Dissertations - Food Business & Technology
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Item A Psychobiotic Diet For the Treatment of Stress, Anxiety & Depression(2024-04) Regan, FayeMental health disorders are a leading cause of the global health-related burden, with depressive and anxiety disorders the main contributors to this burden. While pharmacologic treatments exist for the treatment of anxiety and depression, up to 30% of people with depression do not respond to pharmacological therapy. There is a need therefore for additional methods to help individuals experiencing stress, depression and anxiety. The gut microbiota is the collection of individual micro-organisms including bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa that live in the human gastrointestinal tract. The gut, the microbiota and the brain communicate extensively with each other through direct neuronal transmission as well as indirectly via hormonal and immune signalling metabolites. This connection is called the microbiota-gut-brain axis (MGBA) and has a profound impact on mental health. The microbiota and the MGBA is strongly influenced by diet. The psychobiotic diet is a diet which is high in prebiotic and probiotic rich fermented foods which is designed to support the gut microbiota in order to exert positive effects on the brain and mental health via the MGBA while avoiding or reducing consumption of foods which have a negative effect on gut health such as sweets, processed meats, fast food and particularly ultra-processed foods. The effectiveness of the psychobiotic diet in the treatment of stress, anxiety and depression was investigated through critical evaluation of recent, peer-reviewed scientific literature. The psychobiotic diet itself is hugely under researched, with the results of only two research studies published to date investigating a psychobiotic diet or a diet high in prebiotic-rich fruits and vegetables. These demonstrate that a psychobiotic diet or a diet rich in prebiotics are an effective treatment for stress, anxiety and can improve mood. The majority of research to date has investigated the effect of psychobiotic supplementation with probiotics, prebiotics or synbiotics. There is strong evidence that psychobiotics can improve stress, depression and anxiety. Psychobiotics were found to improve mood in healthy individuals, individuals with mild to moderate distress and individuals with clinical depression. There is evidence for these effects using psychobiotics alone and in conjunction with anti-depressant therapy. There is strong evidence that psychobiotic bacterial strains can protect against worsening mental health in individuals experiencing chronic stress, this suggests that the consumption of psychobiotics can have a beneficial, mental health protective role. A wide range of variables can influence the effectiveness of psychobiotics, such as individuals’ activity levels, mental health at baseline, proclivity to healthy behaviours and genetic background. Further well-designed, large-scale, long-term research studies are required to provide greater evidence for and to quantify exactly the effectiveness of the psychobiotic diet in the treatment of stress and anxiety.Item The Cost of Own Brand Food Products as Related to their Nutritive Value(2024-04) Tobin, SineadThe focus of this thesis is to establish whether there is a link between the cost of own brand retail products as related to their nutritional content. The aim of this thesis is to outline any correlation between the cost of retail own brand food products and the quantifiable nutritional properties. Dietary related diseases such as cardiovascular disease and obesity have become more prevalent in Ireland in the last decade, with dietary choices being linked as the main cause of this. Retailer own brand products were selected based on the food pyramid, with data on products obtained from public domain information published by the selected retailers. Other data was sourced from peer reviewed published research papers and other substantiated sources such as government publications and legislation. Statistical analysis was also carried out as part of this study due to the availability of raw data. Overall, the only statistically significant difference found was between the carbohydrate values between the retail own brand products at the value and core tiers. However, there is also some evidence of the correlation between the cost of retail own brand products and the nutritional content. In addition to this, from the analysis of each individual product in terms of nutrition and the ingredient contents, the premium tier products were established more often as the most beneficial across all three product tiers. Given the novelty of this research, it would be recommended that this analysis should be repeated on a larger product base. It is also recommended that further analysis should focus on the carbohydrate values between retail own brand products at the value and core tiers, given that this is where the statistical significance was found in this analysis.Item Reviewing The Potential Application of Bovine Dairy Powders in Supporting Healthy Aging of Humans(2023-12) Hayes, TomBy 2050, twenty-two percent of the world’s population will be over the age of 60. Of this cohort, 80% will reside in developing regions. The focus of this thesis is to review the potential application of bovine dairy powders in supporting healthy aging of humans. Due to the economic status of this cohort require an affordable product with a prolonged shelf life is required. The evaluation of dairy and its role supporting a healthy aging population was assessed through evaluation of peer reviewed scientific papers and studies. Healthy aging allows enables the wellbeing in an individual both physically and mentally to carry out daily functions free from disease and disability. Osteoporosis, sarcopenia and cognitive decline were the three most prevalent diseases associated with aging and are considered global health concerns. With the aging demographic increasing, these 3 diseases were the focus of this study. Bovine milk powders are the most affordable source of dairy nutrients and also have the longest shelf life. Through investigation it was found that a lack of bone density was the cause of osteoporosis, muscle weakness was the cause of sarcopenia and oxidative stress was a key factor in cognitive decline. Calcium and vitamin D combined in fermented dairy was shown to increase bone density. Whey protein was shown to increase muscle mass. Whey peptides and amino acids were found to reduce oxidative stress. The key nutrients required to mitigate all 3 disease was found in a whey protein isolate powder and fortified in line with the recommended daily intake of an elderly person and a manufacturing cost was calculated in order to assess affordability for developing regions which may require a government subsidy. Future work would include manufacturing the fortified whey protein isolate powder and conducting subclinical trials to examine its effectiveness.Item Evaluation of public policy interventions in the food retail environment on diet and health(2023-08) Scott, LauraAcross the world countries have introduced a variety of public health policies to improve diet and nutrition among their populations. This study aims to understand best practices in public policy interventions and the impact they have had on diet and health within the food retail environment. The following study identifies public health and nutrition policies across European countries which have proven to be most impactful. It identifies any advancements that have been suggested in literature for future policy makers to consider. This study focuses on policy which impacts the food retail environment explored through the marketing 4 P’s. Food retail provides insight into consumers nutritional purchasing behaviours and is an extremely influential environment. This study will focus on nutritional policies which impact purchasing decisions in food retail stores. The nutritional policies discussed were classified using the marketing “4P’s” approach Price (taxes and subsidies), Product (reformulation and food labelling), Place (food retail) and Promotion (food retail advertising). Price: The results are mostly positive while introduced differently, some countries tax sugar other countries tax salt. Usually, these taxes impact industry more and manufacturers absorb most of the cost or reformulate their products. Most subsidies target children through schools not instore. The WHO have suggested new subsidies concepts which could increase consumption of fruit and vegetables. Research has suggested a red meat tax could positively impact diet and health. Product: Product reformulation is widely suggested as a successful measure which will help reduce obesity. Research has shown a modest impact as voluntary reformulation is most common and often hinders real results. Food labelling, information and nutritional guidelines are extremely common but with meek results. Countries across North and South America have seen best results with warning labels on food and drink products. Place: Retailers control the space in which food is sold and often use tactics to entice the sale of one product over another. Studies have shown that when space is prioritised for healthier food products instore consumption increases. Utilising various ‘nudging’ tactics may encourage the sale of healthier foods. Promotion: Several steps have been taken to protect children across traditional media but regulations for social media are lacking. Research highlights the urgent need for an improvement on mandatory policies. Some in store measures have been taken by some retailers to protect children against enticing product packaging. Research suggests nutrient profiling as possible solution to regulate advertising. All the “4 P’s” have a varying degree of influence on the food retail environment and consumer purchasing decisions. Overall public policy was found to be most effective when mandatory guidelines and targets were set. Fiscal policies were more effective than informative strategies but met with the most opposition from industry. Education is a key interlinking factor to policy success. Most European countries are engaged in implementing policies to improve diet and health. However, some countries including Ireland have fallen short in implementing effective policies across all the 4 P’s. Currently, much work needs to be done to implement powerful public policy to improve diet and health to reduce obesity. This study has found that change happens when several mandatory policies are introduced which dictate food retailers’ behaviour. The food retail environment plays a key role in consumers purchasing decisions and provides a key backdrop to educate consumers and bring about real change.Item The Challenges in the food industry with the ban of Titanium Dioxide in 2022(2023) Hortaleza, GarbrielleThe ongoing human health studies concerning the use of Titanium Dioxide in the food industry has been explored in many literature studies. The European Commission have recently declared a full ban of Titanium Dioxide (E171) as a food and feed additive in the European Union with the six month phasing out period from 07 February 2022 until 07 August 2022 effectively. Following this ban, there is a huge demand for alternatives within the food industry sector and also challenges that comes with this change. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the health implications that TiO₂ has brought about this ban, exploring the alternatives that the food companies have innovated in order to tackle this challenge. The key findings were that there are many in invo and in vitro studies concerning human ingestion and inhalation however no real human studies completed. The Food industry is continuously innovating on their own portfolio to create a close match to the appearance whitening effect of TiO₂. In conclusion, there has been a huge progress and response of the companies due to this change, however there is a need to explore further alternatives in the future.