Development and evaluation of a university campus-based food safety media campaign for young adults.

Food safety information campaigns are more likely to be most effective if the messages are tailored to the needs of a specific audience. Designing effective campaigns involves careful study of the target population and working with them using a community-based participatory research model. Thus, the development of the campaign materials for a university campus-based food safety media campaign for young adults followed intense efforts of working with the target audience to gather the baseline data needed to characterize this audience, to identify the most salient messages for college students, and to create materials and events that would resonate with them. This campaign was implemented and evaluated on eight university campuses in the United States. The results indicate that the campaign significantly increased self-ratings of food safety knowledge and skill, actual food safety knowledge, food safety self-efficacy, stage of change for safe food handling, and reported hand washing behaviors of a geographically and racially diverse group of college students. The positive study outcomes support the value of engaging in these research and development efforts and reflect the usefulness of the audience-specific materials and activities developed for the campaign. The findings also demonstrate the versatility and utility of the materials on different campuses. Developing health media campaigns specifically for unique populations is key to ensuring health messages reach the target audience and, even more importantly, appeal to them. The detailed overview of the development of a food safety media campaign aimed at young adults presented in this article illustrates how health professionals can work with their target population to develop a focused, effective health promotion campaign.

Relationship of social cognitive theory concepts to mothers' dietary intake and BMI.

Women tend to have the greatest responsibility for and influence on the home food environment. Understanding theoretical concepts as they pertain to mothers' food-related behaviours could inform the development of interventions that enhance mothers' ability to create healthy family food environments that support optimal child development and help attenuate obesity rates. Likert scales assessed Social Cognitive Theory concepts [i.e. self-efficacy, self-regulation (sets goals, self-reward, self-monitoring, environmental structuring), outcome expectations] and coping of 201 mothers in the context food-related activities. ANOVA determined whether diet and BMI differed among mothers scoring in the highest, middle, and lowest tertiles on the Likert scales. For self-efficacy, coping, sets goals, and outcome expectations scales, lowest tertile mothers had significantly higher BMIs than highest tertile mothers. The lowest tertile for self-efficacy, self-reward, and self-monitoring consumed significantly less fibre, vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, and fruit and vegetables than upper tertiles. On the self-efficacy scale, the lowest tertile consumed significantly more calories, fat, and cholesterol than higher tertiles. Environmental structuring scale findings indicate users of television during dinner had significantly lower intakes of fibre, vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, and fruits and vegetables than those almost never using TV during dinner. Stepwise regression revealed self-monitoring, environmental structuring, self-reward, and outcome expectations were significant positive predictors of self-efficacy. Self-monitoring was a significant positive predictor of outcome expectations. Associations between theoretical concepts, mothers' dietary intakes, and BMIs point to the need to incorporate components that build self-efficacy, self-regulation, outcome expectations, and coping skills into health promotion interventions.

Nutrient profile of household food supplies of families with young children.

Currently, little is known about the home food environment. This cross-sectional study was designed to describe the food sources of calories and key nutrients in the households of 100 families with at least one child aged 12 years or younger and compare nutrient availability to recommended levels. Participating households were food secure, ate dinner at home at least three times weekly, had parents who were married or living as domestic partners and not employed in a health-related profession, and resided in New Jersey. Researchers visited each household once during 2006/2007 to inventory all foods except alcoholic beverages, commercial baby food, infant formula, pet foods, refrigerated leftovers, foods of minimal nutrient and calorie content, condiments typically consumed in small quantities per eating occasion, and bulk supplies of staples. Inventories were taken using commercial diet analysis software customized to use barcode scanners for foods with standard barcodes and keyword searches for foods lacking barcodes. Protein, carbohydrate, and fat in the households supplied an average of approximately 15%, 57%, and 29% of calories, respectively. Saturated fat and total sugar accounted for an average of approximately 10% and 20%, respectively, of calories. Mean nutrient adequacy ratio for nutrients recommended to be maximized (ie, vitamins A and C, protein, dietary fiber, iron, calcium) was less than optimal, and mean ratio for those recommended to be minimized (ie, total fat, cholesterol, sodium, and sugar) exceeded recommendations. Categorization by food group revealed that the greatest availability of calories, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, total sugar, sodium, and iron was from grains. The greatest availability of total fat, cholesterol, and protein was from meat/protein foods. Dairy products contained the greatest quantities of saturated fat and calcium. This study expands the limited research on the home food supply and provides insights that may have important implications for health-promotion interventions.

Differences in food supplies of U.S. households with and without overweight individuals.

Household food supplies of families with at least one child 12 years or younger (n=100) were inventoried in order to describe its nutrient content and compare food supplies of families with and without overweight individuals (i.e., healthy vs. overweight mothers; healthy vs. overweight fathers; healthy vs. overweight child[ren]). Nutrient adequacy ratios (NAR) for carbohydrate, dietary fiber, calcium, iron, total fat, and saturated fat were approximately one indicating amounts available per 2000 calories approximately equaled the Daily Value. NARs for protein, sugar, vitamin A, vitamin C, and sodium exceeded one and cholesterol NAR was less than one. Households were similar in number of household members, days until they planned to grocery shop again, and total days of meals and snacks to be served from household food supplies until the next grocery shopping trip. Frozen vegetables contributed significantly greater amounts of calories, carbohydrates, fat, and protein and meat supplied significantly more fat and protein in households with overweight fathers than in households with healthy weight fathers. In households with an overweight child, grains supplied significantly more protein and carbohydrate than in comparison households. Encouraging healthful changes to the home food supply may result in improvements in dietary intake and overall weight status.

Mothers of young children cluster into 4 groups based on psychographic food decision influencers.

This study explored how mothers grouped into clusters according to multiple psychographic food decision influencers and how the clusters differed in nutrient intake and nutrient content of their household food supply. Mothers (n = 201) completed a survey assessing basic demographic characteristics, food shopping and meal preparation activities, self and spouse employment, exposure to formal food or nutrition education, education level and occupation, weight status, nutrition and food preparation knowledge and skill, family member health and nutrition status, food decision influencer constructs, and dietary intake. In addition, an in-home inventory of 100 participants' household food supplies was conducted. Four distinct clusters presented when 26 psychographic food choice influencers were evaluated. These clusters appear to be valid and robust classifications of mothers in that they discriminated well on the psychographic variables used to construct the clusters as well as numerous other variables not used in the cluster analysis. In addition, the clusters appear to transcend demographic variables that often segment audiences (eg, race, mother's age, socioeconomic status), thereby adding a new dimension to the way in which this audience can be characterized. Furthermore, psychographically defined clusters predicted dietary quality. This study demonstrates that mothers are not a homogenous group and need to have their unique characteristics taken into consideration when designing strategies to promote health. These results can help health practitioners better understand factors affecting food decisions and tailor interventions to better meet the needs of mothers.

Risky eating behaviors of young adults-implications for food safety education.

Young adults engage in risky eating behaviors like eating raw/undercooked foods of animal origin that put them at increased risk for foodborne disease. This cross-sectional survey assessed the self-reported risky eating behaviors of young adults enrolled in higher education as a part of a large-scale survey administered over 10 months. Participants (N=4,343) completed a risky eating questionnaire by indicating which of the foods listed they consumed (the list included a random sequence of foods that are considered safe or risky to eat). Each risky food consumed earned one point, with the risky eating score calculated by summing points earned (range 0 to 27). Higher scores indicated more risky eating behaviors. Food safety knowledge and self-efficacy and stage of change for safe food handling were also assessed. Mean risky eating score (5.1+/-3.6) indicated that young adults consumed risky foods. Male respondents and whites consumed more risky foods compared with female respondents and nonwhites, respectively. As stage of change (movement to higher stages) and self-efficacy increased, risky eating score decreased; those who believed food poisoning was a personal threat tended to eat fewer risky foods. Regression models indicated that the strongest predictor of risky eating was self-efficacy score followed by stage of change. These variables, together with sex and race, explained about 10% of the variance in risky eating score. Although food safety knowledge correlated weakly with risky eating score, it did not significantly predict it. Efforts to improve current food-handling behaviors and self-efficacy through education are important to reduce prevalence of risky eating behaviors within this population.

Psychosocial and behavioral profile and predictors of self-reported energy underreporting in obese middle-aged women.

Energy underreporting is a concern with dietary intake data; therefore, subject characteristics associated with underreporting energy intake should be elucidated. Baseline self-reported dietary intake and measures of diet and weight history, life status, weight-loss readiness, psychology, eating behavior, physical activity, and self-image of obese middle-aged women (mean body mass index [calculated as kg/m(2)]=31.0) enrolled in a lifestyle weight-loss program were evaluated. Of the 155 participating, 71 women were identified as underreporting energy intake using the Goldberg cutoff values. Comparison of means between psychosocial and behavioral measures from energy underreporters and energy accurate reporters were used to help develop logistic regression models that could predict likelihood to underreport energy intake based on baseline measures. Characteristics most predictive of energy underreporting included fewer years of education (P=0.01), less-realistic weight-loss goals (P=0.02), higher perceived exercise competence (P=0.07), more social support to exercise (P=0.04), more body-shape concern (P=0.01), and higher perception of physical condition (P=0.03). These results highlight distinct psychosocial and behavioral characteristics that, at baseline, can help identify the likelihood an overweight middle-aged woman entering a weight-loss intervention will underreport energy intake. These results can help provide a framework for screening study participants for probability of energy underreporting, based on baseline psychosocial and behavioral measures. This knowledge can help researchers target at-risk subjects and, through education and training, improve the accuracy of self-reported energy intake and, ultimately, the accuracy of energy and nutrient intake relationships with health and disease.

Nutrition for throwers, jumpers, and combined events athletes.

Throwers, jumpers, and combined events athletes require speed, strength, power, and a wide variety of technical skills to be successful in their events. Only a handful of studies have assessed the nutritional needs of such athletes. Because of this, recommendations for nutritional requirements to support and enhance training and competition performances for these athletes are made using research findings from sports and exercise protocols similar to their training and competitive events. The goals of the preparation cycle of nutrition periodization for these athletes include attaining desirable body weight, a high ratio of lean body mass to body height, and improving muscular power. Nutritional recommendations for training and competition periods include: (1) meeting energy needs; (2) timing consumption of adequate fluid and electrolyte intakes before, during, and after exercise to promote adequate hydration; (3) timing consumption of carbohydrate intake to provide adequate fuel for energy demands and to spare protein for muscle repair, growth, and maintenance; (4) timing consumption of adequate protein intake to meet protein synthesis and turnover needs; and (5) consuming effective nutritional and dietary supplements. Translating these nutrient and dietary recommendations into guidelines these athletes can apply during training and competition is important for enhancing performance.