The Journal of nutrition
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The Journal of nutrition · Dec 2015
Addressing Current Criticism Regarding the Value of Self-Report Dietary Data.
Recent reports have asserted that, because of energy underreporting, dietary self-report data suffer from measurement error so great that findings that rely on them are of no value. This commentary considers the amassed evidence that shows that self-report dietary intake data can successfully be used to inform dietary guidance and public health policy. ⋯ Also discussed is the overall impact of energy underreporting on dietary surveillance and nutritional epidemiology. In conclusion, 7 specific recommendations for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting self-report dietary data are provided: (1) continue to collect self-report dietary intake data because they contain valuable, rich, and critical information about foods and beverages consumed by populations that can be used to inform nutrition policy and assess diet-disease associations; (2) do not use self-reported energy intake as a measure of true energy intake; (3) do use self-reported energy intake for energy adjustment of other self-reported dietary constituents to improve risk estimation in studies of diet-health associations; (4) acknowledge the limitations of self-report dietary data and analyze and interpret them appropriately; (5) design studies and conduct analyses that allow adjustment for measurement error; (6) design new epidemiologic studies to collect dietary data from both short-term (recalls or food records) and long-term (food-frequency questionnaires) instruments on the entire study population to allow for maximizing the strengths of each instrument; and (7) continue to develop, evaluate, and further expand methods of dietary assessment, including dietary biomarkers and methods using new technologies.
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In 2013, 20% of U.S. households with children experienced food insecurity. Asthma afflicts over 7 million children; prevalence has steadily increased while incidence peaks in young children. Asthma and food insecurity share the determinants of poverty and race that are associated with weight, yet limited research on the relation between food insecurity and asthma exists. ⋯ Food insecurity is positively associated with asthma in U.S. third graders, and household poverty strengthens the association.
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The Journal of nutrition · Nov 2015
Modeling Demonstrates That Folic Acid Fortification of Whole-Wheat Flour Could Reduce the Prevalence of Folate Inadequacy in Canadian Whole-Wheat Consumers.
Mandatory folic acid fortification of white-wheat flour and selected other grain products has reduced the prevalence of neural tube defects in Canada; however, the fortification of whole-wheat flour is not permitted. ⋯ Although folic acid fortification of whole-wheat flour-containing foods is unlikely to change the POFI or proportion of folic acid intakes above the UL in the general Canadian population, this fortification strategy may reduce the POFI in adult whole-wheat consumers.
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The Journal of nutrition · Nov 2015
Meta AnalysisShort Maternal Stature Increases Risk of Small-for-Gestational-Age and Preterm Births in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis and Population Attributable Fraction.
Small-for-gestational-age (SGA) and preterm births are associated with adverse health consequences, including neonatal and infant mortality, childhood undernutrition, and adulthood chronic disease. ⋯ Approximately 6.5 million SGA and/or preterm births in LMIC may be associated with short maternal stature annually. A reduction in this burden requires primary prevention of SGA, improvement in postnatal growth through early childhood, and possibly further intervention in late childhood and adolescence. It is vital for researchers to broaden the evidence base for addressing chronic malnutrition through multiple life stages, and for program implementers to explore effective, sustainable ways of reaching the most vulnerable populations.