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Calcium intakes of New Zealand male and female adolescents
Get PDFBackground: Calcium requirements during adolescence are high due to rapid skeletal growth throughout this key life stage. Increased peak bone mass has been found to decrease risk of osteoporosis in later life. Peak bone mass achieved during adolescence is determined by the degree of positive calcium balance achieved in this period. Given the current burden of osteoporosis in the aged population of New Zealand, investigation of dietary calcium intake in adolescents could help contribute to optimal bone health as these adolescents move into adulthood.
Objective: To assess the current dietary calcium intake of New Zealand male and female adolescents aged 15-18 years. Key food sources of dietary calcium will also be examined.
Design: This cross-sectional cluster study carried out across 2019/20 collected data on demographics, dietary habits, food choices and motivations, weight loss methods and intentions using online questionnaires. The participant’s food and beverage intakes were assessed using two non-consecutive 24 hr dietary recalls. Dietary data was entered into the nutrient analysis software Foodworks, which calculated mean daily energy and calcium intake data for each participant. Prevalence of inadequate calcium intake was assessed using the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) cut-point method.
Results: A total of 266 females and 135 males participated in the study with calcium intake calculated for 243 females and 102 males. The majority of participants identified as New Zealand European or other (57% of males, 78% of females), with 32% of males identifying as Asian, compared to 3.4% of females. Mean (standard deviation) energy intakes were 10,077 kJ/day (3215) for males and 7959 kJ/day (1781) for females. Median (inter-quartile range) calcium intakes were 935 mg/day (656, 1222) for males and 711 mg/day (551,915) for females. Prevalence of inadequate calcium intake (based on EAR of 1050 mg/day) was 63% for males and 85% for females. Milk was the top food source contributor to calcium intake, providing 17% and 28% of average daily calcium for males and females respectively.
Conclusion: Findings from this study reflect a high prevalence of inadequate calcium intakes in the New Zealand adolescent population, particularly in females. The results indicate there is likely a large proportion of adolescents who are at high risk of osteoporosis in later life. Dietitians should continuously consider practical ways to assist this population group in meeting such calcium high requirements. Further investigation into the calcium intake and correlating bone health specifically of this population within New Zealand may be required
Clothing Upcycling in Otago (Ōtākou) and the Problem of Fast Fashion
Get PDFThis dissertation employs qualitative inductive research methods to address the ‘problem of global fast fashion’. Currently the global production of garments is 62 million tonnes per annum with the majority of production occurring in the world’s poorest countries with limited human rights and labour and environmental protections. From 1994 to 2018 following the easing of trade protections in Developing countries and internationally, there has been a 400% increase in the tonnage of clothing produced internationally. This figure is only escalating. As the level of global clothing waste grows following global clothing consumption rates, the drive to expand the market is fueling the production of vast amounts of poor-quality textiles and resultant textile waste. In Developed countries 67% of textile waste is commercially on-sold as second-hand clothing to mostly Developing countries. The need for ever cheaper fashion production processes creates ethical concerns for global garment workers and those who sort and dispose of garment waste. Garment workers are 80% women and often women of colour living in Developing countries with few employment options.
Meanwhile, textile practitioners and clothing designers in Westernised countries such as New Zealand, are experiencing heightened job precarity and an increasingly diminished space to exercise creativity, sustainable innovation, and social critique. The research interviews local Otago (Ōtākou) textile practitioners who upcycle clothing within their practice assessing how these localised creative actions connect to the larger global ‘slow fashion’ movement, including the ‘clothing upcycling’ movement. This method involves the reutilization of discarded textiles and clothes to make items of a higher value than the original materials. The slow fashion movement uses a systems-based theory to illustrate the global ‘fast fashion’ network demonstrating that constructive input is needed from all players; industry, government, practitioners, and the public/consumer to develop a more sustainable fashion system.
This research takes a practitioner-focused angle to situating the issue of fast fashion viewing clothing upcycling as a form of ‘creative social enterprise’ and a ‘designer/activist’ role necessary in shifting the current fashion consumption and textile waste paradigm. Participants are employing a form of politics through their expression of difference. This politic can also be viewed as a post-human approach to fashion in that it is a movement responding to its time. This also links textile upcycling to historic Western fashion movements responding to Industrialism through a return to crafting.
The reasons the participants upcycle textiles, the textile and design methods they employ, the organising principles within their practice and the ideas they convey through their work all speak to the global fast fashion system and possible sustainable and more equitable fashion alternatives.
As an integral feature of the research design, a public Clothing Upcycling Seminar was held on April 24th, 2019. This day marked the anniversary of the Rana Plaza Disaster. This decision demonstrated support for the Fashion Revolution’s political stance and coordinated approach to critically examine the social and economic inequalities and human and environmental dangers of the global fashion system while celebrating and encouraging international localised slow fashion actions
Re-historicising dissolved identities: Deskaheh, the League of Nations and the international legal discourse on Indigenous peoples
No full textIn 1923, Levi General Deskaheh sought recognition from the League of Nations of the Six Nations’ sovereignty and right to self-determination. Although scholars have good reasons for retroactively identifing Deskaheh as a representative of Indigenous peoples, doing so dissolves the identities of historical and present-day subjects, which has a number of invidious consequences.Peer Reviewe
Rationalising meat consumption: the perception of meat as natural, necessary, normal or nice in non-vegetarian adolescent males and females in New Zealand
No full textBackground: the consumption of meat has attracted considerable attention in recent years, in regard to negative health outcomes, environmental impact and animal welfare. Research suggests that adults justify their meat consumption as either ‘natural’, ‘necessary’, ‘normal’ or ‘nice’, however, little is known in regard to adolescents, both worldwide and in New Zealand. Nutritional requirements increase during adolescence due to their rapid growth and development, as too does autonomy surrounding food choices, as they develop and become increasingly aware of their personal values. Dietary habits developed during adolescence may track into adulthood, therefore creating favourable habits is important for short- and long-term health outcomes. Developing consumer-orientated strategies for a transition to a more plant-based diet first requires an understanding of the perceived benefits adolescents hold and how they rationalise their continued consumption of meat.
Objective: The primary objective is to describe the perceptions of meat consumption as ‘natural’, ‘necessary’, ‘normal’ or ‘nice’ by non-vegetarian male and female adolescents aged 15-18 years. The secondary objectives are to describe how these perceptions differ between males and females, and how they are related to meat consumption patterns.
Design: The Survey of Nutrition Dietary Assessment and Lifestyle (SuNDiAL) project was a cross-sectional study aiming to compare the dietary intakes and habits, nutrition status, motivations, attitudes and physical activity of male and female adolescents aged 15- 18 years in New Zealand. This thesis used questionnaire data, including the ‘4Ns’ questionnaire, which assessed the adolescents’ perception of meat consumption as ‘natural’, ‘necessary’, ‘normal’ or ‘nice’, and the Dietary Habits questionnaire, which assessed meat consumption patterns.
Results: Males endorsed all 4N constructs with a higher level of agreement than females. The ‘nice’ subscale had the highest level of endorsement overall for both males and females (mean 5.0 and 4.5 respectively) whereas the ‘necessary’ subscale had the lowest in both males and females (mean 4.3 and 4.0 respectively). At least half of the male adolescents consumed red and processed meats three times per week, whereas at least half of female adolescents consumed red and processed meats more than five times per week.
Males with a high self-reported weekly consumption of red meat, endorsed ‘normal’ and ‘nice’ the most, whereas a high consumption of poultry showed a greater endorsement for ‘natural’ and ‘necessary’. In females, higher self-reported weekly consumption of red meat, showed a greater endorsement of all 4N subscales. As consumption of poultry increased, so too did their endorsement of all 4N subscales.
Conclusion: Male and female adolescents agreed most strongly that meat is tasty (‘nice’) and agreed less strongly that meat is necessary for survival (‘necessary’), suggesting they are more driven by the taste and pleasure they receive from meat consumption, rather than potential health benefits
Effects of Secreted Amyloid Precursor Protein-Alpha Peptide Fragments on Glutamate Receptor Subunit Trafficking in the Rat Hippocampus
No full textGlutamate receptors play a key role in synaptic plasticity mechanisms and are critical for learning and memory function. Deficits in synaptic plasticity and glutamate receptor functioning are observed in disease states like Alzheimer’s disease, and finding potential therapies for such disease states remains a major global endeavour. Previous research has found that secreted amyloid precursor protein-alpha (sAPPα) has multiple plasticity promoting effects. The aims of the current project were to identify the potential glutamate receptor trafficking promoting effects of functional regions of sAPPα, specifically the peptide CTα16, located at the C-terminal, and RER, located in the E2 domain. Rat hippocampal slices and primary hippocampal cultures were treated with sAPPα and peptides in acetylated form, Ac-CTα16 and Ac-RER for 30 minutes. Analyses of total and cell-surface expression of glutamate receptor subunits GluA1, GluN1, and GluN2A, within hippocampal slices were completed via western blot. Immunofluorescence (mean intensity and puncta density) corresponding to surface and internal GluA1 was analysed using confocal imaging of hippocampal cultures. It was hypothesized that Ac-CTα16 and Ac-RER treatments would upregulate trafficking of GluA1 and GluN1 to the cell surface. Paired t-tests revealed no increases in membrane or total glutamate subunit levels in hippocampal slices. One-way ANOVA revealed a significant increase in cell-surface and intracellular intensities, as well as the density of cell-surface puncta in hippocampal cultures, following Ac-RER treatment. These results failed to replicate the previous finding that sAPPα increases glutamate receptor trafficking, and also indicated that Ac-CTα16 does not increase glutamate trafficking under these conditions, unlike Ac-RER. Additional investigation into the specific changes associated with the RER peptide in slices, including potential effects on other receptor subunits and the localization of detected GluA1-containing receptor increases, may support the development of RER-based peptide therapy
Dietary Fibre intakes and the main food sources of fibre in New Zealand adolescents
Get PDFBackground: The mean fibre intakes for 15-18-year old females from the last national nutrition survey (2008/09 New Zealand Adult Nutrition Survey) was 16.0 grams/day, well below the Adequate Intake (AI) for this age group of 22.0 grams/day. Adolescent male’s fibre was at 21.9 g/day, which was also below the AI for their age group of 28 g/day. Given the role of dietary fibre in optimal health promotion, an update on the dietary fibre intakes of New Zealand adolescents is justified as it is unknown how intakes may have changed over time.
Objective: To assess the dietary fibre intakes and identify the main food groups contributing to fibre intake with secondary aims of examining the association between fibre and bodyweight and correlation with bowel habits.
Methods: The Survey of Nutrition Dietary Assessment and Lifestyle (SuNDiAL) study is two-year multi-centre, cross-sectional survey in New Zealand that was conducted in 2019 and 2020. Data were collected across three points; February-April 2019, July- August 2019 and February-April 2020 throughout New Zealand. Nationwide, adolescents aged 15-18 were recruited from high schools from eight locations nationwide in Dunedin, Wellington, Christchurch, Rotorua, Tauranga, New Plymouth, Wanaka and Auckland. Anthropometric measures were measured using standard protocols and used to calculate body mass index z- scores. Sociodemographic and bowel habits were self-reported with an online semi- quantitative questionnaire through REDCap. Dietary data were obtained via two interviewer- led 24-hour multi-pass dietary recalls on non-consecutive days, with a second recall via phone or video call. The dietary data were entered into FoodWorks 9 (Xyris Software, Australia) for each participant and analysed for nutrient content to estimate mean fibre intakes.
Results: Two hundred and sixty six female and 135 male participants were enrolled. Of the sample, 344 participants completed one 24-hr recall with 281 of those completing a second recall. The mean dietary fibre intake of adolescent females was 24.1 g/day (95% CI: 22.2, 25.9), which was higher than the AI for their age group (22g /day). Mean dietary fibre intake in adolescent males was 24.0 g/day (95% CI: 22.1, 25.8), which was lower than their AI (28 g/day). The top five food sources contributing to fibre intake were bread; grains and pasta; fruits; vegetables and breakfast cereals in both males and females. Bread made the greatest contribution to fibre in males, and fruits and vegetables and bread contributed in equal amounts in females. Dietary fibre intake was positively associated with energy intake, however, a higher fibre intake was associated with a lower bodyweight in females and in males after energy adjustment. A bowel habits questionnaire was completed by 129 males and 124 females. Overall, males and females both tended to have frequent and regular bowel motions regardless of fibre intake (R² = 0.0099).
Conclusion: Adolescent females had higher mean fibre intakes their AI whilst adolescent male’s dietary fibre intake was lower than their AI. Given the influence of dietary fibre on chronic disease prevention, encouraging adolescents, males in particular, to increase fibre-dense foods may help in achieving their AI for dietary fibre
The MOA Programme
No full textThe research outputs featured in this abridged selection provide evidence regarding the burdent of osteoarthritis in the NZ adult population, and the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and stakeholder acceptability of treatments for osteoarthritis.
The evidence we provide ranges from primary randomised controlled trials, clinical trials, systematic literature reviews, health economics and stakeholder preferences research, to computer simulation modelling using our bespoke NZ-MOA state transition microsimulation model of the progression, costs and consequences of osteoarthritis and its treatments in the NZ population.
This evidence culminates in a Policy Brief, that recommends actions for the management of osteoarthritis in the NZ public health system.
Professor J. Haxby Abbott
Principal Investigator, Management of Ostoearthritis programme
& Director, Centre for Musculoskeletal Outcomes Researc
A Quantitative Survey of Consumer Perceptions of Smart Food Packaging in China
Get PDFThis study quantified the acceptability of smart food packaging technologies and determined their associations with sociodemographic, attitudinal, and behavioral characteristics of consumers in China. Two quantitative surveys were conducted using an intercept method in Beijing with one for intelligent food packaging and the other for active food packaging. Chi-square tests of independence and contingency tables were used to determine the acceptability of smart food packaging and significant associations with multiple variables. Smart packaging was accepted by 56% of participants in both surveys. Marital status and employment status were associated with the acceptance of active packaging, while consumer interactions with current food packaging were associated with the acceptance of intelligent packaging. Acceptance of both active and intelligent packaging was associated with trust in multiple institutions. This study is the first to provide broad information about Chinese consumers' acceptance of smart packaging technologies for food products. Findings from this research can contribute to further detailed consumer studies in product-specific packaging designs
Vitamin B12 Intakes and Contributing Food Groups of Adolescent Males in New Zealand
No full textBackground: Vitamin B12 is an essential co-factor in the one-carbon pathway, with inadequate intake eventually leading to impaired B12 function characterized by megaloblastic anaemia and neurological dysfunction. Adolescent males may be at risk of vitamin B12 deficiency due to increased requirements secondary to growth and poor diet quality. Since the last nationally representative population survey of vitamin B12 intake in 2008/09, there has been a shift across the OECD towards a more plant-based dietary pattern, potentially decreasing the consumption of dietary B12 inherent to flesh foods and dairy products. Ultimately, the current vitamin B12 intake of adolescent New Zealand males is unknown, emphasizing the need for further research in this area.
Objective: To assess the usual intake and adequacy of dietary vitamin B12 among adolescent males in New Zealand and determine the major food group contributors of vitamin B12 intake.
Design: The present study was part of a larger multi-centre cross-sectional survey of 135 adolescent males aged 15-17 years across New Zealand (Survey of Nutrition, Dietary Assessment and Lifestyles, SuNDiAL). For the purpose of the thesis, usual intakes of vitamin B12 were assessed. Participants were recruited from six secondary schools between February and March 2020. Socio-demographics, dietary habits, supplement use, attitudes and food choice motivation were assessed via an online questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements of height and weight were also collected and used to determine BMI z- score, with classification of participants as normal, overweight and obese. Dietary energy and vitamin B12 intakes were estimated using two 24-hour recalls, adjusted to establish “usual intake” using the Multiple Source Method (MSM), adequacy was determined by comparing usual intake to the estimated average requirement (EAR). The percent contribution of vitamin B12 intake from 33 major food groups were determined and ranked.
Results: Of 135 participants who completed enrolment into the study, 102 completed one 24- hr dietary recall and 72 completed the second dietary recall. The usual median (IQR) intake of vitamin B12 was 4.2 (3.9, 4.5) μg/day, with 10% of participants not achieving recommended intakes. The usual median (IQR) vitamin B12 intake appeared higher among older participants (4.6 (2.2) μg/day) and those classified as overweight (4.5 (1.9) μg/day) compared to their respective counterparts. Notably, the greatest prevalence of inadequate intake appeared in participants from the most deprived neighbourhoods (NZdepIndex 8-10), with a prevalence of inadequacy of 25%. Milk was widely consumed by most participants (75%) and as such, was ranked the largest contributor to vitamin B12 intake (21%), followed by poultry (10%), beef and veal (9.5%), fish and seafood (7.6%) and lastly, bread-based dishes (6.7%). Supplement intake was reported by 30% (37 of 122) of participants who completed the dietary habits survey – of which, 35% (13 of 37) reported consuming a B12-containing multivitamin at least once weekly. No single vitamin B12 supplemental intake was reported.
Conclusion: Despite world-wide trends toward consuming a diet rich in plant-based foods and fewer animal source foods, adolescent males in the present study had a relatively low risk of vitamin B12 deficiency, however, those from lower socio- economic areas were at moderate risk for suboptimal intakes. Further research in a more representative population of adolescent males is required to confirm the at-risk subgroups identified herein
Vietnamese Consumers’ Preferences for Functional Milk Powder Attributes: A Segmentation-Based Conjoint Study with Educated Consumers
Get PDFThis paper investigated Vietnamese consumers’ preferences for functional milk powder products to determine if there were differences in market segments. A Qualtrics survey and a 1000minds choice-based conjoint survey were completed by 272 participants, predominantly 18-30-year-old males with high education levels and above average incomes. Firstly, general perceptions of the use of functional foods to maintain health were determined, with results revealing that participants believed in the benefits the foods claim to provide. Secondly, participants’ tradeoffs for specific extrinsic functional milk powder attributes were determined by examining the relative importance they placed on a range of attributes. Participants prioritized a quality stamp attribute and preferred that this was obtained from an international certification body. Finally, a two-step cluster analysis and multinomial logistic regression was used to profile the participants and analyze relationships between socio-demographic data and the four resulting segments (i.e., Food Safety Concerned, Price Sensitive, Premium Product Focused, and Nutrition Focused). The largest of these segments was Food Safety Concerned (46.3%) with males significantly less likely than females to be in this segment. Given the limited literature on Vietnamese consumers’ decision-making processes, this study is an important contribution to this topic, as well as providing information about market opportunities