Editorial

Citation

Blades, M. (2012), "Editorial", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 42 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2012.01742baa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Nutrition & Food Science, Volume 42, Issue 2

Includes British Dietetic Association information on the “Food Counts” update and BAPEN conference information

Nutrition is an extremely fast moving science and recently I was asked to update some training material from only a few years ago yet in that time so much has changed. Even well utilised items like the eatwell plate have been updated and the Food Standards Agency now focuses on food safety rather than including nutrition as it did before.

The Care Quality Commission has implemented nutritional standards plus the National Association of Care Catering (NACC) has updated their nutritional standards and are looking at taking these further.

As already discussed in my editorial for the Nutrition and Food Science Volume 41 Number 5 the specialist group of the British Dietetic Association called “Food Counts” have been working hard at updating their toolkit “delivering nutritional care through food and beverage services”. This has been warmly welcomed by other groups involved in food services such as the NACC, Hospital Caterers Association, WRVS and Age UK. This standard is likely to be published early in 2012 with an updated name.

Nutritional care of older people and the problems they face of sarcopaenia, was covered in a paper at the British Association of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN) at Harrogate in November 2011. Various strategies were discussed for this important topic and others.

At the Nutrition and Health Conference held also in November 2011 at Olympia in London there was and excellent update on all topics related to nutrition and diet.

This issue of Nutrition and Food Science contains a selection of papers on:

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  There is increasing interest in soya and heart disease and this paper from Brazil provides interesting information on how Soybean Glycin increases HDL cholesterol which is the good or protective type of cholesterol found in the blood.

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  Synbiotic effects of how konjac glucomannan hydrolysates and Lactobacilli in combinations reduce both Staphlococcus aureus and Salmonella typhimurium provides data on how they inhibit the growth of these pathogenic bacteria. This provides useful alternatives to reduce infections which are commonly found especially from foods.

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  Dietary intakes and anthropometric indicies of adults from Cyprus provides a first study on this subject which will provide a basis for further research.

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  A number of religions include fasting as part of their beliefs. Religious fasting is particularly common among Muslims. While many people feel fasting is beneficial to health there are few studies on this which makes this study on religious fasting and the improvement of hyperlipidaemia an interesting study.

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  Foods containing antioxidants are known to be protective in the body. Research on the antioxidant profile of various fruits and vegetables often leads to new so-called “super foods” being named. This paper on “Antioxidant activity and phytochemical profile in native plants from India” adds to that body of research.

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  In the developed world there is a plethora of different foods for infants so one should not forget the importance of simple foods such as maize, nuts and crayfish mixes in complementing the diet of infants. This paper from Nigeria on the “Nutritional evaluation of complementary foods developed from plant and animal proteins” provides important information. One aspect of the paper I found fascinating was the term “Baby Led Weaning” (this is the process of weaning where a baby self feeds from almost the beginning of the weaning process) which appears to be familiar process in Nigeria but here in the UK is being seen as quite an innovative method of weaning a child of about six months of age.

Mabel Blades