Master of Public Health / Department of Food, Nutrition, Dietetics, and Health / Sandra B. Procter / There have been major shifts in the dietary patterns of people in the United States in the last four decades. People eat fast food more frequently, eating more convenience food products, and highly processed food. On the other hand, the practice of cooking from raw ingredients or cooking from scratch has been declining. The lack of cooking skills is one of the barriers of cooking from raw ingredients. Cooking skills are one of the important determinants of food choice. People who have higher cooking skills tend to choose healthier food options. There are many programs that aim to increase cooking skills and nutrition knowledge. One of them is done by EFNEP. Over the years, EFNEP has been helping the low socioeconomic population to reach nutritional well-being. Evaluation is an important component of EFNEP. There are evaluation tools in EFNEP including behavioral checklist and dietary recall that are administered pre and post program. However, these tools do not specifically measure participants’ cooking skills. A proposed short self-reported questionnaire is designed to measure cooking skills of EFNEP participants in Kansas. The questionnaire comprises of seven questions and has been tested to a representative group.

abstract: Pediatric obesity is a continuing concern in the United States. Preventative intervention methods in the form of nutrition education, including hands-on cooking lessons may improve personal choices for healthy eating. This study assessed the effectiveness of Arizona State University’s Camp CRAVE, a one-week course promoting healthy eating and teaching basic cooking skills. Children ages 9-13years (mean 10.3years, n=31) participated in a pre- and post-test survey to assess if the one-week course would increase self-efficacy to cook at home and increase knowledge of nutrition. The course showed significant increase in the participants’ nutrition knowledge and preference for healthier food options. There was a significant improvement in the children’s confidence levels to prepare meals at home. Further research on family socioeconomic status and parental perception of cooking at home would be beneficial. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Nutrition 2017

Existing systematic reviews have suggested that cooking interventions can be beneficial for improving dietary intake and health outcomes, with research indicating that the ability to prepare meals at home may prove to be more complex, and involve influencing factors (i.e., cooking self-efficacy, food agency [i.e., one's ability to procure and prepare food with the considerations of their physical, social and economic environment], and nutritional literacy/knowledge) for improving health outcomes. With the average American's diet consisting of about 60% of total energy coming from the consumption of ultra-processed foods, interventions that target increasing cooking skills and the frequency of consuming home-cooked meals may help to reduce reliance on processed foods, improve dietary intake quality, and reduce risk of weight gain, obesity, and related conditions. To date, there are no systematic reviews that have addressed the impact of cooking interventions on processed or ultra-processed food consumption. Therefore, this research systematically reviewed the body of literature focused on cooking interventions and dietary intake including processed food consumption and evaluated intervention's effectiveness at improving dietary intake and physical and mental health outcomes. English and full-text research articles published through January 2021 were obtained through PubMed, CINAHL using EBSCO, Web of Science from Clarivate, Scopus and PsycInfo. Overall, 55 articles were obtained after meeting the inclusion criteria and going through the data extraction process. Outcomes of interests to measure included fruit and vegetable consumption, body mass index (BMI), body weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, physical activity, and if the study measured psychosocial outcomes or processed food consumption. Results indicate that when analyzing the effect sizes for studies that reported mean data for each group (eg, intervention and control/comparison groups), 86% of studies measuring fruit intake found a positive effect size (Average: Cohen's d: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.30, 0.99); 90% of studies measuring vegetable intake found a positive effect size (Average: Cohen's d: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.37, 1.09); 82% of studies measuring BMI found a negative effect size (Average: Cohen's d: -0.20, 95% CI: -0.58, 0.17); 100% of studies measuring body weight had a negative effect size (Average: Cohen's d: -0.27, 95% CI: -0.77, 0.23); and 100% of studies measuring waist circumference had a negative effect size (Cohen's d: -0.16, 95% CI: -0.60,0.24). This systematic review will provide information on recently published studies that were not incorporated in prior reviews that can be utilized in future interventions that aim to improve health outcomes and reduce processed food consumption. / Master of Science / Prior systematic reviews have stated that cooking classes and demonstrations may be beneficial for improving an individual's diet and overall health. Research currently suggests that the ability to prepare meals at home may prove to be more difficult to assess, and involve other factors, (i.e., cooking confidence, one's ability to get and prepare food in their physical, social and economic environment, and nutritional knowledge) for improving physical and mental health. With the average American's diet consisting of about 60% of total energy coming from the consumption of ultra-processed foods, interventions that aim to improve cooking skills and how often someone consumes home-cooked meals may help to reduce reliance on processed foods, improve diet quality, and reduce risk of weight gain, obesity, and related conditions. To date, there are no systematic reviews that have explored cooking interventions effects on ultra-processed food consumption. This research systematically reviewed the body of literature focused on cooking interventions and dietary intake including processed food consumption and evaluated their effectiveness at improving dietary intake and physical and mental health outcomes. English and full-text research articles published through January 2021 were obtained through five online databases. Overall, 55 articles were included. Outcomes of interests included fruit and vegetable consumption, body mass index (BMI), body weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, physical activity, psychosocial outcomes, and processed food consumption. Results indicate that 86% of studies measuring fruit intake found their intervention to be effective in increasing fruit intake. A total of 90% of studies measuring vegetable intake found that their interventions were effective at improving vegetable intake. 82% of studies measuring BMI found that their interventions showed effectiveness at decreasing BMI. Both 100% of studies measuring body weight and waist circumference showed effectiveness at decreasing both measures. This systematic review will provide information on recently published studies that were not incorporated in prior reviews that can be utilized in future interventions that aim to improve health outcomes and reduce processed food consumption.

Introdução: O ato de cozinhar para si e para a família vem se transformando nos contextos urbanos e ocidentais, especialmente após a Segunda Guerra Mundial, ante inúmeras mudanças sociais, econômicas e na maneira de se alimentar. Esse contexto tem provocado alterações nos hábitos alimentares das populações, incluindo frequência e habilidades culinárias, em particular nas cidades mais urbanizadas e industrializadas, com impactos na saúde. Objetivo: Adaptar instrumento específico para caracterização dos hábitos culinários da população urbana do Estado de São Paulo (SP). Material e Métodos: Foi realizada a adaptação de instrumento focado nos hábitos culinários da população urbana do Estado de SP. Esse instrumento teve suas questões originais traduzidas, foi submetido à análise de especialistas (n=6) e aplicado em pré-teste (n=6) com a população-alvo para testar sua compreensão. Após as contribuições dos especialistas e respondentes do pré-teste, o instrumento foi revisado e aplicado à amostra não-probabilística da população-alvo (n= 261). A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio eletrônico, via plataforma Survey Monkey, com convite para participação feito pela rede social Facebook. Os resultados obtidos foram analisados com o auxílio do software Excel. Resultados: A amostra que respondeu ao instrumento foi caracterizada quanto à frequência de hábitos culinários, à frequência com que cozinha determinados alimentos, às habilidades culinárias, às motivações para cozinhar e à responsabilidade de cozinhar. Em relação à frequência dos hábitos culinários, mais da metade da amostra de homens (57,15%) tem o hábito de cozinhar em casa de 1 vez a 3 vezes na semana, sendo que 35,71% dos homens cozinham 7 vezes ou mais na semana. Todos os homens cozinham ao menos 1 vez na semana. Para as mulheres, 2,29% declararam não cozinhar nunca, enquanto 38,86% delas declararam cozinhar 7 vezes ou mais na semana. O restante da amostra (49,71%), afirmou cozinhar de 1 a 6 vezes na semana. O tempo parece ser um determinante importante para a frequência: para 57,14% dos homens, ter mais tempo livre poderia fazer com que cozinhassem mais. O resultado foi similar para as mulheres: 60,57% concordam que cozinhariam mais se tivessem mais tempo. Quando questionados sobre se gostariam de cozinhar com mais frequência, 64,54% dos homens declararam que sim. Para as mulheres, o resultado foi ligeiramente menor, com 51,43% declarando que gostariam de cozinhar mais frequentemente. Conclusão: Esta pesquisa atingiu seu objetivo (adaptar um instrumento para a caracterização dos hábitos culinários da população brasileira urbana, em particular a do Estado de SP. Mesmo com a amostragem não-probabilística, com diferença grande no número de homens e mulheres respondentes, a pesquisa serviu para dar pistas de como a população urbana brasileira residente no Estado de São Paulo cozinha. / Introduction: The act of cooking at home has been changing in the urban and western contexts, especially after the Second World War, due to several changes in the social, economic and food scenarios. This context has caused changes in the culinary habits of populations, including culinary skills and frequency, particularly in the most urbanized and industrialized cities, impacting the public health. Objectives: To adapt a specific questionnaire to trace the culinary habits of the urban population of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Materials and Methods: The adaptation of a questionnaire focused on the culinary habits of the urban population of the State of São Paulo was carried out. This questionnaire had their original questions translated and was submitted to expert analysis (n = 6) and pre-tested (n = 6) with the target population to test the questionnaire\'s understanding. After the contributions of the specialists and respondents of the pre-test, the questionnaire was reviewed and applied to a non-probabilistic sample of the urban population of the State of São Paulo (n = 261). Data collection was performed by electronic means, like Survey Monkey platform. The invitation to participate was sent by the social network Facebook. As an inclusion criterion, respondent\'s age should be between 20 and 60 years old (adults and seniors, classified according to IBGE). The results were analyzed with the use of Excel software. Results: The target population that answered the questionnaire was characterized by their frequency of cooking habits, frequency of when they cook certain foods, cooking skills, cooking motivations and cooking responsibilities. In relation to the frequency of culinary habits, 57.15% of men cooked at home from 1 to 3 times a week; 35.71% of men cooked 7 times or more in a week. All the men declared to cook at least once a week. For women, 2.29% said they never cooked, while 38.86% said they cooked 7 or more times a week. The rest of the women (49.71%) said they cooked from 1 to 6 times a week. In addition, time seems to be an important determinant of the frequency of culinary habits: for most men (57.14%), \"having more free time\" could make them cook more. The result was similar for women: 60.57% agreed they would cook more if they had more time. When questioned about whether they \"would like to cook more often,\" 64.54% of the men stated they agreed with the statement. For women, the result was slightly lower, with 51.43% of women stating that they would like to cook more often. Conclusion: this research reached its objective of adapting a questionnaire to characterize the culinary habits of the Brazilian urban population, in particular the one that lives in the State of São Paulo. Even with a non-probabilistic sampling with a large difference in the number of men and women who answered the questionnaire, the present research revealed itself important to give clues of how Brazilians cook.

This work presents a new digital cooking process that utilizes heat from lasers to cookfood products. Unlike conventional cooking appliances, which heat an entire area by some uniform amount, lasers are unique in that they provide precision directional heating, they have a small form factor, and they are highly controllable using software. Lasers—as a cooking appliance—are of particular interest since they have a heating resolution that is on the same order of magnitude as the deposition path of a 3D food printer. While food printing is great for customized meal creation, we can print foods to millimeter resolution but we lack the ability to cook at this same resolution. Here, I primarily focus on the characterization of three different types of lasers: (1) a blue laser operating at 445 nm, (2) a near-infrared (NIR) laser operating at 980 nm, and (3) a mid-infrared (MIR) laser operating at 10.6 µm. Initial cooking apparatuses used a set of mirror galvanometers to direct visible blue light for cooking, then future iterations relied on the movement of a 3-axis gantry. Both blue and NIR lasers are diode lasers that can be mounted on a machine and the MIR laser is a standalone CO₂ gas laser. I characterize the heating behavior of the aforementioned lasers using dough, salmon, and chicken as model food systems. Different modes of cooking can be achieved by changing the wavelength of the light: infrared (IR) lasers are more well-suited for non-enzymatic browning and blue lasers are best for subsurface cooking (i.e. starch gelatinization of dough, protein denaturation of salmon and chicken). Precision “pulsed heating” with lasers also allows one to achieve food safe temperatures with greater accuracy and reduces overcooking, which leads to more moist food samples. Laser-baked dough can also achieve starch gelatinization. Food safe temperatures and browning can be achieved in dough, salmon, and chicken. Lastly, color development—as a result of laser exposure—is similar to conventionally cooked foods.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1945 R6 / Master of Science

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1946 K64 / Master of Science

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1956 O36 / Master of Science