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This study explored how Brazilian young adults who cook interact with cooking-related content on social media and how such content fits their cooking routine.

Semi-structured interviews (n = 31) were transcribed, inductively and reflexively thematic analysed.

Interactions happened both in recreational and intentional ways, which coexisted and alternated depending on participants' motives and schedules. Recreational interactions such as browsing and saving happened more for self-entertainment and to some participants, to help meal planning and food shopping. Intentional interactions such as searching and sharing happened to fulfil specific needs which arised on cooking occasions, leading to agency development. Young adults who self-identified as being less experienced in cooking reported checking and comparing many recipes, as well as relying on video features to improve skills and develop self-efficacy. Despite showing agency in cooking-related matters, participants perceived lack of time to cook as an important barrier to cooking more. Intentional interactions with cooking content were linked to more established cooking routines, indicating the importance of social media to young adults' development of self-efficacy and improvement of skills.

The use of social media to search for cooking-related content is recommended by Brazilian dietary guidelines to develop cooking and food skills, but research on if and how the interaction occurs, and the resulting knowledge is put into practice, is scarce. This study addressed this gap and proposed practical implications to inform the development of interventions employing social media to improve young adults' cooking skills and health.

Qualitatively ascertain perceptions of parents regarding their children's influence on family food purchases. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Content analysis of the transcripts of 31 semi-structured interviews conducted with parents of students from public and private institutions in Brazil. The public school provided meals supplied by the National School Feeding Program, and discouraged the consumption of foods brought from home. The private school did not receive any governmental subsidies for school feeding, and students were responsible for bringing their own school snacks.

Parents perceived children's influence especially of energy-dense nutrient-poor food purchases. Parents from the public school students, with lower income and educational levels, showed greater concern with quality and frequency with which requested foods were made available to the child. Only the parents from the private school students mentioned perceiving peer influence over their children's requests.

Results enabled an overview of the main factors that influence children's purchase requests as perceived by parents. School environment seemed to influence requests, reinforcing the need for strategies similar to those present in the public school to be employed in private schools, where government programs that encourage healthy eating are not in place.

Qualitative study conducted with parents of Brazilian school children found that those with lower income and educational level were actually more concerned about their children's eating habits and perceived less peer influence over their children's requests for foods. Initiatives in the public school environment that effectively reduced access to certain kinds of foods in favor of healthier food choices reinforced the school's role as a health promoter for students and also their families.

A gluten-free diet is the only possible treatment for coeliac disease, but studies about the nutritional content of gluten-free products and coeliac individual's diet quality are scarce. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the availability, price, and nutritional composition of gluten-free products in retail stores of a Brazilian capital city.

All retail stores listed by the Brazilian Coeliac Association as gluten-free product selling places in the city of Florianópolis were visited. All available products were catalogued and their labels analysed for nutritional content. Similar gluten-containing products were systematically selected in order to allow comparisons. t-test, analyses of covariance, and cluster analysis were performed, all considering a 5 per cent significance level.

Availability and variety of gluten-free products was limited and prices were high. Cluster analysis found similarities in the nutritional content of gluten-free and conventional food products, suggesting that although raw materials different than wheat were being employed, the composition patterns are the same. Certain advantages in the composition of gluten-free products were observed, regarding mainly calories and sodium, however, protein and dietary fibre values were inferior.

Results observed may negatively impact diet adherence and stimulate the intake of conventional products with harmful consequences to the quality of life and health of coeliac individuals.

This paper conducted a careful evaluation of nutrition composition of gluten-free products from different categories, available in retail stores, which is rare in researches on this topic. Moreover, results call attention to the need of better care in product formulation and dietary guidance for coeliac individuals.

The purpose of the paper is to determine the effects of a hypocaloric diet with a low-glycaemic index (GI) on weight loss and postprandial blood glucose and assess both the satiety and palatability of the diet.

A clinical trial was conducted with ten women (mean age: 38.8±11.3 years; body mass index: 27.2±3.5 kg/m2) submitted to a hypocaloric diet, assessments were performed at baseline and after seven days of treatment.

Significant reductions were found in body weight (1.1±0.7 kg; p=0.001), triccipital skinfold (2.87±3.24 mm; p=0.021) and waist circumference (3.6±4.8 cm; p=0.041). Mean fasting and postprandial blood glucose values were 88.7±6.1 mg/dL and 91.6±9.6 mg/dL, respectively. Responses regarding satiety and palatability of the low-GI diet were predominantly “extremely satisfied” and “I liked it very much,” respectively, for all meals and throughout all seven days of the study.

The present study demonstrated the benefits of a low-GI diet with regard to weight loss, blood glucose control and satiety. The diet proved to be palatable, which could favor compliance with long-term treatment.