Indices for measurement of sustainable diets: A scoping review

by Rosa Sá de Oliveira Neta, Severina Carla Vieira Cunha Lima, Lorena Lima do Nascimento, Camila Valdejane Silva de Souza, Clélia de Oliveira Lyra, Dirce Maria Lobo Marchioni, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli da Costa Oliveira

Introduction

The current food system is associated with negative impacts on health, food insecurity and environmental harm. Sustainable diets have attracted increasing interest and novel proposals with a global scope have emerged. This scoping review aims to give an overview of the analysis of all the available evidence related to the sustainable diet indices that have been developed based on the EAT-Lancet Commission.

Methods

Searches were conducted in the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus and Science Direct databases. This review was conducted following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. The target population were studies addressed the use of an index or metric for assessing sustainable diets based on the EAT-Lancet Commission Summary Report were included. PCC acronym was used in the design of the study to describe eligibility criteria: P (Population)—Indexes; C (Concept)—Sustainable diets; C (Context)—Knowledge on the structure and applicability of measurement indices of sustainable diets based on EAT-Lancet recommendations available in the literature. Study eligibility criteria were restricted to papers published in English, from January 2019 through October 2022, with no population restriction.

Results

A total of 1,458 papers were retrieved, 14 of which were included in the review. Seven measures of sustainable diets were identified as follow: EAT-Lancet diet score (ELD-I), New EAT-Lancet diet score (EAT), Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI), Sustainable Diet Index (SDI), Sustainable-HEalthy-Diet (SHED), novel Nutrient-Based EAT index (NB-EAT) and World Index for Sustainability and Health (WISH). Most studies were conducted in developed countries, where greater adherence to this type of diet was found. Estimated greenhouse gas emissions was the most reported indicator of sustainability, followed by diet quality and the benefits of sustainable diets with regards to health outcomes.

Discussion

We identified barriers that hinder progress towards sustainable diets, including the difficulty of comparing different indices and the tendency to neglect social aspects and the lack of common definitions and metrics. Despite being challenge, we highlight the importance of using indices that assess sustainable diets that harmonize various indicators, as recommended by the EAT-Lancet Commission, in order to promote positive changes towards a more sustainable future.

COVID-19’s impact on worker stress in human service organizations: The mediating role of inclusion

by Magdalena Calderón-Orellana, Andrés Aparicio, Nicolás López–Huenante

Human service organizations faced extraordinary challenges due to COVID-19. Despite the increasing interest and research in this new scenario, there has been limited discussion about the impact of COVID-19 on workers, the challenges they faced, and the resulting stress. This study aimed to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on work-related stress and the mediating role of inclusion among workers in human service organizations in Chile during the pandemic. The research design was quantitative and involved a sample of 173 workers from civil society organizations who were contacted during the pandemic. The study confirmed that individuals most affected by the pandemic experienced higher levels of work-related stress, and that inclusion played a negative mediating role in this relationship. This article highlights the importance of relationships, decision-making processes, and access to information in reducing stress in post-COVID scenarios for organizations that traditionally handle crises.

Rapid detection of <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i> using recombinase polymerase amplification: A pilot study

by Michael Sciaudone, Renzo Carpena, Maritza Calderón, Patricia Sheen, Mirko Zimic, Jorge Coronel, Robert H. Gilman, Natalie M. Bowman

Tuberculosis remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Tuberculosis treatment and control efforts are hindered by the difficulty in making the diagnosis, as currently available diagnostic tests are too slow, too expensive, or not sufficiently sensitive. Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) is a novel technique that allows for the amplification of DNA rapidly, at constant temperature, and with minimal expense. We calculated and compared the limit of detection, sensitivity, and specificity of two RPA-based assays for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis, using two sets of published primers. We also calculated and compared the assays’ limits of detection and compared their performance using two different DNA extraction methods prior to amplification (a commercially available DNA extraction kit vs. the chelex method). The RPA-lateral flow assay had a limit of detection of 5 fg/μL of DNA, a sensitivity of 53.2%, and a specificity of 93.3%, while the real time-RPA assay had a limit of detection of 25 fg/μL of DNA, a sensitivity of 85.1%, and a specificity of 93.3%. There was no difference in assay performance when DNA extraction was carried out using the commercial kit vs. the chelex method. The real-time RPA assay has adequate sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis and could be a viable diagnostic tool in resource-limited settings, but the lateral flow assay did not perform as well, perhaps due to the fact we used stored sputum specimens from a biorepository. More work is needed to optimize the RPA-lateral flow assay, to get a more accurate estimate of its specificity and sensitivity using prospectively collected specimens, and to develop both assays into point-of-care tests that can be easily deployed in the field.

Characterising the gut microbiome of stranded harbour seals (<i>Phoca vitulina</i>) in rehabilitation

by Ana Rubio-Garcia, Aldert L. Zomer, Ruoshui Guo, John W. A. Rossen, Jan H. van Zeijl, Jaap A. Wagenaar, Roosmarijn E. C. Luiken

Animal rehabilitation centres provide a unique opportunity to study the microbiome of wild animals because subjects will be handled for their treatment and can therefore be sampled longitudinally. However, rehabilitation may have unintended consequences on the animals’ microbiome because of a less varied and suboptimal diet, possible medical treatment and exposure to a different environment and human handlers. Our study describes the gut microbiome of two large seal cohorts, 50 pups (0–30 days old at arrival) and 23 weaners (more than 60 days old at arrival) of stranded harbour seals admitted for rehabilitation at the Sealcentre Pieterburen in the Netherlands, and the effect of rehabilitation on it. Faecal samples were collected from all seals at arrival, two times during rehabilitation and before release. Only seals that did not receive antimicrobial treatment were included in the study. The average time in rehabilitation was 95 days for the pups and 63 days for the weaners. We observed that during rehabilitation, there was an increase in the relative abundance of some of the Campylobacterota spp and Actinobacteriota spp. The alpha diversity of the pups’ microbiome increased significantly during their rehabilitation (p-value

The CLoCk study: A retrospective exploration of loneliness in children and young people during the COVID-19 pandemic, in England

by Kelsey McOwat, Snehal M. Pinto Pereira, Manjula D. Nugawela, Shamez N. Ladhani, Fiona Newlands, Terence Stephenson, Ruth Simmons, Malcolm G. Semple, Terry Segal, Marta Buszewicz, Isobel Heyman, Trudie Chalder, Tamsin Ford, Emma Dalrymple, Consortium , Roz Shafran

Background

During the COVID-19 pandemic children and young people (CYP) were socially restricted during a stage of life crucial to development, potentially putting an already vulnerable population at higher risk of loneliness, social isolation, and poorer wellbeing. The objectives of this study are to conduct an exploratory analysis into loneliness before and during the pandemic, and determine which self-reported factors are associated with loneliness.

Methods and findings

Participants from The Children with Long COVID (CLoCk) national study were invited to take part via an online survey, with a total of 31,017 participants taking part, 31,016 of which reported on their experience of loneliness. Participants retrospectively answered questions on demographics, lifestyle, physical health and mental health and loneliness before the pandemic and at the time of answering the survey. Before the pandemic 6.5% (2,006/31,016) of participants reported experiencing loneliness “Often/Always” and at the time of survey completion 17.4% (5,395/31,016) reported feeling lonelier. There was an association between meeting the research definition of long COVID and loneliness [3.49 OR, 95%CI 3.28–3.72]. CYP who reported feeling lonelier at the time of the survey than before the pandemic were assigned female at birth, older CYP, those from Black/African/Caribbean/Black British or other ethnicity groups, those that had 3–4 siblings and lived in more deprived areas.

Conclusions

We demonstrate associations between multiple factors and experiences of loneliness during the pandemic. There is a need for a multi-faceted integrated approach when developing interventions targeted at loneliness. It is important to follow up the CYP involved at regular intervals to investigate the progression of their experience of loneliness over time.