Cooking schools improve nutrient intake patterns of people with type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether cooking classes offered by the Cooperative Extension Service improved nutrient intake patterns in people with type 2 diabetes. DESIGN: Quasi-experimental using pretest, posttest comparisons. SETTING: Community locations including schools, churches, and senior centers. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred seventeen people with type 2 diabetes, from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. INTERVENTION: Series of classes for people with type 2 diabetes and their family members that incorporated Social Cognitive Theory tenets. The classes featured current nutrition recommendations for people with type 2 diabetes and hands-on cooking, where participants prepared and ate a meal together. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Three-day food records, completed prior to attending cooking schools and 1 month after, were used to measure changes in energy intake and selected nutrients. ANALYSIS: Program efficacy was assessed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test to compare differences between pre-training and post-training variables. ANCOVA was used to determine whether program efficacy was affected by sociodemographics. RESULTS: Participants decreased (P < .05) intakes of energy, fat grams, percentage of calories from fat, saturated fat grams, cholesterol (mg), sodium (mg), and carbohydrate grams. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Nutrition education incorporating hands-on cooking can improve nutrient intake in people with type 2 diabetes from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Development of a food frequency questionnaire to estimate calcium intake of Asian, Hispanic, and white youth.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) that estimates calcium intake of Asian, Hispanic, and white youth living in the western United States. DESIGN: A list of 80 foods was assembled to create an FFQ to measure calcium intake. Evaluation of the FFQ spanned four consecutive weeks. An FFQ was completed during Week 1 and Week 4, and a 24-hour dietary recall was completed during Week 2 and Week 3.Subjects/setting A convenience sample of 162 Asian, Hispanic, and white youth ages 10 to 18 years was selected. Statistical analyses performed Percent agreement, paired t tests, Pearson correlation coefficients of cube-root transformed values, and deattenuated Pearson correlation coefficients of cube-root transformed values were used to evaluate the FFQ. RESULTS: The correlation between calcium intake estimates, when measured by first and second administrations of the FFQ, was 0.68 (Pearson's r) for the total sample. Correlations differed by age, sex, and ethnic subgroups as follows: 10 to 13 years (r=0.62), 14 to 18 years (r=0.73), male (r=0.73), female (r=0.64), Asian (r=0.77), Hispanic (r=0.72), and white (r=0.48). The correlation between calcium intakes as estimated by the second FFQ vs the average of the two 24-hour dietary recalls was 0.54 (deattenuated Pearson's r) for the total sample. This correlation differed by age, sex, and ethnic subgroups as follows: 10 to 13 years (r=0.46), 14 to 18 years (r=0.59), male (r=0.65), female (r=0.45), Asian (r=0.64), Hispanic (r=0.18), and white (r=0.57). CONCLUSIONS: A unique dietary survey has been developed to estimate calcium intake among Asian, Hispanic, and white youth in the United States.

Perspectives on intake of calcium-rich foods among Asian, Hispanic, and white preadolescent and adolescent females.

OBJECTIVE: Declining calcium intake among adolescents warrants attention. Our objective was to identify influences on adolescents' consumption of calcium-rich foods. DESIGN: Focus groups were conducted with girls representing 2 age groups (11 to 12 or 16 to 17 years) and 3 macroethnic groups (Asian, Hispanic, or white). SETTING: Public schools in 10 states. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample (n = 200) was recruited through schools. VARIABLES MEASURED: Focus groups (n = 35) were audiotaped and transcribed. Influences relative to consumption of milk or other calcium-rich foods were identified. ANALYSIS: Comments were coded as motivators or barriers within each focus group. Content analysis procedures were used to compare ethnic and age groups. RESULTS: A barrier to milk consumption that was more common among older girls and Asian groups was the limited expectation within families for drinking milk. Many controlled their own beverage choices, and milk, even if liked, was only one option. Milk was positively associated with strength and bone health, but these attributes were viewed as being more important for boys than girls. Milk was associated with breakfast, school lunches, cereal, and desserts. White girls had the most positive reactions to milk and Hispanic girls the most negative. All groups were positive toward pizza, ice cream, and cheese. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: To improve calcium intake among teens, interventions should include a family component, stress the benefits of milk for girls, and focus on breakfast.