Analysis of Body Composition and Food Habits of Spanish Celiac Women

The purpose of the present work was both to analyze composition of Spanish celiac women and to study the food habits and gluten-free diet of these celiac patients, in order to determine whether they achieve a balanced and healthy diet as well as to highlight nutritional qualitative and/or quantitative differences. 54 adult celiac women (34 +/- 13 years) took part in the six-month study. Height, weight and body composition were measured. An analysis of energy consumption and of the macronutrient distribution of their diet was carried out. Their fulfillment of micronutrient intake recommendations was verified. Participants showed a Body Mass Index of 21.6 +/- 2.4 kg/m(2). Energy Intake was slightly lower than the Dietary Reference Intakes. Excessive protein apart from over-consumption of fat was observed. More than three quarters of participants consumed meat in excess. Carbohydrate consumption along with that of fiber was below recommended levels. Vitamin D, iron, and iodine had a low percentage of recommendation compliance. In general, participants followed the recommendations of dairy products and fruit intake whereas vegetable consumption was not enough for the vast majority. We conclude that although the diet of celiac women does not differ much from the diet of general population, some considerations, such as reducing fat and protein consumption and increasing fiber intake, must be taken into account.

Desarrollo de nuevos productos: caso Grupo «Industrias Alimentarias de Navarra»

Una versión preliminar de este caso fue presentada como ponencia en el «Second European Conference on Management of Technology» (EUROMOT), celebrado en septiembre de 2006 en Birmingham.

Nourriture et santé dans la médecine grecque ancienne

Presentado en el IIe Colloque International de l'IEHA: « Un aliment sain dans un corps sain ». Perspectives historiques - «Healthy Food in a Healthy Body», organizado por el Institut Européen d'Histoire de l'Alimentation y celebrado en Tours los días 14 y 15 de diciembre de 2002.

Temperature-and pH-Sensitive Nanohydrogels of Poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) for Food Packaging Applications: Modelling the Swelling-Collapse Behaviour

Temperature-sensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA) nanohydrogels were synthesized by nanoemulsion polymerization in water-in-oil systems. Several cross-linking degrees and the incorporation of acrylic acid as comonomer at different concentrations were tested to produce nanohydrogels with a wide range of properties. The physicochemical properties of PNIPA nanohydrogels, and their relationship with the swelling-collapse behaviour, were studied to evaluate the suitability of PNIPA nanoparticles as smart delivery systems (for active packaging). The swelling-collapse transition was analyzed by the change in the optical properties of PNIPA nanohydrogels using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. The thermodynamic parameters associated with the nanohydrogels collapse were calculated using a mathematical approach based on the van't Hoff analysis, assuming a two-state equilibrium (swollen to collapsed). A mathematical model is proposed to predict both the thermally induced collapse, and the collapse induced by the simultaneous action of two factors (temperature and pH, or temperature and organic solvent concentration). Finally, van't Hoff analysis was compared with differential scanning calorimetry. The results obtained allow us to solve the problem of determining the molecular weight of the structural repeating unit in cross-linked NIPA polymers, which, as we show, can be estimated from the ratio of the molar heat capacity (obtained from the van't Hoff analysis) to the specific heat capacity (obtained from calorimetric measurements).

Effects of international trade of food and feed and human diet shifts on food security and environmental safety: integrating scales

4 p.

Modeling habits as self-sustaining patterns of sensorimotor behavior

In the recent history of psychology and cognitive neuroscience, the notion of habit has been reduced to a stimulus-triggered response probability correlation. In this paper we use a computational model to present an alternative theoretical view (with some philosophical implications), where habits are seen as self-maintaining patterns of behavior that share properties in common with self-maintaining biological processes, and that inhabit a complex ecological context, including the presence and influence of other habits. Far from mechanical automatisms, this organismic and self-organizing concept of habit can overcome the dominating atomistic and statistical conceptions, and the high temporal resolution effects of situatedness, embodiment and sensorimotor loops emerge as playing a more central, subtle and complex role in the organization of behavior. The model is based on a novel "iterant deformable sensorimotor medium (IDSM)," designed such that trajectories taken through sensorimotor-space increase the likelihood that in the future, similar trajectories will be taken. We couple the IDSM to sensors and motors of a simulated robot, and show that under certain conditions, the IDSM conditions, the IDSM forms self-maintaining patterns of activity that operate across the IDSM, the robot's body, and the environment. We present various environments and the resulting habits that form in them. The model acts as an abstraction of habits at a much needed sensorimotor "meso-scale" between microscopic neuron-based models and macroscopic descriptions of behavior. Finally, we discuss how this model and extensions of it can help us understand aspects of behavioral self-organization, historicity and autonomy that remain out of the scope of contemporary representationalist frameworks.

Colaboración entre fabricante y distribuidor para la reducción del desperdicio alimentario en la cadena de suministro: situación actual y perspectivas

RESUMEN TFG CASTELLANO Este estudio trata de analizar el desperdicio alimentario que se da actualmente en cada una de las fases de la cadena de suministro alimentario. Inicialmente, se exponen los factores y hechos que han influido en los hábitos de consumo así como en la conciencia de los consumidores finales alterando así la producción y distribución de alimentos en general. Más tarde, se analiza la situación actual de los tres sectores sobre los que se lleva a cabo el estudio, que son el sector de la agricultura, concretamente el hortofrutícola, el sector ganadero y el sector pesquero. Posteriormente, se lleva a cabo un análisis para saber exactamente dónde, cómo y cuánta cantidad de alimento se desperdicia en cada uno de estos tres sectores. Por último, se expondrán diferentes conclusiones y propuestas con el fin de poner remedio a los diferentes problemas analizados anteriormente.

Marketing Ecológico: análisis teórico, estudio empírico a consumidores y análisis del diferencial de precios

ESPAÑOL:Este Trabajo de Fin de Grado se centra en el estudio, tanto teórico como empírico, de cuestiones relacionadas esencialmente con el conocimiento, consumo y marketing de productos ecológicos. Comienza con el marco teórico basado en la revisión bibliográfica de los trabajos publicados sobre la materia que se adjuntan en la bibliografía relacionada al final. Posteriormente, se presentan los resultados de una encuesta que realizamos a 63 personas que realizan habitualmente la compra de su hogar y que tuvo como objeto descubrir el grado de conocimiento que tienen sobre los productos eco, el consumo particular que hacen de los mismos y las razones que les impulsan a su consumo o que frenan el mismo, diferenciando el caso de los productos ecológicos de alimentación de los demás productos ecológicos. Se completa el trabajo con la presentación de un análisis empírico del diferencial de precios de los productos ecológicos frente a los de los productos convencionales de similares características. Para ello nos centramos exclusivamente en los productos (ecológicos y no ecológicos) vendidos en la plataforma de venta on line por una gran empresa española de distribución de base alimentaria, concretamente, Eroski.

Temperature-and pH-Sensitive Nanohydrogels of Poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) for Food Packaging Applications: Modelling the Swelling-Collapse Behaviour

Temperature-sensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA) nanohydrogels were synthesized by nanoemulsion polymerization in water-in-oil systems. Several cross-linking degrees and the incorporation of acrylic acid as comonomer at different concentrations were tested to produce nanohydrogels with a wide range of properties. The physicochemical properties of PNIPA nanohydrogels, and their relationship with the swelling-collapse behaviour, were studied to evaluate the suitability of PNIPA nanoparticles as smart delivery systems (for active packaging). The swelling-collapse transition was analyzed by the change in the optical properties of PNIPA nanohydrogels using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. The thermodynamic parameters associated with the nanohydrogels collapse were calculated using a mathematical approach based on the van't Hoff analysis, assuming a two-state equilibrium (swollen to collapsed). A mathematical model is proposed to predict both the thermally induced collapse, and the collapse induced by the simultaneous action of two factors (temperature and pH, or temperature and organic solvent concentration). Finally, van't Hoff analysis was compared with differential scanning calorimetry. The results obtained allow us to solve the problem of determining the molecular weight of the structural repeating unit in cross-linked NIPA polymers, which, as we show, can be estimated from the ratio of the molar heat capacity (obtained from the van't Hoff analysis) to the specific heat capacity (obtained from calorimetric measurements).