The effects of pregnancy-related changes in eating attitudes and behaviours on nutritional status.

BACKGROUND: During pregnancy, the requirements of essential nutrients for the mother and foetus increase. The changes in pregnant women's eating behaviours may vary according to their sociodemographic characteristics. It is important to meet these increased requirements and understand the factors influencing eating habits during pregnancy. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine the effects of changes in pregnant women's eating attitudes and behaviours and their sociodemographic characteristics on their meeting status for nutrient recommendations. METHODS: Sociodemographic information, eating behaviours, and attitudes of 656 pregnant women were obtained in face-to-face interviews between February and June 2020. Food consumption records were taken with a 24-hour recall method and evaluated according to the estimated average requirement value. RESULTS: The average age of pregnant women was 29.0 ±â€…5.2 years, 28.0% were high school graduates, and 69.2% were non-working. The frequency of intakes below the estimated mean requirement value were iron, folic acid, vitamin B6, niacin, and calcium. It was demonstrated that there was a significant difference in snack consumption based on the working status and nutrition information obtained (P < .05). Getting nutrition information, age, education level, working status, and pre-pregnancy body mass index significantly increased food consumption (P < .05). CONCLUSION: Inadequate nutrient intake is a common public health problem in pregnant women. It is necessary to identify the sociodemographic characteristics that negatively impact pregnant women's nutritional status and to develop nutrition and health education programs based on these features.

Using Microbial Responses Viewer and a Regression Approach to Assess the Effect of pH, Activity of Water and Temperature on the Survival of Campylobacter spp.

This study aimed at developing a model for evaluating the survival of various Campylobacter jejuni strains under different conditions in culture media and poultry data from ComBase. Campylobacter data of culture media (116) and poultry (19) were collected from Microbial Responses Viewer, an additional tool of ComBase. The Weibull equation was selected as a suitable model for the analysis of survival data because of the nonlinearity of survival curves. Then, the fitting parameters (first reduction time and shape parameter) were analysed through a Kruskall-Wallis test and box-whisker plots, thus pointing out the existence of two classes of temperature (0-12 °C and 15-25 °C) and pH (4-6.5 and 7-7.5) acting on the viability of C. jejuni. Finally, a general regression model was used to build a comprehensive function; all factors were significant, but temperature was the most significant variable, followed by pH and water activity. In addition, desirability and prediction profiles highlighted a negative correlation of the first reduction time with temperature and a positive correlation with pH and water activity.