Recent years have seen rapid growth in the number of published studies, increased numbers of scientific conferences and development of legal framework and legislation. These trends will inevitably improve the image of this industry and the efficacy of products. Two significant problems still exist within the industry broadly: preparations of products with highly complex multi-component and incompletely identified composition make the identification of a primary mode of action extremely difficult and the current classification and legislation/legal framework for regulation of bio-stimulants is based primarily on source material and not on biological mode of action. Hence there is insufficient capacity to differentiate products, and there is the potential for the successful demonstration of a single product within a bio-stimulant category, to falsely indicate the efficacy of the group as whole. Modern bio-stimulants are complex mixtures derived from raw materials of highly diverse origin utilizing highly diverse manufacturing processes and as such can be expected to have a broad spectrum of possible biological activity and safety. To distinguish bio-stimulants from the existing legislative product categories including essential nutrients, pesticides, or plant hormones a bio-stimulant should not solely function by virtue of the presence of elements or compounds of known function.
We propose, therefore,vertical hydroponic nft system a definition of a bio-stimulant as “a formulated product of biological origin that improves plant productivity as a consequence of the novel or emergent properties of the complex of constituents and not as a sole consequence of the presence of known essential plant nutrients, plant growth regulators, or plant protective compounds.” Consistent with this definition, the ultimate identification of a novel molecule within a bio-stimulant that is found to be wholly responsible for the biological function of that bio-stimulant, would necessitate the classification of the bio-stimulant according to the discovered function. This novel definition is inspired by three observations: that the development of the bio-stimulant industry will inevitably result in the discovery of novel biologically active molecules and that the identification and classification of these molecules will benefit biological discovery more greatly if these molecules are explicitly described than if they were merely labeled as “bio-stimulants,” that there is a need for the nascent bio-stimulant industry to explicitly discourage the inclusion of nutrient elements and known biologically active molecules under the guise of a “bio-stimulant” and that there is a need to recognize that classic reductionist biology/chemistry may indeed be insufficient to explain biological complexity . The definition provided here is important as it emphasizes the principle that biological function can be modulated through application of complex mixtures of molecules for which an explicit mode of action has not been defined. The definition also requires a demonstration of beneficial impacts of the bio-stimulant on plant productivity.
Given the difficulty in determining a “mode of action” for a bio-stimulant, and recognizing the need for the market in bio-stimulants to attain legitimacy, we suggest that the focus of bio-stimulant research and validation should be upon determining the mechanism of action, without a requirement for the determination of a mode of action. This can be achieved through careful agronomic experimentation, molecular or biochemical demonstration of positive impact on biological processes or the use of advanced analytical equipment to identify functional constituents. Given the prerequisite multi-component and emergent characteristics of bio-stimulants, the discovery of the mode of action is likely to require application of new techniques in bio-informatics and systems biology. While the definition proposed here suggests that the development and marketing of a bio-stimulant does not require a demonstration of the mode of action, it is still in the interest of the commercial producers of these products to pursue an understanding of these products so that the product can be improved and optimized for use in various environments and cropping systems. While there is a clear commercial imperative to rationalize bio-stimulants as a discrete class of products, there is also a compelling biological case for the science-based development of the bio-stimulant science that is grounded in the observation that the application of biological materials derived from various organisms, including plants, that have been exposed to stressors can affect metabolic and energetic processes in humans, animals, and plants . This hypothesis is based upon the premise that functional chemical communication occurs between individuals or organs that favorably modulate metabolic pathways and networks at different plant hierarchical levels.
Inter and intra organism communication and consequent molecular and metabolic regulation are at the heart of the science of systems biology and the tools of systems biology will inevitably be critical to the realization of mode of action of many bio-stimulants. Continued investments by commercial entities in bio-stimulant research and product development will serve as a critical driver of discovery in this realm and will inevitably lead to the identification of novel biological phenomenon, pathways and processes that would not have been discovered if the category of bio-stimulants did not exist, or was not considered legitimate.Obesity is a multi-factorial disease that is challenging to treat, requiring several considerations and components encouraging behavioral modifications. Adolescent obesity can have lasting consequences on health as it is associated with adulthood obesity and thus may affect long-term quality of life and lead to development of chronic diseases. Prevalence of adolescent obesity has progressively increased over the last several years and adolescents consistently have the highest rates of obesity among youth. In 2016, 1 in 5 adolescents were classified as obese, with prevalence of obesity highest in Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black adolescents with 25.9% and 25%, respectively. These values were above the 20.6% average for adolescents aged 12–19 years and higher than that of non-Hispanic White youth within the same age group.Youth who reduce incidence of obesity mitigate the associated increased risk of adulthood chronic disease, instead exhibiting comparable risk to that of youth who were never obese. This supports an urgent need to educate adolescents as they transition to experiencing more autonomy in food choices and other lifestyle behaviors that arise with emerging adulthood. Poor diet quality may contribute to the high prevalence of adolescent obesity. Over 50% of youth had poor diet quality in 2016 . Youth are well below meeting dietary recommendations despite having quite high nutritional requirements to support a period of immense growth. Diet quality progressively decreases as youth advance in age, with high school-aged adolescents having lower diet quality compared to youth of elementary school age. In particular, adolescents aged 14–18 years do not meet recommendations for consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Adolescents in the lowest quartiles of intake for each food group tend to continue having low levels of intake into adulthood. Consistently and of particular concern, youth from low-income communities tend to have the poorest diet quality. While not the only consideration, poor diet quality of adolescents may be attenuated with advancement of food literacy. Beyond the focus of traditional nutrition education,nft hydroponic system food literacy requires understanding of food procurement and preparation. Food literacy involves having the knowledge and skills necessary to make healthy dietary choices and comprises 11 components within 4 domains and 15 attributes within 5 categories. Many nutrition education programs utilize some of these elements, however few incorporate all. Components of food literacy were extrapolated from surveying experts and young adults and attributes were identified through a scoping review of the literature. Food literacy components are specific while attributes are more thematic. For example, the component “determine what is in a food product, where it came from, how to store it and use it” encompasses several attributes related to food selection and preparation. These elements include both critical knowledge, such as understanding nutrition-related information, and functional knowledge, wherein application of knowledge through skills and choices is essential, that intersect to aid in developing and maintaining healthy food behaviors. Education in one domain or category is not sufficient for achieving food literacy, instead scaffolding of knowledge and skills from the various topic areas is required. A systematic and narrative review of food literacy programs for high school-aged adolescents found that interventions at least 4 weeks in length that included opportunities for advancement in knowledge and self-efficacy were most likely to affect short-term dietary behavior. Additionally, several recommendations for implementing food literacy interventions have been identified. Such recommendations include utilizing settings where adolescents normally congregate and engaging in weekly experiential activities that provide opportunities for application of food-related knowledge and skills.
Furthermore, it is recommended to tailor the program approach to the specific age group being targeted and to provide opportunities that support positive youth development. Despite the need, especially considering the high rates of obesity, food literacy programs targeting older adolescents are limited. This dearth in food literacy programming prevents adolescents from gaining knowledge and skills needed to make healthy food choices as young adults and perpetuates unhealthy food practices observed during childhood. Previous findings from a study conducted within the 4-H Youth Development Program found that adolescents did not have foundational knowledge to effectively lead garden-enhanced nutrition and cooking lessons. Focus groups completed in Australia found that adolescents had some prior food-related knowledge from participation in yearlong required courses, but had limited opportunities to apply that knowledge through food preparation. Participants in the focus groups expressed an interest in increasing food literacy through home economics courses. Home economics courses are increasingly rare in the United States and topics relevant to food literacy are often categorized into health courses. However, national Health Education Content Standards include a plethora of topics that must be covered in one semester and thus completing food literacy education outside of the typical school day may be more feasible. Informal settings, such as after school programs, encourage the acquisition of knowledge through lifelong, life-wide, and life-deep learning, which incorporate the people, places, and culture that every individual brings to a learning environment, whether in or outside of a formal classroom. This is especially helpful for learning concepts that directly impact learners’ everyday lives and require synthesis of various prior experiences in conjunction with newly acquired information. Unlike traditional classroom learning, which mostly applies to meeting objectives of school, such as completing exams and assignments, informal learning objectives can be directly applicable to knowledge needed for daily life activities. With this, the objective of this project was to develop a comprehensive food literacy curriculum for high school-aged adolescents to be implemented through after school programs. Developing curricula based on theories and recognizing needs of the target population are recommended for maximum efficacy. Furthermore, curricula that focus on behavior change and skill development in addition to knowledge attainment tend to be more successful . Therefore, Social Cognitive Theory and Constructivism were selected as theoretical frameworks while also considering the Social Ecological Model.Social Cognitive Theory is widely utilized in nutrition interventions and conceptualizes dietary change with consideration for the intersection of personal, environmental, and behavioral factors. Constructivism functions through a community of learners engaged in active discourse, allowing for creating knowledge together with the goal of deep and sustained learning. The Social Ecological Model provided context for factors that affect food choices of adolescents at various levels including local access, peer influence, and preparation skills, among others. The food literacy curriculum was developed following systematic procedures previously utilized to design a garden-enhanced nutrition curriculum for a multi-component school-based nutrition intervention called the Shaping Healthy Choices Program. The process began with assembling a development team including three experts in the overarching topic areas, agriculture, nutrition, and cooking, which were deemed necessary for development of food literacy through consolidation of the components and attributes, and 13 undergraduate interns. The experts collectively had extensive knowledge in curriculum development, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, food systems, garden-based education, recipe development, and cooking techniques. To develop the curriculum with intention, Backward Design was employed. The first step of Backward Design is to identify desired results, which was implemented through determining concepts that youth should learn after participating in the curriculum lessons. Interns were instructed to independently search for learning concepts by reviewing reputable resources, including peer-reviewed literature, government reports, and educational standards. Under supervision of the relevant content expert, learning concepts were grouped and consolidated into the three topic areas in addition to being reviewed for alignment with aspects of food literacy. This was proceeded by the second step of Backward Design, determine acceptable evidence, which was employed to develop learning objectives guided by authentic assessment.