Changing the food environment: the French experience.

The French National Nutrition and Health Program was launched in 2001. To achieve its objectives, 2 main preventive strategies were identified: 1) provide information and education to help individuals make healthy food and physical activity choices; and 2) improve the food and physical environment so that making healthy choices is easier. School regulations have been established to improve the nutritional quality of meals served to children and adolescents, and vending machines have been banned.

[Nutrition education in schools: evaluation of a teaching method "La Main à la Pâte"].

Teaching nutrition, in the broadest sense, with a comprehensive approach at the primary school level has become an epidemiological imperative. However, conventional methods can improve knowledge but they do not have the capacity to identify how this knowledge is applied through practical implementation in everyday life. The "La main à la Pâte" programme is a hands-on innovative teaching method for science education through experience.

[Food consumption patterns in the urban milieu of Bamako].

Food consumption patterns in urban environments are changing and diversifying. This longitudinal study of individual food consumption took into account the coexistence of two types of food consumption: within the home and outside the home. This article presents a summary of qualitative and quantitative research carried out in Bamako, Mali in 1995 and 1996 among 74 families from different socio-economic groups.

Low birthweight in infants born to African HIV-infected women: relationship with maternal body weight during pregnancy: Pregnancy and HIV Study Group (EGE).

The effect of maternal HIV infection on birthweight was estimated. In the prenatal clinic of the Centre Hospitalier de Kigali, HIV screening was proposed to women with a gestational age (GA) of less than 28 weeks. HIV-infected (HIV+) and uninfected (HIV-) women were recruited, when they consented.

[Home and outside home food complementarity in Bamako (Mali): nutritional and economic aspects. What is the rationality behind consumers' choices?].

Background: Great modifications in social and family relationships and life style come from rapid urbanisation in developing countries. Various types of malnutrition coexist in these towns. Food consumption outside the home is more and more common.

Pregnancy, body weight and human immunodeficiency virus infection in African women: a prospective cohort study in Kigali (Rwanda), 1992-1994. Pregnancy and HIV Study Group (EGE).

Objective: To study the relationship between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and body weight in African women during and after pregnancy.

Methods: A prospective cohort study was initiated at the Centre Hospitalier de Kigali in July 1992. Every woman seen at the antenatal clinic and with a gestational age of <28 weeks was offered HIV-1 antibody testing.

[Food habits outside the home by school children in Cotonou (Benin)].

Urban growth leads to the consumption of food outside the home, with the demand for street food coming particularly from school children. A survey of 240 primary school children aged 8 to 13 was carried out, by means of personal interviews. More than 90% were regularly given pocket money by their parents, and this money was used mainly for buying food from vendors inside or near their schools.

[Devaluation of the African Financial Community franc and the dietary strategies of families in Bamako (Mali)].

This survey, conducted in 1996, evaluated changes in the way families feed themselves caused by the effects of devaluation of the CFA franc. It involved semi-directed interviews with 64 subjects from various socio-economic backgrounds (affluent, middle-class, poor). The subjects spoke of the difficulties of daily life, lack of money and rapid, unpredictable rises in the prices of essential goods caused by the devaluation.

[Vitamin A deficiency: epidemiological aspects and control methods].

Vitamin A deficiency is one of the most common nutrient deficiency syndromes in children from developing countries. It is also correlated with the increased severity and incidence of certain infections. Until recently, vitamin A research was focused on preventing xerophthalmia and blindness in Third World Countries and on the development of synthetic retinoid molecules, with lower toxicity than vitamin A, for the treatment of skin diseases.

[Variability of home dietary habits of families living in Bamako (Mali) according to their socioeconomic status].

We investigated the influence of standard of living on the dietary and eating habits of families in Bamako (Mali). Family meals eaten at home at any time of day were studied. Families were selected for the study according to two criteria: the place of residence and the domestic commodities and urban investments.

[An approach to food consumption in an urban environment. The case of west Africa].

West Africa has undergone rapid economic and political changes during the last 20 years. After the failure of economic policies implemented since independence, programs for structural adjustment have strongly influenced the economy. Food problems affect each country differently.

[Nutritional habits of adolescents in the Paris suburbs].

Background: Physical and psychological disorders in adolescence may lead to specific food behaviours. The aim of this work was to make a group of adolescents full actors of the conception and realization of a study on their food consumption and attitudes.

Population And Methods: Seventeen self-selected adolescents (age: 12 to 18 years) were enrolled in the study.

[A method to estimate the nutritional value of food sold by street vendors].

Food bought outside the house from woman vendors accounts for a significant part of the nutritional intake in urban areas in Africa regardless of age and socio-economic category of the inhabitants. Despite this fact outdoor food consumption is not adequately taken into account in relevant studies. The great variability in space and time of recipes used by vendors makes it very difficult to estimate the nutritional value of the food consumed.

[Vitamin A deficiency and food consumption of children aged 6 to 84 months in a Mali rural area].

A cross-sectional study was carried out during the dry season, within the framework of an extension of an existing sanitary program. In December 1991, a cluster sample of 2,631 children was selected in a rural district of Mali, in the district of Koutiala, with good agricultural conditions. A sub-sample of 262 mothers was selected for interviews concerning their knowledge and attitudes about vitamin A deficiency symptoms.

[Bamako school age children and their diet from street vendors].

Eating outside the home is very common in African cities. Food is bought from street vendors and eaten on the street. A large proportion of these consumers are school children, but little is known about what they buy, and the reasons why they make the choices they do.

[High altitude anemia: validity of definition criteria].

The effect of iron and folate supplementation on the hemoglobin response and iron status was studied in male and female equatorian medical students: 66 in Quito (2,800 m altitude) and 40 in Guayaquil (sea level). At the end of the supplementation, there was a nearly complete disappearance of biochemical evidence of iron deficiency in the two groups of students. In Quito, 30% of the men and 26% of the women increased their hemoglobin concentration by more than 1 g/dl after one month of supplementation and could be considered as true anemics, compared to 31% of the men and 29% of the women in Guayaquil.

Iron absorption from typical West African meals containing contaminating Fe.

Iron absorption from three typical West African meals was measured in fourteen subjects using the extrinsic-tag technique with 59Fe and 55Fe. All meals consisted of maize as the staple food. Meals were prepared in Benin under realistic conditions from locally grown foods.