Food waste poses a significant challenge to sustainable food systems and carries far-reaching economic, environmental, and public health consequences(1). ‘Root-to-tip’ dining, which incorporates edible parts of the plant which are typically discarded (e.g., fruit and vegetable peels and stalks), provides a promising solution to reduce waste, reduce environmental impact and further support better health and nutrition(2,3). Following the launch of ‘Root-to-tip’ menu items in a UK higher education food service setting, this study aimed to investigate consumer attitudes and perceptions of ‘root-to-tip’ dining.

A cross-sectional study was conducted using data collected via an anonymous online survey, amongst a convenience sample of current students and employees who had purchased both ‘root-to-tip’ and non-‘root-to-tip’ meals at campus dining outlets between 28 April and 27 June 2025. The survey captured meal selection and factors influencing meal choice; awareness, post-consumption perceptions of and satisfaction with dishes; plate waste generation; and demographic data. Descriptive statistics and Pearson’s Chi-squared test were performed to identify associations between meal selection and, food characteristics, demographic and psychographic factors. The research protocol was approved by the King’s College London Research Ethics Committee (Ref: LRS/DP-24/25-47050).

A total of 727 participants (60.2% female) provided complete responses, primarily aged 26-45 years (47.2%). Among the respondents that selected ’root-to-tip’ menu items (38.1%) (61.9% selected non-’root-to-tip’ menu items), taste (89.5%) and health (70.8%) were rated the most important, while visual appearance (64.6%) and affordability (54.5%) were rated the second most important. Taste (93.4%), visual appeal (92.1%), smell (91.4%) and healthiness (93.8%) received the highest satisfaction scores post-consumption, while sustainability (91.7%) received the second highest satisfaction scores. Most respondents that chose ‘root-to-tip’ dishes (75.8%) reported that they would be highly likely to eat their meal again. A total of 110 participants provided responses for plate waste analysis and 58.2% reported between 76-100% of food to be consumed. Meal selection was significantly influenced by taste (ꭓ2=10.63, p=0.031), visual appearance (ꭓ2=10.63, p=0.037), affordability (ꭓ2=16.45, p=0.002), familiarity (ꭓ2=35.52, p<0.001, 23.8% importance rating), health (ꭓ2=15.11, p=0.004, 70.8% importance rating), novelty (ꭓ2=24.70, p<0.001, 34.7% importance rating) and profession (ꭓ2=17.99, p=0.006). Satisfaction was significantly associated with sustainability (X2 =10.18, p=0.037), visual appeal (ꭓ2=29.49, p=0.004), and value for money (ꭓ2=21.01, p<0.001, 57.0% satisfaction rating). Repeat consumption was significantly associated with satisfaction (ꭓ2=22.43, p<0.001).

This study advances research on consumer responses to food waste ingredients, in particular peels and stalks, highlighting taste, health, affordability, and sustainability as key acceptance drivers. Findings provide practical insights for institutional catering and public health initiatives to reduce food waste through consumer engagement and behaviour change.

Declining household cooking skills, limited cooking education, the high cost of healthy food and modern lifestyles have collectively contributed to a significant shift in cooking behaviours(1, 2). Consequently, there is a need for tailored cooking education. A consensus definition for the term culinary nutrition has recently been proposed: “the integration of culinary arts and nutrition that applies practical knowledge and skills to improve food and nutrition-related health”(3). Given their expertise, nutrition and dietetic professionals are well-positioned to deliver culinary nutrition education. However, limited research has explored nutritionists’ and dietitians’ perspectives of culinary nutrition. This study aimed to explore the perceptions and experiences of key stakeholders in nutrition and dietetics regarding the role of cooking in professional practice and education and understand how these perspectives might inform future recommendations in culinary nutrition.

Researchers adopted a realist ontology and essentialist epistemology. Semi-structured online interviews were conducted between June and July 2025. Eligible participants were either: 1) AfN fully registered nutritionists and dietitians (registered or associate role) with current or previous experience delivering cooking programmes; 2) individuals employed to design, manage or deliver higher education AfN or BDA accredited UK nutrition or dietetic programmes, respectively; 3) individuals employed at a nutrition or dietetic UK public authority (e.g. BDA, AfN, BNF). Convenience and snowball sampling was used for recruitment. The topic guide was developed by the research team and piloted with one individual who met the eligibility criteria. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and a Reflexive Thematic Analysis(4) conducted using NVivo software. The study was approved by King’s College London Research Ethics Committee (MRA-24/25-46937).

Fourteen interviews were conducted with seven dietitians and seven nutritionists, all women and predominantly white (71.4%). Five preliminary themes were developed: 1) The reality of cooking, highlighting challenges facing the population; 2) Collaborative community cooking programmes, demonstrating the value of partnerships; 3) Investing in cooking education, underlining the critical role of cooking within schools and university programmes; 4) Understanding cooking and tailored support, emphasising the need for contextualised approaches and cultural competency; 5) Food for thought – the future of culinary nutrition, exploring the growing need for increased government funding to support culinary nutrition as a fundamental tool for lasting dietary change and improved public health.

Busy lifestyles, rising costs of healthy foods and diminishing cooking skills have led to a growing dependence on convenience foods. Community cooking programmes, along with access to kitchen facilities, resources and funding, may help reverse this trend. Nutritionists and dietitians are well-placed to promote culinary nutrition, although more practical education covering tailored support and cultural competence is needed. Future research should evaluate the impact of nutritionist- and dietitian-led culinary nutrition programmes, which is crucial for improving public health outcomes.

Culinary education interventions may effectively improve cooking skills and dietary outcomes; however, interventions lack theoretical underpinning and rigorous evaluation. ‘Let’s Get Cooking’ (LGC) is a culinary education intervention operating a ‘school and community-based’ programme targeting children and ‘food waste reduction’ programme targeting adults. LGC is delivered through cookery clubs, operating a ‘train the trainer’ model, whereby club leaders are centrally trained and resourced. This study aims to understand initial assessments of LGC’s effectiveness, the content of resources provided for programme delivery and club leaders’ perceptions of the programme.

Three previous evaluations of the ‘school and community-based’ programme were synthesised and critically appraised. LGC resources were coded to identify behaviour change techniques (BCT), map the age-appropriateness of included cooking skills and to identify food waste reduction strategies. Qualitative one-on-one interviews with club leaders (n 7) were conducted online and thematically analysed.

UK

N/A

Previous evaluations suggest LGC’s ‘school and community-based’ programme may effectively disseminate cooking skills. However, reports lacked assessment of ‘fidelity’ or ‘dose delivered’. LGC resources primarily target behaviour change through describing how and when to perform cooking behaviour and contain age-appropriate cooking skills for participating children. ‘Food waste reduction’ resources primarily include appropriate food storage and preparation strategies to reduce waste. Club leaders perceive the intervention and training positively, however, adapt resources and sessions due to delivery challenges.

LGC may be an effective intervention; however, content improvement may support programme delivery. Rigorous process evaluation is needed to improve understanding of LGC’s effectiveness.

Adolescent mental health has worsened, and prevention efforts have become increasingly important. The purpose of this study was to examine longitudinal symptom trajectories of depression and anxiety throughout adolescence, in a contemporary sample. The stress–diathesis model was used to inform potential vulnerability factors and stressors associated with these trajectories.

Symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety were assessed in a school-based population sample of N = 6102 adolescents (aged 13–14 at baseline). Growth mixture models across four time points were used to model longitudinal trajectories of symptoms. Multinomial regression was used to examine factors associated with each trajectory class.

Of the full sample, 49.5% were female, 45.9% were male, and 4.6% were gender diverse. Four discrete classes for both depression and anxiety trajectories were identified, which comprised consistently low symptoms (‘low’; 72.5% depression; 66.9% anxiety), consistently high symptoms (‘high’; 11.5% depression; 18.4% anxiety), elevated symptoms that reduced over time (‘decreasing’; 8.3% depression; 6.9% anxiety), and low-moderate symptoms that increased over time (‘increasing’; 7.7% depression; 7.8% anxiety). Factors associated with poorer trajectories were being female or gender diverse, lower socioeconomic status, higher levels of neuroticism and lower levels of conscientiousness, greater adverse childhood experiences, higher levels of peer problems, bullying victimization, and negative family interactions.

A range of background vulnerabilities and specific stressors were associated with poorer depression and anxiety trajectories over a 3-year period. Prevention approaches may require policy and practice changes that promote more supportive family, school, and societal environments from childhood to adolescence.

Distinguishing viral versus bacterial lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) is challenging. We previously developed a rapid, host response-based test (Biomeme HR-B/V assay) using peripheral blood samples to identify viral versus bacterial infection. We assessed the performance of this assay when using nasopharyngeal (NP) samples.

Patients with LRTI were enrolled, and a NP swab sample was run using the HR-B/V assay (assessing 24 gene targets) on the FranklinTM platform. The performance of the prior classifier at identifying viral versus bacterial infection was assessed. A novel predictive model was generated for NP samples using the same 24 targets. Results were validated using external datasets with nasal/NP RNA sequence data.

Nineteen patients (median age 62 years, 52.1% male) were included. When using the prior HR-B/V classifier on NP samples of 19 patients with LRTI (12 viral, 7 bacterial), the area under the receiver operator curve (AUC) for viral versus bacterial infection was 0.786 (0.524–1), with accuracy 0.79 (95% CI 0.57–0.91), positive percent agreement (PPA) 0.43 (95% CI 0.16–0.75), and negative percent agreement (NPA) 1.00 (95% CI 0.76–1). The novel model had AUC 0.881 (95% CI 0.726–1), accuracy 0.84 (95% CI 0.62–0.94), PPA 0.86 (95% CI 0.49–0.97), and NPA 0.83 (95% CI 0.55–0.95) for bacterial infection. Validation in two external datasets showed AUC of 0.932 (95% CI 0.90–0.96) and 0.915 (95% CI 0.88–0.95).

We show that host response in the nasopharynx can distinguish viral versus bacterial LRTI. These findings need to be replicated in larger cohorts with diverse LRTI etiologies.

Ketamine is a promising treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but further research is required to extend early findings.

To determine the short-term efficacy and tolerability of intramuscular (i.m.) ketamine compared with i.m. fentanyl for treatment-resistant PTSD symptoms.

We completed a randomised double-blind psychoactive-controlled study with single doses of i.m. racemic ketamine 0.5 mg/kg or 1.0 mg/kg or i.m. fentanyl 50 μg (psychoactive control). Eligible participants were aged between 18 and 50 years old and had treatment-refractory PTSD. The primary efficacy measure was the Impact of Events Scale – Revised (IESR), and tolerability was measured with the Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale. Analysis of variance with dose and time as repeated measures was used to assess the effects of drug treatment on total IESR and Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale scores.

Thirty-three participants completed the study (26 females, mean age 34.5 years). Ketamine, particularly at 1 mg/kg, was associated with substantially reduced IESR ratings, with some effect remaining after 1 week. Ketamine was also associated with short-term dissociative and cardiovascular effects.

We provide preliminary support for the efficacy and tolerability of i.m. ketamine in a community sample of individuals with PTSD. Further work is required to establish the optimal dosing regimen and longer-term role of ketamine in treatment of PTSD, but our findings are encouraging given the well-known of treatments in this area.

This study outlines the development of a codesigned, coproduced intervention to address the high risk of diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCD) among South Asians (SA) in New Zealand. The objectives were to identify: (1) reasons, concerns and perceptions influencing dietary changes post-migration; (2) preferred formats and delivery modes for the intervention; (3) intervention design features; (4) community volunteers for coproduction; and (5) coproduce the intervention components.

Participatory Action Research.

SA communities in Auckland and Dunedin, New Zealand.

SA immigrants aged 25–59 years. Ten telephone or face-to-face interviews were conducted between 2018 and 2019. Following this, one codesign workshop (n 12) was conducted with the target population and community stakeholders in 2019.

Thematic analysis revealed factors such as children’s preference for boxed cereals and limited time for traditional breakfasts contributed to poor dietary habits. Concerns included meal timing and long-term weight gain, while perceptions such as all home-cooked food is healthy, influenced a lack of concern for long-term health. Preferred formats were educational comics and video clips, with digital platforms as the delivery mode. The workshop helped choose comic characters and identify community members to coproduce video content. The final intervention included eleven comics, eight videos, twelve audio clips and eighteen scientific snippets, organised into five dietary and one physical activity module.

A participatory approach proved feasible for codesigning a culturally tailored lifestyle intervention to address diet-NCD risks in the SA diaspora in New Zealand.