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Introduction: Snacks and bakery foodstuffs like biscuits are the most preferred food items in the present decade. Thus it is important to know its cariogenicity. Aim: To study the effect of five commercially available biscuits on salivary pH, flow rate and oral clearance rate among children. Materials and methods: The study consisted of five groups of commercially available biscuits: oats, salt, glucose, cream, chocolate biscuits. Samples of saliva were collected, and pH was measured using an electrode, the flow rate directly from the calibrated test tube and the oral clearance time was estimated based on the time taken for the salivary pH to return back to the baseline values. After which, children were given one biscuit each and stimulated saliva samples were collected at different time intervals. Obtained values were subjected to the paired t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc Tukey’s test. Results: Salivary pH had decreased compared to baseline for all the five commercially available biscuits with maximum drop seen for glucose, cream and chocolate biscuit group at 5 minutes. Oats group showed a maximum drop in mean salivary pH at 15 minutes and salt biscuits at 10 minutes. Increased salivary flow rate was seen for oats, salt, and cream biscuit group at 15 minutes and chocolate and glucose group had reduced when compared to its baseline value. The pH at 15 minutes had not returned back to the baseline values for all groups. Conclusion: The consumption of commercially available biscuits had an effect on salivary pH, flow rate and oral clearance rate in children.

Bioavailability and acceptability of heme-iron obtained from swine hemoglobin (Hb) included in the chocolate-flavored filling of biscuits was assessed in adolescent girls. The supplemented groups received biscuits fortified with 9.5 mg of iron per day for 13 weeks (65 days) of either iron sulfate (IS, n = 64) or heme-iron concentrate (HIC, n = 59). The control (C) group consisted of 70 teenagers with the highest baseline Hb concentrations. The iron-supplemented biscuits were well accepted by the adolescents. Blood chemistry analyses were performed at baseline and the 7th and 13th weeks. The Hb levels in the HIC group increased (p

Commercial FITkits™ ELISAs for four major latex allergens (Hev b1, Hev b3, Hev b5 and Hev b6.02) were modified to enable semi-quantitative measurement of the allergens at low concentrations (5–10 ng mL−1). The recovery of latex allergens from foods spiked with a latex cold seal adhesive was determined using one sample from each of the following food groups: confectionery/chocolate, fruit/vegetables, fruit juices, ice cream, cheese, meat and pastry. Cheese and pastry samples proved problematic owing to their high fat content. When these samples were excluded, the overall recovery for Hev b6.02 was 98 ± 12% (mean ± SD) and for Hev b5 80 ± 17%. In general, Hev b1 and Hev b3 allergens were difficult to extract from all the foods tested. Of 21 food contact materials tested, the assays detected one or more latex allergen in seven of the samples. Commercial foods associated with these wrappers were tested to determine possible transfer of the allergens to the foods. Transfer of Hev b3 or Hev b5 to food was identified at low levels in three samples, with the highest level being found in a chocolate biscuit (approximately 17 ng mL−1 extract). Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry

This article presents a comprehensive examination of panel data for 1,847 consumers and 2,209 brands of “biscuits” (a total of 76,682 records) in which matching analysis is employed to define brand substitutability and potential product clusters within the overall category. The results indicate that, while brands performed as expected as perfect substitutes for one another, five subcategories of biscuits into which the brands were divided (chocolate biscuit countlines, chocolate-coated biscuits, filled biscuits, plain sweet biscuits, and savory biscuits) generally performed as separate products. Matching provided a graded measure of substitutability/nonsubstitutability of brands and products, and thereby contributed to their definition.

Email: ptu@markallengroup.com Pick a challenge As the autumn mists swirl up around us and the leaves crunch satisfyingly underfoot, I want you to grab a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit (or a glass of wine if you’re lucky enough to be at home), close your eyes and think about the three learning experiences you find most challenging . For me, number one would have to be gymnastics. Think uncoordinated, multiply it by 100 and add a few noughts on the end for good measure. Number two would be speaking a foreign language. Understanding, reading and writing – fine. But try to speak it and my mouth dries up, my hands start to sweat and I am left a gibbering wreck in the corner. I lived in Japan for a while and was fortunate enough that my partner in crime at the time was oppositely flawed: he didn’t mind chatting away in Japanese to anyone... he just had no idea what they said back to him. We were the perfect comedy double act. Imagine the scenario: Japanese person politely asks question. Boyfriend, confused look on face, scratches head. Amy, coming to rescue Indiana Jones-style, translates question into English. Boyfriend, enlightened look on face, replies in (almost) perfect Japanese. Japanese person, confused look on face... I think part of our mutual struggle with language learning stems from the fact that neither of us were particularly exposed to it until age 11, by which time learning a language for the first time had become an unnatural process. Which, in fact, leads me (almost seamlessly!) into introducing this month’s MFL article (pages 34-35), where language coordinator Danielle Dion-Jones extols the virtues of exposing children to another language from their earliest years – when they are at an age to just have fun with it – and suggests some easy to implement ideas. My third learning ‘challenge’ is maths – I can get into calculation confusion and tangles with angles like you wouldn’t believe (while still being able to recite my times tables forwards and backwards). Imagine, then, what it must be like for those pupils where English is a second or third language. Imagine having to grapple with the vocabulary of maths, before you can even start to get your head around the other stuff. This month we have a special section dedicated to helping you support bilingual learners, with strategies for linking mathematical concepts and techniques to check understanding (pages 26-32). I don’t know about you, but all this talk of challenges is making me hungry. Another chocolate biscuit anyone? PTU Editor Amy Griggs Sales and Marketing Matt Govett Robbany Khan Graphic Designers Claire White Laura Spencer Art Director Richard Hamshere Circulation Director Sally Boettcher Circulation Manager Christine Hoskins Publisher Matt Govett

Change the A (for attitude) to I for (incentive) and you've gone from fat to fit. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as that in practice. Working to change an owner's attitude to their pet from ‘she prefers what we eat’ or ‘he won't eat it’ or the old classic ‘she's happy’, is an everyday barrier to having a healthier pet. People don't like to put on weight themselves and feel guilty about eating that extra chocolate biscuit, although they will happily share it with their pet; as was the case with one particular client with a very overweight staffie (as are many), who announced he had to offer his pet three different types of biscuit before the dog decided to eat the fourth one! Here, Beverley Quirk comes to the rescue with some hints for running an obesity clinic.

Be honest – what are your chances of winning a Nobel prize? If your research involves analysing injuries from falling coconuts or examining the ideal way to dunk a chocolate biscuit, then the chances of a call from Stockholm are practically zero. But scientists investigating these topics have received a call from a very different source – Marc Abrahams, founder and organizer of the Ig Nobel prizes. Awarded annually for research that "cannot or should not be reproduced", the Ig Nobels recognize bizarre, weird and seemingly improbable research.