A parent-focused intervention to reduce infant obesity risk behaviors: a randomized trial

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of a parent-focused intervention on infants’ obesity-risk behaviors and BMI.
METHODS: This cluster randomized controlled trial recruited 542 parents and their infants (mean age 3.8 months at baseline) from 62 first-time parent groups. Parents were offered six 2-hour dietitian-delivered sessions over 15 months focusing on parental knowledge, skills, and social support around infant feeding, diet, physical activity, and television viewing. Control group parents received 6 newsletters on nonobesity-focused themes; all parents received usual care from child health nurses. The primary outcomes of interest were child diet (3 × 24-hour diet recalls), child physical activity (accelerometry), and child TV viewing (parent report). Secondary outcomes included BMI z-scores (measured). Data were collected when children were 4, 9, and 20 months of age.
RESULTS: Unadjusted analyses showed that, compared with controls, intervention group children consumed fewer grams of noncore drinks (mean difference = –4.45; 95% confidence interval [CI]: –7.92 to –0.99; P = .01) and were less likely to consume any noncore drinks (odds ratio = 0.48; 95% CI: 0.24 to 0.95; P = .034) midintervention (mean age 9 months). At intervention conclusion (mean age 19.8 months), intervention group children consumed fewer grams of sweet snacks (mean difference = –3.69; 95% CI: –6.41 to –0.96; P = .008) and viewed fewer daily minutes of television (mean difference = –15.97: 95% CI: –25.97 to –5.96; P = .002). There was little statistical evidence of differences in fruit, vegetable, savory snack, or water consumption or in BMI z-scores or physical activity.
CONCLUSIONS: This intervention resulted in reductions in sweet snack consumption and television viewing in 20-month-old children.

Consultation unlocks interdisciplinary resources: A community museum evolving in the Kelabit Highlands, Malaysian Borneo

This article discusses the role of community consultation in the process of developing a community museum in the Kelabit Highlands in Sarawak. It reflects on the relationships between heritage conservation, cultural tourism and competing community aspirations.   

Grain excretion by goats fed whole or processed cereals with various roughages

Despite cereal grains being grown on 5 continents where goats are kept, there is little information on the excretion of whole cereal grains when fed to goats. We determined the effects of various dietary treatments on whole grain and starch loss in the faeces of Angora goats. In Experiment 1 there were 4 replicates of the factorial design: (a) 2 grain types (barley, oats); (b) whole grain or processing (milled barley or rolled oats); (c) 2 roughage qualities (Persian clover hay, barley straw); and (d) 2 feeding levels (level 1, 150 g/d of grain, 250 g/d of roughage; level 2, 250 g/d of grain, ad libitum roughage). In Experiment 2, which immediately followed Experiment 1, and aimed to detect carry over effects of previous feeding of barley straw and grain processing, feed levels were either 650 g/d grain or 400 g/d grain with 550 g/d Persian clover hay. Data were analysed by ANOVA. In Experiment 1, processing had no effect on digestible dry matter intake. The number of whole grains lost per 100 g of fresh faeces and whole grains loss as the % of grain dry matter intake were affected by an interaction between processing and roughage quality. Whole grain fed with Persian clover hay had greater grain loss than all other diets. Whole grain loss was greater with whole grain than with processed grain. Level of feeding had no effects on grain loss. In Experiment 2, more whole grains were lost in fresh faeces when fed with Persian clover hay than when fed without hay, an effect of previous feeding with barley straw reduced whole grain excretion, and more barley grains were lost than oat grain. Faecal starch was affected, with higher levels when whole barley grain was fed, particularly with Persian clover hay, or when previously fed barley straw at a high level. Feeding grain at 650 g/d did not increase grain or starch excretion. Whole grains represented a small loss of grain dry matter intake in faeces, averaging 0.8% with a maximum recorded of 2.6%. Faecal concentration of the whole grains may be altered by grain size and the digestibility of the roughage component of the diet. In this study an additional cost of 3% for processing grains would not have provided economic benefits.

Describing socioeconomic gradients in children's diets - does the socioeconomic indicators used matter?

Background: 

A social-cultural reading: the Melbourne Savage Club through its collections

This thesis looks at how the collection(s) of a private club located in the Melbourne Central Business District have been shaped by the bohemian attitude of its founding members and examines the contributing factors to the collection which make it distinctive and significant to Australian cultural heritage.

A qualitative study of the factors that influence mothers when choosing drinks for their young children

ABSTRACT

Dynamics of cultural heritage development in Sarawak

This paper discusses contestation and legitimization in the heritage process in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Since 2011 the authors have assisted the Rurum Kelabit Sarawak (RKS) to plan a community museum. The museum is envisaged as an anchor for the preservation and representation of the Kelabit culture. In particular, through consultation and capacity building, the project is seeking to incorporate heritage values into development and cultural tourism plans. The paper considers the roles of historical and contemporary agents in the awakening of heritage consciousness in this community. This process has facilitated questions about priorities including, heritage, tourism, representation and the expression of identity through contemporary design, which this paper will contextualize within the discourse of cultural heritage and development in South East Asia. Apart from the RKS and their range of partners, important agents include the Sarawak Government, with jurisdiction over native customs; the Sarawak Museum Department, an official custodian of cultural heritage; UNESCO, through its promotion of the rights of indigenous people and the integration of culture and development; and the WWF, assisting with the Heart of Borneo conservation project. The authors see this case study of a community museum development process as an opportunity to reflect on the interrelated and contested roles and responsibilities of local, national and trans-national agents in a heritage project that contributes to an understanding of cultural politics and heritage-making.

Jinkhin Mongol/True Mongolian: Mongolian museums and the construction of national identity

 This dissertation examined the history of museums in Mongolia and their fate in the post socialist period. The work ultimately identified that while museums have sought to contribute to historical revisionism, they have been heavily influenced by politics, international cultural diplomacy and by popular notions of national identity.

Colonial museology and the Buddhist chronicles of Sri Lanka: agency and negotiation in the development of the palm-leaf manuscript collection at the Colombo Museum

The roles of colonial museums in South Asia have been understood in terms of the dissemination of museology within the British Empire. This has often underplayed the participation of local intellectuals in the formation of museum collections, and thus has not recognized their agency in the creation of knowledge and of longstanding cultural assets. This article addresses this in part through an historical case study of the development of the palm-leaf manuscript collection at the Colombo Museum in nineteenth century Ceylon. The article focuses on the relationships between Government aims, local intellectuals and the Buddhist clergy. I argue that colonial museology and collecting activity in Ceylon ought to be understood as a negotiated process and a number of reasons for this are discussed. This article contributes to an area of museological research that is exploring the roles of indigenous actors in colonial collecting and museum practice in South Asia and broader geographical contexts.

Is fat the sixth taste primary? Evidence and implications

Taste is the chemical sense responsible for the detection of non-volatile chemicals in potential foods. For fat to be considered as one of the taste primaries in humans, certain criteria must be met including: class of affective stimuli; receptors specific for the class of stimuli on taste bud cells (TBC); afferent fibers from TBC to taste processing regions of the brain; perception independent of other taste qualities; and downstream physiological effects. The breakdown products of the macronutrients carbohydrates (sugars) and protein (amino acids) are responsible for activation of sweet and umami tastes respectively. Following the same logic the breakdown products of fat being fatty acids are the likely class of stimuli for fat taste. Indeed, psychophysical studies have confirmed fatty acids of varying chain length and saturation are orally detectable by humans. The most likely fatty acid receptor candidates located on TBC are CD36, G protein-coupled receptor 120. Once the receptors are activated by fatty acids a series of transduction events occurs causing the release of neurotransmitters towards afferent fibers signalling the brain. Whether fatty acids elicit any direct perception independent of other taste qualities is still open to debate with only poorly defined perceptions for fatty acids reported. Others suggest that the fatty acid taste component is at detection threshold only and any perceptions are associated with either aroma or chemesthesis. It has also been established that oral exposure to fat via sham feeding stimulates increases blood triacylglycerol concentrations in humans. Therefore, overall, with the exception of an independent perception, there is consistent emerging evidence that fat is the sixth taste primary. The implications of fatty acid taste go further into health and obesity research with the gustatory detection of fats and their contributions to energy and fat intake receiving increasing attention. There appears to be a coordinated bodily response to fatty acids throughout the alimentary canal; those who are insensitive orally are also insensitive in the gastrointestinal tract and overconsume fatty food and energy. The likely mechanism linking fatty acid taste insensitivity with overweight and obesity is development of satiety after consumption of fatty foods.