An index of diet and eating patterns is a valid measure of diet quality in an Australian population

Diet indices represent an integrated approach to assessing eating patterns and behaviors. The aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive food-based dietary index to reflect adherence to healthy eating recommendations, evaluate the construct validity of the index using nutrient intakes, and evaluate this index in relation to sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, risk factors, and self-assessed health status. Data were analyzed from adult participants of the Australian National Nutrition Survey who completed a 108-item FFQ and a food habits questionnaire (n = 8220). The dietary guideline index (DGI) consisted of 15 items reflecting the dietary guidelines, including dietary indicators of vegetables and legumes, fruit, total cereals, meat and alternatives, total dairy, beverages, sodium, saturated fat, alcoholic beverages, and added sugars. Diet quality was incorporated using indicators relating to whole-grain cereals, lean meat, reduced/low fat dairy, and dietary variety. We investigated associations between the DGI score, sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, chronic disease risk factors, and nutrient intakes. We found associations between the DGI scores and sex, age, income, area-level socioeconomic disadvantage, smoking, physical activity, waist:hip ratio, systolic blood pressure (males only), and self-assessed health status (females only) (all P < 0.05). Higher DGI scores were associated with lower intakes of energy, total fat, and saturated fat and higher intakes of fiber, β-carotene, vitamin C, folate, calcium, and iron (P < 0.05). This food-based dietary index is able to discriminate across a variety of sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, and self-assessed health and reflects intakes of key nutrients.

Sporting clubs, alcohol and young people : enduring tensions and emerging possibilities

This paper examines data from a research project that investigated the cultural drivers of drinking in 14-24 year-old Australians, funded by Drinkwise Australia and the Department of Health and Ageing. At the same time that we were working on this project a moral panic about young people, risk and binge drinking had once more energised public debate. Prominent here was the highly politicised imputation of a strategic taxation levy on ready to drink products (alcopopos). This qualitative, interview-based project examined two separate but related aspects of young people's alcohol use: the roles played by sporting clubs, as community hubs, in shaping young people's use of alcohol: and young people's drinking biographies over different phases of their lives. This paper will focus on the sporting club study to discuss issues related to the positioning and serving of alcohol in the relation to young people. As part of the study, we conducted interviews with club administrators and young people in a range of sporting clubs. Insights from the study give rise to the potential for clubs to play an active and influential role in helping young people create positive/responsible approaches to alcohol consumption.

Vested interests in addiction research and policy alcohol industry use of social aspect public relations organizations against preventative health measures

Aim It has been proposed that alcohol industry ‘social aspects/public relations’ organizations (SAPROs) serve the agenda of lending credibility to industry claims of corporate responsibility while promoting ineffective industry-friendly interventions (such as school-based education or TV advertising campaigns) and creating doubt about interventions which have a strong evidence base (such as higher taxes on alcoholic beverages). This paper investigated whether submissions to Australia's National Preventative Health Taskforce (NPHT) from alcohol industry bodies regarding the Australian SAPRO, Drinkwise, have used this organization to demonstrate corporate responsibility while promoting industry-friendly interventions.

Method Submissions to the Australian National Preventative Health Taskforce (NPHT) discussion paper Australia, the healthiest country by 2020 (n = 375) were examined to identify those with primary alcohol content. A thematic analysis of the resulting 33 submissions was conducted to determine which organization, institution or individual discussed Drinkwise.

Setting Australia.

Findings Nine of the 33 submissions discussed Drinkwise; all were submitted by the alcohol industry or its affiliates. Every industry submission referred to Drinkwise either as providing evidence of social responsibility or by suggesting the industry-friendly actions of Drinkwise as alternatives to those recommended by the NPHT report.

Conclusions Drinkwise has been used by the alcohol industry to create an impression of social responsibility while promoting interventions that maintain profits and campaigning against effective interventions such as higher taxes on alcohol.

A cluster randomised controlled trial of a comprehensive accreditation intervention to reduce alcohol consumption at community sports clubs: study protocol

Introduction: Excessive alcohol consumption isresponsible for considerable harm from chronicdisease and injury. Within most developed countries,members of sporting clubs consume alcohol at levels above that of communities generally. Despite the potential benefits of interventions to address alcohol consumption in sporting clubs, there have been no randomised controlled trials to test the effectiveness of these interventions. The aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of a comprehensive accreditation intervention with community football clubs (Rugby League, Rugby Union, soccer/association football and Australian Rules football) in reducing excessive alcohol consumption by club members.
Methods and analysis: The study will be conducted in New South Wales, Australia, and employ a cluster randomised controlled trial design. Half of the football clubs recruited to the trial will be randomised to receive an intervention implemented over two and a half winter sporting seasons. The intervention is based on social ecology theory and is comprehensive in nature, containing multiple elements designed to decrease the supply of alcohol to intoxicated members, cease the provision of cheap and free alcohol, increase the availability and costattractiveness of non-alcoholic and low-alcoholic beverages, remove high alcohol drinks and cease drinking games. The intervention utilises a three-tiered accreditation framework designed to motivate intervention implementation. Football clubs in the control group will receive printed materials on topics unrelated to alcohol. Outcome data will be collected pre- and postintervention through cross-sectional telephone surveys of club members. The primary outcome measure will be alcohol consumption by club members at the club, assessed using a graduated frequency index and a seven day diary.
Ethics and dissemination: The study was approved by The University of Newcastle Human Research Ethics Committee (reference: H-2008-0432). Study findings will be disseminated widely through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.

Eat, drink and gamble: marketing messages about 'risky' products in an Australian major sporting series

BACKGROUND: To investigate the alcohol, gambling, and unhealthy food marketing strategies during a nationally televised, free to air, sporting series in Australia. METHODS/APPROACH: Using the Australian National Rugby League 2012 State of Origin three-game series, we conducted a mixed methods content analysis of the frequency, duration, placement and content of advertising strategies, comparing these strategies both within and across the three games. RESULTS: There were a total of 4445 episodes (mean = 1481.67, SD = 336.58), and 233.23 minutes (mean = 77.74, SD = 7.31) of marketing for alcoholic beverages, gambling products and unhealthy foods and non-alcoholic beverages during the 360 minutes of televised coverage of the three State of Origin 2012 games. This included an average per game of 1354 episodes (SD = 368.79) and 66.29 minutes (SD = 7.62) of alcohol marketing; 110.67 episodes (SD = 43.89), and 8.72 minutes (SD = 1.29) of gambling marketing; and 17 episodes (SD = 7.55), and 2.74 minutes (SD = 0.78) of unhealthy food and beverage marketing. Content analysis revealed that there was a considerable embedding of product marketing within the match play, including within match commentary, sporting equipment, and special replays. CONCLUSIONS: Sport is increasingly used as a vehicle for the promotion of range of 'risky consumption' products. This study raises important ethical and health policy questions about the extent and impact of saturation and incidental marketing strategies on health and wellbeing, the transparency of embedded marketing strategies, and how these strategies may influence product consumption.

Efeito agudo da ingestão de álcool sobre a função endotelial em homens jovens

A disfunção endotelial, avaliada através da vasodilatação mediada pelo fluxo (FMD) e não mediada pelo fluxo (NFMD), está associada à ocorrência de eventos cardiovasculares. Enquanto o consumo moderado de bebidas alcoólicas está associado com baixo risco para doenças cardiovasculares, a ingestão de doses mais altas predispõe a arritmias cardíacas, acidente vascular encefálico e outros eventos, que têm maior incidência no período da manhã. A investigação dos efeitos do álcool sobre a função endotelial pode trazer um melhor entendimento para esta associação. O presente estudo tem por objetivo avaliar, em uma amostra homogênea, o efeito de uma dose relativamente elevada de álcool sobre parâmetros vasculares e de função endotelial. O diâmetro da artéria braquial (DAB), a FMD e a NFMD foram mensurados em três horários (17h, 22h e 7h), em 100 indivíduos do sexo masculino, hígidos, com idades entre 18 e 25 anos (média de 20,74 anos), por ecodoppler da artéria braquial (segundo o protocolo da International Brachial Artery Reactivity Task Force). Os indivíduos foram randomizados para ingerir uma bebida contendo álcool ou uma bebida similar não alcoólica, às 18h. O grupo que consumiu álcool apresentou um aumento no DAB entre as 17h (4,03 mm) e 22h (4,41 mm). Ocorreu uma redução da FMD para 2,43% e da NFMD para 6,30% às 22h, quando comparados com os valores anteriores à ingestão (FMD = 4,22% e NFMD = 13,7%). Foi constatado um efeito bifásico para a pressão arterial sistólica (PAS) e diastólica (PAD), com redução às 22h (PAS = 105,18 mmHg; PAD = 60,14 mmHg), seguida de elevação às 7h (PAS = 117,50 mmHg; PAD = 70,98 mmHg). Conclui-se que, após um período inicial de vasodilatação, a ingestão aguda de álcool não afeta a função endotelial, comparado ao placebo.

O impacto de normas sociais no mercado acionário brasileiro

Este estudo busca verificar se normas sociais impactam o mercado de ações brasileiro analisando o retorno de ações dos setores que mais estão susceptíveis a serem vistos como nocivos para a sociedade: os produtores de bebidas alcoólicas, cigarros e armamentos. Buscando responder a nossa pergunta, o retorno das ações da Ambev, Souza Cruz e Forjas Taurus foram analisados.

Evolution of ethyl carbamate during Madeira wine ageing by GC-MS: a new methodology

Recently, ethyl carbamate (EC) was reclassified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as "probably carcinogenic to humans" and occurs mainly in fermented beverages. Nowadays many countries have set limit values for EC in alcoholic beverages. In this sense and taking into account the low concentrations found in alcoholic beverages, the scientific community has shown interest for the development of new analytical methods, whereby its simplification plays an important role in the EC control and prevention. Firstly, a simple, rapid and sensitive methodology was developed for the EC quantification in fortified wines by microextraction by packed sorbent (MEPS) with gas chromatography coupled with a mass spectrometer detector (GC-MS). This method showed good linearity (R2 = 0.999) and sensitivity (LOD = 1.5 μg/L). The accuracy of the method was assessed by means of repeatability and reproducibility (RSD < 7%). Moreover, a good recovery has been demonstrated (97 – 106%) as well as its applicability (16 fortified wines). Thus, the developed methodology has proven to be an excellent approach for routine quantification of EC in fortified wines. The EC evolution was also evaluated during a year and half of Madeira wine ageing submitted to two traditional ageing methods, estufagem and canteiro, in order to evaluate the formation kinetic. The results revealed that estufagem process increased the formation kinetic and promoted a linear increase of the EC concentration (R2 ≥ 0.977), proportionally to the ageing time (4 months). However, when the wines are firstly submitted to estufagem and then undergo canteiro ageing, the EC values remain almost constant during the following 14 months. The results suggest that estufagem does not seem to be the critical factor in the EC formation, but instead the amount of precursors in the medium.

Edentulismo funcional e seus fatores de risco em adultos

The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk factors to the functional edentulism in adults aged 35 a 44 years old of Natal-RN, 278 adults took part in the study. They were all selected from a previous dental loss prevalence study thus being complemented by an active research. The study was a case-control based and data collection was made though a survey as well as with a clinical examination. The cases were identified through individuals with 20 or more teeth. Age and gender were used as variables of pairing off. The data was analyzed through chi-square, significant level of 95% to the checking of its force associations. The independent variables were grouped in three levels. The first one, more macro, is related to the region where the individual lives, which was also related to the second level, the family-based one, linked with a third level, at this low socio-economical level, where the domiciliary density was favorable, living in capital cities, regions with prime sanitary condicitions, with predominant possibility of accessing the public dental service, but in despite of this, only looking for this service when tooth ache is felt, where preferentially an aid dressing treatment is executed in detriment of preventive procedures. From all the samples, less than 25% of the individuals make use of tobacco and alcoholic beverages for quite a number of years. There was an association of functional edentulism with all the studied variables in a regional method. In the family-based with Critério Brasil (OR=4,45) and monthly wages (OR=9,62) and to an to an individual level, the associations took place with the current use of kind of attendance (OR=1,78), looks for dressing treatment (OR=2,51), does not look for preventive treatment (OR=3,31), pain as the main cause of demand (OR=1,92), previous treatment as the demanding reason for dental service (OR+0,28), interval of the last visit to the dental service (OR=1,35) and when advise was received (OR=1,66). It was noticed from the results that the functional edentulism is much more expressive in those families which live in environments with precarious social economical sanitary conditions. Such conditions seem to have a direct influence upon the family social economical conditions which are also shown in detriment to functional edentulism. In the same way, the collection of variants influence the social economical conditions of the individual, as well as the kind of dental service searched by them, the reason of the search and the interval of the last visit to the dental service were strong determiners to the functional edentulism. Beyond that, individual habits like the use of tobacco and its frequency on its previous use influenced in a significant way the existence of functional edentulism in the studied population

Estudo clínico e níveis de ansiedade em uma série de casos de líquen plano oral

Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) is a relatively common, cronic inflammatory disease. Its etiopathogenesis is no completely understood and several factors have proposed in attempt to explain the appearance, variety of clinical manifestations and periods of exacerbation and remission of the symptons of the lesions. The objective of the present study was to assess the presence of local factors, systemic diseases and levels of anxiety in patients with OLP, investigating their association with the clinical characteristics of the lesions. The sample consisted of 37 patients with histopathologically confirmed OLP that were submitted to a clinical exam to evaluate the presence of smoking habits, consumption of alcoholic beverages, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The existence of skin lesions, as well as the time course, clinical form, symptomatology, number and location of the oral lesions were also registered. The trait anxiety was measured by Spielberger s Stai-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and to associate the variables we used the chi-square or Fisher s exact test. It was observed that females were the most affected (75%) and the mean age of the patients was 53,3 years. Most cases were non-smoker (97,3%) and none was drinker. Diabetes mellitus and hypertension were present in 10,8% e 16,2% of the sample, respectively and only one patient was HCV-seropositive (2,7%). Moderate levels of anxiety were seen in most cases (78,4%) and 21,6% had elevated levels. The oral lesions persisted in 95% of the cases for a period of 6 months to 13 years. The erosive form was the most prevalent (57,1%) and symptons were reported by 45,7% of the patients. Multiple lesions were frequent (60%), affecting mainly the buccal mucosa, followed by gums e tongue. There was no significant association of the presence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and levels of anxiety with the clinical form or symptomatology of the oral lesions (p>0,005), despite a trend in patients with hypertension to have erosive lesions. It was concluded that, in the sample studied, moderate levels of anxiety were commonly observed, and the HCV infection apparently is not related to the onset of the OLP. In this study, the presence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and levels of anxiety seem not to be associated with the clinical characteristics of the lesions of OLP

Caracterização do ciclo sono/vigília de professores do ensino médio em natal/rn

In the school environment is fundamental the knowledge about the sleep-wake cycle (SWC), because we find children and adolescents with excessive sleepiness and learning difficulties. Furthermore, teachers with high demand and with different work schedule, which may contribute to changes in SWC. The aim of this study was to describe the SWC of high school teachers in Natal/RN. Habits and knowledge about sleep, chronotype, SWC, daytime sleepiness, sleep quality and job satisfaction were described in 98 high school teachers from public and private school. These parameters were compared according to the characteristics of work, family structure and gender. Data collection was performed with the use of questionnaires in two stages: 1) "health and sleep" (general characterization of sleep habits), Horne & Ostberg questionnaire (characterization of chronotype), Epworth Sleepiness Scale and the Index of Pittsburg Sleep Quality, 2) The sleep diary for 14 days. From the results, we observe that the teachers woke up and went to bed earlier in the week and showed a reduction of time in bed around 42min comparing to weekend. This reduction in time in bed during the week was accompanied by an increase in nap duration on weekend. In addition the teachers woke up earlier on Saturdays than on Sundays, probably due to housework and leisure. The teachers' knowledge about sleep was low in relation to individual differences and effect of alcoholic beverages on sleep, and high in the consequences of sleep deprivation. The differences found in comparisons on the characteristics of work, family structure and gender were punctual, except concerning the work schedule. The teacher who started work in the morning and finished in the night, woke up earlier, went to bed later and had less time in bed, when compared to teachers who work only in two shifts. In addition, teachers with late chronotypes who begin the work in the morning had a greater irregularity in the wake up time compared to teachers with earlier and intermediate chronotypes. Half of teachers have excessive sleepiness, which was positive correlated with work dissatisfaction. In general, teachers showed IPSQ averages equivalent to poor sleep quality and the women showed worst averages. From the results, it is suggested that the SWC of teachers varies according to work schedule, leading to irregularity and partial sleep deprivation in the week, although these responses vary according to chronotype. These changes are accompanied by excessive daytime sleepiness and poor sleep quality. However, it is necessary to expand the sample to clarify the influence of variables related to work, family structure and gender together

Álcool e sociabilidade: a farra das adolescentes

The experience as a school psychologist allowed me to notice that expressions like I was like trash in the gang s barbecue , and we chatted away, only the girls, and we all got drunk , are very common in conversations between Elementary and High School students, pointing out to a concerning incidence of alcohol consumption among female adolescents. However, studies about this theme haven t gone deep in the nowadays reality these girls are living in. This study aimed at comprehending the aspects of the relation between girls and alcohol, starting from the point that exaggerated consumption indicates introductory rituals for some groups, making social relations easier and becoming a sociability factor. To give this study some support, a questionnaire was applied to 1028 female teenagers, between 12 and 18 years old, students in private schools in Natal, capital of Rio Grande do Norte. The context chosen for the development of the study - private schools -, arose from the notion that the majority of the data collection carried out about alcohol and other psychotropic drugs aim at public school students. The instrument used was divided in two parts, one that treated about the first contact with alcohol (experimentation), and other that points to the current relation with alcoholic beverages, with 27 closed questions but nevertheless with available space for manifestation like if other; which?, applied collectively in classrooms. The data received a statistic treatment from SPSS and showed that the first contact with alcoholic beverage happens in domestic environment, having parents and friends as companions, very precociously, around 10 years of age, as curiosity. At this moment, Ice drink is the most consumed beverage. The main reason that leads them to drink is to pass the time in parties, and they don t drink alone (93% of students researched), what gives alcohol this recreational and socializing characteristic. They do consider alcohol a kind of drug, but are not afraid of getting addicted. People that drink usually show to be extroverted, they get happier (40,3%) and are not shy at all (29,4%), have attitudes of moral character, like to get involved with unknown boys (18,5%), get numb (9,9%), or get sad (1,9%). They label as vulgar the girls that drink, depending on the amount, and to be stimulated by the boys to drink. The study shows that systematic interventions of the school are necessary, once it is an institution that should care about education and personality traits of children and adolescents, as well as the important role of the psychologist in this context. Besides, it claims the society to get effectively involved with the public policies that already exist