•Plate size interventions resulted in up to 57% food waste reduction.•Changing nutritional guidelines in schools reduced vegetable waste by up to 28%.•Information campaigns had up to 28% food waste ...reduction.•Other intervention types had little or no robust evidence provided.•A greater number of longitudinal, larger sample size interventions are required.
Food waste prevention has become an issue of international concern, with Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 aiming to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels by 2030. However there is no review that has considered the effectiveness of interventions aimed at preventing food waste in the consumption stages of the food system. This significant gap, if filled, could help support those working to reduce food waste in the developed world, providing knowledge of what interventions are specifically effective at preventing food waste.
This paper fills this gap, identifying and summarizing food-waste prevention interventions at the consumption/consumer stage of the supply chain via a rapid review of global academic literature from 2006 to 2017.
We identify 17 applied interventions that claim to have achieved food waste reductions. Of these, 13 quantified food waste reductions. Interventions that changed the size or type of plates were shown to be effective (up to 57% food waste reduction) in hospitality environments. Changing nutritional guidelines in schools were reported to reduce vegetable waste by up to 28%, indicating that healthy diets can be part of food waste reduction strategies. Information campaigns were also shown to be effective with up to 28% food waste reduction in a small sample size intervention.
Cooking classes, fridge cameras, food sharing apps, advertising and information sharing were all reported as being effective but with little or no robust evidence provided. This is worrying as all these methods are now being proposed as approaches to reduce food waste and, except for a few studies, there is no reproducible quantified evidence to assure credibility or success. To strengthen current results, a greater number of longitudinal and larger sample size intervention studies are required. To inform future intervention studies, this paper proposes a standardised guideline, which consists of: (1) intervention design; (2) monitoring and measurement; (3) moderation and mediation; (4) reporting; (5) systemic effects.
Given the importance of food-waste reduction, the findings of this review highlight a significant evidence gap, meaning that it is difficult to make evidence-based decisions to prevent or reduce consumption-stage food waste in a cost-effective manner.
This paper reviews the current literature around the environmental impacts of dietary recommendations. The focus of the review is on collating evidence relating to environmental impacts of the ...dietary advice found in the World Health Organisation guidelines, and environmental impact literature: reducing the consumption of fat, reducing the consumption of meat-based protein and animal-based foods, and increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetables. The environmental impact of reducing dietary fat intake is unclear, although reducing consumption of the food category of edible fats and oils appears to have little impact. However most, but not all, studies support environmental benefits of a reduced consumption of animal-based foods and increased consumption of fruit and vegetables. In general, it appears that adhering to dietary guidelines reduces impact on the environment, but further study is required to examine the environmental impacts of animal-based foods, and fruit and vegetable intake in depth.
Stroke and circulatory arrest cause interferences in blood flow to the brain that result in considerable tissue damage. The primary method to reduce or prevent neurologic damage to patients suffering ...from brain ischemia is prompt restoration of blood flow to the ischemic tissue. However, paradoxically, restoration of blood flow causes additional damage and exacerbates neurocognitive deficits among patients who suffer a brain ischemic event. Mitochondria play a critical role in reperfusion injury by producing excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) thereby damaging cellular components, and initiating cell death. In this review, we summarize our current understanding of the mechanisms of mitochondrial ROS generation during reperfusion, and specifically, the role the mitochondrial membrane potential plays in the pathology of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion. Additionally, we propose a temporal model of ROS generation in which posttranslational modifications of key oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) proteins caused by ischemia induce a hyperactive state upon reintroduction of oxygen. Hyperactive OxPhos generates high mitochondrial membrane potentials, a condition known to generate excessive ROS. Such a state would lead to a “burst” of ROS upon reperfusion, thereby causing structural and functional damage to the mitochondria and inducing cell death signaling that eventually culminate in tissue damage. Finally, we propose that strategies aimed at modulating this maladaptive hyperpolarization of the mitochondrial membrane potential may be a novel therapeutic intervention and present specific studies demonstrating the cytoprotective effect of this treatment modality.
Chronic pain affects many people world-wide, and this number is continuously increasing. There is a clear link between chronic pain and the development of cardiovascular disease through activation of ...the sympathetic nervous system. The purpose of this review is to provide evidence from the literature that highlights the direct relationship between sympathetic nervous system dysfunction and chronic pain. We hypothesize that maladaptive changes within a common neural network regulating the sympathetic nervous system and pain perception contribute to sympathetic overactivation and cardiovascular disease in the setting of chronic pain. We review clinical evidence and highlight the basic neurocircuitry linking the sympathetic and nociceptive networks and the overlap between the neural networks controlling the two.
Sepsis is a common condition encountered by emergency and critical care physicians, with significant costs, both economic and human. Myocardial dysfunction in sepsis is a well-recognized but poorly ...understood phenomenon. There is an extensive body of literature on this subject, yet results are conflicting and no objective definition of septic cardiomyopathy exists, representing a critical knowledge gap.
In this article, we review the pathophysiology of septic cardiomyopathy, covering the effects of key inflammatory mediators on both the heart and the peripheral vasculature, highlighting the interconnectedness of these two systems. We focus on the extant literature on echocardiographic and laboratory assessment of the heart in sepsis, highlighting gaps therein and suggesting avenues for future research. Implications for treatment are briefly discussed.
As a result of conflicting data, echocardiographic measures of left ventricular (systolic or diastolic) or right ventricular function cannot currently provide reliable prognostic information in patients with sepsis. Natriuretic peptides and cardiac troponins are of similarly unclear utility. Heterogeneous classification of illness, treatment variability, and lack of formal diagnostic criteria for septic cardiomyopathy contribute to the conflicting results. Development of formal diagnostic criteria, and use thereof in future studies, may help elucidate the link between cardiac performance and outcomes in patients with sepsis.
To model dietary changes required to shift the UK population to diets that meet dietary recommendations for health, have lower greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) and are affordable for different income ...groups.
Linear programming was used to create diets that meet dietary requirements for health and reduced GHGE (57 and 80 % targets) by income quintile, taking account of food budgets and foods currently purchased, thereby keeping dietary change to a minimum.Setting/ParticipantsNutrient composition, GHGE and price data were mapped to 101 food groups in household food purchase data (UK Living Cost and Food Survey (2013), 5144 households).
Current diets of all income quintiles had similar total GHGE, but the source of GHGE differed by types of meat and amount of fruit and vegetables. It was possible to create diets with a 57 % reduction in GHGE that met dietary and cost restraints in all income groups. In the optimised diets, the food sources of GHGE differed by income group due to the cost and keeping the level of deviation from current diets to a minimum. Broadly, the changes needed were similar across all groups; reducing animal-based products and increasing plant-based foods but varied by specific foods.
Healthy and lower-GHGE diets could be created in all income quintiles but tailoring changes to income groups to minimise deviation may make dietary changes more achievable. Specific attention must be given to make interventions and policies appropriate for all income groups.
Overwhelming evidence shows that overconsumption of meat is bad for human and environmental health and that moving towards a more plant-based diet is more sustainable. For instance, replacing beef ...with beans in the US could free up 42% of US cropland and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 334 mmt, accomplishing 75% of the 2020 carbon reduction target. We summarise the evidence on how overconsumption of meat affects social, environmental and economic sustainability. We highlight the social, environmental and economic effectiveness of a range of dietary interventions that have been tested to date. Because meat eating is embedded within complex cultural, economic, and political systems, dietary shifts to reduce overconsumption are unlikely to happen quickly and a suite of sustained, context-specific interventions is likely to work better than brief, one-dimensional approaches. We conclude with key actions needed by global leaders in politics, industry and the health sector that could help aide this dietary transformation to benefit people and the planet.
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•Overconsumption of meat must decline to meet Sustainable Development Goals•We review the range and effectiveness of interventions to reduce meat overconsumption•Government and food supply chain buy-in are needed to transition to more sustainable diets
Recent high-level reports state the population should decrease meat consumption to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as improve public health. This calls for new strategies to change ...dietary habits, especially as many consumers are reluctant to eat less meat. This study tests the effect of labelling a meat-based ready meal with different levels of carbon footprint and healthiness on consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for these attributes. Participants took part in two sequential non-hypothetical discrete choice experiments (DCE). In the first experiment, they completed a DCE where the ready meals (i.e. beef lasagne) were labelled using a dual traffic light labelling system; one labelled for carbon footprint and one for healthiness. In the second experiment, participants repeated the DCE after they were told the carbon footprint and healthiness varied because of the meat and saturated fat content, respectively. The study found that participants were willing to pay a premium for the healthier lasagne and this did not change when they were given the information about saturated fat content. Participants were also willing to pay a premium for lasagne with a lower carbon footprint, but this decreased when they knew these meals contained less meat. Information about the meat content had the unintended consequence of discouraging people to buy lasagne with a low carbon footprint. The study provides an important insight for policy and industry into the effect of labelling information on consumers’ purchasing decisions at a time when people are being encouraged to eat less meat.
•Consumers will pay a higher premium for healthier and lower carbon footprint meals.•There is no clear preference for carbon footprint or healthiness in choosing a meal.•Knowledge of the meat content reduces WTP for a meal with a lower carbon footprint.•Reducing the saturated fat content of a meal is more acceptable than reducing meat.•Expected tastiness influences the WTP for meals when the meat content is disclosed.
Various fatty acyl lipid mediators are derived from dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and modulate nociception. The modern diet is rich in linoleic acid, which is associated with ...nociceptive hypersensitivities and may present a risk factor for developing pain conditions. Although recommendations about fatty acid intake exist for some diseases (e.g. cardiovascular disease), the role of dietary fatty acids in promoting pain disorders is not completely understood. To determine how dietary linoleic acid content influences the accumulation of pro- and anti-nociceptive fatty acyl lipid mediators, we created novel rodent diets using custom triglyceride blends rich in either linoleic acid or oleic acid. We quantified the fatty acyl lipidome in plasma of male and female rats fed these custom diets from the time of weaning through nine weeks of age. Dietary fatty acid composition determined circulating plasma fatty acyl lipidome content. Exposure to a diet rich in linoleic acid was associated with accumulation of linoleic and arachidonic acid-derived pro-nociceptive lipid mediators and reduction of anti-nociceptive lipid mediators derived from the omega-3 PUFAs. Our findings provide mechanistic insights into exaggerated nociceptive hypersensitivity associated with excessive dietary linoleic acid intake and highlight potential biomarkers for pain risk stratification.
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