Sugar craving and stress levels during different phases of menstrual cycle among university students

@#Introduction: The menstrual cycle in women is often associated with appetite control, mood, and behavioural changes due to hormonal imbalance. However, levels of sugar craving and stress during pre- and post-menstrual periods have not been thoroughly studied. This cross-sectional study aimed to compare levels of stress and sugar cravings during different phases of menstrual cycle among university students. Methods: Participants aged 19–25 years were assessed for sugar craving and stress during pre- and post-menstrual periods. They were requested to fill out the Sugar Craving Assessment Tool (SCAT) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) questionnaires on the first day of menses (the pre-menses phase) by recalling how they felt throughout the past seven days. The participants completed the same set of questionnaires again two days after their menses ended (post-menses phase) by recalling how they felt within the previous two days. Results: Ninety-three students participated in the study. Pre-menstrual SCAT score (40.0±19.6) was higher than post-menstrual SCAT score (32.1±19.4), t(91)=4.82, p<0.001. Mean PSS-10 score was also higher before menstruation (22.8±6.2) than after menstruation (17.5±6.1), t(91)=6.26, p<0.001. There was no significant difference in mean sugar craving scores of different stress categories, either during pre-menses [F(2,90)=1.39, p=0.256] or post-menses [F(2,90)=0.89, p=0.415]. Conclusion: The findings indicate that levels of sugar craving and stress were higher during pre-menstrual phase compared to post-menstrual phase in young adults. However, whether sugar cravings are linked to stress during the menstrual cycle is inconclusive and requires further investigation.

The Effect of Eating Alone and Eating with Familiar or Unfamiliar Others on Food Intake: A Systematic Review

@#Aims and Design: Individuals’ food intake may vary depending on their situation and with whom they are having their meal. Thus this systematic review aimed to compare the effect of social facilitation between eating alone and eating with others, and evaluate the social modeling effect when eating with familiar or unfamiliar others, on food intake. Data Sources: Articles were screened and reviewed based on titles, abstracts and keywords. Inclusion criteria included experimental design, English language, open-accessed, and published from 1980 until the review was conducted in 2018. Review Methods: Using the PRISMA method, potential studies were identified on Science Direct, ProQuest, PubMed, Scopus, and BASE databases using two different keywords combinations. Results: Seventeen studies were included. For social facilitation, seven studies found that food intake increases when eating alone while five others stated it would increase when eating with others. One study suggested that it increases in both situations. For social modeling of food intake, two studies found that it commonly occurs when an individual eats in the presence of unfamiliar others, while one study reported that it happens more often with familiar others. Two other studies observed that social modeling occurs in both situations. Conclusion and Impact: Food intake tends to increase when eating alone than eating with others while the presence of familiar or unfamiliar others may either increase or limit an individual’s food consumption to socially match their co-eaters’ intake. Thus, good self-control is crucial for setting a dietary limit regardless of whether ones are eating alone or with familiar or unfamiliar others.

The Gadget Generation: Body Mass Index And Duration Of Physical Activity And Screen-Viewing Among Preschoolers In Kuantan, Pahang

@#Sedentary lifestyle due to physical inactivity and increased screen-viewing (SV) duration is one of the risk factors for childhood obesity. Thus, this study aimed to assess body mass index (BMI), SV and physical activity (PA) durations among children aged four-to-six years (N=284) attending kindergartens in urban and rural areas of Kuantan, Pahang. The SV and PA durations were estimated via a questionnaire completed by their parents. The preschoolers’ height and weight were measured using a stadiometer and a digital weighing scale, respectively. The BMI-for-age status was interpreted using the CDC growth charts and cut-off points. A total of 37.8% of respondents were underweight, 16.7% overweight/obese, while the rest had normal BMI. Almost 90% of the children were using electronic gadgets. In addition, 89.8% of them recorded >two hours/day of total SV duration, exceeding the international recommendation of <two hours/day of screen time and the Malaysian Dietary Guideline’s recommendation of <two hours/day of sedentary activity. Only 49.8% (on weekdays) and 75.4% (on weekends) of the children met the recommended one hour/day of moderate PA by the WHO. There were no significant differences of BMI, SV and PA durations between urban and rural respondents. The preschoolers in Kuantan were largely found to exceed the recommended SV duration and only half of them met the recommended PA duration on most days. This suggests that intervention is needed to curb these obesity-inducing sedentary behaviours due to long SV duration and physical inactivity among preschoolers across urban and rural areas of the Pahang capital district.

Intraocular Pressure: the Effect of Short-term Fasting and Its Association With Fluid and Fat Status

@#Introduction: Short-term fasting may influence intraocular pressure (IOP) due to alteration of fluid (total body water; TBW, and water intake) and fat (total body fat; TBF). This study aimed: i) to compare IOP values within and between, fasting and non-fasting periods; and ii) to assess the association between IOP and, TBW and TBF. Methods: Thirty healthy participants aged 21.8±1.1 years were assessed on two different periods (fasting vs. non-fasting). During each period, the IOP, TBW and TBF values were assessed for four times (morning, afternoon, evening, late-evening). The IOP was measured using AccuPen® tonopen, while TBW and TBF were assessed by using a Tanita body composition analyser. Results: During fasting, the IOP value in the afternoon (14.53±2.33 mmHg) was significantly higher than in the evening (12.43±2.73 mmHg, p=0.009) and late-evening (12.60±2.44 mmHg, p=0.003). No significant difference in IOP was observed during non-fasting period. The mean of IOP in the evening was significantly lower during fasting compared to non-fasting (12.43±2.73 mmHg vs 13.75±2.53 mmHg, p=0.044). The IOP and TBW were negatively correlated (r=-0.268; p=0.011) during non-fasting and showed no association during fasting period. There was no significant correlation between IOP and TBF during both fasting and non-fasting periods. Conclusion: IOP reduction during short-term fasting, together with the no association with TBF and TBW suggested that IOP is an independent factor that reduces during fasting in healthy population.

Maternal diet and its association with human milk energy and macronutrient composition among exclusively breastfeeding Malaysian Malay mothers

@# Introduction: This study aimed to determine the relationship of maternal dietary intake with human milk nutritional composition, among Malay mothers during the postpartum period of exclusive breastfeeding. Methods: Human milk samples (20- 30ml) were collected from mothers (n=32) at least once monthly for six months postpartum. Macronutrients and fatty acids contents were determined using proximate analysis and gas chromatography methods, respectively. Maternal dietary intakes were recorded using the multiple-pass diet recall method prior to each milk sampling and were analysed using the Nutritionist ProTM software. Associations between the milk composition and maternal diet were tested using Spearman correlation. Results: The energy content ranged between 49.6-59.2 kcal/100ml, protein 1.3-1.4 g/100ml, carbohydrate 6.5-9.7 g/100ml and total fat 6.5-9.7 g/100ml. The polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, and saturated fatty acids concentrations were 10.5-19.1 %, 40.6-43.5 %, and 38.0-49.7 %, respectively. During confinement (first month postpartum), total energy and total fat content of human milk were the highest whereas total carbohydrate was the lowest, compared to the rest of the exclusive breastfeeding period. In contrast, intakes of total calorie and total fat were the lowest, whereas protein was the highest during this period. However, no associations were detected between human milk nutritional contents and maternal dietary intake. Conclusion: In our study population, the composition of maternal diet and nutritional content of human milk differed between confinement and post-confinement periods. However, the association between maternal diet and human milk composition itself warrants further investigation.