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Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), State governments, and school districts took unprecedented steps to mitigate the pandemic's impact on students' nutrition. To examine the effect of emergency responses on 6-year-old children's nutritional outcomes, this study analyzed longitudinal data from a national study of children's feeding practices, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children-Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study-2 (WIC ITFPS-2). Findings include no differences in food insecurity prevalence; however, there were shifts in sources of food, with children in the post-COVID-emergency-declaration (post-ED) group consuming more dietary energy from stores and community food programs and less from restaurants and schools than children in the pre-COVID-emergency-declaration (pre-ED) group (p < 0.01 for all comparisons). Examination of within-person mean differences in 2015 Healthy Eating Index scores and nutrient intakes between ages 5 and 6 years revealed few statistically significant differences between the two groups: children in the post-ED group consumed slightly fewer vegetables (p = 0.02) and less sodium (p = 0.01) than their pre-ED peers. Findings suggest emergency efforts to maintain children's nutrition were largely successful in the early months of the pandemic. Research is needed to understand the mechanisms by which emergency efforts contributed to these findings.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the acceptability and usability of an online training to prepare Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) educators to collect 24-hr dietary recalls using the Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Dietary Assessment Tool (ASA24). Fifty-eight educators in 17 states were recruited to take the training; 29 completed the online training, assisted two individuals in completing a 24-hr recall using ASA24, and completed a survey about their experiences. The sample included 26 respondents. The majority (n = 16; 61.5%) of the sample was EFNEP educators with college education. The majority of the respondents indicated that they found the readings and videos acceptable for learning (n = 21; 80.7%). Half of the participants (n = 13) felt prepared to collect data using ASA24. The majority (n = 22; 84.6%) had positive feedback about the training content. The training may be acceptable for preparing EFNEP educators with at least some college education to collect 24-hr recalls using ASA24. Because of potential bias due to self-selection and nonresponse, the training has been revised and is now intended to be used to train trainers of EFNEP paraprofessionals.

Background A growing interest exists in using glycemic index and glycemic load as potentially important exposures in investigations of risk for a variety of chronic diseases. Objective We added values for glycemic index and glycemic load to the nutrient database of a commonly used dietary assessment instrument, the Diet History Questionnaire (DHQ). Design The nutrient database for the DHQ is based on 4,200 individual foods reported by adults in the 1994-1996 US Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII). This list was condensed into 225 nutritionally similar groupings of individual foods. Using published glycemic index values we assigned glycemic index values to each of the individual CSFII foods in these food groups. In cases where CSFII foods did not correspond tightly to foods with published glycemic index values, we used decision criteria to assign glycemic index values. We then calculated sex- and serving size-specific glycemic load for each of the 225 food groups using the weighted mean method. Quality assessments were made to help evaluate the success of this method for assigning glycemic load values. Results Seventy-one percent of the top carbohydrate-contributing food groups had in excess of 90% of the CSFII mentions linked directly to a published glycemic index value (ie, no imputation was required), and 100% of these food groups had at least 50% of total mentions linked directly. Conclusions Using this method, it is now possible to use DHQ responses to assess the associations between reported glycemic load and glycemic index and risk of many chronic diseases in epidemiologic studies. J Am Diet Assoc. 2006;106:393-402.

Abstract: Background: A growing interest exists in using glycemic index and glycemic load as potentially important exposures in investigations of risk for a variety of chronic diseases. Objective: We added values for glycemic index and glycemic load to the nutrient database of a commonly used dietary assessment instrument, the Diet History Questionnaire (DHQ). Design: The nutrient database for the DHQ is based on 4,200 individual foods reported by adults in the 1994-1996 US Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII). This list was condensed into 225 nutritionally similar groupings of individual foods. Using published glycemic index values we assigned glycemic index values to each of the individual CSFII foods in these food groups. In cases where CSFII foods did not correspond tightly to foods with published glycemic index values, we used decision criteria to assign glycemic index values. We then calculated sex- and serving size-specific glycemic load for each of the 225 food groups using the weighted mean method. Quality assessments were made to help evaluate the success of this method for assigning glycemic load values. Results: Seventy-one percent of the top carbohydrate-contributing food groups had in excess of 90% of the CSFII mentions linked directly to a published glycemic index value (ie, no imputation was required), and 100% of these food groups had at least 50% of total mentions linked directly. Conclusions: Using this method, it is now possible to use DHQ responses to assess the associations between reported glycemic load and glycemic index and risk of many chronic diseases in epidemiologic studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]