Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment, have a higher risk to foodborne infections as compared to other populations. Oncology nurses, having a direct significant contact with these patients, could be the first information source concerning food safety and play a pivotal role in reducing these risks. This study aims to assess the level of knowledge regarding food safety among oncology nurses, as well as their attitudes and practices in private hospitals in Lebanon. An observational cross-sectional study was carried out, using a self-administered questionnaire, recruiting 134 oncology ...

Thyme intake assessment is gaining significance because thyme is becoming a global staple food and its use has been on the rise. Limited research has been done on the assessment of dietary patterns on thyme and thyme products in Lebanon. The aim of this study was conducted for this purpose, a developed FFQ was carried on a convenient sample of 1555 adult participants. Out of the total, 1523 persons (97.9%) consumed at least one thyme product. The mean consumption of thyme products was estimated to be 425.5 g/day, providing an estimated 31.4 g/day of thyme. Thyme pie had the highest mean intake ...

Lebanese bread is a staple food consumed with every meal and great vehicle for a range of nutrients. Nowadays, manufacturers use nutrition and health claims (NHC) to communicate the nutrients contents and benefits of the food while increasing sale and competitiveness. In absence of stringent standards regulations and control, misleading claims could jeopardize consumers’ public health. The aim of this study was to examine pre-packaged Lebanese breads in Mount Lebanon, to assess their compliance with the Lebanese (LIBNOR NL 661:2017) and/or international standard CODEX (CAC/GL 23-1997) to carry ...

Purpose: The aim of this study was to present and evaluate the perception, preferences of parents. Living in Lebanon and the factors that affect the baby food purchasing behavior. Design/methodology/approach: A cross sectional study was conducted among 86 expecting moms and parents of babies between 0 and 3 years old living in Lebanon, between April and June. The results were statistically analyzed using SPSS v.22 with a statistically significant p value < 0.05. Findings: As a result of the conducted research, the most important conditions, shopping habits, attitudes, and preferences of parents ...

Salt is one of the most used food additives not only to improve taste, but also for preservation and different functional properties. In recent years, there is a notable growing body of evidence demonstrating that salt is contaminated by extraneous substances such as microplastics. Many substances with adverse health effect such as heavy metal and endocrine disruptors can adhere to microplastics or enter as inherent part of the plastic end product. Plastics end up in body of water such as oceans and seas. This is the case in Lebanon where very little portion of plastics are recycled and the rest ...

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health and food security. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of the pathogenic bacteria Salmonella spp. and E. coli in fresh and frozen red meat and meat organs collected from different supermarkets and butcher shops across Mount Lebanon and further evaluate their antimicrobial resistance. A total of 80 beef meat samples were collected from butchers and supermarkets in Mount Lebanon between February 2017 and December 2018. Bacterial isolation and biochemical identification were conducted using the API method. Using the ...

Background: High prevalence of suboptimal vitamin D status has paralleled the obesity epidemic; thus there has been a growing scientific interest in understanding the relationship between serum vitamin D levels and adiposity. Given the 1) high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in Lebanon 2) lack of evidence on the association between body fat distribution (BFD), particularly direct measures of BFD, and serum vitamin D levels 3) lack of simultaneous control for important confounding variables, including indices of body composition, our study is the first to explore the association between a ...

Insulin resistance plays a fundamental role in the pathophysiology of many chronic diseases including Type II diabetes, cardiovascular and metabolic abnormalities. There is an increasing interest in assessing the association between insulin resistance and vitamin D status. Vitamin D deficiency predominates in the Middle East where more than half of the population is deficient. This cross-sectional study aims to explore the association between vitamin D status and insulin resistance among university employees. In September 2016, an email was sent to all the employees of Notre Dame University (NDU) ...

Introduction: Eating disorders (ED) are one of the most common psychiatric illnesses that may lead to physical and psychosocial morbidity in children and young adolescents. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of eating disorders symptoms and its associated risk factors among children and young adolescents in Lebanese schools. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study including 253 students aged between 8-13 years old, living in Lebanon. Participants were recruited from private schools located in Mount Lebanon. Each student were interviewed to collect information related ...

Background – Increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity is a major worldwide problem associated with many metabolic abnormalities. Compliance is poor with lifestyle modifications required for losing weight and maintaining long-term weight loss. There are no highly efficacious and safe therapeutic drugs for weight-loss, and few medications are approved for long-term management of obesity. In recent years, the use of supplements for weight loss has steadily increased among US and European adults. Weight loss supplements are easily available without prescriptions and do not require strict ...