Carbohydrates, dietary fiber, and incident type 2 diabetes in older women

Food insecurity refers to the inability to afford enough food for an active, healthy life. Numerous studies have shown associations between food insecurity and adverse health outcomes among children. Studies of the health effects of food insecurity among adults are more limited and generally focus on the association between food insecurity and self-reported disease. We therefore examined the association between food insecurity and clinical evidence of diet-sensitive chronic disease, including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes. Our population-based sample included 5094 poor adults aged 18–65 y participating in the NHANES (1999–2004 waves). We estimated the association between food insecurity (assessed by the Food Security Survey Module) and self-reported or laboratory/examination evidence of diet-sensitive chronic disease using Poisson regression. We adjusted the models to account for differences in age, gender, race, educational attainment, and income. Food insecurity was associated with self-reported hypertension [adjusted relative risk (ARR) 1.20; 95% CI, 1.04–1.38] and hyperlipidemia (ARR 1.30; 95% CI, 1.09–1.55), but not diabetes (ARR 1.19; 95% CI, 0.89–1.58). Food insecurity was associated with laboratory or examination evidence of hypertension (ARR 1.21; 95% CI, 1.04–1.41) and diabetes (ARR 1.48; 95% CI, 0.94–2.32). The association with laboratory evidence of diabetes did not reach significance in the fully adjusted model unless we used a stricter definition of food insecurity (ARR 2.42; 95% CI, 1.44–4.08). These data show that food insecurity is associated with cardiovascular risk factors. Health policy discussions should focus increased attention on ability to afford high-quality foods for adults with or at risk for chronic disease.

Food Insecurity Is Associated with Chronic Disease among Low-Income NHANES Participants

Objective. To examine the influence of initial infant feeding on obesity in later life. Methods. A systematic review of published studies investigating the association between infant feeding and a measure of obesity was performed with Medline (1966 onward) and Embase (1980 onward) databases, supplemented with manual searches. Data extraction was conducted by 2 authors. Analyses were based on odds ratios of obesity among initially breastfed subjects, compared with formula-fed subjects, pooled with fixed-effects models. Results. Sixty-one studies reported on the relationship of infant feeding to a measure of obesity in later life; of these, 28 (298900 subjects) provided odds ratio estimates. In these studies, breastfeeding was associated with a reduced risk of obesity, compared with formula feeding (odds ratio: 0.87; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.85–0.89). The inverse association between breastfeeding and obesity was particularly strong in 11 small studies of Conclusions. Initial breastfeeding protects against obesity in later life. However, a further review including large unpublished studies exploring the effect of confounding factors in more detail is needed.

Effect of Infant Feeding on the Risk of Obesity Across the Life Course: A Quantitative Review of Published Evidence

Observational studies suggest a longer duration of breastfeeding to be associated dose dependently with a decrease in risk of overweight in later life. The authors performed a comprehensive meta-analysis of the existing studies on duration of breastfeeding and risk of overweight. Studies were included that reported the odds ratio and 95% confidence interval (or the data to calculate them) of overweight associated with breastfeeding and that reported the duration of breastfeeding and used exclusively formula-fed subjects as the referent. Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria. By meta-regression, the duration of breastfeeding was inversely associated with the risk of overweight (regression coefficient ¼ 0.94, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.89, 0.98). Categorical analysis confirmed this dose-response association ( 9 months: OR ¼ 0.68, 95% CI: 0.50, 0.91). One month of breastfeeding was associated with a 4% decrease in risk (OR ¼ 0.96/month of breastfeeding, 95% CI: 0.94, 0.98). The definitions of overweight and age had no influence. These findings strongly support a dose-dependent association between longer duration of breastfeeding and decrease in risk of overweight. body weight; breast feeding; meta-analysis; obesity

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Duration of Breastfeeding and Risk of Overweight: A Meta-Analysis

R. P. Heaney, S. Abrams, B. Dawson-Hughes, A. Looker, R. Marcus, V. Matkovic and C. Weaver Creighton University, Omaha, NE; Children’s Nutrition Research Center, Houston, TX; Tufts University, Boston, MA; National Osteoporosis Foundation, Washington, DC; National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD; Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA; Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; and Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

Peak bone mass

Approaches to analysis of dietary data: relationship between planned analyses and choice of methodology.

A study of food insecurity and nutritional adequacy was conducted with a sample of 153 women in families receiving emergency food assistance in Toronto, Canada. Contemporaneous data on dietary intake and household food security over the past 30 d were available for 145 of the women. Analyses of these data revealed that women who reported hunger in their households during the past 30 d also reported systematically lower intakes of energy and a number of nutrients. The effect of household-level hunger on intake persisted even when other economic, socio-cultural, and behavioral influences on reported dietary intake were considered. Estimated prevalences of inadequacy in excess of 15% were noted for Vitamin A, folate, iron, and magnesium in this sample, suggesting that the low levels of intake associated with severe household food insecurity are in a range that could put women at risk of nutrient deficiencies.

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Women’s Dietary Intakes in the Context of Household Food Insecurity

Over the past two decades, the demand for charitable food assistance has steadily grown, and a massive ad hoc system of food banks has become established in Canada. To assess the food insecurity and nutritional vulnerability of one subgroup of food bank users, interviews were conducted with a sample of 153 women in families using emergency food relief programs in Metropolitan Toronto. Ninety percent reported household incomes which were less than two-thirds of the ‘poverty line’, and 94% reported some degree of food insecurity over the previous 12 months. Seventy percent reported some level of absolute food deprivation, despite using food banks. The findings highlight the limited capacity of ad hoc, charitable food assistance programs to respond to problems of household food insecurity which arise in the context of severe and chronic poverty.

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Household food insecurity and hunger among families using food banks.

Errors in the interpretation of dietary assessments.

A meta-analysis of eight mortality trials indicates that improving the vitamin A status of children aged six months to five years reduced mortality rates by about 23% in populations with at least l...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/156482659401500414

George H. Beaton

Papers

Approaches to analysis of dietary data: relationship between planned analyses and choice of methodology.

Women’s Dietary Intakes in the Context of Household Food Insecurity

Household food insecurity and hunger among families using food banks.

Errors in the interpretation of dietary assessments.

Vitamin A Supplementation and Child Morbidity and Mortality in Developing Countries