The effects of Ca2+ (0–75 mg/g pectin) and sucrose (0–40%, w/w) or sweeteners (0.1, 0.05% stevia saccharin) pH (3.0, 4.5, 6.8) on the rheological properties gels formed with sunflower pectins purified by conventional method (Conv-pectin), microfiltration (MF-pectin) ultrafiltration (UF-pectin) were investigated. main objective was to develop alternative low-calorie pectin without altered gelati...

Public health researchers express concern about branded computer games on food company websites (i.e. advergames) that enable marketers to engage children for unlimited lengths of time to promote calorie-dense nutrient-poor foods. Study 1 examines children’s exposure to US food company websites with advergames: 1.2 million children visit these sites every month and spend up to 1 hour per month ...

The infant feeding practices in the first year of life are of fundamental importance for their growth and development. This study was carried out aiming at checking on the prevalence of food intake by the infants during their first year of life. One-hundred-and-seventy-five children aged up to one year, attended to in two Health Centers of São Paulo city, Brazil, participated in this study. The...

Stevia is a plant native to South America that has been used as a sweetener for hundreds of years. Today, zero-calorie stevia, as high-purity stevia leaf extract, is being used globally to reduce energy and added sugar content in foods and beverages. This article introduces stevia, explaining its sustainable production, metabolism in the body, safety assessment, and use in foods and drinks to a...

Twenty obese inpatients who claimed to crave carbohydrate-rich foods were given d-fenfluramine (15 mg p.o., twice daily) or its placebo, double-blind, for two consecutive eight-day periods. Food choices were measured on treatment days 1, 7, and 8 by giving the subjects access to unlimited portions of six isocaloric meal foods (three high in carbohydrate and three high in protein) and of 10 iso...

In the present investigation we researched the effects of low calorie diet without protein restriction on the renal function and glomerular injury of uninephrectomized spontaneously hypertensive rats. We compared the findings with those that occurred in two different groups of uninephrectomized spontaneously hypertensive rats: one treated with oral hydralazine (10 mg/kg per day) and a second fe...

Sugars have a long history of safe use in foods. Placed on the Food and Drug Administration’s list of foods that are ‘‘generally recognized as safe’’ in 1958, sugars and the health aspects of sugar consumption continue to be evaluated. Recent research has focused on several potential sugars and health relationships, sugar consumption and nutritional quality of the diet, recommendations for suga...

Currently, an estimated 32.9% of American adults are overweight, 34.3% are obese, and 5.9% are extremely obese (38). In fact, adults defined as being normal weight, i.e., those whose body mass index (BMI) falls in the range of 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2, are a minority within the U.S. population. Coupled with declines in physical activity, overconsumption of calorie-rich, nutrient-poor foods is contrib...