<p> The purpose of this project is to create a fun and educational nutrition program for middle school students including sixth, seventh and eighth grade. The nutrition program strives to increase understanding about the benefits of nutrition to encourage middle school students to consume more fruits and vegetables and to decrease the rate of childhood obesity. Based on current research, a curriculum was developed to include lecture, discussion, and activity components to guide in: creating cafeteria posters, responsible use of social media, and empowering other students by sharing their knowledge. Pre- and post-program questionnaires were also included. A committee of nutrition professionals and educators reviewed the curriculum and revisions were made based on their feedback. The program was not pilot-tested for the purposes of this project, but it is encouraged to do so prior to implementation.</p>

<p> Type 2 diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder and the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. Type 2 diabetes is linked to many chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, and chronic kidney failure. African American adults have a high prevalence of Type 2 diabetes with early onset of diabetes complications. Poor dietary behavior is the primary cause of Type 2 diabetes and its complications, changing dietary behaviors can prevent the onset of diabetes complications or impede existing ones. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore patients&rsquo; perceptions of diet-only therapy in the prevention of diabetes complications. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with six African American adults with Type 2 diabetes between 40 to 64 years using purposeful sampling method. Health belief model formed the conceptual framework of the study. I applied inductive coding process and manually analyze data for themes. Participants expressed fear of diabetes complications, acknowledged effectiveness of dietary therapy, physician communication and strong family support in Type 2 diabetes management. Findings can produce positive social change among African American adults with type 2 diabetes. Patients can be motivated to change their dietary behaviors to prevent disability and death from diabetes complications. Adherence to diet can reduce medical costs associated with Type 2 diabetes and its complications at the individual, family, community, and government levels. Health care providers can apply the findings in their interactions with patients to provide a more patient-centered education that integrates patients&rsquo; cultural and dietary preferences to facilitate adoption of dietary interventions and long-term adherence.</p><p>

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Orrea F. Pye. Dissertation Committee: James R. Sheffield, Richard M. Wolf, . Includes bibliographical references.

<p> <b>Objectives:</b> The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between two Mediterranean diet indices and to evaluate the proportion of participants who were ranked into identical tertiles of accordance with the Alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMed) and MedDietScore (MDS) tools when applied to an American samples.</p><p> <b>Methods:</b> In this secondary analysis, participants from four samples were pooled into two groups &ndash; one in which respondents completed the web-based VioScreen&trade; (n=200) food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and the second, those who completed a paper-based Brief Block 2000 FFQ (n=827). Mediterranean diet scores were calculated based on the sex-specific median intakes of nine aMed components as well as meeting target frequency per week of the MDS components. Participants were categorized into a <i>priori </i> tertiles for each score.</p><p> <b>Results:</b> Scores for aMed and MDS were moderately correlated in the VioScreen&trade; (rho= 0.546, p&lt;0.001) and Brief Block (rho=0.627, p&lt;0.001) samples. The greatest proportion of participants was classified into Tertile 2 for VioScreen&trade; each scoring paradigm (40% for aMed and 71% for MDS). In the Brief Block sample, 47% of participants were assigned to Tertile 1 for aMed and for MDS 52% into Tertile 2. Only 47% of VioScreen&trade; and 60.3% of Brief Block participants were ranked into identical tertiles for aMed and MDS. Classification agreement between aMed and MDS was fair for VioScreen&trade; (weighted &kgr; = 0.223, p&lt;0.001) and Brief Block samples (weighted &kgr; = 0.384, p&lt;0.001).</p><p> <b>Conclusions:</b> Agreement between aMed and MDS was no more than fair for either FFQ, indicating that the scoring paradigms are not interchangeable in measuring accordance to the Mediterranean diet. Further investigation into the effects of FFQ selection on aMed and MDS scoring in addition to factor analysis of the variability between aMed and MDS is warranted in American samples.</p><p>

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is characterized by the presence of physical and psychological symptoms restricted to the late luteal phase of the menstrual cycle and associated with substantial impairment in life activities. In the U.S. about 8 to 15% of women of reproductive age suffer from PMS. Many micronutrients are potentially involved in the development of this disorder due to their role in the synthesis of neurotransmitters and hormones or in their regulation, but few previous studies have evaluated the effects of micronutrients on PMS. The first study examined the association between B vitamin intakes, and PMS development among women participating in the Nurses' Health Study 2 (NHS2). We found that high thiamin and high riboflavin intake from food sources were associated with lower risk of PMS. There were not significant associations between niacin, vitamin B6, folate, and vitamin B12 dietary intake and incident PMS. Intakes of B vitamins from supplements were not associated with lower risk of PMS. The second study evaluated the association between selected mineral intakes and PMS development in the NHS2. In this study, high iron intakes were associated with lower risk of PMS. Although there was no association between zinc and PMS risk, high intake of zinc relative to copper was associated with lower risk of PMS. There were no associations between of magnesium, copper, and manganese intakes and PMS. We observed a significantly higher risk of PMS in women with high intakes of potassium from food sources. The third study focused on the association between dietary intakes of B vitamins, zinc, magnesium, iron, potassium, and sodium and some biomarkers and PMS prevalence among younger women. In this study, we found an association between zinc intake and lower prevalence of PMS. Each 1 mg/d increase in vitamin B6 from foods was associated with a lower PMS symptom score. Blood magnesium levels were higher in women with PMS compared to women without PMS. We observed that intakes of some micronutrients were associated with lower risk of PMS, but further studies should be conducted. This dissertation contributes to the research on modifiable risk factors for PMS.

In Syria, 3.5 million are classified as rural poor. Rural women and children, suffer the most from poverty and its physical and social deprivations. A study compared differences in child growth and nutrition in three rural livelihood groups: a ‘barley-livestock’ group, an ‘olive/fruit tree’ group and an irrigation group of Aleppo province, Syria. Informal interviews, food card sorts exercise, key informant socio-economic evaluation, household food frequency and portion size questionnaires, health questionnaires, and anthropometry were conducted. Two hundred and four households, 541 rural and 199 urban middle-income children (2–10 years) were interviewed and measured. Independent sample t-tests, one-way analysis of variance, GLM univariate analysis of variance and linear regression analysis were used. Stunting prevalence was highest in the barley-livestock (23%) and lowest in the irrigation group (12.5%). Girls in the barley-livestock group displayed the highest rates of stunting (28.3%), followed by boys (22%) and girls (21.08%) in the olive/fruit tree group. The prevalence of underweight children was highest in the barley-livestock and olive/fruit tree groups (14.29% and 13.25% respectively). Wasting did not occur in the irrigation group, while rates were very low in both the barley-livestock (0.96%) and olive/fruit tree (2.17%) groups. Percentages of poor households were high in the barley-livestock and olive/fruit tree groups (60 and 59%). They also had lower milk product availability, a major source of protein in the diet. Total food energy was high in all groups while dietary quality was poor in the barley-livestock and the olive/fruit tree groups. The diets were high in food energy from sugar, in cereal protein and low in lysine (mg/g protein) calcium, and vitamin A and vitamin B-12 in the case of the barley-livestock group. Dietary, demographic and economic variables significantly explained some variation in the growth indices. The barley-livestock group and the olive/fruit tree group children are most vulnerable to poor nutrition. Poverty and poor nutrition existed in pockets through Aleppo province irrespective of agricultural stability zone. Nutritional status is a good indicator of agricultural livelihoods and can be used to devise effective development interventions for Aleppo province.

A survey aimed at assessing the nutritional impact of resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) was conducted in Northern Iraq between July and November 2000. The sample consisted of 301 households in the collective town of Dyana, representing the IDPs, and 282 households in ten villages of Rostey Valley, representing the resettled IDPs. The methodology consisted of structured questionnaires, anthropometry, and measurement of hemoglobin levels of one child under the age five years, one adult mate, and one adult female per household. The prevalence of low height-for-age among the children from the resettled households was 30.6% and among those still in the collective town was 18.9% (p < 0.01). Incidence of diarrhea was more than three times and acute respiratory infection (ARI) was more than seven times among the children in the collective town (p < 0.01). No significant differences existed in acute malnutrition and underweight rates among the children or in adult BMIs between the two populations. Anemia was present among 56.8% of the children in the collective town and among 46.8% of the children in the resettled villages (p < 0.01). When children who had diarrhea and ARI during the two weeks prior to the survey were removed from the analysis, the difference was not statistically significant, suggesting that the higher prevalence rate of anemia in the collective town may be due to higher infection rate. The presence of anemia among both male (42.9%) and female (47.2%) adults was significantly higher among the IDPs in the collective town than among the male (22.5%) and female (28.0%) adults in the resettled villages (p < 0.01). Except for vegetables, all other types of food were available in higher quantities to the resettled households (p < 0.05). Availability of food energy, protein, iron, zinc, thiamin, and folic acid was significantly higher in the resettled villages and availability of calcium, riboflavin, and vitamins C and A was significantly higher in the collective town (p < 0.05). The IDPs in the collective town had better diet diversity (p < 0.05). These results show that the resettled IDPs did not have a superior nutritional status than those still considered IDPs.

<p> The problem addressed in this study was a decade after the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act mandated implementation of school-based local wellness policies, the prevalence of childhood obesity and incidence of diet-related chronic diseases including Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes had not shown significant coinciding reductions. The purpose of this quantitative study utilizing a correlational research design examined hypothetical directional relationships between comprehensive federal mandate content and strong language that was specific and directive in local wellness policies, and the prevalence of obesity and incidence of diabetes in school-age children through the diffusion of innovation theoretical framework. Stratified, random sampling of obesity and diabetes data for school-age children grades K&ndash;12 represented outcome variables. Purposive sampling of local wellness policies was utilized to obtain the comprehensiveness and the language strength scores for the implementation, evaluation, and communication components of policies, which then represented predictor variables. The research method employed a secondary analysis of the outcome variables, collected by the Pennsylvania Department of Health for the academic year 2012&ndash;2013 utilizing hierarchical linear modeling. Higher content comprehensiveness scores reflected lower prevalence of obesity in K&ndash;6^th grade (t(40) = -3.03, &beta; = -4704.86, p = .004) and 7^th&ndash;12^th grade, (t(39) = -2.65, &beta; = -3893.79, p = .012); likewise, a lower incidence of Type 1 diabetes, (t(40) = -3.39, &beta; = -250.58, p = .002), for K&ndash;12^th grade. The mean language strength score of 20% was consistent with previously reported outcomes; however, a predictive relationship between the prevalence of obesity and language strength scores was inconsistent with the hypothesized correlational relationship expressed in previous studies. Comparative score evaluations suggest that language strength scores did not necessarily hinder communication channels for the diffusion of an innovation, such as local wellness policies and the implementation of federally-mandated content that is comprehensive. Further discernment is necessary to avert the premature deaths associated with childhood obesity and, simultaneously, the correlated epidemics of obesity and diabetes.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to investigate cooking beliefs and practices in relation to diet quality among young adults. Using an online survey, this study assessed university students&rsquo; attitudes towards cooking, frequency of preparing homemade meals, and confidence in cooking as they correlate with fruit and vegetable consumption. The parent-child dyad was also assessed to determine if people&rsquo;s cooking attitudes, confidence, and frequency relate to their parents&rsquo; cooking frequency.</p><p> The participant sample consisted of 448 California State University Long Beach students. Subjects ranged in age from 18 to 28 years; 67.9% were females. Most participants (86%) reported access to a kitchen at their residence. Results showed a significant positive correlation between cooking attitudes, cooking frequency, and cooking confidence and fruit and vegetable intake (<i> p</i> &lt; .05). A significant positive correlation was also found between cooking attitudes and subjects&rsquo; parents&rsquo; cooking frequency during subject rearing (<i>p</i> &lt; .05).</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Syracuse University, 2009. / "Publication number: AAT 3381603."