Trading nutrition for education: nutritional status and the sale of snack foods in an eastern Kentucky school

Overweight and poor nutrition of children in the United States are becoming issues of increasing concern for public health. Dietary patterns of U.S. children indicate they are consuming too few fruits and vegetables and too many foods high in fat and sugar. Contributing to this pattern of food consumption is snacking, which is reported to be on the increase among adults and children alike. One place where snacking is under increased scrutiny, and where it is being increasingly criticized, is in U.S. schools, where snack foods are often sold to supplement inadequate budgets. This article takes a biocultural approach to understanding the nutritional status of elementary school children in a rural community in eastern Kentucky. It pays particular attention to the ways in which the school's nutrition environment shapes overweight and nutritional status for many of the children, focusing on the sale of snack foods and the reasons behind the principal's decision to sell snack foods in the school.     

Differences in the desire to eat in children and adults in the presence of an obese eater

Previous research has shown that the desire to eat foods decreases in adults in the presence of an obese eater compared to a normal-weight eater. This study investigated whether or not this decrease in eating desire was observed in younger children in the same way as in adults. Children aged 5 and 8 years old, as well as adults, were presented with photographs of liked and disliked foods presented either alone or with normal-weight and obese eaters expressing three different emotions--pleasure, disgust, and neutrality--toward these food products. The results showed that the eater's weight status had a greater effect on the adults' desire to eat than on that of the children. Adults were influenced by the eater's weight status, regardless of the facial expression or the food category. Compared to adults, the impact of the eater's weight status on the children's desire to eat depended on the emotional facial expression and the children's food preferences. Thus, when children did not like the foods, their eating desire was negatively influenced by the eater's obese status, as was that of adults. On the other hand, when children liked the food products, the eater's weight status had no effect on their eating desire. They were more influenced by the eater's facial expressions. Thus, an expression of pleasure increased the desire to eat the liked foods in the younger children, whereas an expression of disgust decreased it. These results are discussed in terms of the high sensitivity of young children to emotional facial expressions.     

Perception of sweetness in simple and complex taste stimuli by adults and children.

Currently, there is little information on the ability of children to analyse complex chemosensory stimuli in terms of the presence and magnitude of the components. The present study investigates this question by comparing the ability of 95 adults and 8- to 9-year-olds to estimate the sweetness of several concentrations of sucrose in water and in three foods, namely, orange drink, custard and shortbread biscuits, using a magnitude estimation procedure. The results indicated that similar response functions were produced by adults and children for the sweetness of aqueous solutions of sucrose, custard and biscuits, but not for orange juice, where the functions produced by both female and male children were significantly flatter than those of the adults. Stimulus context may have influenced the ratings of children in the no-sucrose and highest sucrose concentration conditions with two of the foods. The absence of differences between the response functions of the female and male children with all types of stimuli indicated that gender had no influence on their responses. It is concluded that, at mid-childhood, humans are capable of estimating the sweetness of sucrose in foods, but that they have a tendency to limit the range of numbers used in their estimates of sweetness at high concentrations of sucrose in some foods.     

Observations on the ontogeny of feeding behavior in mountain gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei)

This report describes observations on the ontogeny of food choice in mountain gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei), made during a 17-month field study of mountain gorilla feeding ecology in the Parc National des Volcans, Rwanda. Data are presented on the feeding behavior of two infants observed from birth to the age of 8 months and on older infants and juveniles. This information is compared with data on the composition and diversity of the diets of young adults and adults in the same social group. Initial feeding by infants is usually synchronized with the mother's behavior: infants ingest the same food, or a different part of the same plant species, currently being eaten by the mother or just eaten by her. This suggests that observational learning is largely responsible for the transmission of food preferences. Most feeding by young infants, whether or not synchronized with the mother's, is on those foods eaten most frequently by adults. Infants also independently sample potential foods, some of which are apparently not consumed by adults. The frequency of sampling declines with age, although even adults occasionally ingest foods not observed to be eaten by other adults. By the age of 3 years, young mountain gorillas have developed the basic dietary patterns of adults, in terms of the number of foods eaten, the proportions in which specific foods are consumed, and diet diversity and equitability. There is a strong possibility that chemical cues influence food choice, but their role remains unclear.     

Occurrence and biological significance of proanthocyanidins in the American diet

Dietary intake of proanthocyanidins (PAs) has been largely unknown because of the lack of reliable values for their content in foods. Recent development of an analytical method for PAs has allowed the quantification of individual oligomers and polymers. This method has been employed to analyze food samples collected under the USDA National Food and Nutrition Analysis Program. A database of the PA content in common foods and also infant foods has been established. It has been shown that PAs account for a major fraction of flavonoids ingested in the US diet and infants and children appear to ingest more PAs than adults on the basis of body weight. These data will provide an opportunity to examine the association between PA intake and health and disease outcomes in epidemiological studies. PA analysis and the significance of PAs in nutrition and diet are reviewed.     

Methodology to Capture Children's Non-Dietary Ingestion Exposure Activities During Meal Events

During meal events, a child's food can be contaminated through contacts with objects and surfaces, and/or unwashed hands that have chemical residues, increasing ingestion exposure of contaminants for the child. This is not surprising, given that very young children eat more with the hands than adults, are active, and play with toys and objects while eating. In addition, children's unwashed hands and toys are commonly inserted into their mouths during meal events, increasing exposure. By observing children during their meal events, information can be gathered on the frequency and duration of contacts between objects, foods, and hands, and the sequence of events before the hands, foods, or objects are inserted into the mouth. This article describes the process of refining a videotaping and video-translation methodology to capture micro-level activity time series (MLATS), in order to better quantify total exposure for young children as a result of their behavior during meal events and cross-contamination of foods and hands. These MLATS can be seen as detailed activity patterns that provide useful data, along with transfer coefficients and environmental concentration to estimate exposures.     

Heightened sour preferences during childhood

Basic research has revealed that the chemical sensory world of children is different from that of adults, as evidenced by their heightened preferences for sweet and salty tastes. However, little is known about the ontogeny of sour taste preferences, despite the growing market of extreme sour candies. The present study investigated whether the level of sourness most preferred in a food matrix and the ability to discriminate differences in sour intensity differed between 5- to 9-year-old children and their mothers, by using a rank-by-elimination procedure embedded in the context of a game. Mothers also completed a variety of questionnaires and children were asked several questions to assess whether children's temperament and food preferences and habits related to sour preferences. The results indicated that, although every mother and all but two of the children (92%) were able to rank the gelatins from most to least sour, more than one-third (35%) of the children, but virtually none of the adults, preferred the high levels of sour taste (0.25 M citric acid) in gelatin. Those children who preferred the extreme sour tastes were significantly less food neophobic (P < 0.05) and tended to experience a greater variety of fruits when compared with the remaining children (P = 0.11). Moreover, the children's preference for sour tastes generalized to other foods, such as candies and lemons, as reported by both children and mothers. These findings are the first experimental evidence to demonstrate that sour taste preferences are heightened during childhood and that such preferences are related to children's food habits and preferences. Further research is needed to unfold the relationship between the level of sour taste preferred and the actual consumption of sour-tasting foods and flavors in children.     

Evaluation of the Monell forced-choice, paired-comparison tracking procedure for determining sweet taste preferences across the lifespan

Lack of methodology to assess taste in children limits its measurement in research studies that include pediatric populations. We used the Monell 2-series, forced-choice tracking method to measure sucrose preferences of a racially/ethnically diverse sample (n = 949) of children, adolescents, and adults. Reliability was assessed by comparing the results of the first series with the second series. Validity was assessed by relating participants' sucrose preferences to their preferences for foods varying in sweetness. The task required, on average, 7 presentations of aqueous sucrose solution pairs. Children and adolescents preferred more concentrated sweetness than adults (P < 0.001). Black children/adolescents preferred a more concentrated sucrose solution than did White children/adolescents even when gender, parental education level, and family income were used as covariates. Data from a single series were sufficient to detect age-related differences but insufficient to detect racial/ethnic differences in sweet preferences. Level of sweetness preferred significantly correlated with the sugar content of favorite cereals (P < 0.001) and beverages (P < 0.02). This method is brief and has evidence of reliability and external validity. Although a single series will yield useful information about age-related differences in taste preferences, the 2-series version should be considered when differences in race/ethnicity are of interest.     

Children and Wild Foods in the Context of Deforestation in Rural Malawi

There is growing recognition of the contribution of wild foods to local diets, nutrition, and culture. Yet disaggregation of understanding of wild food use by gender and age is limited. We used a mixed methods approach to determine the types, frequencies, and perceptions of wild foods used and sold by children in four villages in southern Malawi that have different levels of deforestation. Household and individual dietary diversity scores are low at all sites. All households consume one or more wild foods. Across the four sites, children listed 119 wild foods, with a wider variety at the least deforested sites than the most deforested ones. Older children can name more wild foods than younger ones. More children from poor households sell wild foods than from well-off households. Several reasons were provided for the consumption or avoidance of wild foods (most commonly taste, contribution to health, limited alternatives, hunger, availability, local taboos).     

Calcium and Dairy Intake and Measures of Obesity in Hyper‐ and Normocholesterolemic Children

Objective: Calcium intake has been inversely associated with body weight and body fatness in adults and, to a lesser extent, in children. Dairy intake has been inversely associated with metabolic syndrome in overweight but not normal‐weight adults. We assessed whether intakes of calcium and dairy foods were associated with measures of obesity in hypercholesterolemic (HC) and normocholesterolemic (non‐HC) children at baseline and over 1 year. Research Methods and Procedures: Non‐obese 4‐ to 10‐year‐old HC and non‐HC children (342) completed three 24‐hour dietary recalls and provided measures of relative weight (BMI and BMI z scores) and adiposity (sum of skinfolds, trunk skinfolds) at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months. Cross‐sectional and longitudinal regression analyses, stratified by cholesterol risk status (HC vs. non‐HC) and age (4 to 6 years and 7 to 10 years) and adjusted for potential confounders, were conducted. Results: After adjusting for age, sex, energy intake, and percentage energy from fat, calcium intake was inversely associated with BMI, sum of skinfolds, and trunk skinfolds at baseline and over 1 year in the 7‐ to 10‐year‐old non‐HC children. Results from the regression models also indicated an inverse relation between intake of dairy foods and measures of obesity at baseline in these children. Calcium or dairy intake was not associated with measures of obesity in HC children or in the 4‐ to 6‐year‐old non‐HC children. Discussion: These results suggest a complex relation among intake of calcium and dairy foods, measures of obesity, age, and serum cholesterol in children. Older children without risk of metabolic syndrome may benefit most from increased calcium intake.     

Cadmium bioavailability

Cadmium slowly accumulates in the liver and kidney and has a long biological half-life, estimated to be 2-3 decades in the kidney. If the kidney cadmium concentration reaches a critically high level, proximal tubular damage results, which can be followed by severe bone mineral loss. There are only a few measurements of cadmium bioavailability in foods; however, the data are indicative of lower utilization from foods than from inorganic salts. In animal tissues cadmium is bound primarily to a heat-resistant small protein with a high cysteine content (metallothionein), whereas little is known about the form in which cadmium occurs in the edible parts of plants. Low intakes of many nutrients exacerbate the effects of cadmium and supplemental intakes are protective. Newborn and young animals absorb much higher quantities of cadmium than adults. There is some evidence in animals that females may be more adversely affected than males. Itai-itai disease, a painful disease with kidney damage and bone demineralization, occurred in elderly Japanese women who had borne several children and who were exposed to cadmium via food and drinking water. Inasmuch as cadmium in the U.S. food supply affords an estimated safety factor of only 4- to 15-fold, it is important to establish factors that affect the bioavailability of cadmium from foods.     

Provisioning of Young in Golden Lion Tamarins (Callitrichidae, Leontopithecus rosalia): A Test of the Information Hypothesis

Provisioning of young after weaning or fledging is a highly variable phenomenon. Among cooperative breeders, such as marmosets and tamarins, both parents and natal adults may provision immatures. Experiments designed to measure the effects of food familiarity on food-transfer interactions were conducted on zoo-living golden lion tamarin, Leontopithecus rosalia , families to test one proposed benefit of provisioning to recipient young — that immature callitrichids learn food preferences through exposure to food items obtained from older group members. Adults transferred to immatures foods that were known to adults, but novel to immatures, and foods that were novel to all more frequently than foods that were familiar to both adults and immatures. Results suggest that adults alter their behavior such that learning by immatures is fostered. Immatures also were less likely to reject new foods acquired from other group members, compared with those obtained independently, suggesting the possibility that immatures attend to food transfer to facilitate incorporation of new foods into the diet. In contrast, anecdotal accounts of wild marmoset and tamarin food transfer have indicated that infants receive from adults foods that primarily are high in lipids and/or protein, as expected if provisioning acts to supplement nutrition. These apparently contradictory findings may reflect the differing effects of the captive and wild environment on food-transfer behavior or may point to a dual function of provisioning dependent on age of the recipient.     

Sex‐biased weaning and early childhood diet among middle holocene hunter–gatherers in Central California

This article evaluates age of weaning and early childhood diets of eight males and nine females from a Middle Holocene (4300–3000 BP) site in Central California, CA‐CCO‐548. All individuals died as adults. δ¹⁵N values from serial sections of dentin collagen in first molars suggest females were fully weaned, on average, by 3.6 years of age, about 0.4 years later than males in the sample, suggesting possible greater parental investment in female offspring. However, throughout childhood females consumed lower trophic‐level foods than males. This could indicate greater investment in males through provisioning of higher quality foods, or alternatively, some degree of independent foraging by males starting as early as 2 to 3 years of age. Even as adults, these same males and females consumed a different range of foods as indicated by their bone collagen δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values. Overall, the data suggest children were enculturated early into their respective gendered diets, with girls consuming greater amounts of plant foods and boys consuming greater amounts of higher‐trophic level fish and meat protein. Am J Phys Anthropol 152:471–483, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Children with type 2 diabetes: the risks of complications

Type 2 diabetes is an increasing problem in children. Two decades ago it had been described only in selected groups, e.g. the Pima Indians. Childhood type 2 diabetes appears to be similar to the metabolic syndrome in adults and is characterized by obesity, hyperglycaemia and insulin resistance. It can present a diagnostic challenge in children, as they can present with diabetic ketoacidosis; the measurement of autoantibodies and C-peptide levels may be helpful. The logarithmic association between the risk of complications with increasing glycaemia which has been established for adults with type 2 diabetes is likely to hold true for children but the conclusions of trials in adults must be extrapolated with caution. Little is known about the onset and progression of macrovascular disease in affected children but it is almost certain that they will develop an excess of premature cardiovascular disease. However, the importance of reducing glycaemia in younger adults with diabetes, in order to minimize the incidence of microvascular complications, has been unequivocally demonstrated in the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT). Diet and exercise have a major role to play in the treatment and prevention of type 2 diabetes in children as well as adults - the escalation of type 2 diabetes throughout the developed world is a major public health problem. Extrapolating data from adults, metformin appears to be the logical first-line treatment in children with type 2 diabetes; sulphonylureas are also used but neither of these agents have been evaluated in trials in children and are not licensed for such use. With regard to other newer agents, it seems wise to use well-established drugs with a long track record and for which the long-term safety data are available.     

Food and foraging behaviour of the lizard,Ctenotus taeniolatus

A sample of 261 Ctenotus taeniolatus revealed that this species of skink is principally insectivorous, the most common foods being lepidopteran and coleopteran larvae, orthopterans and formicids. The occurrence of these foods in the diet followed seasonal patterns. The prey of adults and juveniles did not differ qualitatively, although adults were capable of eating a greater diversity of prey sizes than juveniles. Lizards used both sit-and-wait and active foraging strategies, with adults and juveniles exhibiting these behaviours in different ratios.     

Yeast diversity in rice-cassava fermentations produced by the indigenous Tapirapé people of Brazil

The Tapirapé people of the Tapi'it?wa tribe of Brazil produce several fermented foods and beverages, one of which is called 'cauim'. This beverage usually makes up the main staple food for adults and children. Several substrates are used in its production, including cassava, rice, corn, maize and peanuts. A fermentation using rice and cassava was conducted, and samples were collected at 4-h intervals for microbial analysis. The yeast population was low at the beginning of the fermentation and reached 6.9 x 10(7) CFU mL(-1) after 48 h. During the fermentation process common yeast species were identified by sequencing of the D1/D2 domain of the large-subunit (26S) rRNA gene. The predominant yeast species found was Candida tropicalis. Candida intermedia, Candida parapsilosis, Pichia guilliermondii, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Trichosporon asahii were also found in high numbers during the fermentation. Exophiala dermatidis, often associated with blastomycosis, was found in the mass before inoculation and during the initial stages of the fermentation. Examination of these indigenous fermented foods may provide clues as to how food production and preservation can be expanded and thereby contribute to improve nutrition in native tribes in the region.     

Uncultivated Foods in Southern Veracruz,Mexico: Establishing the Links between Ecosystem Health,Food Availability,and Human Nutrition

Uncultivated foods have received little attention in the scientific literature and nutrition programs of Mexico because they are usually seen as complementary to agricultural activities, i.e., corn planting and harvesting. Using an ecosystem approach to human health, this article examines the availability, nutritional contribution, and consumption patterns by gender and age of such foods in Ixhuapan and Ocozotepec, two native communities of southern Veracruz, Mexico. The research shows important differences between both communities. Ixhuapan has a more uniform environment and its people have opted for commercial activities and land parceling. Land use changes have led to a decrease in the number of people engaged in subsistence agriculture, environmental degradation, lower corn yields, and the loss of traditional, uncultivated foods. These changes have had a negative impact on the nutritional status of Ixhuapan children and adults, particularly women. Within each community, however, there are also important differences in terms of access to resources based on gender and age. Men catch game and large fish while women catch shrimp. Men gather seasonal plants in the forest while women gather wild weeds in the cornfields and spices in their backyards. Boys, more often than girls, obtain fruits from trees located in their backyard or the town’s public spaces. The article shows that women’s food resources are frequently consumed and constitute good sources of micronutrients.     

Estimation of Dietary Intake of Inorganic Arsenic in U.S. Children

Arsenic is a natural component of the environment and is ubiquitous in soils, water, and the diet. Because dietary intake can be a significant source of background exposure to inorganic arsenic (the most toxicologically significant form), accurate intake estimates are needed to provide a context for risk management of arsenic exposure. Intake of inorganic arsenic by adults is fairly well characterized, but previous estimates of childhood intake were based on inorganic arsenic analyses in a limited number of foods (13 food types). This article estimates dietary intake for U.S. children (1 to 6 years of age) based on reported inorganic arsenic concentrations in 38 foods and in water used in cooking those foods (inorganic arsenic concentration of 0.8 μg/L), and U.S. Department of Agriculture food consumption data. This information is combined using a probabilistic software model to extract food consumption patterns and compute exposure distributions. The mean childhood dietary intake estimate for inorganic arsenic was 3.2 μg/day with a range of 1.6 to 6.2 μg/day for the 10th and 95th percentiles, respectively. For both the mean and 95th percentile inorganic arsenic intake rates, intake was predominantly contributed by grain and grain products, fruits and fruit juices, rice and rice products, and milk.     

Fatty Liver Through the Ages: Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis

ObjectiveThe global epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus is the main driver of the growing global prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We aimed to review the current literature on NAFLD and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) as it impacts children and adults.MethodsWe performed a literature search on fatty liver specifically NAFLD and NASH among children and adults.ResultsThe prevalence of NAFLD in children ranges from 8% to 12%, while the prevalence in adults ranges 25% to 48%. The prevalence of NASH among children with NAFLD is 23%, while it ranges from 13% to 65% in adults. There are similar risk factors for NAFLD among children and adults. However, in children, the diagnostic tests in the studies of NAFLD are limited to the elevation of the alanine aminotransferase level or a liver biopsy. In adults, additional diagnostic modalities, including noninvasive tests, have been used. From the spectrum of NAFLD, patients with NASH are predominantly at risk of progressive liver disease to cirrhosis and liver-related mortality. NAFLD is associated with impairment of health-related quality of life and substantial economic burden.ConclusionThe comprehensive burden (clinical, health-related quality of life, and economic) of NAFLD is high and increasing.