Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Factors That Influence Maternal Feeding Decisions For Toddlers: Extending The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Elizabeth Lucas Combs

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

Establishing healthy eating behaviors is vital in the early years to help combat the development of obesity and other chronic diseases. Mothers play an invaluable role in shaping their children's eating habits through controlling what and when children eat as well as the overall food environment, which is why a better understanding of what influences mothers’ decisions about these behaviors is important.

The purpose of the dissertation was to gain a better understanding of what impacts maternal feeding decisions regarding toddler nutrition behaviors. This was a two-phased mixed methods study. The aim of the initial study was to explore, using …

Responsiveness Of Cobb Mv × 700 Broilers To Dietary Amino Acid And Energy Density, Craig William Maynard

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As new broiler crosses are introduced to the industry, it is of paramount importance to understand their nutritional digressions from previous and other modern broilers. In particular, amino acids (AA) and dietary energy have been identified as key drivers of live performance and carcass composition. In addition, increased nutrient density in broiler diets have been linked to an increase in breast muscle myopathies such as white striping and woody breast. Therefore, a series of trials were conducted to determine the responsiveness of live performance, carcass characteristics, and breast muscle myopathies of Cobb MV × 700 broilers to dietary AA and …

My Experience In Swaziland With Give Hope, Fight Poverty, Megan Kaser

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Megan Kaser, a recent 2017 alum in the College of Health and Human Sciences at Purdue University, describes her experience with Give Hope, Fight Poverty (GHFP)—a nonprofit organization in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in physician assistant studies. GHFP’s mission is “to foster philanthropy domestically by designing service-learning programs that engage U.S. college students with rural communities in Swaziland, Africa, and work together to educate, empower, and lift orphaned and vulnerable children—particularly those living in child-headed households— out of poverty” (Give Hope, Fight Poverty, n.d.). By incorporating college students in the implementation of GHFP orphan education …

Toxic Effects Of Lead Disposal In Water: An Analysis Of Tri Facility Releases, Patrick Koval

Economics Department Working Papers

Using county-level TRI data from 2003 to 2016, I find evidence that lead emissions in water adversely affect birth weights within the emitting county, especially with respect to the percentage of births considered low birth weight within that county (less than 2,500 grams). I find that a one percent increase in lead emissions per square mile increases the proportion of low birth weights by 0.27 percentage points. For a county with an average number of births in a particular year, this one percent increase in lead per square mile translates to an additional $475,000 in hospitalization costs from complications with …

Determining The Physical And Social Barriers That Prevent Food-Insecure Students At The University Of Arkansas From Using The Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Campus Food Pantry, Sarah Elizabeth Yanniello

Human Nutrition and Hospitality Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine the reasons why 38% of the students at the University of Arkansas experience food insecurity, yet only 1% of students have used the Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Campus Food Pantry, in hopes to provide a guide to the Center for Community Engagement in their endeavors to reduce food insecurity on campus (Lisnic, 2016). An online survey was created using Qualtrics software, was submitted to and approved by the University of Arkansas Institutional Review Board, and was distributed to undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Arkansas. The sample size …

Correcting For The Inconveniences Of Cultivation: Foraging As A Food Source In Southwestern Burkina Faso, Julia Deryn Morgan

Geography Honors Projects

Malnutrition is an important public health issue in Burkina Faso where 30 % of children are underweight for their age and 92% suffer from iron deficiency. Such statistics indicate that there is a significant lack of adequate nutrition in the country. With approximately 80% of the population employed in the agricultural sector, development projects have focused on increasing agricultural production and commercializing output to ameliorate poor nutrition. However, this strategy ignores the importance of local knowledge and food traditions, most notably by neglecting to acknowledge foraging as a significant source of food. To address this concern, I seek to understand …

Proper Nutrition And Its Potential As Alternative Treatment Of Depression, Delaney Passmore

Honors Theses – Charlotte Campus

Within the last two decades, a lot of research has been conducted to determine the factors that cause and prevent depression. This is important because the diagnostic count for mental diseases is rapidly increasing due to the stresses and unhealthy habits of many people. So far, researchers have come up with causes such as life-altering events, genetics, chemical imbalances in the brain, and lack of nutritional requirements. Many argue that all of these factors have something to do with why a person starts experiencing depressive symptoms. During tragic or uncontrollable events, such as a death in the family, it is …

Examining The Credentials Of Food Bloggers And The Online Environment Of Food Blogs, Jessica Coburn

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study evaluated characteristics of food blogs and food bloggers that potentially affect food choices. It was hypothesized that most food bloggers would not have a nutrition-related degree and food blog environments wouldn’t be supportive of health-conscious food choices. A cross-sectional study was conducted using a novel evaluation tool on 187 blogs, out of which 100 blogs met inclusion criteria. Because some blogs had multiple bloggers, two samples were investigated: 111 bloggers (n1 = 111) and 100 food blogs (n2 = 100). Data were gathered from a randomized list of blogs taken from americanfoodbloggers.com. Results showed that 6% of bloggers …

Santa Clara County Senior Nutrition Program Evaluation Report, Tae Hwan Ihm

Master's Projects

Santa Clara County conducts a Senior Nutrition Program (SNP) in conjunction with the City of San Jose, the Outreach Paratransit Program and local community-based organizations (CBOs) like Sourcewise (Lam, 2015). These programs combined represent a significant investment of public funds, with more than 45% of the SNP program’s funding coming from the county General Fund (Lam, 2015). Such a large financial commitment needs to demonstrate some benefit to the participants, and some positive outcomes from the current program design. This study evaluated the SNP’s effectiveness in achieving its primary goals. Primary goals of the SNP are to promote senior citizens’ …

Climate Change And Food Systems: Assessing Impacts And Opportunities, Meredith T. Niles, Richie Ahuja, Jimena M. Esquivel, Nelson Mango, Mil Duncan, Martin Heller, Cristina Tirado

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Step Towards A "Greener" Dining Services: Procuring Locally For The Health Of Students And The Earth, Jessica Fischer

Senior Honors Projects

Supporting local food has been a goal of dining services for some time now. Buying local means you know exactly where your food is coming from. Typically the farmer has a direct relationship with the processors that puts pressure on them to abide by all laws and regulations. Secondly, the shorter time between the farm and your table, the less likely that nutrients will be lost during the time it takes to transport food across the country. Third, buying local food builds a sense of community. When you buy direct from a farmer, you’re engaging in a time-honored connection between …

The Diet And Subsistence Methods Of The Maya: Their Health And Cultural Consequences From The Pre-Classic Era To Today, Rachel E. Watson

Honors Undergraduate

The Maya, a once great civilization, seemingly vanished without an obvious reason, before the Spanish landed in the region. Some say that their downfall was a result of famine and inadequate nutrition. Surprisingly, most of the archaeological evidence surrounding the Classic Maya diet and subsistence methods indicates that they both adequately sustained the population to the point where there has been practically no change over hundreds of years. Change did not occur to the Maya diet or the classic subsistence methods until the late twentieth century when the tourism industry exploded in the area of the former Maya empire. The …

Think With Your Fork: Five Areas Of Intervention For Kimball Dining Hall, Kristin Lane, Christina Nee, Julia Metzger

Philosophy Department Student Scholarship

Our goal with the present proposal is to bring modifications to the dining experience in Kimball Hall at the College of the Holy Cross, so to encourage a more well-rounded approach, which would best represent the values of continuous learning and education of the whole person and reflect the mission of the College. In order to meet these goals, we recommend five changes to Kimball dining , which we plan to implement during the Spring 2017 semester in collaboration with two Montserrat seminars.

Research Brief: "Analysis Of Nutritional Habits And Intake Of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids In Veterans With Peripheral Arterial Disease", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about the nutritional intakes of veterans with peripheral arterial disease, and expands on previous studies. For policy and practice, the research shows that physicians should play a role in educating veterans about long-term effects of their nutritional intakes, and that the DoD and VHA should create an educational program about nutritional intake. Suggestions for future research include using daily or weekly food diaries to increase reporting accuracy and using a more representative sample in randomized controlled tests.

A "Default Option" While Online Grocery Shopping To Enhance Nutrition Within A Food Insecure Population, Jaime Ashley Coffino

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

There is a need for sustainable interventions that improve diet-related health within the food insecure community. We examined if use of a “default” prefilled online grocery shopping cart, compared to nutrition education, would result in the purchase of healthier food items. Fifty participants (M age = 46.4 ± 12.46 years; M body mass index = 28.59 ± 6.48 kg/m2; 74.0% male) were randomized to: (1) read a brochure containing nutrition information (n = 23) or (2) be presented with a “default” prefilled online shopping cart containing groceries that meet nutritional guidelines to which they could freely make changes before completing …

Relationship Of Stress, Sleep, Physical Activity, And Food Insecurity On Eating Behaviors And Obesity, Amy Lee Richards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is an urgent need to find effective interventions to prevent and reduce obesity as it is associated with chronic disease and decreased quality of life. Gaining a better understanding of how modifiable variables such as stress, sleep, physical activity, and food insecurity are related to eating behaviors associated with obesity is essential to guide the direction of future interventions and research. Interventions that hold promise need to be tested to determine if they have merit or not. This dissertation presents three papers. Two papers are cross-sectional studies evaluating associations between eating behaviors, obesity, and modifiable variables (stress, sleep, physical …

The Importance Of Nature: An Investigation On How Geography Influences Well-Being, Christina Cobb

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The objective of this community service project (CSP) was to study how a community’s location, specifically within nature, influences their well-being. I hoped to see how the community’s location, within Chapada Diamantina national park, influences the many ways health is promoted, and how these ways are affected by their location within nature. This project was built upon a review of the literature, which found that there is a theoretical basis for the notion that contact with nature is beneficial, a term deemed Biophilia. There is a robust body of academic research that highlights the health benefits deriving from contact …

Converging On Nutrition Education Competencies: Aligning Library Instruction With Undergraduate Pre-Professional Program Requirements, Lee Ann Fullington, Margrethe Horlyck-Romanovsky, Susan Jakuboski

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Jumpin’ Jacks: Social Marketing Campaign Aimed To Increase Awareness Of Healthful Behavior In South Dakota Fourth Grade Students, Megan N. Olesen, Kendra Kattelmann, Jessica Meendering, Suzanne Stluka

Health and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

This study investigated the influence of utilizing a collegiate mascot as a marketing tool for the promotion of fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity among 4th grade students. The program utilized service learning and formative research for the development of a social marketing campaign comprised of nutrition education and brand marketing. A pre-test/post-test design was used to measure fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity in participants in intervention and control schools. Awareness and understanding of the campaign was assessed post-intervention. There were no changes in fruit and vegetable intake or physical activity. However, 91% of the intervention students …

Proteomic Characterization Of Eggshell Membranes And Their Effect On Poultry Physiology And Immunity, Sarbjeet Kaur Makkar

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The use of antibiotics in poultry growth and disease control has led to antibiotics resistant problem in human beings, which is a big concern among consumers. With the necessity for judicious use of antibiotics in poultry production, alternative strategies to improve disease resistance in poultry production are necessary. The research is more inclined towards using the natural products available to grow healthier and antibiotic free meat animals. In the context of exploring natural and sustainable resource of alternative to antibiotics, the biochemical milieu of eggshell membranes (ESM) were analyzed by using mass spectrometry techniques including matrix assisted laser desorption ionization …

Nutritional Knowledge Among Athletic Teams, Hannah F. Gualtieri, Ellen L. Thompson, Hannah L. Stedge

The Research and Scholarship Symposium (2013-2019)

The topic of sports nutrition has often been undermined in the athletic world. Practicing good nutritional habits has the ability to both improve performance and health. Several studies have examined nutritional knowledge among athletic teams; however very few have compared this knowledge among athletic teams. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of various athletes’ nutritional knowledge and evaluate the differences in this knowledge among NCAA Division II Athletic teams. A secondary purpose was to discover athlete’s confidence level in their nutritional knowledge as well as gain their opinion on how they would improve nutritional knowledge among …

Circulating Amino Acids In Blood Plasma During The Peripartal Period In Dairy Cows With Different Liver Functionality Index, Z. Zhou, J. J. Loor, F. Piccioli-Cappelli, F. Librandi, G. E. Lobley, E. Trevisi

Physiology Collection

The liver functionality index (LFI) measures the changes of albumin, cholesterol, and bilirubin concentrations between 3 and 28 d postpartum. This composite index, based on variables with direct relevance to liver-specific plasma protein synthesis (albumin), hepatic/intestinal lipoprotein synthesis (cholesterol), and clearance of breakdown products of heme catabolism (bilirubin), provides a tool for evaluating manifestations of hepatic disease. Both energy and protein metabolism are likely to be affected by various physiological challenges in this period but have not been tested systematically. The present study was conducted to profile AA in cows with high or low LFI during the peripartal period …

The Influence Of Time On Food Intake Patterns: Age, Period, Cohort Differences, Karina L. Christopher

Theses and Dissertations--Gerontology

The impact of diet and exercise on overall health and chronic disease risk has been well examined. Multiple studies show that Americans eat more now than they did fifty years ago. What isn’t known is how much of an impact time has on food intake patterns of individuals in terms of different age groups, historic periods of structural influences, and birth cohorts.

In order to identify the impact of time on food intake this study examined time from multiple perspectives. The first aim of this study was to determine food intake patterns among age groups across five time periods using …

Body Condition Score And Plane Of Nutrition Prepartum Affect Adipose Tissue Transcriptome Regulators Of Metabolism And Inflammation In Grazing Dairy Cows During The Transition Period, M. Vailati-Riboni, M. Kanwal, O. Bulgari, S. Meier, N. V. Priest, C. R. Burke, J. K. Kay, S. Mcdougall, M. D. Mitchell, C. G. Walker, M. Crookenden, A. Heiser, J. R. Roche, J. J. Loor

Physiology Collection

Recent studies demonstrating a higher incidence of metabolic disorders after calving have challenged the management practice of increasing dietary energy density during the last ~3 wk prepartum. Despite our knowledge at the whole-animal level, the tissue-level mechanisms that are altered in response to feeding management prepartum remain unclear. Our hypothesis was that prepartum body condition score (BCS), in combination with feeding management, plays a central role in the peripartum changes associated with energy balance and inflammatory state. Twenty-eight mid-lactation grazing dairy cows of mixed age and breed were randomly allocated to 1 of 4 treatment groups in a 2 × …

The Relationship Between Nutrient Intake And Social Emotional Functioning In Preschool Children, Tracy L. Daniel

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mental health disorders are rising in children and being referred to as an epidemic. Numerous studies have shown micronutrient deficiencies and poor diet quality are suspected of playing a contributory role in the escalation of certain disorders. However, there is no research in young children focusing specifically on social emotional disorders and possible links to nutrition. Conventional treatment for social emotional disorders in children typically involves medication. Parents are increasingly turning to complementary and alternative medicine to treat their children with a method that is individualized and holistic. The biopsychosocial model provided the theoretical framework for this correlational study that …

Farm To School: Strategies For Urban Health, Combatting Sprawl, And Establishing Community Food Systems, Mark Vallianatos, Robert Gottlieb, Margaret Haase

Mark Vallianatos

Farm-to-school is a new, innovative strategy with multiple planning-related objectives. The article evaluates the significance of farm-to-school in relation to improving the health and nutrition of school-age children, particularly low-income youth; strengthening the capacity of local farmers, particularly those engaged in sustainable practices; adding to the toolkit of strategies designed to contain and ultimately reduce sprawl-inducing developments by helping preserve farmland; and helping establish a community food systems approach no longer entirely dependent on the global food system that has come to dominate food growing, processing, distribution, and consumption patterns around the world.

Portion Size Communication By Means Of Package Design, Tami J. Strickland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study assessed consumers’ current methods of determining portion sizing of chicken products and examined their perceptions of how effectively three package designs communicate portion size. Everett M. Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations (DI) Theory analyzes the characteristics of the consumer of the innovation (adopter) and the impact these characteristics have on adopting new innovations. The innovation in this study will be the prototype packaging. Focusing on Rogers’ adopter characteristics and defined proprietary consumer segmentation characteristics, this study will be pivotal for future package design projects targeting nutrition education.

Focus group questions were scrutinized through a pilot study and revised …

Responses Of Two Strains Of Broilers To Diets Varying In Essential Amino Acid Density And Energy Levels, Tyler James Clark

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The responses of two different commercial strains of broilers to diets varying in overall amino acid levels and metabolizable energy levels were observed. Amino acid levels used were 80%, 90%, 100%, 110%, 120%, and 130% of Ross recommended minimum digestable levels of essential amino acids. Energy levels used were either below or above Ross recommended metabolizable energy levels. Diets were fed for 56 days. The two strains were a fast growing broiler strain and a slower growing broiler strain. A selection of birds from each pen was processed at 35, 43, and 56 days of age. Average body weights, cumulative …

The Food Education Project: Teaching Nutrition Through Environmental Awareness, Caren R. Pinto

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper examines a 300-hour fieldwork internship that took place during a summer semester at a local non-profit called the Food Education Project (FEP). FEP provided a practical and hands- on opportunity, which allowed for the knowledge gained over the past two years at the University of San Francisco’s Public Health Program to be put to public health practice. The experience was invaluable for the author’s professional and personal growth.

The paper will explore the prevalence of obesity and type II diabetes in the nation’s youth today. Second, a literature review will be conducted to examine the relevance of in …

The Power Of Soccer: A Promising Tool For Youth Empowerment A Case Of Soccer-Based Health Program At El Nacional Public School In Ecuador, Haruna Higa

MA IDS Thesis Projects

The purpose of this culminating project was to identify the power of soccer in the context of international development and apply it to soccer-based youth empowerment programs, specifically an after-school program at El Nacional public school in Ecuador. Soccer is becoming one of the best approaches to connect various peoples who do not share the same language or cultural traditions because of its universal popularity, as evidenced by the more than one billion people who watched coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2014 Final Match (numbers to be consolidated) (“The 2014 FIFA World Cup,” n.d.). Given the evidence that soccer …