Effect of nutrition education received by teachers on primary school students' nutrition knowledge.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of nutrition education received by fourth- and fifth-grade teachers in state schools in Famagusta, Northern Cyprus, on their students. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The aim of this study is to assess the effect of nutrition education received by fourth- and fifth-grade teachers (n = 27) in state schools in Famagusta on their students. Participants (n = 718) were selected through a regional pilot scheme. The teachers were instructed on nutrition by the researcher and provided with a researcher-prepared nutrition education book "I Am Learning about Healthy Nutrition". Before receiving their nutrition education, the teachers were pretested to assess their baseline nutrition knowledge. Following receipt of their nutrition education, a posttest, which included the same questions as those in the pretest, was administered to the teachers to assess the effectiveness of the training session. Similarly, students were asked pretest researcher-prepared questions to evaluate their baseline nutrition knowledge level. The teachers were then given a period of three to four weeks to instruct the students in nutrition education. Following this instructional period, a posttest that included the same questions as those in the pretest was administered to the students. RESULTS: The results showed that there were significant differences between the pre- and posttest scores of both teachers and students; in both groups, the nutrition knowledge level increased (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These results show that the provision of nutrition education training to teachers positively affected the nutrition knowledge level of both teachers and students.

Effects of enteral nutritional support on malnourished patients with inflammatory bowel disease by subjective global assessment.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To investigate the prevalence of malnutrition in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) by subjective global assessment (SGA) and the effects of oral nutritional support on the clinical parameters, consumption of energy, macronutrients and fiber intake in the Study and Control groups, prospectively. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 38 (28 Male; 10 Female) hospitalized patients with moderate or severe IBD (13 with Crohn's disease (CD); 25 with Ulcerative colitis (UC)) were included. At stage 1, the disease severity, clinical symptoms and, signs, food consumption and nutritional status by using subjective global assessment (SGA) were recorded. At stage 2, the patients were blindly randomized into a Study Group and Controls. In the Study Group, a standard enteral product was added into the regulated hospital diets, but for the Controls, deficits were regulated by only hospital diets for 3 weeks. the independent variables were the group, the disease and its activity, age, Body body mass index (BMI), weight loss history, the hospitalization period; the dependent variables were SGA, bowel movements, change in nutritional status, disease severity, clinical findings, and also consumption of macronutrients. RESULTS: Prevalance of malnutrition (SGA-B or SGA-C) for all the patients was 92.1% at the beginning and 71.1% at the end of study. Improvements in disease activity score for the patients with UC were statistically significant in both the Study Group and the Controls (p=0.006 for the Study Group and p=0.001 for the Controls, respectively). Macronutrients, total and water soluble fiber consumption levels improved, with statistically significant differences for all the groups. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of malnutrition is a major problem in patients with IBD. Not only the regulation of hospital food, but also enteral nutritional support, improved their levels of malnutrition, as well as their energy, macronutrients, and fiber consumption, and SGA is an easy method for nutritional monitoring.

Evaluation of dietary and life-style habits of patients with gastric cancer: a case-control study in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: Gastric cancer is an important public health problem in the world and Turkey. In addition to Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), smoking, alcohol consumption and family history, certain dietary factors have been associated with its occurrence. The impact of dietary habits and life-style factors on the risk of gastric cancer in Turkey were evaluated in this study. DESIGN: A questionnaire was applied to 106 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma and 106 controls without cancer matched for age (range 28-85 years) and gender selected from a hospital based population. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated with logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The incidence of H. pylori was 81.3% in patients. Frequent consumption of salty dishes, very salty foods like pickles, soup mixes, sausages, foods at hot temperature (ORs=3.686, 7.784, 5.264, 3.148 and 3.273 respectively) and adding salt without tasting (OR=4.198) were associated with increased gastric risk. Also heavy smoking and high amount of alcohol consumption (p=0.000) were risk factors. Frequent consumption of green vegetables, onion, garlic and dried fruits (ORs=0.569, 0.092, 0.795 and 0.041) was non- significantly associated with decreased risk. CONCLUSION: Improved dietary habits, reducing salt consumption and eradication of H. pylori infection may provide protection against gastric cancer in Turkey.