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Much attention has been devoted to the study of body image and eating disorders in women. A review of the literature suggests that emphasis has been placed on stereotypic disturbances in body image within two discrete populations, the obese and the anorectic (Stunkard, 1976). Further scrutiny of the literature reveals that body image is a vaguely defined concept, one that's assigned a multitude of meanings and measured in a variety of ways (Kolb, 1959). Despite the complexity of studying such a multi-faceted construct, body image has import in its summary of affective, cognitive, and perceptual bodily experiences (Kessler, 1978; Shontz, 1974). Body image is also particularly relevant to the study and treatment of eating disorders (Bruch, 1973).

Chrononutrition, or the circadian timing of food intake, has garnered attention as a topic of study due to its associations with health (e.g., weight gain); however, a valid assessment of chrononutrition in daily life has not yet been developed. The present study therefore aimed to develop and validate both a diary and questionnaire version of the Chrononutrition Profile which assess 6 components of chrononutrition that have been associated with poor health (breakfast skipping, night eating, eating window, evening latency, largest meal, and evening eating). The measure demonstrated preliminary evidence of test-retest reliability and convergent validity, though concurrent validity was not interpretable. Based on analyses, the final diary and questionnaire versions of the CP assess 5 components of chrononutrition: breakfast skipping, night eating, eating window, evening latency, and evening eating. This measure offers health care professionals, researchers, and stakeholders a cost-effective method of evaluating chrononutrition and identifying targets for health improvement.

Food is an integral part of everyday life, and food choices directly affect one’s health. Both academics and practitioners have attempted to help consumers make good decisions about their food choices and recommended better or healthier alternatives. However, in thinking about food it is important to put it in context, as each food item is often combined with other food items to create the gestalt of a recipe or meal. Understanding the complex interaction between food items that are used or consumed together is crucial to provide effective recommendations. In this research, I leverage tools from machine learning and textual analysis like the embedding approach for representation learning to understand food in its context and to build recommender systems that account for the complementarity or fit of co-consumed food items. I show that this consideration of fit among food items can lead to better and healthier food recommendations.

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No description available.

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Over 20% of the American work force is employed on shifts other than the typical 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.. The effects of shift work can be many and varied. Perceptions of health as well as the eating patterns of shiftworkers were investigated in this study. The methodology used yielded a small, statistically insignificant sample population of both fixed and rotating shiftworkers; yet, after analysis, certain trends of the population were revealed. The rotating shiftworker consumed fewer meals and snacks than the fixed shiftworker. Meals and snacks were defined based on a food taxonomy developed to describe food intake. Additionally, the rotating shiftworker ate less often than the fixed worker. Consuming a meal in the 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. not affected by shift among rotating shiftworkers. Caffeine containing beverages comprised a large part of the diet of shiftworkers. Coffee was consumed more by the older group, and caffeinated soft drinks were preferred by the younger employees. The health status perception of the shiftworker could be labeled as"good". There may be a positive correlation between the regular occurrence of nervous stomach and coffee consumption among the rotating shiftworkers. Nervous stomach may also be related to days taken due to sickness for the rotators. Shift work is a disruption for employees. The nature and frequency of these disruptions are as of yet, not fully realized. Findings from this study warrant further investigation on this topic. / M.S.

This research was conducted in an effort to substantiate the effect of nutrition counseling delivered at a local cholesterol screening clinic. It developed a method of measuring dietary habit changes conducive to a cholesterol- lowering diet. Hypercholesterolemic subjects were chosen for the study when their total blood cholesterol measured > 200 mg/dl from a Reflotron cholesterol screening device. At that time they were asked to fill out a dietary habit pre-test. Pre-tests from six subjects who did not receive nutrition counseling at the clinic were placed in the control group. Pre-tests from 15 subjects who received nutrition counseling at the clinic served as the test group. / Master of Science

The purpose of this study was (1) to determine some of the problems in family foods and nutrition of dual-role mothers in Giles County, Virginia, and (2) to make recommendations of types of assistance homemaking teachers could render these mothers in solving some of their problems. Using schedule forms especially prepared for this study, information relating to problems in family foods and nutrition was personally collected from 32 mothers, and by mail from 32 mothers. None of the respondents had children who had reached the eighteenth birthday. Study of the data obtained on the schedule forms showed that the mothers who participated in this investigation were generally poor managers of time, energy, and available resources, had inadequate knowledge of nutrition, and failed to exercise desirable kitchen and shopping practices. The investigator recommends that homemaking teachers (1) emphasize experiences which lead to better use of time, energy, and available resources and (2) consider possible ways and means of promoting adult education programs which will meet the needs of the dual-role mothers. / Master of Science