Faecal microbiota of schoolchildren is associated with nutritional status and markers of inflammation: a double-blinded cluster-randomized controlled trial using multi-micronutrient fortified rice.

Faecal microbiota plays a critical role in human health, but its relationship with nutritional status among schoolchildren remains under-explored. Here, in a double-blinded cluster-randomized controlled trial on 380 Cambodian schoolchildren, we characterize the impact of six months consumption of two types of rice fortified with different levels of vitamins and minerals on pre-specified outcomes. We investigate the association between the faecal microbiota (16SrRNA sequencing) and age, sex, nutritional status (underweight, stunting), micronutrient status (iron, zinc and vitamin A deficiencies, anaemia, iron deficient anaemia, hemoglobinopathy), inflammation (systemic, gut), and parasitic infection.

Store-specific grocery shopping patterns and their association with objective and perceived retail food environments.

Objective: To explore store-specific grocery shopping patterns and assess associations with the objective and perceived retail food environment (RFE).

Design: This cross-sectional study used principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis to identify grocery shopping patterns and logistic regression models to assess their associations with the RFE, while adjusting for household characteristics.

Setting: The Montpellier Metropolitan Area, France.

Dietary environmental impacts of French adults are poorly related to their income levels or food insecurity status.

Purpose: Recent global-scale analysis showed the extent of inequality in terms of carbon emissions related to overall consumption, with richer households emitting significantly more greenhouse gases than poorer ones. While socio-economic status is a known determinant of food consumption, and despite the urgent need to move towards more sustainable diets, very few studies have explored socio-economic differences regarding the environmental impacts of diets. The objective of the present study was to compare the environmental impacts of French adults' diets according to food insecurity (FI) status and income level.

A natural experiment to assess how urban interventions in lower socioeconomic areas influence health behaviors: the UrbASanté study.

Background: Mechanisms underlying the associations between changes in the urban environment and changes in health-related outcomes are complex and their study requires specific approaches. We describe the protocol of the interdisciplinary UrbASanté study, which aims to explore how urban interventions can modify environmental exposures (built, social, and food environments; air quality; noise), health-related behaviors, and self-reported health using a natural experiment approach.

Methods: The study is based on a natural experiment design using a before/after protocol with a control group to assess changes in environmental exposures, health-risk behaviors, and self-reported health outcomes of a resident adult population before and after the implementation of a time series of urban interventions in four contiguous neighborhoods in Paris (France).

The revised Healthy Purchase Index (r-HPI): a validated tool for exploring the nutritional quality of household food purchases.

Background: The Healthy Purchase Index (HPI) assesses the nutritional quality of food purchases (FP) from food group expenditure shares only. However, it was developed from the FP of a disadvantaged population.

Objective: To adapt and validate the HPI for a general population.