Relationships among food label use, motivation, and dietary quality.

Nutrition information on packaged foods supplies information that aids consumers in meeting the recommendations put forth in the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans such as reducing intake of solid fats and added sugars. It is important to understand how food label use is related to dietary intake. However, prior work is based only on self-reported use of food labels, making it unclear if subjective assessments are biased toward motivational influences. We assessed food label use using both self-reported and objective measures, the stage of change, and dietary quality in a sample of 392 stratified by income. Self-reported food label use was assessed using a questionnaire. Objective use was assessed using a mock shopping task in which participants viewed food labels and decided which foods to purchase. Eye movements were monitored to assess attention to nutrition information on the food labels. Individuals paid attention to nutrition information when selecting foods to buy. Self-reported and objective measures of label use showed some overlap with each other (r=0.29, p<0.001), and both predicted dietary quality (p<0.001 for both). The stage of change diminished the predictive power of subjective (p<0.09), but not objective (p<0.01), food label use. These data show both self-reported and objective measures of food label use are positively associated with dietary quality. However, self-reported measures appear to capture a greater motivational component of food label use than do more objective measures

Misunderstanding of Front-Of-Package Nutrition Information on US Food Products.

Front-of-package nutrition symbols (FOPs) are presumably readily noticeable and require minimal prior nutrition knowledge to use. Although there is evidence to support this notion, few studies have focused on Facts Up Front type symbols which are used in the US. Participants with varying levels of prior knowledge were asked to view two products and decide which was more healthful. FOPs on packages were manipulated so that one product was more healthful, allowing us to assess accuracy. Attention to nutrition information was assessed via eye tracking to determine what if any FOP information was used to make their decisions. Results showed that accuracy was below chance on half of the comparisons despite consulting FOPs. Negative correlations between attention to calories, fat, and sodium and accuracy indicated that consumers over-relied on these nutrients. Although relatively little attention was allocated to fiber and sugar, associations between attention and accuracy were positive. Attention to vitamin D showed no association to accuracy, indicating confusion surrounding what constitutes a meaningful change across products. Greater nutrition knowledge was associated with greater accuracy, even when less attention was paid. Individuals, particularly those with less knowledge, are misled by calorie, sodium, and fat information on FOPs

Biosynthesis of Mitochondrial Porin and Insertion into the Outer Mitochondrial Membrane of Neuruspora crassa

Mitochondrial porin, the major protein of the outer mitochondrial membrane is synthesized by free cytoplasmic polysomes. The apparent molecular weight of the porin synthesized in homologous or heterologous cell-free systems is the same as that of the mature porin. Transfer in vitro of mitochondrial porin from the cytosolic fraction into the outer membrane of mitochondria could be demonstrated. Before membrane insertion, mitochondrial porin is highly sensitive to added proteinase; afterwards it is strongly protected. Binding of the precursor form to mitochondria occurs at 4°C and appears to precede insertion into the membrane. Unlike transfer of many precursor proteins into or across the inner mitochondrial membrane, assembly of the porin is not dependent on an electrical potential across the inner membrane

Assimilation of healthy and indulgent impressions from labelling influences fullness but not intake or sensory experience

Background: Recent evidence suggests that products believed to be healthy may be over-consumed relative to believed indulgent or highly caloric products. The extent to which these effects relate to expectations from labelling, oral experience or assimilation of expectations is unclear. Over two experiments, we tested the hypotheses that healthy and indulgent information could be assimilated by oral experience of beverages and influence sensory evaluation, expected satiety, satiation and subsequent appetite. Additionally, we explored how expectation-experience congruency influenced these factors. Results: Results supported some assimilation of healthiness and indulgent ratings—study 1 showed that indulgent ratings enhanced by the indulgent label persisted post-tasting, and this resulted in increased fullness ratings. In study 2, congruency of healthy labels and oral experience promoted enhanced healthiness ratings. These healthiness and indulgent beliefs did not influence sensory analysis or intake—these were dictated by the products themselves. Healthy labels, but not experience, were associated with decreased expected satiety. Conclusions: Overall labels generated expectations, and some assimilation where there were congruencies between expectation and experience, but oral experience tended to override initial expectations to determine ultimate sensory evaluations and intake. Familiarity with the sensory properties of the test beverages may have resulted in the use of prior knowledge, rather than the label information, to guide evaluations and behaviour

Stereotype Threat and Self-Affirmation: Reconsidering the Protective Influence of Value Affirmation Interventions

The current study was designed to examine the influence of self-affirmation on the executive attention and mathematical performance of learners confronted with stereotype threat. Participants (N = 206) were exposed to self-affirmation and stereotype threat manipulations, completed operation-span and letter memory tasks, and a series of high-difficulty modular subtraction problems. Our results revealed that self-affirmed participants demonstrated lower mathematical performance when problems were completed under high stereotype threat conditions. Further, our data revealed the self-affirmation and stereotype threat manipulations had no impact on components of executive attention hypothesized to underlie stereotype threat effects. These findings add to recent literature calling into question the viability of self-affirmation as a strategy for protecting the achievement of at-risk students

RANDOM MODELS WITH DIRECT AND COMPETITION GENETIC EFFECTS

Livestock producers often select for animals which are genetically superior for yield. Competition among animals in the same pen may affect yield of pen mates. If competitiveness has a genetic component, selection should be for direct genetic effects for yield and for genetic effects of competitiveness on yield of penmates (Muir and Schinkel, 2002). This simulation study examined estimates of variance components from models which ignored competition effects. A population structure of 642 related animals was created. Random effects were residual and pen effects and direct and competition genetic values with genetic correlation. Conclusions, based on 400 replications for 16 different sets of variance parameters, were that competition effects, if ignored, may inflate estimates of pen variance and of direct genetic variance and that ignoring pen effects may increase estimates of the genetic correlation and both genetic variances. Key words: Associative Effects, Genetic Correlation, REM

Enhancing Validity in Phonological Awareness Assessment through Computer-Supported Testing

Phonological awareness is an early indicator of emergent reading skill that is known to be reliably related to eventual reading performance. This established research based coupled with federal and state requirements to measure phonological awareness as an indicator of early reading program success has heightened the attention toward phonological assessment tools. The purpose of this paper is to identify two central threats to validity that are present in the standard assessment tools and provide a methodological solution to both threats using the Standardized Assessment of Phonological Awareness as an example. Accessed 29,414 times on https://pareonline.net from November 19, 2005 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right