Background Interactions are occurring in the course of the release, absorption, distribution, met... more Background Interactions are occurring in the course of the release, absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of active ingredients, or at the target receptors. Two concomitantly used substances interact with a probability of 13%, 4 with 38%, and 7 with 82%. Therefore, the elevated number of components in food may result in an alarmingly high frequency of food-drug interactions and, consequently, in pharmacotherapy failure. Purpose To assess whether adequate information on food-drug interactions is made available from medicines manufacturers. Material and methods All online monographs according to the “Questionnaire for the information of hospital pharmacists about proprietary medicines” were retrieved from http://www.gsasa.ch and screened for information on interactions involving food. Results From a total of 157 monographs, 90 (57%) declared that food-drug interactions were “not applicable”, “unknown”, or stated that “no data” were available. 23 (15%) explicitly mentione...
INTRODUCTION: Food waste is the amount of food that remains proper for consumption but that is di... more INTRODUCTION: Food waste is the amount of food that remains proper for consumption but that is discarded by human action or omission. Due to the enormous amount of food wasted worldwide this is a subject of increasing interest in the last years. In Portugal about 400,000 children attend to the 1st grade of basic education and most of them have lunch at school daily. The relevance of evaluating food waste in this scenario includes its effects on the environment, society and economy but particularly focusing on its nutritional consequences on children’s daily intake. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the extent of food waste in the school lunch provided for nursery children and 1st grade students in the Municipality of Barcelos, in Portugal. METHODOLOGY: Four schools totaling 293 students were involved in this research. This study was divided into three phases, the first was developed to quantify the food waste in schools, using the selective aggregate weighing. In the second pha...
Many plants are traditional sources for food and pharma products. Since the difference of a thera... more Many plants are traditional sources for food and pharma products. Since the difference of a therapeutic and a toxic effect depends on the dose, there are fluent transitions between consumption, therapy and toxicity of nutraceuticals in food, medicines, or plants. The following review provides a classification of phytochemicals into categories according to their biosynthesis from carbohydrates, lipids and amino acids as well as an overview of epidemiologically important toxic phytochemicals affecting human health including examples from the terpenoids, phenolic compounds, and alkaloids families. Despite evidence indicating that phytochemicals can reduce the risk of chronic non-communicable diseases, research is still needed using new and precise methodologies to unravel the multitude of beneficial roles played by phytochemicals in human health.
Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus is a condition that affects many pregnancies and ethnic... more Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus is a condition that affects many pregnancies and ethnicity appears to be a risk factor. Data indicate that approximately 18% of Tamil women are diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus. Today, approximately 50,000 of Tamils live in Switzerland. To date, there is no official tool available in Switzerland that considers the eating and physical activity habits of this migrant Tamil population living in Switzerland, while offering a quick overview of gestational diabetes mellitus and standard dietetics management procedures. The NutriGeD project led by Bern University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland aimed at closing this gap. The aim of this present study was to evaluate the implementation potential of the tools developed in the project NutriGeD for dietetic counseling before their wide scale launch in Swiss hospitals, clinics and private practices. Method: An online survey was developed and distributed to 50 recruited healthcare professi...
Background: The lack of sun plays a major role in vitamin D deficiency, particularly among vulner... more Background: The lack of sun plays a major role in vitamin D deficiency, particularly among vulnerable groups, including migrants and women. Vitamin D and calcium are crucial nutrients for optimal bone health, heart function and muscle contraction. Recent studies suggest that the two micronutrients alone do not appear to be as beneficial as when their intake is coupled with vitamin K. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent their deficiencies. To this date, we observe a deficit of culturally sensitive methods for assessing dietary intake. The aim of this study was to estimate the dietary vitamin D, vitamin K and calcium intake among Portuguese women of childbearing age living in Switzerland. Methodology: A food frequency questionnaire was developed and administrated. A comparative method, a 24-hour dietary recall, was applied twice, over two non-consecutive days. The same methodology was applied to and compared with two control groups: Portuguese women living in Portugal and Swiss wome...
Background Interactions are occurring in the course of the release, absorption, distribution, met... more Background Interactions are occurring in the course of the release, absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of active ingredients, or at the target receptors. Two concomitantly used substances interact with a probability of 13%, 4 with 38%, and 7 with 82%. Therefore, the elevated number of components in food may result in an alarmingly high frequency of food-drug interactions and, consequently, in pharmacotherapy failure. Purpose To assess whether adequate information on food-drug interactions is made available from medicines manufacturers. Material and methods All online monographs according to the “Questionnaire for the information of hospital pharmacists about proprietary medicines” were retrieved from http://www.gsasa.ch and screened for information on interactions involving food. Results From a total of 157 monographs, 90 (57%) declared that food-drug interactions were “not applicable”, “unknown”, or stated that “no data” were available. 23 (15%) explicitly mentione...
INTRODUCTION: Food waste is the amount of food that remains proper for consumption but that is di... more INTRODUCTION: Food waste is the amount of food that remains proper for consumption but that is discarded by human action or omission. Due to the enormous amount of food wasted worldwide this is a subject of increasing interest in the last years. In Portugal about 400,000 children attend to the 1st grade of basic education and most of them have lunch at school daily. The relevance of evaluating food waste in this scenario includes its effects on the environment, society and economy but particularly focusing on its nutritional consequences on children’s daily intake. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the extent of food waste in the school lunch provided for nursery children and 1st grade students in the Municipality of Barcelos, in Portugal. METHODOLOGY: Four schools totaling 293 students were involved in this research. This study was divided into three phases, the first was developed to quantify the food waste in schools, using the selective aggregate weighing. In the second pha...
Many plants are traditional sources for food and pharma products. Since the difference of a thera... more Many plants are traditional sources for food and pharma products. Since the difference of a therapeutic and a toxic effect depends on the dose, there are fluent transitions between consumption, therapy and toxicity of nutraceuticals in food, medicines, or plants. The following review provides a classification of phytochemicals into categories according to their biosynthesis from carbohydrates, lipids and amino acids as well as an overview of epidemiologically important toxic phytochemicals affecting human health including examples from the terpenoids, phenolic compounds, and alkaloids families. Despite evidence indicating that phytochemicals can reduce the risk of chronic non-communicable diseases, research is still needed using new and precise methodologies to unravel the multitude of beneficial roles played by phytochemicals in human health.
Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus is a condition that affects many pregnancies and ethnic... more Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus is a condition that affects many pregnancies and ethnicity appears to be a risk factor. Data indicate that approximately 18% of Tamil women are diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus. Today, approximately 50,000 of Tamils live in Switzerland. To date, there is no official tool available in Switzerland that considers the eating and physical activity habits of this migrant Tamil population living in Switzerland, while offering a quick overview of gestational diabetes mellitus and standard dietetics management procedures. The NutriGeD project led by Bern University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland aimed at closing this gap. The aim of this present study was to evaluate the implementation potential of the tools developed in the project NutriGeD for dietetic counseling before their wide scale launch in Swiss hospitals, clinics and private practices. Method: An online survey was developed and distributed to 50 recruited healthcare professi...
Background: The lack of sun plays a major role in vitamin D deficiency, particularly among vulner... more Background: The lack of sun plays a major role in vitamin D deficiency, particularly among vulnerable groups, including migrants and women. Vitamin D and calcium are crucial nutrients for optimal bone health, heart function and muscle contraction. Recent studies suggest that the two micronutrients alone do not appear to be as beneficial as when their intake is coupled with vitamin K. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent their deficiencies. To this date, we observe a deficit of culturally sensitive methods for assessing dietary intake. The aim of this study was to estimate the dietary vitamin D, vitamin K and calcium intake among Portuguese women of childbearing age living in Switzerland. Methodology: A food frequency questionnaire was developed and administrated. A comparative method, a 24-hour dietary recall, was applied twice, over two non-consecutive days. The same methodology was applied to and compared with two control groups: Portuguese women living in Portugal and Swiss wome...
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Papers by Leila Sadeghi-Reeves