Congresso sobre bancos de leite reúne mais de 200 profissionais em Angola

Mais de 200 profissionais de saúde de 15 diferentes estados de Angola participaram do Congresso de Bancos de Leite Humano da Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP), em Luanda, no país africano. O evento, teve como tema "Segurança alimentar e nutricional para recém-nascidos de risco e lactentes" e foi uma iniciativa conjunta dos governos do Brasil e de Angola, em colaboração com a direção da comunidade.

Food (in)security in relation to nutrition (in)security in a national cross-sectional sample of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants: considerations of an emerging construct.

BACKGROUND: Food insecurity, lack of access to sufficient food for an active, healthy life, is a persistent problem in the United States. Recently, nutrition security has emerged as a new concept. However, limited research exists examining how nutrition security relates to the established concept of food security. OBJECTIVES: This study assessed a recent metric of nutrition security and explored how well it describes the underlying construct among a sample of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants. We examined the correlation between food and nutrition security and demographic predictors of joint food and nutrition security status. METHODS: We conducted a national, web-based survey (Qualtrics; 30 September-19 October, 2022) in English and Spanish of adults aged ≥18 y (n = 1454) who reported receiving SNAP benefits in the past 12 mo. We measured food security using the US Department of Agriculture 6-item Food Security Survey and assessed nutrition security using the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition Household Nutrition Security measure. We used multinominal logistic regression to examine demographic predictors of food and nutrition security. RESULTS: The majority (80.4%) of SNAP participants experienced food insecurity, and 59.1% reported experiencing nutrition insecurity. Food and nutrition security were moderately correlated (0.41); 55.6% of SNAP participants were both food and nutrition insecure, 3.5% were food secure but nutrition insecure, 24.8% were food insecure but nutrition secure, and 16.1% were both food and nutrition secure. Of SNAP participants, 24.8% reported experiencing food insecurity but not nutrition insecurity. Hispanic ethnicity and Southern residence were associated with joint food and nutrition insecurity. CONCLUSIONS: These findings raise questions about how nutrition security is conceptualized and measured and its added value beyond existing food security measurement scales. Further research is needed to understand differences in food and nutrition security experiences and risk factors and determine a validated definition and measure of nutrition security for future policy solutions.

Depressive symptoms among adults is associated with decreased food security.

OBJECTIVE: We aim to evaluate the association of depressive symptoms, depressive symptoms severity and symptom cluster scores (i.e., cognitive-affective and somatic) with food security (FS). We will also evaluate the interaction effect of sex, income and ethnicity on these associations. METHODS: Data from the 2005-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey cycles were used in this study. Participants included survey respondents 20+ years who had completed Depression and Food Security questionnaires. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the associations between depressive symptoms and FS. RESULTS: A total of 34,128 participants, including 3,021 (7.73%) with depressive symptoms, were included in this study. In both unadjusted and adjusted models, participants with depressive symptoms had lower odds of FS (aOR = 0.347, 95% CI: 0.307,0.391, p<0.001). Moreover, in both unadjusted and adjusted models, for each 1-point increase in cognitive-affective (aOR = 0.850, 95% CI = 0.836,0.864, p <0.001) and somatic symptoms (aOR = 0.847, 95% CI = 0.831,0.863, p <0.001), odds of high FS decreased correspondingly. Our study found no significant interaction effects of sex on depressive symptoms-FS association. Statistically significant interactions of ethnicity and poverty-to-income ratio on depressive symptoms-FS association were observed, revealing higher odds of FS among Non-Hispanic Black and Mexican American groups, and lower odds of FS in Non-Hispanic White and high-income subgroups. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated an association between depressive symptoms and decreased FS. Further research is required to deepen our understanding of the underlying mechanisms and to develop focused interventions.

Nurturing care assets for food security: a community asset mapping approach.

BACKGROUND: Zip codes classified by the Food Insecurity Index with moderate and high food insecurity (FI) risk can be a threat to the health and well-being of children during the first 1,000 days (from pregnancy to 2 years). The presence of nurturing care assets (i.e., stable environments that promote health and nutrition, learning opportunities, security and safety, and responsive relationships) can contribute to supporting families and their communities, and ultimately reduce systemic barriers to food security. We aimed to identify and characterize nurturing care assets in under-resourced communities with moderate and high FI risk. METHODS: Four steps were used to conduct a Community Asset Mapping (CAM): (1) review of community documents across five zip codes in Clark County, Nevada (2), engagement of community members in identifying community assets (3), definition of the assets providing nurturing care services, and (4) classification of assets to nurturing care components, i.e., good health, adequate nutrition, safety and security, opportunities for early learning, and responsive caregiving. The Food Insecurity Index was used to determine FI risk in each zip code. Analyses explored whether disparities in nurturing care assets across zip codes with moderate and high FI exist. RESULTS: We identified 353 nurturing care assets across zip codes. A more significant number of nurturing care assets were present in zip codes with high FI risk. The adequate nutrition component had the most assets overall (n = 218, 61.8%), while the responsive caregiving category had the least (n = 26, 7.4%). Most of the adequate nutrition resources consisted of convenience stores (n = 96), food pantries (n = 33), and grocery stores (n = 33). Disparities in the number and type of good health, early learning, and security and safety assets were identified within zip codes with high FI risk compared to moderate FI risk. CONCLUSIONS: The quantity and type of nurturing care assets can exacerbate existing demographic disparities across zip codes, which are tied to barriers to access to food in under-resourced communities in Clark County, Nevada. Co-creating a nurturing care asset-based zip code strategy to address high FI risk will require strengthening systems across existing nurturing care assets.

Climate change impacts on small pelagic fish distribution in Northwest Africa: trends, shifts, and risk for food security.

Climate change is recognised to lead to spatial shifts in the distribution of small pelagic fish, likely by altering their environmental optima. Fish supply along the Northwest African coast is significant at both socio-economic and cultural levels. Evaluating the impacts of climatic change on small pelagic fish is a challenge and of serious concern in the context of shared stock management. Evaluating the impact of climate change on the distribution of small pelagic fish, a trend analysis was conducted using data from 2363 trawl samplings and 170,000 km of acoustics sea surveys. Strong warming is reported across the Southern Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME), extending from Morocco to Senegal. Over 34 years, several trends emerged, with the southern CCLME experiencing increases in both wind speed and upwelling intensity, particularly where the coastal upwelling was already the strongest. Despite upwelling-induced cooling mechanisms, sea surface temperature (SST) increased in most areas, indicating the complex interplay of climatic-related stressors in shaping the marine ecosystem. Concomitant northward shifts in the distribution of small pelagic species were attributed to long-term warming trends in SST and a decrease in marine productivity in the south. The abundance of Sardinella aurita, the most abundant species along the coast, has increased in the subtropics and fallen in the intertropical region. Spatial shifts in biomass were observed for other exploited small pelagic species, similar to those recorded for surface isotherms. An intensification in upwelling intensity within the northern and central regions of the system is documented without a change in marine primary productivity. In contrast, upwelling intensity is stable in the southern region, while there is a decline in primary productivity. These environmental differences affected several small pelagic species across national boundaries. This adds a new threat to these recently overexploited fish stocks, making sustainable management more difficult. Such changes must motivate common regional policy considerations for food security and sovereignty in all West African countries sharing the same stocks.

Towards food security: Exploring the spatio-temporal dynamics of soybean in India.

India is the world's largest edible oil importer, and soybean oil accounts for a major portion of those imports, with implications for the Indian economy. Despite being the 4th largest globally in terms of harvested soybean area and 5th largest in terms of production, India is still heavily dependent on imports to meet the vegetable oil requirement for its population. It is therefore imperative to understand the dynamics and trends in India's soybean production to help the country achieve self-sufficiency in edible oils. This study provides the first spatially explicit analysis of soybean in India, using long-term spatial and temporal statistics at national and subnational levels, using spatial and temporal statistical analysis models to examine the historical trends and its future prospects. Our analysis details the overall soybean expansion across the country and the increase in production but we also note that the annual growth rate has declined in each consecutive decade even though the area continues to expand. The average national yield has been stagnant at around 1 T/Ha but for some of the low-producing districts, a higher yield of more than 3 T/ha is reported. For most major producing districts, soybean yields are below 1.5 T/Ha. The state of Madhya Pradesh which was the major soybean producer is now matched by the state of Maharashtra in terms of production, however, Madhya Pradesh still has the largest area under soybean. We analyzed soybean hotspot expansion in India and found that the mean center of the soybean area and production has shifted approximately 93 km towards the south and 24 km to the west as the crop is rapidly being adopted in the southern and western parts of India expanding the hotspot in these parts. District-level analysis showed that the total number of districts constituting hotspots of soybean cultivation in India has increased from 29 to 42 in three decades. Furthermore, analysis of soybean oil and meal consumption with respect to the national population, import, export, domestic production, GDP per capita, and price of soybean oil and meal suggests that soybean oil and meal are highly correlated with GDP per capita and population, indicating that consumption of soybean oil and meal is likely to increase as GDP per capita increases, and future demand is expected to rise with the anticipated growth in the Indian population. Increased soybean production can play a significant role in increasing national food security for India and reducing dependence on foreign oil imports and also help the economy with soy meal exports. Understanding the spatiotemporal variability in area and yield will help target interventions to increase production. Given the overall low yields with high variability in production, particularly in recent years primarily due to successive extreme rains and droughts in major producing districts and the overall need to increase production to meet the country's demand, there is a pressing need for government policies and research aimed at narrowing the yield gap and developing soybean varieties that are more productive and resilient to climate change.

A low-cost spectroscopic nutrient management system for Microscale Smart Hydroponic system.

Hydroponics offers a promising approach to help alleviate pressure on food security for urban residents. It requires minimal space and uses less resources, but management can be complex. Microscale Smart Hydroponics (MSH) systems leverage IoT systems to simplify hydroponics management for home users. Previous work in nutrient management has produced systems that use expensive sensing methods or utilized lower cost methods at the expense of accuracy. This study presents a novel inexpensive nutrient management system for MSH applications that utilises a novel waterproofed, IoT spectroscopy sensor (AS7265x) in a transflective application. The sensor is submerged in a hydroponic solution to monitor the nutrients and MSH system predicts the of nutrients in the hydroponic solution and recommends an adjustment quantity in mL. A three-phase model building process was carried out resulting in significant MLR models for predicting the mL, with an R2 of 0.997. An experiment evaluated the system's performance using the trained models with a 30-day grow of lettuce in a real-world setting, comparing the results of the management system to a control group. The sensor system successfully adjusted and maintained nutrient levels, resulting in plant growth that outperformed the control group. The results of the models in actual deployment showed a strong, significant correlation of 0.77 with the traditional method of measuring the electrical conductivity of nutrients. This novel nutrient management system has the potential to transform the way nutrients are monitored in hydroponics. By simplifying nutrient management, this system can encourage the adoption of hydroponics, contributing to food security and environmental sustainability.

Food security status and cardiometabolic health by sex/gender and race/ethnicity among adults in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Minoritized racial/ethnic groups and women in the United States (US) are disproportionately burdened by food insecurity, which likely contributes to disparities in cardiovascular health (CVH). Disparities are projected to widen due to the worsening climate crisis that is straining the agricultural system including food supplies. Nonetheless, studies have not investigated the relationship between food security status and 'ideal' CVH in a large, nationally-representative and racially/ethnically diverse US sample. METHODS AND RESULTS: We investigated household food security status in relation to 'ideal' CVH among US adults (N = 157,001) using 2014-2018/2020 National Health Interview Survey data. Food security status was defined as very low, low, marginal, or high. A summed score of 4 health behaviors and 3 clinical factors totaling 7 different measures was dichotomized (yes/no) to assess modified 'ideal' CVH (mICVH). Using Poisson regression with robust variance, we estimated prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% CIs of mICVH by household food security status. We stratified models by sex/gender and race/ethnicity. Very low food security prevalence was higher among non-Hispanic (NH)-Black (8.0%) compared to Hispanic/Latinx (5.1%), NH-White (3.1%) and NH-Asian (1.7%) adults. The association between very low versus high food security and mICVH was stronger among women (PR = 0.23 [95% CI: 0.17-0.31]) than men (PR = 0.48 [95% CI: 0.35-0.66]). Compared to NH-White adults with high food security, racially/ethnically minoritized groups with very low to high food security were generally less likely (range: [PRvery low = 0.25[95% CI: 0.14-0.44] - [PRhigh = 0.88 [95% CI: 0.79-0.97]) to meet mICVH criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Food insecurity was associated with lower mICVH prevalence and racially/ethnically minoritized groups were disproportionately burdened.

A comprehensive analysis of food insecurity in the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray.

BACKGROUND: The number of globally food-insecure people is increasing since 2017. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest proportion of severely food-insecure people in the world. Tigray region of Ethiopia is one of the food-insecure regions, which, over the past many decades has been affected by recurrent food insecurities. In the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray, many people are living under the condition of chronic hunger. Proper food security studies are vital for proper intervention mechanisms. Yet, previous food security studies have rarely addressed the four pillars of food security: availability, access, utilization, and stability. In this study, all components are duly considered to assess the food insecurity status in the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray, Ethiopia. Of the 34 rural districts in Tigray, 363 households from three drought-prone rural districts were studied. RESULTS: Household Food Insecurity Access Scale and Food Insecurity Experience Scale were adapted to measure the food availability, access to food, and stability components of food security; and, Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), Food Consumption Score (FCS), mid-upper arm circumference, and Bitot's spot were used to analyze the food utilization aspect. Findings show that 68% of the studied community frequently ate less food than they felt they needed and 82.1% of the households have experienced hunger because of lack of food. The study rural districts were unconnected to road networks; hence, 87.9% of the elderly and 20.4% of the women and girls had no access to food markets. Regarding the food utilization, 81.5% of the studied households had poor FCS; and the average HDDS and FCS for the study areas were 2.47 and 18.9, respectively. The prevalence of Global acute malnutrition, severe acute malnutrition (SAM), and moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) for 6-59 months of age children in the study areas were 50.3, 4.2, and 46.1%, respectively. More notably, the prevalence of SAM for children from the food-insecure households was 21.2%. The prevalence of MAM for pregnant and lactating women (PLW) in the study areas was 59.5. Further, the prevalence of Bitot's spot among 6-59 months of age children was 1.9%. On the other hand, all the rural households had anxiety about their future food demands. CONCLUSION: The rural households living in the studied areas were critically food-insecure. All the measurements implied that the food insecurity situation in the study areas was unacceptably worrisome and life-threatening. This calls for an instant action to avert the occurrence of famine and starvation in the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray region. Thus, interventions should primarily target the vulnerable rural people and need to be planned based on attaining food availability first rather than concurrently addressing all components of food security. Further, due emphasis should be given to diversifying livelihood strategies of the vulnerable villagers.

Alternative protein sources: science powered startups to fuel food innovation.

Harnessing the potential of considerable food security efforts requires the ability to translate them into commercial applications. This is particularly true for alternative protein sources and startups being on the forefront of innovation represent the latest advancements in this field.

Evolution of the spatiotemporal pattern of China's grain production in the past 20 years and its driving mechanism.

Food security is a goal and means of global sustainable development, and an important component of China's national security. Based on grain production data from 2000 to 2020, 31 provinces (cities, autonomous regions) in China were used as research units to analyze the spatiotemporal differences and driving forces of grain production in China using a combination of local correlation index, center of gravity transfer model, and geographic detector. The results as follows, ① During the research period, China's total grain production showed a decrease followed by an increase, and the yield per unit area of grain showed an increasing trend. Corn has become the "largest staple food" in China; ② During the research period, the focus of China's grain production continued to shift northward, with Heilongjiang, Henan and Shandong provinces becoming the main grain production areas, with Henan being the province where China's grain production center was located. Among the factors affecting grain yield, the effective irrigation area (0.971) has the strongest explanatory power. Finally, countermeasures and suggestions were proposed from five aspects, stabilizing grain production, reducing grain inventory pressure, implementing regional grain security responsibilities, improving grain circulation efficiency, promoting high-quality grain engineering construction, adjusting grain production structure, strictly implementing farmland protection responsibilities, scientifically applying pesticides, fertilizers and other production materials, emphasizing agricultural infrastructure construction and stabilizing the number of agricultural labor force.

Traditional food security and food sovereignty in the coastal region of South-Central Alaska.

A food assessment questionnaire was completed by Alutiiq and Eyak peoples of the Chugach Region of Alaska in 2016-2017. This questionnaire, conducted by the Chugach Regional Resource Commission, gathered 87 responses from adults residing in seven communities. The questions related to traditional food systems, food security, and food sovereignty and were organised into six sections: Community Food Resources, Diet and Health, Culture, Organisation and Governance, Food Resources, and Natural Resources and Environment. Nine questions directly addressed food sovereignty. Results revealed the importance of traditional food sources in the communities, foods that are not readily available or are difficult to access, resources that are useful to improve traditional food security, health problems that are perceived to be caused or exacerbated by the lack of traditional foods in the area, traditional foods commonly consumed, and barriers from accessing traditional foods. Additionally, recommendations for improving food systems and addressing barriers are provided.

Molecular Insight of Plants Response to Drought Stress: Perspectives and New Insights towards Food Security.

In the face of climate-induced challenges, understanding the intricate molecular mechanisms underlying drought tolerance in plants has become imperative [...].

Food Insecurity Is Associated with Diet Quality in Pregnancy: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Household food insecurity (HFI) and poorer prenatal diet quality are both associated with adverse perinatal outcomes. However, research assessing the relationship between HFI and diet quality in pregnancy is limited. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted to examine the relationship between HFI and diet quality among 1540 pregnant women in Australia. Multiple linear regression models were used to examine the associations between HFI severity (marginal, low, and very low food security compared to high food security) and diet quality and variety, adjusting for age, education, equivalised household income, and relationship status. Logistic regression models were used to assess the associations between HFI and the odds of meeting fruit and vegetable recommendations, adjusting for education. Marginal, low, and very low food security were associated with poorer prenatal diet quality (adj ß = -1.9, -3.6, and -5.3, respectively; p < 0.05), and very low food security was associated with a lower dietary variety (adj ß = -0.5, p < 0.001). An association was also observed between HFI and lower odds of meeting fruit (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.49-0.76, p < 0.001) and vegetable (AOR: 0.40, 95% CI: 0.19-0.84, p = 0.016) recommendations. Future research should seek to understand what policy and service system changes are required to reduce diet-related disparities in pregnancy.

Influence of Small-Scale Irrigation on Livelihoods of Rural Farm Households in the Case of Legehida District, Ethiopia.

Irrigation development, particularly small-scale irrigation, is one of the most important projects for improving agricultural productivity in a country's rural communities. The extent to which small-scale irrigation has improved household livelihoods in Ethiopia's rural areas is not widely recognized. As a result, research on the influence of small-scale irrigation on farmers' livelihoods in the Legehida district will be sought. The study took a "with" and "without" strategy, comparing farmers who used irrigation against those who did not. For analysis, both quantitative and qualitative data were employed. The survey's respondents were chosen using a random sample approach from both irrigation users and nonuser households. Quantitative data for the study were collected from randomly selected 241 farm households, of which 113 were users and 128 were nonusers, using a semistructured questionnaire. Accordingly, the propensity score matching model was employed to examine the impacts of small-scale irrigation on farmers' livelihoods. The logit model result indicates that cultivated land size, off-farm income, education level, family size, dependency ratio, total livestock unit, and distance to the nearest agricultural extension office/FTC are determinant factors in determining whether to practice irrigation when other factors remain constant. The impact of irrigation on a household's income and food security (in terms of daily calorie intake) was evaluated using a propensity score matching model. The result shows that a positive and significant impact on farmers who use small-scale irrigation has increased the daily calorie intake and annual income of households by 244.162 kilocalories and 5234.258 ETB, respectively, as compared to nonirrigation users. This shows that households that participate in small-scale irrigation activities have a higher annual income and food security status than comparable groups. In general, the study recommends that to reduce food insecurity and the socioeconomic problems of rural households, irrigation farming is one of the viable solutions; therefore, the government and nongovernmental organizations should extensively focus on the enhancement of small-scale irrigation infrastructure, policies, strategies, and extension services to increase productivity, income, and livelihood improvement in rural households.

Differing Within-Household Food Security Statuses Are Associated with Varied Maternal Mental Health Outcomes.

Household food insecurity is not necessarily equally experienced by all household members, with mothers often changing their intake first when food resources are limited. The purpose of this study was to understand the association between maternal mental health and intrahousehold differences in food security statuses. A cross-sectional survey was administered to Virginia mothers with low income (August-October 2021), assessing validated measures of food security, mental and physical health and related factors. Participants (n = 570) were grouped according to the food security status of adults and children within the household. Linear regression was used to assess the outcomes of interest by group and controlled for key demographic variables. Mothers in households with any food insecurity reported worse overall mental health and used 3-4 more food coping strategies than households experiencing food security (p < 0.05). Only mothers in households where adults experienced food insecurity reported significantly greater anxiety and depressive symptoms (61.5 and 58.1, respectively) compared to households experiencing food security (55.7 and 52.4, p < 0.001). While any experience of household food insecurity is associated with worse maternal mental health, there were differences by the within-household food security status. Future research should explore screening measures that capture specific household members' food security to connect households with available resources.

Unlocking gender dynamics in food and nutrition security in Ghana: assessing dietary diversity, food security, and crop diversification among cocoa household heads in the Juaboso-Bia cocoa landscape.

BACKGROUND: Malnutrition is a worldwide problem that impacts every country, affecting one in three individuals, including Ghana. According to estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 690 million people were undernourished globally in 2019. Malnutrition is no exception in rural cocoa communities in Ghana. The expansion of cocoa is causing food insecurity and low dietary diversity in most cocoa-growing areas. There is little information on the food security status and dietary diversity among male-headed and female-headed cocoa households in the Juaboso-Bia cocoa landscape. Thus, this study sought to explore the dietary diversity distribution, food security status, sources of staple food, food unavailability periods, food production status, themes contributing to low dietary diversity and food insecurity, and perception of the impact of cocoa expansion on crop diversification among male-headed and female-headed cocoa households in the study area. METHODS: Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed to address the research questions. The study collected 200 semi-structured questionnaire data and 14 in-depth interview data from cocoa household heads in the Juaboso-Bia landscape. The survey data was cleaned and analysis, such as household dietary diversity status, food security status, and binary logistic regression were performed in the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS). The in-depth interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Through this study, it was revealed that 62.8% of the male-headed cocoa households had medium to high dietary diversity compared to their female counterparts 39.3%. About 47.9% of the male-headed households were food secure than the female-headed households (29.1%). Moreover, the months that both male and female-headed households recalled facing severe food unavailability were July and June. In addition, climate change/variability, unavailable lands, poverty, large household size, and gender stereotypes were themes promoting low dietary diversity and food insecurity among male and female-headed households. Furthermore, sex, total household income, and cropland conversion to cocoa were the variables influencing household heads' perception of the impact of cocoa expansion on crop diversification. CONCLUSIONS: The study showed that the male-headed cocoa households had high dietary diversity and were food secure than the female-headed cocoa households, lending credence to the conceptual framework applied in this study. There is a significant relationship between household head gender and food security status. Therefore, this study recommends the following interventions to improve dietary diversity and food security among male and female-headed cocoa households: raise awareness about the need for diverse diets and provide practical information on how to incorporate a greater variety of food groups into their daily meals; and promote gender equity and inclusivity in food security interventions. Future research could investigate how gender mainstreaming policies in agriculture have helped empower and improve the food security of female-headed households in Ghana.