Cases studies

Magnesium is the most abundant mineral in the body after calcium, phosphorus and potassium. It is a vital element, since along with calcium it ensures neuronal function, in addition to numerous physiological functions. All cells in the human body require magnesium.

Grains are the principal source of dietary magnesium. Foods made from whole grains provide on average 100–150 mg of magnesium per 100 g of product, which is three to five times more than the amounts provided by refined grain products such as white rice, bread or pasta.

A vegetarian or vegetalian diet is at little risk of causing a magnesium deficiency, since magnesium is found at least in small quantities in practically all plants. However, there is no single food that can meet the recommended intake for magnesium. Magnesium is therefore one of the reasons why it is recommended to maintain a diet that includes a wide variety of foods.

In a study involving 40 countries, the European regional bureau of the World Health Organization (WHO) has taken a snapshot[1] of the so-called “digital native” generation. Hooked on screens, lacking sleep and yet healthy, not over-stressed with school but preoccupied with their weight, the generation now aged 11 to 15 has a very distinctive set of lifestyle habits. A third of these young people are on a diet or wish to lose weight (especially girls), and many of them have experience with alcoholic intoxication and illicit drugs… Whether we look at dietary habits or modern lifestyles, this generation has been innovative and warrants closer examination, which is the goal of this monograph.

The family of cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, watercress, arugula, etc.) is reputed to contain compounds with anti-cancer properties. This is a review of current scientific understanding

Who are today’s seniors? What influence does the environment and age have on their health? What are the major obstacles to a balanced diet in our latter years? How widespread is undernutrition and how can it be stopped? What role do vegetables play in the diets of seniors? In this document, we will analyse and attempt to answer these questions.

As living multi-cellular organisms, humans and vascular plants share numerous characteristics. Both are made up of cells, tissues and organs, and these cells contain DNA organized in a nucleus and carry out metabolic processes such as respiration and growth. The major differences are the energy source (fixed carbon versus photons) and certain aspects of the mode of reproduction. The following review of first-year university plant biology will prepare us to evaluate the state of the art in the practice of plant variety improvement and the creation of new organisms based on direct modification of DNA.

How has diet shaped human evolution? To what extent is it the focus of current mutations in the realm of consumerism? What issues will mark the years to come? These questions were discussed during the Louis Bonduelle Foundation 2011 Summit. Paleo-anthropologist, nutritionist and epidemiologist provide a multidisciplinary response.

It may be surprising to some just how important the simple daily act of eating is for the health of individuals at an advanced age. More than just intake of appropriate quantities of nutrients, diet is an integral part of ensuring the general wellbeing of seniors and represents a daily pleasure that must be maintained by keeping meals enjoyable. In addition, investing in sound dietary practices will pay dividends in the form of decreased incidence of illnesses and hence lower health-care costs. Meanwhile, physical activity will only reinforce the benefits brought by a diet properly adapted to the reality of the lifestyle of the elderly.

In the most highly evolved life forms, the amount of calories ingested to meet metabolic needs is regulated through a phenomenon known as appetite. This finely tuned natural mechanism ensures that energy is available and expended in response to needs, thus maximizing the likelihood of survival. Understanding the mechanisms that govern appetite and satiety is an important and complex undertaking, whether adults or growing individuals are concerned, in other words, at all stages of life and under all physiological circumstances. However, in developed countries, this natural regulation of appetite and dietary intake now appears increasingly fraught with problems. To begin with, current fashion, fixated on thinness, is fuelling the tyranny of weight-loss diets, which place cognitive control of eating in perpetual opposition with the natural desire to eat. Furthermore, in our increasingly imagecentric societies, obesity is becoming stigmatized to the point that obese individuals now tend to remain imprisoned in a kind of psychic suffering that promotes dysfunction of appetite. The plethora of food offerings, in addition to the stress, overwork and fatigue that are now prevalent in occidental societies are also factors that tend to interfere with the natural regulation of eating.

This study aims at giving data about the level of consumption of vegetables (and fruits) in european countries, mentioning the determining factors of this consumption and lastly evocating the actions conducted in order to increase it.

A higher consumption of vegetables can be more readily achieved by research into the diversity and variety of tastes, out of which emerges the importance of encouraging this consumption in children who are in the full throes of developing their food preferences.