The potential contribution of house crickets to the dietary zinc content and nutrient adequacy in young Kenyan children: a linear programming analysis using Optifood.

Zn deficiency arising from inadequate dietary intake of bioavailable Zn is common in children in developing countries. Because house crickets are a rich source of Zn, their consumption could be an effective public health measure to combat Zn deficiency. This study used Optifood, a tool based on linear programming analysis, to develop food-based dietary recommendations (FBR) and predict whether dietary house crickets can improve both Zn and overall nutrient adequacy of children's diets. Two quantitative, multi-pass 24-h recalls from forty-seven children aged 2 and 3 years residing in rural Kenya were collected and used to derive model parameters, including a list of commonly consumed foods, median serving sizes and frequency of consumption. Two scenarios were modelled: (i) FBR based on local available foods and (ii) FBR based on local available foods with house crickets. Results revealed that Zn would cease to be a problem nutrient when including house crickets to children's diets (population reference intake coverage for Zn increased from 89 % to 121 % in the best-case scenario). FBR based on both scenarios could ensure nutrient adequacy for all nutrients except for fat, but energy percentage (E%) for fat was higher when house crickets were included in the diet (23 E% v. 19 E%). This manoeuvre, combined with realistic changes in dietary practices, could therefore improve dietary Zn content and ensure adequacy for twelve nutrients for Kenyan children. Further research is needed to render these theoretical recommendations, practical.

Impact of nutrition education on nutritional knowledge and intentions towards nutritional counselling in Dutch medical students: an intervention study.

OBJECTIVE: Management of diet-related chronic diseases may benefit from improved nutrition education of medical students. This study aims to investigate the effects of a nutrition education course on nutritional knowledge and intentions towards nutritional counselling in Dutch medical students. DESIGN: This is a pre-post intervention study with a comparison group. Participants completed self-reported questionnaires on nutritional knowledge and intentions towards nutritional counselling. PARTICIPANTS: In total, 118 medical students (64.4% undergraduate, 73.2% women) were recruited from two medical schools in the Netherlands (n=66 intervention group, n=52 comparison group). INTERVENTION: The intervention group completed a 25-hour course in nutritional counselling (the Students Experienced in Lifestyle and Food (SELF) course) in addition to the standard medical curriculum. The comparison group followed the standard medical curriculum. OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-reported nutritional knowledge and intentions towards nutritional counselling, including attitude, self-efficacy and social support. RESULTS: Nutritional knowledge (B: 2.42, 95% CI 1.81 to 3.02), attitude in men (B: 0.50, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.87) and self-efficacy (B: 0.78, 95% CI 0.62 to 0.95) significantly increased in the intervention group compared with the comparison group. No significant differences were found for social support (B: 0.20, 95% CI -0.02 to 0.43) and attitude in women (B: 0.08, 95% CI -0.24 to 0.31) between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: The SELF course increased medical students' nutritional knowledge and stimulated their intentions towards nutritional counselling. Future research is needed to evaluate the long-term impact of nutrition education interventions on physician practice patterns and patient outcomes.