Marina Nikolic

The European Commission asked EFSA to update its 2011 risk assessment on polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in food, focusing on 10 congeners: BDE‐28, ‐47, ‐49, ‐99, ‐100, ‐138, ‐153, ‐154, ‐183 and ‑209. The CONTAM Panel concluded that the neurodevelopmental effects on behaviour and reproductive/developmental effects are the critical effects i...

The FAO/WHO ICN2 Rome Declaration on Nutrition and its Framework for Action, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs, the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition 2016–2025 and other important related events and documents have engaged many countries worldwide in prioritizing nutrition and addressing malnutrition in all its form...

FoodEx2 is a comprehensive food classification and description system developed and maintained by EFSA to cover the needs of data collections in different domains. To ensure its full applicability, the system needs to be kept up to date and therefore, a regular maintenance of the system is needed. Four major updates were carried out so far and all...

Initiatives in the Capacity Development in Nutrition Research in the Balkan region in the last decade have been toward the creation of contemporary, harmonized Research Infrastructure (RI) compliant with European standards. This study describes the process of creation and implementation of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) EU Menu methodolo...

FoodEx2 is a comprehensive food classification and description system developed and maintained by EFSA with the aim to keep it up to date and to cover the needs of data collections in different domains. To ensure its full applicability, a regularmaintenance of the system is needed. Three major updates were carried out so far and EFSA reported on th...

The European Commission asked EFSA to update its 2011 risk assessment on hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDDs) in food. HBCDDs, predominantly mixtures of the stereoisomers α-, β- and γ-HBCDD, were widely used additive flame retardants. Concern has been raised because of the occurrence of HBCDDs in the environment, food and in humans. Main targets for to...

We aimed to evaluate the changes in eating behaviours of the adult population across 16 European countries due to the COVID-19 confinement and to evaluate whether these changes were somehow related to the severity of the containment measures applied in each country. An anonymous online self-reported questionnaire on socio-demographic characteristic...

Background The world-wide adoption of Western lifestyles and eating patterns is associated with adverse effects on nutrient intakes. Here we evaluated the relationships between timing of meals and diet quality in Serbia, a Balkan country with a traditional eating pattern that includes the largest meal of the day as a late lunch. Methods A dietary...

Objective: The present research aimed to estimate macronutrients intake among adults in North Macedonia and to identify their predominant food sources. Methods: Within this cross-sectional study dietary data were collected using repeated 24h recall interviews. Nationwide, adults aged 18+ were recruited. Dietary data, anthropometric measures and...

FoodEx2 is a comprehensive food classification and description system developed by FESA that needs to be actively maintained, remain up to date as well as flexible to accommodate data collections in different domains. To this end regular maintenance of the system is needed. A first maintenance was carried out in 2015 and a second during the years 2...

Libyan women are at high risk of vitamin D deficiency, mostly due to their lifestyle and low exposure to sun. In the last decades, Libyan residents have been forced to seek refuge in countries such as Serbia, a country with high incidence of cardio-metabolic diseases. Serbian residents tend to be deficient in vitamin D, mostly due to the lack of vi...

Abstract At EFSA, animal dietary exposure estimates are undertaken by several Panels/Units to assess the risk of feed contaminants, pesticide residues, genetically modified feed and feed additives. Guidance documents describing methodologies for animal dietary exposure assessment are available both at EFSA and international levels. Although appropr...

Purpose The quality of the study design and data reporting in human trials dealing with the inter-individual variability in response to the consumption of plant bioactives is, in general, low. There is a lack of recommendations supporting the scientific community on this topic. This study aimed at developing a quality index to assist the assessment...

FoodEx2 is a comprehensive food classification and description system released by EFSA in 2011 (revision 1) and replaced in April 2015 by FoodEx2 revision 2, as a consequence of a testing phase. A first maintenance of the system was carried out in 2015 and a second during the years 2016‐2018 in order to evaluate further comments and proposals provi...

Assessment of portion sizes is an important factor for the accuracy of food consumption surveys. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a food atlas of commonly consumed foods in the Balkan region in order to improve the accuracy of portion size estimation for food consumption surveys. A list of 135 foods and their portion sizes wa...

Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) has pandemic proportions worldwide. Numerous studies report on high prevalence of VDD in sunny regions like Near East and North Africa (NENA). Previous studies indicated that Libyan population was at risk of VDD. To contribute to the body of evidence, measurement of vitamin D status on children, adults, in Misurata region...

Background: Dietary reference values for folate intake vary widely across Europe. Methods: MEDLINE and Embase through November 2016 were searched for data on the association between folate intake and biomarkers (serum/plasma folate, red blood cell [RBC] folate, plasma homocysteine) from observational studies in healthy adults and elderly. The re...

Research conducted during the 1980s demonstrated Se deficiency in humans. Increased inclusion of selenium in animal feeds started from the year 2000 onwards. The aim of this study was to estimate the effects of selenium inclusion in animal feeds on human selenium status and dietary habits of the Serbian population related to food of animal origin....

Background/Aim. The protective effect of periconceptional folic acid supplementation in reducing the risk of neural tube defects (NTDs) and other adverse pregnancy outcomes has been scientifically confirmed. The present study aimed to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practice (KAP) of community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians with regards to c...

This article elaborates on the different elements of nutritional assessment. It gives an overview of established assessment forms and characteristics of direct and indirect dietary assessment methods. To perform these studies, validated tools (questionnaires, food picture atlases, food composition databases, software applications) are applied and r...

Objective To examine Zn and Fe nutritional status of a healthy population by means of anthropometric, dietary and biochemical measurements and to investigate the relationship of usual Zn and Fe dietary intakes to Zn and Fe status. In addition, to examine the impact of food choices and socio-economic factors on Fe and Zn dietary intakes and status w...

The study aimed to examine the external validity of the Folate Food Frequency Questionnaire (F-FFQ) designed for assessing the folate intake in Serbian women of reproductive age. The F-FFQ was tested against repeated 24 h dietary recalls and correspondent nutritional biomarkers (red blood cells (RBC) and serum folate concentrations) using the metho...

In order to meet growing public health nutrition challenges in Central Eastern European Countries (CEEC) and Balkan countries, development of a Research Infrastructure (RI) and availability of an effective nutrition surveillance system are a prerequisite. The building block of this RI is an innovative tool called DIET ASSESS & PLAN (DAP), which is...

Population at-risk-of-poverty (ROP) is increasing at European level. Considering the attention posed by policymakers and academics on income inequalities as a key determinant for low or inadequate healthy food consumption, the objective of the paper is to explore food manufacturers’ and retailers’ interest in ROP consumers as target segment for com...

The objective of the present study was to examine the external validity of an FFQ designed to estimate dietary vitamin D intake compared with a plasma biomarker and three repeated 24 h dietary recalls in women of reproductive age in Serbia, where there is no exposure to food fortified with vitamin D. The method of triads was applied. In a cross-sec...

Espresso spent coffee grounds (SCG) that is a waste material abundantly produced by restaurants, cafeterias and in domestic environment could be used as a low-cost and rich source of valuable polyphenol compounds. The benefit would be twofold: extraction of health beneficial natural polyphenol antioxidants and reducing the cost to facilitate SCG wa...

The aim of the CHANCE project is to develop novel and affordable nutritious foods to optimize the diet and reduce the risk of diet-related diseases among groups at risk of poverty (ROP). This paper describes the methodology used in the two initial steps to accomplish the project's objective as follows: 1. a literature review of existing data and 2....

To examine the availability of academic programmes in nutrition and identify nutrition training needs in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). A questionnaire with close-ended and open-ended questions was distributed to the members of the United Nations University Standing Committee on Nutrition, Regional Network for Capacity Development in Nutrition i...

Objective: To provide the evidence base for targeted nutrition policies to reduce the risk of micronutrient/diet-related diseases among disadvantaged populations in Europe, by focusing on: folate, vitamin B12, Fe, Zn and iodine for intake and status; and vitamin C, vitamin D, Ca, Se and Cu for intake. Design: MEDLINE and Embase databases were se...

Objective A single‐day cross‐sectional study was performed to assess folate intake and status of healthy young females in Serbia, a country without folic acid food fortification. Method Dietary intake of folate was assessed on the sample of 420 women (aged 18 to 30) using validated semi quantitative food frequency and 24 hr recall questionnaires....

Objective: To compare micronutrient intakes and status in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) with those in other European countries and with reference values. Design: Review of the micronutrient intake/status data from open access and grey literature sources from CEE. Setting: Micronutrients studied were folate, iodine, Fe, vitamin B12 and Zn (f...