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Public Health

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Theses/Dissertations

BMI

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Impact Of Child/Parent Characteristics On Ultra-Processed Food Intake In Preschool-Aged Children, A Latent Class Analysis Of Obesity-Related Factors And Obesity Risk, And The Qualitative Impact Of 9-11 Year Old's Perception Of Unhealthy Food Marketing, Jennifer E. Carroll Nov 2023

Impact Of Child/Parent Characteristics On Ultra-Processed Food Intake In Preschool-Aged Children, A Latent Class Analysis Of Obesity-Related Factors And Obesity Risk, And The Qualitative Impact Of 9-11 Year Old's Perception Of Unhealthy Food Marketing, Jennifer E. Carroll

Doctoral Dissertations

Childhood overweight/obesity is an epidemic in the US. Modifiable risk factors, such as intake of foods that are highly processed, are heavily marketed to children. Exposure to food advertisements, along with home environment factors, family meal styles, and digital media habits shapes children’s preferences, tastes, and habits. Predictors of ultra-processed food (UPF) intake in children are unclear and the potential effect of ad exposure on UPF intake is unknown. It is also unknown if there are distinct response patterns among a collection of potentially obesity-related factors, and if distinct groups affect child BMI. Additionally, more qualitative research is needed to …


Associations Between Vitamin D Status, Adiposity, And Inflammatory Biomarkers In Young Women (18 – 30 Years), Adolphina Addo-Lartey Nov 2014

Associations Between Vitamin D Status, Adiposity, And Inflammatory Biomarkers In Young Women (18 – 30 Years), Adolphina Addo-Lartey

Doctoral Dissertations

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis among 270 (18- to 30-year old) female participants in the UMass Amherst Vitamin D Status Study (n = 270) to assess the extent to which dietary intakes of calcium and vitamin D are associated with obesity markers. We also evaluated the association between serum 25-OHD concentrations and both adiposity and inflammatory biomarkers. Study participants were mostly Caucasians (84.5%) with normal BMI, although about half of women had high adiposity (total body fat ‘TBF’≥ 32%). Women reporting adequate intakes of calcium (≥ 1000 mg/day) but low intakes of vitamin D (< 600 IU/day) were more than twice as likely to have a high percentage of TBF compared to women with adequate intakes of both calcium and vitamin D. In addition, women with lower calcium intake from supplements were twice as likely to have a waist circumference ≥ 80 cm (OR = 2.04; 95% CI: 1.04 – 3.99) compared to women in the highest tertile of calcium intake. The magnitude of this association is important since among young women 18-30 years old, a waist circumference greater than 80 cm indicates central obesity and suggests increased visceral adiposity, which contributes to hyperlipidemia and other obesity-related chronic conditions. Among all women, total vitamin D, food vitamin D, and supplemental vitamin D intake were not associated with serum 25-OHD concentration (P > 0.05). However, among supplement …