In view of a worldwide attempt to restrict or ban the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animal production, probiotics, prebiotics and combinations of both, as synbiotics, have been suggested as potential alternatives. In this study, the effects of a prebiotic (isomalto-oligosaccharides, IMO), a multi-strain probiotic (consisting of 11 Lactobacillus strains), and a combination of these dietary additives as a synbiotic on the performance, caecal bacterial populations and concentrations of caecal volatile fatty acids and non-volatile fatty acids of broiler chickens were evaluated.
The effects of different inclusion levels of oil palm fronds (OPF) on the fatty acid profile of the longissimus dorsi (LD), biceps femoris (BF) and infraspinatus (IS) muscle of goats fed for 100 days are described. Twenty-four individually housed Kacang crossbred male goats (averaged 21.7 ± 0.97 kg BW) were allocated to three groups receiving either a 100% concentrate control diet (CON), diet with 25% inclusion level of OPF (HAF) or a diet with 50% inclusion of OPF. The diets were adjusted to be isocaloric and isonitrogenous and fed at 3.0% of BW daily. Samples of LD, BF and IS muscles were taken at slaughter for the determination of fatty acid profiles. The total saturated fatty acids (SFA) in the LD and BF muscles of the OPF group were significantly (p
A study was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding low-protein diets fortified with individual non-essential amino acids (NEAA) on growth performance, serum metabolites (uric acid, UA; triglycerides, TG; total protein, TP; and albumin, Alb), organ weight, breast yield, and abdominal fat weight in broiler chicks raised under the hot and humid tropical climate. Eight isocaloric (3,017 kcal/kg) experimental diets were formulated and fed to male broiler chicks from d 1-21 as follows: 1) 22.2% crude protein (CP) (positive control; PC); 2) 16.2% CP + mixture essential amino acids (EAA) to meet or exceed the National Research Council (1994) recommendations (negative control; NC); 3) NC + glycine (Gly) to equal the total glycine + serine level in the PC; diets 4 through 7 were obtained by supplementing NC diet with individual glutamic acid, proline, alanine, or aspartic acid (Glu, Pro, Ala, or Asp, respectively); 8) NC + NEAA (Gly + Glu + Pro + Ala + Asp) to equal the total level of these NEAA in the PC. Fortifying NC diet with mixture NEAA resulted in a similar growth performance as PC. However, fortification of low-CP diet with individual NEAA failed to improve body weight (BW) (P < 0.0001), feed intake (FI) (P = 0.0001), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) (P = 0.0001). Serum uric acid (UA) was lower (P = 0.0356) in NC birds and NC diet supplemented with individual NEAA birds, whereas serum triglyceride (TG) (P = 0.007) and relative weight of abdominal fat (P = 0.001) were higher in these birds. In conclusion, no single NEAA fortification may compensate the depressed growth performance attributed to a low-CP diet. However, fortification with Gly may improve FCR. There is a possibility that broilers raised under the hot and humid climate require higher Gly fortification than the level used in this study.
Twelve Jermasia kids were individually housed in pens to study the effects of soywaste on growth performance and carcass characteristics and to compare such effects with commercial pellet. Kids were divided into a pellet group and a soywaste group, including six kids (3 males and 3 females) in each group. Pellet or soywaste was offered to kids at a rate of 2.0 % dry matter (DM) of body weight/day in addition to Napier grass ad libitum. In last 10 days of experiment, kids were housed in metabolism crates for faeces collection. At the end of the experiment, three males from each group were slaughtered. Kids fed soywaste diet consumed more grass and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) than those fed pellet. The same trend was found for the digestibilities of DM, organic matter (OM) and NDF. Conversely, kids fed soywaste diet consumed less soywaste supplement than kids fed pellet. No treatment effects were observed on total intakes of DM, OM and crude protein (CP) including CP digestibility. Similarly, no effects were found on carcass and non-carcass components, except for lean, lean to fat ratio and kidney weight which were higher for kids fed soywaste diet. Results indicate that soywaste is effective as a feed for growing kids.
This analysis has identified several factors contributing to the dramatic decline in infant mortality since World War II in Malaysia, as well as one factor that prevented the infant mortality rate from declining even more rapidly. Our main findings are the following: On average, mothers' education more than doubled over the study period, contributing to the decline in their infants' mortality. In addition, the beneficial effect of mothers' education on infant survival appears to have become stronger over the study period. Hence, further advances in education should lead to further improvements in infants' survival prospects. Another analysis of these data (Peterson et al. 1985) found that education is somewhat more influential in affecting child mortality in low-mortality, high-income areas than in the opposite type of areas. Therefore, socioeconomic development may have complemented, instead of substituted for, the the beneficial effect of mothers' education in promoting infant and child survival in Malaysia. Improvements in water and sanitation also contributed to the infant mortality decline, especially for babies who did not breastfeed. However, unlike education, these influences have become less important over time, especially for babies who are not breastfed. Hence, further improvements in water and sanitation, a goal of Malaysia's Rural Environmental Sanitation Programme, may have smaller relative effects on infant mortality than did previous improvements. Targeting such improvements on areas where women breastfeed little or not at all, however, will increase their effectiveness in promoting infant survival. The substantial reductions in breastfeeding that have taken place since World War II have kept the infant mortality rate in Malaysia from declining as rapidly as it would have otherwise. We estimate that, in our sample, the detrimental effects on infant survival of the decline in breastfeeding have more than offset the beneficial effects of improvements in water and sanitation. Unlike some other researchers (e.g., Palloni 1981), we find that changes in fertility levels and in the timing and spacing of births have had negligible effect in explaining the decline in infant mortality within the samples we have considered. We have excluded births to older women from our analysis, however; this exclusion may have led to an understatement of the influence of changes in the age pattern of childbearing.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
The effects of beta-glucanase expressed by transformed Lactobacillus strains on growth performance, apparent digestibilities of dry matter and crude protein, and apparent metabolisable energy were studied. Two hundred and forty 1-d-old chicks (Avian-43) were randomly divided into three dietary treatment groups and fed with the following diets: (i) basal diet (control) (BD); (ii) basal diet with parental Lactobacillus strains (BDP) and (iii) basal diet with transformed Lactobacillus strains (BDT). At 21 d of age, the body weight, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio of the BDT-fed chickens were significantly improved. At 14 and 21 d of age, the proportions of dry matter in the duodenum, jejunum, ileum, caeca and excreta of chickens given the BDT diet were significantly higher than those of chickens given the BD and BDP diets. Apparent metabolisable energy, digestibilities of crude protein and dry matter were also significantly improved (by 3.5, 5.6 and 3.5%, respectively) by the BDT diet. These results showed that the transformed Lactobacillus strains improved digestibility as well as enhanced the growth performance of chickens.
Background: This study aimed to investigate the association between prenatal/infancy factors and lipid profile in children and adolescents. Methods: This multicentric national study was conducted in 30 provinces in Iran. It comprised 4200 participants, aged 7-18 years, from the fifth survey of a national surveillance program. History regarding birth weight, as well as the type of consumed milk and food during infancy was obtained from parents. In addition to physical examinations, fasting blood samples were obtained to assess the lipid profile of these students. Results: Data from 3844 participants were available (91.5% participation rate), 52.4 % of students were boys. Mean (SD) age of participants was 12.3(3.2) years. Consuming cow milk in the first two years significantly increased the risk of high triglycerides (TG) (odds ratio [OR]:2.77, 95% CI: 1.32-5.85, P: 0.01), elevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (P<0.05) and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (P <0.05). Students who had consumed commercially made food as complementary feeding were 93% more likely to have high LDL (OR: 1.93, 95% CI=1.19-3.13, P: 0.01) and 90% more likely to have high TG than students who had consumed homemade food (OR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.15-3.12, P: 0.01). The aforementioned figures were not significantly associated with an elevated total cholesterol (TC) level. Conclusion: Our findings revealed that the history of using human milk and home-made food as complementary feeding was associated with better lipid profile in childhood and early adolescence. Increasing public knowledge in this regard might be useful for encouragement of healthier life prevention of chronic diseases.
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding fermented fish (FF) to layers on laying performance, and polyunsaturated fatty acid and cholesterol levels in eggs and plasma. A total of 96, 13-week-old Babcock B380 pullets were used in this study. They were randomly assigned to four numerically equal groups with eight replicates per treatment, three birds per replicate. All the birds were housed in individual cages. The dietary treatments were: Control diet, without FF; FF3 diet containing 3% (w/w) FF, FF6 diet containing 6% (w/w) FF and FF9 diet containing 9% (w/w) FF. The study was carried out for 16 weeks inclusive of two weeks of adjustment. Weekly feed intake and egg production were recorded. Blood plasma cholesterol and fatty acid profiles were assayed at the end of the experiment. FF did not enhance (P > 0.05) egg mass but (P < 0.05) decreased egg weight slightly. However, egg yolk cholesterol and plasma cholesterol concentrations were reduced (P < 0.05) by FF. The n-6:n-3 fatty acids ratio in the egg yolk (Control = 7.9, FF9 = 6.2) and plasma (Control = 10.6, FF9 = 6.2) were decreased by feeding FF. Moreover, FF was able to increase (P < 0.05) the docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) concentrations in egg yolk and plasma. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that FF increased DHA and reduced egg yolk cholesterol in poultry eggs.
Persons with disabilities (PWD) are susceptible to malnutrition. Caregivers or teachers in rehabilitation centres may not be adequately trained in nutrition management of PWD. The aims of this study were (i) to assess the nutrition knowledge, attitude and practice among teachers in community-based rehabilitation centres for PWD; and (ii) to evaluate changes in the nutrition knowledge and attitude of the teachers before and after exposure to a training workshop on nutrition management for PWD.
INTRODUCTION: A qualitative comparative case study was conducted to compare and contrast food taboos and avoidance practices during pregnancy among Orang Asli or indigenous Temiar women in four distinct locations that represent different lifestyle experiences and cultural practices.
METHODS: Through snowballing sampling, a total of 38 participants took part in five focus groups: one group each in Pos Simpor and Pos Tohoi in Kelantan state, one group in Batu 12, Gombak in Selangor state, and two groups in a regroupment scheme (RPSOA) in Kuala Betis, Kelantan. All the transcripts were coded, categorised and 'thematised' using the software package for handling qualitative data, NVivo 8.
RESULTS: Variant food prohibitions were recorded among the Temiar women residing in different locations, which differ in food sources and ways of obtaining food. Consumption of seventeen types of food items was prohibited for a pregnant Temiar woman and her husband during the prenatal period. Fear of difficulties during labour and delivery, convulsions or sawan, harming the baby (such as foetal malformation), and twin pregnancy seemed to trigger many food proscriptions for the pregnant Temiar women, most of which have been passed on from generation to generation.
CONCLUSION: The findings of this study confirm that beliefs about food restrictions are strong among those Temiar living a traditional lifestyle. However, those who have adopted a more modern lifestyle also preserve them to some extent.pregnancy among Orang Asli or indigenous Temiar women in four distinct locations that represent different lifestyle experiences and cultural practices.
Carotenoid-rich red palm oil (RPO)-based snacks have been provided to children in impoverished communities to improve their vitamin A status. The non-availabilty of information on the acceptability of RPO-based snacks by Malaysian aborigines (Orang Asli) children forms the basis of this study.
Eating patterns such as eating frequency, skipping of breakfast, and frequency of meals eaten away from home might influence school-going children's nutritional status, which will then influence their health and academic performance. This article reports the findings of a survey on the eating patterns of the school children and adolescents in Kuala Lumpur. A total of 3620 school children studying in Primary 5, Secondary 2 and Secondary 4 were selected using multi-stage sampling. The students were surveyed using a pre-tested questionnaire while their weights and heights were measured in the field. It was found that 19.9% skipped at least one meal a day with the youngest group having the lowest prevalence. The most frequently missed meal is breakfast (12.6%) followed by lunch (6.7%) and dinner (4.4%). The school is an important provider of breakfast and lunch for the students. As the students' age increased, the prevalence of eating breakfast and lunch in school increased. The youngest age group had the highest prevalence of snacking and taking of nutritional supplements (p<0.05). Fast food and local hawker food were also consumed by about 60-70% of the students. Logistic regression analysis showed that skipping of breakfast is significantly associated with age, sex, BMI and taking of nutritional supplements. Promotion of healthy eating should be targeted at students in primary and secondary schools as they tend to depend on outside food.
Food insecurity exists whenever people are not able to access sufficient food at all times for an active and healthy life. This study used the Radimer/Cornell hunger and food insecurity instrument to assess food insecurity and to determine the risk factors and consequences of food insecurity among low-income households in Kuala Lumpur. One hundred and thirty-seven Malay pre-school children (4-6 years old) from Taman Sang Kancil were measured for their weights and heights. Questionnaires were used to collect food security and socioeconomic information on the households. The findings indicated that 34.3% of the households were food secure, while 65.7% experienced some kind of food insecurity, (27.7% households were food insecure, 10.9% individuals were food insecure and 27.0% fell into the child hunger category). The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting were 44.5%, 36.5% and 30.7% respectively. The prevalence of high weight-for-height (overweight) was 13.1%. Based on multinomial logistic regression, larger household size (OR=1.418; p<0.01) and lower educational level of mothers (OR=0.749; p<0.01) and fathers (OR=0.802; p<0.05) were found to be significant risk factors for food insecurity. The study, however, did not find any significant difference in children's nutritional status according to household food security levels. It is recommended that for the Malaysian population, the Radimer/Cornell hunger and food insecurity instrument should be modified and further validated with various ethnic groups in a variety of settings. The validation should include the appropriateness of the statements to the target grounds and their different risk factors and outcomes of food insecurity.
This paper explores the relationship between household wealth and nutritional status of pre-school children in Bangladesh using the nationally representative 2007 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey data. Chronic malnutrition was measured by z-score of height-for-age and the effect of household wealth on adverse childhood growth rate was assessed by multivariate logistic regression analyses. Overall, 43% of the children were stunted. The multivariate binary logistic regression analysis yielded significantly increased risk of stunting among the poorest (OR=2.26, 95% CI=1.77-2.89) as compared to the richest. The multivariate multinomial logistic regression produced elevated risk of moderate stunting (OR=1.98, 95% CI=1.50-2.61) and severe stunting (OR=2.88, 95% CI=2.00-4.14) of children in the poorest category compared to their richest counterparts. Children’s age, duration of breastfeeding, mother’s education, body mass index, mother’s working status and place of region were also identified as important determinants of children’s nutritional status. The findings suggest that apart from poverty reduction, maternal education, and strengthening of child and maternal health care services are important to improve health and nutritional status of the children.
Introduction: The Infant and Early Childhood Nutrition Task Force, International Life Sciences Institute Southeast Asia (ILSI SEA) Region, organised the 1st and 2nd Expert Consultation and Planning Meeting on Infant and Early Childhood Nutrition in 2009 and 2011, respectively. The goal of the consultations was “to generate and promote relevant science-based information that will help improve nutritional status, growth and development of infants and young children in Southeast Asia.” Methods: An Expert Panel Core Group was created whose role is to provide advice and recommendations through a review of current scientific knowledge regarding issues related to early childhood growth and nutrition. The Panel is composed of experts representing 7 countries (China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam). In July 2012, the Panel convened the 3rd Expert Consultation and Planning Meeting on Infant and Young Child Nutrition in Singapore. This report presents the highlights of the meeting and recommendations made by the Panel on ways to improve infant and young child nutrition in Southeast Asia. Results and Conclusion: The effective use of WHO indicators for assessing infant and young child feeding practices, mitigating the effects of maternal employment on breastfeeding, using behaviour change communication, updating the education of health personnel, and improving maternal health were considered important actions to be taken. Since current feeding practices in Southeast Asia fall short of WHO recommendations, studies are needed to develop strategies which take into consideration the diverse cultural settings that characterise the region.
Introduction: The Penan people are largely settled in rural and remote areas of
Sarawak with high rates of undernutrition among the children. The study aimed to
determine the nutritional status and infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices
of Penan children. Methods: Subjects consisted of 121 children, aged between 0-23
months, from 15 Penan longhouses in Belaga district. Malnutrition was assessed
using anthropometric measurements of children and categorised according to the
World Health Organization (WHO) Growth Standards (2006). Feeding practices were
assessed using questionnaires based on WHO IYCF Indicators (2008). Results:
The prevalence of underweight was 29.8%; stunting 43.0% and wasting 5.8%.
Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding under 6 months was 44.4%. About 86% of
infants aged 6-8 months were already given solid, semi-solid and soft foods. The
proportion of children aged 6-23 months achieving minimum dietary diversity
(MDD) was 76.6%, while minimum meal frequency (MMF) was 83.0% (breastfed and
non-breastfed). Among the children who achieved MDD, 64.9% of their meals were
derived from 4-5 food groups. More than half (55.3%) of all subjects (breastfed and
non-breastfed) received minimum acceptable diet (MAD). Achievement of iron-rich
foods (IRF) indicator was 77.7%. There was no significant association between the
IYCF indicators of MDD, MMF and MAD and underweight, stunting and wasting.
Conclusion: A high prevalence of poor nutritional status was recorded among
the Penan children. While the IYCF indicators apparently showed satisfactory
complementary feeding practices, future studies should assess quantitatively the
intake of complementary food among Penan infants and young children.
A cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of malnutrition and some associated factors among primary one schoolchildren, aged 7 years from rural areas of Tumpat and Bachok in Kelantan was carried out. A total of 922 chiMren from 18 primary schools were examined. The parents completed self-administered questionnaires eliciting demographic and socio-economic information. The weight and height of each child was taken. The nutritional status was assessed by the z-scores of weight-for-age (WAZ) , height- or-age (HAZ) and weight-for-height (WHZ). The prevalence of underweight was 25 .2% , stunting was 21 .1% and wasting was 6 .2%. Less than 1 .0% ofthe children were overweight. Risk factors of underweight were lueinga male (OR=l .4),
having an unemployed father (OR=2 .6) and a monthly family income of RM 251 -500 (OR=2 .0) . Being a male (OR=1 .6) was the only risk factor for stunning and working mother (OR=2 .0) was the only risk factor of wasting. In conclusion, there is still a high prevalence of undemutrition among primary one schoolchildren in rural areas of Tumpat and Bachok. This may be due to the poor socioeconomic status of the rural community and the lack of emphasis ofthe supplementary feeding program on the late preschool children. A comprehensive nutrition support program is essential, especially targeting the preschool children in these rural communities
An experiment was carried out to estimate the meat quality characteristics of village chickens (Gallus gallus) fed diets supplemented with dry leaves of Borreria latifolia (BL) used as a potential antioxidant source in chicken feed. In this study, 252 sexed 9-week-old village chickens with mean live body weight of 1,525.4 g for males and 1,254.1 g for females were divided into 7 groups (each group 18 birds) for each sex represented in 2 experiments. The first experiment was to evaluate the antioxidant activity of BL and the effect on meat quality through a comparison with Rosmarinus officinalis (RO); hence, 3 groups were conducted and included: T1 (control), basal diet without supplementation; T2, basal diet with 1% of BL; T3, basal diet with 1% of RO. T2 and T3 significantly affect pH value, lipid oxidation, cooking loss, and overall acceptability compared to T1, while no significant difference was observed between the dietary groups in respect of drip loss, color, tenderness, fatty acid profile, and meat composition. Furthermore, a significant effect of sex on lipid oxidation, pH, yellowness, and fatty acid profile was observed. There was no significant effect of sex on WHC, tenderness, lightness, redness, and sensory evaluation. A significant influence of postmortem aging period was detected on lipid oxidation, pH, tenderness, cooking loss, and redness. The obtained result in this study revealed a significance in the interaction of herb by sex in pH parameter and between herb and sex, herb by aging period, sex by aging period, and the herb by sex by aging period interactions with regard to lipid oxidation test. The second experiment was to estimate the effect of 3 different levels of BL on meat quality. Four groups were provided and involved: T1 (control), basal diet without supplementation; T2, basal diet with 1.5% of BL; T3, basal diet with 2% of BL; and T4, basal diet with 2.5% of BL. The result of this study showed a significant effect (P