Infant feeding practices and children's weight status.

Purpose: Feeding practices for young Canadian children from economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods were examined to determine adherence to infant feeding recommendations and factors associated with children's weight status.

Methods: Data for the study were collected from 1996 to 2003 as part of Better Beginnings, Better Futures, a longitudinal primary prevention initiative in Ontario. Study subjects were 546 children at age three months and 483 children at age 48 months.

Determinants of diet quality in pregnancy: sociodemographic, pregnancy-specific, and food environment influences.

Objective: To advance the knowledge of determinants of diet quality in pregnancy by focusing on both personal characteristics and the food environment.

Design: Cross-sectional study in which participants from the Prenatal Health Project were linked to a geographic dataset by home address. Access to fast food, convenience stores, and grocery stores was measured using a geographic information system (ArcGIS9.

Adolescents' diets do not comply with 2007 Canada's food guide recommendations.

This study evaluated the eating behaviours of students in grade six and, three years later when they were in grade nine, relative to the recommendations of Canada's 2007 Food Guide. Students completed a self-administered questionnaire on eating behaviours in 2002 (n=647) and again in 2005 (n=520) as part of Better Beginnings, Better Futures, a primary prevention initiative among economically disadvantaged communities. McNemar analysis and X(2) analysis were used to assess differences in compliance with the recommendations of the Food Guide.

Inadequate dietary intakes among pregnant women.

Purpose: Eating behaviours were assessed among pregnant women in a mid-sized Canadian city.

Methods: As part of the Prenatal Health Project, we interviewed 2313 pregnant women in London, Ontario. Subjects also completed a food frequency questionnaire.

Higher zinc intake buffers the impact of stress on depressive symptoms in pregnancy.

Prenatal depression is a public health concern. This study's objectives are to model associations involving dietary zinc intake, psychosocial stress, and sociodemographic factors as they interrelate in the development of depressive symptoms in a cohort of pregnant women from London, Ontario (Prenatal Health Project). We hypothesized that (1) psychosocial stress is intermediate in the causal pathway between sociodemographic factors and zinc intake and that (2) zinc intake serves as a partial mediator between sociodemographic factors, psychosocial stress, and the development of depressive symptoms.

Depressive symptoms during pregnancy in relation to fish consumption and intake of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

An inverse association between depression and the n-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), primarily obtained from fish consumption, is observed in both observational and experimental research and is biologically plausible. Study objectives were to examine whether prenatal depressive symptoms were associated with lower intakes of fish or EPA+DHA. Pregnant women (n = 2394) completed a telephone interview between 10 and 22 weeks' gestation in London, Ontario, 2002-05.

Fish consumption among pregnant women in London, Ontario: associations with socio-demographic and health and lifestyle factors.

Background: Intake of fish and omega-3 fatty acids is inversely related to adverse health outcomes; however, these relationships may be confounded by socio-economic status and health behaviours. This study's purpose was to describe the socio-demographic, health and lifestyle correlates of fish consumption among pregnant women.

Methods: Pregnant women (n=2394) completed a telephone interview between 10-22 weeks' gestation (London, Ontario, 2002-5) containing questions on socio-demographic, health and lifestyle variables; dietary intake was measured using a 106-item validated food-frequency questionnaire.

Adolescents' low-carbohydrate-density diets are related to poorer dietary intakes.

This study was undertaken to assess how low-carbohydrate-density diets below the acceptable macronutrient distribution range relate to food and micronutrient intake and sociodemographic and health-related characteristics. The multistage stratified cluster design in the 1990 Ontario Health Survey was used. There were 5,194 subjects, 12 to 18 years of age, in sampled households.

Dietary intake among young adolescents in Ontario: associations with vegetarian status and attitude toward health.

Background: This study aimed to describe the dietary intakes of adolescent vegetarians and omnivores and determine if, and how, attitude toward personal health related to food consumption.

Methods: Among grade 9 students in Ontario, Canada (n = 630), vegetarian status and estimated consumption of foods and food groups were determined by food frequency questionnaire. Personal health was self-categorized as very important (the "health conscious") or somewhat/not important (the "non-health conscious").