The objective of this study was to develop a new method named the “one-week salt estimation method” that could estimate an individual’s salt intake and the sources of salt in the diet, and to evaluate this new method with a 24-h urine collection. The new method estimates salt intake from: (1) household cooking by weighing the family salt container and other high-salt condiments or sauces at the beginning and end of a week; (2) processed food according to established China food composition figures; and (3) cafeteria or restaurant meals using the results of previous studies. Consumption of salt additives and major salt contained foods and salt intake related eating habits were collected using a structured simple seven-day questionnaire. In order to validate the method, we studied 37 individuals from 11 families using the new method and 26 of these participants collected seven concurrent 24-h urine samples. The average salt intake for the 26 participants was 15.6 ± 5.5 g/person/day (mean ± standard deviation) by the 24-h urine collection and 13.7 ± 6.5 g/person/day by the new method. The difference was 1.8 ± 4.2 g/day/person (p = 0.037). The Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.762 (p < 0.001) and the partial correlation coefficient was 0.771 (p < 0.001) when adjusted for family code. Bland-Altman Plot showed the average of the difference between the two methods was −1.83, with 95% limits of −10.1 to 6.5 g/person/day. The new method showed that 43.7% of salt intake came from household cooking (33.5% from cooking salt, 10.2% from other condiments and sauces), 12.9% from processed food, and 43.4% from eating out. In conclusion, despite its limitations of underestimating salt intake, the “one-week salt estimation method” is easier for people to implement and is likely to provide useful information that highlights the excessively high intake of salt and its sources, and in turn is helpful in guiding dietary salt reduction.
Hard winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a major crop in the Great Plains of the United States, and our previous work demonstrated that wheat genotypes vary for grain cadmium accumulation with some exceeding the CODEX standard (0.2 mg kg(-1)). Previous reports of cadmium distribution in flour milling fractions have not included high cadmium grain. This study measured the distribution of cadmium, zinc, and iron in flour and bran streams from high cadmium (0.352 mg kg(-1)) grain on a pilot mill that produced 12 flour and four bran streams. Recovery in flour was substantially greater for cadmium (50%) than for zinc (31%) or iron (22%). Cadmium, zinc, and iron in the lowest mineral concentration flour stream, representing the purest endosperm fraction, were 52, 22, and 11%, respectively, of initial grain concentration. Our results indicate that, relative to zinc and iron, a greater proportion of cadmium is stored in the endosperm, the source of white flour.
Oil tea Camellia, as a major cash and oil crop, has a high status in the forestry cultivation systems in China. To meet the current market demand for oil tea Camellia, its potential distribution and suitable soil condition was researched, to instruct its cultivation and popularization. The potential distribution of oil tea Camellia in China was predicted by the maximum entropy model, using global environmental and soil databases. Then, we collected 10-year literature data about oil tea Camellia soil and applied multiple imputation and factor modeling for an in-depth analysis of soil suitability for growing of oil tea Camellia. The prediction indicated that oil tea Camellia was mainly distributed in Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hainan, East Hubei, Southwest Anhui and most of Guangdong. Climatic factors were more influential than soil factors. The minimum temperature of the coldest month, mean temperature of the coldest quarter and annual precipitation were the most significant contributors to the habitat suitability distribution. In the cultivated area of oil tea Camellia, soil fertility was poor, organic matter was the most significant factor for the soil conditions. Based on climatic and soil factor analyses, our data suggest there is a great potential to spread the oil tea Camellia cultivation industry.
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