Food insecurity is associated with compromised dietary intake and quality among Lebanese mothers: findings from a national cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: Examine the associations between household food insecurity (HFI) with sociodemographic, anthropometric and dietary intakes of mothers. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey (2014-2015). In addition to a sociodemographic questionnaire, data collection included the validated Arabic version of the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale, which was used to evaluate HFI. Dietary intake was assessed using 24-h dietary recall of a single habitual day, and maternal BMI was calculated based on weight and height measurements. Associations between HFI and maternal dietary intake (food groups, energy and macronutrients' intake) were examined. Simple and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to explore the associations between HFI status with odds of maternal overweight and measures of diet quality and diversity (Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women of Reproductive Age (MDD-W)). SETTING: Lebanon. PARTICIPANTS: Mothers, nationally representative sample of Lebanese households with children (n 1204). RESULTS: HFI was experienced among almost half of the study sample. Correlates of HFI were low educational attainment, unemployment and crowding. Significant inverse associations were observed between HFI and dietary HEI (OR 0·64, 95 % CI 0·46, 0·90, P = 0·011) and MDD-W (OR 0·6, 95 % CI 0·42, 0·85, P = 0·004), even after adjusting for socioeconomic correlates. No significant association was observed between HFI and odds of maternal overweight status. CONCLUSIONS: HFI was associated with compromised maternal dietary quality and diversity. Findings highlight the need for social welfare programmes and public health interventions to alleviate HFI and promote overall health and wellbeing of mothers.

School feeding programs in developing countries: impacts on children's health and educational outcomes.

School feeding programs (SFPs) are intended to alleviate short-term hunger, improve nutrition and cognition of children, and transfer income to families. The present review explores the impact of SFPs on nutritional, health, and educational outcomes of school-aged children in developing countries. Peer-reviewed journal articles and reviews published in the past 20 years were identified and screened for inclusion. Analysis of the articles revealed relatively consistent positive effects of school feeding in its different modalities on energy intake, micronutrient status, school enrollment, and attendance of the children participating in SFPs compared to non-participants. However, the positive impact of school feeding on growth, cognition, and academic achievement of school-aged children receiving SFPs compared to non-school-fed children was less conclusive. This review identifies research gaps and challenges that need to be addressed in the design and implementation of SFPs and calls for theory-based impact evaluations to strengthen the scientific evidence behind designing, funding, and implementing SFPs.

Student involvement in wellness policies: a study of Pennsylvania local education agencies.

OBJECTIVE: Explore student-involvement goals in local wellness policies (LWPs) of local education agencies (LEAs) in Pennsylvania (PA) and investigate associations with LEA characteristics. DESIGN: An observational study that helped examine student-involvement goals. SETTING: Public PA LEAs. PARTICIPANTS: LWPs submitted by 539 PA public LEAs. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Six student-involvement goals analyzed as dependent variables. Correlations between demographic and policy characteristics of LEAs and student-involvement goals were measured. ANALYSIS: Policies developed by LEAs were abstracted and analyzed. Logistic regression models were developed to analyze relationships between student-involvement goals and the demographic and policy characteristics of LEAs. RESULTS: Majority of LEAs included policy goals that address student involvement in an array of activities related to wellness policy, food service, and role modeling. Regression models showed that LEAs with comprehensive and strong policies were most likely to include student-involvement goals regardless of LEA location, enrollment, or socioeconomic status of students. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Student engagement in school nutrition policies has been shown to increase student acceptance in an array of health-related areas and is therefore promising in the area of obesity prevention. Comprehensiveness and rigor of LWPs were strongly correlated with the inclusion of student-involvement goals on LWPs. The upcoming reauthorization of the Child Nutrition programs in 2010 creates a good opportunity to address student involvement in LWPs.