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Food Supplementation (food + supplementation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	73%
Medical Sciences	26%

Selected Abstracts

Behavioral Response of Resident Jamaican Birds to Dry Season Food Supplementation,

BIOTROPICA, Issue 1 2006
David R. Brown
ABSTRACT We used plot-level manipulations and analyses to test the effects of food availability on the behavior and condition of resident dry-forest birds in Jamaica. Two control plots were monitored in each of 2 yr. Food was supplemented on five plots over 2 yr with piles of cut oranges distributed around plots, which served as a direct source of carbohydrates and water, and an indirect source of ground arthropods due to increased above-ground activity. We reduced ants on five plots over 2 yr; however, we found no difference in total ground arthropod biomass between control and reduction treatments, so we pooled these plots for analysis. We selected nine focal resident bird species for study of relative abundance, body condition, and breeding condition. Birds were sampled prior to, and 5 to 6 weeks after the initiation of treatments. Seven of nine species had higher relative abundance following food supplementation. Three species were recaptured more frequently in supplementation plots than in control plots. These abundance and persistence responses did not cause any changes in body condition. In one species, Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola), food supplementation resulted in higher concentrations of individuals in breeding condition. These results demonstrate a functional response to dry-season food availability and suggest a limiting mechanism. This study helps explain mechanisms by which bird populations respond to resource availability, and is the first successful plot-level food supplementation experiment for tropical forest birds. [source]

COSTS OF AN INDUCED IMMUNE RESPONSE ON SEXUAL DISPLAY AND LONGEVITY IN FIELD CRICKETS

EVOLUTION, Issue 10 2004
Alain Jacot
Abstract Immune system activation may benefit hosts by generating resistance to parasites. However, natural resources are usually limited, causing a trade-off between the investment in immunity and that in other life-history or sexually selected traits. Despite its importance for the evolution of host defense, state-dependent fitness costs of immunity received little attention under natural conditions. In a field experiment we manipulated the nutritional condition of male field crickets Gryllus campestris and subsequently investigated the effect of an induced immune response through inoculation of bacterial lipopolysaccharides. Immune system activation caused a condition-dependent reduction in body condition, which was proportional to the condition-gain during the preceding food-supplementation period. Independent of nutritional condition, the immune insult induced an enduring reduction in daily calling rate, whereas control-injected males fully regained their baseline level of sexual signaling following a temporary decline. Since daily calling rate affects female mate choice under natural conditions, this suggests a decline in male mating success as a cost of induced immunity. Food supplementation enhanced male life span, whereas the immune insult reduced longevity, independent of nutritional status. Thus, immune system activation ultimately curtails male fitness due to a combined decline in sexual display and life span. Our field study thus indicates a key role for fitness costs of induced immunity in the evolution of host defense. In particular, costs expressed in sexually selected traits might warrant the honest advertisement of male health status, thus representing an important mechanism in parasite-mediated sexual selection. [source]

Food supplementation with an olive (Olea europaea L.) leaf extract reduces blood pressure in borderline hypertensive monozygotic twins

PHYTOTHERAPY RESEARCH, Issue 9 2008
Tania Perrinjaquet-Moccetti
Abstract Hypertension is a harmful disease factor that develops unnoticed over time. The treatment of hypertension is aimed at an early diagnosis followed by adequate lifestyle changes rather than pharmacological treatment. The olive leaf extract EFLA®943, having antihypertensive actions in rats, was tested as a food supplement in an open study including 40 borderline hypertensive monozygotic twins. Twins of each pair were assigned to different groups receiving 500 or 1000 mg/day EFLA®943 for 8 weeks, or advice on a favourable lifestyle. Body weight, heart rate, blood pressure, glucose and lipids were measured fortnightly. Blood pressure changed significantly within pairs, depending on the dose, with mean systolic differences of ,6 mmHg (500 mg vs control) and ,13 mmHg (1000 vs 500 mg), and diastolic differences of ,5 mmHg. After 8 weeks, mean blood pressure remained unchanged from baseline in controls (systolic/diastolic: 133 ± 5/77 ± 6 vs 135 ± 11/80 ± 7 mmHg) and the low-dose group (136 ± 7/77 ± 7 vs 133 ± 10/76 ± 7), but had significantly decreased for the high dose group (137 ± 10/80 ± 10 vs 126 ± 9/76 ± 6). Cholesterol levels decreased for all treatments with significant dose-dependent within-pair differences for LDL-cholesterol. None of the other parameters showed significant changes or consistent trends. Concluding, the study confirmed the antihypertensive and cholesterol-lowering action of EFLA®943 in humans. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Effects of food supplementation on home-range size, reproductive success, productivity and recruitment in a small population of Iberian lynx

ANIMAL CONSERVATION, Issue 1 2010
J. V. López-Bao
Abstract In a conservation context, food supplementation is a management tool used to reverse the decline of food-limited populations by means of positive changes in behaviour and fitness that may be reflected in population parameters. The critically endangered Iberian lynx Lynx pardinus has suffered a dramatic decline primarily because of the severe drop of its main prey, the European wild rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus. To reverse this situation, a food supplementation programme has been implemented in Doñana, south-west Spain, since 2002. In this study, we assess the utility of providing artificial food to reduce home-range (HR) size, and to increase productivity, survival and recruitment in a scenario of low lynx density, as compared with reference data from the same population in the absence of extra food. Food supplementation produced a significant contraction of core areas, but not of complete lynx HRs. We did not detect any significant change in productivity or dispersal rates, but supplementation could have helped transient adult lynx to settle down. The positive effects of food supplementation may have been partly countered by factors such as inbreeding, Allee effects and disease outbreaks, whose effects may have been exacerbated in this small lynx population. Food supplementation, however, proved useful to retain individuals, to keep range sizes within their normal range of values, thus maintaining spatial organization, and to allow lynx reproduction and kitten survival in areas with very low prey density. Therefore, we recommend keeping an extensive and intensive supplementary feeding programme until the density of wild rabbits will enable the viability of this endangered lynx population. [source]

The role of food and colony size in sexual offspring production in a social insect: an experiment

ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 1 2007
JOUNI SORVARI
Abstract 1.,Large colonies of ants are known to have a higher propensity for sexual offspring production, probably owing to their high capacity to exploit food resources. 2.,The effects of food supplementation on the propensity for sexual offspring production, and whether it is linked with colony size, were investigated in an environment with poor resources (clear-cut areas). 3.,Large colony size was associated with a higher propensity for sexual offspring production in food-supplemented colonies, whereas in non-supplemented control colonies an association with colony size was not found. 4.,The results demonstrate that large colonies seem to have a higher capacity to exploit supplemented food. In addition, the production of sexual offspring was apparently limited by food availability in clear-cuts, especially for large colonies. [source]

Why do Both Parents Incubate in the Kentish Plover?

ETHOLOGY, Issue 8 2003
András Kosztolányi
Incubation by both parents is a common parental behaviour in many avian species. Biparental incubation is expected if the survival prospects of offspring are greatly raised by shared care, relative to the costs incurred by each parent. We investigated this proposition in the Kentish plover Charadrius alexandrinus, in which both parents incubate the clutch, but one parent (either the male or the female) usually deserts after hatching of the eggs. We carried out a mate-removal and food supplementation experiment to reveal both the role of the sexes and food abundance in maintaining biparental incubation by removing either the male or the female from the nest for a short period of time. In some nests we provided supplementary food for the parent that remained at the nest to reduce the costs of incubation, whereas other nests were left unsupplemented. Although males spent more time on incubation after their mate had been removed, females' incubation did not change. Notwithstanding the increased male incubation, total nest attentiveness was lower at uniparental nests than at biparental controls. However, incubation behaviour was not influenced by food supplementation. We conclude that offspring desertion during incubation is apparently costly in the Kentish plover, and this cost cannot be ameliorated with supplementary food. [source]

Population trends of Rooks Corvus frugilegus in Spain and the importance of refuse tips

IBIS, Issue 1 2008
PEDRO P. OLEA
Anthropogenic food from refuse tips can affect population dynamics in birds, especially gulls, but the evidence is mostly circumstantial. We combine analyses of long-term population data and natural experiments to show a positive effect of refuse tips on the growth of the Spanish breeding population of Rooks Corvus frugilegus. In this isolated population of around 2000 breeding pairs, monitored since 1976, birds in colonies less than 10 km from tips fed largely on refuse, particularly during periods of lowest natural food availability. Three lines of evidence support the hypothesis that the supply of refuse influenced breeding numbers, suggesting that this population is limited by food: 1) between 1976 and 2003, the two population nuclei that had access to tips increased 2.1 and 3.7 times more than that without a tip nearby; 2) annual colony growth between 1996 and 2003 was strongly correlated with the availability of tips when other potentially important variables were taken into account; 3) the number of breeding pairs in refuse-foraging colonies declined rapidly after the closure of the local tip and recovered only when a supply of refuse was restored. The effect of tips on colony growth was stronger when the availability of natural foraging habitat around the colonies was low, suggesting that anthropogenic food acts as a buffer against shortage of natural food. Artificial food supplementation may be an effective tool to increase the breeding population of target species, especially those facing a reduction of their foraging habitats. The potential effects on bird species of Directive 1999/31/CE, which is enforcing a massive closure of tips in Europe, are discussed. [source]

Oral fish cartilage polysaccharides in the treatment of photoageing: biophysical findings

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COSMETIC SCIENCE, Issue 2 2002
F. Distante
Synopsis The topically applied cosmetic products can be helpful in improving the aged skin condition. The present study shows how oral fish-cartilage food supplementation can be helpful in improving the treatment of ageing skin. A total of 30 healthy women with signs of skin ageing were studied. Fifteen of the women were treated with a food supplement based on polysaccharides derived from the fish cartilage and a natural mix of antioxidants for 2 months and the other 15 with a placebo. Clinical evaluation and biophysical parameters related to skin function and wrinkle severity, such as silicone replica, skin thickness, mechanical properties, skin colour and capacitance, were measured. The results showed statistically significant changes in the active-treated group in comparison to the placebo. In particular, dermal thickness (treatment: from 1.13 to 1.23 mm; P < 0.001), skin wrinkling (treatment: from 9.5 to 3.5 Ra; P< 0.002), skin colour (treatment: brighter and less pigmented; P < 0.02) and viscoelasticity (treatment: from 0.70 to 0.97%; P < 0.02) showed considerable improvement. Most of these parameters are related to changes occurring within the dermal matrix, which is improved after the treatment, whereas most of the topically applied cosmetic products have a short-term effect on superficial structures. A combination treatment (oral and topical) can be more effective in reducing the signs of skin-ageing. Résumé Les produits cosmétiques en topiques locaux ont montré leur efficacité pour ralentir le vieillissement cutané. Cette étude montre qu'un traitement oral, à base de cartilage de poisson sous forme de suppléments nutritifs, peut être un complément efficace dans le traitement du vieillissement cutané. 30 femmes en bonne santé présentant des signes de vieillissement cutané ont été incluses dans notre étude. 15 d'entre elles ont reçu pendant 2 mois une supplémentation alimentaire à base de polysaccharides dérivés de cartilage de poisson, associée à un mélange normal d'antioxydants. Les 15 autres femmes ont été traitées avec un placebo. Les paramètres cliniques et biophysiques suivants, évaluant la fonction de la peau et la sévérité des rides ont été mesurés: réplica?? de silicone, épaisseur de la peau, propriétés mécaniques, couleur de peau et état d'hydratation cutanée. Les résultats ont mis en évidence des changements significatifs entre le groupe placebo et le groupe traité pour les paramètres étudiés. En particulier, l'épaisseur cutanée (traitement: de 1.13 à 1.23 mm; P < 0.001), les rides (traitement: de 9.5 à,3.5 Ra; P < 0.002), la couleur de la peau (traitement: plus claire et moins pigmentée; P < 0.02) et la visco-élasticité (traitment: de 0.70 à 0.97%; P < 0.02) ont été considérablement améliorées. La plupart de ces paramètres sont liées aux changements qui se produisent en profondeur dans la matrice dermique, alors que la plupart des produits cosmétiques topiques ont un effet à court terme sur les structures superficielles. La combinaison d'un traitement oral associéà un traitement local peut être plus efficace dans la prévention du vieillissement cutané. [source]

Effects of forage availability on growth and maturation rates in water voles

JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 6 2008
Tom P. Moorhouse
Summary 1In populations of small mammals, food supplementation typically results in higher population densities, body weights, growth rates and reproductive rates. However, few studies have demonstrated a relationship between forage levels and demographic rates in wild populations in the absence of supplementation. 2We examined the association of levels of available forage with individual growth rates and time to sexual maturity in eight re-introduced and three naturally occurring populations of water voles (Arvicola terrestris). 3Range sizes were smaller at sites with higher population densities. Mean forage availability and individual growth rates covaried with range size at each site. 4The weight at which water voles became sexually mature was 112 g for females and 115 g for males and did not vary between study sites. Differences in growth rates therefore translated into differences in the time taken to reach maturity between sites. 5In the re-introduced populations, mean days to maturity varied inversely with mean range length. Females took 7 days (18%, range 40,47 days) longer and males 5 days (13%, range 40,45 days) longer to reach breeding condition at the sites with the shortest mean range lengths. 6Evidence from this study suggests a possible mechanism by which increased population densities may reduce maturation rates in water voles through a reduction in mean range size, thereby limiting the availability of forage to each individual. [source]

Sex differences in weight perception and nutritional behaviour in adults with cystic fibrosis

JOURNAL OF HUMAN NUTRITION & DIETETICS, Issue 2 2001
S. Walters
Introduction Good nutritional status in cystic fibrosis (CF) is associated with improved clinical status and survival. In some conditions where dietary and pharmacological treatment are important (e.g. diabetes), a combination of eating disorders and failure of treatment compliance has been reported. Cases of eating disorders have been reported in CF. Societal pressures on young women to remain slim may compromise optimum clinical management as women are content to remain underweight. Objective To determine whether women have different perception of their weight than men with CF and whether this manifests in different nutritional behaviour. Methods Confidential postal questionnaire to 1870 adults with CF in 1994 known to the Association of Cystic Fibrosis Adults (UK). Participants were asked their own weight and height, and their perception of their weight. Very underweight was defined as < 85% ideal body weight, underweight as 85,94%, normal weight as 95,104%, overweight as 105,114% and very overweight as 115% and over. Results A significantly higher proportion of women than men who are very underweight (29% vs. 11%) or underweight (41% vs. 15%) saw themselves as being of normal weight or overweight. Conversely, a significantly higher proportion of men than women who were normal weight (42% vs. 19%) saw themselves as underweight. All P -values < 0.01. A significantly higher proportion of people who perceived themselves to be underweight were taking oral or enteral food supplements compared with those who did not (77% vs. 30%, P < 0.05). Multiple logistic regression showed that perception of self as underweight was the strongest predictor of taking oral or enteral food supplements (adjusted odds ratio 2.42), even after adjustment for age, sex, overall severity score, body mass index, and seeing a dietitian in the last year. Conclusion Young women with CF tend to overestimate their weight, and young men with CF underestimate their weight when compared with their actual body weight. Perception of self as underweight is reflected in nutritional behaviour, being a significant predictor of taking oral and enteral food supplements. People working with young patients with CF should be aware of these sex differences in weight perception, and work with young women and young men with CF to achieve a realistic perception of body weight and realistic nutritional goals. There is a need for further research into body image, weight perception, eating behaviour and adherence to pancreatic enzyme supplementation and oral and enteral food supplementation in young patients with CF. [source]

Variable but predictable prey availability affects predator breeding success: natural versus experimental evidence

JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY, Issue 4 2008
A. Millon
Abstract Food supply is a major source of variation in breeding success for predators, and to what extent individuals are able to cope with temporal variability in food availability remains an outstanding question in life-history studies. We confronted the natural variation in clutch size and breeding success with results from a food supplementation experiment during egg formation, conducted over several contrasted years of natural food supply in an avian specialist predator, the Montagu's harrier Circus pygargus. This raptor mainly preys on common vole Microtus arvalis a cyclic microtine under temperate latitudes. Vole abundance together with timing of breeding accounted for most of the variance in clutch size and number of fledglings. Results from empirical and experimental data were overall in agreement. Fed pairs consistently increased clutch size compared with controls in all experimental years, whereas no effect of food supplementation on egg volume was detected. Supplemented pairs, however, did not fledge significantly more chicks than controls. The costs entailed by the increase in clutch size appear nevertheless to be limited compared with previous studies. Food supply seemed therefore to display sufficient predictability throughout a breeding season to afford individuals the opportunity to adjust their breeding effort to an optimal number of offspring, in agreement with Lack's anticipation hypothesis. [source]

The role of food supplementation in the treatment of the infertile couple and for assisted reproduction

ANDROLOGIA, Issue 5 2010
F. Comhaire
Summary Couple infertility commonly results from the synergistic negative influence of several factors. External factors, related to life-style and environmental exposure, reinforce the effects of congenital or acquired damage through direct toxicity, hormone disruption and overload of reactive oxygen species. Combating obesity, correcting inappropriate diet, and banning the abuse of tobacco and alcohol are part of the integrated approach of the infertile couple. Nutraceuticals are judiciously formulated food supplements containing particular vitamins, antioxidants, minerals and plant extracts. There is strong evidence that complementary treatment with an appropriate nutraceutical improves the natural conception rate of infertile couples and increases the success rate of assisted reproductive techniques. [source]