Measures of Perceived Neighborhood Food Environments and Dietary Habits: A Systematic Review of Methods and Associations

Access to healthy food is a necessity for all people. However, there is still a lack of reviews on the assessment of respondent-based measures of neighborhood food environments (perceived food environments). The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the measurement tools for perceived food environments by five dimensions of food access and to obtain the overview of their associations with dietary habits among people aged 18 years and older in middle- and high-income countries. Observational studies using perceived food environment measures were identified through a systematic review based on two databases for original studies published from 2010 to 2020. A total of 19 final studies were extracted from totally 2926 studies. Pertaining to the five dimensions of food access, 12 studies dealt with accessibility, 13 with availability, 6 with affordability, 10 with acceptability, 2 with accommodation, and 8 with a combination of two or more dimensions. Perceived healthy food environments were positively associated with healthy dietary habits in 17 studies, but 8 of them indicated statistically insignificant associations. In conclusion, this review found accessibility and availability to be major dimensions of perceived food environments. The relationship between healthy food environments and healthy diets is presumably positive and weak.     

分析探讨唾液pH值及个人生活行为习惯对患龋的影响

目的分析探讨唾液pH值及个人生活行为习惯对患龋的影响。方法筛选2013年1月—2014年1月于该院就诊的普通患者266例,作为研究对象。采集所有患者的唾液并测量其pH指标,调查患者的个人生活行为习惯,其中包括日常饮食、个人卫生及生活状态。并分析唾液pH值及个人生活行为习惯对龋齿发病的影响。结果 pH值由8下降到5时,患龋均数分别为（1.1±0.2）、（3.0±0.7）、（5.5±1.2）、（8.9±1.5）,表示患者唾液pH值越高则其龋齿发生数目、发生率越低;调查结果显示零食食用频率、刷牙次数、个人卫生习惯等均为龋齿发生的相对相关影响因素,在患龋发生率上比较存在显著差异。结论个人生活行为习惯是影响儿童或成年人患龋发生的主要因素,同时唾液pH值可作为龋齿发病的独立危险因素,针对纠正患者唾液pH及改善个人生活行为习惯可有效预防及控制龋齿的发生。     

Frequency of consumption of foods and beverages by Inuvialuit adults in Northwest Territories,Arctic Canada

Limited data exist regarding nutrient intakes and overall dietary quality in Canadian Arctic populations. This cross-sectional study determined the frequency of consumption of traditional meats (e.g. caribou, polar bear, seal, char and whale) and non-traditional store-bought foods including non-traditional meats (e.g. beef, pork and chicken), grains, dairy, fruits, vegetables and non-nutrient dense foods (NNDFs) (e.g. butter, chocolate, chips, candy and pop) by Inuvialuit adults (175 women, mean age 44 ± 14 years; 55 men, mean age 41 ± 13 years) in three remote communities in the Northwest Territories. Using a validated quantitative food frequency questionnaire, frequency of consumption over a 30-day period was determined for 141 commonly reported foods. Mean consumption of traditional meats (1.6 times/day), fruits (1 time/day) and vegetables (0.6 times/day) was less frequent than that of NNDFs (5.0 times/day). Nutritional intervention strategies are needed to promote more frequent consumption of nutrient-rich foods and less frequent consumption of NNDFs in these Arctic communities.     

The nutritive adequacy of some Nigerian peasant diets

The nutritive values of six traditional diets of the people of South‐Eastern Nigeria have been evaluated. A bioassay procedure was used; it involved the measurement of Biological Value, True Digestibility of the dietary nitrogen, Net Protein Utilization (operative) and Net Dietary Protein Calories Percent (NDpCals%). The procedures were applied to diets cooked as for human consumption, then dried and fed unmodified to male weaning albino rats. The results showed that in all cases the digestibility of the dietary nitrogen was high but the nutritive value was significantly low. These results are discussed and compared with the FAO recommended practical allowances for NDpCals% for various physiological ages and states.     

Non‐nutritional uses of food in traditional Appalachian culture

Food has both nutritional and non‐nutritional functions and this paper reports some non‐nutritional uses of food in traditional Appalachian culture. The emphasis is upon occult and non‐occult uses of food in folk medicine. Specific examples of rituals are presented as collected in Appalachia. It is suggested that these traditions have been maintained due to the strength of the reference groups.     

Nutritional status of mauritanian children during a drought emergency

Nutritional surveys were conducted in three regions of Mauritania between September and November, 1983, to assess the impact of a severe drought and to determine priorities for relief assistance. Survey sites and children were chosen at random using established Centers for Disease Control survey methodology. A total of 1,498 children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years were weighed, measured and examined for xerophthalmia and scurvy. Information on age, sex, diarrhea, measles immunization, diet and food aid was collected for each child. Levels of acute malnutrition (< 80 % of median weight‐for‐height) ranged from 8.2 to 17.2% in the 3 regions, and both xerophthalmia and scurvy were seen. The children between 1 to 3 years of age had the highest levels of malnutrition. Food aid deliveries were irregular and inadequate in the two regions with the highest rates of malnutrition. Implications for targeting and choice of relief efforts are discussed.     

Dangers of reducing the range of food choice in developing countries

This article is based on a lecture, “Decreasing variety of plant foods used in developing countries” given at the Joint Congress of the Confoederatio Internationalis ad Qualitates Plantarum Edulium Perquirendas (CIQ) and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Qualitatsforschung (Pflanzliche Nahrungsmittel) E. V. (DGQ) on The Role of Plant Foods in Preventive Medicine, 12–14th September, 1978 at Reading University. The lecture has been published in Qualitas Plantarum, 1979, Vol. 29, Nos. 1–2. Dr. W. Junk b.v. publishers. The Hague, Netherlands.     

Fisheries and undernutrition

People eat fish directly, and they also consume it indirectly in the form of feed for livestock such as pigs and poultry. Despite widespread malnutrition in developing countries, the data indicate that on a per capita basis people in developed countries use about four times as much fish as people in less developed countries. Nevertheless, people in developing countries tend to be far more dependant on fish because it accounts for a far higher proportion of their animal protein intake.

The high levels of fish consumption in developed countries is partly due to their high levels of imports of fish products from developing countries. The export of large quantities of fish (and other food) from poor countries may help to account for the malnutrition in poor countries.

With adaptations in the production, processing, and distribution phases of operations, fisheries could be managed so as to help alleviate malnutrition. The potential was recognized by the World Conference on Fisheries Management and Development held in Rome in the summer of 1984 when it approved a new “Action Programme on the Promotion of the Role of Fisheries in Alleviating Malnutrition.”