A Method for Assessing the Prevalence of Food Insecurity in Older Adults Based on Resource Constraints and Food-Related Physical Functioning Limitations.

Background: Older adults with food-related physical functioning limitations often face food insecurity because of challenges that go beyond resource constraints. Difficulties with food acquisition at retailers, and food preparation and consumption are not captured by the United States Department of Agriculture's food security measure.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to develop a method to assess the overall prevalence of food insecurity regardless of underlying cause using validated measures that capture both food-related physical functioning limitations and resource-constraint food hardships.

Quality of Life and the Role of Food and Eating as Described by Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

While food and eating are important determinants of health, there is limited information on how they affect quality of life (QOL). This study aimed to understand (1) the factors that impact QOL, (2) the effect of food and eating on QOL, from the perspective of community-dwelling older adults. Twenty-five older adults completed semi-structured interviews.

Service Awareness Among Older Adults Experiencing Barriers to Food and Eating.

Objective: To explore (1) the services older adults use to address the barriers to food access they face and (2) how they found out about these services.

Design: Semistructured, basic descriptive qualitative in-person interviews.

Setting: Senior center and participants' homes.

Middle Age and Older Adults: Their Nutrition and Physical Activity Needs and How Best to Address Them.

This cross-sectional study assessed the nutrition and physical activity (PA) needs, practices, and programming preferences of adults ages 40+ years from seven states ( = 1,250). Respondents were mostly educated, White, food-secure, adults ages 60+ years. Many were married, suburban-residing, and interested in health programming.

Development and Validation of a Physical Food Security Tool for Older Adults.

Background: Current measures of food insecurity focus on economic access to food, but not on the physical aspect of food insecurity that captures the inability to access food or prepare meals. This is particularly relevant among the older adult population who are at a high risk of functional impairments.

Objectives: To develop a short-form physical food security (PFS) tool among older adults using statistical methods based on the Item Response Theory (Rasch) model.

Relationship between Live-In Grandparents and Grandchild's Health and Well-Being in Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon.

Grandparents (GP) play influential roles in grandchildren's health, behavior, and life. However, this relationship has not been examined in the Arab region. This study assesses whether the presence of GP in the household is associated with grandchildren's health and wellbeing.

Healthcare Professionals' Views and Perspectives towards Aging.

Improving care for the older population is a growing clinical need in the United States. Ageism and other attitudes of healthcare professionals can negatively impact care for older adults. This study investigated healthcare professionals' ( = 140) views towards aging and characterized a confluence of factors influencing ageism perspectives in healthcare workers using path analysis models.

A cross-sectional assessment of food practices, physical activity levels, and stress levels in middle age and older adults' during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aim: This cross-sectional study examined how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the food practices, physical activity (PA) levels, and stress levels of aging adults ages 40 years and older from seven states. It also explored to what extent the COVID-19 outcomes were affected by the social determinants of health (SDH).

Subject And Methods: Respondents ( = 1250) completed an online survey.

Social Relationships, Food Security, Protein Intake, and Hospitalization in Homebound Older Adults: A PATH Analysis.

The objective of this study was to measure direct and indirect relationships between food insecurity (FI), protein intake, social relationships, depressive symptoms, and their impact on hospitalization among home-delivered meal (HDM) recipients, compared to controls, using structural equation modeling. The analysis used data from the National Outcomes Evaluation Study (2015-2017) of the OAANSP. HDM recipients' mean usual protein intake was significantly higher than controls, but both groups had mean intakes below recommendations.

Effects of Lifestyle Factors on Cognition in Minority Population of Older Adults: A Review.

The onset of dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) is projected to expand over the next several decades in the United States as the population ages. However, the cognitive health burden is not equally distributed among the population, as Hispanics and African Americans are at higher risk of AD when compared with Non-Hispanic Whites. There is some evidence to indicate that cognitive decline may be associated with lifestyle factors and that interventions in these domains may prevent or delay this decline.

Measuring Food Insecurity in Older Adults Using Both Physical and Economic Food Access, NHANES 2013-18.

Background: Economic food insecurity tools are used to detect need for assistance in the general population. However, in older adults, food insecurity can also be due to factors other than economic, such as physical inability to shop or cook.

Objectives: We determined: 1) the proportion of older adults in the United States who experience physical and/or economic food insecurity; 2) differences in characteristics, diet quality, chronic conditions, and depression by economic and/or physical food insecurity; and 3) the relation of physical and economic food insecurity with diet quality and with depression.

Home-delivered meal programme participants may be at greater risk of malnutrition without the meal programme.

Objectives: (1) To examine total quality of foods consumed on the day a home-delivered meal (HDM) of the Older Americans Act Nutrition Program (OAANSP) was served, and when a HDM was not served; and (2) to estimate proportion of HDM participants and non-participants meeting the daily average recommendations for guidance-based foods and nutrients.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Data were obtained from the national 2015-2017 Outcomes Evaluation Study of HDM participants in the USA.

Sodium and Potassium Intake, the Sodium to Potassium Ratio, and Associated Characteristics in Older Adults, NHANES 2011-2016.

Background: Sodium, potassium, and the balance between these 2 nutrients are associated with hypertension and cardiovascular disease, and prevalence of these conditions increases with age. However, limited information is available on these intakes among older adults.

Objective: Our aim was to explore the socioeconomic and health factors associated with usual sodium and potassium intakes and the sodium to potassium (Na:K) ratio of older adults.

Validity of the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) for Use in League of Arab States (LAS) and Characteristics of Food Insecure Individuals by the Human Development Index (HDI).

Background: The Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) is a UN FAO Voices of the Hungry (FAO-VoH) experiential metric of food insecurity (FI). It was pilot tested in some countries but not in Arab speaking ones and validated using global data. Yet, its psychometric properties may vary in the League of Arab States (LAS) due to cultural and linguistic differences.

A Community-Based School Nutrition Intervention Improves Diet Diversity and School Attendance in Palestinian Refugee Schoolchildren in Lebanon.

Background: School feeding programs have the potential to supply children with healthy school food, alleviate short-term hunger, and improve children's educational outcomes.

Objectives: We linked community kitchens to a subsidized school snack intervention and assessed the impact of this intervention on nutritional (diet diversity, hemoglobin, and anthropometry) and educational (attendance and academic performance) outcomes of Palestinian refugee schoolchildren.

Methods: We collected data from 1362 students (aged 5-15 y) and their parents at baseline, and at an 8-mo follow-up in 2 control and 2 intervention schools.

Awareness and use of nutrition information predict measured and self-rated diet quality of older adults in the USA.

Objectives: To examine: (1) diet quality of older adults, using the Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI-2010) and self-rated diet quality, (2) characteristics associated with reported awareness and use of nutrition information and (3) factors associated with HEI score and self-rated diet quality.

Design: Cross-sectional study. Based on Day 1 and/or Day 2 dietary recalls, the Per-Person method was used to estimate HEI-2010 component and total scores.

Toward a Better Understanding of Listeriosis Risk among Older Adults in the United States: Characterizing Dietary Patterns and the Sociodemographic and Economic Attributes of Consumers with These Patterns.

Abstract: Older adults are at higher risk of invasive listeriosis compared with the general population. Some foods are more likely than others to be contaminated with or to contain high levels of Listeria monocytogenes. The objectives of this study were to (i) determine dietary consumption patterns among older adults in the United States; (ii) evaluate sociodemographic and economic characteristics of older adults associated with each pattern; (iii) determine intake of foods associated with larger relative risk of listeriosis within these patterns; and (iv) rank these patterns based on risk.

A mixed-methods evaluation of community-based healthy kitchens as social enterprises for refugee women.

Background: The aim of this study is to investigate the potential impact of a community-based intervention - the Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Children (HKHC) intervention - on participating women's household's economics and food security status, decision making, mental health and social support.

Methods: We established two healthy kitchens in existing community-based organizations in Palestinian camps in Lebanon. These were set up as small business enterprises, using participatory approaches to develop recipes and train women in food preparation, food safety and entrepreneurship.

Linking women-led community kitchens to school food programmes: lessons learned from the Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Children intervention in Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

Objective: Decades of marginalization have led Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon to experience multigenerational poverty and food insecurity. The Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Children programme implemented and examined the impact of a two-pronged intervention that employed women through community kitchens to deliver a subsidized healthy daily school snack to elementary-school children in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. We describe the rationale, study design, theorized impact pathways, and discuss lessons learned.

Assessment of the Dose-Response Relationship Between Folate Exposure and Cognitive Impairment: Synthesizing Data from Documented Studies.

The dose-response relationship between folate levels and cognitive impairment among individuals with vitamin B12 deficiency is an essential component of a risk-benefit analysis approach to regulatory and policy recommendations regarding folic acid fortification. Epidemiological studies provide data that are potentially useful for addressing this research question, but the lack of analysis and reporting of data in a manner suitable for dose-response purposes hinders the application of the traditional evidence synthesis process. This study aimed to estimate a quantitative dose-response relationship between folate exposure and the risk of cognitive impairment among older adults with vitamin B12 deficiency using "probabilistic meta-analysis," a novel approach for synthesizing data from observational studies.

Child-Reported Food Insecurity Is Negatively Associated with Household Food Security, Socioeconomic Status, Diet Diversity, and School Performance among Children Attending UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees Schools in Lebanon.

Background: Recent studies have shown that children are able to accurately describe their own experiences of food insecurity; however, few studies have quantified this experience.

Objectives: We aimed to develop and validate a child food security scale to be used in Arabic-speaking countries.

Methods: As part of the Healthy Kitchens Healthy Children study on food security and nutrition in schools, 14 questions were administered to 5-15-y-old children (n = 1433) attending 4 UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees schools.

Associations of Adiposity and Diet Quality with Serum Ceramides in Middle-Aged Adults with Cardiovascular Risk Factors.

Rates of adverse cardiovascular events have increased among middle-aged adults. Elevated ceramides have been proposed as a risk factor for cardiovascular events. Diet quality and weight status are inversely associated with several traditional risk factors; however, the relationship to ceramides is less clear.

Validity of the Food Insecurity Experience Scale for Use in Sub-Saharan Africa and Characteristics of Food-Insecure Individuals.

Background: The Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) is a UN FAO-Voices of the Hungry project (FAO-VoH) metric of food insecurity (FI). The FAO-VoH tested the psychometric properties of FIES with the use of global 2014 Gallup World Poll (GWP) data. However, similarities in its psychometric structure in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to allow aggregation of SSA results were untested.

Measuring Nutrition-Related Unmet Needs in Recently Hospital-Discharged Homebound Older Adults.

Functional limitations in homebound older adults may cause difficulties with obtaining and preparing adequate healthy food. Services exist to help with these difficulties, however, not all individuals who could benefit receive them. This secondary analysis of observational data, obtained via questionnaires from homebound, recently hospital discharged older adults (n = 566), aimed to identify the prevalence and correlates of unmet need for such services, and to examine the disagreement between self-reported need for a service and functional limitation that could be addressed by that service.