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Background Linear growth faltering is determined primarily by attained heights in infancy, but available data consist mainly of cross-sectional heights at each age. Objectives This study used longitudinal data to test whether faltering occurs episodically in a few months of very low growth, which could potentially be prevented by timely intervention, or is a chronic condition with slower growth in every month of infancy and early childhood. Methods Using anthropometric data collected monthly between August 2014 and December 2016, we investigated individual growth curves of 5039 children ages 6–27 mo in Burkina Faso (108,580 observations). We evaluated growth-curve smoothness by level of attained length at ∼27 mo by analyzing variation in changes in monthly growth rates and using 2-stage regressions: 1) regressing each child's length on their age and extracting R 2 to represent curve smoothness, initial length, and average velocity by age; and 2) regressing extracted parameters on individual-level attained length. Results Short children started smaller and remained on their initial trajectories, continuously growing slower than taller children. Growth between 9 and 11 mo was the most influential on attained length; for each 1-cm/mo increase in growth velocity during this period, attained length increased by 6.71 cm (95% CI: 6.59, 6.83 cm). Furthermore, a 0.01 increase in R 2 from individual regression of length on age was associated with a 3.10-cm higher attained length (95% CI: 2.80, 3.41 cm), and having 2 consecutive months of slow growth (<15th centile relative to the sample) was associated with 1.7-cm lower attained length (95% CI: −1.80, −1.59 cm), with larger effects in younger children, suggesting that smoother growth patterns were also associated with higher attained length. Conclusions Children who experience extreme growth faltering are likely less resilient to systematic growth-limiting conditions as well as episodic insults to their growth. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02071563. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Global food insecurity persists despite continued international attention, necessitating evidence-based food assistance interventions that adequately address nutritional concerns. In June 2018, the US Agency for International Development's Office of Food for Peace through the Food Aid Quality Review (FAQR) project sponsored a "Food Assistance for Nutrition Evidence Summit" to share evidence relevant to policy and programmatic decision-making and to identify critical evidence gaps.Objective: This article presents 4 priority areas to advance nutrition in the international food assistance agenda generated through presentations and discussions with the food assistance community at the Evidence Summit.Methods: Priority areas were identified after the Evidence Summit using a combination of FAQR team discussions, review of presentations and official notes, and supporting literature.Results: Key priority areas to advance nutrition in the international food assistance agenda are as follows: (1) increase research funding for food assistance in all contexts, paying particular attention to emergency settings; (2) research and adopt innovative ingredients, technology, and delivery strategies in food assistance products and programs that encourage long-term well-being; (3) redefine and expand indicators of nutritional status to capture contextual information about the outcomes of food assistance interventions; and (4) augment communication and collaboration across the food assistance ecosystem.Conclusions: These priorities are critical in a time of increased humanitarian need and will be key to fostering long-term resilience among vulnerable groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Food aid is a valuable tool for meeting global nutrition goals, particularly for vulnerable populations of children and reproductive-aged women. On October 21, 2017, the Food Aid Quality Review Project hosted a scientific symposium at the 21st International Congress on Nutrition in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to take stock of what the global community has learned about selected topics in the research literature on food aid used to address malnutrition.Objective: This article presents the discussion that took place during the symposium, which was guided by presentations by 6 experts from the field of nutrition, food aid, and humanitarian response.Conclusion: The recent upsurge in research on food aid has advanced the collective knowledge of what food aid products and programs work for addressing nutrition, but there is much more to learn. Presentations in this symposium called for further inquiry on (1) different and novel food aid formulations, (2) the cost-effectiveness of products and programs, and (3) market-based approaches to food assistance. Continuing to expand the evidence base on these topics is critical to improving global nutrition programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of the important role nutrition plays in the management of HIV, access to nutrition services is inadequate, especially in resource limited settings. In addition, nutrition programs for people living with HIV (PLWH) have not been sufficiently evaluated for efficacy and this study was conducted to address this gap. This study aimed to evaluate the implementation of the nutrition assessment, counseling and support (NACS) program in Accra, Ghana, and to assess whether the level of implementation of NACS was associated with the body mass index (BMI) of PLWH. A cross-sectional study was conducted in six HIV clinics (3 NACS designated and 3 non-NACS). Study participants were 152 adult PLWH at least 6 months on antiretroviral therapy and not pregnant or breastfeeding. Using a NACS implementation scale developed for this study ranging from 0 to 8 (a higher score indicating better NACS implementation), median NACS implementation score was not different between NACS-designated, and non-NACS HIV clinics (5 vs 4, p = 0.14). Almost half (47%) of the respondents were overweight or obese. A higher score on the NACS implementation scale was not significantly associated with overweight or obesity (BMI >24.9 kg/m2) after adjusting for other covariates. It was concluded that, there was poor implementation of NACS in the NACS designated HIV clinics surveyed with no nutrition counseling offered nor food support available to those who might need it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food insecurity is a daily reality for hundreds of millions of people around the world. Although its most extreme manifestations are often obvious, many other households facing constraints in their access to food are less identifiable. Operational agencies lack a method for differentiating households at varying degrees of food insecurity in order to target and evaluate their interventions. This chapter provides an overview of a set of papers associated with a research initiative that seeks to identify more precise, yet simple, measures of household food insecurity. The overview highlights three main conceptual developments associated with practical approaches to measuring constraints in access to food: 1) a shift from using measures of food availability and utilization to measuring "inadequate access"; 2) a shift from a focus on objective to subjective measures; and 3) a growing emphasis on fundamental measurement as opposed to reliance on distal, proxy measures. Further research is needed regarding 1) how well measures of household food insecurity designed for chronically food-insecure contexts capture the processes leading to, and experience of, acute food insecurity, 2) the impact of short-term shocks, such as major floods or earthquake, on household behaviors that determine responses to food security questions, 3) better measurement of the interaction between severity and frequency of household food insecurity behaviors, and 4) the determination of whether an individual's response to survey questions can be representative of the food insecurity experiences of all members of the household. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents implications of female household headship for food consumption and nutritional status in the Dominican Republic. Expenditure and consumption patterns of female- and male-headed households; Household dietary adequacy; Multivariate results on food expenditure and food and nutrient consumption; Nutritional status of children.

Presents several commentaries related to evidence-based nutrition practice. Insecurity of food in public hospital; Prevalence of obesity; Improvement in the quality of life through weight-loss surgery.