Nutrition Commons^™

Covid-19 Affects Coping Strategies And Food Access For Maine Adults, Tara Whiton, Kathryn Yerxa, Rachel E. Schattman

Food Science and Human Nutrition Faculty Scholarship

Food-coping strategies (FCS) are often measured as direct indicators of food insecurity, as they allow for an assessment of the vulnerability and sustainability of attempts to maintain a sufficient food supply by limited-resource individuals. They are often easier to assess than other household indicators of sufficiency, including income and food consumption. Because vulnerability is considered, food-security policies and programs that account for FCS can broaden their efforts from addressing current constraints to food consumption, to include actions that also address future threats to food security. Households may employ any one or a combination of the four types of coping strategies, …

Shopping, Eating, And Dietary Behaviors Of Maine Adults As A Result Of Covid-19: A Focus On Older Adults, Rachel E. Schattman, Kathryn Yerxa

Food Science and Human Nutrition Faculty Scholarship

Through a survey conducted in 2020, we investigated changes in eating, shopping, and dietary behaviors of Maine adults by age group before COVID-19 (prior to March 2020) and during COVID-19 (August/September 2020). This investigation was part of a larger investigation to assess food security, access, and food systems during COVID-19.6 The survey was conducted in Maine between August and September 2020 and illustrates responses from a sample of 618 Maine adults aged 18 years and older. Findings include:

• Respondents who were 55 years and older were less likely to reduce fruit, vegetable and seafood consumption during COVID-19.

• Respondents in all …

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Fermentation Of Carcinus Maenas As A Method Of Waste Stream Valorization, Delaney M. Greiner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The European green crab, Carcinus maenas, is an aggressive invasive species of green crab that has had severe ecological and economic effects to the North American East Coast since the early 1800s. The green crab has disrupted entire ecosystems, particularly in the Gulf of Maine, due to its eating and uprooting of eel grass. The disruption of this plant reduces coastal habitats for bivalves and other coastal marine life. The green crabs have also been found to prey on juvenile lobsters and bivalve mollusks, disrupting both the ecosystem in the Gulf of Maine and the seafood economy dependent on lobsters …

To Know The Land With Hands And Minds: Negotiating Agricultural Knowledge In Late-Nineteenth-Century New England And Westphalia, Justus Hillebrand

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ever since the eighteenth century, experts have tried to tell farmers how to farm. The agricultural enlightenment in Europe marked the beginning of a long arc of new experts aiming to change agricultural knowledge and practice. This dissertation analyzes the pivotal period in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in Germany and the United States when scientists, improvers, and market agents began to develop comprehensive ways to communicate agricultural innovation to farmers. In a functional approach to analyzing the negotiation of agricultural knowledge through its communication in things, words, and practices, this dissertation argues that the process of change …

The Role Of Red Raspberry (Rubus Idaeus) On Inflammation, Lipid Metabolism, And Endothelial Dysfunction As Related To The Metabolic Syndrome, Natalie Vandenakker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is major public health concern. Diet can play a major role in the prevention and/or progression of the MetS. At 8 weeks of age, male obese Zucker rat (OZR) and their lean littermates (LZR) were placed on a control or an 8% w/w whole red raspberry (WRR)-enriched diet for 8 weeks. Circulating levels of inflammatory cytokines and their gene expression in the liver and adipose tissue were evaluated. Several lipid markers were measured in the plasma, liver and adipose tissue. The expression of eight genes related to lipid metabolism were evaluated, both in liver and adipose tissue. …

Expanding Our Understanding On Feed Spoilage And Developing Novel Approaches For Its Mitigation, Marjorie A. Killerby

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of this study is to improve the understanding and awareness of conserved feed spoilage and to develop novel technologies that can prevent it. In chapter 1, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of chemical (50 articles)and biological (21 articles)preservatives on hay spoilage during storage. Multi-level linear mixed-effects modelswere fit including moderators:Preservative Class (PC), forage type (FT); moisture class (MC), and application rate (AR). Dry matter (DM) loss was affected by PC×FT (P=0.045), PC×AR (P<0.001), and PC×MC (P=0.009),relative to the overall effect of preservatives (-0.37% units). DM loss in propionic acid (PropA)-treated hay was numerically reduced to a greater extent in grasses (-16.2), followed by mixed hay (-1.76), but it was actually increased (+2.2%)in legume hay.Increasing ARof PropA resulted in decrease in DM loss (β = -1.34).Application ofBuffered Organic Acids,Other Organic Acids, PropA,and Anhydrous Ammoniadecreased visual moldiness by -22.1, -29.4, -45.5 and -12.2% units, respectively (PC; P<0.001). Sugars increased in treated grass hay (+1.9) and decreased in treated legume hay -0.8% DM, respectively (P<0.001). Microbial inoculants had small effects on hay spoilage since the overall DM loss effect size was - 0.21%. Inoculated grass hay preserved moresugars (+1.47) than treated legume hay (+0.33) relative to untreated hay (x=4.63% DM; P<0.001). In conclusion, organic acid-based preservatives effectively prevent spoilage of hay as influenced by FT, MC and AR, but microbial inoculants had only small effects. In chapter 2, we evaluated the effects of chemical and biological preservatives and ensiling stage on spoilage, ruminal in vitro fermentation, and methane production of wet brewer’s grain (WBG) silage. Treatments (TRT) were sodium lignosulfonate at10 g/kg (NaL1) and 20 g/kg (NaL2; fresh WBG), propionic acid at 5 g/kg fresh WBG (PRP, 99%), a combination inoculant (INO; Lactococcus lactisand Lactobacillus buchneri each at 4.9 log cfu/fresh WBG g), and untreated (CON). Three stages (STG) were tested:treated WBG (Fresh) was ensiled for 60 d(Ensiled), after which they were opened and aerobically exposed for 10 d (AES). Data were analyzed as a RCBD (5 blocks) with a 5 TRT × 3 STG(Fresh, Ensiled and AES) factorial arrangement. Our results show that Ensiled PRP-treated WBG markedly preserved more sugars (250) and starch (190) than all other Ensiled TRT (x=136 ± 16.2sugarsg/kg DM and x=121 ± 6.15 starch g/kg DM, respectively; P<0.001). Due to its superior nutritive value, PRP-treated AES was less aerobically stable than CON (61.9 vs. 90.1 h; P = 0.03). Preservation was not improved by INO, NaL1 or NaL2, but the latter prevented the increase of neutral detergent fiber (NDF)across STG (x=384).In vitro ruminal fermentation of Fresh WBG resulted in higher methane concentration (0.94) and yield (0.27) than theother STG (x=0.84 ± 0.07mMand x=0.23 ± 0.03mmol/g fermented OM, respectively). In conclusion, PRP was the most effective at preserving WBG during ensiling but failed to improve aerobic stability. In chapter 3, we evaluated the effects of application rate (AR) of sodium lignosulfonate (NaL) and propionic acid(PRP)on high moisture alfalfa hay spoilage during storage and its nutritive value. Treatments (TRT; NaL and PRP) were applied at four AR: 0 (CON), 2.5, 5 and 10 g/kg (fresh basis) to alfalfa hay at 68.5% DM, packed into mini balesand stored for 33 d.Data were analyzed as a RCBD(5 blocks) with a 2 TRT x 4 AR factorial arrangement. At d 33, DM losses were decreased by PRP at 5 and 10 g/kg (0.9), vs.CON (6.92) andNaL (6.63 ± 1.13%). Visual moldiness (0-10) and mold counts were also decreased by PRP at 5 (2.4 and 5.30) and 10 g/kg (0 and 2.7) relative to CON (6.0 and 7.13) and NaL (5.85 ± 0.67 and 7.21 ± 0.31 log cfu/fresh g, respectively). Both TRT increased apparent in vitroDM digestibility at all AR relative to CON (x=543 vs 501 ± 12.0g/kgof DM, respectively), but the acetate-to-propionate ratio was higher for NaL at 10 g/kg (3.02) vs. CON (2.89 ± 0.04). In conclusion, NaL failed to prevent spoilage of high moisture alfalfa hay while PRP was effective at doses >5 g/kg. Both TRT at 10 g/kg improved the rumen in vitro fermentation measures of high moisture alfalfa hay but PRP …

A Comprehensive Look Into The Rates Of Obesity In African American And White 6-11-Year-Old Children Relating To Their Socioeconomic Status And Caloric Intake From Fast Food, Sophia Lafrance

Honors College

Obesity levels in adults and children in the United States and around the world have been closely monitored for years. Research in the field of obesity has demonstrated a clear understanding that with increased calorie consumption compared to calories expended, an overall weight gain will occur. Through a collection of cited resources about the factors that affect obesity, a research problem arose considering what is accounting for the increase in calories in groups of children with high rates of obesity. Socioeconomic status has a major influence on the environment that children are raised in, and this factor can affect both …