Nicolas Darcel

In-store marketing of inexpensive foods with good nutritional quality in disadvantaged neighborhoods: increased awareness, understanding, and purchasing

BackgroundConsumers often do not understand nutrition labels or do not perceive their usefulness. In addition, price can be a barrier to healthy food choices, especially for socio-economically disadvantaged individuals.MethodA 6-month intervention combined shelf labeling and marketing strategies (signage, prime placement, taste testing) to draw attention to inexpensive foods with good nutritional quality in two stores located in a disadvantaged neighborhood in Marseille (France). The inexpensive foods with good nutritional quality were identified based on their nutrient profile and their price. Their contribution to customers’ spending on food was assessed in the two intervention stores and in two control stores during the intervention, as well as in the year preceding the intervention (nu2009=u20096625). Exit survey (nu2009=u2009259) and in-depth survey (nu2009=u2009116) were used to assess customers’ awareness of and perceived usefulness of the program, knowledge of nutrition, understanding of the labeling system, as well as placement-, taste- and preparation-related attractiveness of promoted products. Matched purchasing data were used to assess the contribution of promoted products to total food spending for each customer who participated in the in-depth survey.ResultsThe contribution of inexpensive foods with good nutritional quality to customers’ total food spending increased between 2013 and 2014 for both the control stores and the intervention stores. This increase was significantly higher in the intervention stores than in the control stores for fruits and vegetables (pu2009=u20090.001) and for starches (pu2009=u20090.011). The exit survey revealed that 31xa0% of customers had seen the intervention materials; this percentage increased significantly at the end of the intervention (pu2009<u20090.001). The in-depth survey showed that customers who had seen the intervention materials scored significantly higher on quizzes assessing nutrition knowledge (pu2009<u20090.001) and understanding of the labeling system (pu2009=u20090.024).ConclusionA social marketing intervention aimed at increasing the visibility and attractiveness of inexpensive foods with good nutritional quality may improve food purchasing behaviors in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Expected satiation alone does not predict actual intake of desserts

The degree to which consumers expect foods to satisfy hunger, referred to as expected satiation, has been reported to predict food intake. Yet this relationship has not been established precisely, at a quantitative level. We sought to explore this relationship in detail by determining whether expected satiation predicts the actual intake of semi-solid desserts. Two separate experiments were performed: the first used variations of a given food (eight apple purées), while the second involved a panel of different foods within a given category (eight desserts). Both experiments studied the consumption of two products assigned to volunteers based on their individual liking and expected satiation ratings, given ad libitum at the end of a standardised meal. A linear model was used to find predictors of food intake and included expected satiation scores, palatability scores, BMI, age, sex, TFEQ-R, TFEQ-D, water consumption during the meal, reported frequency of eating desserts, and reported frequency of consuming tested products as explanatory variables. Expected satiation was a significant predictor of actual food intake in both experiments (apple purée: F(1,97)u202f=u202f18.60, Pu202f<u202f.001; desserts: F(1,106)u202f=u202f9.05, Pu202f<u202f.01), along with other parameters such as product palatability and the volunteers age, sex and food restriction (variation explained by the model/expected satiation in the experiments: 57%/23% and 36%/17%, respectively). However, we found a significant gap between expected and actual consumption of desserts, on group and on individual level. Our results confirm the importance of expected satiation as a predictor of subsequent food intake, but highlight the need to study individual consumption behaviour and preferences in order to fully understand the role of expected satiation.

Control of Food Intake by Dietary Amino Acids and Proteins: Molecular and Cellular Aspects

Dietary protein content has long been investigated for its influence on food behavior. High protein diets promote satiety and reduce calorie intake, while the effects of low protein diets are more contradictory and less well established. Protein sensing may take place in the oral cavity or more certainly in the postoral gastrointestinal tract, where relevant receptors have been found. Protein signaling to the brain may involve the vagal nerve, as well as gastric hormones such as cholecystokinin and peptide YY. Other pathways that may be involved in protein sensing include postabsorptive signaling and the direct influence of amino acid levels in the brain. The consumption of a high protein diet enhances the activity of brain satiety centers, mainly the area postrema, the nucleus of the solitary tract, the arcuate nucleus and other hypothalamic nuclei, and may modify the activity of brain reward centers. A better understanding of the role of both homeostatic and hedonic systems is needed to fully describe the influence of protein consumption on food intake.Abstract Dietary protein content has long been investigated for its influence on food behavior. High protein diets promote satiety and reduce calorie intake, while the effects of low protein diets are more contradictory and less well established. Protein sensing may take place in the oral cavity or more certainly in the postoral gastrointestinal tract, where relevant receptors have been found. Protein signaling to the brain may involve the vagal nerve, as well as gastric hormones such as cholecystokinin and peptide YY. Other pathways that may be involved in protein sensing include postabsorptive signaling and the direct influence of amino acid levels in the brain. The consumption of a high protein diet enhances the activity of brain satiety centers, mainly the area postrema, the nucleus of the solitary tract, the arcuate nucleus and other hypothalamic nuclei, and may modify the activity of brain reward centers. A better understanding of the role of both homeostatic and hedonic systems is needed to fully describe the influence of protein consumption on food intake.

Dietary Proteins and Satiety-Related Neuronal Pathways in the Brain

This review presents recent findings regarding the neuroregulation of appetite by the ingestion of dietary proteins and amino acids, at both the peripheral and central levels. Protein is considered to be a strong inhibitor of food intake in omnivores, displaying the most marked appetite suppressant effects of the three macronutrients. Eating a high-protein diet does not induce a conditioned food aversion but rather experience-enhanced satiety. Moreover, the relatively poor palatability of dietary proteins is not the principal mechanism causing a reduction in energy intake. The input signals associated with amino acid ingestion originate from visceral and metabolic mechanisms and involve both indirect (mainly vagus-mediated) and direct information (plasma levels of nutrients and hormones) recorded by the central nervous system. At the peripheral level, the satiety effect of dietary proteins appears to be mediated by anorexigenic hormones such as CCK, GLP-1, and PYY. There is also some evidence that circulating leucine levels may impact food intake. Indeed, leucine is associated with mechanisms involving mTOR and AMPK, both of which are energy sensors active in the regulation of energy intake, at least in the arcuate nucleus but probably also in other brain areas. How information arising from the ingestion of dietary protein leads to the control of food intake is a highly complex process that is not yet fully understood, particularly regarding the involvement of certain brain regions such as the area postrema and hypothalamus. In the central nervous system, high-protein diets trigger the activation of noradrenergic/adrenergic neurons in the NTS and melanocortin neurons in the ARC. At the same time, our studies have shown that the APC, a brain area known to sense any deficiency in indispensable amino acids, does not appear to be involved in the detection of dietary protein intake.

Differences in BOLD responses in brain reward network reflect the tendency to assimilate a surprising flavor stimulus to an expected stimulus

&NA; External information can modify the subjective value of a tasted stimulus, but little is known about neural mechanisms underlying these behavioral modifications. This study used flavored drinks to produce variable degrees of discrepancy between expected and received flavor. During a learning session, 43 healthy young men learned 4 symbol‐flavor associations. In a separate session, associations were presented again during an fMRI scan, but half of the trials introduced discrepancy with previously learned associations. Liking ratings of drinks were collected and were analyzed using a linear model to define the degree to which discrepant symbols affected liking ratings of the subjects during the fMRI session. Based on these results, a GLM analysis of fMRI data was conducted to determine neural correlates of observed behavior. Groups of subjects were composed based on their behavior in response to discrepant symbols, and comparison of brain activity between groups showed that activation in the PCC and the caudate nucleus was more potent in those subjects in which liking was not affected by discrepant symbols. These activations were not found in subjects who assimilated unexpected flavors to flavors preceeded by discrepant symbols. Instead, these subjects showed differences in the activity in the parietal operculum. The activity of reward network appears to be related to assimilation of received flavor to expected flavor in response to symbol‐flavor discrepancy.

Fructo-oligosaccharides reduce energy intake but do not affect adiposity in rats fed a low-fat diet but increase energy intake and reduce fat mass in rats fed a high-fat diet

The ingestion of low or high lipid diets enriched with fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) affects energy homeostasis. Ingesting protein diets also induces a depression of energy intake and decreases body weight. The goal of this study was to investigate the ability of FOS, combined or not with a high level of protein (P), to affect energy intake and body composition when included in diets containing different levels of lipids (L). We performed two studies of similar design over a period of 5weeks. During the first experiment (exp1), after a 3-week period of adaptation to a normal protein-low fat diet, the rats received one of the following four diets for 5weeks (6 rats per group): (i) normal protein (14% P/E (Energy) low fat (10% L/E) diet, (ii) normal protein, low fat diet supplemented with 10% FOS, (iii) high protein (55%P/E) low fat diet, and (iv) high protein, low fat diet supplemented with 10% FOS. In a second experiment (exp2) after the 3-week period of adaptation to a normal protein-high fat diet, the rats received one of the following 4 diets for 5weeks (6 rats per group): (i) normal protein, high fat diet (35% of fat), (ii) normal protein, high fat diet supplemented with 10% FOS, (iii) high protein high fat diet and (iv) high protein high fat diet supplemented with 10% FOS. In low-fat fed rats, FOS did not affect lean body mass (LBM) and fat mass but the protein level reduced fat mass and tended to reduce adiposity. In high-fat fed rats, FOS did not affect LBM but reduced fat mass and adiposity. No additive or antagonistic effects between FOS and the protein level were observed. FOS reduced energy intake in low-fat fed rats, did not affect energy intake in normal-protein high-fat fed rats but surprisingly, and significantly, increased energy intake in high-protein high-fat fed rats. The results thus showed that FOS added to a high-fat diet reduced body fat and body adiposity.

Behavioural measures of child's eating temperament and their link with BMI

Rothbarts model of temperament, defined as individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation, has a strong heuristic value with applications in a wide variety of childrens outcomes. Our objective was to test Rothbarts model applied to childrens food behaviours and BMI outcome through behavioural measures. Our hypotheses, according to Rothbarts model, were as follows: (i) self-regulation in eating modulates appetite reactivity; (ii) appetite reactivity increases the risk of excess BMI, whereas self-regulation in eating limits this risk. One hundred and four children aged between 7 and 12 years completed four behavioural tasks to assess scores for two components of appetite reactivity (i.e. appetite arousal and appetite persistence) and two components of self-regulation in eating (i.e. self-regulation in eating without hunger and self-regulation in eating speed). Their heights and weights were measured in order to calculate their BMI-for-age. T-tests and regression analysis were used to verify our hypotheses. None of the scores of self-regulation in eating was directly associated with BMI but we observed a significant impact of self-regulation in eating without hunger on appetite arousal (p-valuexa0=xa00.04), together with a modest but significant association between appetite persistence and BMI (p-valuexa0=xa00.02). We can thus conclude that our behavioural measures could be used for the determination of the childs eating temperament. Further studies are needed to investigate how to use these measures to improve the treatment of overweight in children.