Nutritional Epidemiology Commons^™

Promoting Healthy Eating And Physical Activity: A Qualitative Examination Of Community-Based Obesity Interventions In Rural Kentucky, Brooke F. Butterworth

Theses and Dissertations--Nutrition and Food Systems

Rural Americans are medically underserved groups and are at greater risk of becoming obese than urban Americans. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine the perceived causes of obesity in six counties of rural Kentucky and to determine how to customize strategies to reduce obesity in these areas. University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service Agents formed coalitions in each of the six counties to assess their communities’ needs and assets to inform plans for implementing evidence-based obesity interventions. Between February and August of 2015, the coalitions were convened for a total of 11 meetings. Each of the coalition …

Childhood Obesity, A Public Health Crisis: Narrative Review Of Public Health Interventions For Childhood Obesity, Sumera Aziz Ali, Savera Aziz Ali, Nadir Suhail, Shiyam Sunder Tikmani, Gulshan Bano

Community Health Sciences

Introduction: Child obesity is the major pediatric public health crisis of the current century and its trend is increasing in the developing countries due to nutrition and epidemiologic transition. Considering the burden of childhood obesity and its associated outcomes need for obesity prevention in children has become priority both for government and researchers.
Objective: The objective of this review is to provide the updated knowledge and evidence from various research studies, designed to provide interventions either in school or at home.
Methodology: Electronic databases like Google scholar, PubMed and Sciencedirect were used as search engines. Key terms used during the …

Maternal Obesity And Incidence Of Depression, Caroline A. Habjan

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Obesity is a national epidemic in the United States, which both directly and indirectly affects the social productivity of individuals, the American macro economy and individuals’ personal health and well being. Depression often interferes with an individual’s ability to work, sleep, study, eat, and enjoy life. A maternal state of both obesity and depression may cause serious adverse medical conditions in the mother’s child. Taking steps to treat depression and obesity are critical in the construct of modern medicine. This project yields results that have the potential to make treatment options better tailored, more efficient, effective and economically-sound for the …

Childhood Obesity And Familial Hypercholesterolemia: Genetic Diseases That Contribute To Cardiovascular Disease, Alyssa Caudle

Senior Honors Theses

Childhood obesity occurs as the result of an imbalance between caloric intake and energy expenditure. Genetic risk factors for obesity have become an area of research due to its permanency. Mutated genes such as Fat Mass and Obesity Associated (FTO), Leptin (LEP), Leptin Receptor (LEPR), Melanocortin 4 Receptor (MC4R), Adiponectin C1Q and Collagen Domain Containing (ADIPOQ), Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 1 (PCSK1), and Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma (PPARG) all contribute to the development of childhood obesity. In the presence of high cholesterol caused by obesity, the genetic condition known as familial hypercholesterolemia is exacerbated. Familial hypercholesterolemia is caused by a …

Associations Between Alcohol Consumption And Fasting Blood Glucose In Young Adults, Julie Ann Lucca

Master's Theses

Current research shows moderate alcohol consumption is associated with decreased risk of diabetes and excessive consumption or binge drinking can cause insulin resistance and diabetes. In 2010, diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in the United Statesand was responsible for significant health complications: blindness, kidney failure, and limb amputations, and is a large national economic burden. Fasting blood glucose (FBG) is a tool used to help diagnose diabetes. Abnormally high FBG, ≥100 mg/dl, is indicative of diabetes and pre-diabetes. Few studies have observed diabetic prevalence among young adults or college students. Studying young adults can help provide added …

Determinants Of Food Insecurity Among Vulnerable White And Latino Households: Contextualizing The Impact Of Sociodemographic And Household-Level Factors, Alexandra Lund

Master's Theses

Household-level characteristics have been shown to be associated with food insecurity but studies among vulnerable populations are sparse. A food security assessment was developed to determine food security and collect sociodemographic and household level data across San Luis Obispo County. The assessments were administered to vulnerable groups through interviews at multiple sites across the County. Three household characteristics (marital status, number of children in the household and number of workers in the household) were examined in this analysis. A total of 808 surveys were collected, 69% in English and 31% in Spanish. Through ethnicity-stratified sequentially adjusted logistic regression models, the …

Association Of Vitamin D Deficiency With Hypertension In Uninsured Women, Sreenivasa R. Chandana, Lakshmi P. Kocharla, Susan S. Harris, Radhika R. Kakarala

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Vitamin D deficiency is an epidemic in the United States. Uninsured women are at high risk due to a lower intake of vitamin D and limited sun exposure. We examined the association between vitamin D deficiency and hypertension in 96 uninsured women at a County Free Medical Clinic in urban Michigan. Questionnaires were used to obtain information about demographics, medical history including hypertension, and dietary habits. Measurements including blood pressure and serum 25(OH)D level were also collected. Prevalence of hypertension was higher in subjects with 25(OH)D less than 50nmol/l compared with others (85% vs. 27.3%, p = 0.014). For every …

The Role Of Local Food In Increasing Access To Healthy Food In Indianapolis, Indiana, Anna Hostetter

Capstone Collection

In the United States today, incidents of obesity are on the rise, currently more than one-third, or 35.7% of U.S. adults are considered obese, up from 30.5% in 2000. These startling numbers are causing news institutions and politicians to refer to it as the “obesity epidemic”.

Obesity is linked to multiple health problems including Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, and breast cancer (Aronne, L.J., 2002). There are numerous causes of obesity, including genetics, yet high rates of obesity have also been positively linked with a diet high in processed foods and low in fruits and vegetables (Drewnowski, A. …

Tailoring Messages To Individual Differences In Monitoring- Blunting Styles To Increase Fruit And Vegetable Intake, Pamela Williams-Piehota, Amy E. Latimer, Nicole A. Katulak, Ashley Cox, Stephanie A. Navarro Silvera, Linda Mowad, Peter Salovey

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Objective

To examine whether messages matched to individuals' monitoring-blunting coping styles (MBCS) are more effective in increasing fruit and vegetable intake than mismatched messages. MBCS refers to the tendency to either attend to and amplify, or distract oneself from and minimize threatening information.

Design/Setting

Randomly assigned messages were tailored to resonate with either monitors or blunters and delivered at baseline, 1 week, 2 months, and 3 months later. Surveys were conducted at baseline and 2 and 4 months later.

Participants

531 callers to a cancer information hotline who did not meet the 5 A Day guideline.

Intervention

A brief telephone-delivered …

Eating Behavior And Obesity Risk Of Youth Living In The City Of San Bernardino, California, Carolyn A. Corder

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Adolescents living in the City of San Bernardino, California, are susceptible to health risks due to high rates of violence, suicide, teen pregnancy, and poverty, which place them among the most vulnerable in the Nation to disability, early death, unhealthy offspring, illiteracy, economic disadvantage, and chronic disease. This study analyzed data from the Youth Risk Behavior (YRBS) and local surveys conducted in the City’s Unified School District from 1999 through 2001. The investigators focused on the relationship, if any, of dietary and anthropometric factors to the priority adolescent behaviors targeted for intervention by the Healthy People 2010 objectives: accidental injuries …

Association Between Nutrient Intake And Risk Of Coronary Heart Disease In California Seventh-Day Adventists, Peter Pribiš

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Dietary habits are believed to be major determinants of risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Studies of high and low risk populations have suggested several nutrients to be protective or hazardous against CHD. Most published work since 1984 on diet and CHD in the Adventist Health Study (AHS) population examined either foods or food groups. This study investigated ten nutrients as exposure variables and their relationship to CHD risk. A cohort of 23,616 nonsmoking, non-Hispanic white California Seventh-day Adventists was followed for six years beginning in 1976. Extensive dietary information was collected at baseline, as well as values of traditional …