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This study aims to examine consumer involvement with nutrition labels in the USA. Although food label information including nutrition, size and color are standardized and mandated by Food and Drug Administration, consumers perceive some food labels more confusing than others and many ignore the information by seeing them as unimportant. This study measures the importance of different nutrients and examines the differences between consumers that read nutrition labels and consumers that do not read nutrition labels.

In total, 300 consumers were surveyed using Qualtrics internet panel about the importance of nutrition information on food labels. Importance of food nutrients and food serving, size as they impact consumer involvement with food labels, was measured using structural equation modeling.

The results indicate perceived risk associated with nutrition labels, and food serving size information impacts consumer involvement with nutrition labels.

There are a variety of important public policy implications for government agencies and food manufacturers in educating the public about the use of nutrition information on food labels.

This study expands previous research by adding three more nutrients to the dietary scale from nutrition labels (sodium, cholesterol and carbohydrates) and focuses mainly on the nutrients that are considered to be negative for most people.

This study aims to examine the relationship between neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), handgrip strength (HGS) and nutritional status in non-critically ill patients and outpatients.

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 80 geriatric patients. Nutritional status was evaluated using the Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form, Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index, some anthropometric and biochemical parameters. NLR was calculated from the complete blood count results. Data were analyzed using SPSS 24.0.

While 38.3% of patients were malnourished or at risk of malnutrition, 61.7% had normal nutritional status. Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form was not correlated with NLR, whereas it showed a weak positive correlation with HGS. According to the logistic regression analysis, age, HGS, hemoglobin and platelet to lymphocyte ratio were significant independent factors for predicting malnutrition or risk of malnutrition. The receiver operator characteristic curve analysis showed that the optimum HGS cut-off point for patients with malnourished or at risk of malnutrition was 13.2. In conclusion, HGS was associated with the nutritional status. NLR was not associated with nutritional status but associated with nutritional risk.

It is well known that malnutrition is a serious health problem among older adults, and it is important to assess the nutritional status of older adults because of the adverse health effects. In addition, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to determine the relationship between NLR, HGS and nutritional status in non-critically ill patients and outpatients.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the usefulness of nutrition labels in Thailand during nutrition transition from traditional to modern diets that increase salt, sugar, and calorie intake and to note socio-demographic interactions and associations with consumption of transitional processed foods.

The authors studied 42,750 distance learning Open University adults aged 23-96 years in 2013 residing nationwide and participating in an ongoing community-based prospective cohort study. The authors used multivariable logistic regression to relate nutrition label experiences (“read”, “good understand”, “frequent use”), socio-demographic factors, and consumption of four transitional foods. These foods included “unhealthy” instant foods, carbonated soft drinks, and sweet drinks, or “healthy” milk.

Overall, two-thirds reported good understanding and frequent use of nutrition labels. Unhealthy transition-indicator processed foods were frequently consumed: instant foods (7 per cent), (carbonated) soft drinks (15 per cent), and sweet drinks (41 per cent). Frequent users of nutrition labels (e.g. females, older persons, professionals) were less likely to consume unhealthy indicator foods. Those with the most positive overall nutrition label experience (“read” + “good understanding” + “frequent use”) had the best indicator food profiles: instant foods (odds ratio (OR) 0.63; 95%CI, 0.56-0.70); soft drinks (OR 0.56; 95%CI, 0.52-0.61); sweet drinks (OR 0.79; 95%CI, 0.74-0.85); milk (OR 1.87; 95%CI, 1.74-2.00).

Knowledge protected – those with most nutrition label experience were least likely to consume unhealthy foods. Results support government regulated nutrition labels, expanding to include sweet drinks. The study is remarkable for its large size and nationwide footprint. Study subjects were educated, represent Thais of the future, and show high awareness of transition-indicator foods.

This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of nutrition interventions conducted in pregnant adolescents and their implications for future research.

The papers in this systematic study were searched through PubMed, PMC, the Cochrane Library (Trial), ScienceDirect and Google Scholar that were published from 2000 to 2019. An experimental study using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) or non-RCT among pregnant adolescents aged 10-19 years were inclusion criteria for this study. While exclusion criteria were studies published before 2000, non-experimental study and non-English-language studies.

A total of 14 studies were identified in this review. Six studies provided interventions in the form of nutrition and health education and seven studies provided interventions in the form of nutritional supplementation (calcium, vitamin D, iron-folate, lipid-based nutrient supplements and multi-micronutrient powder. One study provided dietary intervention. The interventions in pregnant adolescents in the form of education and nutritional supplementation effectively increased the knowledge and nutrition of pregnant adolescents and decreased low birth weight (LBW) and premature birth. The impact on birth outcomes was still quite diverse. Some of the studies in this review were conducted without a comparison group, a small sample size and conducted in health-care facilities.

This systematic review implies a future nutrition intervention for pregnant adolescents is needed to improve nutritional status of pregnant adolescents and birth outcome. Future research using double blind RCT method with bigger sample size and various nutritional outcome are wide open to be developed.

Interventions in pregnant adolescents effectively increased the knowledge and nutrition of pregnant adolescents and decreased LBW and premature birth. The program implementation in the community needs to be improved so that the effectiveness of the program remains optimal as in healthcare facilities.

The purpose of this paper is to present findings from research into food insecurity amongst older people aged 50 years and older in the UK.

This paper uses secondary analysis of national-level survey data and semi-structured interviews with older people receiving emergency food from foodbanks.

There is a forgotten care gap in the UK where a substantial number of older people are living in food insecurity. Many older people live alone and in poverty, and increasing numbers are constrained in their spending on food and are skipping meals. Food insecurity amongst older people can be hidden. Within families a number of older people were trying to ensure that their children and grandchildren had enough to eat, but were reluctant to ask for help themselves.

The broad categorisation of older people aged 50 and above comprises people in very different circumstances. The qualitative component of the research was undertaken across various sites in a single city in England. Despite these limitations, the analysis provides important insights into the experiences of the many older people enduring food insecurity.

An increased public and professional awareness of food insecurity amongst older people is needed. Increased routine screening for under-nutrition risk is a priority. Policy initiatives are needed that are multifaceted and which support older people across a range of age groups, particularly those living alone.

Food insecurity amongst older people in the UK raises questions about the present policy approach and the responsibilities of the government.

The research provides important new insights into the experiences of the many older people experiencing food insecurity in the UK by drawing on survey data and interviews with older people using foodbanks.

Food fortification with common kitchen ingredients has been suggested to improve nutritional intake. The purpose of this paper was to systematically review the efficacy of food fortification on calorie and protein intake among older adults.

A systematic search was conducted using Boolean search logic and seven research databases to identify interventions using fortified foods to increase calorie and protein intake among older adults. Ten studies published in English since 1996 were eligible for inclusion. Study quality was evaluated using an adapted Modified Jadad Questionnaire.

Food fortification was associated with increased calorie intake in eight studies, increased protein intake in five studies, and increased body weight in three studies. However, studies were limited by lack of rigor in methodology and small sample sizes.

Food fortification may improve calorie and protein intake, but results are limited by study weaknesses. Additionally, it is unclear whether improved intake results in improved clinical outcomes.

With the growing interest in behavioral health and medical decision-making, this systematic integrative review aims to understand research on cognitive biases in the context of consumer health information seeking and where future research opportunities may reside.

Following a systematic review protocol, 40 empirical research articles, out of 1,127 journal research papers from 12 academic databases, from 1995 to 2019, are included for review.

The study of cognitive biases in consumer health information seeking is a nascent and fast-growing phenomenon, with variety in publication venues and research methods. Among the 16 biases investigated, optimistic bias and confirmation bias have attracted most attention (46.9%). Researchers are most interested in specific disease/illness (35%) and the health factors of consumer products (17.5%). For theoretical presence, about one-third of the reviewed articles have cited behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman, although most of the references are the early works of Kahneman.

As an emerging research area, there exists plenty of cognitive biases to be investigated in the context of health information seeking. In the meantime, the adoption of more recent theoretical insights such as nudge for debiasing may enrich this research area. Health communication scientists may find incorporating the behavioral decision research framework enriches the disciplinary inquiry of health information seeking, while information scientists could use it to commence the cognitive turn of information science evolution.

Through evidence-based understanding, this review shows the potential research directions that health communication scientists and information scientists could contribute to optimize health decisions through the adoption of behavioral decision research framework.

Despite its perceived benefits, organic food has very limited uptake in the consumer market. Many studies have investigated the causes of this slow adoption, but limited attention has been paid to the ethical motives of consumer preference for organic food. Also, no research has addressed this issue through an unobtrusive data collection method. Therefore, this netnography-based qualitative study explores the deontological and teleological ethical motives for organic food consumption through the lens of Hunt and Vitell's general theory of marketing ethics.

User-generated content in the form of posts and comments from a food-related Facebook page, Food Matters (https://www.facebook.com/foodmatters), with over 2.3m followers, was thematically analysed using Hunt and Vitell's general theory of marketing ethics. Over 1.5m posts and comments were mined through Facepager 4.0.4 after due approvals. Organic-food-related content was manually screened. Netnography, an Internet-based ethnography technique which is a relatively underutilised and unobtrusive method of data collection, was employed on selected content to understand the consumer behaviour towards organic food in an online environment.

This study analysed a total of 158,583 posts and comments generated between March 2008 and December 2019. Out of these, 2,243 posts and comments were focussed on organic food. A total of seven themes emerged out of which six were found to be inextricably linked to ethical values of organic food consumption; three deontological (moral obligations, moral accountability and moral outrage) and two teleological (perceived risk and perceived benefits) themes. However, the seventh theme, consumers' lack of trust in organic food retailers, emerged as a major barrier in the proliferation of organic food.

This study is the first application of Hunt and Vitell's general theory of marketing ethics in organic food. The novel findings are that trust is a bigger issue than the price differential of organic food. Implications for marketers, policymakers, retailers and certification bodies are discussed to extend the current knowledge of motives and barriers to organic food.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the correlation among health outcomes, and civil and political rights (CPR) and also economic, social and cultural rights.

The study uses cross-sectional data from 161 countries. The authors use health outcomes and human rights variables in the model. In order to combine dimensions of human rights, this paper uses factor analysis and obtains proxy variables that measure economic, social and cultural rights and CPR. The two proxy variables are used as independent variables to explain variations in health in a regression model. The paper then classifies countries by cluster analysis and explores the patterns of different components of human rights and health outcomes across country clusters.

The regression model demonstrates that the economic, social and cultural rights variables explain variations in all health outcomes. The relationship between CPR and health is weaker than that of the economic, social and cultural rights. Cluster analysis further reveals that despite the country’s commitment to CPR, those that highly respect economic, social and cultural rights lead to superior health outcomes. The more respect a country has for economic, social and cultural rights, the better the health outcomes for the citizens of that country.

National policies should consider equal emphasis on all dimensions of human rights for further improvements in health.

The sole promotion of CPR such as democracy and empowerment, absence of adequate support of economic, social and cultural rights such as rights to housing, education, food and work can only contribute partially to health.

Comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) is a widely used approach in geriatric care and involves multidisciplinary assessments focused on determining a frail elderly person’s medical, psychological and functional capability to develop an integrated plan for treatment. The purpose of this paper is to describe and scrutinize the CGA implementation process at six acute geriatric departments in three county councils and to study the outcome by the documentation in the patient medical records, and the staff perceptions using CGA.

The paper describes the implementation process stages. Outcome measures were based on patient medical records reviews at baseline and follow-ups at year 1 and year 2. Staff perceptions of using CGA were gathered by a questionnaire at the second follow-up.

The implementation had not yet reached sustainability so the implementation process must continue. Results show that documentation on the different areas increased in year 1, as well as the use of standardized assessment tools. However, results from the reviews for year 2 showed some decrease. Staff considered CGA to have high value for the geriatric patient but pointed out the need for continuing education.

Successful strategies for this implementation were strong support from the managers, small seminars, CGA rounds, good introduction routines for new staff and the use of reminders such as pocket-sized focus cards. A high staff turnover occurred during the study, which probably had a significant negative impact on the results.