Search results

This paper aims to examine impacts of the poverty alleviation relocation (PAR) program on diet quality of low-income households in China. We explore the impact mechanism of relocation on diet quality and the heterogeneous effects of different relocation modes.

A fixed effects model is constructed using panel data of 1126 low-income households collected over three years in eight provinces of China. The PAR program provides a natural experiment which dramatically changes the living conditions surrounding farmers. We are able to identify the causal effects of relocation on diet quality free from selection bias.

The empirical results show that the PAR program improves diet quality of low-income households and that better market access and increasing incomes induced by relocation play an important role in this improvement. Improved market access significantly reduces the over-consumption of staple foods, whereas higher income significantly reduces the intake divergences of non-staple foods. The impacts of different relocation modes on diet quality are highly heterogeneous.

Our findings indicate that the PAR program benefits diet quality of low-income households through greater market access and increases in total household income. Market improvements and food subsidies are conducive to improving the diet quality of the low income.

Despite widespread evidences of healthy diets being associated with household environments and income, selection bias remains. This paper utilizes an exogenous program to explore the causal impacts of market access and family income on diet quality and to separate their different effects.

The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of adolescents’ perceptions of food insecurity and diet quality, and the impact that these factors have on mental health.

This study used a community-based research approach. It gathered qualitative data from 11 in-depth interviews conducted with adolescents aged 13-19. Participants were recruited through various programmes they attended at a community organization in Toronto.

Overall, results indicate that respondents clearly identified a linkage between food insecurity and mental health. They also identified several effects of poor diet quality on mental health. Respondents understood food insecurity and poor diet quality to exist on a continuum. However, they also identified other reasons for making poor dietary choices such as peer pressure. Mental health effects of food insecurity and poor diet quality included sadness, stress, worry, anger, shame, impaired concentration, and fatigue.

This research will help to inform future research design in the field of social determinants of mental health. As well, the findings will help guide the development of interventions targeted towards this vulnerable age group.

This is the first qualitative study to explore food insecurity and poor diet quality, as existing on a continuum, from the perspective of adolescents. The authors are also the first to explore the impact of these factors on the mental health of adolescents, based on their own understanding. What is more, the authors focused on a culturally diverse population living in an underprivileged neighbourhood in Toronto. The authors chose this population because they are at higher risk of both food insecurity and poor diet quality.

Child undernutrition is a persistent problem in Africa, especially in areas where the poor largely depend on starchy staples with limited access to diverse diets. The purpose of this study was to determine the protein quality, growth and rehabilitating potential of composite foods made from quality protein maize.

Four composite diets were prepared from quality protein maize, namely quality protein maize-soybeans; quality protein maize-soybeans-cowpeas; quality protein maize-soybeans-common beans and quality protein maize alone. A fifth diet was prepared from common maize alone. The control diet (Chesta®) was made from maize, soybeans, fish, bone and blood meal. The formulations were made to meet the greatest amino acid score and the desired amount of energy and fat according to the FAO/WHO (1985) recommendation for pre-school children. Albino rats were used in evaluating the protein quality of the formulations.

The food intake was significantly different (p < 0.05) among diets; with a trend of intake decreasing from quality protein maize-based to conventional maize alone diets (apart from the control diet). Protein efficiency ratio and net protein ratio varied significantly (p < 0.05) across the experimental diets. Protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) was 80 per cent (quality protein maize-soybeans-cowpeas), 87 per cent (quality protein maize-soybeans), 103 per cent (common maize alone), 98 per cent (quality protein maize), 80 per cent (quality protein maize-soybeans-common beans) and 53 per cent (control).

Two diets, namely quality protein maize-soybeans-common beans and quality protein maize-soybeans-cowpeas, showed the greatest potential to support growth and rehabilitation of undernourished rats. Human trial is proposed to validate the findings.

Despite adoption of quality protein maize in several parts of the country, there are no studies that have been done to determine the potential of quality protein maize to support optimal growth and rehabilitation of undernourished children. The objective of this study was, therefore, to evaluate the protein quality, growth and rehabilitating potential of composite foods made from quality protein maize.

This study aims to determine the association between dietary quality and growth of the aboriginal primary school children in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.

The cross-sectional study was carried out in Negeri Sembilan. A total of 194 school-aged aboriginal children participated in the study. The dietary intake and socioeconomic status data were collected from the parents using an interviewer-administrated structured questionnaire comprised of sociodemographic questions and three days of dietary recall. The Malaysian Healthy Eating Index was used to determine the diet quality of children. WHO Anthro Plus software was used to determine the z-score of weight-for-age (WAZ), height-for-age (HAZ) and body mass index (BMI)-for-age (BAZ).

Among all children, 15, 9 and 5% of them were stunted, underweight and thin, respectively. On the other hand, 16 and 12% of the children were overweight and obese, respectively. The aboriginal children were at risk of poor diet quality (37.19 ± 12.07) and had high dietary protein and fat intake than national recommended nutrient intake. The children achieved micronutrients intake, except for calcium. There was no significant association between total diet quality scores with growth indices among the aboriginal children. There is significant negative correlation between dietary vitamin A intake with HAZ (r = −0.168, p < 0.05) and WAZ (r = −0.219, p < 0.05) z-score of the aboriginal children.

Although there was a reduction in under-nutrition among the aborigines, an increasing over-nutrition status among aborigines should be considered, especially in terms of poor dietary quality and intake.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of a worksite nutritional intervention on the dietary quality of adult workers from the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

A 6-month controlled community trial was performed involving 236 workers from São Paulo, Brazil. The intervention was implemented through interactive software that sends recommendations about diet and physical activity by e-mail. Data were collected for all participants using a 24-hour dietary recall and also for a sub-sample containing 25.4 per cent of the participants. Diet quality was assessed by the diet quality index adjusted (DQIa) comprising 10 components (grains and tubers; vegetables; fruits; milk and dairy products; meat and eggs; beans and legumes; total fat; saturated fat; sodium; and variety), scored from 0 (inadequate consumption) to 10 (recommended consumption). Intragroup impact of the intervention was assessed according to variation in total DQIa, its components and energy consumption. Impact adjusted between groups was also determined.

The intervention yielded improvements in DQIa and for the components cereals and tubers, vegetables, milk and dairy products and total fat. The workers who had a worst diet quality before the study were more susceptible to the intervention, which improved significantly the diet quality, with an adjusted impact of +6.4 points.

Few behavioral interventions have been performed using technologies, like e-mail, to encourage a healthy lifestyle. This study shows the importance of the counseling to promote a higher-quality diet, which can result in control of the obesity.

The nutritional and anthropometric status can be essential in determining their immune response to vaccines. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the association between diet quality and anthropometric indices with the side effects of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and the SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G titer among Kurdish adults.

This cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted between December 2021 and February 2022. This paper included data on 115 adults, 20–89 years old, from the Kurdistan region. Dietary information was collected using a short food frequency questionnaire, and diet quality was assessed using a plant-based healthy diet score. A blood test was performed to measure the SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobin G (IgG) titer after the vaccination's first and second doses.

Overweight and obese subjects reported more local pain, myalgia, headache, local bruising and local reactions after receiving the first dose of the vaccine (p = 0.04). People on a less healthy diet reported more local pain, myalgia and headache (p = 0.04) and more local bruising and reactions (p = 0.01) after receiving the second dose of the vaccine. On the other hand, the authors observed that those with healthy dietary habits had more IgG titer after the first and second doses of vaccination than those with less healthy dietary habits (p = 0.001).

The results showed that participants with a healthy diet and normal weight status had fewer side effects of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine than obese people and those with a less healthy diet.

The purpose of this is study is to evaluate the diet quality in nine local government areas drawn from three states of the south-east geo-political zone of Nigeria.

A multi-stage sampling procedure yielded 1,200 women of childbearing age (15-49 years), who responded to a multi-pass 24-hour diet recall questionnaire at the household. Diet quality (DQ) was assessed using the “diet quality index international” (DQI-I) tool with a scale of 0-100.

Mean age of respondents was 28 ± 5.6 years and body mass index was 26.81 ± 4.8 kg/m². Majorities (96 per cent) were married, 53.2 per cent had complete secondary and 18 per cent post-secondary education, 41.7 per cent were traders, 14.3 per cent civil servants and 25.8 per cent were unemployed. Main staple foods included root and tubers, cereals, legumes and vegetables. The total DQ in the South-east was 58.8 ± 8.1 with a low “variety” (9.5 ± 3.0), poor “adequacy” (22.3 ± 4.7), good “moderation” (25.0 ± 3.8) and “overall balance” (2.0 ± 1.8).The total DQ in Imo, Enugu and Anambra were 58.6 ± 8.3, 58.8 ± 8.0 and 59.0 ± 8.1, respectively (P > 0.05).

The study was limited to three states in South-east Nigeria; it does not give a holistic view of the DQ of women of childbearing age in Nigeria.

The total DQ-I score revealed average overall DQ (59/100) for South-east. However, distinct patterns of low consumption of fruits and vegetables were identified. The need for national (and cross-continental) comparison of DQ using the DQI-I tool is hereby advocated.

The purpose of this study is to assess the protein (biological) quality of pecan and pine nuts supplemented diets in male Wistar albino rats.

A randomized and controlled study (45 d) was conducted in male Wistar albino rats (n = 60) comprising six groups, namely, control (Cc), control with 1% cholesterol (C_C1), Pecan group (Pe), Pecan group supplemented with 1% cholesterol (Pi₁), Pine group supplemented with 1% cholesterol (Pi₁). Protein quality of supplemented diet/s was assessed in terms of various biological indices.

Pe and Pi groups exhibited normal growth when compared with Cc. Despite showing higher feed and protein intake, Pe and Pi groups exhibited significantly (P = 0.023) lower weight gain than Cc. There was no significant difference between the protein efficiency ratio (3.8 ± 0.2 and 3.7 ± 0.2), apparent protein digestibility (81.5 ± 2.2 and 80.5 ± 2%), true protein digestibility (90.6 ± 1.1 and 88.5 ± 3.5%) and biological value (BV) (75.6 ± 0.9 and 72.6 ± 0.9%) of Pe and Pi groups, respectively. Pe group presented considerably higher net protein utilization (68.5 ± 1.4 vs 64.4 ± 0.8%) and protein retention efficiency (34.8 ± 1.1 vs 31.2 ± 1.3%) than Pi group. Overall, pecan-based diet displayed superior biological quality over pine nut. Antinutrients present in the nuts did not show any major negative effect on the growth, digestibility and bioavailability of the nutrients in rats. BV ranging from 72.6% to 75.6% suggested a satisfactory quality of experimental nut-based diets.

Further investigation of pecan and pine nuts consumption to examine the potential benefits and associated mechanisms of action is warranted which would aid in a better understanding and to establish nutritional recommendations.

Overall, the exploitation of pecan and pine nut flours for the development of value-added food products is favorable from a nutritional point of view.

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) suffer from many health problems including poor sleep. This paper aims to evaluate the relationship between diet quality indices (DQIs) and sleep quality in COPD.

The current cross-sectional study was carried on 121 COPD patients. Subjective quality of sleep was determined by Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and categorized into “poor” and “good” sleep quality. Dietary history was assessed by the DQIs. Disease status was categorized according to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) Guidelines.

In total, 103 men and 18 women with a mean age of 66.1 ±10.9 were studied. The subjects were categorized into four groups based on GOLD; 3.3% of subjects were at Stage 1, 38% in Stage 2, 38% in Stage 3 and 20.7% in Stage 4. In total, 38% of subjects were good, and 62% were bad sleepers according to PSQI score. There was no significant relationship between the severity of COPD and PSQI score. We observed a significant inverse relation between PSQI total score and Mediterranean diet (MED) scale, Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2010 and HEI-2005 (p = 0.024, 0.037 and 0.024, respectively) in males.

This study showed a high prevalence of poor quality of sleep and sleep disturbances among COPD patients. There was an inverse association between PSQI and sleep disorders and DQIs scores in COPD patients. Regardless of the severity of airflow obstruction, poor diet quality may constitute a risk factor for sleep quality.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of chronotype on diet and sleep quality in healthy female students.

This study was conducted in 197 healthy female students and were grouped in morning, intermediate and evening types according to the Horne and Ostberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ). Assessment included sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI); physical activity level using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF); dietary intake using the 24-h dietary recall; and diet quality using the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015).

In this study, no significant difference was found between chronotypes in terms of general nutritional habits, age, smoking status, anthropometric measurements and physical activity levels. However, evening-type individuals had poor sleep quality (p = 0.040) and having issues about sleep latency (p = 0.049) and daytime dysfunction (p = 0.044), and they had had lower intake of whole fruit (p = 0.002), total fruit (p = 0.024) and higher consumption of refined grains (p < 0.001). Although, among chronotypes, there is no difference in the intake of protein, saturated fat, monounsaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids and dietary fiber, evening-type individuals’ daily energy (p = 0.013), fat (p = 0.021) and carbohydrate intake (p = 0.033) were higher.

In conclusion, further research is required to understand the relationship between chronotype, diet and sleep quality. This study is one of the limited studies that examines sleep quality, daily energy and macronutrient intake and diet quality together for healthy women.