The impact of outward investments on parent company's employment and skill composition

This paper investigates the impact of outward foreign direct investment (FDI) by Italian multinationals on their total employment and skill composition. Specifically, by comparing data on 108 Italian manufacturing firms that became multinational (for the first time) in the period 1998–2004 with a counterfactual group of 2500 national firms that remained national in the same period, we provide descriptive and econometric evidence that the internationalisation of production activities did not reduce domestic employment in the parent companies neither for investments in developed or developing countries. As far as the skill composition is concerned, results reveal that only firms investing in Central and Eastern European countries experience some skill upgrading relative to firms that remained national.

Large variability of proanthocyanidin content and composition in sainfoin (onobrychis viciifolia)

Proanthocyanidins (PAs) in sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.) are of interest to ameliorate the sustainability of livestock production. However, sainfoin forage yield and PA concentrations, as well as their composition, require optimization. Individual plants of 27 sainfoin accessions from four continents were analyzed with LC-ESI-QqQ-MS/MS for PA concentrations and simple phenolic compounds. Large variability existed in PA concentrations (23.0–47.5 mg g–1 leaf dry matter (DM)), share of prodelphinidins (79–96%), and mean degree of polymerization (11–14) among, but also within, accessions. PAs were mainly located in leaves (26.8 mg g–1 DM), whereas stems had less PAs (7.8 mg g–1 DM). Overall, high-yielding plants had lower PA leaf concentrations (R2 = 0.16, P < 0.001) and fewer leaves (R2 = 0.66, P < 0.001). However, the results show that these two trade-offs between yield and bioactive PAs can be overcome.

Low-grade inflammation, diet composition and health: current research evidence and its translation

The importance of chronic low-grade inflammation in the pathology of numerous age-related chronic conditions is now clear. An unresolved inflammatory response is likely to be involved from the early stages of disease development. The present position paper is the most recent in a series produced by the International Life Sciences Institute's European Branch (ILSI Europe). It is co-authored by the speakers from a 2013 workshop led by the Obesity and Diabetes Task Force entitled ‘Low-grade inflammation, a high-grade challenge: biomarkers and modulation by dietary strategies’. The latest research in the areas of acute and chronic inflammation and cardiometabolic, gut and cognitive health is presented along with the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying inflammation–health/disease associations. The evidence relating diet composition and early-life nutrition to inflammatory status is reviewed. Human epidemiological and intervention data are thus far heavily reliant on the measurement of inflammatory markers in the circulation, and in particular cytokines in the fasting state, which are recognised as an insensitive and highly variable index of tissue inflammation. Potential novel kinetic and integrated approaches to capture inflammatory status in humans are discussed. Such approaches are likely to provide a more discriminating means of quantifying inflammation–health/disease associations, and the ability of diet to positively modulate inflammation and provide the much needed evidence to develop research portfolios that will inform new product development and associated health claims.

Composition differences between organic and conventional meat: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis

Demand for organic meat is partially driven by consumer perceptions that organic foods are more nutritious than non-organic foods. However, there have been no systematic reviews comparing specifically the nutrient content of organic and conventionally produced meat. In this study, we report results of a meta-analysis based on sixty-seven published studies comparing the composition of organic and non-organic meat products. For many nutritionally relevant compounds (e.g. minerals, antioxidants and most individual fatty acids (FA)), the evidence base was too weak for meaningful meta-analyses. However, significant differences in FA profiles were detected when data from all livestock species were pooled. Concentrations of SFA and MUFA were similar or slightly lower, respectively, in organic compared with conventional meat. Larger differences were detected for total PUFA and n-3 PUFA, which were an estimated 23 (95 % CI 11, 35) % and 47 (95 % CI 10, 84) % higher in organic meat, respectively. However, for these and many other composition parameters, for which meta-analyses found significant differences, heterogeneity was high, and this could be explained by differences between animal species/meat types. Evidence from controlled experimental studies indicates that the high grazing/forage-based diets prescribed under organic farming standards may be the main reason for differences in FA profiles. Further studies are required to enable meta-analyses for a wider range of parameters (e.g. antioxidant, vitamin and mineral concentrations) and to improve both precision and consistency of results for FA profiles for all species. Potential impacts of composition differences on human health are discussed.