Background: Good nutrition is imperative to achieve a better health status. The rate of obesity and related comorbidities is increasing all over the world. The main reasons behind this worse situation are the overconsumption of food groups or exceeding the recommended portion sizes. University life is a period when students are independent in making their food choices. The chances of adopting unhealthy eating behaviors are increased during this tenure. Nutritional knowledge is an important tool in assessing the nutritional status of an individual, group, and community. Objectives: The main objective of the current study was to assess the nutritional knowledge of university-going students. Methods: The pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect the data from the students of the University of Lahore, Pakistan. A total of 300 students participated in this study (150 from the Nutrition Department and 150 from the non-nutrition departments). Demographic data, anthropometric measurements, and total nutritional knowledge (TNK) scores were measured during the 4-month study duration. Additionally, gender-and department-based comparisons of various parameters were performed. The mean TNK of the Nutrition Department students was higher (34.89 ± 0.95/58) than non-nutrition departments (24.05 ± 1.00/58) (P = 0.01). Additionally, the mean TNK of female students was higher (28.53 ± 1.28/58) than male students (27.05 ± 1.27/58) (P = 0.03). Moreover, 61% and 63% of nutrition students were familiar with the relationship between high intake of salt and fats with chronic diseases, respectively. Results: A statistically significant relationship was not observed between gender (P = 0.78) and departments (P = 0.10) with body mass index (BMI). This finding shows that nutritional knowledge alone is not a predictor of the nutritional status (BMI) of an individual. Students, even from the Nutrition Department, failed to transform their knowledge about nutrition into healthy food choices and eating practices. Conclusions: It is necessary to initiate nutrition education programs emphasizing making healthy food choices. Moreover, nutritional knowledge related to dietary guidelines should be incorporated into daily life to remove the disease burden associated with obesity.
Autism is a diversified group of neurological disorders having unknown cause which are interpreted entirely based on behavioral examination. During the last two decades, the frequency and prevalence rate of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have risen. The elevated level of oxidative stress and reduced antioxidant potential has been associated with this disorder. Further in autism, the genetic as well as environmental determinants may escalate susceptibility to oxidative stress. Elevated oxidative stress in ASD give rise to the development of this disorder regarding both clinical manifestations and pathological process. Autism manifests the characteristics like changes in complicated human behaviors which includes social interaction, communication and stereotypies. In addition, children suffering from autism may not be able to cope anxiety and behave unreasonably even to otherwise benign stimulators. It is proposed by growing evidence that epigenetic mechanisms play a role in the etiology of autism. To detect epigenetic biomarkers for ASD, numerous studies have endeavored until now. Children having autism spectrum disorder (ASD) usually show remarkable behavioral difficulties in combination with dysfunction in social relationship
Autism spectrum is a disorder of cognitive deficiency and repetitive-sensory functionality and behavior. Due to uncertain diagnosis on the base of biomarker, it could be diagnosed on the base of clinical presentation for example irritable behavior towards social circle, and tendency of being isolate themselves along with speech problems and diminished interest in daily activities of life. ASD prevalence has been noticed high in male than females. There are about 350,000 autistic patients in Pakistan. Early screening and social awareness are the most controlled way to overcome the severity of disorder. Among the risk factor of maternal pathology, pollution and use of drugs, diet lacked mainly in zinc and other micro nutrients during phase of pregnancy play important role to affect the fetus brain function and structure. Autistic child being deficient in zinc nutrient affects their dietary choices in a way that their taste buds and olfactory sense don’t function well in food selection that is highly depend on zinc function in body result in malnutrition in the ASD children. This behavior shows a strong relation between high zinc diet and control of Autism symptoms. Ketogenic diet, gluten and casein free diets might be beneficial in autism according to some studies. Zinc, being the utmostrich trace metal in brain and is very crucial for neurodevelopment and pathological process of autism. SHANK proteins are principal scaffolding proteins and are vital for synthesis and function of synapses. The mutation in shank genes result in impairment of nerve transmission in autism patients. Zinc level is associated with optimal functioning of shank proteins and its deficiency may lead to inactivation of these proteins. In this review, we have discussed the regulation of SHANK 3 and its activation which are zinc dependent and result the elevated synaptic transmission.
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