The Jamaica Salt Consumption Study Protocol: Sodium Intake; Sodium Content in Restaurant Foods; Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices; Spot Urine Sodium Validation.

Background: Excess dietary salt consumption is a major contributor to hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Public education programs on the dangers of high salt intake, and population level interventions to reduce the salt content in foods are possible strategies to address this problem. In Jamaica, there are limited data on the levels of salt consumption and the population's knowledge and practices with regards to salt consumption.

Sodium and potassium consumption in Jamaica: National estimates and associated factors from the Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey 2016-2017.

This study aimed to estimate dietary sodium and potassium consumption among Jamaicans and evaluate associations with sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey 2016-2017. Participants were noninstitutionalized Jamaicans aged ≥15 years.

Understanding the need for a whole-of-society approach in school nutrition policy implementation: a qualitative analysis.

Background: Only three of twenty Caribbean Community (CARCICOM) countries have mandatory school nutrition policies despite one third of the region's children being overweight or obese. In Barbados, there are nutrition guidelines which lack the legal mandate of a formal policy. We aim to assess the comprehensiveness of current national nutrition guidelines and to understand the factors operating in the inner and outer school setting that may influence the implementation of a mandatory school nutrition policy from the perspectives of school administrators.

Ultra-processed food consumption in Barbados: evidence from a nationally representative, cross-sectional study.

Our objective was to describe, for the first time in an English-speaking Caribbean country, the contribution of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) to nutrients linked to non-communicable disease. Using a cross-sectional study design, dietary data were collected from two non-consecutive 24-h dietary recalls. Recorded food items were then classified according to their degree of processing by the NOVA system.

Applying Nutrient Profiling Systems to Packaged Foods and Drinks Sold in Jamaica.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Chile stage III nutrient profiling systems (NPSs) were applied to packaged beverages/foods sold in Jamaica to: (a) identify products with excess nutrients of concern (NOC) under each NPS; (b) assess differences between these NPS, and (c) discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each NPS when applied to Jamaica's food supply. Data on 6261 branded multi-ingredient packaged products were collected from the city of Kingston in 2018; of these, 4739 products, comprised of 3423 foods (from 15 food groups) and 1316 beverages (from four beverage groups), provided sufficient information. Products containing excessive NOC under each NPS were identified and the proportions of categories with excess NOC were compared using correlation coefficients.

Prenatal factors contribute to the emergence of kwashiorkor or marasmus in severe undernutrition: evidence for the predictive adaptation model.

Background: Severe acute malnutrition in childhood manifests as oedematous (kwashiorkor, marasmic kwashiorkor) and non-oedematous (marasmus) syndromes with very different prognoses. Kwashiorkor differs from marasmus in the patterns of protein, amino acid and lipid metabolism when patients are acutely ill as well as after rehabilitation to ideal weight for height. Metabolic patterns among marasmic patients define them as metabolically thrifty, while kwashiorkor patients function as metabolically profligate.

Design and testing of foods differing in protein to energy ratios.

Our aim was to design a selection of foods with differing proportions of protein but equal palatability in two settings, Sydney Australia and Kingston Jamaica. The foods were manipulated to contain 10, 15 or 25% E as protein with reciprocal changes in carbohydrate to 60, 55 or 45% E and dietary fat was kept constant at 30%. Naïve participants did not identify a difference in protein between the versions.

Developmental origins of cardiovascular risk in Jamaican children: the Vulnerable Windows Cohort study.

Both intra-uterine and early childhood development contribute to the risk of developing CVD in adult life. We therefore evaluated the maternal, placental, fetal, birth, infant and childhood determinants of cardiovascular risk in a cohort of Afro-Jamaican children. The Vulnerable Windows Cohort is a longitudinal survey of 569 mothers and their offspring recruited from the first trimester.