S.W. Ng

The relationship between the global food system and the worldwide rapid increase of obesity and related diseases is not yet well understood. A reason is that the full impact of industrialized food processing on dietary patterns, including the environments of eating and drinking, remains overlooked and underestimated. Many forms of food processing are beneficial. But what is identified and defined here as ultra-processing, a type of process that has become increasingly dominant, at first in high-income countries, and now in middle-income countries, creates attractive, hyper-palatable, cheap, ready-to-consume food products that are characteristically energy-dense, fatty, sugary or salty and generally obesogenic. In this study, the scale of change in purchase and sales of ultra-processed products is examined and the context and implications are discussed. Data come from 79 high- and middle-income countries, with special attention to Canada and Brazil. Results show that ultra-processed products dominate the food supplies of high-income countries, and that their consumption is now rapidly increasing in middle-income countries. It is proposed here that the main driving force now shaping the global food system is transnational food manufacturing, retailing and fast food service corporations whose businesses are based on very profitable, heavily promoted ultra-processed products, many in snack form.

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the impact of state media campaigns that prominently feature counter-industry messages on youth cigarette smoking, beyond the effects of price, secular trends, tobacco control efforts, and the national truth campaign. METHODS: Rates of youth smoking were compared in three groups of states: (1) those with long funded counter-industry campaigns (California, Florida, and Massachusetts); (2) states with more recently funded counter-industry media campaigns (Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, and New Jersey); and (3) other states. An analysis was performed for a series of national telephone surveys of 12-17 year olds between 1999 and 2002, controlling for differences in demographic background, the price of cigarettes, and exposure to the national truth campaign. RESULTS: Between 1999 and 2002, rates of current smoking and established smoking decreased significantly faster in states with established or more newly funded counter-industry campaigns than in other states. State counter-industry campaigns appear to prime, or make more salient, negative perceptions about tobacco industry practices. CONCLUSION: Results highlight the value of continued state counter-industry campaigns.

The Ag atom in both independent molecules of acetatobis(triphenylphosphine)silver(I), [Ag(C2H3O2)(C18H15P)2], is bonded to the triphenylphospine and chelating acetato ligands in a distorted tetrahedral environment. Acetatobis(triphenylphosphine)silver(I) sesquihydrate, [Ag(C2H3O2)(C18H15P)2].1.5H2O, also crystallizes as two independent molecules whose Ag atoms adopt a similar geometry. One [Ag(C2H3O2)(C18H15P)2] molecule is linked through a water molecule to another complex molecule, which in turn is linked to the symmetry-related first molecule through the other two water molecules, one of which is disordered affording a chain structure parallel to the b axis. Bis(μ-acetato)-O,O':O;O:O-bis[(triphenylphosphine)silver(I)] hydrate, [Ag2(C2H3O2)2(C18H15P)2].H2O comprises two [Ag(C2H3O2)(C18H15P)] moieties; the acetato ligand behaves as a bidentate chelating anion in one complex moiety but as a monodentate anion in the other. The two moieties link through the singly bonded ester O atom into a dinuclear entity. Neighboring dinuclear entities are linked by hydrogen bonds involving their doubly bonded carboxyl ends with the disordered water molecule into a zigzag chain along the c axis. In bis(μ-acetato-O:O)bis[(triphenylphosphine)silver(I)] hemihydrate, [Ag2(C2H3O2)2(C18H15P)2].0.5H2O, the two Ag—Ocarboxyl distances are long enough for the geometry of the Ag atoms to be regarded as being essentially trigonal planar in the two complex units. The dinuclear molecule uses its doubly bonded O atoms to link with the disordered water molecule to afford a hydrogen-bonded tetranuclear entity.

The title compound, [N(CH3)4][Sn(C6H5)3(C10H5O4)2].C2H5OH crystallizes as non-interacting ammonium cations and stannate anions. The Sn atom which shows trans-trigonal bipyramidal coordination is linked axially to two unidentate carboxylato groups [Sn—O 2.232 (2) Å; O—Sn—O 167.1 (1)°].