Floriana Mandracchia
PhD Programme: Biomedicine
Research group: NFOC – Functional Nutrition, Oxidation and Cardiovascular Diseases
Supervisors: Rosa Maria Solà Alberich, Elisabet Llauradó Ribé & Lucía Tarro Sánchez
Bio
Floriana Mandracchia graduated in Nutritional Biology and then got a two-year Master's Degree in Nutrition and Functional Food at the University of Camerino (Italy). During these years she has taken part to several Erasmus+ Traineeships and an Erasmus Lifelong Learning Program, in Spain and in Portugal, where she had the opportunity to enjoy different work experiences and cultural realities. In particular, she has worked with a toxicological research group in Seville, studying new ways to naturally better the shelf lives of fresh food products, and she has conducted a chemical and microbiological quality control of commercial dairy products in Santarém. After the master, she has done another Erasmus+ Traineeship as Nutritionist, at the Hospital Puerta del Mar in Cádiz, taking care of the patients daily diets and the quality control of the Hospital kitchen.
Project: Restaurant-based interventions: a new approach to promote healthier and allergy-adapted meals
Eating out increased, but healthy menu offerings and food allergen management remain a challenge. This thesis aimed to provide evidence about potential innovative strategies and technologies for restaurant-based interventions to improve healthy meal offerings and food allergen management. Studies conducted and obtained findings included: 1) A cross-sectional study assessed the Mediterranean diet adherence, healthiness, nutritional quality, and food allergen management at 44 restaurants in Tarragona Province. Restaurants partially met the Mediterranean-adherent diet and food allergen management criteria. Dishes' nutritional content should be improved by increasing fibre and decreasing saturated fat. Considering food allergen management as a point to improve, staff training is needed. 2) A systematic review (35 Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) and 6 non-RCTs) and meta-analysis (16 RCTs) evaluated effective interventions in restaurants and canteens to improve healthy meals' availability, purchase, and intake. Interventions implemented mainly in school canteens increased dietary intake and healthy food availability, and decreased fat intake. Purchase of healthy foods was partially effective. 3) A systematized review (8 RCTs) evaluated app-based (mHealth) interventions in increasing fruit and vegetable intake. Effective interventions lasted two to nine months, targeted population with healthy dietary goals, and include dietary feedback, self-monitoring, and remote coaching support strategies. 4) A systematic search of 14 apps about food allergy or intolerance assessed their quality by the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). Apps showed acceptable quality, although engagement should be improved for food product and restaurant purpose apps. 5) A study described the Healthy Meals web app (eHealth) development, usability, quality assessment, and validation. The app proved its usability, quality, and validity in dishes' nutritional content assessment. In conclusion, effective strategies were identified and recommendations were designed for restaurants to improve healthy meal offerings and food allergen management. mHealth and eHealth are innovative technologies to support dishes' food allergen and nutritional content assessments.
Open Access publications
- Mandracchia F, Llauradó E, Tarro L, Del Bas JM, Valls RM, Pedret A, Radeva P, Arola L, Solà R, Boqué N. Potential Use of Mobile Phone Applications for Self-Monitoring and Increasing Daily Fruit and Vegetable Consumption: A Systematized Review. Nutrients. 2019 Mar 22;11(3):686. View full-text
- Mandracchia F, Llauradó E, Tarro L, Valls RM, Solà R. Mobile Phone Apps for Food Allergies or Intolerances in App Stores: Systematic Search and Quality Assessment Using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2020 Sep 16;8(9):e18339. View full-text
- Mandracchia F, Llauradó E, Tarro L, Valls RM, Solà R. Interventions to promote healthy meals in full-service restaurants and canteens: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutrients. 2021, 13(4), 1350. View full-text
- Mandracchia F, Llauradó E, Tarro L, Valls RM, Solà R. Evaluating Mediterranean Diet-Adherent, Healthy and Allergen-Free Meals Offered in Tarragona Province Restaurants (Catalonia, Spain): A Cross-Sectional Study. Nutrients. 2021, 13(7), 2464. View full-text
- Floriana Mandracchia, Lucia Tarro, Elisabet Llauradó, Rosa M. Valls, Rosa Solà. The "Healthy Meals" web app for the assessment of nutritional content and food allergens in restaurant meals: Development, evaluation and validation. Digital Health. 2022, 8: 1-12. View full-text
- PHD THESIS: Restaurant-based interventions: a new approach to promote healthier and allergy-adapted meals
International secondment
- University Gabriele d'Annunzio, Italy. 3 months (2021).
Outreach activities
- European Researchers’ Night 2019: “Sigues el cuiner d'un restaurant per un dia!”.
