Effect of dairy and nondairy snacks on postprandial blood glucose regulation in 9-14-year-old children.

In adults, dairy consumption improves short-term blood glucose regulation. It is unknown if these short-term benefits extend to children of different weight statuses. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a dairy and nondairy snack in both normal-weight (NW) and overweight/obese (OW/OB) children on blood glucose regulation and food intake (FI).

Learning from "Knocks in Life": Food Insecurity among Low-Income Lone Senior Women.

Building on earlier quantitative work where we showed that lone senior households reliant on public pensions in Nova Scotia (NS), Canada lacked the necessary funds for a basic nutritious diet, here we present findings from a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with eight low-income lone senior women living in an urban area of NS. Using a phenomenological inquiry approach, in-depth interviews were used to explore lone senior women's experiences accessing food with limited financial resources. Drawing upon Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory, we explored their perceived ability to access a nutritionally adequate and personally acceptable diet, and the barriers and enablers to do so; as well in light of our previous quantitative research, we explored their perceptions related to adequacy of income, essential expenses, and their strategies to manage personal finances.

Developing an interview guide to evaluate practice-based evidence in nutrition: use of the delphi technique.

An interview guide was created for qualitative evaluation of the impact of Practice-based Evidence in Nutrition (PEN) on dietetic practice, and its success as a medium for knowledge translation and transfer (KTT). The Delphi technique was used to bring together a diverse group of experts (n=7) with extensive knowledge in KTT and evidence-based practice (EBP); these experts developed the interview guide content. The technique is an effective means of gathering expert input to inform evaluation tool development, particularly in the absence of accepted evaluation guidelines or pre-existing evaluation tools.

Food management behaviours in food-insecure, lone mother-led families.

Purpose: Little is known about how food is managed in households where food resources are scarce. In this study, the household food management behaviours utilized by food-insecure, lone mother-led families from Atlantic Canada were characterized, and relationships among these behaviours and diet quality were examined.

Methods: Thematic analysis of 24 in-depth interviews from a larger study of mother-led, low-income families was integrated with sociodemographic characteristics, food-insecurity status, and four weekly 24-hour dietary recalls for all household members to yield a family behaviour score (FBS) as a summative measure of food management behaviours, and a healthy plate score (HPS) as a measure of diet quality.

Spilt milk: an inter-sectoral partnership that failed to advance milk security for low-income lone mothers in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Canadian agricultural policy supports higher milk prices. Consequently, poor families lack sufficient funds to purchase adequate quantities of milk. Low-income lone mothers in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia suggested their preferred strategies for improved access to milk.

Achieving healthy body weight in teenagers: evidence-based practice guidelines for community nutrition interventions.

An evidence-based review of research on obesity prevention and treatment in youth was conducted to identify successful elements of community nutrition interventions. Guidelines for dietetic practice appropriate to this age group were synthesized. Following a systematic review of English-language research papers published from 1996 to 2009, 63 interventions met inclusion criteria and were graded according to methodological quality, quantity, consistency, and reproducibility.

Prevalance and associations of food insecurity in children with diabetes mellitus.

Objectives: To examine the prevalence of food insecurity in households with a child with insulin-requiring diabetes mellitus (DM), investigate whether food insecurity is associated with poorer DM control, and describe the household characteristics and coping strategies of food-insecure families with a child with DM.

Study Design: Telephone interviews were conducted with consecutive consenting families over a 16-month period. Food insecurity was assessed through a validated questionnaire; additional questions elicited demographic information and DM management strategies.

Trans fat information on food labels: consumer use and interpretation.

Purpose: Consumers' use and interpretation of trans fat information on food labels were explored.

Methods: Consumers completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire in one of three grocery stores selected purposively to represent geographical location. Data analysis involved examining the relationship of age, gender, grocery shopping habits, household size, and source of nutrition information with awareness, use, and interpretation of trans fat information.

Beverage consumption in low income, "milk-friendly" families.

Purpose: Beverage consumption by poor, lone mother-led, "milk-friendly" families living in Atlantic Canada was characterized over a one-month income cycle.

Methods: Beverage intake and food security status were assessed weekly, using a 24-hour dietary recall and the Cornell-Radimer food insecurity questionnaire. Families were classified as "milk friendly" if total consumption of milk was 720 mL on a single day during the month.

Diet quality of Atlantic families headed by single mothers.

Purpose: As part of a larger study on food insecurity and dietary adequacy of low-income lone mothers and their children in Atlantic Canada, we examined diet quality among household members.

Methods: Network sampling for 'difficult to sample' populations was used to identify mothers living below the poverty line and alone with at least two children under age 14. Trained dietitians administered 24-hour dietary recalls weekly for one month to mothers on the dietary intake of themselves and their children.

Dietary practices of women diagnosed with environmental sensitivity.

Purpose: Food avoidance is central to the treatment of environmental sensitivity (ES), a chronic, often debilitating, multisystem disorder characterized by adverse reactions to non-noxious levels of environmental substances. Because prolonged food avoidance could impact nutritional health, the purpose of this research was to assess adequacy and quality of diets consumed by women diagnosed with ES.

Methods: Twelve women aged 37 to 50 recruited from the Nova Scotia Environmental Health Clinic completed a four-day food record during the spring and summer of 1998.

The meaning of food to breast cancer survivors.

Although a definitive relationship between diet and breast cancer remains controversial, many women adopt dietary change after diagnosis. To understand factors motivating dietary change, we explored the meanings that breast cancer survivors attached to food during recovery. Six women who were breast cancer survivors for six to 19 years participated in semi-structured interviews exploring personal meanings attached to food, dietary changes after diagnosis, factors influencing dietary change, and experiences with food in relation to breast cancer.

Do low-income lone mothers compromise their nutrition to feed their children?

Background: Women who live in disadvantaged circumstances in Canada exhibit dietary intakes below recommended levels, but their children often do not. One reason for this difference may be that mothers modify their own food intake to spare their children nutritional deprivation. The objective of our study was to document whether or not low-income lone mothers compromise their own diets to feed their children.

Food insecurity of low-income lone mothers and their children in Atlantic Canada.

Objective: To examine the occurrence and predictors of hunger and food insecurity over the past year and month among low-income mother-led households in Atlantic Canada.

Method: The Cornell-Radimer Questionnaire to Estimate the Prevalence of Hunger and Food Insecurity was administered weekly for a month, with modifications, to a community sample of 141 lone mothers who took part in a larger dietary intake study. Eligible women included those living alone with at least two children under the age of 14 years in the four Atlantic Provinces and having an annual income less than or equal to Statistics Canada's low-income cut-off.

Adherence to a Very Low Fat Diet for Cardiac Rehabilitation Patients.

Diets encouraging 10% or less fat energy intake have been advocated to prevent progression of coronary artery disease. In this study, a randomized, controlled, repeated measures experimental design was used to determine if reducing fat intake incrementally to an eventual goal of 10% of total energy intake would result in better dietary adherence than would an immediate reduction to 10%. After completing a lifestyle education program and receiving personal dietary counselling, volunteers recruited from a cardiac rehabilitation program (treatment group, n = 4; control group, n = 3) completed a 24-hour recall at two, four, and seven months post-intervention.

Diet and Environmental Illness: Barriers Encountered by Women Sufferers.

Environmental illness is characterized by an ill-defined constellation of signs and symptoms of unknown etiology. It is assumed that exposure to low dose irritants in the environment initiates a chronic and relapsing disorder in susceptible individuals. Although diet is central in the treatment of environmental illness, there is little research to describe how those living with environmental illness view diet and the barriers they encounter.