Maryam Ranjbar Zahedani; Mehdi Bastan; Seyedeh Maryam Abdollahzadeh; Maryam Shafiee; Mohammad Mehdi Khorshidsavar; Seyed Mohammad Aghaeinejad Rudbane; Seyed Mohammad Mazloomi
Abstract
Background: Irregular working times or atypical working schedules, accompanied by the risk of unhealthy dietary habits, physical inactivity, and partial sleep deprivation, potentially lead to increased metabolic risk factors. This study aimed to evaluate the nutritional status, physical activity level, ...
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Background: Irregular working times or atypical working schedules, accompanied by the risk of unhealthy dietary habits, physical inactivity, and partial sleep deprivation, potentially lead to increased metabolic risk factors. This study aimed to evaluate the nutritional status, physical activity level, and the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of South Zagros Oil and Gas Production Company (SZOGPC) employees (predominantly irregular-shift workers) toward diet and nutrition.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from January to October 2017 on 997 SZOGPC workers. Demographic characteristics, anthropometric measures, biochemical markers, physical activity status, KAP, and dietary intake of the employees were assessed and analyzed. The offered menus were also analyzed.Results: The participants’ mean age was 37.0±6.7 years; the majority of them were married (88.2%) and had irregular-shift work (85.6%). Approximately four-fifths of the participants were either pre-obese or obese, and two-thirds had central obesity. Over half of the participants had high serum triglyceride concentrations and inadequate high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Alkaline phosphatase and alanine transaminase levels were higher than the normal range in 79.0% and 36.2% of the subjects, respectively. The KAP survey showed that only 28-31% of the interviewed participants had acceptable KAP subscale or total scores on the principles related to weight gain and obesity. The mean energy intake was almost 50% more than the average recommendations.Conclusion: Irregular-shift workers appear to be at increased health risk, particularly in terms of acquiring non communicable diseases. Effective lifestyle interventions such as nutrition education and basic menu changes must be considered as a major priority to promote health in such populations.
Mohammad Hossein Kaveh; Farzaneh Fanaei; Seyed Mohammad Mazloomi; Ali Reza Mirahmadizadeh; Reza Barati-Boldaji; Elaheh Shoushtari-Moghadam
Abstract
Background: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of a volunteer-led food safety training program based on social cognitive theory on behaviors and their determinants among community women.Methods: This is a single-blinded randomized controlled trial conducted in 8 urban health centers in Marvdasht ...
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Background: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of a volunteer-led food safety training program based on social cognitive theory on behaviors and their determinants among community women.Methods: This is a single-blinded randomized controlled trial conducted in 8 urban health centers in Marvdasht city, southern Iran. 60 volunteers and 502 women who were selected through multi-stage cluster random sampling method participated in the study. A 4-session food safety training program was implemented for health volunteers in the experimental group (n=30). They then trained the women in the experimental group (n=260) in their local community for a month. Data were collected using validated questionnaires in the group of volunteers before and one week after the intervention and in the group of women before and one month after the intervention. Data were entered in SPSS software version 22 and analyzed using Chi-Square and comparisons between the two groups were conducted by ANCOVA. P<0.05 was considered as the significant level.Results: The results of the study showed significant improvements in food safety-related behaviors and their determinants in the experimental groups, i.e., among both health volunteers and community women after the intervention. No significant changes in the study constructs (knowledge, self-efficacy, outcome expectations and behavior) were observed among women in the control group after the intervention.Conclusion: The findings of this study were in favor of the success of health volunteers in food safety training with the aim of improving food safety-related behaviors and their determinants (within the framework of cognitive theory) among community women.
Mohammad Ali Baghapour; Seyed Mohammad Mazloomi; Kourosh Azizi; Razieh Sefidkar
Volume 3, Issue 4 , October 2015, , Pages 128-132
Abstract
Background: The consumption of healthy food is considered as an essential need to devoid the physical, chemical, and biological hazards. The importance of this issue is more conspicuous in places such as hospitals where people with somehow compromised immune systems are under treatment. Therefore, this ...
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Background: The consumption of healthy food is considered as an essential need to devoid the physical, chemical, and biological hazards. The importance of this issue is more conspicuous in places such as hospitals where people with somehow compromised immune systems are under treatment. Therefore, this research aimed to evaluate the microbiological quality of food contact surfaces in a kitchen in one of the hospitals of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Methods: In the present study, samples were taken from 48 food contact surfaces according to ISO 18593:2004(E) and placed into the bags containing diluting solution; they were then transferred to the laboratory for microbial analysis in the cold chain. The microbial analysis was carried out according to ISO 4833-1:2013 and BS ISO 4832:2006 for enumeration of total bacterial count and coliform. Results: Based on the results presented here, 39.6% and 85.7% of the samples showed acceptable contamination with regard to the enumeration of total bacterial and coliform count. Besides, 18.2% and 72.7 % of work surfaces groups (cutting board, table, and hand) showed acceptable contamination with regard to the enumeration of total bacterial count and coliform in comparison to the standards. Furthermore, 45.9% and 89.2% of other surfaces showed acceptable total bacterial and coliform count, respectively. Conclusion: The results showed that safe management of the kitchen, education of the staff and also improvement of the equipment used are necessary.
Mitra Keshavarz; Seyed Mohammad Mazloomi; Siavash Babajafari
Volume 3, Issue 3 , July 2015, , Pages 88-93
Abstract
Background: Spinach is one of the vegetables with a high concentration of nitrate which is affected by various processes such as cooking and refrigeration before consumption. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of home cooking method, which has not been studied before, on the level of nitrate ...
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Background: Spinach is one of the vegetables with a high concentration of nitrate which is affected by various processes such as cooking and refrigeration before consumption. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of home cooking method, which has not been studied before, on the level of nitrate and nitrite in spinach. The effect of refrigeration was studied, as well. Methods: After removing non-edible parts of spinach, it was cut into 4-7 cm pieces. Then, it was washed with deionized water thrice and drained. A part of raw spinach was set aside to measure the nitrate and nitrite and the other part was heated in a closed container without adding water, until almost all the water of the spinach was evaporated and then refrigerated. HPLC method was used to measure the nitrite and nitrate levels. The collected data were analyzed using Wilcoxon test by SPSS. Results: The mean concentrations of nitrate and nitrite in the raw spinach were 336.54±182.2 and 26.49±10.07 mg/kg, respectively. Cooking process caused a significant increase in the level of nitrate, while refrigeration process led to a significant decrease in this regard. Besides, a slight reduction was observed in the nitrite level after cooking, but the change was not statistically significant. Refrigeration also had no significant effects on the nitrite level of spinach. Conclusion: Considering the non-significant changes in nitrite levels, it seems that home cooking without adding water, unlike refrigeration, is not a proper method to reduce the intake of nitrates and nitrites from spinach.
Mahsa Moazen; Samane Rahmdel; Seyedeh Maryam Abdollahzadeh; Maryam Ranjbar Zahedani; Seyed Mohammad Mazloomi
Volume 2, Issue 2 , April 2014, , Pages 49-53
Abstract
Background: Although enteral feeding solutions are used to reduce the morbidity and mortality in many malnourished and hospitalized patients, microbial contamination of these products may lead to severe infections, especially in immune suppressed ones. The aim of this study was to evaluate the microbiological ...
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Background: Although enteral feeding solutions are used to reduce the morbidity and mortality in many malnourished and hospitalized patients, microbial contamination of these products may lead to severe infections, especially in immune suppressed ones. The aim of this study was to evaluate the microbiological quality of commercial enteral feedings in two hospital settings in Shiraz. Methods: Twenty commercial enteral feedings were collected immediately after preparation and then homogenized and serially diluted on the same day. MPN methods were used to evaluate the total viable count and Escherichia coli count. They were also tested for total coliform (pour plate method) and the presence of coagulase positive staphylococci. The results were compared with standard limits. Results: All samples had a total viable count lower than 104 colony forming units (CFU) per g (the maximum recommended level of FDA standard).For all enteral feedings, coliform counts were not detectable (<10 CFU/g).Escherichia coli counts were also lower than those of Brazilian legislation (<3 CFU/g). Coagulase positive staphylococci were recovered just from one sample (5%). Conclusion: Freshly prepared commercial enteral feeding samples h ad a cceptable m icrobial q uality. S uch p roducts are considered to be more acceptable than hospital prepared ones. However, further steps involved in the preparation and administration of commercial feedings can be sources of microbial contamination. Thus implementation of hygienic practices and monitoring procedures during preparation and administration can be suggested.
