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Mean Intake (mean + intake)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Impact of changing diet regimes on Steller sea lion body condition

MARINE MAMMAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2008
Shannon Atkinson
Abstract A leading theory for the cause of the decline of Steller sea lions is nutritional stress, which led to chronic high juvenile mortality and possibly episodic adult mortality. Nutritional stress may have resulted from either poor quality or low abundance of prey. The objective of this study was to determine whether we could predict shifts in body condition (i.e., body mass or body fat content) over different seasons associated with a change in diet (i.e., toward lower quality prey). Captive Steller sea lions (n= 3) were fed three different diet regimes, where Diet 1 approximated the diet in the Kodiak area in the 1970s prior to the documented decline in that area, Diet 2 approximated the species composition in the Kodiak area after the decline had begun, and Diet 3 approximated the diet in southeast Alaska where the Steller sea lion population has been increasing for over 25 yr. All the animals used in this study were still growing and gained mass regardless of diet. Body fat (%) varied between 13% and 28%, but was not consistently high or low for any diet regime or season. Mean intake (in kg) of Diet 2 was significantly greater for all sea lions during all seasons. All animals did, however, tend to gain less body mass on Diets 2 and 3, as well as during the breeding and postbreeding seasons. They also tended to gain more mass during the winter and on Diet 1, though these differences were not statistically significant. Thus, changing seasonal physiology of Steller sea lions appears to have more impact on body condition than quality of prey, provided sufficient quantity of prey is available. Steller sea lions are opportunistic predators and are evidently able to thrive on a variety of prey. Our results indicate that Steller sea lions are capable of compensating for prey of low quality. [source]

Milk formulas in acute gastroenteritis and malnutrition: A randomized trial

JOURNAL OF PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH, Issue 6 2002
RH Kukuruzovic
Objective: To compare three low-lactose milk formulas differing in osmolality and degree of protein hydrolysis in the treatment of diarrhoea and malnutrition in subjects with high rates of lactose intolerance, osmotic diarrhoea and a tropical/environmental enteropathy. Methods: A randomized double-blind trial of 180 Aboriginal children under 3 years of age admitted with acute diarrhoea and/or malnutrition was carried out. The intervention milk formulas were: (i) De-Lact, a low-osmolality lactose-free formula; (ii) O-Lac, a lactose-free formula; and (iii) Alfaré, a partially hydrolysed formula. Outcome measures were diarrhoeal severity, weight gain, formula palatability and changes in intestinal permeability (L/R ratios). Results: The duration of diarrhoea in days (mean; 95% confidence interval) was significantly longer on Alfaré (8.5; 7.0,10.0) compared to De-Lact (6.1; 5.0,7.2) and O-Lac (6.9; 5.6,8.1; P = 0.04). There were no differences in mean intake between formulas, but palatability of Alfaré was significantly worse (P < 0.01) than the other formulas. Over the trial 5 days, improvement in L/R ratios was significantly greater (P = 0.05) for De-Lact (18.6; 10.6,26.6) than for Alfaré (8.5; 2.1,14.9). Weight gain was not significantly different between the three formulas, except in a malnourished subgroup who had better weight gain on De-Lact (P = 0.05). Conclusions: In these Aboriginal children with diarrhoea and growth failure, a low osmolality milk was associated with better outcomes and a partially hydrolysed formula with less improvement in mucosal recovery, suggesting that cow's milk protein intolerance is not contributing to greater diarrhoeal severity or enteropathy in Aboriginal children. [source]

Consumption of vegetables alters morning urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin concentration

JOURNAL OF PINEAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2008
Shino Oba
Abstract:, Melatonin, which is contained in certain vegetables, may have an influence on circulatory melatonin concentrations. This study examined the effects of the consumption of vegetables on 6-sulfatoxymelatonin concentrations in morning urine. Ninety-four healthy women aged 24,55 were recruited through a city public health center in Japan. The women randomly allocated to the intervention group were requested to consume high amounts of six selected vegetables, with a target of 350 g/day for 65 days, while those in the control group were asked to avoid the same six vegetables during the same period. First-void morning urine was collected before and at the end of the intervention period, and creatinine-adjusted 6-sulfatoxymelatonin concentrations were measured. At the end of the intervention period, daily mean intake of melatonin from the six vegetables was 1288.0 ng in the intervention group and 5.3 ng in the control group. In the intervention group, the mean concentration of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin changed from 48.1 [95% confidence interval (CI): 40.4,57.2] ng/mg creatinine to 49.6 (95% CI: 42.8,57.3) ng/mg creatinine across the intervention period. In the control group, the mean concentration of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin changed from 55.5 (95% CI: 48.7,63.2) ng/mg creatinine to 50.8 (95% CI: 44.0,58.7) ng/mg creatinine across the intervention period. A comparison of the two groups with regard to the changes in the 6-sulfatoxymelatonin concentrations across the intervention period showed a significant difference (P = 0.03). The results indicate that increased consumption of vegetables raises circulatory melatonin concentrations. [source]

Modeling Data with Excess Zeros and Measurement Error: Application to Evaluating Relationships between Episodically Consumed Foods and Health Outcomes

BIOMETRICS, Issue 4 2009
Victor Kipnis
Summary Dietary assessment of episodically consumed foods gives rise to nonnegative data that have excess zeros and measurement error. Tooze et al. (2006,,Journal of the American Dietetic Association,106, 1575,1587) describe a general statistical approach (National Cancer Institute method) for modeling such food intakes reported on two or more 24-hour recalls (24HRs) and demonstrate its use to estimate the distribution of the food's usual intake in the general population. In this article, we propose an extension of this method to predict individual usual intake of such foods and to evaluate the relationships of usual intakes with health outcomes. Following the regression calibration approach for measurement error correction, individual usual intake is generally predicted as the conditional mean intake given 24HR-reported intake and other covariates in the health model. One feature of the proposed method is that additional covariates potentially related to usual intake may be used to increase the precision of estimates of usual intake and of diet-health outcome associations. Applying the method to data from the Eating at America's Table Study, we quantify the increased precision obtained from including reported frequency of intake on a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) as a covariate in the calibration model. We then demonstrate the method in evaluating the linear relationship between log blood mercury levels and fish intake in women by using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and show increased precision when including the FFQ information. Finally, we present simulation results evaluating the performance of the proposed method in this context. [source]