Food Addiction: An Evolving Nonlinear Science

The purpose of this review is to familiarize readers with the role that addiction plays in the formation and treatment of obesity, type 2 diabetes and disorders of eating. We will outline several useful models that integrate metabolism, addiction, and human relationship adaptations to eating. A special effort will be made to demonstrate how the use of simple and straightforward nonlinear models can and are being used to improve our knowledge and treatment of patients suffering from nutritional pathology. Moving forward, the reader should be able to incorporate some of the findings in this review into their own practice, research, teaching efforts or other interests in the fields of nutrition, diabetes, and/or bariatric (weight) management.     

Evaluating Household Food Insecurity: Applications and Insights from Rural Malaysia

Hunger is complex, encompassing experiences ranging from a family's forced acceptance of a monotonous diet to individual physiological pain. I evaluate the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) as a means of capturing the universal elements of hunger without doing violence to its culturally-specific expressions within two Malay communities. The HFIAS is assessed conceptually by comparing its assumptions and concept-to-measurement gap with competing indicators and practically with respect to village conditions and practices. This case study recommends the HFIAS for this site and for communities that similarly lack maternal buffering, while highlighting the unique features of the local hunger experience.     

Rewarding Healthy Food Choices in SNAP: Behavioral Economic Applications

Context

American obesity rates continue to escalate, but an effective policy response remains elusive. Specific changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) have been proposed as one way to improve nutrition and combat obesity among lower-income populations. While current SNAP proposals hold promise, some important challenges still remain.

Methods

We discuss the four most common recommendations for changes to SNAP and their benefits and limitations. We then propose three new delivery options for SNAP that take advantage of behavioral economic insights and encourage the selection of healthy foods.

Findings

Although the existing proposals could help SNAP recipients, they often do not address some important behavioral impediments to buying healthy foods. We believe that behavioral economics can be used to design alternative policies with several advantages, although we recognize and discuss some of their limitations. The first proposal rewards healthy purchases with more SNAP funds and provides an additional incentive to maintain healthier shopping patterns. The second proposal uses the opportunity to win prizes to reward healthy food choices, and the prizes further support healthier habits. The final proposal simplifies healthy food purchases by allowing individuals to commit their SNAP benefits to more nutritious selections in advance.

Conclusions

Reforming the delivery structure of SNAP''s benefits could help improve nutrition, weight, and overall health of lower-income individuals. We advocate for more and diverse SNAP proposals, which should be tested and, possibly, combined. Their implementation, however, would require political will, administrative capacity, and funding.     

我国的食品卫生监督事业与食品卫生学

作者论述了中国食品卫生监督事业的发展。食品卫生法颁发以前和以后,可分为二个时期,食品卫生法前为结合群众运动的联合行政管理,施行后,开始转入法制管理。食品卫生法的完善促进了一系列标准、法规的制订,本法的实施如促进了各种食品卫生监督机构统一于一个体系。法的突施,混沌不分的行政管理与主管分开了,分清群众运动与依法行政,联合行政管理也为依法行政所取代。食品卫生法的实施也促进了食品卫生科学的发展,使卫生法学、卫生经济学、卫生社会学成为食品卫生学的分枝,食品卫生学发展中,软科学得到了承认。但是食品卫生学发展中也有几个重要问题有待解决,一是软科学有待提高水平,一是要防止教学、科研与卫生监督工作分道扬镖。不论科研机构、大学的工作人员,还是食品卫生监督机构的工作人员,应该都追求同一个目标,共同努力改造食品卫生事业和食品卫生学。特别应该防止为谋取经济实惠之争,搅乱了理论上的规律性。     

《食品科学》的办刊特色及发展思路

通过对《食品科学》办刊历史进行回顾,介绍了期刊的编辑措施、经营策略,展示了《食品科学》办刊特色,探讨杂志存在的问题,采取解决措施并进一步明确杂志发展思路。