Estudo das preferências do consumo de pão na região de Viseu

O pão, um dos alimentos mais consumidos a nível mundial, tem como principal função o fornecimento de energia ao organismo. Considerado como um alimento funcional é igualmente dotado de benefícios nutricionais que podem ajudar no combate do excesso de peso e obesidade, sendo indispensável para uma dieta saudável. Deste modo, o objetivo deste trabalho consiste em dar a conhecer os hábitos de consumo de pão e as preferências dos consumidores da região de Viseu, pretendendo-se aferir em que medida os hábitos de consumo, compras e entendimento relativo ao consumo do pão, diferem com base nas variáveis individuais. O estudo foi realizado através de um inquérito por questionário, por entrevista direta. Os dados demográficos, hábitos de consumo, compras e o entendimento relativo ao consumo de pão, foram os parâmetros selecionados para a estruturação do inquérito. A amostra era composta por 500 inquiridos, onde 35,40% pertenciam ao género masculino e 64,06% ao género feminino. A maioria da população em estudo gosta de pão e inclui pão na sua dieta. Observou-se que o pão de mistura era o pão mais consumido e a refeição onde se ingeria mais pão seria ao pequeno-almoço. Os filhos dos inquiridos ao pequeno-almoço consumiam mais leite e o pão era o terceiro alimento mais consumido. De um modo geral, os inquiridos valorizavam mais as características sensoriais no ato de compra do pão. O local mais requisitado para comprar de pão era a pastelaria. No que diz respeito ao nível de conhecimentos, a grande maioria dos inquiridos respondeu corretamente a pelo menos metade das questões. Pode-se concluir que o pão faz, em geral, parte da dieta alimentar da população da amostra em estudo. Comparativamente com um estudo nacional efetuado em 2011 pela Federação Portuguesa de Cardiologia e o Museu do Pão, existem semelhanças nos resultados, no que diz respeito às refeições onde se consome mais pão e ao tipo de pão consumido. Existe uma falha de informação a nível nacional, sobre o tema pão, havendo a necessidade de este tema ser mais estudado/explorado.

Equestrian tourism: an opportunity for portuguese

Portugal provides a large number of factors that boost the development of the national equestrian tourism. It represents an opportunity for the qualification and differentiation of the national tourism, to stimulate rural economies, to combat seasonality and asymmetries.This study want to understand the importance, for the equestrian tourist, of the critical success factors such as the Lusitano horse, the national equestrian culture, the landscape diversity, among others. Also, how they can contribute to the differentiation of the national equestrian tourism for international destinations that are already deployed in the market.For this study is crucial to know the perspective of those involved in the various equestrian tourism activities. In this sense, a group of companies were selected and exploratory interviews were conducted that contributed to important outputs in the construction of the questionnaire.The research was attended by 110 individuals, with different profiles, motivations and types of involvement. From the analysis, it is concluded that the critical success factors are significant in motivating equestrian tourists, namely the quality of equestrian infrastructures, the Lusitano horse, the hospitality, among others. It is also possible to analyze that the equestrian tourist demonstrates a strong commitment: they are knowledgeable, read a lot about riding and belong to equestrian clubs.Finally, the factor analysis highlight the agreement between participants and a significant number of statements made in the questionnaire related to motivation and involvement. It is possible to conclude that equestrian tourists look for relaxing moments and opportunities to expand their equestrian knowledge.

EVALUATION OF COLOUR AND TEXTURE OF A PORTUGUESE TRADITIONAL SWEET: “EGG CHESTNUT”

This work aimed to evaluate the colour and texture of a Portuguese traditional sweet “egg chestnuts” along a storage period of 12 days under refrigeration. For this, the colour coordinates were measured through a colorimeter and the textural parameters were evaluated by compression and puncture tests using a textutrometer. The results showed that the colour coordinates do not vary along time, corresponding to very low values of total colour difference. Hardness, chewiness and springiness decreased in the first 3 days but after that the values were maintained approximately constant. In contrast, resilience and cohesiveness did not change along time. While crust firmness increased along storage, both the flesh firmness and stickiness did not change. The adhesiveness measured through the penetration test decreased considerably from the first to the last day. Hence, it was concluded that colour is better preserved than texture along a 12 day storage period under refrigeration.

The assessment of the level of knowledge about dietary fibre among the portuguese population

The aim of this work was to assess the degree of knowledge about dietary fibre (DF), as influenced by factors such as age, gender, level of education and living environment. For this, a descriptive cross- sectional study was undertaken by means of a questionnaire and the total number of respondents was 382. The results revealed that the participants had a not satisfying global level of knowledge (3.59 ± 0.64, on a scale from 1 to 5). The overall knowledge was found lower for young adults aged 19 to 30 years, when compared to adults aged over 31 and up to 65 years, being this difference statistically significant (p=0.030). However, no statistical significant differences were found between genders, levels of education or living environments. The low level of knowledge demonstrated by the enquired alerts for the need to plan some additional actions to further inform the Portuguese population about dietary fibre.

Life Cycle Assessment as a tool to promote sustainable Thermowood boards: a Portuguese case study

The present work aims to develop the Life Cycle Assessment study of thermo-modified Atlanticwood® pine boards based on real data provided by Santos & Santos Madeiras company. Atlanticwood® pine boards are used mainly for exterior decking and cladding facades of buildings. The LCA study is elaborated based on ISO 14040/44 standard and Product Category Rules for preparing an environmental product declaration for Construction Products and Construction Services. The inventory analysis and, subsequently, the impact analysis have been performed using the LCA software SimaPro8.0.4. The method chosen for impact assessment was EPD (2013) V1.01. The results show that more than ¾ of ‘Acidification’, ‘Eutrophication’, ‘Global warming’ and ‘Abiotic depletion’ caused by 1 m3 of Atlanticwood® pine boards production is due to energy consumption (electricity + gas + biomass). This was to be expected since the treatment is based on heat production and no chemicals are added during the heat treatment process.