Youth, 9-18 years (n = 202), living in homeless shelters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, were assessed for height, weight, dietary intake, and perceptions of food insecurity. Perceptions of food security were measured by asking youth to respond to the statements (1) "There are times when we do not have enough food ...

While there is a recognized link between high levels of exposure to advertising of unhealthy foods and overweight and obesity among children, there is little research on the extent to which these exposures include persuasive marketing techniques. This study aimed to measure children's exposure to the use of persuasive marketing ...

High household density increases exposure to communicable diseases, psychological distress in adults, and poor long-term health in children. High residential density, which may be a mediator of poor health, is common among immigrants. We used data from a pilot survey among Mexican immigrants in New York City. Respondents were recruited ...

This study explored how mothers grouped into clusters according to multiple psychographic food decision influencers and how the clusters differed in nutrient intake and nutrient content of their household food supply. Mothers (n = 201) completed a survey assessing basic demographic characteristics, food shopping and meal preparation activities, self and ...

We examined the nutritional content of and characters' attitudes toward foods depicted in Public Broadcasting System (PBS) television programs aimed at children under age 5. Two-hundred and forty-five episodes from 10 programs were rated, totaling 136 h. There was almost twice the total airtime for depictions of unhealthy (321.03 min) ...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the feasibility of the UK Nutrient Profile (NP) model for identifying 'unhealthy' food advertisements using a case study of New Zealand television advertisements. DESIGN: Four weeks of weekday television from 15.30 hours to 18.30 hours was videotaped from a state-owned (free-to-air) television channel popular with children. Food ...

PURPOSE: To quantify the association between food insecurity and smoking among low-income families. DESIGN AND SETTING: A retrospective study using data from the 2001 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), a longitudinal study of a representative sample of U.S. men, women, and children and the family units in which they ...

Food insecurity, which has been recognized as an important determinant of health, is estimated to have affected almost one in ten Canadian households in 2004. Analyses of indicators of household food insecurity on several recent population health surveys have shed light on markers of vulnerability and the public health implications ...

OBJECTIVE: Poor diet quality has been observed in Nova Scotia children and youth, characterized by low intake from the traditional four food groups and a high intake from the Other Foods category. In this study, we addressed how household income and adherence to Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating influenced ...

INTRODUCTION: Several studies have unravelled the linkages between malaria and macro-sized water bodies (lakes, dams, irrigations) in various parts of tropical Africa. However, those findings cannot be extrapolated to areas where micro-sized rainwater harvesting (RWH) ponds are dominant. This article reveals the linkages between malaria and RWH in some parts ...

BACKGROUND: Oil is the main stay of Nigeria's economy, but most residents in the oil producing communities still depend entirely on the environment for their sustenance; and so likely to have a problem of food security in the event of a deleterious impact on the environment. This study is to ...

BACKGROUND: Easy-to-collect dietary indicators have been used increasingly for planning and evaluation of food security interventions. Various indicators have been employed, but rarely has a full set of indicators been compared using a common framework. OBJECTIVE: This paper evaluates the performance of five dietary indicators for the assessment of household ...

In 2004-05, Niger suffered a food crisis during which global attention focused on high levels of acute malnutrition among children. In response, decentralised emergency nutrition programmes were introduced into much of southern Niger. Child malnutrition, however, is a chronic problem and its links with food production and household food security ...

BACKGROUND: Food insecurity is a major public concern that occurs when nutritional needs are not met, incorporates psychological and physiological coping mechanisms, and can range from basic concern over obtaining food to severe malnutrition. This study was performed to explore differences in female and male respondent psychometric characteristics of a ...

The concept of vulnerability has become an important part of food security analyses since the 1980s. It is seen as having two sides: exposure to external hazards; and an inability to cope with those shocks, attributed to social, political, and economic factors. Numerous attempts have been made to construct models ...

OBJECTIVE: Food-insecure populations employ multiple strategies to ensure adequate household food supplies. These strategies may increase the risk of overweight and obesity. However, existing literature reports conflicting associations between these strategies and BMI. The objective of the present study was to examine whether food insecurity and strategies for managing food ...

OBJECTIVE: To identify and characterize food items with high risk of airway obstruction in children younger than 15 years. METHODS: This retrospective study collected injury data from 1989 to 1998 for 26 pediatric hospitals in the United States and Canada. Aspiration, choking, ingestion, and insertion injuries due to food items ...

BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity is a serious health problem worldwide with a prevalence rising to epidemic proportions. Television viewing is suspected as an important contributor and along with food advertisements significantly influence children's unhealthy dietary habits, purchase requests and adiposity. OBJECTIVES: To examine the exposure of Bulgarian children to television food ...

A 2005 review by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies concluded that food marketing influences children's food preferences, consumption, and health. Given the powerful influence of marketing on children's diets, this cross-sectional study examined the types of foods, the nutritional quality of those foods, and the marketing techniques ...

PURPOSE: Older adults are less likely than any other age group to use the federal Food Stamp Program. The personal and social costs of elderly diet insufficiency include disease exacerbation, depression, and increased hospitalization. In order to improve targeting and outreach efforts, this study identifies the characteristics of eligible older ...

Despite the recent and rapid expansion of supermarkets in developing countries, their association with diet quality has been hardly studied. The study took place in Tunisia, where incidences of obesity and nutrition-related diseases are rising. The target population was households of the Greater Tunis area where supermarkets are mostly located. ...

We hypothesized that children's reliance on adults' testimony regarding food choices would diminish when adults were shown to be unreliable informants by expressing liking for foods the children disliked. In three studies, 3-6-year-old children observed an adult expressing liking for food and non-food items that were either the same as ...

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the associations between household food security (access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food) during infancy and attachment and mental proficiency in toddlerhood. METHODS: Data from a longitudinal nationally representative sample of infants and toddlers (n = 8944) from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-9-month (2001-2002) and 24-month ...

Food insecurity is an urgent public health issue for Aboriginal people in Canada because of high rates of poverty; the effects of global climate change and environmental pollution on traditional food systems; and high rates of diet-related diseases. However, to date, public health has operated with conceptualizations of food security ...

BACKGROUND: In South Africa, households living in informal urban settlements, in rural areas, and on commercial farms experience various levels of dietary variety, food intake, and household hunger. Low incomes, poor food production and availability, and low spending power characterize these households. Households employ various food-coping strategies to alleviate food ...

Interest in household food insecurity (FI) within scientific and policy groups has motivated efforts to develop methods for measuring it. Questionnaires asking about FI experiences have been shown to be valid in the contexts in which they were created. The issue has arisen as to whether such questionnaires need be ...

Household food insecurity constrains food selection, but whether the dietary compromises associated with this problem heighten the risk of nutrient inadequacies is unclear. The objectives of this study were to examine the relationship between household food security status and adults' and children's dietary intakes and to estimate the prevalence of ...

To address the dearth of literature on the relations between local residents in urban areas and nearby higher-order exurban protected areas, this study examined the perceptions of Columbia (South Carolina) residents toward Congaree National Park. Mail-out survey results from a random sample of 455 adult residents showed positive overall attitudes ...

This study investigated whether if socioeconomic factors and\or food palatability influence food amount evaluation among children. Ninety-four children, 10-15 years old, living in Mali in Africa, and 124 living in northern Italy were asked to evaluate an amount of palatable and non palatable candies. The evaluations were compared both to ...

We employ data from the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients to examine the character and correlates of hunger among homeless people. Our analysis, couched in an adaptation framework, finds more support for the differentiation hypothesis than for the leveling hypothesis: Complex patterns of food insecurity exist at ...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to describe the nature and extent of food marketing on popular children's websites and food product websites in Australia. METHODS: Food product websites (n 119) and popular children's websites (n 196) were selected based on website traffic data and previous research on ...

Recent increases in obesity prevalence among children in developed countries are of policy concern. While significant positive associations between households' food insecurity status and body weights have been reported for adults, it is known from the energy physiology literature that energy requirements depend on BMR, anthropometric measures and physical activity. ...

Access to healthy food has become an important area of investigation for researchers interested in health disparities and inequalities. The debate about the existence and characteristics of 'food deserts' has increased the interest in food availability and equity in health research. This debate is crucial to an understanding of the ...

UNICEF has stated that urban poverty is primarily found in squatter settlements. At present 13.5% of all South African households live in informal settlements. The major research question is to what extent does poverty influence the food, nutrition and health of informal-settlement dwellers. The purpose of the present study was ...

PURPOSE: The welfare reform bill of 1996 severely constrained noncitizens' eligibility for the Food Stamp Program (FSP). This study examined the effects of eligibility restrictions on older immigrants' FSP participation and food insecurity. We paid special attention to household composition and household eligibility as well as older immigrants' individual eligibility. ...

In the United States, 17% of children and adolescents are overweight and 20% live in a food insecure household. Previous studies examining the association between household food insecurity and overweight among children have been inconclusive but are limited insofar as they did not assess child-specific measures of food insecurity and ...

This study examined relationships between individual-level socioeconomic position, area-level disadvantage, characteristics of the takeaway food environment, and the purchase of takeaway food. 'Takeaway' is conceptualised as foods or meals that are prepared and purchased outside of the home, and ready for immediate consumption either at the place of purchase or ...

This paper examines whether spending on tobacco crowds out expenditure on basic needs and whether it has implications on nutrition intake and household resource allocation in India. The paper uses a household sample survey from India for the year 1999--2000. A system of quadratic conditional Engel curves was estimated for ...

Children's food behaviors have been expressed in a various ways because of recent changes in their family environment. Thus, this study was performed to investigate in-depth qualitative research on the mother's perception on children's food behaviors by focused group interview. This study was designed in four steps of planning, collection ...

To apply the famine scale by Howe and Devereux to the situation in Niger, west Africa, in 2005 to retrospectively determine whether famine existed. Two stage cluster survey. Survey of households in each of Niger's eight regions. 4003 households. Crude mortality, mortality in children under 5, and the proportion of ...

OBJECTIVE: We assessed the validity of a locally adapted Colombian Household Food Security Scale (CHFSS) used as a part of the 2006 evaluation of the food supplement component of the Plan for Improving Food and Nutrition in Antioquia, Colombia (MANA - Plan Departamental de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional de Antioquia). ...

BACKGROUND: Data on food intake at the individual level and its statistical distribution in population groups defined by age, gender, or geographic areas are important in planning public health and nutrition programs. However, individual-based surveys in representative population samples are expensive to perform. METHODS/DESIGN: In Brazil, an individual based survey ...

Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, this study compares household spending on different goods by insured versus uninsured households, controlling for total spending and demographic characteristics. The analysis shows that uninsured households, on average, spend more on housing, food, alcohol, and tobacco compared to insured households. These results suggest ...

Objectives. High rates of overweight and obesity among low-income children have led some to question whether participation in US domestic food assistance programs contributes to this health problem. We use multiple years of data to examine trends in children's body weight and participation in the Food Stamp Program (FSP) or ...

The home and neighborhood environments may be important in obesity prevention by virtue of food availability, food preparation, cues and opportunities for physical activity, and family support. To date, little research has examined how home and neighborhood environments in rural communities may support or hinder healthy eating and physical activity. ...

This study examined whether Canada's public pensions (Old Age Security and Canada Pension Plan) provided adequate income for seniors living in Nova Scotia in 2005 to afford a basic nutritious diet. Monthly incomes were compared to essential monthly expenses for four household scenarios: (a) married couple, 80 years and 78 ...

This cross-sectional study assessed household food insecurity among low-income rural communities and examined its association with demographic and socioeconomic factors as well as coping strategies to minimize food insecurity. Demographic, socioeconomic, expenditure and coping strategy data were collected from 200 women of poor households in a rural community in Malaysia. ...

CONTEXT: While food insecurity and obesity have been shown to be positively associated in women, little is known about the direction of the causal relationship between these 2 constructs. PURPOSE: To clarify the direction of the causal relationship between food insecurity and obesity. METHODS: Chi-square and logistic regression analysis of ...

OBJECTIVES: In this study, we evaluated the relationship between household food security status and developmental risk in young children, after controlling for potential confounding variables. METHODS: The Children's Sentinel Nutritional Assessment Program interviewed (in English, Spanish, or Somali) 2010 caregivers from low-income households with children 4 to 36 months of ...

The Malaysian government recently introduced a ban on fast food advertisements targeting children on television. This study reports on data covering 6 months of television food advertising targeting children. Six out of seven of the Nation's commercial television networks participated (response rate = 85.7%). Based on reported timings of children's ...