The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on stress and eating behaviours. This study aims to determine the relationship between stress, emotional eating, and food choices among university students during the Covid-19. A total of 273 university students participated in this cross-sectional study. Online self-administered questionnaires were used to determine the stress intensity, emotional eating, and eating behaviours. All statistical analyses were performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Almost half (49.8%) of the participants experienced high stress. In males, the high-stress group consumed sweets or sugars more frequently than the low-stress group (p<0.05). In females, the high-stress group consumed more sweets or sugar and cakes or cookies but less milk products and fresh fruits than the low-stress group (p<0.05). Students with higher negative emotion scores consumed less cooked vegetables (r=-0.133; p<0.05) whereas students with higher positive emotion scores consumed more fast food (r=0.208; p<0.001), sweets or sugar (r=0.139; p<0.05) and cakes or cookies (r=0.139; p<0.05). Body Mass Index (BMI) was positively correlated with negative emotions (r=0.134; p<0.05), negative situations (r=0.161; p<0.01), and total negative Emotional Appetite Questionnaire (EMAQ) scores (r=0.168; p<0.01). In conclusion, Covid-19 brings negative impact on stress. University students shifted food preferences from healthy foods to palatable foods and this could result in adverse health outcomes. Therefore, stress management interventions and nutrition education should be implemented to reduce stress and overcome stress-induced eating behaviour among private university students during the Covid-19.
Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) has multiple functions, and the lack of commercially available enzyme sources limits its widespread application in various industries. An accurate PPO assay was developed by HPLC determination of the substrate oxidation. Resources screening indicated that sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) wastewater in starch production has high PPO activity. A procedure was developed for separately recovering PPO, β-amylase, sporamins, and small molecular nutrients (SMNs) from sweet potato wastewater. The wastewater was adjusted to pH 3.5 to precipitate PPO, and then adjusted to 50 % acetone to precipitate β-amylase and further to 80 % acetone to precipitate sporamins. The SMNs were obtained after acetone recovery. Purified powders of 4.3 × 10(5) units of PPO, 4.0 × 10(6) units of β-amylase, 8.70 g sporamins, and 20.2 g SMNs were obtained from the wastewater of 1 kg sweet potato. More than 50 million tons of sweet potato is used for starch production annually around the world. Through this simple procedure, huge amount of biochemical resources can be recovered from the wastewater, which greatly increases the economic value of the crop and saves the environment.
Cosmos caudatus is widely used as a traditional medicine in Southeast Asia. C. caudatus has been reported as a rich source of bioactive compounds such as ascorbic acid, quercetin, and chlorogenic acid. Studies have shown that C. caudatus exhibits high anti-oxidant capacity and various medicinal properties, including anti-diabetic activity, anti-hypertensive properties, anti-inflammatory responses, bone-protective effect, and anti-microbial activity. This review aims to present the potential medicinal benefits of C. caudatus from the available scientific literature. We searched PubMed and ScienceDirect database for articles published from 1995 to January 2015. Overall, 15 articles related to C. caudatus and its medicinal benefits are reviewed. All these studies demonstrated that C. caudatus is effective, having demonstrated its anti-diabetic, anti-hypertensive, anti-inflammatory, bone-protective, anti-microbial, and anti-fungal activity in both in vitro and animal studies. None of the studies showed any negative effect of C. caudatus related to medicinal use. Currently available evidence suggests that C. caudatus has beneficial effects such as reducing blood glucose, reducing blood pressure, promoting healthy bone formation, and demonstrating anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties. However, human clinical trial is warranted.
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