Child food insecurity increases risks posed by household food insecurity to young children's health

The US Food Security Scale (USFSS) measures household and child food insecurity (CFI) separately. Our goal was to determine whether CFI increases risks posed by household food insecurity (HFI) to child health and whether the Food Stamp Program (FSP) modifies these effects. From 1998 to 2004, 17,158 caregivers of children ages 36 mo were interviewed in six urban medical centers. Interviews included demographics, the USFSS, child health status, and hospitalization history. Ten percent reported HFI, 12% HFI and CFI (H&CFI). Compared with food-secure children, those with HFI had significantly greater adjusted odds of fair/poor health and being hospitalized since birth, and those with H&CFI had even greater adverse effects. Participation in the FSP modified the effects of FI on child health status and hospitalizations, reducing, but not eliminating, them. Children in FSP-participating households that were HFI had lower adjusted odds of fair/poor health [1.37 (95% CI, 1.06-1.77)] than children in similar non-FSP households [1.61 (95% CI, 1.31-1.98)]. Children in FSP-participating households that were H&CFI also had lower adjusted odds of fair/poor health [1.72 (95% CI, 1.34-2.21)] than in similar non-FSP households [2.14 (95% CI, 1.81-2.54)]. HFI is positively associated with fair/poor health and hospitalizations in young children. With H&CFI, odds of fair/poor health and hospitalizations are even greater. Participation in FSP reduces, but does not eliminate, effects of FI on fair/poor health.     

‘A grim health future’: food risks in the Sydney press

Food scares and newsworthy stories about risks associated with food often receive a high level of attention in the news media. This article examines the reporting of food risks over a recent 14-month period in three metropolitan newspapers available to readers in Sydney. The major topic reported over this time was the relationship between food intake and obesity, which comprised almost half of news stories about food risks. This topic was followed in frequency by the risks associated with primary food production and the risks from processed, restaurant or takeaway food. The article looks in detail at how each of these topics was reported, including the discourses that were employed to give meaning to the news stories. Much emphasis was placed upon personal responsibility for avoiding food risks, particularly in relation to overweight. News stories suggested that Australians, and in particular, Australian children, were facing a crisis in relation to the numbers of people over-eating and becoming fat as a result. The overweight body was represented as grotesque, out of control, unhealthy and unAustralian. In other news stories, various aspects of farming were presented as ‘unnatural’ and thus as rendering foodstuffs risky. Food prepared outside the home was portrayed as far more dangerous than food prepared within the home, with an emphasis in reporting on the potential for contamination in such foods.     

Consumer citizenship: acting to minimise environmental health risks related to the food system

Public health practitioners interested in supporting consumers to make healthy, sustainable food choices need to understand consumer motivations to reduce food system risk. Increasingly food technologies that have enhanced access to food supply are being recognised as also impacting on the sustainability of the food system. This study explored the actions taken by Australian participants in response to their concerns about perceived food related threats to health and environment. Variance in willingness to act is analysed within the context of environmental and ecological citizenship, and a continuum describes the range of positions held. From the outset some participants self-identified as environmentally concerned and proactive, while others indicated a secondary interest in the environment. The catalyst for action for the majority was the priority of individual health and such self-interest can be a powerful motivator for change. Others related health to the environment and described efforts to minimise individual impact. Equally important for action to occur is being at a stage in life where other demands do not compete for the time and energy necessary to take citizenship actions. These results provide insight into the support that public health practitioners can offer to consumers who wish to make sustainable food choices.     

Regional food diversity and human health

Regions are significant for the way we understand and strategize food for health and economic development. They generally represent various food cultures and opportunities for food exchange based on proximity, historical linkages and complementarities. The example of North and West Africa represents an intersection of some of the most original of human eating experiences out of Africa and the enrichment of these by Arab traders, through the exchange of products, ideas, observations, beliefs and technologies. All of these will have encouraged diversity in food intake. However food diversity and, with it, biodiversity may not always have been recognized as important, and, therefore, secured and protected. Ultimately, food diversity cannot be sustained unless the food chain and the technologies to support it are environmentally appropriate. Cooking, without renewable energy sources, is a critical example. Additionally, human settlement has always required an adequate, a dependable and a safe water supply, although this same settlement tends to compromise these water characteristics. Water is a major factor in food diversity, whether as a source of aquatic food, or the basis of food production and preparation. The extent to which food diversity for human health is required will depend on the food component (essential nutrient and phytochemical) density of the foods represented. For example, fish, fresh lean meat, eggs and seed foods (grains, pulses, nuts) will reduce the requirement. Regional food diversity can support food diversity at the community level--where otherwise it might be fragile--by shared learning experiences, and by trade. Diversity can also be captured and enshrined in recipes with composite ingredients and by traditional emblematic foods--like soups and pies; and it provides the basis for food culture and cuisine. The evidence for food diversity (or variety) as a major factor in health has grown substantially over the last few years--as integrative indices of health like "maternal nutrition" and "successful pregnancy" (for example, through the inclusion of a variety of food sources of folate, increasing the bioavailability of iron, and the sustainable intakes of quality food protein and essential fatty acids); "adult mortality rates"; other "specific disease incidences" (like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and bone health) for "risk factors for disease" (like hypertension and abdominal fatness); and for "wellbeing" (palatable, enjoying and neurologically relevant food stuffs). Thus, there is an ongoing need to promote and maintain food diversity at the regional level and between communities.     

A probabilistic model for silver bioaccumulation in aquatic systems and assessment of human health risks

Silver (Ag) is discharged in wastewater effluents and is also a component in a proposed secondary water disinfectant. A steady-state model was developed to simulate bioaccumulation in aquatic biota and assess ecological and human health risks. Trophic levels included phytoplankton, invertebrates, brown trout, and common carp. Uptake routes included water, food, or sediment. Based on an extensive review of the literature, distributions were derived for most inputs for use in Monte Carlo simulations. Three scenarios represented ranges of dilution and turbidity. Compared with the limited field data available, median estimates of Ag in carp (0.07-2.1 micrograms/g dry weight) were 0.5 to 9 times measured values, and all measurements were within the predicted interquartile range. Median Ag concentrations in biota were ranked invertebrates > phytoplankton > trout > carp. Biotic concentrations were highest for conditions of low dilution and low turbidity. Critical variables included Ag assimilation efficiency, specific feeding rate, and the phytoplankton bioconcentration factor. Bioaccumulation of Ag seems unlikely to result in toxicity to aquatic biota and humans consuming fish. Although the highest predicted Ag concentrations in water (> 200 ng/L) may pose chronic risks to early survival and development of salmonids and risks of argyria to subsistence fishers, these results occur under highly conservative conditions.     

Defining food risks and food anxieties throughout history

Nowadays, safe food is at the centre of concern of governments, scientists and the public. This essay surveys the social implications of this concern, and particularly addresses the question how historical wisdom may contribute to present-day understanding of food scares. After reminding briefly of social implications of today's food fears, it presents three scholarly approaches to food crises and anxieties in the past (labelled "teleological" and "contextual", with a division of the latter into "limited" and "broad"), and provides one example of a complex relationship between food and health in the past. The essay concludes that it is not only indispensable to conduct historical research to situate present-day developments with regard to legislation or consumers' reactions, but that it is also needed to acquire a sense of relativism with regard to present-day food safety, quality and scares.     

广州市蔬菜重金属污染状况及健康风险评估

目的为了了解广东省广州市本地产蔬菜中重金属的污染状况,评价重金属经蔬菜途径摄入的健康风险。方法对广州市5个地区的10种蔬菜50个样品的砷、汞、铅、镉元素含量进行测定,采用国家卫生标准限值评价蔬菜重金属污染状况,并参照国际放射防护委员会(ICRP)给出的限定值为标准,对蔬菜重金属进行健康风险评价。结果 Hg、Cd和Pb为广州市本土蔬菜的主要污染元素,超标率分别为50%、50%和30%,叶菜类蔬菜重金属综合污染程度轻度污染的占20%;根茎类和瓜茄类蔬菜污染级别属安全和警戒级;广州市蔬菜中重金属污染的健康危害平均个人年风险(a-1)分别为:化学致癌物As=1.98×10-7~8.86×10-7,Cd=2.69×10-6~3.64×10-6;化学非致癌物Pb=2.38×10-7~4.44×10-7,Hg=3.06×10-6~7.01×10-6,致癌化学物质和非致癌化学物质的联合作用水平达到8.33×10-6~1.59×10-5,均低于国际放射防护委员会ICPR标准。结论广州市居民经本土蔬菜途径摄入重金属的人体健康风险较低,不会对暴露人群构成明显的危害。     

Everyday behaviour and everyday risk: An approach to study people's responses to frequently encountered food related health risks

Food consumption constitutes behaviour that is carried out on a daily basis. The risks and benefits associated with such behaviours are often small, and the time and effort people are, consequently, willing to invest in behavioural decisions are limited. Instead, experience, in the form of an integrated evaluation of past behaviours, may serve as a predictor for future behaviour, allowing reasonable choices to be made with limited effort. This paper discusses the characteristics of daily occurring risks and suggests a model of how prior experience can accumulate and play a role in acting while exposed to daily risk. The core of the approach is a feedback loop that adjusts the current situation until a preset situation is reached. This is based on integrated past experiences and is, thus, continually updated by new experiences. To establish such a feedback mechanism, emotions are argued to play a vital role as an integrator for different types of information, such as perceptual, cognitive and physiological information. This approach may help in understanding how consumers deal with risks in daily (food-handling) practices.     

Contamination of food with mycotoxins and human health

Mycotoxins are natural contaminants of cereals and other commodities throughout the world. They are produced by various strains of moulds, particularly in tropical countries. Due to significant trade of cereals, humans in temperate countries can also be exposed to mycotoxins. The most common route of exposure to mycotoxins is ingestion, but it may also involve dermal, respiratory, and parenteral routes, the last being associated with drug abuse. Apart from acute and chronic toxic effects on human health called mycotoxicosis, some mycotoxins are proved or suspected human carcinogens. This paper describes various human diseases caused by ergot, afflatoxin, ochratoxin A, 3-nitropropionic acid, trichothecene, zearalenone, and fumonisin. It also gives a quick review of human carcinogenicity evaluations of the international Agency for Research on Cancer and of regulatory limits of mycotoxin concentrations in various commodities.     

Lipid adjustment in the analysis of environmental contaminants and human health risks

The literature on exposure to lipophilic agents such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) is conflicting, posing challenges for the interpretation of potential human health risks. Laboratory variation in quantifying PCBs may account for some of the conflicting study results. For example, for quantification purposes, blood is often used as a proxy for adipose tissue, which makes it necessary to model serum lipids when assessing health risks of PCBs. Using a simulation study, we evaluated four statistical models (unadjusted, standardized, adjusted, and two-stage) for the analysis of PCB exposure, serum lipids, and health outcome risk (breast cancer). We applied eight candidate true causal scenarios, depicted by directed acyclic graphs, to illustrate the ramifications of misspecification of underlying assumptions when interpreting results. Statistical models that deviated from underlying causal assumptions generated biased results. Lipid standardization, or the division of serum concentrations by serum lipids, was observed to be highly prone to bias. We conclude that investigators must consider biology, biologic medium (e.g., nonfasting blood samples), laboratory measurement, and other underlying modeling assumptions when devising a statistical plan for assessing health outcomes in relation to environmental exposures.     

Obesity and health risks

Childhood obesity is multi-factorial in etiology. Several factors contribute to the etiology of childhood obesity, and childhood obesity is itself associated with significant morbidity. This article focuses on the health risks of childhood obesity and on the prenatal and childhood influences that contribute to the genesis of childhood obesity.