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Cottage is a protein-rich food which is commonly consumed by people targeting weight reduction and athletes willing to eat whole-food instead of protein supplements. Yet out of common knowledge, the scientific community lacks solid evidences of the effect of the inclusion of cottage cheese in a diet. The purpose of this paper is to assess the evidences from scientific literature of the impact of inclusion of cottage cheese in a diet.

PubMed and Web of Science were searched for scientific literature dealing with “cottage cheese” and “diet.” There was no restriction regarding the type article type, date nor journal it is published in. References found to during the analysis of the articles extracted from database were also included. Studies search, screening and eligibility analysis were led in parallel by two independent reviewers.

This survey shows that cottage cheese is a good source of calcium (with 83 mg/100 g) – but not low fat cottage cheese because of its low vitamin S content (p < 0.001) –, a source of probiotic (1 serving providing the recommended dietary intake), a source of high quality proteins, reduces postprandial blood glucose level – healthy and type II diabetes subjects – (p < 0.05), is not linked to increased cardiovascular diseases nor cancer risks (p < 0.05).

Based on the findings reported in this review, the inclusion of cottage cheese in a diet can be advised for: women to build up calcium storage to fight osteoporosis; more generally calcium/vitamin D deficient subjects; athletes willing to increase their high-quality proteins intake through whole food consumption; dieters looking for low energy, high protein, high satiety food; untreated type II diabetes patients by reducing postprandial glucose level.

Several cross‐sectional studies reported that breakfast skipping and a poor consumption of fruits and vegetables are associated with overweight and obesity‐related morbidities. In this respect healthy eating habits such as regular breakfast and a sufficient intake of fruit and vegetables are two important items to prevent childhood and adolescent obesity. The purpose of this study is to determine the breakfast frequency and the fruit and vegetable consumption in Belgian adolescents.

A cross‐sectional study using pupils contacted by nurses in schools during an information session about female hygiene. On that occasion all pupils (boys and girls) completed a questionnaire concerning their eating habits. Subjects were boys (n = 1390) and girls (n = 3610) between 12 and 15 years of age from the main three educational programmes (general, technical and occupational programme).

Socio‐economic status significantly influenced breakfast frequency with differences between the highest educational programme (general) and the lower technical‐ and occupational programmes. The use of daily breakfast was respectively 67 versus 49 and 48 per cent for the boys and 60 versus 42 and 39 per cent for the girls). For both sexes breakfast frequency decreased when comparing age groups from 12 with 15 years of age respectively from 67 to 55 per cent for the boys and from 61 to 47 per cent for the girls. Half of the subjects who declared to have overweight (self‐image) did not take breakfast at a regular base. Twenty six per cent of the boys of the French speaking part and 19 per cent of the boys of the Flemish speaking part of Belgium declared to take only one or less than one portion of fruit and/or vegetables a day. For the girls the reported intake of one or less than one portion of fruit and/or vegetables was respectively 20 and 16 per cent. Only 13 per cent of the French speaking boys and 10 per cent of the Flemish speaking boys reported an intake of four or more fruits and/or vegetables a day. The percentage of girls reaching an intake of four or more a day was 15 per cent for the two language regions. Fruit and/or vegetable intake was influenced significantly by the educational programme and by the educational level of the mother. In conclusion, healthy eating habits among girls and boys in Belgium (as estimated by breakfast frequency and fruit and/or vegetable intake) are rather poor. These habits are influenced by age, educational programme, self‐image and educational level of the mother.

In the light of these findings action should be taken to improve the eating habits among Belgian children to prevent childhood obesity.

Consumption of breakfast is often associated with important health‐related behaviours. For example, skipping breakfast is related to obesity and eating breakfast is also correlated to cognitive, behavioural, and affective components. The purpose of this paper is to review the breakfast eating literature, and investigate the circumstances under which people consume breakfast, what is actually being consumed, and how much breakfast is eaten therefore.

This systematic review summarises the results from 24 studies which focus on who is eating what, where, and with whom.

All 24 of the included studies are of a self‐report nature, from which nine were analysed from second‐hand survey data. Sample sizes vary from 100 to a total of 35,119 with a reported participants' age range from two years old to 70 years of age. Ready‐to‐eat cereal and dairy foods are the most commonly consumed breakfast items across the studies. Between 1.7 and 30 per cent of participants are found to skip breakfast and approximately one‐quarter of the studies report that those with lower socio‐economic status, non‐whites, and females were the groups more likely to omit breakfast.

The evidence provided in this review suggests that there is still considerable variation in studies into breakfast consumption. This has implications for future research into breakfast eating if interventions are based on these studies.

There are very few systematic reviews detailing the quality, context, and content of breakfast consumption and the lack of consistency in the results show the need for further research to be conducted to find a degree of consistency in how breakfast should be defined and measured.

Drawing on a representative survey, this paper aims to identify the determinants of functional food consumption in Croatia. The objective is to introduce and test a conceptual model that four sets of factors (food choice motivations, demographic and socio-economic characteristics, knowledge of functional food and health status) underpin variations in functional food consumption.

Data were collected via face-to-face interviews conducted in respondents' homes. Consumption of functional foods is modelled as a bootstrapped ordered probit model.

Results confirm the significant influence of all four sets of factors for explaining variations in functional food consumption. Heavier users of functional food are those that place a greater weighting on health and convenience in food choice. In contrast, the salience of familiarity in food choice is negatively related with functional food consumption. Females and those with higher levels of educational attainment are heavier consumers of functional food. While perceived health status appears not to have any significant relationship with functional food consumption, there is a link with body mass index. Functional foods appeal most to those concerned about their health and desire convenient, “quick fixes”. Such “quick fixes” may however be employed at the expense of more fundamental adjustments to diet and fitness, which may provide the basis for superior overall disease prevention/health promotion.

The study represents one of the first assessments of functional food consumption in Central and Eastern Europe, introducing and testing a comprehensive conceptual model.

It is the aim of the present paper to describe the nutritional intake, the physical performance capacity and certain anthropometric variables of a group of schoolchildren (n=297) aged seven to 12 years. The findings on this population may be used to give advice in specific marketing situations.

The subjects were asked to complete a three‐day food diary. During a school visit body weight, stature and skinfold thicknesses were measured. Physical fitness was assessed using items of the Eurofit test battery. Data analysis was carried out as a function of sex and age groups.

The study finds that 77 per cent of all subjects had a caloric intake below the recommended daily allowance (RDA), while 23 per cent had an intake above the RDA. Macronutrient analysis showed for all groups a low carbohydrate intake, a high fat intake, whilst protein intake was just near the upper limit of the RDA. Flexibility, explosive leg strength, abdominal dynamic muscular endurance and cardiovascular endurance were significantly lower when comparing these data with data of the 1990s. Significant correlations were found between the BMI values and the sum of skinfolds.

The relations between behavioural characteristics of this age group and adaptations of dysfunctional behaviour, as well as consequences for later life, need to be further established.

Combining the promotion of healthy nutritional and physical activity habits is an appropriate and ethical way to improve the health and fitness status of young consumers. Products may only be linked with health if there is sufficient evidence that the normal use will lead to the pretended health advantages. The interaction with behavioural changes may result in a marketing advantage if the health implications are properly stated.

The paper demonstrated that, at a very young age, nutritional and physical activity habits in the self‐selected population were rather poor.

The purpose of this paper is to describe health‐related factors and behaviors associated with soy consumption and to present a better identification of a soy consumer's profile at meso‐level.

A total of 104 women and 49 men, 22‐77 years old and employed at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, participated in the study. A physical activity questionnaire and a food frequency questionnaire were administered. Body height, weight, waist and hip circumferences, body fat percentage (2‐pole BIA), blood glucose and total blood cholesterol were measured in a fasting state.

Compared with the general population, the sample showed healthier eating habits (breakfast frequency, fruit and vegetable consumption) and lower prevalence of smoking. Women regularly consuming soy had lower waist circumference, body fat percentage and total cholesterol levels than infrequent soy consumers. Men consuming soy foods regularly participated significantly more in high‐intensity physical activities and consumed less meat, poultry and fish.

Owing to recruitment in a university setting, a healthy volunteer effect and socio‐economic bias may exist. Therefore, generalization of the results is not possible and interpretation of the results must be performed with the utmost caution.

It can be concluded that, especially in men, soy consumption fits in a healthy lifestyle.

Regular soy‐consuming women differed from infrequent soy‐consuming women on anthropometrics and cholesterol, while regular consuming men differed behaviorally from infrequent soy‐consuming men. Overall, regular soy consumers were generally more health‐conscious and had better health outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse differences in sociodemographic and sporting characteristics, health-behaviours, and food intake of athletes using and not using nutritional supplements (NS).

High-performance Portuguese athletes from 13 sports completed a NS usage questionnaire, assessing information on sociodemographic (sex, age, height, weight, athlete’s, and parental education level), health-related (smoking, daily time of sleeping, walking, and sitting), and sporting (type, number of international performances, weekly hours of training and weekly hours of gym) characteristics; and a semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire (86 items), regarding the previous 12 months.

From the 241 athletes (66 per cent males, 13-37 years), 64 per cent reported NS use. Supplement usage was associated with age 18 years (odds ratio (OR) 2.57, 95 per cent; confidence interval (CI) 1.17-5.65), performing individual sports (OR 5.45, 95 per cent; CI 2.49-11.93) and > 2 h gym/week (OR 2.42, 95 per cent; CI 1.15-5.11), a higher consumption of meat (OR 2.83, 95 per cent; CI 1.36-5.90), eggs (OR 2.53, 95 per cent; CI 1.07-5.96), and yogurt (OR 2.24, 95 per cent; CI 1.08-4.62), and a lower intake of processed meat (OR 0.32, 95 per cent; CI 0.15-0.72), vegetable oils (OR 0.35, 95 per cent; CI 0.17-0.74), margarine (OR 0.37, 95 per cent; CI 0.18-0.76), chips (OR 0.22, 95 per cent; CI 0.10-0.48), and fast food (OR 0.42, 95 per cent; CI 0.19-0.91).

Athletes using NS had different characteristics from non-users, and seemed to have healthier and more sports-oriented food choices. Our findings may help sport and health professionals to identify an alleged or future NS user, enabling the development of a timely and self-directed supplement scheme.

A healthy diet has been recognized as one of the most important factors associated with maintaining human health and helping in preventing the development of some chronic diseases. Therefore, this paper aims to study the perceptions of a sample of university people regarding a healthy diet.

It was undertaken a descriptive cross-sectional study on a non-probabilistic sample of 382 participants. The data were collected among a sample of Portuguese university people and measured whether people’s perceptions were compliant with a healthy diet.

The results revealed that the participants’ perceptions were, in general, compliant with a healthy diet (scores between 0.5 and 1.5, on a scale from −2 to +2). However, significant differences were found between age groups (p = 0.004), with a higher average score for young adults, and also between groups with different levels of education (p = 0.025), with a higher score for university degree. The variable chronic diseases also showed significant differences (p = 0.017), so that people who did not have any chronic diseases obtained a higher score.

This study is considered important because it provides evidences about the relation between nutrition knowledge and the perceptions towards a healthy diet. The study allowed concluding that the participants were aware about some nutritional aspects of their diets and, therefore, their perceptions were compliant with a healthy diet. This finding is very relevant because it could be a support for health policy initiatives directed at promoting healthy eating behaviours.

WE wish for our readers a Good New Year. Whether it would be appropriate to wish readers a Happy New Year at this stage will depend upon many factors. Even before these words appear in type we may be involved in the more intense struggle for the very existence of our country which everyone seems to think must come sooner or later. The ultimate outcome of that we do not doubt, but while it continues we shall need all the strength, spiritual, mental and physical, that we possess. Nevertheless, it will be a good new year if we remain sensitive to all the needs and opportunities that surround us.

International students, who have a non-English speaking background (NESB), encounter many difficulties, in comparison to their local fellows of an English-speaking country. Literature demonstrates that leveraging various relational perspectives in a multicultural teaching environment has favourable implications to manage the NESB international students’ academic experience. Based on the observation and introspection approaches and a relevant literature review in relationship management, an ethnographic analysis is conducted to realise how such relational perspectives can be nurtured, in a way that the NESB international students expect and accept in a foreign country.

A literature review in relationship management and an ethnographic analysis based on observation and introspection methods was conducted.

Findings show that universities could assist the NESB international students by designing, delivering and monitoring innovative teaching and learning approaches and taking care of the associated academic and non-academic issues of the students, while leveraging the social, psychological and academic relational perspective(s).

Leveraging relational perspectives offers global implications. The implications of relational perspectives can be used from any setting. However, the relational appeal should be focused on the presented circumstances of a targeted setting only (e.g. the issues of a particular multicultural classroom).