The Mediterranean dietary patterns comply better with recommended nutrient and micronutrient intakes. The Mediterranean diet (MD) was associated with reduced mortality and lower risk for metabolic chronic diseases. It has also low ecological, carbon and water footprints due to its high share of plant-based foods. In fact, the share of plant-based dietary energy is higher in the Mediterranean than in Northern Europe. The Mediterranean hotspot is a major centre of plant and crop diversity. Mediterranean people gather and consume about 2300 plant species. This review paper aims at highlighting the nutrition-health benefits of the MD and analysing the main environmental impacts of the Mediterranean food consumption patterns. There is a growing body of scientific evidence that the MD has significant health-nutrition benefits and low environmental footprints, so there is urgent need to reverse the ongoing erosion of the MD heritage and to promote it as a sustainable diets model.

Context: The beneficial effects of natural polyphenolic compounds are increasingly emerging as powerful antioxidants and digestive boosters. Phoenix dactylifera seeds are recently identified as a healthy functional food with rich amounts of phenolic compounds. Aims: To analyzing the phenolic profile obtained from Moroccan variety of date seeds and evaluating the inhibitory capacity against digestive enzymes and the antioxidant potential of phenolic fraction concentrate (PFC) of date seeds as a promising antihyperglycemic agent. Methods: Lineweaver–Burk plot analysis was performed to evaluate PFC inhibitory effect against digestive enzyme activity in the presence of different doses of a substrate. Wistar rats were recruited to determine the acute and sub-acute oral toxicity of PFC. Finally, the optimal dose of PFC was selected and its effects on metabolic, hematological and biochemical parameters were determined. Results: High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis revealed that PFC contains abundant amounts of phenolic acid: Caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, and 3-hydroxybenzoic acid. PFC showed powerful antioxidant activity as determined by scavenging and reducing assays. PFC significantly inhibited alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase enzymes by 87.3% and 78.7%, respectively, via mixed manipulation of Km and Vmax. Acute toxicity examinations revealed PFC to be practically non-toxic with LD50 > 5000mg PFC/kg for both sexes of rats. The no-observed-adverse-effect-level (NOAEL) and lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL) for oral administration of PFC were 1000 and 2500 mg/kg for both sexes. Finally, the sub-acute study showed that a PFC dose of 50 mg/kg did not cause any changes in metabolic, biochemical and hematological parameters and was considered to be the optimal healthy dose for rats. Consequently, it induces improvement in glucose concentration in rats. Conclusions: The rational use of phenolic date seeds fraction presents powerful antioxidant and blood glucose regulating nutraceutical that could aid in diabetes mellitus management.

No abstract

Iron deficiency anaemia is an important health problem in Morocco. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of anaemia among school children in Kenitra. The sample represents school children of all educational levels and age ranged between 6-15 years. The level of hemoglobin, haematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration was measured in a group of 271 school children. The seric iron was assessed and anaemia was defined when hemoglobin < 11.5 g dL(-1). A questionnaire was developed to obtain information about the daily food consumption and socio-economic conditions. The prevalence of anaemia was 16.2%. The mean hemoglobin concentration was 12.53 g dL(-1) in boys and 12.52 g dL(-1) in girls. The results suggest that iron deficiency is an important determinant of anaemia in this population. There was a significant relationship between education of the mother and anaemia in children (p = 0.004) but not with the family income. It is concluded that improving the economic status of the family, women education and health education about balanced animal and plant food consumption are recommended strategies to reduce the burden of anaemia.

No abstract

Nutritional status is the best indicator of the global well-being of children. However, malnutrition affects physical growth, cognitive development, physical work capacity, and it consequently influences human performance and health. The present study was designed to identify factors that may influence the nutritional status and educational achievements of the children in a rural area of ANTI Atlas of Morocco. The nutritional status of 162 children (12 to 15 years of age) was assessed by nutritional anthropometry and compared with tables of weight-for-age and height-for-age z-scores (WAZ and HAZ) identifying wasting and stunting, respectively. A questionnaire was developed to collect information about socio-economic and demographic status of the children’s families. Also, educational achievements were assessed by their score in mathematics. A total of 162 children (64 boys and 98 girls), aged 12 –15 years. Results revealed 22.8% of stunting and 35.2% of wasting. Child age (p = 0.027), illiteracy of the mother (p = 0.004) was determinant factors with wasting. Stunting was significantly associated with gender (p = 0.03) and parents’ employment (p = 0.009). However, using logistic regression analysis, the results showed that stunting (p = 0.04) and mother level of education (p = 0.032) were significantly correlated with school achievements.In this area of study, malnutrition remains a major problem among adolescents’ school performances, which can affect their future. The main causes of malnutrition seem to be the bad weaning practices among school children and cultural attitudes of food. The educational achievements of school children are influenced by maternal education and stunting

Aim: Behavioral and mental changes may occur in people exposed to cold stress by decreasing their work efficiency and their mental capacity while increasing the number of accidents on the job site. The goal of this study was to explore the effect of cold stress in spatial learning performance excitability and LTP.Materials and Methods: Three to four month old rats were randomly divided into four groups to form a control group and a cold stress group for each sex. The groups of cold stressed animals were placed in a cold room ambient temperature of 4°C for 2 h day. Adrenal glands and body weight (g) were recorded in control and stressed rats during the cold exposure. Spatial learning (acquisition phase) and memory (probe trial) were tested in the Morris water maze (MWM) immediately after daily exposure. Latency to locate the hidden platform, distance moved (DM), mean distance to platform, swim speed (SS) and time spent in the platform quadrant were compared between genders and treatments. Field potential recordings were made, under urethane anesthesia, from the dentate gyrus (DG) granule-cell layer, with stimulation of the medial perforant pathway 2 h after the probe trial. This study examined spatial memory as measured by MWM performance and hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) in the DG after exposure to cold in a repeated stress condition for 2 h/day for 5 days.Results: The cold-exposed female rats needed less time to find the hidden platform on day 1 (43.0 ± 13.9 s vs. 63.2 ± 13.2 s), day 2 (18.2 ± 8.4 s vs. 40.9 ± 12.2 s) and on day 4 (8.0 ± 2.1 s vs. 17.2 ± 7.0 s) while cold-exposed male rats showed a decreased escape latency (EL) on day 1 only (37.3 ± 12.5 s vs. 75.4 ± 13.1 s). Cold-exposed male rats spent less time in the target quadrant (30.08 ± 6.11%) than the control male rats (37.33 ± 8.89%). Two hour cold exposure decreased population spike (PS) potentiation during both induction (218.3 ± 21.6 vs. 304.5 ± 18.8%) and maintenance intervals (193.9 ± 24.5 vs. 276.6 ± 25.4%) in male rats. Meanwhile cold exposure did not affect the body weight (C: 221 ± 2.5 vs. S: 222 ± 1.7) but it impacts the adrenal gland relative weight (S: 27.1 ± 1.8 mg vs. C: 26.2 ± 1.4 mg).Conclusion: Overall, the results show that repeated cold exposure can selectively improve spatial learning in adult female rats, but impaired retention memory for platform location in male rats. It is possible that impaired LTP underlies some of the impaired retention memory caused by cold exposure in the male rats.

The Mediterranean Diet has long been regarded as one of thepromising strategies for the prevention of cognitive impairmentand Alzheimer's disease. Aim: This study aimed to determinethe association between adherence to a MedDiet and the riskof cognitive impairment (CI) among the elderly in Morocco.Due to their complete data, a sample of 172 (56.4% men) from 237 subjects were included in our study. Cognitive functions were assessed by the MMSE test (Mini-Mental State Examina- tion). Adherence to a MedDiet was assessed using a validated questionnaire based on weekly consumption of the seven main MedDiet foods: non-refined cereals, potatoes, fruits (whole or in juice), vegetables (cooked or as salad), legumes, fish, olive oil, and three foods consumed less frequently in a MedDiet: red meats, poultry, and full-fat dairy products. A binary logistic regression was performed, with cognitive function as the dependent variable MedDiet adherence score as well as the aliment consumption frequency associated with CI in the bivariate analysis as an independent variable.The binary logistic regression adjusted for confounding vari- ables revealed that adherence to a MedDiet is not associated with a lower risk of cognitive impairment (ORa= 0.928; 95% CI; [0.831-1.037]) (ORa: Adjusted Odd Ratio; 95% CI: 95% of Confidence Interval). However, only Olive Oil consumption was a protective factor against CI (ORa= 0.882; 95% CI; [0.815-0.953]).