurityisone of the challengesthatpost-apartheidSouth Africafaces.Food securityindicators notethat South Africa as a countryhas an apparent state of sufficiency, while household indicators show greatdisparities between urban and rural households.Thepurpose of this study was toanalysethe food security status of households in the township of Kwakwatsi, FreeStateprovince. Data were collected through a household survey to determinetheassociationbetweenhousehold food security andthedemographic variables of ahousehold. Of the sampled households,51.1%were found to be food secureaccording tothe Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS. Logisticregression analysis revealedthatthere is a clear correlation betweenhouseholdsize, household income,andgender and marital status of the household headandhousehold food security.While household size,and the gender andmarital statusof the household head wereassociated withfoodinsecurity,an increase inhousehold income andtheage of thehouseholdheadwereassociated withfoodsecurity.The study offers trends in food security and can be used as a referencesource when addressing socio-economic challengesthatlow-incomehouseholdsin South African townshipsface.

African maize porridge: a food with slow in vitro starch digestibility

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Van der Merwe, B

2001-02-15

Full Text Available maize porridge to bread. An in vitro method was used to determine the starch digestibility of African maize porridge compared to other cereal foods. Maize porridge had a much lower in vitro starch digestibility than white bread (P<0.001). There was a...

Ecological momentary assessment of environmental and personal factors and snack food intake in African American women.

Science.gov (United States)

Zenk, Shannon N; Horoi, Irina; McDonald, Ashley; Corte, Colleen; Riley, Barth; Odoms-Young, Angela M

2014-12-01

This study examined contributions of environmental and personal factors (specifically, food availability and expense, daily hassles, self-efficacy, positive and negative affect) to within-person and between-person variations in snack food intake in 100 African American women. Participants were signaled at random five times daily for seven days to complete a survey on a study-provided smartphone. Women reported consuming snack foods at 35.2% of signals. Easier food availability accounting for one's usual level was associated with higher snack food intake. Being near outlets that predominately sell snacks (e.g., convenience stores), while accounting for one's usual proximity to them, was associated with higher snack food intake. Accounting for one's usual daily hassle level, we found that on days with more frequent daily hassles snack food intake was higher. The positive association between within-person daily hassles frequency and snack food intake was stronger when foods were easily available. Public and private policies to curb ubiquitous food availability and mobile health interventions that take into account time-varying influences on food choices and provide real-time assistance in dealing with easy food availability and coping with stressors may be beneficial in improving African American women's day to day food choices. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Grain dehullers: less toil, more food for Africans | CRDI - Centre de ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

28 oct. 2010 ... In Senegal and other African countries, grain processing machinery adapted from a Canadian design has eliminated drudgery for women and girls, and made convenient food products more widely available. ... End to Pounding: a New Mechanical Flour Milling System in Use in Africa IDRC book by Paul ...

Genotypic characterization and safety assessment of lactic acid bacteria from indigenous African fermented food products

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Adimpong David B

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Indigenous fermented food products play an essential role in the diet of millions of Africans. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB are among the predominant microbial species in African indigenous fermented food products and are used for different applications in the food and biotechnology industries. Numerous studies have described antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of LAB from different parts of the world. However, there is limited information on antimicrobial resistance profiles of LAB from Africa. The aim of this study was to characterize 33 LAB previously isolated from three different African indigenous fermented food products using (GTG5-based rep-PCR, sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and species-specific PCR techniques for differentiation of closely related species and further evaluate their antibiotic resistance profiles by the broth microdilution method and their haemolytic activity on sheep blood agar plates as indicators of safety traits among these bacteria. Results Using molecular biology based methods and selected phenotypic tests such as catalase reaction, CO2 production from glucose, colonies and cells morphology, the isolates were identified as Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus ghanensis, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus salivarius, Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides, Pediococcus acidilactici, Pediococcus pentosaceus and Weissella confusa. The bacteria were susceptible to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, clindamycin and erythromycin but resistant to vancomycin, kanamycin and streptomycin. Variable sensitivity profiles to tetracycline and gentamicin was observed among the isolates with Lb. plantarum, Lb. salivarius, W. confusa (except strain SK9-5 and Lb. fermentum strains being susceptible to tetracycline whereas Pediococcus strains and Lb. ghanensis strains were resistant. For gentamicin, Leuc. pseudomesenteroides, Lb. ghanensis and Ped. acidilactici strains were resistant to 64�

African fermented dairy products - Overview of predominant technologically important microorganisms focusing on African Streptococcus infantarius variants and potential future applications for enhanced food safety and security.

Science.gov (United States)

Jans, Christoph; Meile, Leo; Kaindi, Dasel Wambua Mulwa; Kogi-Makau, Wambui; Lamuka, Peter; Renault, Pierre; Kreikemeyer, Bernd; Lacroix, Christophe; Hattendorf, Jan; Zinsstag, Jakob; Schelling, Esther; Fokou, Gilbert; Bonfoh, Bassirou

2017-06-05

Milk is a major source of nutrients, but can also be a vehicle for zoonotic foodborne diseases, especially when raw milk is consumed. In Africa, poor processing and storage conditions contribute to contamination, outgrowth and transmission of pathogens, which lead to spoilage, reduced food safety and security. Fermentation helps mitigate the impact of poor handling and storage conditions by enhancing shelf life and food safety. Traditionally-fermented sour milk products are culturally accepted and widely distributed in Africa, and rely on product-specific microbiota responsible for aroma, flavor and texture. Knowledge of microbiota and predominant, technologically important microorganisms is critical in developing products with enhanced quality and safety, as well as sustainable interventions for these products, including Africa-specific starter culture development. This narrative review summarizes current knowledge of technologically-important microorganisms of African fermented dairy products (FDP) and raw milk, taking into consideration novel findings and taxonomy when re-analyzing data of 29 publications covering 25 products from 17 African countries. Technologically-important lactic acid bacteria such as Lactococcus lactis and Streptococcus infantarius subsp. infantarius (Sii), Lactobacillus spp. and yeasts predominated in raw milk and FDP across Africa. Re-analysis of data also suggests a much wider distribution of Sii and thus a potentially longer history of use than previously expected. Therefore, evaluating the role and safety of African Sii lineages is important when developing interventions and starter cultures for FDP in Africa to enhance food safety and food security. In-depth functional genomics, epidemiologic investigations and latest identification approaches coupled with stakeholder involvement will be required to evaluate the possibility of African Sii lineages as novel food-grade Streptococcus lineage. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by

Prevalence of foodborne pathogens in food from selected African countries - A meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Paudyal, Narayan; Anihouvi, Victor; Hounhouigan, Joseph; Matsheka, Maitshwarelo Ignatius; Sekwati-Monang, Bonno; Amoa-Awua, Wisdom; Atter, Amy; Ackah, Nina Bernice; Mbugua, Samuel; Asagbra, Agnes; Abdelgadir, Warda; Nakavuma, Jesca; Jakobsen, Mogens; Fang, Weihuan

2017-05-16

Food safety information in the African region is insufficient and fragmented due to lack of surveillance, documentation and reporting, thereby resulting in inefficient utilization of resources, duplication of activities, and lack of synergy among the countries of the region. This paper reviews the prevalence of foodborne pathogens in seven African countries (Benin, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan and Uganda) from papers in regional or international journals published between January 2000 and December 2015. One hundred and sixteen publications that dealt with food microbiology were reviewed for general analysis, while 66 papers on contamination of pathogenic bacteria were used for meta-analysis of prevalence. The food items were split into two categories: raw foods and ready-to-eat (RTE) foods (including street food and beverages) for meta-analysis. Majority of the reviewed studies (67.2%, 78/116) dealt with food of animal origin: 38.8% for meat and eggs, 17.2% for dairy products and 11.2% for aquatic products. Only 8.6% examined foods of plant origin (fruits and vegetables). The remaining 24.1% was the composite RTE food and beverages. Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes were the most frequently reported organisms in those studies. Although the data were highly heterogeneous, a striking feature is high prevalence of the major pathogens in RTE foods, almost as high as in raw foods. E. coli averaged at 37.6% in raw foods and 31.6% in RTE foods. The corresponding prevalence for Salmonella was 19.9% vs 21.7%; S. aureus, 27.8% vs 25.1% and L. monocytogenes, 19.5% vs 6.7%. The average prevalence of foodborne pathogens in these countries was 34.2% (29.0-39.3%). Differences in food types as well as non-uniform protocols for sampling and identification might have contributed to high heterogeneity (I 2 >97%) although some high prevalence data could be factual with extensive varieties of raw and RTE foods

Supplements (Part1): Vitamins | Jobson | South African Family Practice

African Journals Online (AJOL)

South African Family Practice. Journal Home · ABOUT · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 45, No 5 (2003) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads. Username, Password, Remember me, or Register. Supplements (Part1): Vitamins. R Jobson. Abstract. No Abstract. Full Text:.

Questionnaire survey of the pan-African trade in lion body parts.

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Williams, Vivienne L; Loveridge, Andrew J; Newton, David J; Macdonald, David W

2017-01-01

The African lion is in decline across its range, and consumptive utilisation and trade of their body parts and skins has been postulated as a cause for concern. We undertook a pan-African questionnaire and literature survey to document informed opinion and evidence for the occurrence of domestic and international trade and consumption in African lion body parts across current and former range states. Sixty-five people from 18 countries participated in the online questionnaire survey (run from July 2014 to May 2015), with information provided for 28 countries (including 20 out of 24 countries believed to have extant populations). Respondents were experts within their professional spheres, and 77% had ≥6 years relevant experience within lion conservation or allied wildlife matters. Their opinions revealed wide sub-regional differences in consumptive use, drivers of trade, and access to lions that impact wild lion populations in different ways. Traditional medicine practices (African and Asian) were perceived to be the main uses to which lion body parts and bones are put domestically and traded internationally, and there is reason for concern about persistent imports from former lion range states (mainly in West Africa) for parts for this purpose. The domestic, rather than international, trade in lion body parts was perceived to be a bigger threat to wild lion populations. Parts such as skin, claws, teeth and bones are thought to be in most demand across the continent. The impact of international trade on wild populations was acknowledged to be largely unknown, but occasionally was judged to be 'high', and therefore vigilance is needed to monitor emerging detrimental impacts. Seventeen countries were nominated as priorities for immediate monitoring, including: South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Cameroon. Reasons for their selection include: prevalence of trophy hunting, 'hot spots' for poaching, active domestic trade

Questionnaire survey of the pan-African trade in lion body parts.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vivienne L Williams

Full Text Available The African lion is in decline across its range, and consumptive utilisation and trade of their body parts and skins has been postulated as a cause for concern. We undertook a pan-African questionnaire and literature survey to document informed opinion and evidence for the occurrence of domestic and international trade and consumption in African lion body parts across current and former range states. Sixty-five people from 18 countries participated in the online questionnaire survey (run from July 2014 to May 2015, with information provided for 28 countries (including 20 out of 24 countries believed to have extant populations. Respondents were experts within their professional spheres, and 77% had ≥6 years relevant experience within lion conservation or allied wildlife matters. Their opinions revealed wide sub-regional differences in consumptive use, drivers of trade, and access to lions that impact wild lion populations in different ways. Traditional medicine practices (African and Asian were perceived to be the main uses to which lion body parts and bones are put domestically and traded internationally, and there is reason for concern about persistent imports from former lion range states (mainly in West Africa for parts for this purpose. The domestic, rather than international, trade in lion body parts was perceived to be a bigger threat to wild lion populations. Parts such as skin, claws, teeth and bones are thought to be in most demand across the continent. The impact of international trade on wild populations was acknowledged to be largely unknown, but occasionally was judged to be 'high', and therefore vigilance is needed to monitor emerging detrimental impacts. Seventeen countries were nominated as priorities for immediate monitoring, including: South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Cameroon. Reasons for their selection include: prevalence of trophy hunting, 'hot spots' for poaching, active

Prevalence of foodborne pathogens in food from selected African countries – a meta-analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paudyal, Narayan; Anihouvi, Victor; Hounhouigan, Joseph

2017-01-01

for general analysis, while 66 papers on contamination of pathogenic bacteria were used for meta-analysis of prevalence. The food items were split into two categories: raw foods and ready-to-eat (RTE) foods (including street food and beverages) for meta-analysis. Majority of the reviewed studies (67.2%, 78....../116) dealt with food of animal origin: 38.8% for meat and eggs, 17.2% for dairy products and 11.2% for aquatic products. Only 8.6% examined foods of plant origin (fruits and vegetables). The remaining 24.1% was the composite RTE food and beverages. Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia coli, Salmonella......Food safety information in the African region is insufficient and fragmented due to lack of surveillance, documentation and reporting, thereby resulting in inefficient utilization of resources, duplication of activities, and lack of synergy among the countries of the region. This paper reviews...

African perspectives on the need for global harmonisation of food safety regulations.

Science.gov (United States)

Anelich, Lucia E C M

2014-08-01

Africa is a large continent consisting of 54 countries at different levels of development and reflecting numerous diverse cultures. Africa's agricultural potential is largely untapped, with approximately 60% of the world's non-cultivated arable land found in sub-Saharan Africa. Excluding South Africa, which is the largest economy in Africa and which has a well-established food sector with a substantial export market, economies in sub-Saharan Africa have been steadily growing at over 5% per annum. Whilst most African countries face many challenges, including weak infrastructure as well as political and economic instability, many changes are occurring, one of these being identifying specific commodities in a particular country which warrant substantial investment for growth into export opportunities. These opportunities create an immediate need for development of food standards, including food safety standards, based on scientific principles to enable regional and international trade in food, thereby assisting in ensuring Africa's role in the global food economy. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.

"If I Can Afford Steak, Why Worry About Buying Beans": African American Men's Perceptions of Their Food Environment.

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Sherman, Ledric D; Griffith, Derek M

2018-05-01

Due to the high level of food-related chronic diseases for African American men, the purpose of this qualitative study was to induce ( n = 83) urban American men's perspective of their food environment considering different ethnic subgroups, built environment, and the temporal context using a phenomenological method and snowball sampling. Focus group interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and entered into ATLAS.ti to aid in establishing themes. African American men perceived that fast-food chains are their food choices and that they do not have any other healthy alternatives near their residential community. Their perspective of their current environment was primarily influenced by their formative years, the availability of current food environments, marketing and advertising of food on television, and the cost of eating healthy as compared to the cost of eating what is convenient to their residence. A central theme of the findings of this study is that the availability and accessibility of restaurants and food options are harmful to health over time. The finding suggests that future interventions should consider and incorporate how people develop and understand their current food practices and environment through the lens of time, not just their adult context.

Review: Lorenzo Cotula, The Great African Land Grab?: Agricultural Investments and the Global Food System (2013

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Kerstin Nolte

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Review of the monograph:Lorenzo Cotula, The Great African Land Grab?: Agricultural Investments and the Global Food System, London, New York: Zed Books, 2013, ISBN 9781780324203, 248 pages

Food insecurity, overweight and obesity among low-income African-American families in Baltimore City: Associations with food-related perceptions

Science.gov (United States)

Vedovato, Gabriela M.; Surkan, Pamela J.; Jones-Smith, Jessica; Steeves, Elizabeth Anderson; Han, Eunkyung; Trude, Angela C.B.; Kharmats, Anna Y.; Gittelsohn, Joel

2016-01-01

Objective To examine associations between food insecurity, excess body weight, psychosocial factors and food behaviors among low-income African-American (AA) families. Design Cross-sectional survey of participants in the baseline evaluation of the B’More Healthy Communities for Kids (BHCK) obesity prevention trial. We collected data on socioeconomic factors, food source destinations, acquiring food, preparation methods, psychosocial factors, beliefs and attitudes, participation in food assistance programs, anthropometry and food security. We used principal component analysis to identify patterns of food source destinations and logistic regression to examine associations. Setting Fourteen low-income, predominantly AA neighborhoods in Baltimore City. Subjects 298 adult caregiver-child (10–14 years old) dyads. Results 41.6% of households had some level of food insecurity, and 12.4% experienced some level of hunger. Food insecure participants with hunger were significantly more likely to be unemployed and to have lower incomes. We found high rates of excess body weight (overweight and obese) among adults and children (82.8% and 37.9% food insecure without hunger; 89.2% and 45.9% with hunger, respectively), although there were no significant differences by security status. Food source usage patterns, food acquisition, preparation, knowledge, self-efficacy and intentions did not differ by food security. Food security was associated with perceptions that healthy foods are affordable and convenient. Greater caregiver body satisfaction was associated with food insecurity and excess body weight. Conclusions In this setting, obesity and food insecurity are major problems. For many food insecure families, perceptions of healthy foods may serve as additional barriers to their purchase and consumption. PMID:26441159

African elephants can use human pointing cues to find hidden food.

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Smet, Anna F; Byrne, Richard W

2013-10-21

How animals gain information from attending to the behavior of others has been widely studied, driven partly by the importance of referential pointing in human cognitive development [1-4], but species differences in reading human social cues remain unexplained. One explanation is that this capacity evolved during domestication [5, 6], but it may be that only those animals able to interpret human-like social cues were successfully domesticated. Elephants are a critical taxon for this question: despite their longstanding use by humans, they have never been domesticated [7]. Here we show that a group of 11 captive African elephants, seven of them significantly as individuals, could interpret human pointing to find hidden food. We suggest that success was not due to prior training or extensive learning opportunities. Elephants successfully interpreted pointing when the experimenter's proximity to the hiding place was varied and when the ostensive pointing gesture was visually subtle, suggesting that they understood the experimenter's communicative intent. The elephant's native ability in interpreting social cues may have contributed to its long history of effective use by man. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Discourses of culture and illness in South African mental health care and indigenous healing, Part I: Western psychiatric power.

Science.gov (United States)

Yen, Jeffery; Wilbraham, Lindy

2003-12-01

This discourse analytic study explores constructions of culture and illness in the talk of psychiatrists, psychologists and indigenous healers as they discuss possibilities for collaboration in South African mental health care. Versions of 'culture', and disputes over what constitutes 'disorder', are an important site for the negotiation of power relations between mental health practitioners and indigenous healers. The results of this study are presented in two parts. Part I explores discourses about western psychiatric/psychological professionalism, tensions in diagnosis between cultural relativism and psychiatric universalism, and how assertion of 'cultural differences' may be used to resist psychiatric power. Part II explores how discursive constructions of 'African culture' and 'African madness' work to marginalize indigenous healing in South African mental health care, despite repeated calls for collaboration.

TUTORIALS ON AFRICAN BUFFALO OPTIMIZATION FOR SOLVING THE TRAVELLING SALESMAN PROBLEM

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Odili J.B

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The African Buffalo Optimization is a newly designed metaheuristic optimization algorithm inspired by the migration of African buffalos from place to place across the vast African forests, deserts and savannah in search of food. Being a new algorithm, several researchers from different parts of the research world have indicated huge interest in understanding the working of the novel algorithm. This paper presents a practical demonstration of the workings of the African Buffalo Optimization in solving the popular travelling salesman problem. It is our belief that this tutorial paper will be helpful in further introducing the new algorithm and making it user-friendly.

African Journals Online: Kenya

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 1 - 29 of 29 ... African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development ... African and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs); African and .... for scholars and practitioners in all spheres of biological sciences to publish ...

Pre-exposure to food temptation reduces subsequent consumption: A test of the procedure with a South-African sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Duh, Helen Inseng; Grubliauskiene, Aiste; Dewitte, Siegfried

2016-01-01

It has been suggested that the consumption of unhealthy Westernized diet in a context of poverty and resultant food insecurity may have contributed to South-Africa's status of the third fattest country in the World. Considering that a number of South-Africans are reported to have experienced, or are still experiencing food insecurity, procedures which have been shown to reduce the consumption of unhealthy food in higher income countries may be ineffective in South-Africa. We thus tested the robustness of the so called pre-exposure procedure in South-Africa. We also tested the moderating role of childhood poverty in the pre-exposure procedure. With the pre-exposure procedure, a respondent is exposed to a tempting unhealthy food (e.g. candy) in a context that is designed such that eating the food interferes with a task goal. The typical result is that this procedure spills over and reduces consumption of similar tempting food later on. An experimental study conducted in a South-African laboratory showed that the pre-exposure effect is robust even with a sample, where food insecurity prevails. Childhood poverty did not moderate the effect. This study proves that behavioral procedures aimed at reducing the consumption of unhealthy food would be valuable in less rich non-Western countries. Further testing of the robustness of the pre-exposure effect is however recommended in other poorer food insecure countries. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development and implementation of a visual card-sorting technique for assessing food and activity preferences and patterns in African American girls.

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Sherwood, Nancy E; Story, Mary; Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne; Adkins, Sarah; Davis, Marsha

2003-11-01

Card-sorting tasks for assessing food and activity preferences and patterns among African American girls were developed. Associations among food preference and intake frequency, activity preference and frequency, and body mass index were examined. Participants completed newly developed card-sorting tasks assessing food and activity preferences and patterns. Height and weight were measured. Ninety-six 8- to 10-year-old African American girls from schools and community centers in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Preference and frequency data for 64 foods/beverages and 34 activities. Frequencies for food and activity preference and frequency categories were computed. Pearson correlations among food and activity preference, frequency, and body mass index were computed. High-sugar (eg, fruit drinks, soda) and/or high-fat (eg, ice cream, cookies) foods were among the most popular and frequently consumed. Ninety-six percent of girls liked fruit drinks, with 35% consuming them "almost every day." Less-structured activities such as biking, games, jump rope, and dance were most popular. Biking was preferred by 85% of girls, with 48% biking "almost every day." Food preference and frequency categories were moderately correlated (r=0.30 to 0.58), as were activity preference and frequency (r=0.37 to 0.49). The card-sorting tasks are useful tools for assessing food and activity preferences and patterns in girls. Obesity prevention programs for African American girls should include preferred activities such as dance, jump rope, and active play. Programs may also benefit from a focus on replacing high fat/high sugar snacks and sweetened beverages with low-fat, lower-calorie snacks and beverages (eg, fruit, vegetables, water).

Fat, Fiber and Cancer Risk in African Americans and Rural Africans

Science.gov (United States)

O'Keefe, Stephen J.D.; Li, Jia V.; Lahti, Leo; Ou, Junhai; Carbonero, Franck; Mohammed, Khaled; Posma, Joram M; Kinross, James; Wahl, Elaine; Ruder, Elizabeth; Vipperla, Kishore; Naidoo, Vasudevan; Mtshali, Lungile; Tims, Sebastian; Puylaert, Philippe G.B.; DeLany, James; Krasinskas, Alyssa; Benefiel, Ann C.; Kaseb, Hatem O.; Newton, Keith; Nicholson, Jeremy K.; de Vos, Willem M.; Gaskins, H. Rex; Zoetendal, Erwin G.

2015-01-01

Rates of colon cancer are much higher in African Americans (65:100,000) than in rural South Africans (<5:100,000). The higher rates are associated with higher animal protein and fat and lower fiber consumption, higher colonic secondary bile acids, lower colonic short chain fatty acid quantities and higher mucosal proliferative biomarkers of cancer risk in otherwise healthy middle aged volunteers. Here we investigate further the role of fat and fiber in this association. We performed two-week food exchanges in subjects from the same populations, where African Americans were fed a high-fiber, lowfat African-style diet, and rural Africans a high-fat low-fiber western-style diet under close supervision. In comparison to their usual diets, the food changes resulted in remarkable reciprocal changes in mucosal biomarkers of cancer risk and in aspects of the microbiota and metabolome known to affect cancer risk, best illustrated by increased saccharolytic fermentation and butyrogenesis and suppressed secondary bile acid synthesis in the African Americans. PMID:25919227

Use of irradiation to improve the safety and quality of ethnic South African foods. Part II: Effect of gamma irradiation on the sensory and microbiological quality of ready-to-eat bovine tripe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Minnaar, A.; Nortje, K.; Parry-Hanson, A.M.A.; Buys, E.M.

2009-01-01

South Africa is a multicultural country with different eating habits and food preferences. Traditional African foods such as bovine tripe form a part of the diet of black South Africans. These foods are laborious to prepare, not generally available commercially, and have a limited shelf life. Other popular ethnic foods in South Africa include meat products such as biltong, an intermediate moisture dried raw meat product. Moist beef biltong has the potential to cause food poisoning. The application of irradiation alone or in combination with other technologies can help solve these problems. Lean moist beef biltong (47% moisture, 3.7% NaCl, 1.5% crude fat, water activity 0.92) can be irradiated with doses up to 10 kGy without adversely affecting sensory acceptability, provided that the irradiation is performed under vacuum conditions and that the biltong is exposed to aerobic conditions after irradiation to dissipate off odour volatiles. However, low dose irradiation (≤4 kGy) was perceived to be more acceptable and preferable by consumers. Gamma irradiation of moist beef biltong (53.6% moisture, 1.91% NaCl, water activity 0.979) at doses between 4 and 5 kGy was adequate to ensure safety from Staphylococcus aureus even if contamination levels as high as 10 7 CFU/g were initially present. However, doses up to 5 kGy were insufficient to prevent yeast and mould spoilage if initial fungal contamination levels were high (>10 3 CFU/g). Casein-whey protein edible coatings did not inhibit microbial growth on moist beef biltong, probably owing to diminished oxygen barrier properties resulting from the very high moisture content of the biltong. Ready-to-eat bovine tripe can be irradiated up to 9.3 kGy without affecting the consumer acceptance adversely. Gamma irradiation at a target dose of 9 kGy significantly reduced total bacteria counts and aerobic spore counts and extended the shelf life of ready-to-eat bovine tripe to at least 14 d at both 5 and 15 deg. C when aerobic

Feeding East Africa : are genetically modified crops part of the solution?

OpenAIRE

Tarjem, Ida Arff

2017-01-01

The African continent is faced with enormous challenges of poverty, hunger and food insecurity, which is exacerbated by climatic and environmental change, and a rapidly increasing population; and in the midst of it all is the smallholder and subsistence African farmer. Some believe that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and GM crops may offer part of the solution to some of these challenges. The GMO debate has gained considerable traction in the East African region, as recent regulat...

South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition - Vol 21, No 4 (2008)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Characteristics of the South African Food Composition Database, an essential tool for the nutrition fraternity in the country: Part 1 · EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT. P Wolmarans, NA Danster, 308-313 ...

South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition - Vol 22, No 2 (2009)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Use of the South African Food Composition Database System (SAFOODS) and its products in assessing dietary intake data: Part II · EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT. P Wolmarans, E Kunneke, R Laubscher ...

Projections of 21st Century African Climate: Implications for African Savanna Fire Dynamics, Human Health and Food Security

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Adegoke, J. O.

2015-12-01

Fire is a key agent of change in the African savannas, which are shaped through the complex interactions between trees, C4 grasses, rainfall, temperature, CO2 and fire. These fires and their emitted smoke can have numerous direct and indirect effects on the environment, water resources, air quality, and climate. For instance, veld fires in southern Africa cause large financial losses to agriculture, livestock production and forestry on an annual basis. This study contributes to our understanding of the implications of projected surface temperature evolution in Africa for fire risk, human health and agriculture over the coming decades. We use an ensemble of high-resolution regional climate model simulations of African climate for the 21st century. Regional dowscalings and recent global circulation model projections obtained for Africa indicate that African temperatures are likely to rise at 1.5 times the global rate of temperature increase in the tropics, and at almost twice the global rate of increase in the subtropics. Warming is projected to occur during the 21st century, with increases of 4-6 °C over the subtropics and 3-5 °C over the tropics plausible by the end of the century relative to present-day climate under the A2 (low mitigation) scenario. We explore the significance of the projected warming by documenting increases in projected high fire danger days and heat-wave days. General drying is projected across the continent, even for areas (e.g. tropical Africa) where an increase in rainfall is plausible. This is due to the drastic increases in temperature that are projected, which leads to drier soils (through enhanced evaporation) despite the rainfall increases. This will likely impact negatively on crop yield, particularly on the maize crop that is of crucial importance in terms of African food security.

Perceptions of Food Intake, Physical Activity, and Obesity Among African-American Children in the Lower Mississippi Delta.

Science.gov (United States)

McGee, Bernestine B; Richardson, Valerie; Johnson, Glenda; Johnson, Crystal

2017-07-01

To explore the nutrition and physical activity perceptions of children for planning a healthy weight curriculum to address childhood obesity in African-American children living in the Lower Mississippi Delta (LMD). Six children's focus group sessions. Two Louisiana parishes in the LMD. Seventy 8- to 13-year-old African-American children, 46 (66%) females and 24 (44%) males, participated in the focus group sessions. Interview questions were based on personal and environmental determinants and content and strategies for a healthy lifestyle program for children. Focus group discussions were audio recorded and transcribed, observer recorded, and analyzed to identify recurring trends and patterns among focus groups. Content analysis consisted of coding focus group transcripts for recurrent themes and review of data by an independent reviewer to confirm the themes. Emerging themes were categorized as healthy lifestyle opinions within the social cognitive theory constructs of personal and environmental determinants and curriculum content. LMD youth recognized a healthy eating pattern and that overweight and obesity result from poor eating habits and physical inactivity. Children's food intake pattern did not reflect this understanding, suggesting a need for culturally tailoring an intervention to impact the poor food intake and physical inactivity in two low-income African-American Delta communities.

Characteristics and phylogeny of Bacillus cereus strains isolated from Maari, a traditional West African food condiment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorsen, Line; Kando, Christine Kere; Sawadogo, Hagrétou

2015-01-01

light on the succession and pathogenic potential of B. cereus species in traditional West African food condiment and clarifies their phylogenetic relatedness to B. cereus biovar anthracis. Future implementation of GMP and HACCP and development of starter cultures for controlled Maari fermentations...

A South African study of consumers' perceptions of food labels and its relevance to their purchasing behaviour / R. Klein

OpenAIRE

Klein, Riana

2005-01-01

BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION: This study had been motivated by the lack of existing data on South African consumers' perceptions of food labels and its relevance to purchasing behaviour. In order to gather this information it is important to understand consumers and their purchasing behaviour so that these could be translated into food label characteristics to implement consumer-oriented label development (Sijtsema et al., 2002:565). Consumers' purchasing behaviour is influenc...

From lesser-known to super vegetables: the growing profile of African traditional leafy vegetables in promoting food security and wellness.

Science.gov (United States)

Aworh, Ogugua C

2018-08-01

There are hundreds of traditional leafy vegetables and wild food plants of horticultural and nutritional significance in Africa. These lesser-known crops and wild food plants that are highly adapted to harsh growing conditions thrive with little care and are available when other sources of food fail or are out of season. They are rich in micronutrients and are often the cheapest sources of many essential vitamins and minerals in many localities. Many of them are very important functional foods in African traditional diets and are rich in nutraceuticals, including polyphenols, tannins, flavonoids and flavonols, that exert demonstrable antioxidant, free radical scavenging and enzyme inhibition activities and have antimicrobial properties that provide scientific justification and possible mechanisms for their use in the management of a wide range of ailments, including diet-related, non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. African traditional leafy vegetables are invaluable in promoting food security and wellness in Africa on account of their availability and affordability, their great nutritional value, chemotherapeutic and health-promoting properties and other unique qualities. Long recognised by the rural populace as quality food items, they are becoming more popular even with the more affluent urban elites. There is the need to develop improved management practices for these super vegetables to promote their cultivation and boost their exploitation for food security and wellness in Africa. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

Relationship between home fruit and vegetable availability and infant and maternal dietary intake in African-American families: evidence from the exhaustive home food inventory.

Science.gov (United States)

Bryant, Maria; Stevens, June; Wang, Lily; Tabak, Rachel; Borja, Judith; Bentley, Margaret E

2011-10-01

The availability of foods in the home is likely to be related to consumption. We know of no studies that have reported this association in African-American participants, and few studies have examined home food availability using objective methods. This study aimed to assess the association between objective measures of fruits and vegetables in the home with reported infant and maternal diet in low-income African Americans. A cross-sectional study design was used to compare food availability and dietary intake. The Exhaustive Home Food Availability Inventory used barcode scanning to measure food availability in the home. Maternal and infant diet was assessed by 24-hour recall. Eighty African-American first-time mother/infant dyads were recruited from Wake and Durham counties in North Carolina. Adjusted mean dietary intake of infants and mothers was calculated within tertiles of food and nutrient availability using analysis of variance. The bootstrap method was used to estimate P values and 95% confidence intervals. Models were adjusted for mother's age, household size, shopping and eating-out behavior. Infants and mothers living in homes in the highest tertile of availability of energy, nutrients, and fruits and vegetables tended to have the highest consumption, respectively; however, statistically significant associations were more likely to occur with infant diet than maternal diet. The relationship was strongest for infant consumption of fruit, with an average of 103.3 g consumed by infants who lived in homes in the highest tertile of availability, compared to 42.5 g in those living in homes in the lowest tertile (P<0.05). Availability of fruits and vegetables in the home was associated with intake of those foods in a sample of African-American mothers and infants. Results support making changes in the home environment as a method of promoting changes in fruit and vegetable intake. Copyright © 2011 American Dietetic Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All

The impact of conventional dietary intake data coding methods on foods typically consumed by low-income African-American and White urban populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Mason, Marc A; Fanelli Kuczmarski, Marie; Allegro, Deanne; Zonderman, Alan B; Evans, Michele K

2015-08-01

Analysing dietary data to capture how individuals typically consume foods is dependent on the coding variables used. Individual foods consumed simultaneously, like coffee with milk, are given codes to identify these combinations. Our literature review revealed a lack of discussion about using combination codes in analysis. The present study identified foods consumed at mealtimes and by race when combination codes were or were not utilized. Duplicate analysis methods were performed on separate data sets. The original data set consisted of all foods reported; each food was coded as if it was consumed individually. The revised data set was derived from the original data set by first isolating coded foods consumed as individual items from those foods consumed simultaneously and assigning a code to designate a combination. Foods assigned a combination code, like pancakes with syrup, were aggregated and associated with a food group, defined by the major food component (i.e. pancakes), and then appended to the isolated coded foods. Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span study. African-American and White adults with two dietary recalls (n 2177). Differences existed in lists of foods most frequently consumed by mealtime and race when comparing results based on original and revised data sets. African Americans reported consumption of sausage/luncheon meat and poultry, while ready-to-eat cereals and cakes/doughnuts/pastries were reported by Whites on recalls. Use of combination codes provided more accurate representation of how foods were consumed by populations. This information is beneficial when creating interventions and exploring diet-health relationships.

Content of a novel online collection of traditional east African food habits (1930s-1960s): data collected by the Max-Planck-Nutrition Research Unit, Bumbuli, Tanzania.

Science.gov (United States)

Raschke, Verena; Oltersdorf, Ulrich; Elmadfa, Ibrahim; Wahlqvist, Mark L; Cheema, Birinder Sb; Kouris-Blazos, Antigone

2007-01-01

Knowledge of traditional African foods and food habits has been, and continues to be, systematically extirpated. With the primary intent of collating data for our online collection documenting traditional African foods and food habits (available at: www.healthyeatingclub.com/Africa/), we reviewed the Oltersdorf Collection, 75 observational investigations conducted throughout East Africa (i.e. Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda) between the 1930s and 1960s as compiled by the Max Planck Nutrition Research Unit, formerly located in Bumbuli, Tanzania. Data were categorized as follows: (1) food availability, (2) chemical composition, (3) staple foods (i.e. native crops, cereals, legumes, roots and tubers, vegetables, fruits, spices, oils and fats, beverages, and animal foods), (4) food preparation and culture, and (5) nutrient intake and health status indicators. Many of the traditional foods identified, including millet, sorghum, various legumes, root and tubers, green leafy vegetables, plant oils and wild meats have known health benefits. Food preparatory practices during this period, including boiling and occasional roasting are superior to current practices which favor frying and deep-frying. Overall, our review and data extraction provide reason to believe that a diversified diet was possible for the people of East Africa during this period (1930s-1960s). There is a wealth of knowledge pertaining to traditional East African foods and food habits within the Oltersdorf Collection. These data are currently available via our online collection. Future efforts should contribute to collating and honing knowledge of traditional foods and food habits within this region, and indeed throughout the rest of Africa. Preserving and disseminating this knowledge may be crucial for abating projected trends for non-communicable diseases and malnutrition in Africa and abroad.

Studies on the use of gamma rays in preservation and storage of african sorghum grains

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Botros, H.W.

1996-01-01

Grains are stored in large quantities all over the world and form the bases of human food supply. The amount of post harvest losses of food especially food grain is considered to be highest on be highest on the african continent,where preservation and storage are poorly managed. As a result, increasing numbers of less developed countries in africa are suffering from problems of hunger and malnutrition (Paster and Berck, 1993). One of the most important world cereal is sorghum, where it represents the fourth world cereal following wheat, rice and maize. It is an essential food in the drier parts of tropical africa, india and china. According to the FAO production yearbook (1992), about 22.25% of the total world production of sorghum grains is produced in africa, whereas, sudan produces 27.5% of the total african production . In the developed countries sorghum is used as a source of feed for birds, cattle, and sheep, but in the poor countries, as in african countries, the above uses are rare because sorghum is mainly used for human consumption.14 tab., 9 figs.,169 ref

Collaboration with East African security organisations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nordby, Johannes Riber; Jacobsen, Katja L.

2012-01-01

of the concept. At the same time the three organisations represent different constellations of member nations and thus different national interests, and locally they have different legitimacy and political strength. Thus, when choosing collaboration partners for a security project it is not simply a question......When it comes to understanding the concept of security and the way fragile security situations should be solved, the difference is big. While EASF – the East African Standby Force – is a regular military force with a rather traditional, military perception of the concept of security, EAC (East...... African Community) and IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) have broader perceptions of the concept. According to EAC, security also concerns matters such as policy reform, legislation, education and infrastructure. IGAD considers food security and environmental and economic issues as part...

Food and Beverage Availability in Small Food Stores Located in Healthy Food Financing Initiative Eligible Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yu; Duran, Ana Clara; Zenk, Shannon N.; Odoms-Young, Angela; Powell, Lisa M.

2017-01-01

Food deserts are a major public health concern. This study aimed to assess food and beverage availability in four underserved communities eligible to receive funding from the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI). Data analyzed are part of a quasi-experimental study evaluating the impact of the HFFI on the retail food environment in selected Illinois communities. In 2015, 127 small grocery and limited service stores located in the four selected communities were audited. All communities had a large percentage of low-income and African-American residents. Differences in food and beverage item availability (e.g., produce, milk, bread, snack foods) were examined by store type and community location. Food stores had, on average, 1.8 fresh fruit and 2.9 fresh vegetable options. About 12% of stores sold low-fat milk while 86% sold whole milk. Only 12% of stores offered 100% whole wheat bread compared to 84% of stores offering white bread. Almost all (97%) stores offered soda and/or fruit juice. In summary, we found limited availability of healthier food and beverage items in the communities identified for HFFI support. Follow up findings will address how the introduction of new HFFI-supported supermarkets will affect food and beverage availability in these communities over time. PMID:29057794

Food and Beverage Availability in Small Food Stores Located in Healthy Food Financing Initiative Eligible Communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Singleton, Chelsea R; Li, Yu; Duran, Ana Clara; Zenk, Shannon N; Odoms-Young, Angela; Powell, Lisa M

2017-10-18

Food deserts are a major public health concern. This study aimed to assess food and beverage availability in four underserved communities eligible to receive funding from the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI). Data analyzed are part of a quasi-experimental study evaluating the impact of the HFFI on the retail food environment in selected Illinois communities. In 2015, 127 small grocery and limited service stores located in the four selected communities were audited. All communities had a large percentage of low-income and African-American residents. Differences in food and beverage item availability (e.g., produce, milk, bread, snack foods) were examined by store type and community location. Food stores had, on average, 1.8 fresh fruit and 2.9 fresh vegetable options. About 12% of stores sold low-fat milk while 86% sold whole milk. Only 12% of stores offered 100% whole wheat bread compared to 84% of stores offering white bread. Almost all (97%) stores offered soda and/or fruit juice. In summary, we found limited availability of healthier food and beverage items in the communities identified for HFFI support. Follow up findings will address how the introduction of new HFFI-supported supermarkets will affect food and beverage availability in these communities over time.

Food and Beverage Availability in Small Food Stores Located in Healthy Food Financing Initiative Eligible Communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chelsea R. Singleton

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Food deserts are a major public health concern. This study aimed to assess food and beverage availability in four underserved communities eligible to receive funding from the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI. Data analyzed are part of a quasi-experimental study evaluating the impact of the HFFI on the retail food environment in selected Illinois communities. In 2015, 127 small grocery and limited service stores located in the four selected communities were audited. All communities had a large percentage of low-income and African-American residents. Differences in food and beverage item availability (e.g., produce, milk, bread, snack foods were examined by store type and community location. Food stores had, on average, 1.8 fresh fruit and 2.9 fresh vegetable options. About 12% of stores sold low-fat milk while 86% sold whole milk. Only 12% of stores offered 100% whole wheat bread compared to 84% of stores offering white bread. Almost all (97% stores offered soda and/or fruit juice. In summary, we found limited availability of healthier food and beverage items in the communities identified for HFFI support. Follow up findings will address how the introduction of new HFFI-supported supermarkets will affect food and beverage availability in these communities over time.

Current applications of probiotic foods in Africa | Ukeyima | African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... microorganisms is receiving increasing attention. Various indigenous fermented foods containing probiotic bacteria have been part of local diet in Africa due to reported medicinal properties they possess. However, the usual challenge confronting the commercialization of the probiotic beverage drinks in Africa is the safety ...

Bioaccumulation and trophic transfer of mercury and selenium in african sub-tropical fluvial reservoirs food webs (Burkina Faso.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ousséni Ouédraogo

Full Text Available The bioaccumulation and biomagnification of mercury (Hg and selenium (Se were investigated in sub-tropical freshwater food webs from Burkina Faso, West Africa, a region where very few ecosystem studies on contaminants have been performed. During the 2010 rainy season, samples of water, sediment, fish, zooplankton, and mollusks were collected from three water reservoirs and analysed for total Hg (THg, methylmercury (MeHg, and total Se (TSe. Ratios of δ13C and δ15N were measured to determine food web structures and patterns of contaminant accumulation and transfer to fish. Food chain lengths (FCLs were calculated using mean δ15N of all primary consumer taxa collected as the site-specific baseline. We report relatively low concentrations of THg and TSe in most fish. We also found in all studied reservoirs short food chain lengths, ranging from 3.3 to 3.7, with most fish relying on a mixture of pelagic and littoral sources for their diet. Mercury was biomagnified in fish food webs with an enrichment factor ranging from 2.9 to 6.5 for THg and from 2.9 to 6.6 for MeHg. However, there was no evidence of selenium biomagnification in these food webs. An inverse relationship was observed between adjusted δ15N and log-transformed Se:Hg ratios, indicating that Se has a lesser protective effect in top predators, which are also the most contaminated animals with respect to MeHg. Trophic position, carbon source, and fish total length were the factors best explaining Hg concentration in fish. In a broader comparison of our study sites with literature data for other African lakes, the THg biomagnification rate was positively correlated with FCL. We conclude that these reservoir systems from tropical Western Africa have low Hg biomagnification associated with short food chains. This finding may partly explain low concentrations of Hg commonly reported in fish from this area.

Consumption of processed food dietary patterns in four African populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Holmes, Michelle D; Dalal, Shona; Sewram, Vikash; Diamond, Megan B; Adebamowo, Sally N; Ajayi, Ikeoluwapo O; Adebamowo, Clement; Chiwanga, Faraja S; Njelekela, Marina; Laurence, Carien; Volmink, Jimmy; Bajunirwe, Francis; Nankya-Mutyoba, Joan; Guwatudde, David; Reid, Todd G; Willett, Walter C; Adami, Hans-Olov; Fung, Teresa T

2018-06-01

To identify predominant dietary patterns in four African populations and examine their association with obesity. Cross-sectional study.Setting/SubjectsWe used data from the Africa/Harvard School of Public Health Partnership for Cohort Research and Training (PaCT) pilot study established to investigate the feasibility of a multi-country longitudinal study of non-communicable chronic disease in sub-Saharan Africa. We applied principal component analysis to dietary intake data collected from an FFQ developed for PaCT to ascertain dietary patterns in Tanzania, South Africa, and peri-urban and rural Uganda. The sample consisted of 444 women and 294 men. We identified two dietary patterns: the Mixed Diet pattern characterized by high intakes of unprocessed foods such as vegetables and fresh fish, but also cold cuts and refined grains; and the Processed Diet pattern characterized by high intakes of salad dressing, cold cuts and sweets. Women in the highest tertile of the Processed Diet pattern score were 3·00 times more likely to be overweight (95 % CI 1·66, 5·45; prevalence=74 %) and 4·24 times more likely to be obese (95 % CI 2·23, 8·05; prevalence=44 %) than women in this pattern's lowest tertile (both Pobesity. We identified two major dietary patterns in several African populations, a Mixed Diet pattern and a Processed Diet pattern. The Processed Diet pattern was associated with obesity.

Characteristics of the South African Food Composition Database, an ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

part of the tools needed by nutrition professionals when they plan to translate dietary intake data .... Thousands of food items are available on the market in South. Africa. From a ... database. In South Africa, we have not yet had the luxury of nationally ..... information is needed, e.g. for intervention trials when the effect of a.

Characteristics of Youth Food Preparation in Low-Income, African American Homes: Associations with Healthy Eating Index Scores.

Science.gov (United States)

Sattler, Melissa; Hopkins, Laura; Anderson Steeves, Elizabeth; Cristello, Angelica; Mccloskey, Morgan; Gittelsohn, Joel; Hurley, Kristen

2015-01-01

This study explores food preparation behaviors, including types of food prepared, methods of preparation, and frequency of preparation of low-income urban African American youth ages 9-15 in Baltimore City (n = 289) and analyzes a potential association to diet quality as measured through Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI) scores. Overall, the youth prepared their own food 6.7 ± 0.33 times per week without significant differences between age groups or genders as measured through pairwise comparison of means. Cereal, noodles, and sandwiches were amongst the foods prepared most frequently. Linear regression analysis found youth food preparation frequency was not significantly associated with total HEI (p = 0.59), sodium (p = 0.58), empty calories (p = 0.96), or dairy scores (p = 0.12). Younger age was associated with higher total HEI scores (p = 0.012) and higher dairy scores (p = 0.01) and female gender was associated with higher total HEI scores (p = 0.03), higher sodium scores (p = 0.03), and lower dairy scores (p = 0.008).

Food and Development

African Journals Online (AJOL)

issue, but also food is perhaps the most important development issue, if not global issue, of our time, ... Other boxes include the pet food market, genetically modified (GM) crops, land grabs, the financialisation of food,. African bean sauces ...

Exploring the relationships among food insecurity, alcohol use, and sexual risk taking among men and women living in South African townships.

Science.gov (United States)

Eaton, Lisa A; Cain, Demetria N; Pitpitan, Eileen V; Carey, Kate B; Carey, Michael P; Mehlomakulu, Vuyelwa; Simbayi, Leickness C; Mwaba, Kelvin; Kalichman, Seth C

2014-08-01

South African townships have among the highest rates of HIV infection in the world. Considerable research on understanding the high rates of HIV transmission in this country has identified alcohol use as a critical factor in driving the HIV epidemic. Although the relationship between alcohol use and sexual risk-taking is well documented, less is known about how other factors, such as food insecurity, might be important in understanding alcohol's role in sexual risk-taking. Furthermore, prior research has highlighted how patterns of alcohol use and sexual risk-taking tend to vary by gender. We examined how food insecurity is related to both alcohol use and sexual risk-taking. We administered anonymous community surveys to men (n = 1,137) and women (n = 458) residing within four contiguous Black African townships outside of Cape Town, South Africa. In multivariate linear regression, we found that food insecurity was related to having higher numbers of male sex partners and condom-protected sex acts among women only. These relationships, however, were fully mediated by women's alcohol use. Among men, we found that food insecurity was negatively related to unprotected sex; that is, men with greater food security reported more unprotected sex acts. Unlike the results found among women, this relationship was not mediated by alcohol use. Food insecurity appears to be an important factor in understanding patterns of sexual risk-taking in regards to gender and alcohol use, and may serve as an important point of intervention for reducing HIV transmission rates.

Food product prices and its implications for food security in Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFRICAN RESEARCH ... The study examined the prices of food products and its implications for food security in Nigeria. Data was ... The study show that food price inflation is caused by frequent hike in the prices of ...

9 CFR 315.2 - Carcasses and parts passed for cooking; utilization for food purposes after cooking.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Carcasses and parts passed for cooking; utilization for food purposes after cooking. 315.2 Section 315.2 Animals and Animal Products FOOD SAFETY AND... PARTS PASSED FOR COOKING § 315.2 Carcasses and parts passed for cooking; utilization for food purposes...

The microbiota of Lafun, an african traditional cassava food product

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Padonou, Sègla Wilfrid; Nielsen, Dennis Sandris; Hounhouigan, Joseph D.

2009-01-01

Lafun is a fermented cassava food product consumed in parts of West Africa. In the present work the microorganisms (aerobic bacteria (AB), lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts) associated with the fermentation of Lafun under traditional conditions have for the first time been studied using a com...

Laboratory investigation of daily food intake and gut evacuation in larvae of African catfish Clarias gariepinus under different feeding conditions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

García-Ortega, A.; Verreth, J.A.J.; Vermis, K.; Nelis, H.J.; Sorgeloos, P.; Verstegen, M.W.A.

2010-01-01

Abstract Temporary accumulation of ascorbic acid 2-sulfate (AAS) was measured to estimate food intake and gut evacuation in larvae of African catfish. Fish larvae were fed decapsulated cysts of Artemia containing AAS. In a first experiment it was found that no biosynthesis of AAS occurs in the

7 CFR Appendix A to Part 225 - Alternate Foods for Meals

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE CHILD NUTRITION PROGRAMS SUMMER FOOD SERVICE PROGRAM Pt. 225, App. A Appendix A to Part 225... produced from plant or animal sources. b. The biological quality of the protein in the alternate protein...

7 CFR Appendix A to Part 226 - Alternate Foods for Meals

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE CHILD NUTRITION PROGRAMS CHILD AND ADULT CARE FOOD PROGRAM Pt. 226, App. A Appendix A to Part 226... produced from plant or animal sources. b. The biological quality of the protein in the alternate protein...

AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC REVIEW

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Dr Kazungu

African Journal of Economic Review, Volume IV, Issue 1, January 2016 ... infant mortality rates in 31 selected sub-Saharan African countries for the .... Also, declines in nutritional status as a result of upsurge in food prices may cause poor birth ..... Deaton, A. (1989) 'Rice Prices and Income Distribution in Thailand: A Non- ...

African Journals Online: Biology & Life Sciences

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 1 - 50 of 71 ... African Journal for Physical Activity and Health Sciences ... in the promotion of scientific proceedings and publications in developing countries. ... and proteomics, food and agricultural technologies, and metabolic engineering. ... The African Journal of Chemical Education (AJCE) is a biannual online journal ...

The important role of food composition in policies and programmes for better public health: A South African case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Schönfeldt, Hettie C; Hall, Nicolette; Pretorius, B

2018-01-01

Most governments have committed to the set of Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations (UN) to be achieved by 2030. Subsequently the governments have drafted, or are in process of drafting, policies and programmes which aim to answer to these global requests. South Africa provides a unique case study: despite economic growth, undernutrition has not improved when compared to other industrialised nations, while at the same time, diet-related non-communicable diseases and obesity have exponentially increased. Access to healthy food is a constitutional right of all South Africans, and towards increasing food security and improving population health, various policies, programmes and regulations have been developed and implemented by the government to rectify the situation. The paper presents an overview of food composition within these public health policies, programmes and regulations and unpacks the important role of accurate food composition data. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

INVESTIGATION OF b-VALUE VARIATIONS IN THE AFRICAN AND PARTS OF EURASIAN PLATES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Awoyemi, M. O.

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Numerous earthquakes have occurred along the collision zones of the African and parts of Eurasian plates. Some of these earthquakes along these zones have generated tsunamis. To mitigate this hazard, knowledge of b-values of the Gutenberg – Richter relation for tectonic earthquakes in the African and parts of Eurasian plates is essential. The temporal variations of b-values were evaluated using sliding time windows with each window containing a total of 100 events with a view to utilizing the results as a precursor for the earthquake occurrence. The spatial variation of b-values of the study area was also delineated by dividing it into grids and calculating the b-values for each grid using constant radius and constant number of events. Results obtained from the temporal variation of b-values showed that earthquakes of large magnitudes occurred when the b-values were low while earthquakes of small magnitudes occurred when the b-values were high throughout the study period. The results of the spatial distribution of b-values also showed that earthquakes of large magnitudes occurred in areas of low b-values while earthquakes of small magnitudes occurred in areas of high b-values. The study therefore concluded that the temporal and spatial variations of b-values might be considered as a precursor for earthquake prediction.

An Urban Food Store Intervention Positively Affects Food-Related Psychosocial Variables and Food Behaviors

Science.gov (United States)

Gittelsohn, Joel; Song, Hee-Jung; Suratkar, Sonali; Kumar, Mohan B.; Henry, Elizabeth G.; Sharma, Sangita; Mattingly, Megan; Anliker, Jean A.

2010-01-01

Obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases are more prevalent in low-income urban areas, which commonly have limited access to healthy foods. The authors implemented an intervention trial in nine food stores, including two supermarkets and seven corner stores, in a low-income, predominantly African American area of Baltimore City, with a…

Distance to Store, Food Prices, and Obesity in Urban Food Deserts

Science.gov (United States)

Ghosh-Dastidar, Bonnie; Cohen, Deborah; Hunter, Gerald; Zenk, Shannon N.; Huang, Christina; Beckman, Robin; Dubowitz, Tamara

2014-01-01

Background Lack of access to healthy foods may explain why residents of low-income neighborhoods and African Americans in the U.S. have high rates of obesity. The findings on where people shop and how that may influence health are mixed. However, multiple policy initiatives are underway to increase access in communities that currently lack healthy options. Few studies have simultaneously measured obesity, distance, and prices of the store used for primary food shopping. Purpose To examine the relationship among distance to store, food prices, and obesity. Methods The Pittsburgh Hill/Homewood Research on Eating, Shopping, and Health study conducted baseline interviews with 1,372 households between May and December 2011 in two low-income, majority African American neighborhoods without a supermarket. Audits of 16 stores where participants reported doing their major food shopping were conducted. Data were analyzed between February 2012 and February 2013. Results Distance to store and prices were positively associated with obesity (pfood prices were jointly modeled, only prices remained significant (pjunk foods relative to healthy foods. Conclusions Placing supermarkets in food deserts to improve access may not be as important as simultaneously offering better prices for healthy foods relative to junk foods, actively marketing healthy foods, and enabling consumers to resist the influence of junk food marketing. PMID:25217097

Food security

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ridder, M. de

2011-01-01

Food security is back on the agenda as a top priority for policy makers. In January 2011, record high food prices resulted in protests in Tunisia, which subsequently led to the spread of the revolutions in other North African and Middle Eastern countries. Although experts have asserted that no

The African agent discovered: The recognition and involvement of the African biblical interpreter in Bible translation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S V Coertze

2008-05-01

Full Text Available This article explores the extent to which the role of the African biblical interpreter is acknowledged in the process of Bible translation, as the Bible and Bible translation form an important part of the establishment of the African church on the continent of Africa. It points out that even though foreign discovery of African agency in Bible translation is evident, indigenous discovery of the same is largely absent. Part of the relevance of this article is for the African church to own and be actively involved in the translation of the Bible into the remaining African languages that are in need of a translation of the Bible.

Dietary Fat and Vitamin E in Prostate Cancer Risk Among African Americans and Africans: A Case-Control Study

Science.gov (United States)

2007-02-01

ns ɘ.001 Table 5: Pattern of consumption of ice cream, yogurt , salad dressing & mayonnaise in the past three months by ethnic subgroup...Food Item African- Americans African Migrants African Nigerians Total 947 p-value Ice Cream/ Yogurt Regular Low fat Fat...p-value Corn Flour 200 (80.6) 35 (60.3) 537 (83.8) 771 (81.4) ɘ.001 Corn Flour Form Corn Bread Corn Pudding * Fermented Pudding

Determinants of Early Introduction of Solid, Semi-Solid or Soft Foods among Infants Aged 3–5 Months in Four Anglophone West African Countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abukari I. Issaka

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This study was conducted to explore and identify factors associated with the practice of early introduction of solid, semi-solid or soft foods among infants aged 3–5 months in four Anglophone West African countries. Data sources for the analyses were the latest Demographic and Health Survey datasets of the 4 countries, namely Ghana (GDHS, 2008, Liberia (LDHS, 2007, Nigeria (NDHS, 2013 and Sierra Leone (SLDHS, 2008. Multiple logistic regression methods were used to analyze the factors associated with early introduction of solid, semi-solid or soft foods among infants aged 3–5 months, using individual-, household- and community-level determinants. The sample consisted of 2447 infants aged 3–5 months from four Anglophone West African countries: 166 in Ghana, 263 in Liberia, 1658 in Nigeria and 360 in Sierra Leone. Multivariable analyses revealed the individual factors associated with early introduction of solid, semi-solid or soft foods in these countries. These included increased infant’s age, diarrhea, acute respiratory infection and newborns perceived to be small by their mothers. Other predictors of early introduction of solid, semi-solid or soft foods were: mothers with no schooling, young mothers and fathers who worked in an agricultural industry. Public health interventions to improve exclusive breastfeeding practices by discouraging early introduction of solid, semi-solid or soft foods are needed in all 4 countries, targeting especially mothers at risk of introducing solid foods to their infants early.

Framework for supporting countries to address the food crisis and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Framework for supporting countries to address the food crisis and malnutrition in the African region. ... African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development ... Protection of vulnerable groups; and Evidence- based interventions.

Does race matters in consumers' stated preferences for water and carbon footprints labelled food products? Insights from black and white South Africans

Science.gov (United States)

Owusu-Sekyere, Enoch; Jordaan, Henry

2017-04-01

In recent years, governments, policy-makers, and managers of private food companies and agribusinesses are interested in understanding how consumers will react to environmentally sustainable attributes and information on food product labels. This study examines consumers' stated preferences for water and carbon footprints labelled food products from the viewpoint of black and white South Africans. Discrete choice experimental data was collected from black and white consumers to possibly assess cross-ethnic variations in preferences for environmentally sustainable products. Two widely purchased livestock products were chosen for the choice experiment. We found that consumers' preferences for environmentally sustainable attributes vary significantly between black and white South Africans. Our findings revealed that there are profound heterogeneous consumer segments within black and white respondents. The heterogeneity within both sub-samples is better explained at the segment level, rather than at individual level. For both product categories, the findings revealed that there are more distinct consumer segments among black respondents, relative to white respondents. The black respondents consist of water sustainability advocates, carbon reduction advocates, keen environmentalist and environmental neutrals. The white respondents entail keen environmentalist, environmental cynics, and environmental neutrals. The inherent significant variations in preferences for environmentally sustainable attributes across segments and racial groups would help in formulating feasible, and segment-specific environmental sustainability policies and marketing strategies aimed at changing consumers' attitude towards environmentally sustainable products. Demographic targeting of consumer segments, sustainability awareness and segment-specific educational campaigns meant to enhance subjective and objective knowledge on environmental sustainability are important tools for food companies and

Decomposing Racial Disparities in Obesity Prevalence: Variations in Retail Food Environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Singleton, Chelsea R; Affuso, Olivia; Sen, Bisakha

2016-03-01

Racial disparities in obesity exist at the individual and community levels. Retail food environment has been hypothesized to be associated with racial disparities in obesity prevalence. This study aimed to quantify how much food environment measures explain racial disparities in obesity at the county level. Data from 2009 to 2010 on 3,135 U.S. counties were extracted from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Environment Atlas and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and analyzed in 2013. Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition was used to quantify the portion of the gap in adult obesity prevalence observed between counties with a high and low proportion of African-American residents is explained by food environment measures (e.g., proximity to grocery stores, per capita fast-food restaurants). Counties were considered to have a high African-American population if the percentage of African-American residents was >13.1%, which represents the 2010 U.S. Census national estimate of percentage African-American citizens. There were 665 counties (21%) classified as a high African-American county. The total gap in mean adult obesity prevalence between high and low African-American counties was found to be 3.35 percentage points (32.98% vs 29.63%). Retail food environment measures explained 13.81% of the gap in mean age-adjusted adult obesity prevalence. Retail food environment explains a proportion of the gap in adult obesity prevalence observed between counties with a high proportion of African-American residents and counties with a low proportion of African-American residents. Copyright © 2016 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Food Safety: an Integral Part of Food Security

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kilian, Lizette

2012-01-01

In recent years, many countries have developed integrated and harmonized food safety and quality control guidelines in accordance with national legislation and international standards to protect the health of consumers. But food safety standards alone are not enough. Radiation technology can complement and supplement existing technologies to ensure food security, safety and quality.

How dietary intake has been assessed in African countries? A systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Vila-Real, Catarina; Pimenta-Martins, Ana; Gomes, Ana Maria; Pinto, Elisabete; Maina, Ndegwa Henry

2018-04-13

Dietary patterns are often considered as one of the main causes of non-communicable diseases worldwide. It is of utmost importance to study dietary habits in developing countries since this work is scarce. To summarize the most recent research conducted in this field in African countries, namely the most used methodologies and tools. A systematic review was conducted on MEDLINE®/PubMed, aiming to identify scientific publications focused on studies of dietary intake of different African populations, in a ten-year period. Papers not written in English/Portuguese/Spanish, studies developed among African people but not developed in African countries, studies aiming to assess a particular nutrient/specific food/food toxin and studies that assessed dietary intake among children were excluded. Out of 99 included studies, the 24-hour recall and the food-frequency questionnaire were the most used dietary intake assessment tools, used to assess diet at an individual level. It was also observed that often country-unspecific food composition databases are used, and the methodologies employed are poorly validated and standardized. There is an emergent need to improve the existing food databases by updating food data and to develop suitable country-specific databases for those that do not have their own food composition table.

Food security for Africa: an urgent global challenge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sasson Albert

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract In 2012, food insecurity is still a major global concern as 1 billion people are suffering from starvation, under-, and malnutrition, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO has concluded that we are still far from reaching millennium development goal (MDG number 1: to halve extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people suffering from hunger is estimated at 239 million, and this figure could increase in the near future. There are many examples of food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa, some of them having reached catastrophic dimensions, for example, in the Horn of Africa or southern Madagascar. Food insecurity is not just about insufficient food production, availability, and intake, it is also about the poor quality or nutritional value of the food. The detrimental situation of women and children is particularly serious, as well as the situation among female teenagers, who receive less food than their male counterparts in the same households. Soaring food prices and food riots are among the many symptoms of the prevailing food crisis and insecurity. Climate change and weather vagaries, present and forecast, are generally compounding food insecurity and drastically changing farming activities, as diagnosed by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR in June 2011. The key cause of food insecurity is inadequate food production. Since the global food crisis of 2007–2008, there has been an increasing awareness throughout the world that we must produce more and better food; and we should not be derailed from this goal, despite some relief brought by the good cereal harvests in 2011–2012. This is particularly true in sub-Saharan Africa, which needs and wants to make its own green revolution. The African challenge indeed is key to mitigating food insecurity in the world. Commitments were made by the heads of states and governments of the African Union

Tipping the balance: use of advergames to promote consumption of nutritious foods and beverages by low-income African American children.

Science.gov (United States)

Pempek, Tiffany A; Calvert, Sandra L

2009-07-01

To examine how advergames, which are online computer games developed to market a product, affect consumption of healthier and less healthy snacks by low-income African American children. Cross-sectional, between-subjects examination of an advergame in which children were rewarded for having their computer character consume healthier or less healthy foods and beverages. Children were randomly assigned to 1 of the following 3 conditions: (1) the healthier advergame condition, (2) the less healthy advergame condition, or (3) the control condition. Urban public elementary schools. Thirty low-income, African American children aged 9 to 10 years. Main Exposure Children in the treatment conditions played a less healthy or a healthier version of an advergame 2 times before choosing and eating a snack and completing the experimental measures. Children in the control group chose and ate a snack before playing the game and completing the measures. The number of healthier snack items children selected and ate and how much children liked the game. Children who played the healthier version of the advergame selected and ate significantly more healthy snacks than did those who played the less healthy version. Children reported liking the advergame. Findings suggest that concerns about online advergames that market unhealthy foods are justified. However, advergames may also be used to promote healthier foods and beverages. This kind of social marketing approach could tip the scales toward the selection of higher-quality snacks, thereby helping to curb the obesity epidemic.

Migration as a turning point in food habits: the early phase of dietary acculturation among women from South Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Countries living in Norway.

Science.gov (United States)

Terragni, Laura; Garnweidner, Lisa M; Pettersen, Kjell Sverre; Mosdøl, Annhild

2014-01-01

This article explores the early phase of dietary acculturation after migration. South Asian, African and Middle Eastern women (N = 21) living in Norway were interviewed about their early experiences with food in a new context. The findings pointed to abrupt changes in food habits in the first period after migration. To various degrees, women reported unfamiliarity with foods in shops, uncertainty about meal formats and food preparation and fear of eating food prohibited by their religion. Their food consumption tended to be restricted to food items perceived as familiar or safe. Our findings indicate that the first period after migration represents a specific phase in the process of dietary acculturation. Early initiatives aimed at enhancing confidence in food and familiarity with the new food culture are recommended.

Regional disaster risk management strategies for food security: Probing Southern African Development Community channels for influencing national policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Happy M. Tirivangasi

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Natural disasters and food insecurity are directly interconnected. Climate change related hazards such as floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, droughts and other risks can weaken food security and severely impact agricultural activities. Consequently, this has an impact on market access, trade, food supply, reduced income, increased food prices, decreased farm income and employment. Natural disasters create poverty, which in turn increases the prevalence of food insecurity and malnutrition. It is clear that disasters put food security at risk. The poorest people in the community are affected by food insecurity and disasters; hence, there is a need to be prepared as well as be in a position to manage disasters. Without serious efforts to address them, the risks of disasters will become an increasingly serious obstacle to sustainable development and the achievement of sustainable development goals, particularly goal number 2 ‘end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture’. In recent years, countries in southern Africa have experienced an increase in the frequency, magnitude and impact of climate change–related hazards such as droughts, veld fire, depleting water resources and flood events. This research aims to reveal Southern African Development Community disaster risk management strategies for food security to see how they an influence and shape policy at the national level in southern Africa. Sustainable Livelihood approach was adopted as the main theoretical framework for the study. The qualitative Analysis is based largely on data from databases such as national reports, regional reports and empirical findings on the disaster management–sustainable development nexus.

The Concept of African Pianism Emmanuel Boamah1 Abstract ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

of the piano make it an ideal medium for expressing the rhythmic and percussive ... African Pianism describes the approach of composition that combines. African ..... climate, even our food, should have some secret to impart to us which.

ABOUT FOOD ADDITIVES AS IMPORTANT PART OF FUNCTIONAL FOOD

OpenAIRE

Umida Khodjaeva; Tatiana Bojňanská; Vladimír Vietoris; Oksana Sytar

2013-01-01

The main characteristics and classification of food additives, which are common in the food production, have been described in the present review. The ways of food additives classification, source of nature, main antioxidants, food colouring, flavours, flavor enhancers, bulking agents, stabilizers, sweeteners which were collected from literature based on structural and biochemical characteristics with description of source and possible effects on human, organisms and environment have been pre...

ABOUT FOOD ADDITIVES AS IMPORTANT PART OF FUNCTIONAL FOOD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Umida Khodjaeva

2013-02-01

Full Text Available The main characteristics and classification of food additives, which are common in the food production, have been described in the present review. The ways of food additives classification, source of nature, main antioxidants, food colouring, flavours, flavor enhancers, bulking agents, stabilizers, sweeteners which were collected from literature based on structural and biochemical characteristics with description of source and possible effects on human, organisms and environment have been presented.

Food safety objective: an integral part of food chain management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gorris, L.G.M.

2005-01-01

The concept of food safety objective has been proposed to provide a target for operational food safety management, leaving flexibility in the way equivalent food safety levels are achieved by different food chains. The concept helps to better relate operational food safety management to public

African Studies as a Part of Philologists' Professional Training in the USA

Science.gov (United States)

Ikonnikova, Maryna

2016-01-01

It has been concluded that until recently debates on what is understood as African Studies have involved American scholars or have been mainly located within the African Studies Association (ASA) in the USA. Lately, European scholars have begun to occupy more discursive space and challenged Afrocentric orientations as well. African Studies…

Differences in home food availability of high- and low-fat foods after a behavioral weight control program are regional not racial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

West Delia

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Few studies, if any, have examined the impact of a weight control program on the home food environment in a diverse sample of adults. Understanding and changing the availability of certain foods in the home and food storage practices may be important for creating healthier home food environments and supporting effective weight management. Methods Overweight adults (n = 90; 27% African American enrolled in a 6-month behavioral weight loss program in Vermont and Arkansas. Participants were weighed and completed measures of household food availability and food storage practices at baseline and post-treatment. We examined baseline differences and changes in high-fat food availability, low-fat food availability and the storage of foods in easily visible locations, overall and by race (African American or white participants and region (Arkansas or Vermont. Results At post-treatment, the sample as a whole reported storing significantly fewer foods in visible locations around the house (-0.5 ± 2.3 foods, with no significant group differences. Both Arkansas African Americans (-1.8 ± 2.4 foods and Arkansas white participants (-1.8 ± 2.6 foods reported significantly greater reductions in the mean number of high-fat food items available in their homes post-treatment compared to Vermont white participants (-0.5 ± 1.3 foods, likely reflecting fewer high-fat foods reported in Vermont households at baseline. Arkansas African Americans lost significantly less weight (-3.6 ± 4.1 kg than Vermont white participants (-8.3 ± 6.8 kg, while Arkansas white participants did not differ significantly from either group in weight loss (-6.2 ± 6.0 kg. However, home food environment changes were not associated with weight changes in this study. Conclusions Understanding the home food environment and how best to measure it may be useful for both obesity treatment and understanding patterns of obesity prevalence and health disparity.

Food Allergy in Ghanaian Schoolchildren: Data on Sensitization and Reported Food Allergy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Obeng, Benedicta B.; Amoah, Abena S.; Larbi, Irene A.; Yazdanbakhsh, Maria; van Ree, Ronald; Boakye, Daniel A.; Hartgers, Franca C.

2011-01-01

Background: Epidemiological data on food allergy are scarce in African countries. We studied the prevalence of food sensitization in Ghanaian schoolchildren. Methods: Children (5-16 years; n = 1,714) from 9 Ghanaian schools were given parental consent to participate in the study. Adverse reactions

Captive audience? Strategies for acquiring food in two Detroit neighborhoods.

Science.gov (United States)

Rose, Daniel J

2011-05-01

Research has shown elevated rates of diet-related health problems in Detroit, Michigan compared to state and national averages. Using 47 in-depth interviews of African American residents in two Detroit neighborhoods, I examine the interplay between agency and social structure in food acquisition. Participants discussed numerous difficulties obtaining food, including availability, cost, quality, and accessibility. Residents employed many strategies to address these issues, including carefully examining food before purchase, sharing transportation to leave the neighborhood, and using multiple sources. However, the potential to pursue food acquisition strategies varied, in part, according to community contextual factors, including resident concerns about safety, the availability of food banks, and resources in surrounding areas. Nutritional knowledge among participants was sophisticated, suggesting that health education efforts, as opposed to addressing lack of access to high-quality food, might be misguided. I found that accounting for both agency and structural context aids in understanding diet-related behaviors.

Rising food prices and household food security

African Journals Online (AJOL)

produce),4 which is the case for the majority of South Africans. In South Africa ... Expressed as a proportion of average monthly income, the increase in the cost of .... innovation in food, nutrition and broader agricultural policies. Mieke Faber ...

The Trade in African Medicinal Plants in Matonge-Ixelles, Brussels (Belgium).

Science.gov (United States)

van Andel, Tinde; Fundiko, Marie-Cakupewa C

Maintaining cultural identity and preference to treat cultural bound ailments with herbal medicine are motivations for migrants to continue using medicinal plants from their home country after moving to Europe and the USA. As it is generally easier to import exotic food than herbal medicine, migrants often shift to using species that double as food and medicine. This paper focuses on the trade in African medicinal plants in a Congolese neighborhood in Brussels (Belgium). What African medicinal plants are sold in Matonge, where do they come from, and to which extent are they food medicines? Does vendor ethnicity influence the diversity of the herbal medicine sold? We hypothesized that most medicinal plants, traders, and clients in Matonge were of Congolese origin, most plants used medicinally were mainly food crops and that culture-bound illnesses played a prominent role in medicinal plant use. We carried out a market survey in 2014 that involved an inventory of medicinal plants in 19 shops and interviews with 10 clients of African descent, voucher collection and data gathering on vernacular names and uses. We encountered 83 medicinal plant species, of which 71% was primarily used for food. The shredded leaves of Gnetum africanum Welw., Manihot esculenta Crantz, and Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam were among the most frequently sold vegetables with medicinal uses. Cola nuts, shea butter, Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f., and Mondia whitei (Hook.f.). Skeels were the main non-food medicines sold. Women's health, aphrodisiacs, and rituals were the most important medicinal applications, but culture-bound ailments did not entirely dominate the plant uses. While most clients in Matonge were Congolese, most vendors and plant species were not. The Pakistanis dominated the food trade, and typical Congolese plants were sometimes replaced by West African species, creating confusion in vernacular names. African-managed shops had significantly more species of medicinal plants in stock than shops

Global Monitoring for Food Security and Sustainable Land Management - Recent Advances of Remote Sensing Applications to African and Siberian Show Cases

Science.gov (United States)

Komp, K. U.; Haub, C.

2012-07-01

After four decades of space borne remote sensing, the unmapped white patches have mostly disappeared. Those basic information give the foundations to the observation of changes and even the introduction of monitoring programmes for a various number of features in the natural and human landscape of our planet. Recent indicators for climatic change together with worrisome alterations in regional food production versus the constantly increase of human population demand the design and implementation of reliable land management tools which will serve the food security as well as the sustainable use of resources of the ecosystem in its respective regional context. The positive responses and convincing results of ESA service elements in the efforts towards food security in several African countries have been the basis for the transfer of the methods into another region, the Western Siberian corn-belt. The large extends of cropping schemes in West Siberia demand advanced remote sensing methods to be applied in order to compare the impacts of climatic change not only on the agricultural production but also on risks for the ecosystem. A multi scale approach of remote sensing methods is introduced in analogy to the African activities. An adopted monitoring concept is developed using a nearly daily product of medium resolution for wide areas, high resolution sensors for stratified sample areas and in-situ observations. Beyond methodological research, the ability of remote sensing is contributing to operational solutions that can ensure the nutritional and ecological future of our planet.

Institutional diagnostics for African food security

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schouten, Greetje; Vink, Martinus; Vellema, Sietze

2018-01-01

Securing access to affordable and nutritious food is an urgent topic on the agenda for development strategies in Africa. Intervention strategies targeting food security triggered a long lasting debate whether science and technology driven interventions could be the panacea for hunger eradication.

Traditional African Religion: A Resource Unit.

Science.gov (United States)

Garland, William E.

This resource unit is based on research conducted by Lynn Mitchell and Ernest Valenzuela, experienced classroom teachers of African history and culture. The unit consists of an introduction by Mr. Garland and two major parts. Part I is an annotated bibliography of selected sources on various aspects of traditional African Religion useful in…

Geno- and phenotypic characterization of lactic acid bacteria and Bacillus spp. strains isolated from African indigenous fermented food products and their applications in the food and feed industries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Adimpong, David Bichala

African indigenous fermented food products are characterized by complex and diverse groups of microorganisms and therefore offer a rich source for selection of microbial strains for various applications in the biotechnology and food bio-processing sectors. There is however, a global public health...... of these strains to assess their potential industrial applications. This Thesis provided strong evidence on a high level of genomic heterogeneity among members of the Lb. delbrueckii spp. for which a new subspecies was proposed (Appendix II). The data on antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of the 3 Bacillus...... species strains (Appendix III) will enable regulatory and public health authorities to accurately proposevii antimicrobial breakpoint values for these species as this Thesis has provided evidence on the inadequacy of the antimicrobial breakpoint values recommended by EFSA for the Bacillus genus...

Use of irradiation in the preservation of traditional South African foods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Minnaar, A.; Bester, B.H.; Shilangale, R.P.M.

2002-01-01

A variety of traditional African foods are prepared in the home and enjoyed by a large number of consumers. Currently, hardly any of these foods are available commercially. However, these foods are laborious to prepare, not generally available commercially and have a limited shelf life. The application of irradiation (alone) or in combination with other technologies can help solve these problems. The effect of irradiation (0, 10, 20 and 30 kGy at 5 deg. C the consumer acceptability of a traditional South African ready-to-eat (RTE) meal consisting of spinach (morogo) and sorghum porridge was investigated. The two components of the meal remained acceptable up to a dose of 10 kGy. The limiting factor for using higher doses was the porridge component, especially in terms of texture (too soft) and taste (off-flavour development). Therefore the use irradiation at 10 kGy in combination with different levels of sodium nitrite was proposed to improve the storability of the RTE-meal. Research is in progress investigating the effects of combining mild heat, sodium nitrite and irradiation on the microbiological quality, shelf-life and acceptability of a RTE- meal consisting of spinach (morogo) and sorghum porridge. Washing in chlorinated water reduced inoculated Clostridium sporogenes spores in spinach by about 2 log 10 cfu/g probably because hypochlorites are bacteriostatic. Blanching of spinach after the chlorine treatment did not effect the C. sporogenes counts. However, C. sporogenes counts increased by about 1 log 10 cfu/g during cooking, probably due to the activation of the spores by heat. On the other hand, cooking reduced C. sporogenes counts in the porridge significantly (by about 2 log 10 cfu/g). Gelatinised starch granules probably protected the spores against heat activation. In both meal components, cooking caused a significant decrease in the final nitrite levels. This may be due to the fact that nitrite can form complexes with other components during heating

Flow-gauging structures in South African rivers Part 1: An overview ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

provided on the different structures will assist the reader with the selection of an appropriate structure. The historical development of the gauging structure network in South African rivers is briefly discussed. Gauging structures used in South African rivers and basic design criteria for the preferred structures at this stage, ...

Canadian International Food Security Research Fund - Phase II ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

The fund was designed to finance initiatives to solve global food and ... food security and enhance nutrition in developing countries; -increase food ... In a context of rising food prices, millions of Africans in marginal areas rely on a range of ...

Are Customers Satisfied With Healthier Food Options At South African Fast-Food Outlets?

OpenAIRE

Michael C. Cant; Ricardo Machado; Melanie Gopaul

2014-01-01

Fast-food consumption has been a staple for many people; however, due to rising health concerns, there has been an increasing interest in the consumption of healthier food both in South Africa and elsewhere. Many consumers are demanding better quality foods that offer nutritional benefits. This global trend has led to fast-food outlets adding healthier food options to their menus. Limited literature exists on customer satisfaction with regards to the food quality of these healthier food optio...

Phytase-producing capacity of yeasts isolated from traditional African fermented food products and PHYPk gene expression of Pichia kudriavzevii strains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Greppi, Anna; Krych, Lukasz; Costantini, Antonella

2015-01-01

Phytate is known as a strong chelate of minerals causing their reduced uptake by the human intestine. Ninety-three yeast isolates from traditional African fermented food products, belonging to nine species (Pichia kudriavzevii, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Clavispora lusitaniae, Kluyveromyces...... marxianus, Millerozyma farinosa, Candida glabrata, Wickerhamomyces anomalus, Hanseniaspora guilliermondii and Debaryomyces nepalensis) were screened for phytase production on solid and liquid media. 95% were able to grow in the presence of phytate as sole phosphate source, P. kudriavzevii being the best...

[Food intake regulation - 2nd part].

Science.gov (United States)

Brunerová, Ludmila; Anděl, Michal

2014-01-01

The review article summarizes the principles of hedonic regulation of food intake which represents the food intake independent on the maintenance of homeostasis. The theory describing hedonic regulation, so called Incentive Salience Theory, comprises three major processes: liking (positive attribution to food stimulus), wanting (motivation to gain it) and learning (identification of these stimuli and distinguishing them from those connected with aversive reaction). Neuronal reward circuits are the anatomical and functional substrates of hedonic regulation. They react to gustatory and olfactory (or visual) stimuli associated with food intake. A food item is preferred in case its consumption is connected with a pleasant feeling thus promoting the behavioural reaction. The probability of this reaction after repetitive exposure to such a stimulus is increased (learned preference). On the contrary, learned aversion after repetitive exposure is connected with avoidance of a food item associated with a negative feeling. Main mediators of hedonic regulation are endocannabinoids, opioids and monoamines (dopamine, serotonin). Dopamine in dorsal striatum via D2 receptors generates food motivation as a key means of survival, however in ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens) is responsible for motivation to food bringing pleasure. Serotonin via its receptors 5-HT1A a T-HT2C decreases intake of palatable food. It plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of eating disorders, particularly mental anorexia. There, a food restriction represents a kind of automedication to constitutionally pathologically increased serotonin levels. Detailed understanding of processes regulating food intake is a key to new pharmacological interventions in eating disorders.

Refugees Connecting with a New Country through Community Food Gardening

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Neil; Rowe Minniss, Fiona; Somerset, Shawn

2014-01-01

Refugees are a particularly vulnerable population who undergo nutrition transition as a result of forced migration. This paper explores how involvement in a community food garden supports African humanitarian migrant connectedness with their new country. A cross-sectional study of a purposive sample of African refugees participating in a campus-based community food garden was conducted. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with twelve African humanitarian migrants who tended established garden plots within the garden. Interview data were thematically analysed revealing three factors which participants identified as important benefits in relation to community garden participation: land tenure, reconnecting with agri-culture, and community belonging. Community food gardens offer a tangible means for African refugees, and other vulnerable or marginalised populations, to build community and community connections. This is significant given the increasing recognition of the importance of social connectedness for wellbeing. PMID:25198684

Refugees connecting with a new country through community food gardening.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Neil; Minniss, Fiona Rowe; Somerset, Shawn

2014-09-05

Refugees are a particularly vulnerable population who undergo nutrition transition as a result of forced migration. This paper explores how involvement in a community food garden supports African humanitarian migrant connectedness with their new country. A cross-sectional study of a purposive sample of African refugees participating in a campus-based community food garden was conducted. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with twelve African humanitarian migrants who tended established garden plots within the garden. Interview data were thematically analysed revealing three factors which participants identified as important benefits in relation to community garden participation: land tenure, reconnecting with agri-culture, and community belonging. Community food gardens offer a tangible means for African refugees, and other vulnerable or marginalised populations, to build community and community connections. This is significant given the increasing recognition of the importance of social connectedness for wellbeing.

African Journals Online: Open Access Titles

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development View Journal | Current .... Journal is Open Access. International Journal of Applied Agriculture and Apiculture Research ... Journal of Applied Biosciences View Journal | Current ...

Book Review: "Food and Development" | Hewitson | African Review ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Review of Economics and Finance. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 4, No 1 (2012) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Diagnosing GCM errors over West Africa using relaxation experiments. Part II: intraseasonal variability and African easterly waves

Science.gov (United States)

Pohl, Benjamin; Douville, Hervé

2011-10-01

A near-global grid-point nudging of the Arpege-Climat atmospheric General Circulation Model towards ECMWF reanalyses is used to diagnose the regional versus remote origin of the summer model biases and variability over West Africa. First part of this study revealed a limited impact on the monsoon climatology compared to a control experiment without nudging, but a significant improvement of interannual variability, although the amplitude of the seasonal anomalies remained underestimated. Focus is given here on intraseasonal variability of monsoon rainfall and dynamics. The reproducible part of these signals is investigated through 30-member ensemble experiments computed for the 1994 rainy season, a year abnormally wet over the Sahel but representative of the model systematic biases. In the control experiment, Arpege-Climat simulates too few rainy days that are associated with too low rainfall amounts over the central and western Sahel, in line with the seasonal dry biases. Nudging the model outside Africa tends to slightly increase the number of rainy days over the Sahel, but has little effect on associated rainfall amounts. However, results do indicate that a significant part of the monsoon intraseasonal variability simulated by Arpege-Climat is controlled by lateral boundary conditions. Parts of the wet/dry spells over the Sahel occur in phase in the 30 members of the nudging experiment, and are therefore embedded in larger-scale variability patterns. Inter-member spread is however not constant across the selected summer season. It is partly controlled by African Easterly Waves, which show dissimilar amplitude from one member to another, but a coherent phasing in all members. A lowpass filtering of the nudging fields suggests that low frequency variations in the lateral boundary conditions can lead to eastward extensions of the African Easterly Jet, creating a favorable environment for easterly waves, while high frequency perturbations seem to control their

Diagnosing GCM errors over West Africa using relaxation experiments. Part II: intraseasonal variability and African easterly waves

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pohl, Benjamin [CNRM-GAME, Meteo-France, CNRS, Toulouse (France); Centre de Recherches de Climatologie, CNRS, Universite de Bourgogne, Dijon (France); Douville, Herve [CNRM-GAME, Meteo-France, CNRS, Toulouse (France)

2011-10-15

A near-global grid-point nudging of the Arpege-Climat atmospheric General Circulation Model towards ECMWF reanalyses is used to diagnose the regional versus remote origin of the summer model biases and variability over West Africa. First part of this study revealed a limited impact on the monsoon climatology compared to a control experiment without nudging, but a significant improvement of interannual variability, although the amplitude of the seasonal anomalies remained underestimated. Focus is given here on intraseasonal variability of monsoon rainfall and dynamics. The reproducible part of these signals is investigated through 30-member ensemble experiments computed for the 1994 rainy season, a year abnormally wet over the Sahel but representative of the model systematic biases. In the control experiment, Arpege-Climat simulates too few rainy days that are associated with too low rainfall amounts over the central and western Sahel, in line with the seasonal dry biases. Nudging the model outside Africa tends to slightly increase the number of rainy days over the Sahel, but has little effect on associated rainfall amounts. However, results do indicate that a significant part of the monsoon intraseasonal variability simulated by Arpege-Climat is controlled by lateral boundary conditions. Parts of the wet/dry spells over the Sahel occur in phase in the 30 members of the nudging experiment, and are therefore embedded in larger-scale variability patterns. Inter-member spread is however not constant across the selected summer season. It is partly controlled by African Easterly Waves, which show dissimilar amplitude from one member to another, but a coherent phasing in all members. A lowpass filtering of the nudging fields suggests that low frequency variations in the lateral boundary conditions can lead to eastward extensions of the African Easterly Jet, creating a favorable environment for easterly waves, while high frequency perturbations seem to control their

Population growth and food supply in sub-Saharan Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Meerman, J; Cochrane, S H

1982-09-01

It is argued in this article that sub-Saharan Africa, given its present institutions and endowments of capital and technology, is already dangerously close to overpopulation. The rapid growth of its population projected for the next decades will greatly increase human misery and depress economic development. Specifically, rapid population growth will have disastrous effects on the region's ability to increase exports and provide people with food. There must be a search for new ways in which these effects could be mitigated. In sub-Saharan Africa fertility either continues to be very high or is increasing, in part due to some decline in traditional practices that reduce fertility, such as prolonged breastfeeding. This situation and the expectation of declining mortality imply that African population growth may increase further. Currently, population in sub-Saharan Africa is about half that of India and a third of China. There are 2 main reasons why reduced fertility in the next few decades is unlikely in sub-Saharan Africa as a whole: Africa has low literacy, high infant and child mortality, and low urbanization; and average African fertility rates may even increase for the next 20 years or so. The question that arises is what are the implications of continuing and rapid population growth for the African food supply. The region's cereal production is largely restricted to 4 grains, i.e., millet, sorghum, maize, and rice. The volume of grain production is less, by weight, than 60% of the production of roots and tubers. There are 2 main differences between the output of these crops in sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the world: yields/hectare are lower in Africa than in elsewhere; and yields have generally been decreasing or largely constant in Africa. The low productivity has several causes. Today, population pressure has brought diminishing returns to traditional agriculture in much of the Sahel and the savanna, in parts of East Africa, Southern Africa, and parts

African American Diaspora

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela Brown

2013-05-01

Full Text Available The migration of blacks in North America through slavery became united.  The population of blacks past downs a tradition of artist through art to native born citizens. The art tradition involved telling stories to each generation in black families. The black culture elevated by tradition created hope to determine their personal freedom to escape from poverty of enslavement and to establish a way of life through tradition. A way of personal freedoms was through getting a good education that lead to a better foundation and a better way of life. With regard to all historic migrations (forced and voluntary, the African Union defined the African diaspora as "[consisting] of people of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union." Its constitutive act declares that it shall "invite and encourage the full participation of the African diaspora as an important part of our continent, in the building of the African Union."

Anza palaeoichnological site. Late Cretaceous. Morocco. Part II. Problems of large dinosaur trackways and the first African Macropodosaurus trackway

Science.gov (United States)

Masrour, Moussa; Lkebir, Noura; Pérez-Lorente, Félix

2017-10-01

The Anza site shows large ichnological surfaces indicating the coexistence in the same area of different vertebrate footprints (dinosaur and pterosaur) and of different types (tridactyl and tetradactyl, semiplantigrade and rounded without digit marks) and the footprint variability of long trackways. This area may become a world reference in ichnology because it contains the second undebatable African site with Cretaceous pterosaur footprints - described in part I - and the first African site with Macropodosaurus footprints. In this work, problems related to long trackways are also analyzed, such as their sinuosity, the order-disorder of the variability (long-short) of the pace length and the difficulty of morphological classification of the theropod footprints due to their morphological variability.

Common micronutrient deficiencies among food aid beneficiaries ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

admin

Abstract. Background: Ethiopia is amongst the African countries that have received significant food aid. Nonetheless, the common micronutrient deficiencies among food aid beneficiaries are not well documented. Objective: To find out the common micronutrient deficiencies among food aid beneficiaries in the country based ...

Improving food security and nutrition through research | IDRC ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2016-10-06

Oct 6, 2016 ... In Canada, the 2012 federal budget highlighted CIFSRF's success, noting how the ... New animal vaccines could keep more African farmers in business ... Research on food security makes a difference for African women.

VOX POPULI? VOX HUMBUG! – RISING TENSION BETWEEN THE SOUTH AFRICAN EXECUTIVE AND JUDICIARY CONSIDERED IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT – PART ONE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Hulme

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This article takes as its starting point a controversy which has arisen around a proposed assessment by the South African government of the decisions of the Constitutional Court, giving rise to concerns that this will constitute undue interference with the independence of the judiciary. Part One of this article traces and analyses the developing controversy. It then compares the current clash between the South African Executive and Judiciary to a similar clash which took place in seventeenth century England, between King James I and Chief Justice Edward Coke. Such clashes appear to be fairly common, particularly in young democracies in which democratic institutions are yet to be properly consolidated. Although not immediately apparent, the similarities between the situation which existed in seventeenth England at the time of James I and that in present-day South Africa are instructive. In tracing the development of these two clashes between the executive and judiciary, Part One of this article lays the foundation for a more in-depth comparison in Part Two.

Toward an African-Christian Demonology: The Demonologies of African Traditional Religion, African Christianity, and Early Christianity in Dialogue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moscicke, Hans

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Christian interactions with the spirit-world of African traditional religion (ATR have remained problematic due, in part, to the failure of Christian missionaries to understand in detail the cosmology of ATR and the angelologies and demonologies of early Christianity. In this article I suggest a way beyond this impasse. I first survey the shape of cosmology and demonology in ATR, and then examine African Christianitys variegated responses to these traditional beliefs. Finally, I submit that a retrieval of the early Christian mythological narrative about demons and its associated cosmology could help theologians accommodate the spirit-world of ATR within a truly African-Christian theology.

Book Reviews | Talmud | South African Medical Journal

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Book 1. Book Title: A manual of adverse drug interactions. Book Authors: J.P. Griffin and P.F. D'Arcy (Eds.) Fifth Edition. Pp. xiii + 649. LG395/US$244. EIseuier Science. 1997. ISBN 0-444-82406-5. Book 2. Book Title: South African cookbook for food allergies and food intolerance. Book Author: Hilda Lategan. Pp. 145.

Bio-ethanol production from non-food parts of Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nuwamanya, Ephraim; Kawuki, Robert S.; Baguma, Yona [National Agricultural Research organization, National Crops Resources Research Inst. (NaCRRI), Kampala (Uganda); Chiwona-Karltun, Linley [Dept. of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala (Sweden)], email: Linley.karltun@slu.se

2012-03-15

Global climate issues and a looming energy crisis put agriculture under pressure in Sub-Saharan Africa. Climate adaptation measures must entail sustainable development benefits, and growing crops for food as well as energy may be a solution, removing people from hunger and poverty without compromising the environment. The present study investigated the feasibility of using non-food parts of cassava for energy production and the promising results revealed that at least 28% of peels and stems comprise dry matter, and 10 g feedstock yields >8.5 g sugar, which in turn produced >60% ethanol, with pH {approx} 2.85, 74-84% light transmittance and a conductivity of 368 mV, indicating a potential use of cassava feedstock for ethanol production. Thus, harnessing cassava for food as well as ethanol production is deemed feasible. Such a system would, however, require supportive policies to acquire a balance between food security and fuel.

Locally processed roasted-maize-based weaning foods fortified with ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Locally processed roasted-maize-based weaning foods fortified with legumes: factors ... African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development ... Tom Brown (roasted-maize porridge) is one of the traditional weaning foods in Ghana.

Micronutrient deficiencies in food aid beneficiaries: A review of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development ... in food aid beneficiary populations and to guide the formulation of food aid products, this ... In some cases, food aid rations provide insufficient quantity and quality of ... studies found documenting the nutritional status of non-emergency food aid recipients.

Toward an African-Christian Demonology: The Demonologies of African Traditional Religion, African Christianity, and Early Christianity in Dialogue

OpenAIRE

Moscicke, Hans

2017-01-01

Christian interactions with the spirit-world of African traditional religion (ATR) have remained problematic due, in part, to the failure of Christian missionaries to understand in detail the cosmology of ATR and the angelologies and demonologies of early Christianity. In this article I suggest a way beyond this impasse. I first survey the shape of cosmology and demonology in ATR, and then examine African Christianitys variegated responses to these traditional beliefs. Finally, I submit that ...

African farmer-led irrigation development: reframing agricultural policy and investment?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Woodhouse, Philip; Veldwisch, G.J.A.; Venot, J.P.J.N.; Brockington, Dan; Komakech, Hans Charles; Manjichi, Angela

2017-01-01

The past decade has witnessed an intensifying focus on the development of irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa. It follows a 20-year hiatus in the wake of disappointing irrigation performance during the 1970s and 1980s. Persistent low productivity in African agriculture and vulnerability of African food

Obesity in African-American Women--The Time Bomb is Ticking: An Urgent Call for Change.

Science.gov (United States)

Fowler, Barbara A

2015-12-01

The "time bomb is ticking" because there is an obesity crisis associated with higher rates of chronic diseases such as stroke, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and some forms of cancer in African-American women compared to White women. African-American women incur higher medical costs from hospitalizations, decreased productivity in the work setting, lost wages, the needfor medical benefits and pharmacy-associated costs, and more time away from family than White women. Numerous factors, such as the socio-cultural context of eating, acceptance of a larger weight status, the emotionally liberating effects offood, and preference for highfat and high caloric, sugary-content, and sodium-laden food influences the obesity crisis in African-American women. The interplay of poverty and lower socioeconomic status, residential segregation, health literacy, availability of fast foods and scarce produce in local convenience food marts, physical inactivity, and conflicting messages from social media public service announcements (PSAs) and ads in national magazines affect the obesity crisis in African-American women. There is an urgent call for sustainable, community-driven health policy initiatives that improve access to healthy foods in lower-income, minority communities. Furthermore, African-American women are challenged to modify their health behaviors by preparing healthy meals for themselves and theirfamilies, and by engaging in physical activity.

African leafy vegetables in South Africa

African Journals Online (AJOL)

some of them grow as weeds, has a long history that has been intimately linked to women and their ..... African smallholders has been rapidly spreading from Vhembe ..... vegetables in household food security: a preliminary case study in.

African Journals Online: Browse by Category

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Studies (56) Agriculture & Food Sciences (53) Aquatic Sciences (10) Art & Architecture (18) Biology & Life Sciences (71) Chemistry, Mathematics & Physics (36) Earth Sciences (8) Economics & Development (47) Education (35) Environmental Sciences (28) Finance & Management (16) Fish & Fisheries (4)

East African Agricultural and Forestry Journal

African Journals Online (AJOL)

East African Agricultural and Forestry Journal is published by the Kenya ... water resource base to meet the challenges of poverty alleviation and food security. ... on maize growth, nitrogen uptake and yield in a semi-arid Kenyan environment ...

Gitelman syndrome in a South African family presenting with hypokalaemia and unusual food cravings.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Merwe, Pieter Du Toit; Rensburg, Megan A; Haylett, William L; Bardien, Soraya; Davids, M Razeen

2017-01-26

Gitelman syndrome (GS) is an autosomal recessive renal tubular disorder characterised by renal salt wasting with hypokalaemia, metabolic alkalosis, hypomagnesaemia and hypocalciuria. It is caused by mutations in SLC12A3 encoding the sodium-chloride cotransporter on the apical membrane of the distal convoluted tubule. We report a South African family with five affected individuals presenting with hypokalaemia and unusual food cravings. The affected individuals and two unaffected first degree relatives were enrolled into the study. Phenotypes were evaluated through history, physical examination and biochemical analysis of blood and urine. Mutation screening was performed by sequencing of SLC12A3, and determining the allele frequencies of the sequence variants found in this family in 117 ethnically matched controls. The index patient, her sister, father and two aunts had a history of severe salt cravings, fatigue and tetanic episodes, leading to consumption of large quantities of salt and vinegar. All affected individuals demonstrated hypokalaemia with renal potassium wasting. Genetic analysis revealed that the pseudo-dominant pattern of inheritance was due to compound heterozygosity with two novel mutations: a S546G substitution in exon 13, and insertion of AGCCCC at c.1930 in exon 16. These variants were present in the five affected individuals, but only one variant each in the unaffected family members. Neither variant was found in any of the controls. The diagnosis of GS was established in five members of a South African family through clinical assessment, biochemical analysis and mutation screening of the SLC12A3 gene, which identified two novel putative pathogenic mutations.

Food allergy: is prevalence increasing?

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Mimi L K; Mullins, Raymond J

2017-03-01

It is generally accepted that the prevalence of food allergy has been increasing in recent decades, particularly in westernised countries, yet high-quality evidence that is based on challenge confirmed diagnosis of food allergy to support this assumption is lacking because of the high cost and potential risks associated with conducting food challenges in large populations. Accepting this caveat, the use of surrogate markers for diagnosis of food allergy (such as nationwide data on hospital admissions for food anaphylaxis or clinical history in combination with allergen-specific IgE (sIgE) measurement in population-based cohorts) has provided consistent evidence for increasing prevalence of food allergy at least in western countries, such as the UK, United States and Australia. Recent reports that children of East Asian or African ethnicity who are raised in a western environment (Australia and United States respectively) have an increased risk of developing food allergy compared with resident Caucasian children suggest that food allergy might also increase across Asian and African countries as their economies grow and populations adopt a more westernised lifestyle. Given that many cases of food allergy persist, mathematical principles would predict a continued increase in food allergy prevalence in the short to medium term until such time as an effective treatment is identified to allow the rate of disease resolution to be equal to or greater than the rate of new cases. © 2017 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

African Farmer-led Irrigation Development: re-framing agricultural policy and investment?

OpenAIRE

Woodhouse, Philip; Veldwisch, Gert Jan; Venot , Jean-Philippe; Brockington, Daniel; Komakech, Hans; Manjichi , Ângela

2017-01-01

The past decade has witnessed an intensifying focus on the development of irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa. It follows a 20-year hiatus in the wake of disappointing irrigation performance during the 1970s and 1980s. Persistent low productivity in African agriculture and vulnerability of African food supplies to increasing instability in international commodity markets are driving pan-African agricultural investment initiatives, such as the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program...

A questionnaire for screening the micronutrient intake of economically active South African adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Senekal, Marjanne; Steyn, Nelia P; Nel, Johanna

2009-11-01

The aim of the present study was to develop (phase 1) and validate (phase 2) a screening questionnaire to assess the adequacy of micronutrient intake of economically active South African adults. For identification of indicator foods to be included in the screening questionnaire (phase 1), a comprehensive, eighty-six-item, quantified FFQ that reflected the food sources of thirteen selected micronutrients associated with the nutrition-related health status of South Africans was developed and completed by 554 adults of all four major ethnic groups. Resulting dietary data were subjected to stepwise regression analyses to identify indicator foods to be included in the final screening questionnaire. For validation of frequency of intake reporting of specific food items included in the screening questionnaire (phase 2), a sample of sixty-six African and eighty-four white adult volunteers of both genders completed a 7 d record as well as the screening questionnaire. The frequency of intake of specific food items derived from the two methods was then compared using Spearman correlation coefficients. Phase 1 identified thirty indicator foods that formed the basis of the screening questionnaire. In phase 2, significant correlations were found for the total group for twenty-two out of the thirty items in the questionnaire, with correlations being the best for white females and the poorest for African males and females. A screening questionnaire (thirty-item FFQ) that can be used by researchers and health professionals to assess an individual's risk of inadequate micronutrient intake was developed and validated.

African American Educational Leadership in the School Superintendency

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Eva C.

2013-01-01

African American educational leadership has long been part of American education and African American activism to resist oppression. However, the field of educational leadership has rarely included the contributions of African American leaders, particularly women leaders, into mainstream leadership theory and practices. This omission is difficult…

The feasibility of implementing food-based dietary guidelines in the South African primary-school curriculum.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Kim A; de Villiers, Anniza; Fourie, Jean M; Bourne, Lesley T; Hendricks, Michael K

2015-01-01

To explore the perceptions of educators from the Western Cape Province about the feasibility of implementing South African food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) in the national curriculum of primary schools. Combined quantitative and qualitative methods. We report on the quantitative component. Twelve public primary schools of different socio-economic status in three education districts of the Western Cape: Metro Central, Metro East and Cape Winelands. Educators (n 256) participated in the self-completed questionnaire survey. Educators assessed that FBDG were appropriate to South African schoolchildren (94%), could be used as an education tool (97%) and fill gaps in the current curriculum about healthy dietary habits (91%). Besides Life Orientation, FBDG could be taught in other learning areas from grades 3 to 7 (9-13 years old). Important barriers to implementing FBDG in the curriculum were educators' workload (61%), insufficient time (46%), learners' disadvantaged background (43%) and educators' lack of knowledge (33%). Other approaches to teach children about FBDG included linking these to the National School Nutrition Programme (82%), school tuck shops (79%), parent meetings (75%), school nutrition policy (73%) and school assembly (57%). Educators in high-income schools perceived that learners' lifestyle was significantly worse (P school assembly were the best means to teach pupils about FBDG (P school curriculum is seen as important together with optimizing the school physical environment. Key factors required for successful implementation in the curriculum are sufficient educational materials, adequate time allocation and appropriate educator training.

Food Insecurity in Nigeria: Way Forward | Otaha | African Research ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Research Review. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 7, No 4 (2013) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

The ethics of improving African traditional medical practice: scientific or African traditional research methods?

Science.gov (United States)

Nyika, Aceme

2009-11-01

The disease burden in Africa, which is relatively very large compared with developed countries, has been attributed to various factors that include poverty, food shortages, inadequate access to health care and unaffordability of Western medicines to the majority of African populations. Although for 'old diseases' knowledge about the right African traditional medicines to treat or cure the diseases has been passed from generation to generation, knowledge about traditional medicines to treat newly emerging diseases has to be generated in one way or another. In addition, the existing traditional medicines have to be continuously improved, which is also the case with Western scientific medicines. Whereas one school of thought supports the idea of improving medicines, be they traditional or Western, through scientific research, an opposing school of thought argues that subjecting African traditional medicines to scientific research would be tantamount to some form of colonization and imperialism. This paper argues that continuing to use African traditional medicines for old and new diseases without making concerted efforts to improve their efficacy and safety is unethical since the disease burden affecting Africa may continue to rise in spite of the availability and accessibility of the traditional medicines. Most importantly, the paper commends efforts being made in some African countries to improve African traditional medicine through a combination of different mechanisms that include the controversial approach of scientific research on traditional medicines.

Food Insecurity in Nigeria: Way Forward | Otaha | African Research ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Food security is indispensable prerequisite for the survival of mankind and his economic activities including food production. Food is different from other commodities because of its inevitability for survival and existence. In Nigeria, there is high level of food insecurity for the past four decades as a result of neglect in food ...

Bioenergy and African transformation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lynd, Lee R; Sow, Mariam; Chimphango, Annie Fa; Cortez, Luis Ab; Brito Cruz, Carlos H; Elmissiry, Mosad; Laser, Mark; Mayaki, Ibrahim A; Moraes, Marcia Afd; Nogueira, Luiz Ah; Wolfaardt, Gideon M; Woods, Jeremy; van Zyl, Willem H

2015-01-01

Among the world's continents, Africa has the highest incidence of food insecurity and poverty and the highest rates of population growth. Yet Africa also has the most arable land, the lowest crop yields, and by far the most plentiful land resources relative to energy demand. It is thus of interest to examine the potential of expanded modern bioenergy production in Africa. Here we consider bioenergy as an enabler for development, and provide an overview of modern bioenergy technologies with a comment on application in an Africa context. Experience with bioenergy in Africa offers evidence of social benefits and also some important lessons. In Brazil, social development, agricultural development and food security, and bioenergy development have been synergistic rather than antagonistic. Realizing similar success in African countries will require clear vision, good governance, and adaptation of technologies, knowledge, and business models to myriad local circumstances. Strategies for integrated production of food crops, livestock, and bioenergy are potentially attractive and offer an alternative to an agricultural model featuring specialized land use. If done thoughtfully, there is considerable evidence that food security and economic development in Africa can be addressed more effectively with modern bioenergy than without it. Modern bioenergy can be an agent of African transformation, with potential social benefits accruing to multiple sectors and extending well beyond energy supply per se. Potential negative impacts also cut across sectors. Thus, institutionally inclusive multi-sector legislative structures will be more effective at maximizing the social benefits of bioenergy compared to institutionally exclusive, single-sector structures.

Use of the South African Food Composition Database System ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 22, No 2 (2009) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

The Impact of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA): An Empirical Analysis of Sub-Saharan African Agricultural Exports

OpenAIRE

Zenebe, Addisalem; Peterson, Wesley; Wamisho, Kassu

2014-01-01

The African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) which was signed into law in 2000 as part of U.S. trade legislation has the objectives of increasing trade and investment between the U.S. and eligible Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, by reducing or eliminating tariffs applied to African exports of different products. This Act represents a promising approach to economic growth and development in SSA through international trade. This research paper examines the impact of AGOA on African agri...

Assessing the relationship between youth capabilities and food ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Assessing the relationship between youth capabilities and food security: a case study of a rainwater ... among youth and restrict opportunities for them to engage with issues around food and water security. ... AJOL African Journals Online.

International firms in Africa’s food retail business-emerging issues and research agenda

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nandonde, Felix Adamu; Kuada, John

2016-01-01

/methodology/approach – This paper is comprised of a comprehensive review of the literature and integrates the fragmented body of knowledge on the area of retail internationalisation and food marketing. The gaps in the literature identified here may help to understand the sector better and develop academic research agendas on both......Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the state of the retail sector in Sub-Saharan Africa, to point out the lack of information on some critical issues and to raise some questions about relevant topics for researchers and practitioners in the retail area for the African market. Design...... the growth of the modern food retail sector and the agribusiness sector in Africa. Findings – Four major topics were identified in the urban agri-food retail business in the African continent: large global retailers in Africa’s food sector; the internationalisation of African food retailers; the procurement...

African Journals Online: Browse Alphabetically -- letter A

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 1 - 50 of 93 ... ... inorganic, polymer, green, climate change, environmental chemistry and chemistry ... The primary aim of this journal, an offshoot of the Trade Policy ... and African public institutions working towards solving food and nutrition ...

Strengthening African Union for African Integration: An African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads. ... in the international state system and seek for African initiative in solving African problems. ... of the African Union by examining the efforts of African Leaders towards African integration, ...

Linking smallholder agriculture and water to household food security ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Linking smallholder agriculture and water to household food security and nutrition. ... Promoting household food security and reducing malnutrition rates of a growing population with the same amount of water is ... AJOL African Journals Online.

Where do food desert residents buy most of their junk food? Supermarkets.

Science.gov (United States)

Vaughan, Christine A; Cohen, Deborah A; Ghosh-Dastidar, Madhumita; Hunter, Gerald P; Dubowitz, Tamara

2017-10-01

To examine where residents in an area with limited access to healthy foods (an urban food desert) purchased healthier and less healthy foods. Food shopping receipts were collected over a one-week period in 2013. These were analysed to describe where residents shopped for food and what types of food they bought. Two low-income, predominantly African-American neighbourhoods with limited access to healthy foods in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Two hundred and ninety-three households in which the primary food shoppers were predominantly female (77·8 %) and non-Hispanic black (91·1 %) adults. Full-service supermarkets were by far the most common food retail outlet from which food receipts were returned and accounted for a much larger proportion (57·4 %) of food and beverage expenditures, both healthy and unhealthy, than other food retail outlets. Although patronized less frequently, convenience stores were notable purveyors of unhealthy foods. Findings highlight the need to implement policies that can help to decrease unhealthy food purchases in full-service supermarkets and convenience stores and increase healthy food purchases in convenience stores.

Resistance Stories of African-Brazilian Women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stela Nazareth Meneghel

2005-01-01

Full Text Available This study consists of an intervention using narrative workshops as a device to stimulate the empowerment of women. Ten women, victims of gender violence, took part in a workshop developed by non-governmental organization for African-Brazilian women Maria Mulher, which gives assistance to women living in Vila Cruzeiro do Sul, in the city of Porto Alegre. The main objective of the research was to debate questions related to gender and violence, making use of stories and histories related to the feminine, specifically African-Brazilian stories. Five meetings were held, where the women told and were told stories, took part in group discussions, experiences and rituals. The workshops gave those women a space where they could tell and hear stories, take part in the rituals of the orixás [African-Brazilian deities] of the black culture and tell their personal histories using those experiences. This intervention was an attempt at invoking different subjective experiences, and made it possible to empower the women who took part in the research, contributing for the rescue of the individual and collective memory of this group.

Weaning Foods and Practices in Central Uganda: A Cross-Sectional ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Weaning Foods and Practices in Central Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Study. ... African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development ... Breast milk is the natural first food for infants and should be fed alone for the first 4 to 6 months of ...

Africa's wild C4 plant foods and possible early hominid diets.

Science.gov (United States)

Peters, Charles R; Vogel, John C

2005-03-01

A small minority of Africa's wild plant foods are C4. These are primarily the seeds of some of the C4 grasses, the rootstocks and stem/leaf bases of some of the C4 sedges (especially papyrus), and the leaves of some of the C4 herbaceous dicots (forbs). These wild food plants are commonly found in disturbed ground and wetlands (particularly the grasses and sedges). Multiple lines of evidence indicate that C4 grasses were present in Africa by at least the late Miocene. It is a reasonable hypothesis that the prehistory of the C4 sedges parallels that of the C4 grasses, but the C4 forbs may not have become common until the late Pleistocene. CAM plants may have a more ancient history, but offer few opportunities for an additional C4-like dietary signal. The environmental reconstructions available for the early South African hominid sites do not indicate the presence of large wetlands, and therefore probably the absence of a strong potential for a C4 plant food diet. However, carbon isotope analyses of tooth enamel from three species of early South African hominids have shown that there was a significant but not dominant contribution of C4 biomass in their diets. Since it appears unlikely that this C4 component could have come predominantly from C4 plant foods, a broad range of potential animal contributors is briefly considered, namely invertebrates, reptiles, birds, and small mammals. It is concluded that the similar average C4 dietary intake seen in the three South African hominid species could have been acquired by differing contributions from the various sources, without the need to assume scavenging or hunting of medium to large grazing ungulates. Effectively similar dominantly dryland paleo-environments may also be part of the explanation. Theoretically, elsewhere in southern and eastern Africa, large wetlands would have offered early hominids greater opportunities for a C4 plant diet.

Food Security in Nigeria: The Role of Peasant Farmers in Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Food Security in Nigeria: The Role of Peasant Farmers in Nigeria. ... PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFRICAN RESEARCH ... Nigerian food crisis is a product of colonial disorientation that has led to neglect of the peasant agriculture and food ...

Exploring Pacific Climate Variability and Its Impacts on East African Water Resources and Food Security

Science.gov (United States)

Funk, C. C.; Hoerling, M. P.; Hoell, A.; Liebmann, B.; Verdin, J. P.; Eilerts, G.

2014-12-01

In 8 out the past 15 boreal springs (1999, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2013), substantial parts of eastern East Africa experienced very low boreal spring rains. These rainfall deficits have triggered widespread food insecurity, and even contributed to the outbreak of famine conditions in Somalia in 2011. At both seasonal and decadal time scales, new science supported by the USAID Famine Early Warning Systems Network seeks to understand the mechanisms producing these droughts. We present research suggesting that the ultimate and proximate causes of these increases in aridity are i) stronger equatorial Pacific SST gradients and ii) associated increases in the strength of the Indo-Pacific Walker circulation. Using observations and new modeling ensembles, we explore the relative contributions of Pacific Decadal Variability (PDV) and global warming under warm and cold east Pacific Ocean states. This question is addressed in two ways: by using atmospheric GCMs forced with full and ENSO-only SSTs, and ii) by decomposing coupled ocean-atmosphere climate simulations into PDV and non-PDV components. These analyses allow us to explore the Walker circulation's sensitivity to climate change under various PDV states, and inform a tentative bracketing of 2030 climate conditions. We conclude by discussing links to East African development. Regions of high rainfall sensitivity are delineated and intersected with recent changes in population and land cover/land use. The interaction of elevation and climate is shown to create climatically secure regions that are likely to remain viable even under drier and warmer conditions; such regions may be logical targets for agricultural intensification. Conversely, arid low elevation regions are likely to experience substantial temperature impacts. Continued expansion into these areas may effectively create more 'drought' even if rainfall increases.

Expanding Business Opportunities for African Youth in Agricultural ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Expanding Business Opportunities for African Youth in Agricultural Value ... sector actors who can help commercialize them and achieve large-scale impacts. ... CultiAF supports research to achieve long-term food security in Eastern and ...

African Journals Online: Agriculture & Food Sciences

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 1 - 50 of 53 ... Global Approaches to Extension Practice (GAEP), A publication of the Department of ... resources, Soil Science, Agricultural Engineering and Food Processing. ... Journal of Applied Chemistry and Agricultural Research.

“Make starchy foods part of most meals”: a food-based dietary ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2013-04-08

Apr 8, 2013 ... plan meals around “starchy” or high-carbohydrate food, rather than protein food ..... reported higher availability and intake of vegetables and fruit in urban .... foods and products in airtight containers in a cool, dry place or in the ...

Supplements (Part1): Vitamins | Jobson | South African Family Practice

African Journals Online (AJOL)

South African Family Practice. Journal Home · ABOUT · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 45, No 5 (2003) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads. Username, Password, Remember me, or Register · Download this PDF file. The PDF file you selected should load here if your ...

Wholes and parts: the limits of composition | Mellor | South African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

South African Journal of Philosophy. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 25, No 2 (2006) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Nutritional implications of food allergies | Steinman | South African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

8% of children affected at some point in their childhood. It is important to recognise that the nutritional implications encompass not only the elimination of essential food(s) from the diet (and the consequent attendant lack of energy, protein or ...

Factors associated with household food insecurity and depression in pregnant South African women from a low socio-economic setting: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Abrahams, Zulfa; Lund, Crick; Field, Sally; Honikman, Simone

2018-04-01

Food insecurity has been linked with maternal depression in low-income settings. Few studies have looked at factors associated with both food insecurity and maternal depression as outcomes. This study aimed to assess factors associated with food insecurity and depression in a sample of pregnant South African women. We conducted a cross-sectional study at a Midwife Obstetric Unit in a low-income suburb in Cape Town. Pregnant women attending the clinic for their first antenatal visit were invited to participate. The shortened form of the US Household Food Security Survey Module was used to measure food insecurity. The Expanded Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview was used to diagnose depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug dependence, and assess for suicidal ideation and behaviour. Logistic regression modelling was conducted to explore factors associated with food insecurity and depression in separate models. We found that 42% of households were food insecure and that 21% of participants were depressed (N = 376). The odds of being food insecure were increased in women with suicidal behaviour (OR = 5.34; 95% CI 1.26-22.57), with depression (4.27; 1.43-12.70) and in those with three or more children (3.79; 1.25-11.55). The odds of depression was greater in women who were food insecure (5.30; 1.63-17.30), substance dependent (15.83; 1.31-191.48) or diagnosed with an anxiety disorder (5.04; 1.71-14.82). Food insecurity and depression are strongly associated in pregnant women. The relationship between food insecurity and depression is complex and requires further investigation. Interventions that improve both food security and mental health during the perinatal period are likely to benefit the physical and mental well-being of mothers and children.

Investigating tangible and mental resources as predictors of perceived household food insecurity during pregnancy among women in a South African birth cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Pellowski, Jennifer A; Barnett, Whitney; Kuo, Caroline C; Koen, Nastassja; Zar, Heather J; Stein, Dan J

2017-08-01

Food insecurity during pregnancy is concerning given the increased nutritional needs of the mother for proper fetal development. However, research is lacking within the South African context to investigate the association of economic and psychosocial factors and food insecurity among pregnant women, using comprehensive, conceptually driven models. This study applies the Network-Individual-Resource (NIR) Model to investigate individual, intimate dyadic, and family level predictors of perceived household food insecurity for pregnant women. 826 pregnant women enrolled in the Drakenstein Child Health Study (DCHS), a birth cohort in two communities in a peri-urban area of South Africa. Hierarchical logistic regressions were used to investigate the impact of household/family, intimate dyads, and individual tangible and mental resources on perceived household food insecurity during the critical period of pregnancy. Perceived household food insecurity was assessed through an adapted version of the USDA Household Food Security Scale - Short Form. Among 826 pregnant women in South Africa, individual-level tangible resources (e.g. income, social assistance, HIV status) and mental resources (e. g. depression, childhood trauma) predicted perceived household food insecurity and these predictors differed by community. Intimate dyadic and family level resources did not predict household food insecurity. Our findings of the economic and psychosocial predictors of perceived household food insecurity among pregnant women in South Africa, mirror findings in general populations. This study provides support for the extension of the NIR model to perceived household food insecurity, particularly regarding individual-level mental and tangible resources, as well as the impact of community-level factors. Future research should investigate the extent to which resource sharing occurs within networks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rethinking resistance : revolt and violence in African history

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Abbink, G.J.; Bruijn, de M.E.; Walraven, van K.

2003-01-01

This collective volume reinterprets the genre of resistance studies, introduces recent conceptual perspectives and considers examples of African (civil) wars and insurgent movements. Contributions: Rethinking resistance in African history, an introduction, by Klaas van Walraven and Jon Abbink. Part

Food insecurity among people with severe mental disorder in a rural Ethiopian setting: a comparative, population-based study.

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Tirfessa, K; Lund, C; Medhin, G; Hailemichael, Y; Fekadu, A; Hanlon, C

2017-11-16

In low-income African countries, ensuring food security for all segments of the population is a high priority. Mental illness is associated consistently with poverty, but there is little evidence regarding the association with food insecurity. The aim of this study was to compare the levels of food insecurity in people with severe mental disorders (SMD) with the general population in a rural African setting with a high burden of food insecurity. Households of 292 community-ascertained people with a specialist-confirmed diagnosis of SMD (including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) were compared with 284 households without a person with SMD in a rural district in south Ethiopia. At the time of the study, no mental health services were available within the district. Food insecurity was measured using a validated version of the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale. Disability was measured using the World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0. Severe household food insecurity was reported by 32.5% of people with SMD and 15.9% of respondents from comparison households: adjusted odds ratio 2.82 (95% confidence interval 1.62 to 4.91). Higher annual income was associated independently with lower odds of severe food insecurity. When total disability scores were added into the model, the association between SMD and food insecurity became non-significant, indicating a possible mediating role of disability. Efforts to alleviate food insecurity need to target people with SMD as a vulnerable group. Addressing the disabling effects of SMD would also be expected to reduce food insecurity. Access to mental health care integrated into primary care is being expanded in this district as part of the Programme for Improving Mental health carE (PRIME). The impact of treatment on disability and food insecurity will be evaluated.

Risky Food Safety Behaviors Are Associated with Higher Bmi and Lower Healthy Eating Self-Efficacy and Intentions among African American Churchgoers in Baltimore

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson Steeves, Elizabeth; Silbergeld, Ellen; Summers, Amber; Chen, Lenis; Gittelsohn, Joel

2012-01-01

Background There are an estimated 9.4 million cases of foodborne illness each year. Consumers have a key role in preventing foodborne illness, but differences in the practice of food safety behaviors exist, increasing risk for certain groups in the population. Identifying groups who are more likely to practice risky food safety behaviors can assist in development of interventions to reduce the disease burden of foodborne illnesses. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationships of health indicators and psychosocial factors with self-reported food safety behaviors. Methods and Findings Data were collected via questionnaire from 153 African Americans who attend churches in Baltimore City. Individuals reported high overall concern with food safety (mean score: 0.80±0.49 on a scale of −1 to +1) and practiced food safety behaviors with moderate overall frequency (mean score: 5.26±4.01 on a scale of −12 to +12), with considerable variation in reported frequencies depending on the food safety behavior. After adjusting for demographic variables, food safety behaviors were significantly associated with BMI and psychosocial variables. Riskier food safety behaviors were associated with higher body mass index (BMI) (β = −0.141 95%CI (−0.237, −0.044), p = 0.004). Self-efficacy for healthy eating (standard β [std. β] = 0.250, p = 0.005) and healthy eating intentions (std. β = 0.178, p = 0.041) were associated with better food safety behaviors scores. Conclusions These results show important relationships between weight-related health indicators, psychosocial factors and food safety behaviors that have not previously been studied. Interventions tailored to higher-risk populations have the potential to reduce the burden of food-related illnesses. Additional studies are needed to further investigate these relationships with larger and more diverse samples. PMID:23284894

Food category purchases vary by household education and race/ethnicity: results from grocery receipts.

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Cullen, Karen; Baranowski, Tom; Watson, Kathy; Nicklas, Theresa; Fisher, Jennifer; O'Donnell, Sharon; Baranowski, Janice; Islam, Noemi; Missaghian, Mariam

2007-10-01

To characterize food group purchases from grocery receipts. Food shoppers (aged>or=19 years with at least one child agedfood purchaser) were recruited in front of grocery stores to participate in two interviews, separated by 6 weeks, and to save and mail grocery store receipts from the interim to researchers. Receipt items were coded by food categories; the percentage of total grocery dollars spent in each of the food categories each week was computed. Analyses of variance were performed on the total grocery dollar spent and the percentage spent in each food category by participant characteristics. The greatest percentage of purchases were for protein foods (24%), followed by drinks (12%), grains (9.2%), vegetables (8.8%), dairy (8.3%), mixed dishes (7.5%), and fruit (7%). Hispanics purchased a greater percentage of fruit and vegetables than African Americans. Whites purchased more alcohol products than African Americans. Whites purchased more mixed dishes than Hispanics, and African Americans purchased more protein foods than whites (all P<0.001). The use of this measurement procedure, unaffected by errors of self-report, should be more thoroughly explored to explain differences in disease prevalence.

African Postal Heritage : Tanzania 1885-1920s : part I : German East Africa, 1885-1914

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dietz, A.J.

2016-01-01

An earlier version of this African Postal Heritage Paper was published as African Studies Centre Leiden Working Paper 119 / 2015: "A postal history of the First World War in Africa and its aftermath - German colonies; III Deutsch Ostafrika / German East Africa", written by Ton Dietz.

Validation of the learning transfer system inventory in the South African context (Part 1

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W J Coetsee

2006-10-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to validate the Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI in the South African context. The sample used in this study was a convenience sample of 240 employees working for a Banking group. Exploratory factor analysis of the LTSI was used to determine if an interpretable factor structure of latent transfer system constructs when applied in the South African context could be identified. From the results it appears that the factor structure of the LTSI, as revealed by means of the exploratory approach, appears differently in the South African context.

Stable isotopic composition of East African lake waters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Odada, E.O.

2001-01-01

The investigation of stable isotopic composition of East African lake waters was conducted by scientists from the Department of Geology, University of Nairobi, as part of the International Decade for the East African Lakes (IDEAL) project and in close collaboration with the scientists from Large Lakes Observatory of the University of Minnesota and the Isotope Hydrology Laboratory of the IAEA in Vienna. The Research Contract was part of the IAEA Co-ordinated Research Programme on Isotope Techniques in Lake Dynamics Investigations, and was sponsored by the Agency. Water and grab sediment samples were obtained from East African Lakes during the month of January and February 1994 and July/August 1995. Water samples were analysed for oxygen and deuterium isotopic composition at the IAEA Laboratories in Vienna, Austria. In this final paper we report the results of the study of oxygen and deuterium isotopic composition from the East African lake waters. (author)

Crops and Culture: Dispersal of African Millets to the Indian Subcontinent and its Cultural Consequences

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Randi Haaland

2012-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper I will discuss the spread of African crops to the Indian subcontinent. The spread was probably related to the Indus civilizations trading network in the Indian Ocean during the late 3rd millennium BC. It was at this time African food plants, the so-called big millets were dispersed across the African savannah to the horn of Africa and further to the Indian sub-continent. The big millets were cultivated as monsoon summer crops complementing the existing barley/wheat winter crops. The African pot/porridge cuisine was added to wheat/barley oven/bread cuisine. Recent study in Nepal shows that the African crops are cultivated today on marginal agricultural land in the foothills of Himalaya. We will look at Nepal as an example of the production and consumption of African big millets. The crops are processed into porridge and beer, and this cuisine is a food tradition similar to the pot and porridge cuisine we find in sub-Saharan Africa.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/dsaj.v5i0.6354 Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 5, 2011: 1-30

Inequalities in South African health care: Part I. The problem ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This exposition analyses and contextualises the complex problem of structural inequality in South African health care. Socio-econornic conditions, racial divisions and geographical location are isolated as the main determinants of inequality in the provision, allocation and distribution of health care; the prevailing inequalities ...

Identification of optimal investments | Lividini | African Journal of ...

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African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 17, No 2 (2017) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The journal is envisaged to enable dissemination and sharing of food and nutrition ... food security, and nutrition that affect Africa's development and people's livelihoods. ... of children less than five years old in the southern zone of Tigray, Ethiopia ... Value chain and marketing margins of cassava: An assessment of cassava ...

Adolescent exposure to food advertising on television.

Science.gov (United States)

Powell, Lisa M; Szczypka, Glen; Chaloupka, Frank J

2007-10-01

Television viewing is hypothesized to contribute to obesity among children and adolescents through several mechanisms that include the displacement of physical activity, snacking while watching TV, and the influence of food advertising. This study drew on television ratings to examine the distribution of food advertising exposure among adolescents aged 12 through 17 based on 170 top-rated shows across network, cable and syndicated TV stations over the 9-month period from September 2003 to May 2004. A total of 238,353 30-second equivalent advertisements on the top-rated shows were assessed. Each advertisement was weighted by its rating to measure actual exposure to advertisements. The results showed that among total nonprogram content time, food-related products accounted for roughly one fifth of advertising exposure. Excluding TV promotions and public service announcements, as a proportion of all product advertising, total food-related advertising made up 26% of advertised products viewed by adolescents. By race, the proportion of advertising exposure to food products was 14% greater for African-American versus white adolescents and total exposure to food advertising would be even larger for African-American teens given that, on average, they watched more TV. Fast food was the most frequently viewed food product category comprising 23% of all food-related advertisements among adolescents. Food ads made up just over one quarter of TV ads viewed by adolescents with the most commonly viewed products of fast food, sweets, and beverage products well within the reach of their own purchasing power.

South African Medical Journal - Vol 89, No 2 (1999)

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Validation of a food frequency questionnaire in older South Africans · EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT. Karen E Charlton, Estelle V Lambert, 184-189 ...

Staphylococcus aureus in Animals and Food: Methicillin Resistance, Prevalence and Population Structure. A Review in the African Continent

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Carmen Lozano

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The interest about Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus and methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA in livestock, and domestic and wild animals has significantly increased. The spread of different clonal complexes related to livestock animals, mainly CC398, and the recent description of the new mecC gene, make it necessary to know more about the epidemiology and population structure of this microorganism all over the world. Nowadays, there are several descriptions about the presence of S. aureus and/or MRSA in different animal species (dogs, sheep, donkeys, bats, pigs, and monkeys, and in food of animal origin in African countries. In this continent, there is a high diversity of ethnicities, cultures or religions, as well as a high number of wild animal species and close contact between humans and animals, which can have a relevant impact in the epidemiology of this microorganism. This review shows that some clonal lineages associated with humans (CC1, CC15, CC72, CC80, CC101, and CC152 and animals (CC398, CC130 and CC133 are present in this continent in animal isolates, although the mecC gene has not been detected yet. However, available studies are limited to a few countries, very often with incomplete information, and many more studies are necessary to cover a larger number of African countries.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN MILITARY IN TRANSITION: PART 2 – FROM ...

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Gerhard Louw;Abel Esterhuyse

preferred strategic management model of the South African National .... This means that any two organisations, distinct in terms of strategic .... analysis of its realised strategy by applying only four tests: those of ..... to defend South Africa against external military aggression” – a contingency that ..... Harvard Business Review.

An urban food store intervention positively affects food-related psychosocial variables and food behaviors.

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Gittelsohn, Joel; Song, Hee-Jung; Suratkar, Sonali; Kumar, Mohan B; Henry, Elizabeth G; Sharma, Sangita; Mattingly, Megan; Anliker, Jean A

2010-06-01

Obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases are more prevalent in low-income urban areas, which commonly have limited access to healthy foods. The authors implemented an intervention trial in nine food stores, including two supermarkets and seven corner stores, in a low-income, predominantly African American area of Baltimore City, with a comparison group of eight stores in another low-income area of the city. The intervention (Baltimore Healthy Stores; BHS) included an environmental component to increase stocks of more nutritious foods and provided point-of-purchase promotions including signage for healthy choices and interactive nutrition education sessions. Using pre- and postassessments, the authors evaluated the impact of the program on 84 respondents sampled from the intervention and comparison areas. Exposure to intervention materials was modest in the intervention area, and overall healthy food purchasing scores, food knowledge, and self-efficacy did not show significant improvements associated with intervention status. However, based on adjusted multivariate regression results, the BHS program had a positive impact on healthfulness of food preparation methods and showed a trend toward improved intentions to make healthy food choices. Respondents in the intervention areas were significantly more likely to report purchasing promoted foods because of the presence of a BHS shelf label. This is the first food store intervention trial in low-income urban communities to show positive impacts at the consumer level.

Shallow-water habitats as sources of fallback foods for hominins.

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Wrangham, Richard; Cheney, Dorothy; Seyfarth, Robert; Sarmiento, Esteban

2009-12-01

Underground storage organs (USOs) have been proposed as critical fallback foods for early hominins in savanna, but there has been little discussion as to which habitats would have been important sources of USOs. USOs consumed by hominins could have included both underwater and underground storage organs, i.e., from both aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Shallow aquatic habitats tend to offer high plant growth rates, high USO densities, and relatively continuous USO availability throughout the year. Baboons in the Okavango delta use aquatic USOs as a fallback food, and aquatic or semiaquatic USOs support high-density human populations in various parts of the world. As expected given fossilization requisites, the African early- to mid-Pleistocene shows an association of Homo and Paranthropus fossils with shallow-water and flooded habitats where high densities of plant-bearing USOs are likely to have occurred. Given that early hominins in the tropics lived in relatively dry habitats, while others occupied temperate latitudes, ripe, fleshy fruits of the type preferred by African apes would not normally have been available year round. We therefore suggest that water-associated USOs were likely to have been key fallback foods, and that dry-season access to aquatic habitats would have been an important predictor of hominin home range quality. This study differs from traditional savanna chimpanzee models of hominin origins by proposing that access to aquatic habitats was a necessary condition for adaptation to savanna habitats. It also raises the possibility that harvesting efficiency in shallow water promoted adaptations for habitual bipedality in early hominins.

Hygienic and sanitary practices of vendors of street foods in Nairobi

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Tindi

African Journal of Food Agriculture and Nutritional Development (AJFAND): Volume 5 No 1 2005. 1. ABSTRACT. The street food industry has an important role in the cities and towns of many developing countries in meeting the food demands of the urban dwellers. It feeds millions of people daily with a wide variety of foods ...

Antidiabetic potential of Brachylaena discolor | Mellem | African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: The traditional African herbal medicinal system has many reports of anti-diabetic food plants with no known side effects. Such plants and their products have been widely prescribed for diabetic treatment with little known mechanistic basis of their functioning. Therefore, these natural products need to be ...

Effect of supplementation of African breadfruit (Treculia africana ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African breadfruit (Treculia africana) hulls were supplemented at different levels with other organic food processing wastes (orange, plantain, cassava and soybean). Optimum supplementation of 40:60 (breadfruit hulls to each waste) was obtained. Proximate and mineral composition of the unsupplemented and the ...

Researchers urge climate-resilience support for South African maize ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2016-04-20

Apr 20, 2016 ... Researchers urge climate-resilience support for South African maize farmers ... They found that climate change is likely to hurt livelihoods and food security ... In Burkina Faso, local cultivation and livestock practices are losing ...

Adolescent food frequency and socio-economic status in a private ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

-urban school in Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal. ... South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition ... Results: The findings indicated that there was a higher preference for globalised foods (high in fat and sugar), particularly fast food, by learners from the ...

Risky food safety behaviors are associated with higher BMI and lower healthy eating self-efficacy and intentions among African American churchgoers in Baltimore [corrected].

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elizabeth Anderson Steeves

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: There are an estimated 9.4 million cases of foodborne illness each year. Consumers have a key role in preventing foodborne illness, but differences in the practice of food safety behaviors exist, increasing risk for certain groups in the population. Identifying groups who are more likely to practice risky food safety behaviors can assist in development of interventions to reduce the disease burden of foodborne illnesses. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationships of health indicators and psychosocial factors with self-reported food safety behaviors. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Data were collected via questionnaire from 153 African Americans who attend churches in Baltimore City. Individuals reported high overall concern with food safety (mean score: 0.80±0.49 on a scale of -1 to +1 and practiced food safety behaviors with moderate overall frequency (mean score: 5.26±4.01 on a scale of -12 to +12, with considerable variation in reported frequencies depending on the food safety behavior. After adjusting for demographic variables, food safety behaviors were significantly associated with BMI and psychosocial variables. Riskier food safety behaviors were associated with higher body mass index (BMI (β = -0.141 95%CI (-0.237, -0.044, p = 0.004. Self-efficacy for healthy eating (standard β [std. β] = 0.250, p = 0.005 and healthy eating intentions (std. β = 0.178, p = 0.041 were associated with better food safety behaviors scores. CONCLUSIONS: These results show important relationships between weight-related health indicators, psychosocial factors and food safety behaviors that have not previously been studied. Interventions tailored to higher-risk populations have the potential to reduce the burden of food-related illnesses. Additional studies are needed to further investigate these relationships with larger and more diverse samples.

Part-Time Post Graduate Certificate in Education Teacher-Students: What Do They Bring to and Expect from a Formal South African Teaching Programme?

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Mukeredzi, Tabitha Grace; Sibanda, Doras

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to understand the nature and extent of subject content and curriculum knowledge that part-time Post Graduate Certificate in Education students in one South African university, brought to the classroom, and the kind and level of knowledge that they expected and sought from the programme. The study employed a…

Accelerating vaccine development for African swine fever virus ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Photo: IDRC / Bartay The challenge African swine fever (ASF) is a highly infectious hemorrhagic viral disease that wipes out entire herds of infected pigs. ASF is widespread in at least half of sub-Saharan Africa, and threatens food security due to devastating economic losses.

From mothers to daughters: transgenerational food and diet communication in an underserved group.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Diane Baer; Musham, Catherine; McLellan, Mary S

2004-01-01

Studies show that young girls are highly influenced by their mothers' attitudes toward food and body image. To investigate the nature of the information about food that mothers transfer to their daughters, the researchers used focus groups comprising African American women. Results suggest that when educators work with low-income African American women, they should be cognizant of overeating from the perspectives of early food scarcity, reverence for the mother's authoritative role in the family and respect for cultural differences in body size norms. In addition, nutrition educators should counsel young mothers to understand the impact of their eating habits on their daughters.

Junk food consumption and screen time: association with childhood adiposity.

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Montoye, Alexander H; Pfeiffer, Karin A; Alaimo, Katherine; Betz, Heather Hayes; Paek, Hye-Jin; Carlson, Joseph J; Eisenmann, Joey C

2013-05-01

To determine the joint association of junk food consumption (JFC) and screen time (ST) with adiposity in children. Two hundred fourteen (121 girls, 93 boys) third-to-fifth-grade students (54% Hispanic, 35% African American, 8% white) completed a lifestyle behavior survey, which included self-reported JFC and ST, as part of a school-based lifestyle intervention program. Neither JFC nor ST, independently or jointly, was associated with adiposity measures. JFC and ST were significantly correlated (r = .375). The low achievement of physical activity and screen time recommendations and high prevalence of overweight/obesity in this mostly minority, low socioeconomic status population indicates a potential focus for intervention.

[Nutrition and biological value of food parts of a trade bivalve mollusk Anadara broughtoni].

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Tabakaeva, O V; Tabakaev, A V

2015-01-01

Currently, the human diet includes different new products of seafishing, including non-fish--bivalves and gastropods, holothurias, echinoderms, jellyfishes that demands careful studying of their chemical composition. The purpose of the study was to determine the nutritional and biological value of all soft parts of the burrowing bivalve MOLLUSK Anadara broughtoni from the Far East region. It was established thatfood parts of a bivalve were significantly flooded (water content--73.5-84.2%), with the minimum water content in the adductor and maximum in the mantle. Dry solids are presented by organic (89-93%) and mineral (7-11%) components. Organic components consist of protein (14.6-20.7%), lipids (1.8-2.3%), carbohydrates (2.1-2.6%). The analysis of amino-acid composition of proteins of food parts of the mollusk of Anadara broughtonishowed the presence of all essential amino acids with slight differences in their content depending on the localization of the protein. All edible parts have tryptophan as the limiting amino acid. Muscle proteins have maximum level of lysine, methionine, cysteine, phenylalanine and tyrosine; mantle proteins--leucine, isoleucine and threonine; adductor proteins--valine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, methionine and cysteine. Predominant nonessential amino acids forproteins of all food pieces are glycine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, arginine. The coefficient of amino-acid score differences of adductor protein (31.7%) is less than the same of cloak by 3.7%. The indicator "biological value" is maximal for adductor (68.3%), but the differenceformuscle is only 0.83%. Mantle proteins are characterized by minimum biological value (64.6%). The coefficient of utility of amino acid composition of protein is maximalfor muscle (57.83%), and values for a cloak and an adductor differ slightly (55.81 and 55.96%). Taurine content in food parts of a mollusk Anadara broughtoni is rather high compared to with other bivalve mollusks of the Far East region

Barriers to Food Security and Community Stress in an Urban Food Desert

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Jessica Crowe

2018-05-01

Full Text Available By analyzing data from focus groups in a poor, mostly African American neighborhood in a large U.S. city, we describe how residents in urban food deserts access food, the barriers they experience in accessing nutritious, affordable food, and how community food insecurity exacerbates prior social, built, and economic stressors. Provided the unwillingness of supermarkets and supercenters to locate to poor urban areas and the need for nutritious, affordable food, it may be more efficient and equitable for government programs to financially partner with ethnic markets and smaller locally-owned grocery stores to increase the distribution and marketing of healthy foods rather than to spend resources trying to entice a large supermarket to locate to the neighborhood. By focusing on improving the conditions of the neighborhood and making smaller grocery stores and markets more affordable and produce more attractive to residents, the social, built, and economic stressors experienced by residents will be reduced, thereby possibly improving overall mental and physical health.

Precambrian terranes of African affinities in the southeastern part of Brazil and Uruguay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Basei, M.A.S; Junior, Siga; Harara, O.M; Preciozzi, F; Sato, K; Kaufuss, G

2001-01-01

The interest in correlating terranes at opposite margins of the South Atlantic Ocean reflects a natural curiosity of both researchers who work in the eastern South-America and who study southwestern Africa. On a large scale scenario the geology of this region is characterized by a central portion composed of Neo proterozoic-Cambrian belts (Dom Feliciano, Kaoko, Damara, Gariep, Saldania) having on each side old gneissic-migmatitic terrains on both continents (Luis Alves, Rio de La Plata, Kalahari and Congo). In South America the Neoproterozoic Dom Feliciano Belt (DFB) predominates in the eastern part of the region and is internally organized according to three different crustal segments characterized, from southeast to northwest, by a Granite belt (deformed I-type medium to high calc-alkaline granites and alkaline granitoid rocks; a Schist belt (volcano-sedimentary rocks metamorphosed from greenschist to amphibolite facies and intrusive granitoids), and a Foreland basin (anchimetamorphic sedimentary and volcanic rocks), the latter situated between the Schist belt and the Archean-Paleoproterozoic foreland. Despite discontinuously covered by younger sediments, the NS continuity of these three crustal segments is suggested by similar lithotypes, structural characteristics, ages and isotopic signature, as well as by the gravimetric data. The Major Gercino, Cordilheira, and Sierra Ballena shear zones are part of the major NE-SW lineaments that affect all southern Brazilian and Uruguayan Precambrian terrains. They separate the Dom Feliciano Schist Belt (supracrustal rocks of the Brusque-Porongos and Lavalleja groups), to the West, from the granitoids of the Granite belt, to the East. The shear zones are characterized by a regional NE trend and a resultant oblique direction of movement where ductile-brittle structures predominate. It is here postulated, as discussed later on, that this lineament separates terranes that are geologically, geo chronologically and isotopically

East African Journal of Statistics

African Journals Online (AJOL)

AFRICAN JOURNALS ONLINE (AJOL) · Journals · Advanced Search · USING ... EASJOSTA publishes the latest findings in applied and theoretical statistics. ... mathematics and acturial sciences, all considered as part of applied statistics.

Healthier home food preparation methods and youth and caregiver psychosocial factors are associated with lower BMI in African American youth.

Science.gov (United States)

Kramer, Rebecca F; Coutinho, Anastasia J; Vaeth, Elisabeth; Christiansen, Karina; Suratkar, Sonali; Gittelsohn, Joel

2012-05-01

Obesity disproportionately affects African American (AA) children and adolescents and leads to an increased risk of adult chronic diseases. Eating few meals at home has been implicated as a cause of obesity among youth, but to our knowledge, previous studies have not specifically investigated this relationship in AA adolescents or looked at both the healthfulness and frequency of home meals in AA households. The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between home food preparation and adolescent BMI in a sample of 240 AA adolescents aged 10-15 y and their caregivers. Multiple linear regressions were used to model psychosocial characteristics, household factors, and adolescent and caregiver food preparation behaviors as predictors of adolescent BMI, and psychosocial and household factors as predictors of food preparation behavior. Adolescents in the sample had a mean BMI-for-age percentile of 70.4, and >90% of the sample families received at least one form of food assistance. Adolescent children of caregivers who used healthier cooking methods were more likely to use healthy cooking methods themselves (P = 0.02). Having more meals prepared by a caregiver was predictive of higher BMI-for-age percentile in adolescents (P = 0.02), but healthier cooking methods used by the caregiver was associated with reduced risk of adolescent overweight or obesity (P prepared at home in AA households do not necessarily promote healthy BMI in youth. Family meals are a promising adolescent obesity prevention strategy, but it is important to target both frequency and healthfulness of meals prepared at home for effective health promotion in AA families.

The Contribution of food plants to the growth, development and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Contribution of food plants to the growth, development and fecundity of Zonocerus variegatus (L) ... African Journal of Biotechnology ... The performance of the variegated grasshopper, Zonocerus variegatus (L) fed on different food plants namely cassava (Manihot esculenta), pawpaw (Carica papaya) and acalypha ...

Advances in Medicinal Plant Research | Hafez | African Journal of ...

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African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 11, No 6 (2011) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Food fears

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rumney, R.

1988-01-01

Radurisation can give a new lease of shelf life to food and cut down contamination, but it is bound to cause problems - even among comparatively tame South African consumers. In this article the facts about radurization are discussed: the labelling of irradiated products, the problem of making a bad product good by using irradiation, consumer pressure, attitudes, fears and resistance. The economics of radurised foodstuffs are also discussed

Farm Organization, Ownership and Food Productivity in Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nkasiobi Silas Oguzor

2012-06-01

Full Text Available African food production is in crisis. Today, despite Africa’s vast physical and climatic potentials to produce food, most African States depend on food importation. Africa’s capacity to deal with its food battles is severely constrained by its political instability, its early stage of scientific and institutional development, and a rapidly changing and complex global environment. In Nigeria and in most developing economies, there is a fundamental lack of political commitment to come grips with poverty, malnutrition and access to food. Because of these barriers, traditional economics is a rather limited tool to understand food production and other related variables. Poverty, hunger, malnutrition, famine and starvation in developing economies are just as much a function of political, macroeconomic, and institutional barriers as lack of technology. Illustrations from the agrarian chaos in Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Chad and others are too numerous to conclude otherwise. The aim of this paper is to determine and analyze economics incentives and strategies, which could stimulate commercial agriculture in Nigeria. The analysis is based on the premise that the form of production organization in Nigerian agriculture is the major constraint to commercialization. The paper concludes that output price subsidy is the over-riding factor in the commercialization of agriculture in Nigeria.

Feeding Revolution: The Black Panther Party and the Politics of Food

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mary Potorti

2014-02-01

Full Text Available This chapter examines the role of food in the symbolic politics and practical agenda of the Black Panther Party (BPP, founded in the late 1960s in Oakland, California.  Situating hunger and the politics of food at the center of drives for racial justice, it argues that the BPP’s anti-hunger efforts and food-centered campaigns were driven by an implicit understanding of the power of food in battles over racialized definitions of personhood, a forum for both enforcing and resisting hegemonic authority.  From this vantage, the Panthers and their allies in the East Bay community utilized the Party’s popular food programs, specifically its Free Breakfast for School Children Program, as staging grounds to prepare for a revolutionary overthrow of the socio-economic order.  In addition to strengthening the physical bodies of African Americans to ensure their “survival pending revolution,” the food programs served a deeper organizing function by encouraging community members to come together to meet an immediate, practical need and, in doing so, to visualize themselves as part of a larger movement for change.  The Panthers’ subsequent demands for consumer rights and calls for conscientious consumption (both as purchasers and eaters of food highlighted the role of food politics in perpetuating racial injustice while demonstrating the capacity for food-related protest to challenge structures of hunger and patterns of widespread malnourishment.

Multicultural education and its politics | Gumbo | South African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article is an account of how multicultural education is experienced within the US society and its national school curriculum. The has had an opportunity to partly witness this situation, when he was selected as one of the South African Educators who participated in the June-July 1999 South African Transformation ...

African penguins as predators and prey — coping (or not) with change

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This has led to both the extinction and formation of colonies. Food now may limit colonies at relatively small sizes, a fact attributable to industrial fisheries reducing the densities of forage fish. African penguins share their habitat with several other predators, with which they compete for food and breeding space. One of these ...

The Future of the Food System: Cases Involving the Private Sector in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura M. Pereira

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The food system is facing unprecedented pressure from environmental change exacerbated by the expansion of agri-food corporations that are consolidating their power in the global food chain. Although Africa missed the Green Revolution and the wave of supermarket expansion that hit the West and then spread to Asia and Latin America, this is unlikely to continue. With a large proportion of sub-Saharan African countries’ GDP still heavily reliant on agriculture, global trends in agri-food business are having an increasing impact on African countries. South Africa, a leader in agribusiness on the continent, has a well-established agri-food sector that is facing increasing pressure from various social and environmental sources. This paper uses interview data with corporate executives from South African food businesses to explore how they are adapting to the dual pressures of environmental change and globalisation. It shows that companies now have to adapt to macro-trends both within and outside the formal food sector and how this in turn has repercussions for building sustainable farming systems—both small and large-scale. It concludes with the recognition that building a sustainable food system is a complex process involving a diversity of actors, however changes are already being seen. Businesses have strategically recognised the need to align the economic bottom line with social and environmental factors, but real sustainability will only happen when all stakeholders are included in food governance.

Energy-water-food nexus under financial constraint environment: good, the bad, and the ugly sustainability reforms in sub-Saharan African countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaman, Khalid; Shamsuddin, Sadaf; Ahmad, Mehboob

2017-05-01

Environmental sustainability agenda are generally compromised by energy, water, and food production resources, while in the recent waves of global financial crisis, it mediates to increase the intensity of air pollutants, which largely affected the less developing countries due to their ease of environmental regulation policies and lack of optimal utilization of economic resources. Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries are no exception that majorly hit by the recent global financial crisis, which affected the country's natural environment through the channel of unsustainable energy-water-food production. The study employed panel random effect model that addresses the country-specific time-invariant shocks to examine the non-linear relationship between water-energy-food resources and air pollutants in a panel of 19 selected SSA countries, for a period of 2000-2014. The results confirmed the carbon-fossil-methane environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) that turned into inverted U-shaped relationships in a panel of selected SSA countries. Food resources largely affected greenhouse gas (GHG), methane (CH 4 ), and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions while water resource decreases carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), fossil fuel, and CH 4 emissions in a region. Energy efficiency improves air quality indicators while industry value added increases CO 2 emissions, fossil fuel energy, and GHG emissions. Global financial crisis increases the risk of climate change across countries. The study concludes that although SSA countries strive hard to take some "good" initiatives to reduce environmental degradation in a form of improved water and energy sources, however, due to lack of optimal utilization of food resources and global financial constraints, it leads to "the bad" and "the ugly" sustainability reforms in a region.

Portion size effects on daily energy intake in low-income Hispanic and African American children and their mothers.

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Jennifer O; Arreola, Angeles; Birch, Leann L; Rolls, Barbara J

2007-12-01

Portion size influences children's energy intakes at meals, but effects on daily intake are unknown. Effects of large portions on daily energy intake were tested in 5-y-old Hispanic and African American children from low-income families. Maternal food intake data were collected to evaluate familial susceptibility to portion size. A within-subjects experimental design with reference and large portion sizes was used in a study of 59 low-income Hispanic and African American preschool-aged children and their mothers. The portion size of 3 entrées (lunch, dinner, and breakfast) and an afternoon snack served during a 24-h period were of a reference size in one condition and doubled in the other condition. Portion sizes of other foods and beverages did not vary across conditions. Weighed food intake, anthropometric measures, and self-reported data were obtained. Doubling the portion size of several entrées and a snack served during a 24-h period increased energy intake from those foods by 23% (180 kcal) among children (P kcal) among mothers (P daily intakes among Hispanic and African American children.

THE CHANGING FACE OF FOOD AID | Oshaug | African Journal of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Issues discussed are for example food aid in relation to human insecurity and humanitarian crisis, poverty, need for institutional reform, World Trade Organization (WTO) and mounting globalization, World Food Program, Food Aid Convention, humanitarian law, human rights and codes of conduct with emphasis on ...

Australian Consumers' Awareness and Acceptance of Insects as Food.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkinson, Kerry; Muhlhausler, Beverly; Motley, Crystal; Crump, Anna; Bray, Heather; Ankeny, Rachel

2018-04-19

Insects have long been consumed as part of the diets of many Asian, African, and South American cultures. However, despite international agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations advocating the nutritional, environmental, and economic benefits of entomophagy, attitudinal barriers persist in Western societies. In Australia, the indigenous ‘bush tucker’ diet comprising witchetty grubs, honey ants, and Bogong moths is quite well known; however, in most Australian locales, the consumption of insects tends to occur only as a novelty. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the awareness and acceptance of insects as food. An online survey of 820 consumers found that 68% of participants had heard of entomophagy, but only 21% had previously eaten insects; witchetty grubs, ants, grasshoppers, and crickets were the most commonly tasted insects. Taste, appearance, safety, and quality were identified as the factors that were most likely to influence consumer willingness to try eating insects, but consumer attitudes towards entomophagy were underpinned by both food neophobia (i.e., reluctance to eat new or novel foods) and prior consumption of insects. Neophobic consumers were far less accepting of entomophagy than neophilic consumers, while consumers who had previously eaten insects were most accepting of insects as food. Incorporating insects into familiar products (e.g., biscuits) or cooked meals also improved their appeal. Collectively, these findings can be used by the food industry to devise production and/or marketing strategies that overcome barriers to insect consumption in Australia.

Australian Consumers’ Awareness and Acceptance of Insects as Food

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kerry Wilkinson

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Insects have long been consumed as part of the diets of many Asian, African, and South American cultures. However, despite international agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations advocating the nutritional, environmental, and economic benefits of entomophagy, attitudinal barriers persist in Western societies. In Australia, the indigenous ‘bush tucker’ diet comprising witchetty grubs, honey ants, and Bogong moths is quite well known; however, in most Australian locales, the consumption of insects tends to occur only as a novelty. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the awareness and acceptance of insects as food. An online survey of 820 consumers found that 68% of participants had heard of entomophagy, but only 21% had previously eaten insects; witchetty grubs, ants, grasshoppers, and crickets were the most commonly tasted insects. Taste, appearance, safety, and quality were identified as the factors that were most likely to influence consumer willingness to try eating insects, but consumer attitudes towards entomophagy were underpinned by both food neophobia (i.e., reluctance to eat new or novel foods and prior consumption of insects. Neophobic consumers were far less accepting of entomophagy than neophilic consumers, while consumers who had previously eaten insects were most accepting of insects as food. Incorporating insects into familiar products (e.g., biscuits or cooked meals also improved their appeal. Collectively, these findings can be used by the food industry to devise production and/or marketing strategies that overcome barriers to insect consumption in Australia.

Modelling the South African fruit export infrastructure: A case study

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Ortmann, FG

2006-04-01

Full Text Available A description is provided of work performed as part of the fruit logistics infrastructure project commissioned by the South African Deciduous Fruit Producers’ Trust and coordinated by the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research...

The cost of a healthy diet: a South African perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Temple, Norman J; Steyn, Nelia P

2011-05-01

Energy-dense foods are relatively cheap sources of energy but typically have a low nutrient density. People with a low income may therefore select a relatively less healthy diet. The high energy density of such diets helps explain the association between obesity and low socioeconomic status. Most studies have been carried out in highly developed countries. We have extended this research to South Africa. Some foods, such as oats, beans, carrots, and apples, are moderately priced sources of energy and are healthy (i.e., they have a low energy density and are nutrient dense). However, such foods are likely to be less desired than many other foods, such as candy, cookies, jam, and chocolate, that have a similar cost (in terms of food energy) but are less healthy. We compared the cost of a typical South African diet with a healthier one. On average, the healthier diet costs 69% more, but this estimate is greatly affected by food choices. For a family whose household income is exceeded by one-third of the population, this increased expenditure represents about 30% of total household income. This could be decreased to about 10% to 15% if a healthy diet is carefully designed. Overall, a healthy diet is unaffordable for most South Africans. This shows the importance of not only educating people in developing countries to the importance of a healthy diet but also explaining how to make such a diet affordable. A more effective strategy is government intervention that manipulates food prices. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The double burden of underweight and overweight in South African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

hormonal regulation, which may be associated with a future risk of disease.3,4 The South African National Health and Examination Survey. (SANHANES-1) reported on .... Food security in South Africa: key policy issues for the medium term.

Street foods contribute to nutrient intakes among children from rural ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The contribution of Street Foods (SF) to the energy and nutrient intakes of young children in rural African communities has been understudied. Under the Enhancing Child Nutrition through Animal Source Food Management (ENAM) project, a microcredit and nutrition education intervention with caregivers of children 2-to ...

The pervasive triad of food security, gender inequity and women's ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Objectives: This study was designed to explore the interactions between food securing activities, health and gender equity from the perspective of rural east African women. The specific objectives were to document the critical interaction among these three issues—food security, gender inequity, women's health within the ...

Implementing the millennium development food security goals Challenges of the southern African context

Science.gov (United States)

Love, David; Twomlow, Steve; Mupangwa, Walter; van der Zaag, Pieter; Gumbo, Bekithemba

The Millennium Development Goals’ target to halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger is extremely important in southern Africa, where food security has become increasingly problematic over the last 20 years. One “quick-win” proposal is replenishment of soil nutrients for smallholder farmers, through free or subsidised chemical fertilisers. Other proposals include appropriate irrigation technology, improved inputs and interventions targeted at women. Analysis of over 10 years of agro-hydrological and agro-economic studies from southern African show that a different approach is required to interventions proposed. There are sustainability problems with free chemical fertiliser due to transport costs and ancillary costs. Furthermore, recent studies in Zimbabwe and Mozambique show that significant increases in yield can only be obtained when soil fertility management is combined with good crop husbandry, e.g. timely planting and weeding. Ongoing replenishment of fertility would be dependent on a continued free or subsidised fertiliser supply, and transport system. Increasing access to irrigation will help, but is not the only solution and cannot reach even a majority of farmers. It has been determined that short dryspells are often the major cause of low yields in sub-Saharan Africa. Soil-water conservation approaches, e.g. winter weeding and conservation tillage, can reduce risk and increase yield. The following specific recommendations are made for urgent interventions to contribute sustainably to food security in southern Africa: (i) To increases access to fertiliser, consider development of strong input markets at end-user level. (ii) Intensification of technology transfer, focusing on capacity building for transfer of existing technologies and much closer collaboration between state and NGO sectors, agronomists and water engineers. (iii) Increasing the uptake of soil-water conservation methods, including conservation tillage and weeding, and

Availability of commonly consumed and culturally specific fruits and vegetables in African-american and Latino neighborhoods.

Science.gov (United States)

Grigsby-Toussaint, Diana S; Zenk, Shannon N; Odoms-Young, Angela; Ruggiero, Laurie; Moise, Imelda

2010-05-01

Although the importance of culture in shaping individual dietary behaviors is well-documented, cultural food preferences have received limited attention in research on the neighborhood food environment. The purpose of this study was to assess the availability of commonly consumed and culturally specific fruits and vegetables in retail food stores located in majority African-American and Latino neighborhoods in southwest Chicago, IL. A cross-sectional survey of 115 stores (15% grocery stores, 85% convenience/corner stores) in African-American neighborhoods and 110 stores (45% grocery stores, 55% convenience/corner stores) in Latino neighborhoods was conducted between May and August of 2006. chi(2) tests were used to assess differences in the availability (presence/absence) of commonly consumed (n=25) and culturally specific fruits and vegetables for African Americans (n=16 varieties) and Latinos (n=18 varieties). Stores located in neighborhoods in which the majority of residents were African American or Latino were more likely to carry fresh fruits and vegetables that were culturally relevant to the dominant group. For example, grocery stores located in Latino neighborhoods were more likely to carry chayote (82.0% vs 17.6%, P<0.05), whereas grocery stores located in African-American neighborhoods were more likely to carry black-eyed peas (52.9% vs 20%, P<0.05). Most stores, however, carried fewer than 50% of commonly consumed or culturally specific fruits and vegetables. Findings from this study highlight that limited availability of culturally specific as well as commonly consumed fruits and vegetables in the neighborhood may be a barrier to fruit and vegetable consumption among African Americans and Latinos. Copyright 2010 American Dietetic Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Respiratory comorbidity in South African children with atopic dermatitis

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background. Atopic dermatitis (AD) is an early and important step in the propagation of the allergic march, enhancing food and respiratory allergies via epicutaneous sensitisation to allergens. Objectives. To determine the prevalence and patterns of aeroallergen sensitisation, asthma and allergic rhinitis in South African ...

Healthy food access for urban food desert residents: examination of the food environment, food purchasing practices, diet and BMI.

Science.gov (United States)

Dubowitz, Tamara; Zenk, Shannon N; Ghosh-Dastidar, Bonnie; Cohen, Deborah A; Beckman, Robin; Hunter, Gerald; Steiner, Elizabeth D; Collins, Rebecca L

2015-08-01

To provide a richer understanding of food access and purchasing practices among US urban food desert residents and their association with diet and BMI. Data on food purchasing practices, dietary intake, height and weight from the primary food shopper in randomly selected households (n 1372) were collected. Audits of all neighbourhood food stores (n 24) and the most-frequented stores outside the neighbourhood (n 16) were conducted. Aspects of food access and purchasing practices and relationships among them were examined and tests of their associations with dietary quality and BMI were conducted. Two low-income, predominantly African-American neighbourhoods with limited access to healthy food in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Household food shoppers. Only one neighbourhood outlet sold fresh produce; nearly all respondents did major food shopping outside the neighbourhood. Although the nearest full-service supermarket was an average of 2·6 km from their home, respondents shopped an average of 6·0 km from home. The average trip was by car, took approximately 2 h for the round trip, and occurred two to four times per month. Respondents spent approximately $US 37 per person per week on food. Those who made longer trips had access to cars, shopped less often and spent less money per person. Those who travelled further when they shopped had higher BMI, but most residents already shopped where healthy foods were available, and physical distance from full-service supermarkets was unrelated to weight or dietary quality. Improved access to healthy foods is the target of current policies meant to improve health. However, distance to the closest supermarket might not be as important as previously thought, and thus policy and interventions that focus merely on improving access may not be effective.

Solving the Traveling Salesman’s Problem Using the African Buffalo Optimization

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Julius Beneoluchi Odili

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes the African Buffalo Optimization (ABO which is a new metaheuristic algorithm that is derived from careful observation of the African buffalos, a species of wild cows, in the African forests and savannahs. This animal displays uncommon intelligence, strategic organizational skills, and exceptional navigational ingenuity in its traversal of the African landscape in search for food. The African Buffalo Optimization builds a mathematical model from the behavior of this animal and uses the model to solve 33 benchmark symmetric Traveling Salesman’s Problem and six difficult asymmetric instances from the TSPLIB. This study shows that buffalos are able to ensure excellent exploration and exploitation of the search space through regular communication, cooperation, and good memory of its previous personal exploits as well as tapping from the herd’s collective exploits. The results obtained by using the ABO to solve these TSP cases were benchmarked against the results obtained by using other popular algorithms. The results obtained using the African Buffalo Optimization algorithm are very competitive.

Food Security Monitoring via Mobile Data Collection and Remote Sensing: Results from the Central African Republic.

Science.gov (United States)

Enenkel, Markus; See, Linda; Karner, Mathias; Álvarez, Mònica; Rogenhofer, Edith; Baraldès-Vallverdú, Carme; Lanusse, Candela; Salse, Núria

2015-01-01

The Central African Republic is one of the world's most vulnerable countries, suffering from chronic poverty, violent conflicts and weak disaster resilience. In collaboration with Doctors without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), this study presents a novel approach to collect information about socio-economic vulnerabilities related to malnutrition, access to resources and coping capacities. The first technical test was carried out in the North of the country (sub-prefecture Kabo) in May 2015. All activities were aimed at the investigation of technical feasibility, not at operational data collection, which requires a random sampling strategy. At the core of the study is an open-source Android application named SATIDA COLLECT that facilitates rapid and simple data collection. All assessments were carried out by local MSF staff after they had been trained for one day. Once a mobile network is available, all assessments can easily be uploaded to a database for further processing and trend analysis via MSF in-house software. On one hand, regularly updated food security assessments can complement traditional large-scale surveys, whose completion can take up to eight months. Ideally, this leads to a gain in time for disaster logistics. On the other hand, recording the location of every assessment via the smart phones' GPS receiver helps to analyze and display the coupling between drought risk and impacts over many years. Although the current situation in the Central African Republic is mostly related to violent conflict it is necessary to consider information about drought risk, because climatic shocks can further disrupt the already vulnerable system. SATIDA COLLECT can easily be adapted to local conditions or other applications, such as the evaluation of vaccination campaigns. Most importantly, it facilitates the standardized collection of information without pen and paper, as well as straightforward sharing of collected data with the MSF headquarters or other

Food Security Monitoring via Mobile Data Collection and Remote Sensing: Results from the Central African Republic.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Markus Enenkel

Full Text Available The Central African Republic is one of the world's most vulnerable countries, suffering from chronic poverty, violent conflicts and weak disaster resilience. In collaboration with Doctors without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, this study presents a novel approach to collect information about socio-economic vulnerabilities related to malnutrition, access to resources and coping capacities. The first technical test was carried out in the North of the country (sub-prefecture Kabo in May 2015. All activities were aimed at the investigation of technical feasibility, not at operational data collection, which requires a random sampling strategy. At the core of the study is an open-source Android application named SATIDA COLLECT that facilitates rapid and simple data collection. All assessments were carried out by local MSF staff after they had been trained for one day. Once a mobile network is available, all assessments can easily be uploaded to a database for further processing and trend analysis via MSF in-house software. On one hand, regularly updated food security assessments can complement traditional large-scale surveys, whose completion can take up to eight months. Ideally, this leads to a gain in time for disaster logistics. On the other hand, recording the location of every assessment via the smart phones' GPS receiver helps to analyze and display the coupling between drought risk and impacts over many years. Although the current situation in the Central African Republic is mostly related to violent conflict it is necessary to consider information about drought risk, because climatic shocks can further disrupt the already vulnerable system. SATIDA COLLECT can easily be adapted to local conditions or other applications, such as the evaluation of vaccination campaigns. Most importantly, it facilitates the standardized collection of information without pen and paper, as well as straightforward sharing of collected data with the MSF

The Sensitivity of WRF Daily Summertime Simulations over West Africa to Alternative Parameterizations. Part 1: African Wave Circulation

Science.gov (United States)

Noble, Erik; Druyan, Leonard M.; Fulakeza, Matthew

2014-01-01

The performance of the NCAR Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) as a West African regional-atmospheric model is evaluated. The study tests the sensitivity of WRF-simulated vorticity maxima associated with African easterly waves to 64 combinations of alternative parameterizations in a series of simulations in September. In all, 104 simulations of 12-day duration during 11 consecutive years are examined. The 64 combinations combine WRF parameterizations of cumulus convection, radiation transfer, surface hydrology, and PBL physics. Simulated daily and mean circulation results are validated against NASA's Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) and NCEP/Department of Energy Global Reanalysis 2. Precipitation is considered in a second part of this two-part paper. A wide range of 700-hPa vorticity validation scores demonstrates the influence of alternative parameterizations. The best WRF performers achieve correlations against reanalysis of 0.40-0.60 and realistic amplitudes of spatiotemporal variability for the 2006 focus year while a parallel-benchmark simulation by the NASA Regional Model-3 (RM3) achieves higher correlations, but less realistic spatiotemporal variability. The largest favorable impact on WRF-vorticity validation is achieved by selecting the Grell-Devenyi cumulus convection scheme, resulting in higher correlations against reanalysis than simulations using the Kain-Fritch convection. Other parameterizations have less-obvious impact, although WRF configurations incorporating one surface model and PBL scheme consistently performed poorly. A comparison of reanalysis circulation against two NASA radiosonde stations confirms that both reanalyses represent observations well enough to validate the WRF results. Validation statistics for optimized WRF configurations simulating the parallel period during 10 additional years are less favorable than for 2006.

Experience in marketing irradiated food in South Africa

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Webb, C.P.N.

1983-01-01

South Africa is acknowledged as being one of the leaders in the field of food irradiation. This paper will be divided into three major sections: 1. A background of South African radiation facilities, population demographics and the retail market. 2. Commercial marketing trials, reasons and consumer reaction. 3. The future of radiation for possible food processing and its safe introduction to society

The Transformation of African Smallholders into Customer Value Creating Businesses

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Teklehaimanot, Mebrahtu L.; Ingenbleek, Paul T.M.; Trijp, van Hans C.M.

2017-01-01

An increasing number of the 600 million African smallholders are becoming integrated into the supply chains of supermarkets, fast food chains, and exporters. This process gradually transforms the smallholders into profit-oriented businesses that can make important contributions to rural

Review of The Last Hunger Season | Zarembka | African Journal of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 14, No 5 (2014) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Drug abuse in Kisumu town western Kenya | Otieno | African Journal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 9, No 3 (2009) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Lactose intolerance and health disparities among African Americans and Hispanic Americans: an updated consensus statement.

Science.gov (United States)

Bailey, Rahn K; Fileti, Cecelia Pozo; Keith, Jeanette; Tropez-Sims, Susanne; Price, Winston; Allison-Ottey, Sharon Denise

2013-01-01

Dairy foods contribute nine essential nutrients to the diet including calcium, potassium and vitamin D; nutrients identified by the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans as being "of public health concern" within the U.S. population. Milk and milk product intake is associated with better diet quality and has been associated with a reduced risk of chronic diseases or conditions including hypertension, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, Type 2 Diabetes and osteoporosis. Some research also indicates dairy food intake may be linked to reduced body fat, when accompanied by energy-restriction. On average, both African Americans and Hispanic Americans consume less than the recommended levels of dairy foods, and perceived or actual lactose intolerance can be a primary reason for limiting or avoiding dairy intake. True lactose intolerance prevalence is not known because healthcare providers do not routinely measure for it, and no standardized assessment method exists. Avoiding dairy may lead to shortfalls of essential nutrients and increased susceptibility to chronic disease. This updated Consensus Statement aims to provide the most current information about lactose intolerance and health, with specific relevance to the African American and Hispanic American communities. Topics covered include diagnostic considerations, actual and recommended dairy food intake and levels of consumption of key dairy nutrients among African Americans and Hispanic Americans; prevalence of self-reported lactose intolerance among various racial/ethnic groups; the association between dairy food intake, lactose intolerance and chronic disease; and research-based management recommendations for those with lactose intolerance.

A qualitative study of motivators and barriers to healthy eating in pregnancy for low-income, overweight, African-American mothers.

Science.gov (United States)

Reyes, Naomi R; Klotz, Alicia A; Herring, Sharon J

2013-09-01

Poor diet quality is common among low-income, overweight, African-American mothers, placing them at high risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes. We sought to better understand the contextual factors that may influence low-income African-American mothers' diet quality during pregnancy. In 2011, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 21 overweight/obese, pregnant African Americans in Philadelphia, PA, all of whom received Medicaid and were eligible for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. Two readers independently coded the interview transcripts to identify recurrent themes. We identified 10 themes around motivators and barriers to healthy eating in pregnancy. Mothers believed that consuming healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables, would lead to healthy babies and limit the physical discomforts of pregnancy. However, more often than not, mothers chose foods that were high in fats and sugars because of taste, cost, and convenience. In addition, mothers had several misconceptions about the definition of healthy (eg, "juice is good for baby"), which led to overconsumption. Many mothers feared they might "starve" their babies if they did not get enough to eat, promoting persistent snacking and larger portions. Living in multigenerational households and sharing resources also limited the mothers' control over food choices and made consuming healthy foods especially difficult. Despite the good intentions of low-income African-American mothers to improve diet quality during pregnancy, multiple factors worked together as barriers to healthy eating. Interventions that emphasize tasty and affordable healthy food substitutes, address misconceptions, and counsel mothers about true energy needs in pregnancy may improve low-income, African-American, overweight/obese mothers' diet quality. Copyright © 2013 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Environmental contaminants in food. Volume II-Part B: Working papers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1980-01-01

This volume contains working papers written for Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) to assist in preparation of the report Environmental Contaminants in Food. The contents include: (1) Toxic substances in food information systems: design and management; (2) Assessment of carcinogenic risks from PCBs in food; (3) Economic analysis of alternative action levels in the regulation of environmental contaminants in food; (4) Analysis of foods for radioactivity; (5) Approaches to monitoring environmental contaminants in food; (6) Analytical systems for the determination of metals in food and water supplies; (7) Assessment of methods for regulating 'unavoidable' contaminants in the food supply; and (8) Consumer risk from environmental contaminants in food

Estimates of fruit and vegetable intake in childhood and adult dietary behaviors of African American women.

Science.gov (United States)

Haire-Joshu, Debra; Kreuter, Matthew K; Holt, Cheryl; Steger-May, Karen

2004-01-01

This exploratory study examined how estimates of one's fruit and vegetable intake in childhood are related to 3 current dietary behaviors among African American women: intake of fruits and vegetables, exposure to and preference for fruits and vegetables, and preference for trying new foods. Baseline data from a randomized dietary intervention trial. Ten urban public health centers in St. Louis, Missouri. 1227 African American women. A 33-item fruit and vegetable food frequency questionnaire, items measuring estimates of childhood fruit and vegetable intake, adult fruit and vegetable intake, exposure to and preference for fruit and vegetable, and preference for trying new foods. Linear regression evaluated the association between predictors and continuous measures; logistic regression determined the association between predictors and categorical measures. Estimates of one's vegetable intake as a child were significantly related to exposure and preference for both fruits and vegetables, trying of new foods, and intake of both fruits and vegetables in adulthood. Estimates of eating fruit as a child were not significantly associated with these adult dietary behaviors. Developmental influences on adult dietary patterns may be stronger for vegetables than fruits among African American women. Additional emphasis is needed regarding exposure to and preference for vegetable intake in childhood.

Psychometrics of the "Self-Efficacy Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables Scale" in African American women.

Science.gov (United States)

Gittner, Lisaann S; Gittner, Kevin B

2017-08-01

Assess the psychometric properties of the Self-Efficacy Consumption of Fruit and Vegetable Scale (F/V scale) in African American women. Midwestern Health Maintenance Organization. 221 African American women age 40-65 with BMI≥30 MEASURES: F/V scale was compared to eating efficacy/availability subscale reported on the WEL and mean micronutrient intake (vitamins A, C, K, folate, potassium, and beta-carotene reported on 3-day food records. F/V scale construct validity and internal consistency were assessed and compared to: 1) the original scale validation in Chinese women, 2) WEL scale, and 3) to micronutrient intake from 3-day food records. Total scale scores differed between African American women (μ=1.87+/-0.87) and Chinese (μ=0.41). In a Chinese population, F/V scale factored into two subscales; the F/V factored into one subscale in African American women. Construct validity was supported with correlation between the F/V scale and the eating efficacy WEL subscale (r 2 =-0.336, p=0.000). There was not a significant correlation between dietary consumption of micronutrients representative of fruit and vegetable intake and the F/V scale. The F/V scale developed for Chinese populations can be reliably used with African American women. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

South African Capital in the Land of Ujamaa: Contested Terrain in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

ANBR

These activities on the part of Nyerere's government, and the active presence of. South African comrades in ... African] feelings from my brain'. .... sensational story lines follows: 4 .... [Former President] Mkapa said: 'I couldn't care who skins the.

Hunger influenced life expectancy in war-torn Sub-Saharan African countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Uchendu, Florence N

2018-04-27

Malnutrition is a global public health problem especially in developing countries experiencing war/conflicts. War might be one of the socio-political factors influencing malnutrition in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. This study aims at determining the influence of war on corruption, population (POP), number of population malnourished (NPU), food security and life expectancy (LE) in war-torn SSA countries (WTSSA) by comparing their malnutrition indicators. Fourteen countries in WTSSA were stratified into zones according to war incidences. Countries' secondary data on population (POP), NPU, Food Security Index (FSI), corruption perceptions index (CPI), Global Hunger Index (GHI) and LE were obtained from global published data. T test, multivariate and Pearson correlation analyses were performed to determine the relationship between CPI, POP, GHI, FSI, NPU, male LE (MLE) and female LE (FLE) in WTSSA at p Malnutrition indicators were similarly affected in WTSSA. Hunger influenced life expectancy. Policies promoting good governance, equity, peaceful co-existence, respect for human right and adequate food supply will aid malnutrition eradication and prevent war occurrences in Sub-Saharan African countries.

Scientia Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In this regard, the constituent elements of good order at sea house a more critical line to view security off Africa through safe access to resources (food and minerals), safe sea routes, as well as dominium and jurisdiction. Opposition to threats off the African coast tends to privilege naval responses, but closer scrutiny reflects ...

Food Irradiation Newsletter. V. 12, no. 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1988-07-01

This Newsletter reports activities of two ICGFI training workshops convened in Santiago, Chile, and Rehovot, Israel, in the past six months. The summary report of the FAO/IAEA Seminar on Food Irradiation for Developing Countries in Africa is also included. A follow-up to this Seminar is the ''Co-ordinated Research Programme on Food Irradiation for African Countries'' which will be implemented as soon as funds become available. Further, this issue contains a report of the Working Group on Food Irradiation of the European Society for Nuclear Agriculture convened in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria in 1987 and status reports of practical applications of food irradiation in different countries. 2 tabs

Seed constraint to cultivation and productivity of African indigenous ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Non-availability of improved seeds constitutes a major constraint to the cultivation and productivity of the indigenous leaf vegetables (ILVs) of Africa. Research on African ILVs has focused mainly on the ethnobotany, collection, preservation, and the assessment of food value and chemical composition of the ILVs. No serious ...

Microbiological quality of raw and roasted African palm weevil ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Microbiological quality of raw and roasted African palm weevil ( Rhynchophorus phoenicis ) consumed in the south eastern Nigeria. ... Rhynchophorus phoenicis though reported to be highly nutritious in terms of amino acid profile and presence of unsaturated fatty acid can be a source of food poison if not properly handled ...

South African Airborne Operations

African Journals Online (AJOL)

South Africa carried out numerous airborne operations during the latter part .... It was a lesson the French had learned and were learning in Indo-China and ..... South African government, concerned that the conflict would spill across their northern border, ...... the Super Frelon and it was an outstanding helicopter at sea level.

The Audio-Visual Services in Fifteen African Countries. Comparative Study on the Administration of Audio-Visual Services in Advanced and Developing Countries. Part Four. First Edition.

Science.gov (United States)

Jongbloed, Harry J. L.

As the fourth part of a comparative study on the administration of audiovisual services in advanced and developing countries, this UNESCO-funded study reports on the African countries of Cameroun, Republic of Central Africa, Dahomey, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Swaziland, Tunisia, Upper Volta and Zambia. Information…

Strategies for implementing and sustaining therapeutic lifestyle changes as part of hypertension management in African Americans.

Science.gov (United States)

Scisney-Matlock, Margaret; Bosworth, Hayden B; Giger, Joyce Newman; Strickland, Ora L; Harrison, R Van; Coverson, Dorothy; Shah, Nirav R; Dennison, Cheryl R; Dunbar-Jacob, Jacqueline M; Jones, Loretta; Ogedegbe, Gbenga; Batts-Turner, Marian L; Jamerson, Kenneth A

2009-05-01

African Americans with high blood pressure (BP) can benefit greatly from therapeutic lifestyle changes (TLC) such as diet modification, physical activity, and weight management. However, they and their health care providers face many barriers in modifying health behaviors. A multidisciplinary panel synthesized the scientific data on TLC in African Americans for efficacy in improving BP control, barriers to behavioral change, and strategies to overcome those barriers. Therapeutic lifestyle change interventions should emphasize patient self-management, supported by providers, family, and the community. Interventions should be tailored to an individual's cultural heritage, beliefs, and behavioral norms. Simultaneously targeting multiple factors that impede BP control will maximize the likelihood of success. The panel cited limited progress with integrating the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan into the African American diet as an example of the need for more strategically developed interventions. Culturally sensitive instruments to assess impact will help guide improved provision of TLC in special populations. The challenge of improving BP control in African Americans and delivery of hypertension care requires changes at the health system and public policy levels. At the patient level, culturally sensitive interventions that apply the strategies described and optimize community involvement will advance TLC in African Americans with high BP.

Healthy food access for urban food desert residents: examination of the food environment, food purchasing practices, diet, and body mass index

Science.gov (United States)

Dubowitz, Tamara; Zenk, Shannon N.; Ghosh-Dastidar, Bonnie; Cohen, Deborah; Beckman, Robin; Hunter, Gerald; Steiner, Elizabeth D.; Collins, Rebecca L.

2015-01-01

Objective Provide a richer understanding of food access and purchasing practices among U.S. urban food desert residents and their association with diet and body mass. Design Data on food purchasing practices, dietary intake, height, and weight from the primary food shopper in randomly selected households (n=1372) was collected. Audits of all neighborhood food stores (n=24) and the most-frequented stores outside the neighborhood (n=16) were conducted. Aspects of food access and purchasing practices and relationships among them were examined and tests of their associations with dietary quality and body mass index (BMI) were conducted. Setting Two low-income predominantly African-American neighborhoods with limited access to healthy food in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Subjects Household food shoppers. Results Only one neighborhood outlet sold fresh produce; nearly all respondents did major food shopping outside the neighborhood. Although the nearest full-service supermarket was an average of 2.6 km from their home, respondents shopped an average of 6.0 km from home. The average trip was by car, took approximately two hours roundtrip, and occurred two to four times per month. Respondents spent approximately $37 per person per week on food. Those who made longer trips had access to cars, shopped less often, and spent less money per person. Those who traveled further when they shopped had higher BMIs, but most residents already shopped where healthy foods were available, and physical distance from full service groceries was unrelated to weight or dietary quality. Conclusions Improved access to healthy foods is the target of current policies meant to improve health. However, distance to the closest supermarket might not be as important as previously thought and thus policy and interventions that focus merely on improving access may not be effective. PMID:25475559

African Journals Online: Central African Republic

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online: Central African Republic. Home > African Journals Online: Central African Republic. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads. Username, Password, Remember me, or Register · Browse By Category · Browse Alphabetically · Browse By Country · List All Titles · Free to read Titles This ...

African Sandalwood or Nepalese Sandalwood: a Brief Synthesis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaime A. TEIXEIRA DA SILVA

2016-03-01

Full Text Available African sandalwood or East African sandalwood (Osyris lanceolata Hochst. & Steud.; Santalaceae, also known as Nepalese sandalwood (Osyris wightiana var. rotundifolia P.C. Tam, is a hemi-parasitic tree known for its fragrant wood. The essential oil is extracted from the root bark for the perfume industry and different parts of the tree have various medicinal uses. African sandalwood contains an array of phytochemicals such as dihydro-β-agarofuran polyesters, agarofuranases, polyesters, other sesquiterpenes and bisabolanes. This mini-review focuses on the general biology, traditional uses, phytochemical properties, propagation for conservation, and hemiparasitism of O. lanceolata.

South African Medical Journal - Vol 47, No 6 (1973)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Prevention of Food Poisoning in Hospital Patients · EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT ... JP Kotze, MJ Weight, WA de Klerk, IV Menne, MJA Weight ... A Study of Bacterial Cultures and their Antibiotic Sensitivities in a Paediatric ... Raad : South African Medical and Dental Council · EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT ...

Current Status of Mycotoxin Contamination of Food Commodities in Zimbabwe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nancy Nleya

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Agricultural products, especially cereal grains, serve as staple foods in sub-Saharan Africa. However, climatic conditions in this region can lead to contamination of these commodities by moulds, with subsequent production of mycotoxins posing health risks to both humans and animals. There is limited documentation on the occurrence of mycotoxins in sub-Saharan African countries, leading to the exposure of their populations to a wide variety of mycotoxins through consumption of contaminated foods. This review aims at highlighting the current status of mycotoxin contamination of food products in Zimbabwe and recommended strategies of reducing this problem. Zimbabwe is one of the African countries with very little information with regards to mycotoxin contamination of its food commodities, both on the market and at household levels. Even though evidence of multitoxin occurrence in some food commodities such as maize and other staple foods exist, available published research focuses only on Aspergillus and Fusarium mycotoxins, namely aflatoxins, deoxynivalenol (DON, trichothecenes, fumonisins, and zearalenone (ZEA. Occurrence of mycotoxins in the food chain has been mainly associated with poor agricultural practices. Analysis of mycotoxins has been done mainly using chromatographic and immunological methods. Zimbabwe has adopted European standards, but the legislation is quite flexible, with testing for mycotoxin contamination in food commodities being done voluntarily or upon request. Therefore, the country needs to tighten its legislation as well as adopt stricter standards that will improve the food safety and security of the masses.

Current Status of Mycotoxin Contamination of Food Commodities in Zimbabwe.

Science.gov (United States)

Nleya, Nancy; Adetunji, Modupeade Christianah; Mwanza, Mulunda

2018-05-03

Agricultural products, especially cereal grains, serve as staple foods in sub-Saharan Africa. However, climatic conditions in this region can lead to contamination of these commodities by moulds, with subsequent production of mycotoxins posing health risks to both humans and animals. There is limited documentation on the occurrence of mycotoxins in sub-Saharan African countries, leading to the exposure of their populations to a wide variety of mycotoxins through consumption of contaminated foods. This review aims at highlighting the current status of mycotoxin contamination of food products in Zimbabwe and recommended strategies of reducing this problem. Zimbabwe is one of the African countries with very little information with regards to mycotoxin contamination of its food commodities, both on the market and at household levels. Even though evidence of multitoxin occurrence in some food commodities such as maize and other staple foods exist, available published research focuses only on Aspergillus and Fusarium mycotoxins, namely aflatoxins, deoxynivalenol (DON), trichothecenes, fumonisins, and zearalenone (ZEA). Occurrence of mycotoxins in the food chain has been mainly associated with poor agricultural practices. Analysis of mycotoxins has been done mainly using chromatographic and immunological methods. Zimbabwe has adopted European standards, but the legislation is quite flexible, with testing for mycotoxin contamination in food commodities being done voluntarily or upon request. Therefore, the country needs to tighten its legislation as well as adopt stricter standards that will improve the food safety and security of the masses.

"Something good can grow here": chicago urban agriculture food projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Hatchett, Lena; Brown, Loretta; Hopkins, Joan; Larsen, Kelly; Fournier, Eliza

2015-01-01

Food security is a challenge facing many African-American low-income communities nationally. Community and university partners have established urban agriculture programs to improve access to high quality affordable fruits and vegetables by growing, distributing, and selling food in urban neighborhoods. While the challenge of food security is within communities of color, few studies have described these urban agriculture programs and documented their impact on the crew members who work in the programs and live in the low-income communities. More information is needed on the program impact for crew and community health promotion. Using a survey and focus group discussion from the crew and staff we describe the program and activities of four Chicago Urban Agriculture programs. We summarized the impact these programs have on crew members' perception of urban agriculture, health habits, community engagement, and community health promotion in low-income African-American neighborhoods.

Modelling the South African fruit export infrastructure: A case study ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A description is provided of work performed as part of the fruit logistics infrastructure project commissioned by the South African Deciduous Fruit Producers' Trust and coordinated by the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, as described in Van Dyk FE & Maspero E, 2004, An analysis of the South ...

Keeping local foods on the menu: a study on the small-scale processing of cowpea

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Madodé, Y.E.E.

2012-01-01

Agriculture plays a significant role in the economy of most African countries. Yet malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies occur regularly. Concomitantly, many carbohydrate rich staple foods and meat products are dumped on the African market and compet strongly with local products. The

Constraints to Rural Women Farmers' Involvement in Food ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

FIRST LADY

Items 1 - 7 ... Indexed African Journals Online: www.ajol.info ... vulnerable groups-infants, toddlers and pre-school children.In Nigeria there is mass ... networks, storage facilities to improve the marketing system. .... cost to market food items. 1200.

Students' Food Acquisition Struggles in the Context of South Africa: The Fundamentals of Student Development

Science.gov (United States)

Dominguez-Whitehead, Yasmine

2015-01-01

This article situates food at the heart of the fundamentals of student development, based on qualitative case study research. Food acquisition and food-related struggles in the context of the South African university are examined. Three overarching themes emerged from the analysis of the data, and are discussed in detail: depletion of food funds,…

The amount of 137Cs in chosen parts of food chains from localities in the East of Slovakia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cipakova, A.

2005-01-01

The aim of this study was to compare the amount of radiocaesium in chosen parts of food chains from localities in the Eastern Slovakia. Prevailing part of radiocaesium is in the upper layer of soils and specific activity of 137 Cs in the first layer for locality Stara Voda in 2000 achieved 152.4 Bq/kg 1 . On the base of results from modified Tessier sequential extraction method we determined that more than 50 % of this radionuclide is in the soil in not extractable fraction. From studied species of mushrooms the highest value was determined in sample of Rozites caperata the and specific activity achieved 1822.0 Bq/kg 1 d. w. The aim of our study was to determine the amount of caesium in chosen parts of food chains from localities in Eastern Slovakia for period 2000-2004. On the base of obtained results we can conclude that radiocaesium migrates vertically in soils very slowly and prevailing part of caesium is in the upper layer. Prevailing part of radiocaesium is in the not extractable fraction. Extremely low concentration of caesium in soil solution is the factor limiting caesium uptake by the root systems, too. Mushrooms are characterised by high ability to accumulate radiocaesium. (authors)

A review on aflatoxin contamination and its implications in the developing world: a sub-Saharan African perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Gnonlonfin, G J B; Hell, K; Adjovi, Y; Fandohan, P; Koudande, D O; Mensah, G A; Sanni, A; Brimer, L

2013-01-01

Mycotoxins contamination in some agricultural food commodities seriously impact human and animal health and reduce the commercial value of crops. Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by fungi that contaminate agricultural commodities pre- or postharvest. Africa is one of the continents where environmental, agricultural and storage conditions of food commodities are conducive of Aspergillus fungi infection and aflatoxin biosynthesis. This paper reviews the commodity-wise aetiology and contamination process of aflatoxins and evaluates the potential risk of exposure from common African foods. Possible ways of reducing risk for fungal infection and aflatoxin development that are relevant to the African context. The presented database would be useful as benchmark information for development and prioritization of future research. There is need for more investigations on food quality and safety by making available advanced advanced equipments and analytical methods as well as surveillance and awareness creation in the region.

The lack of food intake data and the consequences thereof | Van ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Generally, South African researchers working in the fields of nutrition and dietetics collect food intake data as a first step towards determining the nutritional status of various populations. However, on publication, the majority of the results obtained from these studies are expressed in terms of nutrient intake, whereas food ...

Incidence of udder abnormalities in West African Dwarf and Kalahari ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A total of 646 goats comprising 580 West African Dwarf (WAD) sampled across Abeokuta South, Abeokuta North and Odeda Local Government Areas of Ogun State and 66 Kalahari Red (KR) goats from the Institute of Food Security, Environmental Resources and Agricultural Research (IFSERAR), Federal University of ...

Socio-economic potentials and threats to the African walnut in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The African walnut, Plukenetia conophora Mull-Arg (Syn. Tetracarpidium conophorum) is an important climber species that contributes immensely to food security and poverty alleviation in communities within the humid tropical forests of West and Central Africa. However, the challenges facing its year-round availability have ...

Ky’osimba Onaanya: understanding productivity of East African Highland banana

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Taulya, G.

2015-01-01

Over 30 million people in East Africa depend on East African highland bananas for food and income. The bananas are grown with limited additions of nutrients and no irrigation, despite widespread poor soil fertility and regular dry seasons. This thesis describes the effect of increasing rainfall

Microplastics in Inland African Waters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Khan, Farhan; Mayoma, Bahati Sosthenes; Biginagwa, Fares John

2017-01-01

As the birthplace of our species, the African continent holds a unique place in human history. Upon entering a new epoch, the Anthropocene defined by human-driven influences on earth systems, and with the recognition that plastic pollution is one of the hallmarks of this new age, remarkably little...... is known about the presence, sources, and fate of plastics (and microplastics (MPs)) within African waters. Research in marine regions, most notably around the coast of South Africa, describes the occurrence of MPs in seabirds and fish species. More recently environmental sampling studies in the same area...... have quantified plastics in both the water column and sediments. However, despite Africa containing some of the largest and deepest of the world’s freshwater lakes, including Lakes Victoria and Tanganyika as part of the African Great Lakes system, and notable freshwater rivers, such as the River Congo...

Parsing the Gulf between Africans and African Americans

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ashly Nsangou

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The rise in African immigrants to the US provides an opportunity to assess relations between Africans and African Americans in college. An online survey of 322 current and recently-graduated college students (including 45 Africans, 160 African Americans, and 117 whites assessed respondents’ experiences of racism in US high schools and colleges. Semi-structured interviews of 30 students (10 African, 10 African American and 10 white students supplemented these data. Even within a sociopolitical context of more visible racial intolerance, Black intra-racial cohesion was absent. Although more first- and second-generation Africans (73% felt that they had been judged while living in the US compared to African Americans (34% or whites (20%, for 70–80% of respondents, this had occurred only in high school. Despite experiencing these judgments, Africans’ identity related more to their focus on education than their race, reflected in a higher proportion who felt intense family pressure to attend college (65% compared to African Americans (37% and whites (39%. Interview data confirmed previous reports in the literature that African Americans lack a sense of connection to Africans, attributed to Africans’ purported sense of superiority and disregard for African Americans’ ongoing struggle to end oppression. These mixed-methods data suggest that intermingling in the college environment has not resulted in first- and second-generation Africans and African Americans sharing a common in-group, race-based identity. We discuss the implications of overlooking ethnic distinctions due to presumptions of racial homogeneity that deprive Black individuals of their uniqueness.

Beliefs and perceived norms concerning body image among African-American and Latino teenagers.

Science.gov (United States)

Barroso, Cristina S; Peters, Ronald Joseph; Johnson, Regina Jones; Kelder, Steven H; Jefferson, Troy

2010-09-01

Focus groups, utilizing the Theory of Planned Behavior, examined the beliefs and perceived norms regarding body image in a sample of urban African-American and Latino teenagers (N = 83, 18-19 years old) from Texas. Cultural eating (behavioral belief) explained the acceptance and tolerance of overweight. Popularity of hip-hop fashion and limited income explicated peer and familial normative beliefs, respectively. Thinness equated HIV infection in African-Americans (parental normative belief). Barriers to healthy eating and active living (control beliefs) included willpower, laziness, fast food, and excessive work. Findings can guide the development and implementation of culturally appropriate obesity interventions for African-American and Latino adolescents.

Agricultural Trade and Economic Growth in East African Community ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

East African Community states, as many other states in the region, depend largely on agricultural activities to boost their economic growth and create employment. Up to 80 per cent of the populace depends on agriculture directly and indirectly for food, employment and income, while about 40 million people in EAC suffer ...

A checklist of South African theses and dissertations on Shakespeare

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This checklist is in two parts. The first lists South African Shakespearean theses and dissertations, as well as some work on Shakespeare completed abroad by South Africans recently or currently active in the country. A few items in which Shakespeare is an important subordinate focus are included. The second list is ...

Introduction of Solid Food to Young Infants

OpenAIRE

Kuo, Alice A.; Inkelas, Moira; Slusser, Wendelin M.; Maidenberg, Molly; Halfon, Neal

2010-01-01

Timing of the first introduction of solid food during infancy may have potential effects on life-long health. To understand the characteristics that are associated with the timing of infants? initial exposure to solid foods. The 2000 National Survey of Early Childhood Health (NSECH) was a nationally representative telephone survey of 2,068 parents of children aged 4?35?months, which profiled content and quality of health care for young children. African-American and Latino families were over-...

A Positive Path for Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Options and Challenges

OpenAIRE

Rosen, Stacey L.; Shapouri, Shahla

2010-01-01

African Governments and international donors are focused on improving the region’s ability to grow food to mitigate projected long-term deterioration in food security. An ERS study shows that improving grain yields is the key to reducing food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Investment and technology adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa will be a challenge.

Revisiting the Economic Factors which Influence Fast Food South African Small, Medium and Micro Enterprise Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bruce MASAMA

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In order to stimulate both developing economies and developed economies around the globe policy makers have, over the years, focused their attention to Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs. These business entities are often regarded as the lifeblood of economies around the globe however SMMEs are reported to have high failure rates. For example, in a South African dispensation, the failure rate of SMMEs is considered to be among the worst in the world as approximately 75% fail within a period of 42 months after opening. Through research in the early-2000s, the cause of the excessive South African SMMEs failure rate has been pinned on a plethora of micro-economic factors and macro-economic factors. Over the years the list of economic factors which adversely influence the sustainability of South African SMMEs have not changed drastically, which may well probably explain the high failure rate of these business entities in more recent times. Thus, for this paper, empirical research was conducted to ascertain the extent to which 24 economic factors adversely influence the sustainability of South African SMMEs. Quantitative data were obtained from 116 members of management of South African SMMEs and stemming from the results, it was found that these economic factors still have a reasonable adverse influence on the sustainability of these business entities.

African Journals Online: African Studies

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 51 - 56 of 56 ... Research Review of the Institute of African Studies. Please note: As of 2013 the Research Review of the Institute of African Studies is now publishing under the title Contemporary Journal of African Studies. You can view the CJAS pages on AJOL here: http://www.ajol.info/index.php/contjas/index.

Black versus Black: The Relationship among African, African American, and African Caribbean Persons.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Jennifer V.; Cothran, Mary E.

2003-01-01

Surveyed people of African descent regarding relationships among African, African-American, and African-Caribbean persons, focusing on contact and friendship, travel to countries of the diaspora, cross-cultural communication, thoughts and stereotypes, and education. Most respondents had contacts with the other groups, but groups had preconceived…

Capacity development in food composition database management and nutritional research and education in Central and Eastern European, Middle Eastern and North African countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Gurinović, M; Witthöft, C M; Tepšić, J; Ranić, M; Hulshof, P J M; Hollman, P C; Porubska, J; Gohar, A; Debeljak-Martačić, J; Petrović-Oggiano, G; Novaković, R; Glibetić, M; Oshaug, A

2010-11-01

Capacity development (CD) in food and nutrition is much more than formal training and includes human resource development, and organisational, institutional and legal framework development with the aim of enhancing nutrition-relevant knowledge and skills to support infrastructural development. The goal of the European Food Information Resource (EuroFIR) Network of Excellence has been to develop and integrate food composition data throughout Europe. EuroFIR joined forces in CD with the United Nations (UN) University and UN System Standing Committee on Nutrition, the Network for Capacity Development in Nutrition in Central and Eastern Europe, the Central and Eastern European Countries Food Data Systems network and with the Middle East and North African Capacity Building Initiative. The aim of this paper is to discuss an inventory of the status of food composition databases (FCDBs) and the training needs of compilers in non-EuroFIR countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and to present the CD achieved through EuroFIR and other network collaborations. Two online questionnaires were created addressing the FCDB status and specific training needs in countries of the targeted regions. Data were collected during 2006-2008 and then analysed. Subsequently, CD activities were organised. Contacts were established in 19 CEE and 7 MENA countries, of which several had national food composition tables, but no electronic versions. Education, training, workshops, networking and the sharing of experiences were uniformly requested. Subsequently, CD activities in EuroFIR were organised focussing on food composition courses, exchange visits, workshops and individual training for PhD students, junior scientists and other staff categories, as well as conferences linked to food composition research and food information. To facilitate CD activities, EuroFIR has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Czech Republic, Hungary

Regional food culture and development.

Science.gov (United States)

Wahlqvist, Mark L; Lee, Meei-Shyuan

2007-01-01

earth). On the other hand, regional food culture can confer considerable advantage for health and economic development, but does not necessarily do so. The challenge is to respect and retain traditional food knowledge and sustainable food systems, with good governance for food security. There has been a recent awakening of interest and concern about the lack of documentation of traditional and indigenous food cultures which are important not only for their own sake, but for the legacy of food knowledge which they can confer on future generations, provided they are not lost. Hence, the value of a special focus on African food cultures (www.healthyeatingclub.org/Africa), including Rift and Nile Valleys and North West African foods, which are the cradles of human food systems and habits. This is the case too with indigenous foods and food cultures (whether hunter-gatherer or subsistence agriculture); with relatively long-living food cultures in North East Asia, with food cultural distinction and fusion (FHILL and SENECA studies) and with migratory Food Habits. By and large, there is a remarkable resilience and ingenuity of people and their food systems, but monoculture and lack of diversity encourage food system failure.

Ky'osimba Onaanya: Understanding Productivity of East African Highland Banana

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Taulya, G.

2016-01-01

Drought stress, potassium (K) and nitrogen (N) deficiencies are major constraints to East African highland banana (Musa spp. AAA-EA; hereafter referred to as ‘highland banana’), a primary staple food crop for over 30 million people in East Africa. This study explored the main and interactive effects

Venezuela's African Agenda in a South–South: Context The Cases ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Venezuela's African Agenda, an intention to diversify its oil partners as well as a search for a land where to export the 'Bolivarian Revolution', is a sign of the growing interest on the part of Latin America to strengthen ties with the African continent, and constitutes an alternative to the option represented by the BRICS ...

Emerging landscape degradation trends in the East African Horn

Science.gov (United States)

Pricope, N. G.; Michaelsen, J.; Husak, G. J.; Funk, C. C.; Lopez-Carr, D.

2012-12-01

Increasing climate variability along with declining trends in rainfall represent major risk factors affecting food security in many regions of the world. We identify Africa-wide regions where significant rainfall decreases from 1979-2011 are coupled with significant human population density increases. The rangelands of the East African Horn remain one of the world's most food insecure regions with significantly increasing human populations predominantly dependent on pastoralist and agro-pastoralist livelihoods. Widespread vegetation degradation is occurring, adversely impacting fragile ecosystems and human livelihoods. Using MODIS land cover and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data collected since 2000, we observe significant changes in vegetation patterns and productivity over the last decade across the East African Horn and demonstrate that these two products can be used concurrently at large spatial scales to monitor vegetation dynamics at decadal time scales. Results demonstrate that a near doubling of the population in pastoral regions is linked with hotspots of degradation in vegetation condition. The most significant land cover change and browning trends are observed in areas experiencing drying precipitation trends in addition to increasing population pressures. These findings have serious implications for current and future regional food security monitoring and forecasting and for mitigation and adaptation strategies in a region where population is expected to continue increasing against a backdrop of drying climate trends.Fig.1(a)Change in standardized precipitation index in Africa between 1979-2010 (b)Change in population density at continental scale using the GRUMPv1 1990 and 2000 and AfriPop 2010 population density datasets Fig.2 Land cover change trajectories based on 2001-2009 MOD12Q1 Land Cover product for the East African Horn overlaid over aggregated FEWS Net Livelihoods Zones.

Momentary Parental Stress and Food-Related Parenting Practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Berge, Jerica M; Tate, Allan; Trofholz, Amanda; Fertig, Angela R; Miner, Michael; Crow, Scott; Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne

2017-12-01

Research suggests that stress and depressed mood are associated with food-related parenting practices (ie, parent feeding practices, types of food served at meals). However, current measures of parental stress, depressed mood, and food-related parenting practices are typically survey-based and assessed as static/unchanging characteristics, failing to account for fluctuations across time and context. Identifying momentary factors that influence parent food-related parenting practices will facilitate the development of effective interventions aimed at promoting healthy food-related parenting practices. In this study, we used ecological momentary assessment to examine the association between momentary factors (eg, stress, depressed mood) occurring early in the day and food-related parenting practices at the evening meal. Children aged 5 to 7 years and their families ( N = 150) from 6 racial and/or ethnic groups ( n = 25 each African American, Hispanic/Latino, Hmong, American Indian, Somali, and white families) were recruited for this mixed-methods study through primary care clinics. Higher stress and depressed mood earlier in the day predicted pressure-to-eat feeding practices and fewer homemade foods served at meals the same night. Effect modification was found for certain racial and/or ethnic groups with regard to engaging in pressure-to-eat feeding practices (ie, America Indian, Somali) or serving fewer homemade meals (ie, African American, Hispanic/Latino) in the face of high stress or depressed mood. Clinicians may want to consider discussing with parents the influence stress and depressed mood can have on everyday food-related parenting practices. Additionally, future researchers should consider using real-time interventions to reduce parental stress and depressed mood to promote healthy parent food-related parenting practices. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

African N Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Bekunda, M.; Galford, G. L.; Hickman, J. E.; Palm, C.

2011-12-01

Africa's smallholder agricultural systems face unique challenges in planning for reducing poverty, concurrent with adaptation and mitigation to climate change. At continental level, policy seeks to promote a uniquely African Green Revolution to increase crop yields and food production, and improve local livelihoods. However, the consequences on the environment and climate are not clear; these pro-economic development measures should be linked to climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, and research is required to help achieve these policy proposals by identifying options, and testing impacts. In particular, increased nitrogen (N) inputs are essential for increasing food production in Africa, but are accompanied by inevitable increases in losses to the environment. These losses appear to be low at input levels promoted in agricultural development programs, while the increased N inputs both increase current food production and appear to reduce the vulnerability of food production to changes in climate. We present field and remote sensing evidence from Malawi that subsidizing improved seed and fertilizers increases resilience to drought without adding excess N to the environment. In Kenya, field research identified thresholds in N2O losses, where emissions are very low at fertilization rates of less than 200 kg ha-1. Village-scale models have identified potential inefficiencies in the food production process where the largest losses of reactive N occur, and which could be targeted to reduce the amount of N released to the environment. We further review some on-going research activities and progress in Africa that compare different methods of managing resources that target resilience in food production and adaptation to climate change, using nutrient N as an indicator, while evaluating the effects of these resource management practices on ecosystems and the environment.

The microbiology of Ethiopian foods and beverages: A review ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The microbiology of Ethiopian foods and beverages: A review. ... PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFRICAN RESEARCH ... The topic on milk and dairy products deals with the livestock resource of the country with respect to the microbiological ...

Africanized bees extend their distribution in California.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Wei; McBroome, Jakob; Rehman, Mahwish; Johnson, Brian R

2018-01-01

Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera) arrived in the western hemisphere in the 1950s and quickly spread north reaching California in the 1990s. These bees are highly defensive and somewhat more difficult to manage for commercial purposes than the European honey bees traditionally kept. The arrival of these bees and their potentially replacing European bees over much of the state is thus of great concern. After a 25 year period of little systematic sampling, a recent small scale study found Africanized honey bees in the Bay Area of California, far north of their last recorded distribution. The purpose of the present study was to expand this study by conducting more intensive sampling of bees from across northern California. We found Africanized honey bees as far north as Napa and Sacramento. We also found Africanized bees in all counties south of these counties. Africanized honey bees were particularly abundant in parts of the central valley and Monterey. This work suggests the northern spread of Africanized honey bees may not have stopped. They may still be moving north at a slow rate, although due to the long gaps in sampling it is currently impossible to tell for certain. Future work should routinely monitor the distribution of these bees to distinguish between these two possibilities.

Developing and maintaining national food safety control systems ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 12, No 4 (2012) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Mesoherbivores affect grasshopper communities in a megaherbivore-dominated South African savannah

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Plas, Fons; Olff, Han

African savannahs are among the few places on earth where diverse communities of mega- and meso-sized ungulate grazers dominate ecosystem functioning. Less conspicuous, but even more diverse, are the communities of herbivorous insects such as grasshoppers, which share the same food. Various studies

Research on food security makes a difference for African women ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2016-05-05

May 5, 2016 ... There is ample evidence that addressing gender inequalities and empowering women are vital to meeting the challenges of improving food and nutrition security, and enabling poor rural people to overcome poverty. A central objective of the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF) is ...

Research on food security makes a difference for African women ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

17 avr. 2014 ... There is ample evidence that addressing gender inequalities and empowering women are vital to meeting the challenges of improving food and nutrition security, and enabling poor rural people to overcome poverty. A central objective of the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF) is ...

Bioenergy production and food security in Africa

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Ezedom Theresa

This will in turn, facilitate industrialization in other sectors of economy through provision of affordable ... bioenergy production on food security, land allocation for energy crop production can be regulated. ... bility determines the type of industries, and the cost of ...... African countries, yeast and crude enzyme production.

[Imitative urbanisation and the outward growth of African cities].

Science.gov (United States)

Badibanga, A

1985-01-01

The city with its modern infrastructure and surrounding squatter settlements is exogenous to Africa because of its organization, location, and original functions. Cities were founded in the colonial era and still are not often situated in the center of national territories but rather near a port, a border, or a source of raw materials. A primary purpose of cities was the exogenous 1 of providing a link between land and sea, raw materials and distant markets. The city of the natives was haphazardly constructed at the periphery of the European city. The barrier it once provided between African and colonist now serves to separate mass and elite. Shanty towns, 1 of the worst urban plagues and the most perfect reflection of the absolute poverty of some parts of African cities, seem to surge spontaneously in the immediate outskirts of cities. Neither their size nor their rapid growth was foreseen by urban planners. Urban overpopulation due to rapid natural increase and immigration resulting from the excessive openness to the exterior is the major problem of African urbanization in the late 20th century. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the population of cities with 5000 or more inhabitants increased from 23 million in 1960 to 75 million in 1980. Urbanization is increasing in Africa at the rate of 10%/year. Among the many causes of this dizzying urban growth, the rural exodus is 1 of the most important and itself is caused by a multitude of economic, social, and political factors. The principal economic cause is the difficulty of earning cash in the countryside and the presumed availability of employment in cities. Natural and geographic factors such as alternating rainy and dry seasons and serious droughts also favor abandonment of the countryside, at least temporarily. Famine resulting from food deficits caused by the disturbed equilibrium between population and resources and the diversion of arable lands to cash crops also favors massive

The African Research Cloud - A Friendly Entry Point to Research Computing

OpenAIRE

Walt, Anelda Van der; Pretorius, Boeta

2016-01-01

The slides were presented at the first African Research Cloud Workshop in Pretoria, South Africa on 27 - 28 October 2016 [1].The slides formed part of an introduction for a session about using cloud infrastructure, and specifically the African Research Cloud, for training purposes.The session was co-facilitated with Dr Bradley Frank and Dr Michelle Cluver.[1] "African Research Cloud Workshop." The Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy (IDIA). IDIA, n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2016.  

Cost Characteristics of the African Catfish Culture in Recirculating ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Cost Characteristics of the African Catfish Culture in Recirculating Production Facilities in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. ... Food Conversion Ratio also ranged from 0.60–0.78 for fingerlings, 1.01-‐ 2.08 for juveniles and 1.15-‐1.68 for grow out system. In all cases, variable cost accounts for more than 75% of total cost.

Restricting the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children in South Africa: are all nutrient profiling models the same?

Science.gov (United States)

Wicks, Mariaan; Wright, Hattie; Wentzel-Viljoen, Edelweiss

2016-12-01

The WHO has called for governments to improve children's food environment by implementing restrictions on the marketing of 'unhealthy' foods to children. Nutrient profiling (NP) models are used to define 'unhealthy' foods and support child-directed food marketing regulations. The aim of the present study was to assess the suitability of the South African NP model (SANPM), developed and validated for health claim regulations, for child-directed food marketing regulations. The SANPM was compared with four NP models specifically developed for such regulations. A representative list of 197 foods was compiled by including all foods advertised on South African free-to-air television channels in 2014 and foods commonly consumed by South African children. The nutritional information of the foods was sourced from food packaging, company websites and a food composition table. Each individual food was classified by each of the five NP models. The percentage of foods that would be allowed according to the different NP models ranged from 6 to 45 %; the models also varied considerably with regard to the type of foods allowed for marketing to children. The majority of the pairwise comparisons between the NP models yielded κ statistics >0·4, indicating a moderate agreement between the models. An almost perfect pairwise agreement (κ=0·948) existed between the SANPM and the UK Food Standards Agency model (United Kingdom Office of Communication nutrient profiling model), a model extensively tested and validated for such regulations. The SANPM is considered appropriate for child-directed food marketing regulations in South Africa.

Recent Global Food Price Shocks: Causes, Consequences and Lessons for African Governments and Donors-super- †

OpenAIRE

Philip Abbott; Adeline Borot de Battisti

2011-01-01

Dramatic increases in international agricultural commodity prices began in 2006 and peaked in July 2008. An equally remarkable and rapid decline of those prices then ensued, accompanied by extreme volatility in those prices. The trend in food prices lagged the rapid increases in other commodity prices, including oil and metals, but accompanied those other prices in the downward part of the cycle. Not all agricultural commodities increased to the same extent—grains and oilseed prices increased...

Modelling the effect of food availability on recruitment success of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Modelling the effect of food availability on recruitment success of Cape anchovy ichthyoplankton in ... To characterise the recruitment dynamics of Cape anchovy ichthyoplankton, we used an individual-based ... AJOL African Journals Online.

Food Security Status of People with Disabilities in Selassie Kebele ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Food Security Status of People with Disabilities in Selassie Kebele , Hawassa Town, Southern Ethiopia. ... PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFRICAN RESEARCH ... Individuals with physical type of disabilities accounted for the largest proportion of ...

Indigenous food ingredients for complementary food formulations to combat infant malnutrition in Benin: a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Chadare, Flora J; Madode, Yann E; Fanou-Fogny, Nadia; Kindossi, Janvier M; Ayosso, Juvencio Og; Honfo, S Hermann; Kayodé, Ap Polycarpe; Linnemann, Anita R; Hounhouigan, D Joseph

2018-01-01

This paper reviews indigenous Beninese food resources as potential ingredients for complementary infant foods with the aim to develop affordable formulations for low-income households in each agro-ecological zone of the country. Potential ingredients were selected on their documented nutritional value. The selected foods encompass 347 food resources, namely 297 plant products from home gardens or collected from natural vegetation and 50 animals, either domesticated or from the wild. The compiled data reveal that the distribution of the available food resources was unbalanced between agro-ecological zones. Only a few animal ingredients are obtainable in northern Benin. Most resources are seasonal, but their availability may be extended. A high variation was observed in energy and nutrient contents. Antinutritional factors were identified in some resources, but processing techniques were reported to reduce their presence in meals. In general, ingredients from local tree foods (Adansonia digitata, Parkia biglobosa) were adequate as sources of nutrients for complementary infant foods. Based on this review, local foods for the development of complementary food formulas for Beninese infants and children may be selected for each agro-ecological zone. The approach used is exemplary for other sub-Saharan African countries in need of complementary infant foods. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Adaptive Governance and Market Heterogeneity: An Institutional Analysis of an Urban Food System in Sub-Saharan Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jordan Blekking

2017-11-01

Full Text Available African cities face immense challenges over the coming decades. As countries urbanize, African cities must maintain service provision for rapidly increasing populations, yet with limited resources. In particular, urban food systems must be able to cope with regional food shortages and catalyze (or at least enable the distribution of food from diverse sources in order to ensure that the cost of food remains affordable for all of the segments of a city’s population. Food systems in most African cities are composed of wholesale sellers, formal markets, street vendors, shops, and increasingly large-scale international stores, creating an evolving landscape of food sources. At the same time, urban population growth can result in rapid changes in urban structure with new peri-urban development and transitions in socioeconomic status within existing areas. Governance plays an important role in the creation and coordination of formal and informal actors across different types of food providers. At the municipal level, new markets must be approved to keep pace with urban expansion. Within residential areas, market management committees must work to maintain traditional markets in the context of increasing competition from large-scale grocers and small-scale street vendors. We use household and market-level data that was collected in Lusaka, Zambia, to conduct an institutional analysis of residential areas to examine the interplay between households, public markets, and street vendors. Analysis of the city’s food system identifies a complex network of relationships featuring formal and informal governance arrangements, which may affect food system functionality.

Inez Beverly Prosser and the education of African Americans.

Science.gov (United States)

Benjamin, Ludy T; Henry, Keisha D; McMahon, Lance R

2005-01-01

Inez Beverly Prosser (ca. 1895-1934) was arguably the first African American woman to earn a doctorate in psychology. Her dissertation, completed in 1933, examined personality differences in black children attending either voluntarily segregated or integrated schools and concluded that black children were better served in segregated schools. This research was one of several studies in the 1920s and 1930s that was part of the debate on segregated schools as maintained in the United States under the "separate but equal" doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). This article examines the life and career of Prosser in the context of educational barriers and opportunities for African Americans in the early part of the twentieth century and explores the arguments that pitted African Americans against one another in determining how best to educate black children, arguments that eventually led to the desegregation decision of Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Copyright 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The emergence and trajectories of struggles for an 'African university': The case of unfinished business of African epistemic decolonisation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni

knowledge' still cascades from a hegemonic centre (Europe and North America; the necessity of 'rethinking thinking itself as part of launching epistemic disobedience to Eurocentric thinking; and the painstaking de-colonial process of 'learning to unlearn in order to relearn, which calls on African intellectuals and academics to openly acknowledge their factory faults and miseduca-tion, cascading from their very production by problematic 'Western-styled' universities, including those located in Africa, so as to embark on decolonial self-re-education.

Introduction of solid food to young infants.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuo, Alice A; Inkelas, Moira; Slusser, Wendelin M; Maidenberg, Molly; Halfon, Neal

2011-11-01

Timing of the first introduction of solid food during infancy may have potential effects on life-long health. To understand the characteristics that are associated with the timing of infants' initial exposure to solid foods. The 2000 National Survey of Early Childhood Health (NSECH) was a nationally representative telephone survey of 2,068 parents of children aged 4-35 months, which profiled content and quality of health care for young children. African-American and Latino families were over-sampled. Analyses in this report include bivariate tests and logistic regressions. 62% of parents reported introducing solids to their child between 4-6 months of age. African-American mothers (OR=0.5 [0.3, 0.9]), English-speaking Latino mothers (OR=0.4 [0.2, 0.7]), White mothers with more than high school education (OR=0.5 [0.2, 1.0]), and mothers who breastfed for 4 months or longer (OR=0.4 [0.3, 0.7]) were less likely to introduce solids early. Most parents (92%) of children 4-9 months of age reported that their pediatric provider had discussed introduction of solids with them since the child's birth, and provider discussion of feeding was not associated with the timing of introduction of solids. Although most parents recall discussing the introduction of solid foods with their child's physician, several subgroups of mothers introduce solid foods earlier than the AAP recommendation of 4-6 months. More effective discussion of solid food introduction linked to counseling and support of breastfeeding by the primary health care provider may reduce early introduction of solids.

The UCAR Africa Initiative: Enabling African Solutions to African Needs

Science.gov (United States)

Pandya, R.; Bruintjes, R.; Foote, B.; Heck, S.; Hermann, S.; Hoswell, L.; Konate, M.; Kucera, P.; Laing, A.; Lamptey, B.; Moncrieff, M.; Ramamurthy, M.; Roberts, R.; Spangler, T.; Traoré, A.; Yoksas, T.; Warner, T.

2007-12-01

The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Africa Initiative (AI) is a coordinated effort aimed at building sustainable partnerships between UCAR and African institutions in order to pursue research and applications for the benefit of the African people. The initiative is based on four fundamental operating principles, concisely summarized by the overall philosophy of enabling African solutions to African needs. The four principles are: • Collaborate with African institutions • Focus on institutional capacity building and research support • Explore science research themes critical to Africa and important for the world • Leverage the research infrastructure in UCAR to add value These principles are realized in a set of pilot activities, chosen for their high probability of short-term results and ability to set the stage for longer-term collaboration. The three pilot activities are listed below. 1. A modest radar network and data-distribution system in Mali and Burkina Faso, including a data-sharing MOU between the Mail and Burkina Faso Weather Services. 2. A partnership among UCAR, the Ghana Meteorological Agency, and the Ghana university community to develop an operational Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for West Africa. The output is used by researchers and operational forecasters in Africa. Model output is also part of a demonstration project that aims to allow humanitarian agencies to share geo-referenced information in Africa via a web portal. 3. A workshop in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from April 2-6, 2007, with the theme Improving Lives by Understanding Weather. The workshop, co-organized with Programme SAAGA and the Commité Permanent Inter-Etats de Lutte Contre la Sécheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS), included over 80 participants from 18 countries, and produced a set of recommendations for continued collaboration. Our presentation will provide an update of these pilot activities and point to future directions. Recognizing

An M&E system for measuring compliance of rural water and sanitation projects with South African policy, design standards and norms

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Duncker, Louiza C

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Enshrined in the South African Constitution is the right of all South Africans to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being and to have access to sufficient food and water. In fulfilling its role as regulator, in 2006...

77 FR 41899 - Indirect Food Additives: Polymers

Science.gov (United States)

2012-07-17

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration 21 CFR Part 177 [Docket No. FDA-2012-F-0031] Indirect Food Additives: Polymers AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION... CFR part 177 is amended as follows: PART 177--INDIRECT FOOD ADDITIVES: POLYMERS 0 1. The authority...

The voice from the periphery: Towards an African business ethics beyond the Western heritage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MF Murove

2014-08-01

Full Text Available This article argues that African business ethics should go beyond the western heritage by taking into account African indigenous values and knowledge systems. While western business practices are part and parcel of Africa’s heritage, African post-colonial scholarly efforts have worked at enriching this heritage by arguing for the incorporation of African indigenous knowledge systems and values in our way of thinking and doing business. There is a realisation that the western homo economicus who is solely self-interested, is irreconcilable with the African understanding of a person. The success of any business venture in Africa depends on incorporating African values in the way it operates.

Management and care of African dormice (Graphiurus kelleni).

Science.gov (United States)

Kastenmayer, Robin J; Moak, Hannah B; Jeffress, Erin J; Elkins, William R

2010-03-01

African dormice (Graphiurus spp.) are small nocturnal rodents that currently are uncommon in laboratory settings. Their use may increase as they have recently been shown to develop an infection with monkeypox virus and may prove to be a valuable animal model for infectious disease research. Because African dormice are not commercially available, an extensive breeding colony is required to produce the animals needed for research use. Husbandry modifications that increased the production of offspring were the use of a high-protein diet, increased cage enrichment, and decreased animal density. To optimize consumption of a high-protein diet, we tested the palatability of several high-protein foods in a series of preference trials. Dormice preferred wax worm larva, cottage cheese, roasted soy nuts, and canned chicken. Issues related to medical management of Graphiurus kelleni include potential complications from traumatic injury. The development of a program for the husbandry and care of African dormice at our institution typifies the experiences of many laboratory animal facilities that are asked to support the development of animal models using novel species.

African Diaspora Movement Arts in Philadelphia: A Beginning Resource List. Philadelphia Folklore Project Working Papers #10.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown-Danquah, Benita Binta

This guide provides history, format, contact names, addresses, and phone numbers of some African dance and African American marching units in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania). The working papers are divided into two categories. "Part One: Movements of African Dance in Philadelphia" begins with a sensitive, detailed explanation of the…

Availability of commonly consumed and culturally specific fruits and vegetables in African-American and Latino neighborhoods

OpenAIRE

Grigsby-Toussaint, Diana S.; Zenk, Shannon N.; Odoms-Young, Angela; Ruggiero, Laurie; Moise, Imelda

2010-01-01

Although the importance of culture in shaping individual dietary behaviors is well documented, cultural food preferences have received limited attention in research on the neighborhood food environment. The purpose of this study was to assess the availability of commonly consumed and culturally specific fruits and vegetables in retail food stores located in majority African-American and Latino neighborhoods in southwest Chicago. A cross-sectional survey of 115 stores (15% grocery stores, 85% ...

Impacts of multiple global environmental changes on African crop yield and water use efficiency: Implications to food and water security

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, S.; Yang, J.; Zhang, J.; Xu, R.; Dangal, S. R. S.; Zhang, B.; Tian, H.

2016-12-01

Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to climate change and climate variability. Much concern has been raised about the impacts of climate and other environmental factors on water resource and food security through the climate-water-food nexus. Understanding the responses of crop yield and water use efficiency to environmental changes is particularly important because Africa is well known for widespread poverty, slow economic growth and agricultural systems particularly sensitive to frequent and persistent droughts. However, the lack of integrated understanding has limited our ability to quantify and predict the potential of Africa's agricultural sustainability and freshwater supply, and to better manage the system for meeting an increasing food demand in a way that is socially and environmentally or ecologically sustainable. By using the Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model (DLEM-AG2) driven by spatially-explicit information on land use, climate and other environmental changes, we have assessed the spatial and temporal patterns of crop yield, evapotranspiration (ET) and water use efficiency across entire Africa in the past 35 years (1980-2015) and the rest of the 21st century (2016-2099). Our preliminary results indicate that African crop yield in the past three decades shows an increasing trend primarily due to cropland expansion (about 50%), elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration, and nitrogen deposition. However, crop yield shows substantially spatial and temporal variation due to inter-annual and inter-decadal climate variability and spatial heterogeneity of environmental drivers. Climate extremes especially droughts and heat wave have largely reduced crop yield in the most vulnerable regions. Our results indicate that N fertilizer could be a major driver to improve food security in Africa. Future climate warming could reduce crop yield and shift cropland distribution. Our study further suggests that improving water use efficiency through land

Minority language, ethnicity and the state in two African situations : the Nkoya and the Kalanga of Botswana

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Binsbergen, van W.M.J.; Fardon, R.; Furniss, G.

1994-01-01

The chapters in this collection record a workshop held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, in April 1991, on African languages, development and the State. The book is divided into an introductory chapter, by Richard Fardon and Graham Furniss, and three parts. Part 1, West Africa, contains

Layers of Blackness: Colourism in the African Diaspora

OpenAIRE

Gabriel, Deborah

2007-01-01

This is the first book by an author in the UK to take an in-depth look at colourism - the process of discrimination based on skin tone among members of the same ethnic group, whereby lighter skin is more valued than darker complexions. The African Diaspora in Britain is examined as part of a global black community with shared experiences of slavery, colonization and neo-colonialism. The author traces the evolution of colourism within African descendant communities in the USA, Jamaica, Latin A...

Human Rights and the African Renaissance | Acheampong | African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article examines the idea of African renaissance in relation to the teaching of human rights in African schools. It explores the connection between the African Renaissance and human rights, and whether there is a specific African concept of human rights. In the light of these discussions, the article sketches a perspective ...

Contribution of microfinance in enhancing food access and coping ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 17, No 3 (2017) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Determinants of fast food consumption in Kampala, Uganda | Ayo ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 12, No 5 (2012) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Book Comment: Eating Planet Food and Sustainability: Building our ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 16, No 4 (2016) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Leveraging community-academic partnerships to improve healthy food access in an urban, Kansas City, Kansas, community.

Science.gov (United States)

Mabachi, Natabhona M; Kimminau, Kim S

2012-01-01

Americans can combat overweight (OW) and obesity by eating unprocessed, fresh foods. However, all Americans do not have equal access to these recommended foods. Low-income, minority, urban neighborhoods in particular often have limited access to healthy resources, although they are vulnerable to higher levels of OW and obesity. This project used community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles to investigate the food needs of residents and develop a business plan to improve access to healthy food options in an urban, Kansas City, Kansas, neighborhood. Partner community organizations were mobilized to conduct a Community Food Assessment survey. The surveys were accompanied by flyers that were part of the communication engagement strategy. Statistical analysis of the surveys was conducted. We engaged low-income, minority population (40% Latino, 30% African American) urban communities at the household level. Survey results provided in-depth information about residents' food needs and thoughts on how to improve food access. Results were reported to community members at a town hall style meeting. Developing a strategic plan to engage a community and develop trust is crucial to sustaining a partnership particularly when working with underserved communities. This project demonstrates that, if well managed, the benefits of academic and community partnerships outweigh the challenges thus such relationships should be encouraged and supported by communities, academic institutions, local and national government, and funders. A CBPR approach to understanding an urban community's food needs and opinions is important for comprehensive food access planning.

Food irradiation for developing countries in Africa

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-12-01

The amount of post-harvest losses of food is considered to be highest on the African continent. As a result, increasing numbers of countries in Africa are suffering from problems of hunger and malnutrition, which range from chronic to acute. Food irradiation could play an important role in reducing the high rate of food losses especially in the case of food grain, root crops and dried food in this continent provided that proper infrastructure to employ this technique could be identified. Irradiation could contribute positively to the safety of food from microbiological and parasitic infection. A panel of experts participated at the round table discussion to assess the potential application of the technology in Africa. Some of the items for which technical feasibility has been established for food irradiation preservation include yams, onions, potatoes, maize, millet, sorghum, cowpeas and other pulses, cocoa beans, spices (pepper) and condiments, meat and poultry, fish and fishery products, animal feed, etc. In considered the local demand, a suitable choice of the type and size of the facility should be made. The design should allow up-grading in both size and automated operation to meet future expansion of the existing facility, but small commercial scale facilities, of low cost, should be considered to start with. Whatever type of equipment chosen, (whether Gamma or Electron Beam) safety, reliability, maintainability, and simplicity of operation should be of major consideration. It is recognized that for a project to be concluded on a reasonable schedule, technology transfer and training should be incorporated into the complete package. In addition back-up technical infrastructure in the country should be strengthened. The effective procedures demonstrated in a number of countries for performing consumer acceptance studies on irradiated foods, should be adopted in a slightly modified form adapted to the different target populations. Such studies should be

Evaluation of knowledge about irradiated foods by Food Banks in Brazil: Dissemination of irradiation in foods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sagretti, Juliana M.A.; Sabato, Susy F.

2017-01-01

Despite the poverty in the world, part of all food produced in the world is wasted. The contrast of high food production in the world with hunger, food insecurity and food waste points to the need for combined action and the use of technologies as a solution to combat and eradicate hunger and food waste. Food banks have sprung up worldwide receiving food surpluses and passing on to the needy. These have been encouraged by the ONU - United Nations Organization, however, the lack of quality assurance of these foods already in the food bank has restricted the desired shipment. In this sense, ionizing radiation applied in food brought many positive results, such as increased validity and control insect infestation. So, the aim of this study was to initiate a partnership between irradiation and the food bank through the development of a questionnaire to evaluate the knowledge and acceptance of individuals in the food bank in Brazil. In addition, this study aimed to standardize a basis questionnaire for future research assessment of irradiated foods and disseminate irradiated food. For the construction of the questionnaire as a measuring instrument, a comprehensive and rigorous literature review was made. The questionnaire as a measurement instrument was submitted to the research ethics committee and approved. As a result, the questionnaire has three parts, personal issues, assertive issues and questions of multiple choices and finally an informative question with video. The questionnaire was applied in Ceagesp food bank in the biggest center of food in Brazil. (author)

Evaluation of knowledge about irradiated foods by Food Banks in Brazil: Dissemination of irradiation in foods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sagretti, Juliana M.A.; Sabato, Susy F.

2017-07-01

Despite the poverty in the world, part of all food produced in the world is wasted. The contrast of high food production in the world with hunger, food insecurity and food waste points to the need for combined action and the use of technologies as a solution to combat and eradicate hunger and food waste. Food banks have sprung up worldwide receiving food surpluses and passing on to the needy. These have been encouraged by the ONU - United Nations Organization, however, the lack of quality assurance of these foods already in the food bank has restricted the desired shipment. In this sense, ionizing radiation applied in food brought many positive results, such as increased validity and control insect infestation. So, the aim of this study was to initiate a partnership between irradiation and the food bank through the development of a questionnaire to evaluate the knowledge and acceptance of individuals in the food bank in Brazil. In addition, this study aimed to standardize a basis questionnaire for future research assessment of irradiated foods and disseminate irradiated food. For the construction of the questionnaire as a measuring instrument, a comprehensive and rigorous literature review was made. The questionnaire as a measurement instrument was submitted to the research ethics committee and approved. As a result, the questionnaire has three parts, personal issues, assertive issues and questions of multiple choices and finally an informative question with video. The questionnaire was applied in Ceagesp food bank in the biggest center of food in Brazil. (author)

Increasing Breast Cancer Surveillance Among African American Breast Cancer Survivors

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

excellent or very good. Further, 100% gave the strongest endorsement (“a lot”) that the DVD 9 reflected their culture , was relevant to them as...faith is emphasized along with the information they receive  Spirituality and faith is often an important part of the cultures of people of African...African Which ethnic group (i.e. Igbo, Yoruba )? _______________________________________ Afro-Latina Which group (i.e., Puerto

'We are doing our best': African and African-Caribbean fatherhood, health and preventive primary care services, in England.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Robert; Hewison, Alistair; Stewart, Mel; Liles, Clive; Wildman, Stuart

2012-03-01

Recent policy pronouncements emphasise the importance of engaging fathers with preventive primary care services. However, in England, there is a paucity of literature which examines African and African-Caribbean fathers' experiences of service provision. This paper reports a study that investigated African and African-Caribbean fathers' beliefs about fatherhood, health and preventive primary care services, with the aim of addressing the deficit in the literature. Nine focus groups involving 46 African and African-Caribbean fathers, recruited using purposive sampling, were undertaken between October 2008-January 2009. Fatherhood was seen as a core aspect of the participants' identities. The fathers enacted these identities in a number of ways, such as caring for and protecting children, which were influenced by spirituality, relationships with women, paid work and racism. The fathers had concerns about their bodies, medical conditions, physical activity and forms of consumption. However, their primary focus was on maintaining and improving the well-being of their children. This resulted in them neglecting their own health needs as they had to meet the obligations of family life and paid work. The fathers reported limited contact with preventive primary care services and were unaware of their purpose, function and availability. They identified ethnicity as a positive asset, and felt their families and communities had particular strengths. However they acknowledged that structural constraints, including racism, influenced their perceptions of and access to local health services. The engagement of African and African-Caribbean fathers needs to be addressed more specifically in policy as part of a broader programme of action to tackle health inequalities. In addition, child health services could build on fathers' commitment to children's well-being through practice that addresses fathers' as well as mothers' needs in families. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

African Leafy Vegetables: A Review of Status, Production and Utilization in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Innocent Maseko

2017-12-01

Full Text Available African leafy vegetables (ALVs are mostly gathered from the wild, with few selected species being cultivated, usually as part of a mixed cropping system in home gardens or smallholder plots. They have important advantages over exotic vegetable species, because of their adaptability to marginal agricultural production areas and their ability to provide dietary diversity in poor rural communities. Despite their significance in food and nutrition security, there is limited availability or access to these crops leading to underutilisation. The objective of this review was to document the state of utilisation and production of ALVs in South Africa. A qualitative systematic approach review of online sources, peer reviewed papers published in journals, books and other publications was conducted. There is lack of suitable production systems, innovative processing, and value-adding techniques that promote utilisation of ALVs. Furthermore, there is a perception that ALVs are food for the poor among the youth and urban folks, while, among the affluent, they are highly regarded as being nutritious. To promote ALVs from household consumption and commercialisation, further research on agronomy, post-harvest handling, storage and processing is required in South Africa.

A model for education and promoting food science and technology ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A model for education and promoting food science and technology among high school students and the public. ... at the tertiary stage (retail) directly with the consumer while depending on the product of FST. ... AJOL African Journals Online.

Killer whales in South African waters — a review of their biology ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The distribution, seasonality and schooling behaviour of killer whalesOrcinus orca in South African waters have been investigated from 785 records compiled between 1963 and 2009, and their size, morphometrics, growth, reproduction, food and feeding behaviour described from the examination of 54 individuals, 36 of ...

Healthier fast-food options – Are consumers happy with the price they pay and the value that they receive?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melanie Gopaul

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Changes in consumer lifestyle patterns have had a great impact on the fast-food industry worldwide and the demand for heathier food has forced such a growing industry to offer more alternatives to cater for these consumers. Many fast-food outlets have introduced healthier food options to their menus. However, there seems to be a common perception among consumers that healthier food options are more expensive. The primary research aim that pended from the literature was therefore to determine South African consumers’ level of satisfaction with the price and value of the healthier food options available at fast-food outlets. The results may assist fast-food outlets in adjusting their pricing strategy and offering consumers better value for money. A mixed method approach was used to collect data whereby self-administered questionnaires comprising of closed-ended, open-ended and scaled response questions were distributed to respondents. The findings indicated a low level of satisfaction among South African consumers’ with the price and value of healthier options offered at fast-food outlet

The Distribution of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning Toxin in the OrgansPart of Animals Sea Food

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muryono, H.; Kris-Tri Basuki; A, Sukarman; Djoko Sardjono, Ign.; Supriyanto, C.

2000-01-01

The distribution of PSP toxin in the organs part of animals seafood wereinvestigated. PSP is one of the most important toxin of sea food animals forexport commodities. The main feed of animals seafood is microalgae. Sometypes of microalgae produced toxin, i.e. PSP or saxitoxin. Animals seafoodsamples, i.e. mussel, shrimp, and fish were collected from Manila bay andbrought to laboratorium. The head, intestine and muscle organ parts of thesamples were separated. Each organ part of the samples was extracted by 0,1 NHCl. The saxitoxin contents of the animal seafood samples were determined bymicroplate LSC binding assay method. It was found that the intestine organsamples has a higher concentration of saxitoxin (0.28-0.36 ppm), followed byhead organ samples (0.17-0.20 ppm) and muscle organ samples (0.10-0.16 ppm).Therefore, the distribution of PSP toxin in the organ part of the animalsseafood are 47-52% in the intestine organ samples, 27-31 % in the head organsamples and 10-15% in the muscle organ samples. (author)

Food inflation in South Africa: some implications for economic policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Rangasamy, Logan

2011-01-01

This paper analyses the trends in food price movements in South Africa between 1980 and 2008. There are three main results emanating from the analysis in this paper. Firstly, food price movements have played a large role in generating inflationary episodes in South Africa. Secondly, while external influences do matter, South African food price movements are mainly due to domestic influences. This implies that national policy has an important role to play in taming domestic food price inflation. Thirdly, given the strong second round impacts, food price movements warrant special attention in monetary policymaking. Core measures of inflation that exclude food price movements may not accurately reflect the underlying inflationary pressures in the economy and could compromise the attainment of the goal of price stability.

Nutritional care of the elite child and adolescent athlete: Part II ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journal for Physical Activity and Health Sciences ... a review of literature and resources on special dietary issues and sport performance. ... Education and motivation regarding healthier and more nutrient dense food choices away from ...

Phytase-producing capacity of yeasts isolated from traditional African fermented food products and PHYPk gene expression of Pichia kudriavzevii strains.

Science.gov (United States)

Greppi, Anna; Krych, Łukasz; Costantini, Antonella; Rantsiou, Kalliopi; Hounhouigan, D Joseph; Arneborg, Nils; Cocolin, Luca; Jespersen, Lene

2015-07-16

Phytate is known as a strong chelate of minerals causing their reduced uptake by the human intestine. Ninety-three yeast isolates from traditional African fermented food products, belonging to nine species (Pichia kudriavzevii, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Clavispora lusitaniae, Kluyveromyces marxianus, Millerozyma farinosa, Candida glabrata, Wickerhamomyces anomalus, Hanseniaspora guilliermondii and Debaryomyces nepalensis) were screened for phytase production on solid and liquid media. 95% were able to grow in the presence of phytate as sole phosphate source, P. kudriavzevii being the best growing species. A phytase coding gene of P. kudriavzevii (PHYPk) was identified and its expression was studied during growth by RT-qPCR. The expression level of PHYPk was significantly higher in phytate-medium, compared to phosphate-medium. In phytate-medium expression was seen in the lag phase. Significant differences in gene expression were detected among the strains as well as between the media. A correlation was found between the PHYPk expression and phytase extracellular activity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Are Nutrition Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs Associated with Obesity among Low-Income Hispanic and African American Women Caretakers?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irene Acheampong

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The purposes of this descriptive study were to (1 describe nutrition knowledge, attitudes, beliefs (KAB, and self-efficacy among low-income African American and Hispanic women; (2 identify the associations these variables have on diet quality and weight status; (3 identify barriers to healthy eating. Data from three separate studies were combined and analyzed. The total sample included African Americans ( and Hispanics (. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses were used to identify associations between KAB and body mass index (BMI and diet quality. The majority of African Americans had good knowledge in nutrition while Hispanics had fair knowledge. Attitudes toward eating a healthy diet were significantly associated with high fiber intake among African Americans and low fat consumption among Hispanics. A computed KAB score showed no significant relation to individuals' weight status or diet quality. However, attitudes and beliefs about healthy foods strongly correlated with participants' weight or diet consumption among Hispanics. The most common barrier to consuming a healthy diet reported by both groups was the cost of healthy foods. It is therefore recommended to address these variables when addressing obesity and poor dietary intake among low-income minority groups.

The Genetic Contribution of West-African Ancestry to Protection against Central Obesity in African-American Men but Not Women: Results from the ARIC and MESA Studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Klimentidis, Yann C; Arora, Amit; Zhou, Jin; Kittles, Rick; Allison, David B

2016-01-01

Over 80% of African-American (AA) women are overweight or obese. A large racial disparity between AA and European-Americans (EA) in obesity rates exists among women, but curiously not among men. Although socio-economic and/or cultural factors may partly account for this race-by-sex interaction, the potential involvement of genetic factors has not yet been investigated. Among 2814 self-identified AA in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, we estimated each individual's degree of West-African genetic ancestry using 3437 ancestry informative markers. We then tested whether sex modifies the association between West-African genetic ancestry and body mass index (BMI), waist-circumference (WC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), adjusting for income and education levels, and examined associations of ancestry with the phenotypes separately in males and females. We replicated our findings in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (n = 1611 AA). In both studies, we find that West-African ancestry is negatively associated with obesity, especially central obesity, among AA men, but not among AA women (pinteraction = 4.14 × 10(-5) in pooled analysis of WHR). In conclusion, our results suggest that the combination of male gender and West-African genetic ancestry is associated with protection against central adiposity, and suggest that the large racial disparity that exists among women, but not men, may be at least partly attributed to genetic factors.

Mealtime television viewing and dietary quality in low-income African American and Caucasian mother-toddler dyads.

Science.gov (United States)

Horodynski, Mildred A; Stommel, Manfred; Brophy-Herb, Holly E; Weatherspoon, Lorraine

2010-07-01

To examine maternal demographic characteristics and depressive symptoms as predictors of TV viewing during mealtimes, and to investigate how mealtime TV viewing predicts mothers' and toddlers' food consumption. A prospective, cross-sectional survey design was employed with 199 African American and 200 Caucasian, low-income, mother-toddler dyads enrolled in eight Early Head Start programs in a Midwestern state. Mothers completed the Toddler-Parent Mealtime Behavior Questionnaire to assess toddler mealtime behavior. Data were analyzed using a three-step multiple regression: (a) step one was to determine what characteristics predicted family TV viewing during mealtime; (b) step two was to determine whether TV viewing during mealtime predicted maternal food consumption, and (c) step three was to determine whether TV viewing during mealtime predicted toddler food consumption. Direct and indirect effects of TV watching were explored via path models. Maternal race, education, and depressive symptoms predicted 8% of the variance in TV viewing during mealtime (P < or = 0.001). African American mothers and mothers who had fewer years of schooling and exhibited more depressive symptoms tended to watch more TV during mealtime. More TV viewing during mealtime predicted mothers' intake of 'more' unhealthy foods. Mothers' food consumption was the single best predictor of toddlers' food consumption, while TV viewing during mealtime had an indirect effect through mothers' TV viewing. TV viewing practices affect mothers' food consumption and mealtime behaviors; this, in turn, impacts toddlers' food consumption. Practical interventions are needed to positively influence the nutritional habits of lower-income mothers. Reducing mothers' "unhealthy" food consumption while watching TV may offer one effective strategy.

[African neurosurgery. 1: Historical outline].

Science.gov (United States)

el Khamlichi, A

1996-01-01

African countries, together with the development of the health system that the colonial forces initiated in general as soon as they had come to these countries. This neurosurgery practised in the departments of general surgery either by neurosurgeons or general surgeons took part in the birth and development of neurosurgery as an independent specialty, thanks to the combined efforts of some European and African pioneers. Modern neurosurgery was introduced and started to develop in African countries from 1960, and the teaching of this specialty in many African universities began between 1960 and 1970.

identity and community in south african congregations1

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The South African religious landscape is part of a changing world. Changes are inevitable ..... Involvement in the decision-making process of the congregation. ..... Personality and Social Psychology Review : An official journal of the Society for.

THE ORIGINS OF THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN MAMMAL FAUNA ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Southern Africa can be geographically subdivided into different biotic zones, differing from .... The greater part of the southern African mammal fauna consists of savanna .... spread into southern Africa by way of the Savanna biotic zone.

Seeking an African Einstein

Science.gov (United States)

Durrani, Matin

2008-07-01

A new postgraduate centre for maths and computer science is set to open in the Nigerian capital of Abuja this month as part of an ambitious plan to find the "next Einstein" in Africa. The centre will provide advanced training to graduate students from across Africa in maths and related fields. It will seek to attract the best young African scientists and nurture their talents as problem-solvers and teachers.

The African Diaspora in continental African struggles for freedom ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In light of this realization, this article discusses the contributions of the African Diaspora towards continental African liberation from European colonial domination, with a view to theorizing the implications of this history on the criticism of African Renaissance literature. Focusing on Diasporan African agency in organizing ...

African Journal of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The purpose of the African Journal of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care is to provide a medium for the dissemination of original works in Africa and other parts of the world about anaesthesia and intensive care including the application of basic sciences ...

Food insecurity among students at the University of the Free State ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

reduced food intake (food insecurity “with hunger”).19 The single- ... Female. 518 (37.5), [38.2]. 17.7. 27.2. 55.1. 60.4. Ethnicity (n = 1 388). African ... In a relationship, but not married. 485 (34.5). 18.8. 26.2. 55.1. 61.3. Married. 30 (2.1). 16.7 .... their jobs. Of the employed students, 28% reported that their jobs .... not satisfied.

Accuracy of reporting food energy intake: influence of ethnicity and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2009-09-24

Sep 24, 2009 ... relationship between diet and obesity in South African women. ... in food EI reporting can be measured by the ratio between reported ..... in a group of candidates for CABG surgery and its association with some anthropometric ...

Organic Food and the Plural Moralities of Food Provisioning

Science.gov (United States)

Andersen, Anne Holst

2011-01-01

The aim of this paper is twofold. The first aim is to unfold the moral complexity of organic food consumption as part of household food provisioning. By acknowledging this complexity, and the difficulty of determining what is "good" and "right" in food provisioning, the idea is to allow for a better understanding of how organic…

Contribution of "Women's Gold" to West African livelihoods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pouliot, Mariéve

2012-01-01

Contribution of ``Women's Gold'' to West African Livelihoods: The Case of Shea ( Vitellaria paradoxa ) in Burkina Faso. This paper (i) quantifies the contribution that Vitellaria paradoxa makes to the total income of rural households belonging to different economic groups in two areas of Burkina ...... not be considered as a remedy to poverty but instead as a way for households to diversify their livelihood strategy and decrease their vulnerability to food insecurity and climate variability....

Traditional Malian Solid Foods Made from Sorghum and Millet Have Markedly Slower Gastric Emptying than Rice, Potato, or Pasta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fatimata Cisse

2018-01-01

Full Text Available From anecdotal evidence that traditional African sorghum and millet foods are filling and provide sustained energy, we hypothesized that gastric emptying rates of sorghum and millet foods are slow, particularly compared to non-traditional starchy foods (white rice, potato, wheat pasta. A human trial to study gastric emptying of staple foods eaten in Bamako, Mali was conducted using a carbon-13 (13C-labelled octanoic acid breath test for gastric emptying, and subjective pre-test and satiety response questionnaires. Fourteen healthy volunteers in Bamako participated in a crossover design to test eight starchy staples. A second validation study was done one year later in Bamako with six volunteers to correct for endogenous 13C differences in the starches from different sources. In both trials, traditional sorghum and millet foods (thick porridges and millet couscous had gastric half-emptying times about twice as long as rice, potato, or pasta (p < 0.0001. There were only minor changes due to the 13C correction. Pre-test assessment of millet couscous and rice ranked them as more filling and aligned well with postprandial hunger rankings, suggesting that a preconceived idea of rice being highly satiating may have influenced subjective satiety scoring. Traditional African sorghum and millet foods, whether viscous in the form of a thick porridge or as non-viscous couscous, had distinctly slow gastric emptying, in contrast to the faster emptying of non-traditional starchy foods, which are popular among West African urban consumers.

Non-IgE-mediated food allergies | Terblanche | South African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

mediated conditions such as atopic dermatitis and eosinophilic oesophagitis, and pure T-cell-mediated conditions such as food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome, allergic proctocolitis and enteropathy syndromes. Diagnosing mixed or ...

Unsustainable fuelwood extraction from South African savannas

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Wessels, Konrad J

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305, USA 4 Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Johannesburg, Wits... Supplies in the Developing Countries (Forestry Paper No. 42) (Rome: Food and Agriculture Organisation) Dewees P A 1989 The woodfuel crisis reconsidered: observations on the dynamics of abundance and scarcity World Dev. 17 1159–72 Dovie D B K, Shackleton C M...

Establishment of a South African nuclear science exhibition centre

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lekwe, K.G.; Stander, G.; Faanhof, A. [South African Nuclear Energy Cooperation, P O Box 582, Pretoria (South Africa)

2008-07-01

After an initial survey undertaken by the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa), one of the findings was that nuclear knowledge is virtually non-existent amongst the general public, including school children, throughout the country. The Department of Education (DoE) is currently in the process of introducing Nuclear as part of the school curriculum, which would require a collective effort between the schools and all the Nuclear Institutions in the country. Necsa as well as other nuclear industries have the responsibility to promote public awareness, appreciation and understanding of science and nuclear science in particular. Necsa is leading the national initiative to establish the nuclear science centre which would amongst others guide a person from the very basics of nuclear science to present and future applications thereof. The nuclear science centre will include information on the SAFARI-1 reactor, the Koeberg power reactor, the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR), particle accelerators, food preservation, medical applications, etc. This paper will give the overview of the centre as well as its objectives thereof. (authors)

Establishment of a South African nuclear science exhibition centre

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lekwe, K.G.; Stander, G.; Faanhof, A.

2008-01-01

After an initial survey undertaken by the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa), one of the findings was that nuclear knowledge is virtually non-existent amongst the general public, including school children, throughout the country. The Department of Education (DoE) is currently in the process of introducing Nuclear as part of the school curriculum, which would require a collective effort between the schools and all the Nuclear Institutions in the country. Necsa as well as other nuclear industries have the responsibility to promote public awareness, appreciation and understanding of science and nuclear science in particular. Necsa is leading the national initiative to establish the nuclear science centre which would amongst others guide a person from the very basics of nuclear science to present and future applications thereof. The nuclear science centre will include information on the SAFARI-1 reactor, the Koeberg power reactor, the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR), particle accelerators, food preservation, medical applications, etc. This paper will give the overview of the centre as well as its objectives thereof. (authors)

Estimating bioenergy potentials of common African agricultural residues

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Sune Tjalfe; Kádár, Zsófia; Schmidt, Jens Ejbye

, North America or Brazil. For that reason, it is difficult to estimate bioenergy potentials in the African region. As a part of an on‐going research collaboration investigating production of 2g biofuels in Ghana, this study have analysed 13 common African agricultural residues: yam peelings, cassava...... peelings, cassava stalks, plantain peelings, plantain trunks, plantain leaves, cocoa husks, cocoa pods, maize cobs, maize stalks, rice straw, groundnut straw and oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB). This was done to establish detailed compositional mass balances, enabling estimations of accurate bioenergy...

The need for an online collection of traditional African food habits ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Amongst the difficulties facing the indigenous people of Africa today is the deleterious shift from traditional food habits to the processed and packaged food products of western-owned corporations. This nutrition transition has been implicated in the rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) throughout Africa. The purpose ...

Food insecurity is associated with cost-related medication non-adherence in community-dwelling, low-income older adults in Georgia.

Science.gov (United States)

Bengle, Rebecca; Sinnett, Stephanie; Johnson, Tommy; Johnson, Mary Ann; Brown, Arvine; Lee, Jung Sun

2010-04-01

Low-income older adults are at increased risk of cutting back on basic needs, including food and medication. This study examined the relationship between food insecurity and cost-related medication non-adherence (CRN) in low-income Georgian older adults. The study sample includes new Older Americans Act Nutrition Program participants and waitlisted people assessed by a self-administered mail survey (N = 1000, mean age 75.0 + so - 9.1 years, 68.4% women, 25.8% African American). About 49.7% of participants were food insecure, while 44.4% reported practicing CRN. Those who were food insecure and/or who practiced CRN were more likely to be African American, low-income, younger, less educated, and to report poorer self-reported health status. Food insecure participants were 2.9 (95% CI 2.2, 4.0) times more likely to practice CRN behaviors than their counterparts after controlling for potential confounders. Improving food security is important inorder to promote adherence to recommended prescription regimens.

Zambia Country Background Report

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hampwaye, Godfrey; Jeppesen, Søren; Kragelund, Peter

This paper provides background data and general information for the Zambia studies focusing on local food processing sub­‐sector; and the local suppliers to the mines as part of the SAFIC project (Successful African Firms and Institutional Change).......This paper provides background data and general information for the Zambia studies focusing on local food processing sub­‐sector; and the local suppliers to the mines as part of the SAFIC project (Successful African Firms and Institutional Change)....

Masticatory form and function in the African apes.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Andrea B

2002-02-01

This study examines variability in masticatory morphology as a function of dietary preference among the African apes. The African apes differ in the degree to which they consume leaves and other fibrous vegetation. Gorilla gorilla beringei, the eastern mountain gorilla, consumes the most restricted diet comprised of mechanically resistant foods such as leaves, pith, bark, and bamboo. Gorilla gorilla gorilla, the western lowland gorilla subspecies, consumes leaves and other terrestrial herbaceous vegetation (THV) but also consumes a fair amount of ripe, fleshy fruit. In contrast to gorillas, chimpanzees are frugivores and rely on vegetation primarily as fallback foods. However, there has been a long-standing debate regarding whether Pan paniscus, the pygmy chimpanzee (or bonobo), consumes greater quantities of THV as compared to Pan troglodytes, the common chimpanzee. Because consumption of resistant foods involves more daily chewing cycles and may require larger average bite force, the mechanical demands placed on the masticatory system are expected to be greater in folivores as compared to primates that consume large quantities of fleshy fruit. Therefore, more folivorous taxa are predicted to exhibit features that improve load-resistance capabilities and increase force production. To test this hypothesis, jaw and skull dimensions were compared in ontogenetic series of G. g. beringei, G. g. gorilla, P. t. troglodytes, and P. paniscus. Controlling for the influence of allometry, results show that compared to both chimpanzees and bonobos, gorillas exhibit some features of the jaw complex that are suggestive of improved masticatory efficiency. For example, compared to all other taxa, G. g. beringei has a significantly wider mandibular corpus and symphysis, larger area for the masseter muscle, higher mandibular ramus, and higher mandibular condyle relative to the occlusal plane of the mandible. However, the significantly wider mandibular symphysis may be an

Hunger for Knowledge: Food Insecurity among Students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal

Science.gov (United States)

Munro, Nicholas; Quayle, Michael; Simpson, Heather; Barnsley, Shelley

2013-01-01

The experience of food insecurity in the South African university student population is not well documented or researched. Data to assess vulnerability to food insecurity in a sample of 1.083 students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg Campus) was collected between 2007 and 2010 via a questionnaire developed specifically for…

Portraits of South African Women in Lauren Beukes’ Writings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caraivan Luiza

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to study some of Lauren Beukes’ feminine characters and to draw a parallel between them and some famous South African personalities presented in her non-fiction work Maverick: Extraordinary Women from South Africa’s Past. To this end, I will analyse three of her novels, Moxyland (2008, Zoo City (2010 and The Shining Girls (2012, in order to draw attention to the part played by South African women in Apartheid and post-Apartheid society.

Fire in South African ecosystems: an annotated bibliography.

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Schrige, GU

1978-10-01

Full Text Available References to 258 publications are presented together with summaries, keyword listings and a keyword index. This bibliography forms part of the South African contribution to the SCOPE project "The ecological effects of fire", 1977-1980....

Prevalence of food addiction and its relationship to body mass index

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Alaa Youssef Ahmed

is recently measured by the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS). It was speculated ... Egypt is one of the highest African countries in the prevalence of obesity. Aim: Estimation .... Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki).

The African Diaspora, Civil Society and African Integration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Opoku-Mensah, Paul Yaw

This paper, a work-in-progress, makes a contribution to the discussions on the appropriate modalities for incorporating the African diaspora in the African integration project.  It argues that the most appropriate entry points for incorporating the African diaspora into the integration project...... might not, necessarily, be in the formal political structures, although this is important. To the contrary, the most effective and sustainable might be within civil society---that is the links between the peoples and organizations of Africa and the diaspora. Using the case of the African academy......-- as an institution of civil society--- the paper outlines a conceptual framework for incorporating the diaspora into the African integration project....

Food Cravings, Appetite, and Snack-Food Consumption in Response to a Psychomotor Stimulant Drug: The Moderating Effect of ‘Food Addiction’

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caroline eDavis

2014-05-01

Full Text Available There is mounting evidence that many highly processed foods have addictive properties, and that some cases of compulsive overeating are behavioral addictions. While support for the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS as a valid diagnostic tool has been impressive and continues to increase, to date, no research has examined the food-addiction construct in response to an actual food stimulus, and in relation to direct measures of appetite and food consumption. As part of a larger community-based study of overeating in healthy adults who were predominately overweight and obese (aged 25-50 years, 136 participants completed the YFAS, of whom 23 met the diagnostic criteria for food addiction. They took part in a 2-day, double-blind, cross-over, single-dose drug challenge using a psychomotor stimulant (methylphenidate and placebo. Participants were first assessed on ratings of appetite and food cravings after holding and tasting their favorite snack food, after which they were able to eat all or part of the snack, as they wished. Three separate repeated-measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA procedures were carried out, each with 2 between-subjects factors (Diagnosis: food addiction vs non-food addiction and (Sex: male vs female and 1 within-subjects factor (Days: drug vs placebo. As anticipated, for all three dependent variables, there was a significant main effect for Days with a response decrease from placebo to the drug condition. With respect to food cravings and appetite ratings, results indicated that the food-addiction group had significantly higher scores on both variables (p<0.0001. For food consumption, there was a significant Days x Diagnosis interaction (p=0.018 whereby the food-addiction group showed no food-intake suppression across days compared to the non-food-addiction group who demonstrated a significant decrease in snack-food consumption with methylphenidate. The finding that the food-addiction group was resistant to the food

An initial review of biodiversity reporting by South African corporates: The case of the food and mining sectors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hafsa Mansoor

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to examine to what extent South African companies listed on the local stock exchange in the mining and food producer and retail sectors are including biodiversity-related issues in their integrated and sustainability reports. The study employs established biodiversity reporting frameworks for gauging changes in the frequency of disclosures from 2011 to 2013 and determining if biodiversity information is being included in either the integrated or sustainability reports of the companies under review. Consistent with the findings of a special edition of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ, the research finds few examples of detailed reporting on biodiversity issues. This is despite the fact that South Africa has a well-established code of corporate governance, a long history of including non-financial information in corporate reports and is an advocate of the integrated reporting movement. The study calls into question the sincerity of companies in the two sectors under review when it comes to providing balanced accounts of their management of non-financial capital as recommended by the country’s codes on governance and the International Integrated Reporting Council.

Relationships between Vacant Homes and Food Swamps: A Longitudinal Study of an Urban Food Environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Mui, Yeeli; Jones-Smith, Jessica C; Thornton, Rachel L J; Pollack Porter, Keshia; Gittelsohn, Joel

2017-11-21

Research indicates that living in neighborhoods with high concentrations of boarded-up vacant homes is associated with premature mortality due to cancer and diabetes, but the mechanism for this relationship is unclear. Boarded-up housing may indirectly impact residents' health by affecting their food environment. We evaluated the association between changes in vacancy rates and changes in the density of unhealthy food outlets as a proportion of all food outlets, termed the food swamp index, in Baltimore, MD (USA) from 2001 to 2012, using neighborhood fixed-effects linear regression models. Over the study period, the average food swamp index increased from 93.5 to 95.3 percentage points across all neighborhoods. Among non-African American neighborhoods, increases in the vacancy rate were associated with statistically significant decreases in the food swamp index (b = -0.38; 90% CI, -0.64 to -0.12; p -value: 0.015), after accounting for changes in neighborhood SES, racial diversity, and population size. A positive association was found among low-SES neighborhoods (b = 0.15; 90% CI, 0.037 to 0.27; p -value: 0.031). Vacant homes may influence the composition of food outlets in urban neighborhoods. Future research should further elucidate the mechanisms by which more distal, contextual factors, such as boarded-up vacant homes, may affect food choices and diet-related health outcomes.

South African Journal of Chemistry - Vol 56 (2003)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

South African Journal of Chemistry. ... Synthesis and antimicrobial activity of new Thiazole-2(3H)-thiones containing 1, 1, 3-trisubstituted Cyclobutane · EMAIL ... Part 12.1 Fragmentation Patterns in the Electron-impact Mass Spectra of 2-(N, ...

Food store owners' and managers' perspectives on the food environment: an exploratory mixed-methods study.

Science.gov (United States)

Gravlee, Clarence C; Boston, P Qasimah; Mitchell, M Miaisha; Schultz, Alan F; Betterley, Connie

2014-10-03

Neighborhood characteristics such as poverty and racial composition are associated with inequalities in access to food stores and in the risk of obesity, but the pathways between food environments and health are not well understood. This article extends research on consumer food environments by examining the perspectives of food-store owners and managers. We conducted semistructured, open-ended interviews with managers and owners of 20 food stores in low-income, predominantly African American neighborhoods in Tallahassee, Florida (USA). The interviews were designed to elicit store managers' and owners' views about healthy foods, the local food environment, and the challenges and opportunities they face in creating access to healthy foods. We elicited perceptions of what constitutes "healthy foods" using two free-list questions. The study was designed and implemented in accord with principles of community-based participatory research. Store owners' and managers' conceptions of "healthy foods" overlapped with public health messages, but (a) agreement about which foods are healthy was not widespread and (b) some retailers perceived processed foods such as snack bars and sugar-sweetened juice drinks as healthy. In semistructured interviews, store owners and managers linked the consumer food environment to factors across multiple levels of analysis, including: business practices such as the priority of making sales and the delocalization of decision-making, macroeconomic factors such as poverty and the cost of healthier foods, individual and family-level factors related to parenting and time constraints, and community-level factors such as crime and decline of social cohesion. Our results link food stores to multilevel, ecological models of the food environment. Efforts to reshape the consumer food environment require attention to factors across multiple levels of analysis, including local conceptions of "healthy foods", the business priority of making sales, and

Nutritional quality of new food products released into the Australian retail food market in 2015 - is the food industry part of the solution?

Science.gov (United States)

Spiteri, Sheree A; Olstad, Dana Lee; Woods, Julie L

2018-02-07

Food manufacturers have made public statements and voluntary commitments, such as the Healthier Australia Commitment (HAC), to improve the nutritional quality of foods. However, limited information about the nutritional quality or healthfulness of new products makes it difficult to determine if manufacturers are doing this. The purpose of this study was to assess the healthfulness of new food products released into the Australian retail market in 2015, and whether those companies who were HAC members released healthier food options compared to non-HAC members. This cross-sectional study assessed the healthfulness of all new retail food products launched in Australia in 2015 as indexed in Mintel's Global New Products Database. Healthfulness was assessed using three classification schemes: Healthy Choices Framework Victoria, Australian Dietary Guidelines and NOVA Food Classification System. Descriptive statistics and chi-squared tests described and compared the number and proportions of new foods falling within each of the food classification schemes' categories for companies that were and were not HAC members. In 2015, 4143 new food products were launched into the Australian market. The majority of new products were classified in each schemes' least healthy category (i.e. red, discretionary and ultra-processed). Fruits and vegetables represented just 3% of new products. HAC members launched a significantly greater proportion of foods classified as red (59% vs 51% for members and non-members, respectively) discretionary (79% vs 61%), and ultra-processed (94% vs 81%), and significantly fewer were classified as green (8% vs 15%), core foods (18% vs 36%) and minimally processed (0% vs 6%) (all p food market in 2015 were classified in each of three schemes' least healthy categories. A greater proportion of new products launched by companies that publicly committed to improve the nutritional quality of their products were unhealthy, and a lower proportion were healthy

C:\\My Documents\\African Heath S

African Journals Online (AJOL)

administratory

Meat inspection for human consumption is a legal requirement in many a part of the world, but the reliability for this routine procedure to detect ... Ikoona E, Kalyesubula I, Kawuma M. Ocular manifestations in paediatric HIV/AIDS patients in Mulago Hospital,. Uganda. African Health Sciences 2003: 3(2) 83 – 86. 6. Anyama N ...

Transpressional granite-emplacement model: Structural and magnetic study of the Pan-African Bandja granitic pluton (West Cameroon)

Science.gov (United States)

Sandjo, A. F. Yakeu; Njanko, T.; Njonfang, E.; Errami, E.; Rochette, P.; Fozing, E.

2016-02-01

The Pan-African NE-SW elongated Bandja granitic pluton, located at the western part of the Pan-African belt in Cameroon, is a K-feldspar megacryst granite. It is emplaced in banded gneiss and its NW border underwent mylonitization. The magmatic foliation shows NE-SW and NNE-SSW strike directions with moderate to strong dip respectively in its northern and central parts. This mostly, ferromagnetic granite displays magnetic fabrics carried by magnetite and characterized by (i) magnetic foliation with best poles at 295/34, 283/33 and 35/59 respectively in its northern, central and southern parts and (ii) a subhorizontal magnetic lineation with best line at 37/8, 191/9 and 267/22 respectively in the northern, central and southern parts. Magnetic lineation shows an `S' shape trend that allows to (1) consider the complete emplacement and deformation of the pluton during the Pan-African D 2 and D 3 events which occurred in the Pan-African belt in Cameroon and (2) reorganize Pan-African ages from Nguiessi Tchakam et al. (1997) compared with those of the other granitic plutons in the belt as: 686 ±17 Ma (Rb/Sr) for D 1 age of metamorphism recorded in gneiss; and the period between 604-557 Ma for D 2-D 3 emplacement and deformation age of the granitic pluton in a dextral ENE-WSW shear movement.

Three Generations, Three Wars: African American Veterans.

Science.gov (United States)

Black, Helen K

2016-02-01

This article emerged from pilot research exploring experiences of war and suffering among African American veterans who served in World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War. Men's experiences as soldiers reflected both racism and the social change that occurred in the Unites States while they served. We used techniques of narrative elicitation, conducting qualitative, ethnographic interviews with each of five veterans in his home. Interviews focused on unique and shared experiences as an African American man and a soldier. Three important themes emerged: (a) Expectations related to War--Although men viewed service to country as an expected part of life, they also expected equal treatment in war, which did not occur; (b) Suffering as an African American--Informants interpreted experiences of suffering in war as related to the lower status of African American servicemen; and (c) Perception of present identity--Each man was honed by the sum of his experiences, including those of combat, racism, and postwar opportunities and obstacles. From 40 to 70 years after the wars were fought, there are few scholarly narrative studies on African American veterans, despite the fact that Korean War Veterans are entering old-old age and few World War II Veterans are alive. The value of pilot research that offers narratives of unheard voices is significant; larger studies can interview more African American veterans to advance knowledge that might soon be lost. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

What inspires South African student teachers for their future ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

South African school education is suffering from a quality problem, ... Martin, Kennedy & Fay, 2007) and in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science ..... whilst the informal education environment (books, media, hobbies, part-time ...

Computer vision system approach in colour measurements of foods: Part II. validation of methodology with real foods

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Fatih TARLAK

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract The colour of food is one of the most important factors affecting consumers’ purchasing decision. Although there are many colour spaces, the most widely used colour space in the food industry is L*a*b* colour space. Conventionally, the colour of foods is analysed with a colorimeter that measures small and non-representative areas of the food and the measurements usually vary depending on the point where the measurement is taken. This leads to the development of alternative colour analysis techniques. In this work, a simple and alternative method to measure the colour of foods known as “computer vision system” is presented and justified. With the aid of the computer vision system, foods that are homogenous and uniform in colour and shape could be classified with regard to their colours in a fast, inexpensive and simple way. This system could also be used to distinguish the defectives from the non-defectives. Quality parameters of meat and dairy products could be monitored without any physical contact, which causes contamination during sampling.

Factors Associated with Early Introduction of Formula and/or Solid, Semi-Solid or Soft Foods in Seven Francophone West African Countries

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Abukari I. Issaka

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with early introduction of formula and/or solid, semi-solid or soft foods to infants aged three to five months in seven Francophone West African countries. The sources of data for the analyses were the most recent Demographic and Health Survey datasets of the seven countries, namely Benin (BDHS, 2012, Burkina Faso (BFDHS, 2010, Cote d’Ivoire (CIDHS, 2011–2012, Guinea (GDHS, 2012, Mali (MDHS, 2012–2013, Niger (NDHS, 2012 and Senegal (SDHS, 2010. The study used multiple logistic regression methods to analyse the factors associated with early introduction of complementary feeding using individual-, household- and community-level determinants. The sample was composed of 4158 infants aged between three and five months with: 671 from Benin, 811 from Burkina Faso, 362 from Cote d’Ivoire, 398 from Guinea, 519 from Mali, 767 from Niger and 630 from Senegal. Multiple analyses indicated that in three of the seven countries (Benin, Guinea and Senegal, infants who suffered illnesses, such as diarrhoea and acute respiratory infection, were significantly more likely to be introduced to formula and/or solid, semi-solid or soft foods between the age of three and five months. Other significant factors included infants who: were born in second to fourth position (Benin, whose mothers did not attend any antenatal clinics (Burkina Faso and Niger, were male (Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, lived in an urban areas (Senegal, or were delivered by traditional birth attendants (Guinea, Niger and Senegal. Programmes to discourage early introduction of formula and/or solid, semi-solid or soft foods in these countries should target the most vulnerable segments of the population in order to improve exclusive breastfeeding practices and reduce infant mortality.

How to deal with neglected tropical diseases in the light of an African ethic.

Science.gov (United States)

Metz, Thaddeus

2017-11-07

Many countries in Africa, and more generally those in the Global South with tropical areas, are plagued by illnesses that the wealthier parts of the world (mainly 'the West') neither suffer from nor put systematic effort into preventing, treating or curing. What does an ethic with a recognizably African pedigree entail for the ways various agents ought to respond to such neglected diseases? As many readers will know, a characteristically African ethic prescribes weighty duties to aid on the part of those in a position to do so, and it therefore entails that there should have been much more contribution from the Western, 'developed' world. However, what else does it prescribe, say, on the part of sub-Saharan governments and the African Union, and are they in fact doing it? I particularly seek to answer these questions here, by using the 2013-16 Ebola crisis in West Africa to illustrate what should have happened but what by and large did not. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Food risk management quality: Consumer evaluations of past and emerging food safety incidents

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kleef, van E.; Ueland, O.; Theodoridis, G.; Rowe, G.; Pfenning, U.; Houghton, J.R.; Dijk, van H.; Chryssochoidis, G.; Frewer, L.J.

2009-01-01

In European countries, there has been growing consumer distrust regarding the motives of food safety regulators and other actors in the food chain, partly as a result of recent food safety incidents. If consumer confidence in food safety is to be improved, a systematic understanding of what

Recruiting and engaging African-American men in health research.

Science.gov (United States)

Randolph, Schenita; Coakley, Tanya; Shears, Jeffrey

2018-06-07

Improving the health of black and minority ethnic (BME) men in the US continues to be a public health priority. Compared with men of other races and ethnicities, African-American men have higher rates of mortality and morbidity from chronic illness and diseases including cancer, heart disease, prostate cancer, diabetes and HIV/AIDS. One way to address these disparities is to include African-American men in health research, to elicit their perspectives on health risks and protective factors. These can then inform interventions aimed at reducing health disparities. However, challenges remain in recruiting and engaging African-American men in health research. To provide strategies for recruiting African-American men in health research, using as an exemplar a qualitative study of fathers' perspectives of sexual health promotion with young African-American males. Efforts are needed to increase the representation of African-American men in health research. Ensuring that researchers are aware of the cultural, social and environmental factors related to decisions to participate in research can lead to effective methods to recruit and engage them. There are several essential strategies for increasing African-American men's participation in health research: ensuring the research team is culturally and gender-sensitive; recruiting in trusted environments; using respected gatekeepers; developing trust with participants; and being transparent. Implementing strategies to include African-American men in health research has the potential to improve health disparities in the US. ©2018 RCN Publishing Company Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be copied, transmitted or recorded in any way, in whole or part, without prior permission of the publishers.

A carbon isotope survey of South African honey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thorp, J.A.L.; Lanham, J.L.; Wenner, D.B.; Van der Merwe, N.J.

1987-01-01

Stable carbon isotope analysis has been successfully employed in various fields, including botany, geochemistry, archaeology and, more recently, as an analytical tool in the food industry. In the analysis of food, it has been primarily directed at quality control and the detection of cheap adulterants to 'natural' foods. The method is based on the known characteristic of differences in the 13 C to 12 C ratios produced by two groups of plants with different photosynthetic mechanisms, known as C 3 and C 4 . This patterning is useful because the cheapest sources of alcohol, sweeteners and flavourings are derived from C 4 plants, maize and sugar cane, whereas traditional Old World sources such as grapes, nectar and fruit are derived from C 3 plants. The results of an informal isotopic survey of South African honeys are reported. This isotopic method is particularly useful in that it is not possible to circumvent it by manipulation of the sugars or any of the other constituents

Climate and southern Africa's water-energy-food nexus

Science.gov (United States)

Conway, Declan; van Garderen, Emma Archer; Deryng, Delphine; Dorling, Steve; Krueger, Tobias; Landman, Willem; Lankford, Bruce; Lebek, Karen; Osborn, Tim; Ringler, Claudia; Thurlow, James; Zhu, Tingju; Dalin, Carole

2015-09-01

In southern Africa, the connections between climate and the water-energy-food nexus are strong. Physical and socioeconomic exposure to climate is high in many areas and in crucial economic sectors. Spatial interdependence is also high, driven, for example, by the regional extent of many climate anomalies and river basins and aquifers that span national boundaries. There is now strong evidence of the effects of individual climate anomalies, but associations between national rainfall and gross domestic product and crop production remain relatively weak. The majority of climate models project decreases in annual precipitation for southern Africa, typically by as much as 20% by the 2080s. Impact models suggest these changes would propagate into reduced water availability and crop yields. Recognition of spatial and sectoral interdependencies should inform policies, institutions and investments for enhancing water, energy and food security. Three key political and economic instruments could be strengthened for this purpose: the Southern African Development Community, the Southern African Power Pool and trade of agricultural products amounting to significant transfers of embedded water.

Towards an indigenous African bioethics | Behrens | South African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

One way is for African bioethicists to begin to apply indigenous African philosophy, thought and values to ethical issues. This project is important (i) to restore dignity; (ii) because a bioethics grounded in indigenous ideas is more likely to be accepted by Africans; and (iii) because such ideas can enrich bioethical discourse.

Problems in Translating Musical Elements in African American Poetry after 1950

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristina Kočan

2009-06-01

Full Text Available In most cases, African American poetry eschews traditional literary norms. Contemporary African American poets tend to ignore grammatical rules, use unusual typography on many occasions, include much of their cultural heritage in their poetry, and interweave musical elements into literary genres. The influence of such musical genres as jazz, blues, soul, and gospel, together with the dilemmas that occur for the translator, will be shown to great extent, since music, like black speech, is a major part of African American culture and literature. The translator will have to maintain the specific African American rhythm, blues adaptations and the improvisational language under the jazz impact. The paper presents the problems in translating post-1950 African American poetry into Slovene, and asks to what extent can one successfully transfer the musical elements within this poetry for the target culture? Inevitably, it will identify a share of elements that are lost in translation.

Ethno-botanical study of the African star apple (Chrysophyllum albidum G. Don in the Southern Benin (West Africa

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Houessou Laurent G

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In addition to plant species biology and ecology, understanding the folk knowledge systems related to the use of plant species and how this knowledge system influences the conservation of plant species is an important issue in the implementation of sustainable strategies of biodiversity conservation programs. This study aimed at providing information on the use and local knowledge variation on Chrysophyllum albidum G. Don a multipurpose tree species widely used in southern Benin. Methods Data was collected through 210 structured interviews. Informants were randomly selected from ten villages. The fidelity level and use value of different plant parts of C. albidum were estimated. The variation in ethnobotanical knowledge was assessed by comparing the use value between ethnic, gender and age groups. In order to assess the use pattern of the different plant parts in folk medicine, a correspondence analysis was carried out on the frequency citation of plant parts. Results Four categories of use (food, medicine, firewood and timber were recorded for C. albidum. With respect to the different plant parts, the fleshy pulp of the African star apple fruit showed high consensus degree as food among the informants. Fifteen diseases were reported to be treated by the different parts of C. albidum in the region. Correspondence analysis revealed the specificity of each part in disease treatment. There was no significant difference among ethnic groups regarding the ethno-botanical use value of C. albidum. However, significant difference existed between genders and among age groups regarding the knowledge of the medical properties of this species. Conclusions C. albidum is well integrated in the traditional agroforestry system of the southern Benin. Despite its multipurpose character, this species remains underutilized in the region. Considering the current threat of habitat degradation, action is needed in order to ensure the long term

Female genital mutilation in African and African American women's literature

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Darja Marinšek

2007-12-01

Full Text Available The article builds on the existing dispute between African and African American women writers on the competence of writing about female genital mutilation (FGM, and tries to determine the existence and nature of the differences between the writings of these two groups. The author uses comparative analysis of two popular African and African American novels, comparing their ways of describing FGM, its causes and consequences, the level ob objectivity and the style of the narrations.This is followed by a discussion on the reasons for such differences, incorporating a larger circle of both African and African American women authors, at the same time analysing the deviance within the two groups. While the differences between African American writers are not that great, as they mostly fail to present the issue from different points of view, which is often the result of their lack of direct knowledge of the topic, African authors' writing is in itself discovered to be ambivalent and not at all invariable. The reasons for such ambivalence are then discussed in greater context, focusing on the effect of the authors' personal contact with circumcision as well as their knowledge and acceptance of Western values. The author concludes by establishing the African ambivalent attitude towards FGM, which includes different aspects of the issue, as the most significant difference between their and African American writers' description of this practice.

Studies on assessment of health effects of radiation processed foods: Part 1. genetic toxicological evaluation in somatic and germ cells of laboratory animals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chaubey, R C; Aravindakshan, M; Chauhan, P S [Genetic Toxicology and Chromosome Studies Section, Cell Biology Div., Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai (India)

1999-09-01

The studies summarized in this report form a part of the program on the safety evaluation of radiation-processed foods, an important component of the development of radiation technology for food preservation from the public health point of view. These studies contributed significantly and critically to the acceptance of safety of radiation processed foods by regulatory agencies both at the national and international levels. This report contains only genetic studies, one aspect of this program, while the remaining studies will be summarized in a separate report.

Studies on assessment of health effects of radiation processed foods: Part 1. genetic toxicological evaluation in somatic and germ cells of laboratory animals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chaubey, R.C.; Aravindakshan, M.; Chauhan, P.S.

1999-09-01

The studies summarized in this report form a part of the program on the safety evaluation of radiation-processed foods, an important component of the development of radiation technology for food preservation from the public health point of view. These studies contributed significantly and critically to the acceptance of safety of radiation processed foods by regulatory agencies both at the national and international levels. This report contains only genetic studies, one aspect of this program, while the remaining studies will be summarized in a separate report

Proceedings: Onderstepoort Centenary Pan-African Veterinary Conference : foreword

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Editorial Office

2009-09-01

Full Text Available In 1908 a Pan-African Veterinary Conference formed part of the inauguration ceremony of the Onderstepoort Veterinary Laboratory. Attended by 18 delegates from 12 countries in southern Africa, including the four colonies and three protectorates forming British South Africa, Rhodesia, German South West Africa, Portuguese East Africa, Madagascar and the Belgian Congo, discussions focussed on the animal diseases of the region with the emphasis on trypanosomosis (nagana and East Coast fever. The successful meeting was followed by a series of similar conferences held in different African countries during the first half of the 20th Century.

Food Components and Supplements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Parlesak, Alexandr

2012-01-01

The major part of food consists of chemical compounds that can be used for energy production, biological synthesis, or maintenance of metabolic processes by the host. These components are defined as nutrients, and can be categorized into macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, triglycerides......, and alcohol), minerals, and micronutrients. The latter category comprises 13 vitamins and a hand full of trace elements. Many micronutrients are used as food supplements and are ingested at doses exceeding the amounts that can be consumed along with food by a factor of 10–100. Both macro- and micronutrients...... can interact with enzyme systems related to xenobiotic metabolism either by regulation of their expression or direct interference with their enzymatic activity. During food consumption, we consume a wide range of xenobiotics along with the consumable food, either as an original part of the food (e...

The food environment of students on a financial assistance ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition is co-published by Medpharm Publications, NISC (Pty) Ltd and Taylor & Francis, and Informa business. SAJCN. ISSN 1607-0658 EISSN ... The research study was undertaken to determine the food that students on the financial assistance program at the University of the Free State ...

Fast Food Consumption Pattern among Youth in Ogbomoso Metropolis of Oyo State, Nigeria

OpenAIRE

Ogunniyi Laudia Titilola; Adepoju Adenike Adebusola; Olagunju Funke Iyabo; Akinola Oluseyi Yewande

2013-01-01

Fast food has become a prominent feature of diet and has grown into a dominant dietary pattern among youth worldwide. It is difficult to escape noticing the colourful edifice and bill boards of these food outlets, one is probably just around the corner of your street. Mr Biggs, Tastes Fried Chicken, Sweet Sensation, Big Treat, Favourite etc. Due to competitive nature of the market many of the food outlets market have started to blend their menus with African cuisines like Pounded Yam, Amala, ...

Job-hopping amongst African Black senior management in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khanyile C.C. Nzukuma

2011-11-01

Research purpose: The study focused on understanding why African Black senior managers have a propensity to change jobs and how organisations can resolve the trend. Motivation for the study: To develop a better understanding of the push and pull factors for African Black senior managers in organisations. Research design, approach and method: The research was conducted in two phases, namely as part of a qualitative study and a quantitative study: Creswell (2003 refers to this approach as triangulation. The target population was African Black senior managers on the database of a large Human Resources Consultancy, The South African Rewards Association and the Association of Black Actuaries and Investment Professionals (ABSIP (n = 2600. A total of 208 usable responses were received. Main findings: The main findings and contribution to the field of study was that African Black senior managers do not trust organisations with their career development. They would rather take control of their own career development by moving from organisation to organisation to build their repertoire of skills and competence. They want to be in charge of their careers. This finding has profound implications for organisations employing African Black managers in the senior cadre. Practical/managerial implications: Managers of African Black senior managers need to create attractive employee value propositions that address the main findings. Contribution/value-add: The research shows that African Black senior managers generally seek corporate environments that encourage a sense of belonging and with a clear career growth plan.

Food Preservation by Irradiation (Rev.)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Urrows, Grace M.

1968-01-01

Up to 30% of food harvests are lost in some parts of the world because of animal pests and microorganisms. Nuclear techniques can help reduce and extend the shelf life of these foods. Around 55 countries now have food irradiation programs. The use of radiation is the most recent step in man's attempts to preserve some of his harvest for the lean part of the year.

Religions in Africa: A Teaching Manual. African Outreach Series, No. 4.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, C. C.; Crummey, Donald

The wide variety of religious practices in Africa can be bewildering to outsiders. Although most of the world's religions have been introduced to Africa, this handbook focuses upon three categories of religious belief: traditional African religions, Christianity, and Islam. The book is arranged in three parts. Part 1, "Background…

African Social Studies Program-1, 1988-89. Final Report. A Master's Degree Program for African Social Studies Leaders.

Science.gov (United States)

Indiana Univ., Bloomington.

This paper presents the final report on a project that brought African social studies education leaders to Indiana University (Bloomington) to take part in a Master's Degree program. The report contains a brief history of the program, a description of the program, a discussion of issues relating to acculturation, an evaluation, a list of…

The pervasive crisis of diminishing radiation therapy access for vulnerable populations in the United States, part 1: African-American patients.

Science.gov (United States)

McClelland, Shearwood; Page, Brandi R; Jaboin, Jerry J; Chapman, Christina H; Deville, Curtiland; Thomas, Charles R

2017-01-01

African Americans experience the highest burden of cancer incidence and mortality in the United States and have been persistently less likely to receive interventional care, even when such care has been proven superior to conservative management by randomized controlled trials. The presence of disparities in access to radiation therapy (RT) for African American cancer patients has rarely been examined in an expansive fashion. An extensive literature search was performed using the PubMed database to examine studies investigating disparities in RT access for African Americans. A total of 55 studies were found, spanning 11 organ systems. Disparities in access to RT for African Americans were most prominently study in cancers of the breast (23 studies), prostate (7 studies), gynecologic system (5 studies), and hematologic system (5 studies). Disparities in RT access for African Americans were prevalent regardless of organ system studied and often occurred independently of socioeconomic status. Fifty of 55 studies (91%) involved analysis of a population-based database such as Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Result (SEER; 26 studies), SEER-Medicare (5 studies), National Cancer Database (3 studies), or a state tumor registry (13 studies). African Americans in the United States have diminished access to RT compared with Caucasian patients, independent of but often in concert with low socioeconomic status. These findings underscore the importance of finding systemic and systematic solutions to address these inequalities to reduce the barriers that patient race provides in receipt of optimal cancer care.

Bibliography of African inland water invertebrates (to 1980)

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Davies, BR

1982-09-01

Full Text Available This bibliography is a direct outcome of the SIL-UNEP Workshop on African Limnology held at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, between 16-23 December, 1979. Part 1 of the framework document for the A4 section of the Workshop - "Invertebrates...

Food in the Schools, Part I. Options in Education, Program #75.

Science.gov (United States)

George Washington Univ., Washington, DC. Inst. for Educational Leadership.

This document presents the program transcripts of a weekly series broadcast by member stations of National Public Radio. The program focuses on food in the schools. It addresses the following issues: plate waste in Chicago and Dallas; banning junk food and vending machines; the results of a vending machine junk food ban in West Virginia;…

Factors that affect the food choices made by girls and young women, from minority ethnic groups, living in the UK.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawrence, J M; Devlin, E; Macaskill, S; Kelly, M; Chinouya, M; Raats, M M; Barton, K L; Wrieden, W L; Shepherd, R

2007-08-01

Lower birth weight, often found in infants from minority ethnic groups, may be partly because of the disproportionate representation of ethnic minority groups in low-income areas. To develop an intervention, to improve the nutritional intake of young women from populations at risk of low-birth-weight babies, which would be culturally sensitive and well received by the intended recipients, a community development approach was used to investigate factors that might influence food choice and the nutritional intake of girls and young women from ethnic minority groups. Focus group discussions were conducted across the UK, to explore factors that might affect the food choices of girls and young women of African and South Asian decent. The data was analysed using deductive content analysis (Qual. Soc. Res., 1, 2000, 1). Discussions were around the broad themes of buying and preparing food, eating food and dietary changes, and ideas for an intervention to improve diet. The focus group discussions indicated that all the communities took time, price, health and availability into consideration when making food purchases. The groups were also quite similar in their use of 'Western' foods which tended to be of the fast food variety. These foods were used when there was not enough time to prepare a 'traditional' meal. Many issues that affect the food choice of people who move to the UK are common within different ethnic groups. The idea of a practical intervention based on improving cooking skills was popular with all the groups.

The Genetic Structure and History of Africans and African Americans

Science.gov (United States)

Tishkoff, Sarah A.; Reed, Floyd A.; Friedlaender, Françoise R.; Ehret, Christopher; Ranciaro, Alessia; Froment, Alain; Hirbo, Jibril B.; Awomoyi, Agnes A.; Bodo, Jean-Marie; Doumbo, Ogobara; Ibrahim, Muntaser; Juma, Abdalla T.; Kotze, Maritha J.; Lema, Godfrey; Moore, Jason H.; Mortensen, Holly; Nyambo, Thomas B.; Omar, Sabah A.; Powell, Kweli; Pretorius, Gideon S.; Smith, Michael W.; Thera, Mahamadou A.; Wambebe, Charles; Weber, James L.; Williams, Scott M.

2010-01-01

Africa is the source of all modern humans, but characterization of genetic variation and of relationships among populations across the continent has been enigmatic. We studied 121 African populations, four African American populations, and 60 non-African populations for patterns of variation at 1327 nuclear microsatellite and insertion/deletion markers. We identified 14 ancestral population clusters in Africa that correlate with self-described ethnicity and shared cultural and/or linguistic properties. We observed high levels of mixed ancestry in most populations, reflecting historical migration events across the continent. Our data also provide evidence for shared ancestry among geographically diverse hunter-gatherer populations (Khoesan speakers and Pygmies). The ancestry of African Americans is predominantly from Niger-Kordofanian (~71%), European (~13%), and other African (~8%) populations, although admixture levels varied considerably among individuals. This study helps tease apart the complex evolutionary history of Africans and African Americans, aiding both anthropological and genetic epidemiologic studies. PMID:19407144

Beyond African nationalism: Isaiah Shembe’s hymns and African literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nkosinathi Sithole

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This article deals with Isaiah Shembe’s hymns and proposes that they should be read asliterature because, in them, Shembe employs a number of literary features. He also usesfeatures of oral literature and uses the hymns to reflect on a number of issues that concernedhim and his fellow black people. The hymns that are examined here are more akin to poetrythan hymns in that Shembe uses them to engage with the issues of his time rather than to praiseGod. However, this does not mean that all the hymns should be misconstrued as politicaltexts: They are generally songs of worship for the members to sing when praising God, yetShembe also found in the genre of hymns a powerful medium for voicing his concerns asan African. Whilst other scholars have noted Shembe’s concern with Zulu ethnicity and hiscontribution to Zulu literature, I suggest here a reading of the hymns that goes beyond Zuluethnicity, looking at them as part of African literature since Shembe himself was not justconcerned with the Zulus and their problems, but he was also concerned with the mattersthat concerned Africa as a whole.

The potential of food preservation to reduce food waste

OpenAIRE

Martindale, Wayne

2016-01-01

While we state it seems unthinkable to throw away nearly a third of the food we produce, we still continue to overlook that we are all very much part of this problem because we all consume meals. The amount of food wasted clearly has an impact on our view of what we think a sustainable meal is and our research suggests food waste is a universal function that can help us determine the sustainability of diets. Achieving sustainability in food systems depends on the utilisation of both culinary ...

Packhouse to port: Investigating temperature breaks in the South African summer fruit export cold chain

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Freiboth, H

2014-10-01

Full Text Available A large amount of fruit and money is lost every season due to breaks in the South African fruit export cold chain. With food security becoming an ever growing concern, especially in developing countries like South Africa, a high percentage of losses...

African dust outbreaks over the Mediterranean Basin during 2001-2011: concentrations, phenomenology and trends

Science.gov (United States)

Pey, Jorge; Querol, Xavier; Alastuey, Andres; Forastiere, Franceso; Stafoggia, Massimo

2013-04-01

-spring in the eastern side, with occurrence of various severe episodes throughout the year. Overall, African dust emerges as the largest PM10 source in regional background southern sites of the Mediterranean (35-50% of PM10), with seasonal peak contributions to PM10 up to 80% of the total mass in the eastern side. The multi-year study of African dust episodes and their contributions to PM10 concentrations displaysa consistent decreasing trend in the period 2006/2007 to 2011 in 4 of the 17 studied regions, all of them located in the NW of the Mediterranean. Such decrease is almost parallel to that of NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) index for the summer period, being progressively more negative since 2006. As a consequence, a sharp change in the atmospheric circulation over the last 5 years (a similar negative NAO period occurred in the 1950 decade) have affected the number of African dust episodes and consequently the annual dust inputs to PM10observed in the NW part of the Mediterranean. By investigating mean temperatures and geopotential height maps at 850hPa it is evident a displacement of warm air masses accomplishing African dust towards the central Mediterranean in the 2007-2008 period, and towards the NW African coast and the Canary Islands in the 2009-2011 period. Acknowledgements This study has been founded by the LIFE programme of the European Commission under the Grant Agreement LIFE10 ENV/IT/327. Partial founding was received from the Autonomous Government of Catalonia and the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment. PM10 data were obtained from EMEP, Airbase and ACTRIS databases. Most of the interpretations were performed thanks to the support of HYSPLIT model, SKIRON, BSC-DREAM and NRL-NAAPS aerosol maps, NCEP/NCAR meteorological database, and image products from MODIS and SeaWiFs NASA satellites.

Modelling the South African fruit export infrastructure: A case study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

FG Ortmann

2006-06-01

Full Text Available A description is provided of work performed as part of the fruit logistics infrastructure project commissioned by the South African Deciduous Fruit Producers’ Trust and coordinated by the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, as described in [Van Dyk FE & Maspero E, 2004, An analysis of the South African fruit logistics infrastructure, ORiON, 20(1, pp. 55–72]. After a brief introduction to the problem, two models (a single-commodity graph theoretic model and a multi-commodity mathematical programming model are derived for determining the maximal weekly flow or throughput of fresh fruit through the South African national export infrastructure. These models are solved for two extreme seasonal export scenarios and the solutions show that no export infrastructure expansion is required in the near future - observed bottlenecks are not fundamental to the infrastructure and its capacities, but are rather due to sub-optimal management and utilisation of the existing infrastructure.

Disaster management and humanitarian logistics – A South African perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wilna L. Bean

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Disasters are becoming an unavoidable part of everyday life throughout the world, including South Africa. Even though South Africa is not a country affected by large-scale disasters such as earthquakes, the impact of disasters in South Africa is aggravated significantly by the vulnerability of people living in informal settlements. Humanitarian logistics, as a ‘new’ sub-field in the supply chain management context, has developed significantly recently to assist in disaster situations. This paper provides an overview of the South African humanitarian logistics context. Even though humanitarian logistics plays a critical role in the aftermath of disasters, it extends far beyond events that can typically be classified as ‘disasters’. Therefore the implication of the South African humanitarian logistics context on future research and collaboration opportunities in South African humanitarian logistics is also discussed. Finally, two recent case studies in the South African humanitarian logistics environment are discussed.

“She looks out for the meals, period”: African American men's perceptions of how their wives influence their eating behavior and dietary health1

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Julie Ober; Griffith, Derek M.; Gaines, Henry C.

2015-01-01

Women play a critical role in men's dietary health, but how men think about the nature and mechanisms of their wives’ influence on their eating behavior is not well understood. This study examined how African American men described the roles their wives played in shaping their eating behavior. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze data from nine exploratory focus groups conducted with a convenience sample of 83 African American men who were middle aged or older and lived in southeast Michigan. Men perceived having more freedom to choose what they ate when eating out, even accompanied by their wives, compared to at home. The men indicated their wives influenced what they ate at home more than their own preferences. They described traditional gendered food roles at home and were satisfied that their wives played a dominant role in household food preparation and decision making. Men had mixed feelings about wives’ efforts to prepare healthier meals. While they appreciated that their wives cared about their health, the men felt they were rarely consulted on how meals could be healthier and often disliked the healthy changes their wives made. The men prioritized keeping their wives happy, preserving spousal division of roles, and maintaining marital harmony over participating in food decision making or expressing their personal food preferences. Thus, interventions to improve married African American men's eating behaviors need to explicitly consider that men may prioritize marital harmony and preserving spousal food roles over their tastes, preferences, and desired food decision-making roles. PMID:22563755

Charting African Prosperity Gospel economies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreas Heuser

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This article maps the vital debate on Prosperity Gospel in Africa and its relevance for socioeconomic change. Prosperity Gospel centres mainly on speech acts surrounding faith, wealth and victory, combined with ritual enactments around secondary evidences of divine blessings. Claiming this-worldly success and material well-being as signs of grace it has captured public spheres and has created African religio-scapes of prosperity. The survey on the socioeconomics of African prosperity-oriented Pentecostalism firstly traces the historic genealogy of Prosperity Gospel as transposable message. It appears as a generic formula in paradigmatic reinventions of Pentecostalism in post-second and/or cold war America and in its globalisation in postcolonial Africa. The double resignification of Pentecostal theology - a rereading of ‘mammon’ alongside a new ethic of being in the world - relates to the question of socioeconomic agency. Academic discourse connects Prosperity Gospel social capital with interpretations of its ritual texture thriving around rituals of tithings and offerings. Prosperity Gospel economies are profiled as forms of sacral consumption or sacrificial economy, or else as Pentecostal kleptocracy. Contrarily Prosperity Gospel is portrayed as a variant and porter of African social change. The contextualisation of Prosperity Gospel highlights diverse social agency in different milieus. Rural and peri-urban theologies of survival differ from urban progressive and metropolitan business management Prosperity Gospel. The findings defy generalised views on Prosperity Gospel socioeconomics. African Prosperity Gospel indicates a transformative potential in immediate social relationships, whereas claims of impacting structural parameters of society remain, with a few exceptions, part of Pentecostal imagination.

Models of invasion and establishment of African Mustard (Brassica tournefortii)

Science.gov (United States)

Berry, Kristin H.; Gowan, Timothy A.; Miller, David M.; Brooks, Matthew L.

2015-01-01

Introduced exotic plants can drive ecosystem change. We studied invasion and establishment ofBrassica tournefortii (African mustard), a noxious weed, in the Chemehuevi Valley, western Sonoran Desert, California. We used long-term data sets of photographs, transects for biomass of annual plants, and densities of African mustard collected at irregular intervals between 1979 and 2009. We suggest that African mustard may have been present in low numbers along the main route of travel, a highway, in the late 1970s; invaded the valley along a major axial valley ephemeral stream channel and the highway; and by 2009, colonized 22 km into the eastern part of the valley. We developed predictive models for invasibility and establishment of African mustard. Both during the initial invasion and after establishment, significant predictor variables of African mustard densities were surficial geology, proximity to the highway and axial valley ephemeral stream channel, and number of small ephemeral stream channels. The axial valley ephemeral stream channel was the most vulnerable of the variables to invasions. Overall, African mustard rapidly colonized and quickly became established in naturally disturbed areas, such as stream channels, where geological surfaces were young and soils were weakly developed. Older geological surfaces (e.g., desert pavements with soils 140,000 to 300,000 years old) were less vulnerable. Microhabitats also influenced densities of African mustard, with densities higher under shrubs than in the interspaces. As African mustard became established, the proportional biomass of native winter annual plants declined. Early control is important because African mustard can colonize and become well established across a valley in 20 yr.

growth and physiological performance of west african dwarf goats

African Journals Online (AJOL)

user

2014-09-02

Sep 2, 2014 ... Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Benin, Edo State, Nigeria. ... Twenty young growing West African Dwarf (WAD) goats of both sexes with an average body weight of 5.77kg ... Northern part of the country (Ugwu and.

"If you do nothing about stress, the next thing you know, you're shattered": Perspectives on African American men's stress, coping and health from African American men and key women in their lives.

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, Katrina R; Griffith, Derek M; Allen, Julie Ober; Thorpe, Roland J; Bruce, Marino A

2015-08-01

Stress has been implicated as a key contributor to poor health outcomes; however, few studies have examined how African American men and women explicitly describe the relationships among stress, coping, and African American men's health. In this paper, we explore strategies men use to cope with stress, and beliefs about the consequences of stress for African American men's health behaviors, morbidity and mortality from the perspectives of African American men and women. A phenomenological analytic approach was used to examine focus group data collected from 154 African American men (18 focus groups) and 77 African American women (8 focus groups). Women's perspectives were captured because women often observe men under stress and can provide support to men during stressful times. Our findings indicate that African American men in this study responded to stress by engaging in often identified coping behaviors (i.e., consumption of calorie dense food, exercise, spiritually-related activities). Men in our study, however, did not always view their responses to stress as explicit coping mechanisms. There was also some discordance between men's and women's perceptions of men's coping behaviors as there were occasions where they seemed to interpret the same behavior differently (e.g., resting vs. avoidance). Men and women believed that stress helped to explain why African American men had worse health than other groups. They identified mental, physical and social consequences of stress. We conclude by detailing implications for conceptualizing and measuring coping and we outline key considerations for interventions and further research about stress, coping and health. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Agriculture and food systems in sub-Saharan Africa in a 4°C+ world.

Science.gov (United States)

Thornton, Philip K; Jones, Peter G; Ericksen, Polly J; Challinor, Andrew J

2011-01-13

Agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa faces daunting challenges, which climate change and increasing climate variability will compound in vulnerable areas. The impacts of a changing climate on agricultural production in a world that warms by 4°C or more are likely to be severe in places. The livelihoods of many croppers and livestock keepers in Africa are associated with diversity of options. The changes in crop and livestock production that are likely to result in a 4°C+ world will diminish the options available to most smallholders. In such a world, current crop and livestock varieties and agricultural practices will often be inadequate, and food security will be more difficult to achieve because of commodity price increases and local production shortfalls. While adaptation strategies exist, considerable institutional and policy support will be needed to implement them successfully on the scale required. Even in the 2°C+ world that appears inevitable, planning for and implementing successful adaptation strategies are critical if agricultural growth in the region is to occur, food security be achieved and household livelihoods be enhanced. As part of this effort, better understanding of the critical thresholds in global and African food systems requires urgent research.

Human impacts in African savannas are mediated by plant functional traits.

Science.gov (United States)

Osborne, Colin P; Charles-Dominique, Tristan; Stevens, Nicola; Bond, William J; Midgley, Guy; Lehmann, Caroline E R

2018-05-28

Tropical savannas have a ground cover dominated by C 4 grasses, with fire and herbivory constraining woody cover below a rainfall-based potential. The savanna biome covers 50% of the African continent, encompassing diverse ecosystems that include densely wooded Miombo woodlands and Serengeti grasslands with scattered trees. African savannas provide water, grazing and browsing, food and fuel for tens of millions of people, and have a unique biodiversity that supports wildlife tourism. However, human impacts are causing widespread and accelerating degradation of savannas. The primary threats are land cover-change and transformation, landscape fragmentation that disrupts herbivore communities and fire regimes, climate change and rising atmospheric CO 2 . The interactions among these threats are poorly understood, with unknown consequences for ecosystem health and human livelihoods. We argue that the unique combinations of plant functional traits characterizing the major floristic assemblages of African savannas make them differentially susceptible and resilient to anthropogenic drivers of ecosystem change. Research must address how this functional diversity among African savannas differentially influences their vulnerability to global change and elucidate the mechanisms responsible. This knowledge will permit appropriate management strategies to be developed to maintain ecosystem integrity, biodiversity and livelihoods. © 2018 The Authors New Phytologist © 2018 New Phytologist Trust.

Affordable mobile robotic platforms for teaching computer science at African universities

OpenAIRE

Gyebi, Ernest; Hanheide, Marc; Cielniak, Grzegorz

2015-01-01

Educational robotics can play a key role in addressing some of the challenges faced by higher education in Africa. One of the major obstacles preventing a wider adoption of initiatives involving educational robotics in this part of the world is lack of robots that would be affordable by African institutions. In this paper, we present a survey and analysis of currently available affordable mobile robots and their suitability for teaching computer science at African universities. To this end, w...

Soutien institutionnel à African Technology Policy Studies ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Au départ la division tanzanienne du Réseau d'études sur la politique technologique en Afrique (African Technology Policy Studies Network), et ce, depuis 1984, ATPS-Tanzania est devenu autonome à titre d'organisation non gouvernementale en 2001. Lorsque ATPS-Tanzania recevait un financement stable du siège de ...

Risks and benefits of genetically modified foods | Amin | African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

There are claims that fear towards new technology has been caused by the lack of information and education on the subject to the public. Modern biotechnology and its applications have been receiving the same criticism. Thus, the objective of this study is to analyze the trends and coverage of genetically modified food ...

Several Items Comparisons of Intercultural Food Communication

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

刘智慧

2011-01-01

Introduction This paper is included seven parts,food culture introduction,forms and manners of western food,forms and manners of Chinese food,three main kinds of difference of foods,mergence,taboo and conclusion.I will divide it into several parts to analyze them.I adopt ~me examples and history stories.As all of my expressions,I hope you can enjoy my paper and have a good stomach.

"Quiet Food Sovereignty” as Food Sovereignty without Movements? Understanding Food Sovereignty in Post-Socialist Russia

OpenAIRE

Visser, Oane; Mamonova, Natalia; Spoor, Max; Nikulin, Alexander

2017-01-01

textabstractWhat does food sovereignty look like in settings where rural social movements are weak or non-existent, such as in countries with post-socialist, semi-authoritarian regimes? Focusing on Russia, we present a divergent form of food sovereignty. Building on the concept of ‘quiet sustainability’, we present a dispersed, muted, but clearly bottom-up variant we term ‘quiet food sovereignty’. In the latter, the role of the very productive smallholdings is downplayed by the state and part...

The School Food Plan and the Social Context of Food in Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Hart, Caroline Sarojini

2016-01-01

This paper explores the social context of food practices in primary schools in England based on research conducted in 2013-2014 as part of the Sheffield School Food Project. Drawing on the capability approach, and social quality theory, the theoretical framework informed a research methodology enabling exploration of ways in which food practices…

Grain dehullers: less toil, more food for Africans | IDRC ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2010-10-28

Oct 28, 2010 ... ... from a Canadian design has eliminated drudgery for women and girls, and made convenient food products more widely available. Before grains like millet or sorghum can be milled into flour or used for other purposes, the hulls must be removed. This chore, when carried out in traditional fashion by hand, ...

Agricultural diversification as an important strategy for achieving food security in Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Waha, Katharina; van Wijk, Mark T; Fritz, Steffen; See, Linda; Thornton, Philip K; Wichern, Jannike; Herrero, Mario

2018-03-31

Farmers in Africa have long adapted to climatic and other risks by diversifying their farming activities. Using a multi-scale approach, we explore the relationship between farming diversity and food security and the diversification potential of African agriculture and its limits on the household and continental scale. On the household scale, we use agricultural surveys from more than 28,000 households located in 18 African countries. In a next step, we use the relationship between rainfall, rainfall variability, and farming diversity to determine the available diversification options for farmers on the continental scale. On the household scale, we show that households with greater farming diversity are more successful in meeting their consumption needs, but only up to a certain level of diversity per ha cropland and more often if food can be purchased from off-farm income or income from farm sales. More diverse farming systems can contribute to household food security; however, the relationship is influenced by other factors, for example, the market orientation of a household, livestock ownership, nonagricultural employment opportunities, and available land resources. On the continental scale, the greatest opportunities for diversification of food crops, cash crops, and livestock are located in areas with 500-1,000 mm annual rainfall and 17%-22% rainfall variability. Forty-three percent of the African cropland lacks these opportunities at present which may hamper the ability of agricultural systems to respond to climate change. While sustainable intensification practices that increase yields have received most attention to date, our study suggests that a shift in the research and policy paradigm toward agricultural diversification options may be necessary. © 2018 The Authors Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Household food security and HIV status in rural and urban ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2017-10-11

Oct 11, 2017 ... More than half of all participants reported feeling sad, blue or depressed ... and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary .... select significant independent factors associated with HIV status. Variables with a ...... the disability grant: A South African dilemma? Journal of the ...

Genetically modified food -The dilemma of Africa | Asante | African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

can potentially improve the survival and quality of life for millions of people in Africa? Scientists must help provide an answer to this question by ensuring that debate on GM crops addresses facts not opinions so as to respond to society's concern. This essay is intended to give an overview of the GM food technology and ...

Factors driving the location investment decision of South African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

As trade barriers fell, South African enterprises faced new competition in their previously protected home market. With established markets becoming saturated, multinational enterprises (MNEs) steered towards emerging markets abroad. Geographically, South Africa is an intrinsic part of Africa, and psychic distance, defined ...

Semen collection and preservation in African catfish, Clarias gariepinus

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Viveiros, A.

2002-01-01

Stock improvement using quantitative and molecular genetics is an essential part of nowadays production of farm animals and fish. To achieve this in aquaculture, germplasm of both parental sexes should be obtained in a life-saving manner. In captivity, male African catfish,

Food irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1984-01-01

Food preservation by irradiation is one part of Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace program that is enjoying renewed interest. Classified as a food additive by the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1958 instead of a processing technique, irradiation lost public acceptance. Experiments have not been done to prove that there are no health hazards from gamma radiation, but there are new pressures to get Food and Drug Administration approval for testing in order to make commercial use of some radioactive wastes. Irradiation causes chemical reactions and nutritional changes, including the destruction of several vitamins, as well as the production of radiolytic products not normally found in food that could have adverse effects. The author concludes that, lacking epidemiological evidence, willing buyers should be able to purchase irradiated food as long as it is properly labeled

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

It has also been difficult for African researchers to access the work of other African academics. In partnership with hundreds of journals from all over the continent, AJOL works to change this, so that African-origin research output is available to Africans and to the rest of the world. AJOL is ... African Journal of AIDS Research.