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Objective: To investigate the effects of a Health at Every Size general education course on intuitive eating, body esteem (BES), cognitive behavioral dieting scores, and anti-fat attitudes of college students. Methods: Quasi-experimental design with 149 students in intervention (45), comparison (66), or control (46) groups. Analysis of variance and post hoc Tukey adjusted tests were used. Results: Mean scores for total general education course on intuitive eating (P < .001), unconditional permission to eat (P < .001), reliance on hunger (P < .001), cognitive behavioral dieting scores (P < .001), BES appearance (P = .006), BES weight (P < .001), and anti-fat attitudes (P < .001) significantly improved from pre to post in the intervention group compared with control and comparison groups. Conclusion and Implications: Students in the Health at Every Size class improved intuitive eating, body esteem, and anti-fat attitudes and reduced dieting behaviors compared with students in the control and comparison groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To determine (1) reliability of new food environment measures; (2) association between home food environment and fruit and vegetable (FV) intake; and (3) association between community and home food environment. Methods: In 2005, a cross-sectional survey was conducted with readministration to assess test-retest reliability. Adolescents, parents of adolescents, and parents of children (n = 458) were surveyed in San Diego, Boston, and Cincinnati. Results: Most subscales had acceptable reliability. Fruit and vegetable intake was positively associated with availability of healthful food (r = 0.15-0.27), FV (r = 0.22-0.34), and ratio of more-healthful /less-healthful food in the home (r = 0.23-0.31) and was negatively associated with less-healthful food in the home (r = -0.17 to -0.18). Home food environment was associated with household income but not with community food environment. Conclusions and Implications: A more healthful home food environment was related to youth FV intake. Higher income households had more healthful food in the home. The potential influence of neighborhood food outlets warrants further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Background: Periconceptional folate is essential for proper neuro-development. Objective: Maternal folie acid intake was examined in relation to the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developmental delay (DD). Design: Families enrolled in the CHARGE (CHildhood Autism Risks from Genetics and Environment) Study from 2003 to 2009 were included if their child had a diagnosis of ASD (n = 429), DD (n = 130), or typical development (TD; n = 278) confirmed at the University of California Davis Medical Investigation of Neurode- velopmental Disorders Institute by using standardized clinical assessments. Average daily folie acid was quantified for each mother on the basis of dose, brands, and intake frequency of vitamins, supplements, and breakfast cereals reported through structured telephone interviews. Results: Mean (±SEM) folie acid intake was significantly greater for mothers of TD children than for mothers of children with ASD in the first month of pregnancy (PI; 779.0 ± 36.1 and 655.0 ± 28.7 /µg, respectively; P < 0.01). A mean daily folic acid intake of >600 /µg (compared with <600 µg) during PI was associated with reduced ASD risk (adjusted OR: 0.62; 95% CI: 0.42, 0.92; P = 0.02), and risk estimates decreased with increased folie acid (P-trend = 0.001). The association between folie acid and reduced ASD risk was strongest for mothers and children with MTHFR 677 C>T variant genotypes. A trend toward an association between lower maternal folie acid intake during the 3 mo before pregnancy and DD was observed, but not after adjustment for confounders. Conclusions: Periconceptional folie acid may reduce ASD risk in those with inefficient folate metabolism. The replication of these findings and investigations of mechanisms involved are warranted. Am J Clin Nutr 20\2;96:80-9. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The relative position hypothesis proposes that an individual’s relative position in a community or population influences their health because (1) unfavorable comparisons lead those with a lower position to experience negative emotions that cause stress and detrimentally impact health and well-being, and (2) individuals with different statuses are less likely to develop trust and cohesion with one another. These processes are important for individual health and also because their results may detract from community level social resources. Surprisingly little work has investigated this hypothesis within small units of analysis such as neighborhoods. In this research, logistic regression analyses were conducted on data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey to test the relative position hypothesis as it applies to distrust of neighbors and fair or poor self-rated health, and whether the relationship varies across neighborhood income inequality. Results indicate that relative position significantly predicts distrust, such that those with higher local position are more likely to distrust their comparatively lower income neighbors. Relative position was not significantly associated with self-rated health, but lack of trust of neighbors was significantly and positively associated with below average self-rated health. The effect of relative position did not vary across neighborhood income inequality for either outcome. Implications for theories of income inequality and health are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]