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Abstract Background Malnutrition remains a health challenge for women aged 15 to 49 years and their infants. While Nutrition Assessment Counselling and Support (NACS) is considered a promising strategy, evidence of its effectiveness remains scanty. This study assessed the effect of the comprehensive NACS package on the mother-infant practices, health and nutrition outcomes in two districts in Eastern Uganda. Methods A comparative non-equivalent quasi-experimental design was employed with two groups; Comprehensive NACS (Tororo) and Routine NACS (Butaleja). Pregnant mothers were enrolled spanning various trimesters and followed through the antenatal periods and post-delivery to monitor their health and nutrition status. Infants were followed for feeding practices, health and nutritional status at birth and weeks 6, 10, 14 and at months 6, 9 and 12 post-delivery. Propensity score matching ensured study group comparability. The NACS effect was estimated by nearest neighbour matching and the logistic regression methods. Statistical analysis utilised STATA version 15 and R version 4.1.1. Results A total of 666/784 (85%) with complete data were analysed (routine: 412, comprehensive: 254). Both groups were comparable by mothers’ age, Mid Upper Arm Circumference, prior antenatal visits, meal frequency, micronutrient supplementation and instances of maternal headache, depression and diarrhoea. However, differences existed in gestation age, income, family size, education and other living conditions. Comprehensive NACS infants exhibited higher infant birth weights, weight-for-age z-scores at the 3rd -6th visits (p

Background: Malnutrition remains a health challenge for women aged 15 to 49 years and their infants. While Nutrition Assessment Counselling and Support (NACS) is considered a promising strategy, evidence of its effectiveness remains scanty. This study assessed the effect of the comprehensive NACS package on the mother-infant practices, health and nutrition outcomes in two districts in Eastern Uganda. Methods: A comparative non-equivalent quasi-experimental design was employed with two groups; Comprehensive NACS (Tororo) and Routine NACS (Butaleja). Pregnant mothers were enrolled spanning various trimesters and followed through the antenatal periods and post-delivery to monitor their health and nutrition status. Infants were followed for feeding practices, health and nutritional status at birth and weeks 6, 10, 14 and at months 6, 9 and 12 post-delivery. Propensity score matching ensured study group comparability. The NACS effect was estimated by nearest neighbour matching and the logistic regression methods. Statistical analysis utilised STATA version 15 and R version 4.1.1. Results: A total of 666/784 (85%) with complete data were analysed (routine: 412, comprehensive: 254). Both groups were comparable by mothers' age, Mid Upper Arm Circumference, prior antenatal visits, meal frequency, micronutrient supplementation and instances of maternal headache, depression and diarrhoea. However, differences existed in gestation age, income, family size, education and other living conditions. Comprehensive NACS infants exhibited higher infant birth weights, weight-for-age z-scores at the 3rd -6th visits (p < 0.001), length-for-age z scores at the 4th -7th visits (p < 0.001) and weight-for-length z-scores at the 3rd − 5th (p < = 0.001) visits. Despite fewer episodes of diarrhoea and fever, upper respiration infections were higher. Conclusions: The comprehensive NACS demonstrated improved mother-infant nutritional and other health outcomes suggesting the need for integrated and holistic care for better maternal, infant and child health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionInternet use is changing nutritional intake and health outcomes, but the results are mixed, and less attention is given to the rural developing regions. Based on the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) data from 2004 to 2015, this study seeks to better understand the effect of Internet use on nutritional intake and health outcomes.MethodsAn instrumental variable estimation is used to address endogeneity problem.ResultsThe results show that Internet use improves the dietary knowledge of rural residents, and thus has a positive impact on dietary quality, such as healthy eating index (HEI) and dietary diversity score (DDS). The higher the dietary quality, the better the nutritional health status. However, results also show that Internet use increases the risk of overweight, and obesity among rural Chinese residents. Because Internet use has significantly reduced the physical activity of rural residents in China. Interestingly, we also find that the Internet increases the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure, but there is a positive causal relationship between Internet use and the self-assessment score of health.DiscussionOur findings suggest that there may be a serious lack of awareness of the health risks of chronic diseases among Chinese rural residents. Therefore, policymakers are suggested to consider the possible negative effects when promoting digital development.

IntroductionDietary pattern analysis allows us to characterize the dietary intakes of individuals rather than nutrient intake data and strongly predicts disease risks. The relationship between food intake and adolescents’ nutritional health is not well understood yet. Therefore, this study aimed to generate evidence for context-specific dietary intervention for adolescents.ObjectiveThis study aimed to determine dietary patterns and their relationship with nutritional outcomes and identify the contributing factors among adolescents in the Agrarian Community of Northwest Ethiopia.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among 622 randomly selected adolescents. Dietary data were collected over a 1-week recall period using the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). After testing the basic assumptions, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the dietary patterns. Anthropometric data on weight and height were collected to determine the nutritional status using WHO Anthroplus 2010 software. A chi-square test was conducted to evaluate the effect of different dietary patterns on nutritional outcomes. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was used to identify factors affecting the dietary patterns of adolescents.ResultThree types of dietary patterns, namely, traditional, mixed, and animal-source foods with traditional alcoholic beverage consumption were identified. These dietary patterns explain 58.64% of the variance in adolescent diet in the study setting. The burden of stunting was 15.12% vs. 11.21, 19.40% vs. 6.94, and 8.36% vs.17.97% among adolescents with lower traditional, mixed, and higher animal sources with alcoholic dietary pattern consumption habits, respectively (value of p

Poor nutrition outcomes among children have become one of the major public health concerns in South Africa, attributed to poor feeding practices and maternal nutrition-related knowledge with conflicting data. In view of this, a cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the association of nutrition outcomes of children aged under two years with feeding practices and maternal nutrition-related knowledge in Mbombela, South Africa. Mothers' nutrition-related knowledge was estimated using an adapted structured questionnaire on colostrum, continued breastfeeding, diarrhea prevention and treatment using oral rehydration solution, immunization, and family planning, and scored as excellent (80–100), good (60–79), average (40–59), and fair (0–39). This was along with questions on socio-demographic factors and obstetric history, as well as anthropometric measurements. Child nutrition outcomes were estimated by WHO classification using z-scores for stunting (length-for-age (LAZ)), underweight (weight-for-age (WAZ)), and thinness (body mass index-for-age (BAZ)). Using STATA 17, 400 pairs of children (8 ± 6 months) and their mothers (29 ± 6 years) participated in the study and were living in a poor socio-economic status environment. Half of children were stunted (50%) and over half (54%) were obese, while mothers were underweight (39%) and overweight (34%). In addition to one third of mothers reporting obstetric complications, two thirds, initiated breastfeeding within one hour of delivery, 30% exclusively breastfed, 48% introduced early complementary feeding, and 70% practiced mixed feeding. Twenty-eight percent (28%) of mothers had fair nutrition-related knowledge, while 66% had average knowledge, 6% good knowledge, and none of the mothers had excellent knowledge. A chi-square test showed that mothers' nutrition-related knowledge was significantly associated with child stunting. The final hierarchical logistic regression showed significant associations of stunting with mothers' nutrition-related knowledge (average: AOR = 1.92, 95%CI: 1.12–3.29), child's age (6–11 months: AOR = 2.63, 95%CI: 1.53–4.53 and 12–23 months: AOR = 3.19, 95%CI: 1.41–7.25), and education (completing Grade 12: AOR = 0.36, 95%CI: 0.15–0.86). Contextual and intensified interventions on continued education for mothers to gain accurate information on nutrition-related knowledge and feeding practices could ultimately enhance child nutrition outcomes in poorer settings. Efforts should therefore be made to ensure that nutrition knowledge is appropriately provided based on the phases of child growth from 0 to 2 years, even beyond infancy into school age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background The increased frequency of climate induced natural disasters has exacerbated the risks of malnutrition in the already vulnerable regions. This study was aimed at exploring the effects of Cyclone Idai on nutrition outcomes of women of child-bearing age and children under 5 years. Method The household-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Eastern Zimbabwe. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews to determine food consumption score (FCS) and household dietary diversity (HDDS), minimum dietary diversity for women (MDD-W) and minimum dietary diversity for children (MDD-C). Severity of Cyclone Idai was grouped into five categories based on the extent of damage to infrastructure and loss of human lives. Association between continuous and categorical variables was tested using Pearson correlation test and Chi square test, respectively. Linear and binary logistic regression was performed to investigate determinants of food security. Results A total of 535 households were interviewed. There was a significant correlation between severity of Cyclone Idai and MDD-W (p = 0.011), HDDS (p = 0.018) and FCS (p = 0.001). However, severity of Cyclone Idai was not a determinant of any nutrition outcome, but gender of household head was a negative predictor of HDDS (β = − 0.734, p = 0.040), and marital status of household head was a positive predictor (β = 0.093, p = 0.016) of FCS. Conclusion The findings provide a good baseline to inform future programming of food aid activities during disasters. More so, our findings call for evidence-based policies regarding composition of a food aid basket and targeting of beneficiaries. The main strength of this study is that it is the first to investigate the effects of cyclones on food and nutrition security indicators and is based on a large sample size thus making our results generalisable.

Background: The increased frequency of climate induced natural disasters has exacerbated the risks of malnutrition in the already vulnerable regions. This study was aimed at exploring the effects of Cyclone Idai on nutrition outcomes of women of child-bearing age and children under 5 years. Method: The household-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Eastern Zimbabwe. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews to determine food consumption score (FCS) and household dietary diversity (HDDS), minimum dietary diversity for women (MDD-W) and minimum dietary diversity for children (MDD-C). Severity of Cyclone Idai was grouped into five categories based on the extent of damage to infrastructure and loss of human lives. Association between continuous and categorical variables was tested using Pearson correlation test and Chi square test, respectively. Linear and binary logistic regression was performed to investigate determinants of food security. Results: A total of 535 households were interviewed. There was a significant correlation between severity of Cyclone Idai and MDD-W (p = 0.011), HDDS (p = 0.018) and FCS (p = 0.001). However, severity of Cyclone Idai was not a determinant of any nutrition outcome, but gender of household head was a negative predictor of HDDS (β = − 0.734, p = 0.040), and marital status of household head was a positive predictor (β = 0.093, p = 0.016) of FCS. Conclusion: The findings provide a good baseline to inform future programming of food aid activities during disasters. More so, our findings call for evidence-based policies regarding composition of a food aid basket and targeting of beneficiaries. The main strength of this study is that it is the first to investigate the effects of cyclones on food and nutrition security indicators and is based on a large sample size thus making our results generalisable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refugees may be perceived as a burden to their host communities, and nutrition insecurity is a critical area of contention. We explored the relationship between refugee presence and a host community’s resilience in nutrition outcomes in Cameroon. We also tested an analytical framework for evaluating community resilience during shocks. We used data from repeated cross-sectional Demographic and Health Surveys in Cameroon (2004 and 2011), data on refugee movement, and data on extreme climatic events, epidemics, and conflicts from multiple sources. Outcome variables were maternal underweight, maternal anaemia, and child underweight, anaemia, stunting and wasting. The exposure variable was residence within an area in which refugees settled. We used a genetic matching algorithm to select controls from the rest of the country after excluding areas experiencing concurrent shocks. We used a difference-in-differences analysis to compare outcomes between the exposed and control areas. The 2004 survey comprised 10,656 women and 8,125 children, while the 2011 survey comprised 15,426 women and 11,732 children. Apart from anaemia which showed a decreasing trend in both the refugee-hosting community and the rest of the country, all other indicators (wasting, underweight and stunting) showed increasing trends in the refugee-hosting community but decreasing trends in the rest of the country. The matched control group showed a similar trend of decreasing trend for all the indicators. Controlled comparisons showed no evidence of an association between changes in nutrition outcomes and the presence of refugees. These findings contest a common perception that refugees negatively impact hosting communities. The difference-in-differences analysis and an improved matching technique offer a method for exploring the resilience of communities to shocks.

Poor nutrition outcomes among children have become one of the major public health concerns in South Africa, attributed to poor feeding practices and maternal nutrition-related knowledge with conflicting data. In view of this, a cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the association of nutrition outcomes of children aged under two years with feeding practices and maternal nutrition-related knowledge in Mbombela, South Africa. Mothers’ nutrition-related knowledge was estimated using an adapted structured questionnaire on colostrum, continued breastfeeding, diarrhea prevention and treatment using oral rehydration solution, immunization, and family planning, and scored as excellent (80–100), good (60–79), average (40–59), and fair (0–39). This was along with questions on socio-demographic factors and obstetric history, as well as anthropometric measurements. Child nutrition outcomes were estimated by WHO classification using z-scores for stunting (length-for-age (LAZ)), underweight (weight-for-age (WAZ)), and thinness (body mass index-for-age (BAZ)). Using STATA 17, 400 pairs of children (8 ± 6 months) and their mothers (29 ± 6 years) participated in the study and were living in a poor socio-economic status environment. Half of children were stunted (50%) and over half (54%) were obese, while mothers were underweight (39%) and overweight (34%). In addition to one third of mothers reporting obstetric complications, two thirds, initiated breastfeeding within one hour of delivery, 30% exclusively breastfed, 48% introduced early complementary feeding, and 70% practiced mixed feeding. Twenty-eight percent (28%) of mothers had fair nutrition-related knowledge, while 66% had average knowledge, 6% good knowledge, and none of the mothers had excellent knowledge. A chi-square test showed that mothers’ nutrition-related knowledge was significantly associated with child stunting. The final hierarchical logistic regression showed significant associations of stunting with mothers’ nutrition-related knowledge (average: AOR = 1.92, 95%CI: 1.12–3.29), child’s age (6–11 months: AOR = 2.63, 95%CI: 1.53–4.53 and 12–23 months: AOR = 3.19, 95%CI: 1.41–7.25), and education (completing Grade 12: AOR = 0.36, 95%CI: 0.15–0.86). Contextual and intensified interventions on continued education for mothers to gain accurate information on nutrition-related knowledge and feeding practices could ultimately enhance child nutrition outcomes in poorer settings. Efforts should therefore be made to ensure that nutrition knowledge is appropriately provided based on the phases of child growth from 0 to 2 years, even beyond infancy into school age.

Background: The relationship between climate adaptation strategies and nutrition security is poorly understood and often unclear. Although several adaptation strategies have been implemented to mitigate the impact of climate change, there is still a lack of conclusive evidence or studies on the interrelationships between adopted climate change adaptation strategies and nutrition outcomes. Objective: This study aimed to develop a conceptual framework that links climate change, adaptation strategies and nutrition and to show the indicators that can be used to assess the impact of climate adaptation strategies on nutrition. Methodology: The proposed conceptual framework was developed through a literature review. Results: A generic conceptual framework that could be used to assess the impact of adopted climate change adaptation strategies on nutrition outcomes was developed. The framework consists of 5 key elements: agro-food system, context characteristics, adaptation strategies, climatic shocks and stress, and system output. The principles used in designing the conceptual framework include systems approach, contingency theory, and system output. Conclusion: The developed framework offers a channel to evaluate adopted climate change adaptation strategies and their impact on nutrition outcomes. Such a conceptual framework can also be used in selecting and identifying more suitable climate adaptation strategies given specific contextual environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, the supermarket environment is playing an increasingly important role in dietary and public health transformation. This study highlights the nutrition effect of the supermarket environment and sheds light on the potential mechanisms through which this environment impacts nutrition outcomes. The data used in this study are longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) for the period from 2004 to 2011 considering rural China. To account for individual heterogeneity and the endogeneity of the supermarket environment in panel estimation, a pseudo-fixed-effects estimator combined with a control function is applied within a multinomial logit model. Our panel estimations suggest that there are no significant effects of supermarket availability and accessibility on nutrition outcomes, while food variety (fruits and vegetables) indicates a significantly negative effect on being underweight, overweight, and obese. The results are largely consistent when the control function is used to address the endogeneity of the supermarket environment. To further clarify the mechanisms through which food variety influences nutrition outcomes, calorie intakes and the Chinese Healthy Eating Index (CHEI) are used to measure nutritional intakes and dietary quality, respectively. Our findings demonstrate that food variety in supermarkets shows a significantly negative effect on calorie intakes but a significantly positive effect on the CHEI. Policies targeted at efficiently improving nutrition-related health in rural China might, thus, focus on improving consumers' food choices, through more food variety in supermarkets. • We analyse the nutrition impact of the supermarket environment for rural residents in China. • We shed light on the potential mechanisms through which supermarket environment impacts nutrition outcomes. • We find that supermarket availability and accessibility have no significant effect on nutrition outcomes. • We reveal that food variety in supermarkets negatively affects the probability of being underweight, overweight, and obese. • We demonstrate that food variety in supermarkets tends to decrease calorie intakes but improves dietary quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Internet use is changing nutritional intake and health outcomes, but the results are mixed, and less attention is given to the rural developing regions. Based on the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) data from 2004 to 2015, this study seeks to better understand the effect of Internet use on nutritional intake and health outcomes., Methods: An instrumental variable estimation is used to address endogeneity problem., Results: The results show that Internet use improves the dietary knowledge of rural residents, and thus has a positive impact on dietary quality, such as healthy eating index (HEI) and dietary diversity score (DDS). The higher the dietary quality, the better the nutritional health status. However, results also show that Internet use increases the risk of overweight, and obesity among rural Chinese residents. Because Internet use has significantly reduced the physical activity of rural residents in China. Interestingly, we also find that the Internet increases the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure, but there is a positive causal relationship between Internet use and the self-assessment score of health., Discussion: Our findings suggest that there may be a serious lack of awareness of the health risks of chronic diseases among Chinese rural residents. Therefore, policymakers are suggested to consider the possible negative effects when promoting digital development., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Deng, Liu, Hong and Liu.)

Agriculture has the potential to improve dietary diversity through farm production diversity if farming households consume what they produce. However, the linkages between a household's own agricultural production and dietary diversity are not well understood. This study uses a count of crop species, animal species, production diversity score, and the Simpson's index as measures of farm production diversity to assess the effect of production diversity on the dietary diversity of households, women and children. A Poison model was employed on a sample of 779 farming households selected using a multistage sampling technique in a household survey representative at the County level in Kisii and Nyamira Counties, Kenya. The findings of the study indicate that farm production diversity is significantly associated with the dietary diversity of women and that of the entire household, but is not associated with the dietary diversity of children. The count of the animal species has the highest magnitude of association with dietery diversity in this study. Every additional animal species kept leads to a 0.33 and 0.13 increase in household dietery diversity and the dietery diversity of women respectively. Children's dietary diversity is significantly associated with the education of the mother, household size and age of the child. The study highlights the need to consider individual dietary requirements when developing nutrition interventions and policy, as opposed to general dietary interventions targeting the entire household. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated home garden interventions combine training in gardening practices with education about nutrition knowledge. Such interventions have been shown to improve nutrition behaviour in low income countries. However, to date rigorous evidence is lacking for their long-term impact. We test the impact of an integrated home garden intervention on vegetable production and consumption three years after the intervention ended. We analyse three rounds of survey data for 224 control and 395 intervention households in rural Bangladesh. Three years after the intervention, the average impact on vegetable production per household was 43 kg/year (+ 49% over baseline levels; p < 0.01), and the effect was not statistically different from the impact one year after the intervention, which demonstrates that impact was maintained in the long-term. The impact on the micronutrient supply for iron, zinc, folate and pro-vitamin A from home gardens was maintained in the long-term. These impacts may have been driven by the long-term improvements in women's nutrition knowledge and gardening practices, explaining the sustainability of the behavioural nutrition change. We also identify positive impacts on women's empowerment and women's output market participation, highlighting how integrated programs, even if modest in scope, can be drivers of social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Dietary pattern analysis allows us to characterize the dietary intakes of individuals rather than nutrient intake data and strongly predicts disease risks. The relationship between food intake and adolescents' nutritional health is not well understood yet. Therefore, this study aimed to generate evidence for context-specific dietary intervention for adolescents., Objective: This study aimed to determine dietary patterns and their relationship with nutritional outcomes and identify the contributing factors among adolescents in the Agrarian Community of Northwest Ethiopia., Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 622 randomly selected adolescents. Dietary data were collected over a 1-week recall period using the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). After testing the basic assumptions, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the dietary patterns. Anthropometric data on weight and height were collected to determine the nutritional status using WHO Anthroplus 2010 software. A chi-square test was conducted to evaluate the effect of different dietary patterns on nutritional outcomes. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was used to identify factors affecting the dietary patterns of adolescents., Result: Three types of dietary patterns, namely, traditional, mixed, and animal-source foods with traditional alcoholic beverage consumption were identified. These dietary patterns explain 58.64% of the variance in adolescent diet in the study setting. The burden of stunting was 15.12% vs. 11.21, 19.40% vs. 6.94, and 8.36% vs.17.97% among adolescents with lower traditional, mixed, and higher animal sources with alcoholic dietary pattern consumption habits, respectively (value of p <0.05). Adolescents who resided in low-land agroecology (AOR = 2.44; 95% CL: 1.24, 4.81) and had access to animal-source foods (AOR = 1.64; 95% CI: 1.04, 2.60) were associated with lower consumption of traditional dietary patterns. Similarly, adolescents who resided in low-land (AOR = 1.80; 95% CI: 1.18, 2.74) had formal education (AOR = 2.38; 95% CI: 1.35, 4.19) and had poor nutrition knowledge (AOR = 2.83; 95% CL: 1.55, 5.19) were associated with lower consumption of mixed dietary patterns. Moreover, adolescents residing in the high-land (AOR = 2.50; 95% CI: 1.37, 4.56) and being female (AOR =1.87; 95% CI: 1.27, 2.74) were significant factors associated with lower consumption of animal-sourced foods with traditional alcoholic beverage consumption patterns., Conclusion: Multidimensional modifiable factors were explored that could be targeted for public health interventions for the identified dietary patterns. Integrated and multifaceted dietary intervention approaches are needed to promote healthy diets and discourage the consumption of unhealthy diets to reduce undernutrition in the study area and similar settings., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Agedew, Abebe and Ayelign.)

One in three people globally suffers from at least one form of malnutrition, leading to poor health outcomes and low productivity in the workplace. The workplace offers an important, relatively unexploited opportunity to address malnutrition in all its forms. This narrative literature review aims to understand the impact of workforce nutrition programmes on nutrition, health, and business outcomes, based on high-strength-of-evidence studies. We used PubMed as our primary research database, complemented by Google Scholar, to identify systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and randomised controlled trials published between January 2010 and October 2021. In total, 26 records were included. We found that comprehensive workforce nutrition programmes, including a variety of intervention areas, and/or programmes targeting high-risk categories of workers (overweight/obese or (pre-)diabetic) were more likely to be effective on nutrition, health, and business outcomes. Within comprehensive and targeted programmes, individualised counselling and worksite environmental modifications were often mentioned as the most effective components. However, a high degree of heterogeneity in outcome measures and programme designs made it difficult to draw strong conclusions on the impact of workforce nutrition interventions. Limited evidence was found on business outcomes, longer-term effects of interventions, and programme implementation in LMICs. Therefore, further research is needed to address these evidence gaps.

(1) Background: Mobile technologies may be utilised for dietary intake assessment for people with diabetes. The published literature was systematically reviewed to determine the effect of using mobile electronic devices to record food or nutrient intake on diabetes control and nutrition outcomes; (2) Methods: The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO: registration number CRD42016050079, and followed PRISMA guidelines. Original research of mobile electronic devices where food or nutrient intake was recorded in people with diabetes with any treatment regimen, and where this intervention was compared with usual care or alternative treatment models, was considered. Quality was assessed using the Quality Criteria Checklist for Primary Research; (3) Results: Nine papers formed the final library with a range of interventions and control practices investigated. The food/nutrient intake recording component of the intervention and patient engagement with the technology was not well described. When assessed for quality, three studies rated positive, five were neutral and one negative. There was significantly greater improvement in HbA1c in the intervention group compared to the control group in four of the nine studies; (4) Conclusion: Based on the available evidence there are no clear recommendations for using technology to record dietary data in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sub-Saharan African countries experience various market failures and other constraints in food production, marketing, and food consumption. Consequently, sub-Saharan Africa governments have put in place a myriad of policies to counter these failures. Agricultural, food and nutrition policies address nutrition outcomes, such as hunger, undernourishment, wasting, stunting, child mortality, inadequate food consumption, food insecurity, and volatile food prices, thus improve nutrition outcomes among the population. However, malnutrition persists among the population in the region. To mitigate this challenge, informed, evidence-based policy development and implementation by policy practitioners is of essence. The solutions to the double burden of undernutrition and obesity cut across the agriculture, rural development, and public health sectors. This essay introduces twenty papers of this Special Issue of the Food Policy journal which analyzes 8 policy domains, contributes to the debate on the linkages and pathways through which policies influence food security, nutrition outcomes, and related indicators and points to policy directions in these domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How agriculture can improve human nutrition is a topic of debate. Recent reviews demonstrate little impact on nutritional status but do not critically examine the choice of appropriate outcome indicators. This paper reviews which nutrition impact indicators are currently used in agriculture-nutrition projects, and highlights priorities and gaps in measurement. Many project evaluations are statistically underpowered to observe impact on nutritional status, but appear to be powered to observe impacts on food consumption and dietary quality, which we conclude are an appropriate level of impact of agriculture-nutrition projects. To improve the evidence base, there is a need to develop indicators of outcomes that are not being fully measured, including dietary quality and food security, women's empowerment, health environments, and food environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: Mobile technologies may be utilised for dietary intake assessment for people with diabetes. The published literature was systematically reviewed to determine the effect of using mobile electronic devices to record food or nutrient intake on diabetes control and nutrition outcomes; (2) Methods: The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO: registration number CRD42016050079, and followed PRISMA guidelines. Original research of mobile electronic devices where food or nutrient intake was recorded in people with diabetes with any treatment regimen, and where this intervention was compared with usual care or alternative treatment models, was considered. Quality was assessed using the Quality Criteria Checklist for Primary Research; (3) Results: Nine papers formed the final library with a range of interventions and control practices investigated. The food/nutrient intake recording component of the intervention and patient engagement with the technology was not well described. When assessed for quality, three studies rated positive, five were neutral and one negative. There was significantly greater improvement in HbA1c in the intervention group compared to the control group in four of the nine studies; (4) Conclusion: Based on the available evidence there are no clear recommendations for using technology to record dietary data in this population.

The Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance (MANNA) is a community-based organization providing home-delivered meals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to individuals at acute nutritional risk and experiencing a life-threatening illness, independent of age or income. The challenge MANNA faces, like other community-based organizations, is to demonstrate effective services by benchmarking with other organizations. This article reports how MANNA benchmarked results of their annual satisfaction survey against the 2013 National Survey of Older Americans Act Program. Overall, MANNA recipients were more often satisfied with the taste and variety of food, and more MANNA recipients rated the program as excellent. However, more MANNA recipients reported not having enough money to buy food, skipping meals because of money, needing to choose between food and medications or food and utilities. MANNA is using these findings as an impetus to better understand the needs of their clients, especially as they transition off the meal program, and to identify additional resources to support transitional programming. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Refugees may be perceived as a burden to their host communities, and nutrition insecurity is a critical area of contention. We explored the relationship between refugee presence and a host community's resilience in nutrition outcomes in Cameroon. We also tested an analytical framework for evaluating community resilience during shocks. We used data from repeated cross-sectional Demographic and Health Surveys in Cameroon (2004 and 2011), data on refugee movement, and data on extreme climatic events, epidemics, and conflicts from multiple sources. Outcome variables were maternal underweight, maternal anaemia, and child underweight, anaemia, stunting and wasting. The exposure variable was residence within an area in which refugees settled. We used a genetic matching algorithm to select controls from the rest of the country after excluding areas experiencing concurrent shocks. We used a difference-in-differences analysis to compare outcomes between the exposed and control areas. The 2004 survey comprised 10,656 women and 8,125 children, while the 2011 survey comprised 15,426 women and 11,732 children. Apart from anaemia which showed a decreasing trend in both the refugee-hosting community and the rest of the country, all other indicators (wasting, underweight and stunting) showed increasing trends in the refugee-hosting community but decreasing trends in the rest of the country. The matched control group showed a similar trend of decreasing trend for all the indicators. Controlled comparisons showed no evidence of an association between changes in nutrition outcomes and the presence of refugees. These findings contest a common perception that refugees negatively impact hosting communities. The difference-in-differences analysis and an improved matching technique offer a method for exploring the resilience of communities to shocks., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2022 The Author(s).)