Package Information Used by Older Adults to Identify Whole Grain Foods.

A structured interview protocol was used to investigate the ability of older adults (n = 89, age ≥ 65 years) to accurately determine whether three common food items were whole grain, and to assess the package information used in their decision process. Cereal and crackers, which were both whole grain products, were correctly identified by 63% and 66% of participants, respectively. Bread (a refined product), was correctly identified by only 19% of participants, while 46% of participants misidentified the bread as being whole grain. The ingredient list was the information most frequently cited in deciding if a food was whole grain, but participants varied in their ability to accurately interpret it. Package information considered nonpertinent (e.g., the Nutrition Facts label) in identifying a whole grain product was used almost as often as the ingredient list. Older adults would benefit from whole grain education programs that focus on accurately interpreting package information.

Exchangeable zinc pool size at birth is smaller in small-for-gestational-age than in appropriate-for-gestational-age preterm infants.

BACKGROUND: Small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants are susceptible to postnatal zinc deficiency, but whether this susceptibility is due to intrauterine factors or to high postnatal growth requirements is unknown. OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that the size of the exchangeable zinc pool (EZP), which reflects metabolically available zinc, would be smaller in SGA than in appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) infants born prematurely. DESIGN: Intravenous 70Zn (45 microg/kg) was administered to 10 SGA infants (8 boys) with a mean (+/-SD) gestational age of 33.3 +/- 1.8 wk and to 11 AGA infants (8 boys) with a mean (+/-SD) gestational age of 32.4 +/- 1.2 wk within 24 h of birth. The EZP was determined from isotope enrichment in spot urine collections on days 3-7. RESULTS: The mean birth weight of the SGA infants was 1.30 +/- 0.2 kg and of the AGA infants was 1.84 +/- 0.3 kg (P = 0.0001). The EZP size was significantly smaller in the SGA than in the AGA infants on an absolute basis (13.3 +/- 2.8 and 25.2 +/- 8.1 mg; P = 0.0002) and relative to body weight (10.3 +/- 2.5 and 13.9 +/- 4.5 mg/kg; P = 0.02). The difference remained significant after adjustment for gestational age and birth weight. CONCLUSION: These data provide evidence for differential zinc status at birth between SGA and AGA infants born prematurely at similar stages of gestation and offer at least a partial explanation for the reported benefits of postnatal zinc supplementation.