Regina Célia Rodrigues Miranda Milagres

A deficiência de vitamina A em crianças no Brasil e no mundo

Based on a ten-year literature review, this paper describes important aspects of Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) among children in Brazil and worldwide. It presents VAD within a clinical and sub-clinical deficiency context, emphasizing this as a public health issue. VAD has been diagnosed in children from several parts of Brazil, especially in the Southeast and Northeast. Worldwide, the highest VAD prevalence is found in parts of parts of Africa: Mali, Ethiopia and Nigeria, and clinical indications noted especially in parts of Asia and Africa. However, no studies of clinical indications were located. Studies point to VAD as a public health issue among children, particularly in the poorest parts of the world.

Tocoferois e tocotrienois em óleos vegetais e ovos

The distribution and content of vitamin E isomers was investigated in vegetable oils and raw and cooked egg yolk in commercial restaurants. The analysis of the eight vitamin E isomers was carried out by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection. The tocopherol and tocotrienol composition of foods varied considerably. Tocopherols were detected in greater quantity and frequency. The α-tocopherol predominated in egg yolks and olive oil while γ-tocopherol was found in high quantities in soybean and canola oils. Cooking did not cause major losses for most of the vitamin E isomers in egg yolks.

Microbiological contamination of environments and surfaces at commercial restaurants.

This study was carried out to provide subsidies for sanitary actions applied to manipulators, environments and surfaces, assessing levels of microbiological contamination in three commercial restaurants (A, B and C) in Viçosa, Minas Gerais State. Microbiological analysis were performed for presumptive counting of Bacillus cereus and mesophilic aerobic bacteria on surfaces of stainless steel benches, equipments, utensils and hands of the manipulators (swab technique), and air (simple sedimentation). It was observed expressive contamination by mesophilic aerobic bacteria in the samples examined, exceeding limits proposed by the APHA (American Public Health Association). Mesophilic aerobic microorganisms were detected in 100% of air samples, with counts ranging from 4.1 x 10(1) CFU/cm(2)/week to 1.1 x 10(3) CFU/cm(2)/week. Typical colonies of B. cereus were detected in 19% of all air samples, and the presence of such colonies was observed in all restaurants in levels that reached 2.1 x 10(1) CFU/cm(2)/week. In surfaces and hands examined it was also possible to isolate typical colonies of the pathogen in all restaurants. The sanitary situation of the environments studied requires interventions to reduce risks of great magnitude, concerning the occurrence of foodborne diseases.