Using Food Composition Tables to Estimate Decreases in Sodium Intake Due to the Reformulation of Packaged and Ultra-Processed Foods in a Young Population in South Africa.

Objective: In response to increasing hypertension rates, South Africa implemented a regulation which set a maximum total sodium content for certain packaged food categories. We assess changes in reported sodium intake among 18-39 year old adults living in one township in the Western Cape as a result of the implementation of the regulation in 2016.

Design: By linking one set of 24 hour dietary recall data to two versions of the South Africa Food Composition Database which reflect the pre-regulation and post-regulation periods, we calculated changes in sodium intake due to reformulation of food products, not behavior change.

Sociodemographic disparities in purchases of fruit drinks with policy relevant front-of-package nutrition claims.

Objective: Our objectives were to describe sociodemographic characteristics associated with the purchase of (1) any fruit drinks and (2) fruit drinks with specific front-of-package (FOP) nutrition claims.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: USA.

Comparing Diet Quality Indices for Low-Income 24-Month-Old Toddlers: Exploring Changes Driven by 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Background: Accurate assessment of toddler diet quality is essential for understanding current intakes and evaluating the effect of interventions and programs to promote healthy eating and prevent chronic disease.

Objectives: The goal of this article was to assess the diet quality among toddlers using two different indices appropriate for 24-mo-old toddlers and compare differences in scoring between the measures by race and Hispanic origin.

Methods: We used cross-sectional data from 24-mo-old toddlers participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study-2 (ITFPS-2), a national study that includes 24-hour dietary recall information from children enrolled in WIC at birth.

Feasibility of measles and rubella vaccination programmes for disease elimination: a modelling study.

Background: Marked reductions in the incidence of measles and rubella have been observed since the widespread use of the measles and rubella vaccines. Although no global goal for measles eradication has been established, all six WHO regions have set measles elimination targets. However, a gap remains between current control levels and elimination targets, as shown by large measles outbreaks between 2017 and 2019.

Excise Taxes as a Policy Lever for Reaching Healthy North Carolina 2030 Targets.

Excise taxes can raise the price of unhealthy products, reducing consumption and associated health risks and costs. Raising state excise taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and sugary drinks and allowing local governments to do the same are win-win strategies for achieving three Healthy North Carolina 2030 health behavior targets while increasing state revenues.

South Africa's Health Promotion Levy on Pricing and Acquisition of Beverages in Local Spazas and Supermarkets.

Objective: In response to concern over rising sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption, in April 2018, South Africa became the first Sub-Saharan African country to implement an SSB tax. We assess changes in pricing and acquisition of beverages from local supermarkets and small stores among 18-39 year old adults living in one township in the Western Cape, before and after tax implementation. This study is among the first evaluations of an SSB tax on the local food environment in a low-income township.

Passive versus active service delivery: Comparing the effects of two parenting interventions on early cognitive development in rural China.

We present the results of a cluster-randomized controlled trial that evaluates the effects of a free, center-based parenting intervention on early cognitive development and parenting practices in 100 rural villages in China. We then compare these effects to a previous trial of a home-based intervention conducted in the same region, using the same parenting curriculum and public service system, accounting for potential differences between the studies. We find that the center-based intervention did not have a significant impact on child development outcomes, but did lead to increases in the material investments, time investments, and parenting skills of caregivers.

Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Reduction Policies: Progress and Promise.

Evidence showing the effectiveness of policies to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is growing. SSBs are one of the largest sources of added sugar in the diet and are linked to multiple adverse health conditions. This review presents a framework illustrating the various types of policies that have been used to reduce SSB exposure and consumption; policies are organized into four categories (financial, information, defaults, and availability) and take into consideration crosscutting policy considerations (feasibility, impact, and equity).

Is a Hypertension Diagnosis Associated With Improved Dietary Outcomes Within 2 to 4 Years? A Fixed-Effects Analysis From the China Health and Nutrition Survey.

Background Evidence shows that dietary factors play an important role in blood pressure. However, there is no clear understanding of whether hypertension diagnosis is associated with dietary modifications. The aim of this study is to estimate the longitudinal association between hypertension diagnosis and subsequent changes (within 2-4 years) in dietary sodium, potassium, and sodium-potassium (Na/K) ratio.

Sugar-based beverage taxes and beverage prices: Evidence from South Africa's Health Promotion Levy.

A growing number of jurisdictions are introducing taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in efforts to reduce sugar intake, obesity, and associated metabolic conditions. A key dimension of the impact of such taxes is how they induce changes in the prices of the taxed beverages and their un-taxed substitutes. At present these taxes have typically been based solely on volume.

Screening for Pregnancy Status in a Population-Based Sample: Characteristics Associated with Item Nonresponse.

Objectives: Population-based recruitment of a cohort of women who are currently pregnant or who may become pregnant in a given timeframe presents challenges unique to identifying pregnancy status or the likelihood of future pregnancy. Little is known about the performance of individual eligibility items on pregnancy screeners although they are critical to participant recruitment. This paper examined the patterns and respondent characteristics of key pregnancy screener items used in a large national study.

Validation of Multiplex Serology detecting human herpesviruses 1-5.

Human herpesviruses (HHV) cause a variety of clinically relevant conditions upon primary infection of typically young and immunocompetent hosts. Both primary infection and reactivation after latency can lead to more severe disease, such as encephalitis, congenital defects and cancer. Infections with HHV are also associated with cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disease.

Validation of a Brief Questionnaire Against Direct Observation to Assess Adolescents' School Lunchtime Beverage Consumption.

Objective: Beverage consumption is an important determinant of youth health outcomes. Beverage interventions often occur in schools, yet no brief validated questionnaires exist to assess whether these efforts improve in-school beverage consumption. This study validated a brief questionnaire to assess beverage consumption during school lunch.

Population Distributions of Thymic Function in Adults: Variation by Sociodemographic Characteristics and Health Status.

The thymus is critical for mounting an effective immune response and maintaining health. However, epidemiologic studies characterizing thymic function in the population setting are lacking. Using data from 263 adults in the Detroit Neighborhood Health Study, we examined thymic function as measured by the number of signal joint T-cell receptor excision circles (sjTREC) and assessed associations with established indicators of physiological health.

Impact of Missing Data for Body Mass Index in an Epidemiologic Study.

Objective To assess the potential impact of missing data on body mass index (BMI) on the association between prepregnancy obesity and specific birth defects. Methods Data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS) were analyzed. We assessed the factors associated with missing BMI data among mothers of infants without birth defects.

Social, behavioral, and genetic linkages from adolescence into adulthood.

The influence of genetic factors on health and behavior is conditioned by social, cultural, institutional, and physical environments in which individuals live, work, and play. We encourage studies supporting multilevel integrative approaches to understanding these contributions to health, and describe the Add Health study as an exemplar. Add Health is a large sample of US adolescents in grades 7 to 12 in 1994-1995 followed into adulthood with 4 in-home interviews and biomarker collections, including DNA.

Obesogenic environments in youth: concepts and methods from a longitudinal national sample.

To effectively prevent and reduce childhood obesity through healthy community design, it is essential to understand which neighborhood environment features influence weight gain in various age groups. However, most neighborhood environment research is cross-sectional, focuses on adults, and is often carried out in small, nongeneralizable geographic areas. Thus, there is a great need for longitudinal neighborhood environment research in diverse populations across the life cycle.

Family planning use among urban poor women from six cities of Uttar Pradesh, India.

Family planning has widespread positive impacts for population health and well-being; contraceptive use not only decreases unintended pregnancies and reduces infant and maternal mortality and morbidity, but it is critical to the achievement of Millennium Development Goals. This study uses baseline, representative data from six cities in Uttar Pradesh, India to examine family planning use among the urban poor. Data were collected from about 3,000 currently married women in each city (Allahabad, Agra, Varanasi, Aligarh, Gorakhpur, and Moradabad) for a total sample size of 17,643 women.

Nonparametric bayes shrinkage for assessing exposures to mixtures subject to limits of detection.

Assessing potential associations between exposures to complex mixtures and health outcomes may be complicated by a lack of knowledge of causal components of the mixture, highly correlated mixture components, potential synergistic effects of mixture components, and difficulties in measurement. We extend recently proposed nonparametric Bayes shrinkage priors for model selection to investigations of complex mixtures by developing a formal hierarchical modeling framework to allow different degrees of shrinkage for main effects and interactions and to handle truncation of exposures at a limit of detection. The methods are used to shed light on data from a study of endometriosis and exposure to environmental polychlorinated biphenyl congeners.